Lady Pirate (35 page)

“Well, when did you plan to tell me?” he asked shortly.

“When did you plan to tell me that Skully had broken his arm fighting off this Addams fellow?” she snapped right back.

They were both silent for a moment, glaring at each other; then Daniel slid one hand wearily over his face. “Valoree, we have to—”

“Another deal for you to break?” she asked.

He gave her a hurt look. “Nay. I will not break it. But in return we have to work together. You have to share with me. Everything. Can you do that?”

She stared at him silently, knowing what he meant. She had kept the news of the baby to herself, and she was trying to keep her crew to herself, too. And by doing so, she had shut him out of those portions of her life. It was as if she thought that by compartmentalizing everything, she could hold on to it all.

“I will try,” she said finally.

“That is all I ask,” he assured her, pulling her into his arms and holding her close to his heart.

Valoree stepped out on deck and stretched in delight, her head tipping up to the sun and her eyes closing as she breathed deeply of the fresh sea air.

“Good morning, Captain.” Strong, warm arms closed around her from behind, and a chest pressed against her back. Large hands flattened themselves against her well-rounded stomach.

Smiling at that deep voice in her ear, Valoree lowered her head, her hands moving to rest on Daniel's arms as she leaned into him. “Good morning, Captain,” she whispered back. She gave a sigh—the deeply satisfied sigh of a woman whose life was as good as it could be. These last months had seen everything straightened out. A visit with a doctor to verify her pregnancy had been enough to see both Daniel's grandmother's money, and Ainsley estate, released to
them. That had only left the meeting with the king.

Much to Valoree's pleasure, Daniel had taken her along with him for the royal audience. Too, it had gone much more smoothly than she had hoped. Daniel had explained the matter of Jeremy's death and Valoree's continuation in his stead. She herself had explained the reasons she had not yet delivered the king his portion.

The king had been very understanding. Valoree suspected it was due to the meticulous accounting they had presented to him, and the scrupulous care that they had taken in ensuring his portion was set aside. And the fact that it was easily—and immediately—deliverable surely helped their case as well.

“You, slept well, I hope?” Little butterfly kisses along her throat drew Valoree from her thoughts. She laughed huskily.

“Like a babe rocked to sleep in its mother's arms.” Turning in his embrace, she leaned her stomach into him and pulled his head down for a sweet kiss.

“Mmmmm,” he murmured; then his gaze slid past her. He smiled wryly.

“What is it?” she asked, glancing around.

“The men,” he said, but needn't have bothered. She could see that every single man on deck was watching them with big, silly, self-satisfied grins on their faces. No doubt every single one of them was congratulating himself for his part in her present happiness. And she supposed they had all played a part. For if they had not voted that she marry, then kidnapped the husband of their choice, she wouldn't now be married to the man standing before her. So…let them gloat a bit, she decided, then watched as Daniel placed his hands on her belly. He hadn't been pleased at the idea of this trip. He had refused to come until the spring, claiming that there was little the men could do in the way of building their cottages, repairing Ainsley, and planting their crops until then anyway.

Valoree suspected he had also hoped that the baby would show itself early and that any worry would be out of the way. The men had therefore been stuck traveling between the ship and Thurborne Castle, taking their turns at each place, and suffering horrible boredom through the winter. Come the first sign of spring, Valoree had announced determinedly that they had to get the men to Ainsley. Daniel had agreed, though not happily, and they had prepared the boat to journey around England to the other side. It was the long way there, for certain, but the men had wanted it that way. Not three of them knew how to ride a horse, and traveling wagons had made them all flinch at the thought, so here they were, heading for Ainsley and the lives they had always wanted.

Daniel had claimed that the pirates would get tired of the pastoral life in no time. He felt sure they would be clamoring for their old life ere summer. Valoree half suspected he was right, but the only solution they had come up with was to keep the ship. Should such an event happen and they wished to return to sea, the Thurbornes could arrange for legitimate shipping expeditions that the men could perform.

“You realize that our child is going to be the most spoiled brat in all of England,” Daniel murmured, rubbing one hand gently over Valoree's belly.

Valoree laughed. “And how do you come to that conclusion, husband?”

