Once Upon a Midnight Sea (32 page)

Christian's brow furrowed. Adriana listened along, too stunned to speak. Her father had orchestrated the rescue?

"We all believed Gilbert had perished on Devil's Island until his letter came. Edmund knew you would want to rescue our father but that you would never willingly accept his help. He told me to let you have the ship, to let you believe you'd stolen it." Henri turned and gazed across the water. "But he didn't expect Adriana to be aboard when you did. That must be why he's come after us."

"Because the one thing that hasn't changed is my betrothal to Preston Weiss."

All eyes fell on Adriana. She gazed over each of their desperate faces. Gilbert had gone through so much, only to risk his fragile future again. If they were discovered, not only he, but Christian as well, would be sent to prison. Henri too.

"Henri, drop the jolly boat," she said with a quaking voice. In the distance Windfall grew larger. She was closing fast.

Christian took her by the arms. "What are you planning?"

She looked up at him and her resolve wavered. She took a deep breath and forced herself to say what she knew she must. "Christian, take your father below. It is me they want. You cannot risk their coming aboard."

His hold on her arms relaxed, but he didn't let go. His brows knit as if he sought an argument, but couldn't find one. She realized she wasn't the only one dying inside; he truly did love her.

"Adriana, don't do this."

"I must." A part of her soul turned as brittle as glass and felt as though it were about to shatter. She should never have believed she could change her fate. "Preston will do whatever he must to see our wedding goes through. He doesn't care about any of this. If I go with them, they will forget about you."

He pulled her into his arms. "I won't let you."

She looked into his pale eyes. They were so consumed with misery her resolve began to crumble. She pulled away. "Henri, quickly. Before it is too late."

After a moment's hesitation, Henri went to the starboard side and readied the winch. Adriana reached into her pocket for the last remaining sapphire and pressed it into his palm. It was the centermost and largest gem from the necklace. "It is all that is left, but I want you to have it." She glanced at Gilbert. "Take care of your father."

Christian grabbed her and hauled her against his chest. "Wait."

"No." She pulled away. "You knew we could never be."

He jerked away as if she'd burned him. "We can be what you want us to be."

Adriana's eyes drifted closed as she warred with herself. Leaving him was the hardest thing she had ever tried to do, but she had no choice. When she opened her eyes again, the bruises the guards had inflicted on him made her wince. She had to protect him.

"
Au revoir
, Christian."

The shock slowly faded from his face and his expression hardened to granite. He turned away. "Goodbye, Miss Montague."

She felt as though she'd been stabbed with a glowing hot blade.

Mrs. Bailey shuffled over to Henri. "Help me, you old fool. You know I don't do well climbing about in these little boats."

Adriana walked to the hoist on leaden feet. "Mrs. Bailey, you must stay here."

Her chaperone turned around, eyes wide with surprise. "You can't mean..."

Something in Mrs. Bailey's eyes made her uncomfortable. She didn't trust the woman not to let the secret slip.

"I do." Adriana gently embraced her. "I won't need a chaperone. I'm to be married, remember?" She smiled and swiped at her eye, fearing a tear might fall. "Your place is with Henri. Father will reward you well. Both of you."

"I must be with you. I wish to see you married."

She fought to stay rigid as a wave of dizziness rushed through her. "You do not want to see the future in store for me." Adriana turned away to hide the tears welling in her eyes and climbed into the boat. "Mr. Dupree, it has been a pleasure."

He kissed her hand. "Until we meet again."

Ollie ran to the railing. "Adriana, don't go. I'll miss you."

She leaned over and kissed his cheek. "You will see me again, soon. I promise."

Adriana never knew heavier misery as the jolly boat touched the ocean and drifted away from Lady Luck. She put the oars in the water and somehow mustered the strength to row.

She kept her eyes on Lady Luck but Christian didn't turn around again. She blinked away the hot tears that turned the sea between them to a shimmering blur. How could he be so cold? Didn't he know she was only protecting him?

Behind her the sounds from Windfall drew nearer. She heard Preston's whiney voice as he barked out orders to the crew.

Someone threw a rope to her and pulled her the rest of the way to the ship. A rope ladder smacked the hull.

"You'll have to climb up," a strange deckhand called down. "The davit arm is broken." He was coarse in manner, with tattered clothes and brown teeth. He offered a grimy hand as she climbed on deck, but Adriana refused.

Preston and his older brother, Charles, approached across the deck. Neither smiled. She looked left and then right, seeking Captain Hollingsworth.

"Where have you been?" Charles demanded. "You've caused us a serious inconvenience, you little tramp."

"This running off of yours is most inappropriate," Preston added with an indignant sniff, as though he wanted to prove to his brother it was his right to reprimand her. "You will have to learn it is unacceptable of a wife to do such things."

Adriana shuddered at the mere suggestion. "Where is my father?"

Only now did Charles smile, but it was menacing. "Below. He's quite anxious to see you." He flipped his hand with exaggerated politeness.

"Where does that bloke think he's going with my ship?" Preston demanded in a childish voice. He planted his fists on his hips.

Adriana glanced across the water to Lady Luck one last time. Her sails billowed as she moved away. High in the rigging, Ollie waved a slow farewell. One figure alone was visible on deck. Henri.

Goodbye, Christian, my one true love
, Adriana whispered to herself.

"Come along." Charles took her roughly by the arm.

Adriana jerked away. "Unhand me. What right have you to order me about?"

"You'll soon find I have all the right I need." He seized her again and dragged her toward the hatch. She noticed a stranger at the wheel. Someone she didn't know was captaining Windfall.

What bargain had her father arranged to make them come after her? She collected her courage, determined to make him understand her feelings. She still loved him dearly, but her respect had faded such that she now felt herself more principled than him.

