Caution to the Wind by Mary Jean Adams

Caution to the Wind by Mary Jean Adams

Author:Mary Jean Adams [Adams, Mary Jean]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, Romance, Historical, General, General Fiction
ISBN: 9781612178783
Google: ujoGPGOF2n0C
Amazon: 1612178782
Publisher: The Wild Rose Press Inc
Published: 2013-08-02T23:00:00+00:00


Chapter Fourteen

Will sat at his desk, fingers drawing circles at his temples while he stared at the accounting of the auction of their latest prize. Normally, he loved this part of commanding a privateer. He had financed the Amanda with the last of the money his mother hadn’t had the chance to spend. With his first few prizes auctioned off, he had successfully built back his father’s fortune. Now, with his continued success, he could claim wealth exceeding even that which his mother had squandered before her death.

After he took his share, generous yet smaller than what some captains allotted themselves, he divided the rest among his crew. He loved that part most of all, seeing the faces of men who earned more money from one captured ship than many of them earned in an entire year, some in an entire lifetime.

But this evening, his thoughts were on one specific crewman, or rather, would-be sailor.

What in the hell had gotten in to him? Only a thin sliver of self-restraint kept his desire for Amanda in check. Why had he gone to her quarters?

The doctor’s timely interruption had led to a later dressing down. The ship’s surgeon informed him, in no uncertain terms, that he would not allow any harm to come to Amanda. The hard gleam in his spectacled eyes told Will exactly where the doctor thought the greatest danger lay. He could just imagine what Doctor Miller’s reaction would have been if he had been caught in the act of deflowering his assistant!

He grunted in self-loathing and looked down at his books. The crew expected their allocation in the morning. By midday they would be in a Portsmouth tavern doing their best to spend every last cent before they passed into a rum induced oblivion or lost themselves in the arms of a comely wench.

Maybe he should do the same. He might be able to quench some of his desire at one of the higher-class establishments in town. With his more base needs met, Amanda would lose some of the sway she held over him.

He reflected on the perfumed and pampered ladies at Madam Lydia’s. An establishment intended for men of wealth and position, he could spend the night drinking only the finest brandy, playing cards with men of similar means, and if one of the lovely ladies caught his fancy, engage in a discreet interlude with one of the finest prostitutes in New England. Lydia’s Ladies were so elite, it seemed almost unfair to call them prostitutes. Mistresses would be more like it. Most of them ended up with a small list of exclusive clients who paid enough to assure the girls were kept in style and relatively unencumbered.

Not being a regular client of Madam Lydia’s—hell, he had never been a client—he would have to settle for one of the newer girls. However, because Madam Lydia had her pick of the crop, his choice would be young and fresh, even if no longer virginal.

He imagined the heart-shaped face of a dewy-eyed woman staring up at him with faux admiration.



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