“Well, just look at these sea dogs. Every single one of them cannot wait for him to be born, and every single one of them thinks he should be the godfather.”

“And every single one of them
shall
be
her
godfather,” Valoree said. At his astonished look, she chuckled. “Think on it. That way, should anything happen to leave her without us, she will have the best help a girl could ask for.”

Daniel shook his head and pulled her into his embrace. “That will never happen.”

“It happened to me,” she murmured solemnly into his chest. His arms tightened around her as if to protect her from the memory of her loss.

“Captain!” They broke apart at once at Richard's shout, both of them turning toward where the other man hung over the crow's nest waving down at them. Both of them called out at the same time, “What is it?”

“A ship! Westward ho!”

Both of them moved to the rail, squinting in the direction Richard was pointing. Indeed, there was a ship, and it was sailing toward them at a fast clip. Valoree's hands clenched, a frown curving her lip. She had a strange feeling…. Whirling away from the rail, she shielded her eyes and peered up at her second mate. “What color's the flag?”

Richard raised the glass to his eyes and toward the oncoming vessel. Valoree knew when he finally lowered the tube that it wasn't good news. “She's flying a black flag, Captain.”

There was a moment of complete silence as the crew absorbed his words. They had never been on the receiving end of a pirate attack before. But for this trip, they were flying England's colors, and the hold was stocked full of furniture, provisions, tools, and seeds. They were carrying everything they had thought they might need to turn Ainsley back into the home it had once been. Riding low in the water from all the weight, they no doubt looked a prime catch.

“What do we do, Captain?” Daniel asked solemnly as the men began to draw nearer. Valoree peered at him in surprise. Despite his claim that they would make their decisions and rule together, and despite his discussing most, if not all, things with her before announcing the decisions they came to, she had truly
thought that at the first opportunity, he would take charge and relegate her to a subordinate position. Instead, he appeared to be putting her in charge and stepping down. Seeing her amazement, he gave a half-smile and shook his head.

“There is no time for our usual discussion here. A decision has to be made and made quickly. And you are the more experienced one in this situation, Valoree. When we encounter a crisis where I am, I will take charge, but right now it is you.” His words were almost gentle. “What do we do? Try to outrun them?”

Pushing her thoughts away for later consideration, Valoree concentrated on the problem at hand. “We're too heavy with all the goods for Ainsley in the hold. We'd never escape.”

There were grunts and nods of agreement from the men, and Daniel seemed to agree. He looked annoyed though. “Then we surrender?”

“The hell we do!” Valoree gave him a stare as though he were mad, an expression the others bestowed on him as well.

“Well, those are our only two options. Outrun them or surrender. What else—”

“We fight,” Valoree announced. The men immediately cheered at the announcement. Daniel was a little less pleased.

“Fight? This ship is full of goods, not weapons, and there are women and children aboard,” he reminded her grimly, his gaze dropping to her belly. Valoree waved him to silence.

“We will not fight outright,” she said patiently. “Though if I were the only woman aboard we might. However, I am not the only woman aboard,” she continued quickly when he began to look quite angry again. “But we are not weaponless.” Turning away from him, she sought Henry with her eyes, and he quickly moved through the men to her side. “Break
open the crates below. Every man gets two flintlocks and a cutlass. And set some men to carting the cannons up here.” Henry started off with all haste, the others following.

“Valoree, I love you. And I know you are the more experienced at this,” Daniel said unhappily. “But your experience is with attacking, not defending. I really think we should just surrender and hope for the best. Our chances—”

“Are quite good, actually,” Valoree interrupted with a grin, her eyes sparkling as she peered around the deck, quickly making plans in her head. “They think we are simply a merchant ship. We are riding low. They'll expect us to have a couple dozen men at most. We have seventy-seven.”

“Seventy-six,” he corrected, glaring meaningfully at her stomach. “And twelve females.”

“Seventy-six men, and
thirteen
women,” she laughed, rubbing her stomach meaningfully. She headed toward the helm, eager to talk to Bull.

Daniel caught her arm and swung her around to face him. “This is serious, Valoree. I do not want you or the other women in jeopardy.”

Sighing, she touched his cheek gently, her smile turning sad. “We already are, husband, and nothing you can do can stop that.”

