The Wicked Rebel by Mary Lancaster

Author:Mary Lancaster [Lancaster, Mary]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Fiction, regency, Romance, Historical
Publisher: Dragonblade Publishing, Inc.
Published: 2017-10-17T18:30:00+00:00

Chapter Nine

Among all her jumbled emotions, Bella recognized shame, though she felt too cold and numb to divine the cause. Someone had draped a coat and a blanket around her. Almost mechanically, she clutched them closer. The coat seemed to smell of Alban…

To collect my share… “What is he doing?” she wondered helplessly. She hadn’t meant to speak aloud. She hadn’t expected an answer from Alban’s men.

“Killing him, most like,” one of them said laconically from the nearest oar.

Bella blinked, staring at him. “Killing Mr. Tranter? Oh dear, I don’t think he should do that…”

“Seems to need killing to me,” another sailor contributed. “Besides, no way for anyone to stop the captain when he’s in that mood,”

“What mood?” Bella asked, twisting around from the seat she’d been given, to try and see Alban and Tranter.

“Captain don’t have moods,” growled the man who seemed to be supervising the others. Certainly, he was glaring at them while he moved to block Bella’s view. “He makes decisions.”

“’Course he does,” grinned the first sailor.

“Ignore them, Miss,” the sailor in charge advised. “We’ll get you safe and warm on board and the captain’ll look after you.”

“On board?” Bella repeated in dismay. “Oh no, please, you must take me ashore at once!”

“Captain said aboard,” was the apologetic yet curiously implacable answer. “It’ll take too long to get ashore and people will stare at you being as wet as you are. Expect the captain’ll take you back later.”

Bella gazed down at the sea. It didn’t look remotely inviting. In fact, she couldn’t face going in again.

Alban had never hurt her. She’d always trusted him. And these men, the ones Alban had said would shoot their own grandmothers for fourpence… Surreptitiously, she glanced around them. It was true they had a somewhat wild appearance. Scars and missing teeth were quite common among them. But they were respectful enough. Once she was changed and warm, she could think again, and decide what was best.

“I’m Cairney,” the sailor in charge said. “I’m the coxswain. Mr. Barnaby will look after you till the Captain comes.”

“Who is Mr. Barnaby?” she asked.

“First mate. You’ll like him. He’s not so rough as us lot. Or the captain, come to that. Here, have a drink, Miss.”

Bella took the flask he offered. “What is it?”

“Rum. You won’t like it, but it’s good for the shock.”

Bella shrugged and took a sip. Although it burned, she didn’t dislike it any more than brandy. “Thank you.” She gave it back to Mr. Cairney, who took a healthy swig before replacing the stopper.

“Here we are miss. Can you climb up yourself, or will I carry you? You don’t look as if you weigh more than a feather.”

“Oh, I do,” Bella said earnestly. “I can climb.”

“Well, I’m right behind you if your foot slips off the rung.”

She had to abandon the blanket to climb, but she managed to keep the coat by shoving her wet arms into its sleeves. She must have looked a pitiful figure as she stumbled aboard, shivering, miserable, and utterly confused.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.