Seduced by a Pirate - Ever After Novella (2012) by Eloisa James

Author:Eloisa James
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Romance, Historical, Fiction
ISBN: 9780062259912
Publisher: Avon Impulse
Published: 2012-10-30T07:00:00+00:00

ELEVEN

Griffin was rather shocked to discover that he enjoyed talking to his father during the carriage ride to Arbor House. The viscount was fascinated to hear that Griffin and James had imported curry and lumber to England, birdcages and silks to Spain.

“So you really weren’t pirates,” he said finally.

“I started out that way,” Griffin said frankly. “I was never the yo-ho-ho, walk the plank type of pirate. But I captured many a ship, took everything of value, and sailed away.”

“You made your first fortune as a highwayman,” his father said, the corner of his mouth twitching. Then: “Was there anything I could have done to steer you into a more ethical profession?”

“I doubt it. There’s no way for an aristocrat to prove his manhood here in England, let alone to win that manhood. My future was handed to me on a silver platter, bound up with a royal patent. I wanted—no, I lusted—to pit myself against other men. To fight.”

His father sighed. He was tall and lean and scholarly by bent. Clearly, he hadn’t the faintest ambition to take on a man in a battle to the death.

“I must resemble Mother’s side of the family,” Griffin said cheerfully. “At any rate, piracy proved the life for me. I fought with every possible sort of weapon, and survived sea battles, not to mention storms. I can sail and steer a boat around the most dangerous shoals in the world.”

“How on earth are you going to live in England?” his father asked, his tone bleak. “There’s nothing to pit yourself against here. Is this a mere visit?”

“No,” Griffin said. “I’m wounded. At thirty, I’m ready to rest on my laurels. I’m not fool enough to try to man a ship with a bad leg. Pirates fight like trapped badgers, and I’d be dead in six months.”

“His Royal Highness told me that you and the Duke of Ashbrook were responsible for dismantling a number of ships involved in the slave trade. A disgraceful, disreputable business.”

“Yes.” Griffin hated to think of those particular ships. What they found there made them sick at heart, even after he and James sent the human cargo back to their own shores with a heap of gold coins and the slavers’ ships to boot.

“You’ll need something to do,” the viscount said. “I’ve a judgeship open. Justice of the Peace for Somerset. You can do that.”

“Something to do,” Griffin echoed. “Why, aren’t gentlemen supposed to do nothing, Father?”

His father raised an eyebrow. “I busy myself.”

“In fact, we rarely saw you, if I remember correctly.”

“My work is important. The nobility of this land stand at the monarch’s shoulder to rule with him, and beside him. But I do wish I had seen more of my children.”

“I can’t see myself a judge,” Griffin remarked. “From criminal to justice overnight? It doesn’t seem possible. I know nothing of English law.”

But his father grinned. “You were captain of a ship for over a decade, Son. There must have been many a sticky situation for which you acted as arbiter.

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