“But if we surrender—”

“They will kill us. Or worse,” she added quietly. “Have you forgotten what pirates did to my brother and his men?”

“You do not know that these men are the same type.”

“And you do not know that they are not. I would rather not take the chance. Not with my life, not with your life, and not with little Jermina's life,” she added, patting her belly.

“Jermina?” Daniel cried.

Valoree let out a sad little breath. “Nay, hmmm? I did not think so, and truly I do not much care for the name either, but I thought it would be nice to name her after my brother,” she murmured wistfully. She sighed again, then gave a small shrug and turned to continue on toward Bull. Daniel was right at her heels.

“All right. You have convinced me it is too risky to surrender. So what is your plan?”

“I am not sure,” she admitted. Pausing, she turned to see that he had frozen, gaping at her and horrified. “What?” she asked.

“What?” he repeated in disbelief. “You just told me that you do not have a plan!”

“Nay, I—”

“Aye, you did. I heard it quite plainly,” he argued. Valoree rolled her eyes.

“I did not say I did not
have
a plan. I said that I was not sure of it. I am still working it out.” Valoree explained patiently.

“Oh.” Some of his anxiety eased, though not much. “Well, what are you thinking of, then?”

Shrugging Valoree turned away and continued on toward the helm. “I am thinking that we will appear to surrender and allow some of them to board. Then, when they are least expecting it, we will attack.”

“That's it?” he cried, following her to the helm. “That is your whole plan?”

“My lord, the simple plans are usually the most successful,” she said exasperatedly, forcing a smile for Bull's sake as she arrived beside him. “Go as quickly as you can. I know we are weighed down right now, but I want you to get every last bit of speed out of the
Valor
that you can manage.”

“Aye-aye, Captain.”

“Why? I thought we were going to seem to surrender?” Daniel asked worriedly. Valoree had to count to ten to keep from snapping at him.

Once she felt sure she would remain calm, she turned to him with a decidedly forced smile and explained. “If we appear to surrender too easily, without making at least an effort at escape, they will surely become suspicious. Do you not think?”

“Oh, aye,” he mumbled. She shook her head sympathetically.

“Husband, you appear to have difficulty with giving up control of this situation. Mayhap you should go below and have a drink.”

Daniel smiled wryly. “I am not behaving well, am I? Well…” He glanced toward the ship that drew nearer with every passing moment. It certainly sailed under a black flag. “I will try to do better. I trust you. Truly I do. You are an excellent captain. All the men say so.”

“Aye. And I am,” Valoree agreed proudly. “And as captain, I think you would feel better if you have something to do.”

“Aye, mayhap I would,” her husband admitted.

Valoree glanced around. “Why do you not go tell Henry that once he has finished handing out the weapons, I want the crates they were packed in for the trip broken and thrown overboard. In fact, mayhap you could oversee that.”

“Aha.” Daniel nodded. “I can do that.” He started to turn away, then paused and swung back. “But why?”

Valoree almost snapped at him that it didn't matter why; she was captain at the moment and that meant he was to follow orders without question. But then she reconsidered and forced herself to explain. “If we were truly trying to escape, we would attempt to lighten our load by throwing goods over.”

“Ah, so you hope to fool them by throwing the parts of the crates over.”

“Aye. But empty crates would float for a minute or so ere sinking, so you are going to break the crates
into single slats, then have men carry them with the flat and largest sides facing the oncoming ship. And drop them into the water as if they are heavy.”

“Clever,” he said with a sudden grin. “I shall see to it at once.”

“Great.” Valoree felt some relief as he finally walked away, then chuckled under her breath.

“What's so funny?” Bull asked beside her.

“I was just thinking that as much trouble as he is having giving up control in this crisis, I would be worse were it me.”

“Aye,” Bull agreed solemnly. At the rather stiff look she threw his way for agreeing so quickly, he shrugged. “Just look how much trouble we had getting ye married to him.”

Muttering under her breath, she walked away in search of the women.

 

“Oh, God. I should have insisted you stay below.”

Valoree tore her gaze away from the small dinghy paddling toward them across the short span of water separating the two boats, and frowned at Daniel.