But I stole a prisoner out of jail because I felt my own reasons were valid
, she thought as she descended into Windfall's dark belly.
Perhaps I am more like him than I'd thought. Still, I will give him no choice but to hear me
.

The ladder squeaked under Preston's weight as he followed them below. "Be sure and make her comfortable," he called in a mocking tone. Someone in the dark shadows near the galley laughed a malicious cackle.

The lower section stank, and was cluttered with refuse. Whoever was in charge of Windfall was taking poor care of her.

"In here," Charles said, jerking her to a stop when she started toward the main cabins. He shoved her into a crewman's berth and Adriana stumbled to her knees.

* * *

"Adriana." Her father sat in an infirmary chair wedged into one corner of the tiny cabin. The chair twisted and then stuck as he tried to wheel it toward her.

Adriana jumped to her feet and rushed over. "Father!"

"Isn't that superb," Charles sneered. He and his pudgy brother filled the doorway.

Her father was thinner than she'd ever seen him. A scruffy, silvered beard grew in oddly around the scar on his cheek. The clothes hung off him, soiled and wrinkled as though he'd been in them for days, and his hair was oily and unkempt.

"What have you done to him?" She knelt beside him and rested her hand on his knee. "Father, are you hurt?"

His bloodshot eyes rose nervously to Charles and Preston, as if he were afraid to answer. He forced a thin smile. "Please, some bread."

Adriana stood and whirled around. "When has he last eaten?"

"He won't need to eat. And neither will you." Charles clucked his tongue. "Such a tragedy. You and your father both perished in that awful storm. Thank goodness you and my brother were already married."

Adriana started forward, fists clenched. Charles shoved her backwards into the room, sending her sprawling. "I've heard about you, you little wildcat. Too bad I can't have you around to tell your tale. I would like to have a taste of you myself." His greasy glance slithered across her body. "Perhaps I shall indulge before you drown."

Preston gave a snort. "She is to be my wife, if anyone is to taste her treats, it shall be me."

She shuddered again, then a deeper terror set in as she grasped the full meaning of what Charles had said. He planned to murder her and her father! "You will never get away with this." She pointed her finger accusingly. "People know I survived the storm."

"Ha. Who will believe a salty old sea captain, that drunken Bromley Ranklin or his laughing-stock of a son?" Charles crossed his arms and leaned against the doorjamb as if he had not a care in the world. "With your money, I shall be so rich no one will ever question me."

"
We
shall be so rich," Preston corrected him.

Charles cast an indifferent gaze at his brother. "Of course. Go prepare for your wedding. Get the papers and we shall finish this immediately." Charles turned, giving a last order to someone lurking in the shadows of the hall. "Stand watch. We wouldn't want her to give you the slip again, now, would we?"

Preston scurried off and in his place, the hulking figure of John Locke crowded the doorway.

* * *

Mrs. Bailey had become uncharacteristically quiet. She sat in one of the built-in padded benches near the galley with a book in her hand, but her gaze was on Christian, watching him through narrowed eyes as he paced back and forth.

"This is insane." He threw up his hands and turned back across the narrow galley. "She didn't want to go. They can't make her!"

"You know she had no choice," Henri argued. "You've come so far, got everything you set out for. You want to risk your father's freedom now?"

Christian paced away, hiding the anguish seizing his features. He had set out to steal Lady Luck and Starry Night, using the necklace to buy his father's freedom and the ship to sail to a new life. He'd gotten all those things, yet now he wanted something more.

Adriana
. He wanted her more ferociously than he'd ever wanted anything before. His desire for revenge was forgotten. He'd hardly given Edmund Montague a thought in weeks; not since that fateful day when he'd laid eyes on her for the first time.

"Turn this ship around. We're going after her. She risked her own life to save me, and now I turn my back on her? I cannot leave her to a fate she dreads."

Mrs. Bailey set down the book she'd been holding and clutched the reticule hanging at her waist.

"You cannot do that." Henri no longer sounded fraught, but resolved.

Mrs. Bailey released her reticule. Her hand drifted back to her book again.

"Why not?" Christian demanded angrily. As if anyone had ever stopped him from doing exactly what he wanted before. No one ever had, and no one ever would.

"If you do, Adriana will lose everything."

* * *

John Locke sat on his bunk with his legs crossed. He pretended to read his bible, but his nervous gaze kept straying to Adriana. She sat quietly beside her father, glaring at him.

"I don't know why you bother with that," she said, steely cold. "Nothing can save your soul now."

He stood and paced to the small table by the door, then to the round portal. She held him under an icy gaze the entire time, her expression emotionless. It was working. The man was on edge. Good. He should fear an eternity in hell for what he'd done.

He glanced at her and grimaced as though her anger stung him, then stalked across the cabin and pounded on the door. "Let me out. I want some air."

The bolt slid free from the outside. John Locke cast one uncomfortable glance behind before slipping out of the tiny cabin.

Adriana jumped up from her chair and knelt beside her father.

"Adriana, 'ell me what happened." he whispered.

"A grand adventure." She managed a brief smile. "But it is over now."

"Gilbert?"

Now her smile came easier. "He is safe."

Her father's eyes drifted shut. "'hank the Lord."

"Tell me about him. About you."

"Oh Adriana, I suspec' you already know." His gaze drifted to the floor. "I was so ashamed. I wanted so much for you 'o have all you could in life, without tha' burden following you. Can you ever forgive me?"

To hear him say as much, to erase the mystery and admit the deception, lifted an invisible weight off her shoulders. He was still her father, still the man she loved with all her heart, still the man she'd always known.