The Pirate Hunter's Lady by Jennifer Ashley

Author:Jennifer Ashley [Jennifer Ashley]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Fiction, Historical Romance, Regency Pirates, Pirates
ISBN: 2940014379816
Publisher: Jennifer Ashley
Published: 2012-05-27T04:13:00+00:00

Diana lay flat on her back in bed, staring, unseeing, at the ceiling when she heard James at last return. It was well past midnight, and the others had gone to bed, including her father and Mallory. Mrs. Pringle had dressed Mallory’s arm, her face grim, and they’d given him laudanum for his pain.

James had not returned by dusk that evening. Diana hadn’t been able to spy him from the island’s summit, though she knew the island held places that were hidden from view.

She had found on the summit, tucked under scrub, the kitchen mirror. Something with which James could have used to signal the ship that had been standing out to sea. That ship had faded over the horizon at sunset, and Diana spent the following dark hours wondering whether James was on it.

She’d heard every word of his exchange with her father and the man she’d known only as Jessup. She burned with anger at her father for hiding Mallory’s identity all this time. And yet, the man was still the Jessup who collected shells with her and Isabeau, fished with Diana’s father for their supper, and had helped save James’s life.

Diana had watched James fire his pistol out to sea and stride out of the caves, pain in her heart. He’d chosen to let Mallory live, and she knew what that decision had cost him.

After she’d put Isabeau to bed, Diana spent the next few hours at her window, in the dark, watching the path from the cove. But James did not return.

Tiredness at last sent her to bed, but she’d not slept, straining for any little sound of him.

Diana heard it now, the creak of the garden gate, James’s footfalls on the path, the soft scrape of the front door as it opened.

She remained still, her heart hammering. Should she go to him, or leave him be? Shout out at him for frightening her half to death? Or lie here in the dark wondering what he would do?

Diana’s heart told her to run to him, but her heart had been wrong before. Most of the time, in fact.

She wondered if the others were awake, listening to him mount the stairs, or if they had succumbed to their exhaustion. Only Isabeau seemed immune — everyone was safe, so they should all be happy.

Boards creaked as James reached the landing, his footsteps quiet as he entered his bedchamber at the head of the stairs. For a while, all was silent, then Diana heard the sound of splashing water.

Mrs. Pringle at night left water and a sponge in everyone’s chamber, so they could wash themselves before retiring or upon rising as they pleased. Saved her the trouble of hauling water upstairs in the morning when she needed to begin breakfast.

The water made a hollow noise in the basin. Diana imagined James soaking water into the sponge then letting the water flow over his naked body, cleansing the sand and sweat from his skin.

She listened to the crash of water

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