Wings of the Morning

  and gritty, but Smokey didn't know when anything had tasted

  so wonderful. After she'd taken a few sips, she looked over to

  see that the other woman had at least picked up her cup.

  "What's your name?" Smokey asked her.

  "Aggie."

  "Why are you in here?" Smokey asked around a mouthful

  of bread Again the older prisoner laughed.

  "Now I can really tell that yer new to this. There's two

  things ya don't ask down 'ere--the first is why yer 'ere, and the

  second is if yer deserve to be."

  "Oh" was all Smokey could think to say as she tried to eat

  slowly.

  "You're an American?" Aggie asked, although it was more

  a statement than a question.

  "Yes" was all Smokey said.

  They fell silent after this small exchange, both now working

  on the food Smokey was nearly done with her bread when

  220

  *D

  she thought she should save some for later. She didn't want to 1

  think about the next two days, but forcing herself to do so, she

  reached to put the small crust into the pocket of her tunic

  "Don't do it," Aggie said, making Smokey aware of the fact

  that she'd been watching her. "Eats it all, or the rats'll come

  lookin' for it."

  Smokey's breath left her in a rush, and she couldn't stop

  the shudder that ran over her frame as her eyes searched the

  dark corners of the cell and cavern. She took the bread back

  out and, after eating it, finished her gruel as well.

  The older prisoner went back to sleep as soon as she was

  done, but Smokey only sat on her pallet, a new shudder

  running over her frame every time she thought of Aggie's

  words.

  ever seen. The landscape was perfect, ana ooin manual Run* Dallas thought they could have used their imaginations and

  been in any number of small villages in Italy.

  The front door was opened without hesitation, and both

  men were greatly encouraged to at least gain entrance to the

  grand home. Only seconds passed, however, before their

  hopes were dashed.

  "Lord Lynne is not here at the moment," a stuffy butler

  informed them, looking down the length of his long, well-shaped

  nose.

  "Can you tell us where he might be?" Dallas questioned

  politely, just barely holding his temper at being treated like a

  commoner.

  "I'm sorry," the man began, not sounding sorry at all.

  Before he could go on, a petite but lovely woman appeared on

  the stairs behind Brandon and Dallas. They turned when she

  spoke in perfect Italian to the servant.

  Brandon, who was fluent in French and German, caught a

  smattering of her words, but missed whether she was pleased

  or angry over their presence. She stared at them a momenf

  before moving down to the floor, across the entryway, and

  222

  into an adjoining room. The butler motioned to the men to

  join her.

  Once inside, the room proved to be a somewhat neglected

  library. Brandon held every one of the myriad questions running

  through his mind. He assumed the woman would need

  an interpreter before they could communicate, but only a

  moment passed before she put that wrong assumption to rest.

  "I wish to know your names, gentlemen," she spoke in

  English, her accent very subtle.

  The men supplied her with the information before she

  took a seat and asked them to join her. They did so cautiously,

  thinking this situation felt a little more bizarre with every

  passing moment.

  "I am Lady Constanza Lynne. Mario tells me you were

  inquiring about my husband"

  Brandon's face showed his shock, and Lady Lynne smiled

  with a bitter twist to her mouth.

  "I can see, Lord Hawkesbury, that you have listened to the

  rumors around London--that I am a bedridden termagant. As

  you see for yourself, I am not bedridden, and as for the charge

  of shrew, let us just say that at times I have cause."

  "Please excuse my behavior, Lady Lynne/' he apologized

  immediately. "We are looking for your husband Can you help

  us find him?"

  "Why do you wish to see him?"

  Brandon answered without hesitation. "He was arrested

  just days ago for piracy and has since then been freed An

  American woman, a friend of mine, has now been arrested for

  the same charge. I wish to question your husband myself as to

  whether or not he had a hand in the matter."

  "This woman--she is accused unjustly?"

  "Yes, she is."

  The regret they saw in her eyes was very real.

  "I wish you would tell me everything."

  Brandon hesitated then, knowing he could not sugarcoat

  the truth in any way and wondering if that was fair to her.

  223

  "Please," Lady Lynne beseeched him softly when she saw

  his reluctance.

  Brandon nodded and began. He explained the pirating of

  his own ships and how he had come to meet Smokey. Dallas

  took over whenever the story moved to the seas and shared

  his knowledge of Smokey's capture. Brandon recounted a few

  details of the case he was building and also informed her in

  no uncertain terms that her husband would answer to the

  charges.

  Constanza listened without comment. Neither man had

  spared details, and even though they were both calm, she

  could see that the woman, this American sea captain, meant a

  great deal to them.

  "This Captain Simmons--you say my husband abducted

  her?"

  "That is right," Dallas told her.

  "Is she all right?" the woman asked with genuine concern.

  Both men were amazed that she didn't seem to doubt a single

  one of the allegations against her husband

  "When we saw her last, yes, she was well, but prison is--"

  Brandon let the sentence hang and shrugged regretfully. "Can

  you help us, Lady Lynne?"

  She hesitated for only a moment. "I am speaking the truth

  when I say I do not know the whereabouts of my spouse. I wish

  that I did"

  Brandon's and Dallas' disappointment was obvious. Thinking

  she would be a lead, they had spent valuable time here only

  to again encounter another dead end They both stood, Brandon's

  voice a bit curt as he excused them.

  "I won't ask you to report him should he come home-- that might not be fair. We must take our leave now."

  Dallas did little more than nod in Lady Lynne's direction

  as they both started toward the door. Brandon's hand was on

  the knob when Lady Lynne stopped them with a few words.

  Brandon turned back and nailed her with a look and one

  question.

  "Can you explain what you just said to me?"

  224

  Constanza swallowed hard and nodded. She gestured

  with a slim hand for the men to be reseated. Brandon and

  Dallas didn't leave the Lynne library for another two hours.

  When they did leave, they talked of nothing but the case

  all the way back to London. On entering the city, they went

  directly to the Tower in order to inform Smokey of the newest

  informat
ion. Both men were momentarily silent with shock

  to learn that she had been moved the night before.

  After recovering, Dallas watched once again as Brandon

  went into action, this time to locate her. Dallas had to fight

  panic such as he had never experienced before, when, after

  several hours, Brandon told him that not even he could find

  out who had moved Smokey or where she had been taken.

  The day after Aggie and Smokey had been fed someone

  else came down the caverns with a light. Smokey's heart

  leaped with hope that there would be more food, but a darkly

  cloaked figure, hood pulled completely over his head, stopped

  outside the cell.

  The Jailer held his lantern high, and both Aggie and Smokey

  squinted and turned away from the bright assault. Smokey

  was still squinting when the keys rattled and the door swung

  open.

  From her place on her pallet, the man looked huge as he

  entered Smokey could not think who would be coming to see

  her. Brandon or Dallas would not have been so mysterious.

  The big man hung the lantern on a nail and spoke over his

  shoulder to the guard

  "Leave us."

  Smokey stiffened at the sound of his voice and used what

  was left of her quickly fading strength to come off the pallet

  and move against the far stone wall. Her breath quickened as

  fear pounded in her chest.

  225

  "This place does not t Cx/df your beauty and

  talents, my dear. Already I ca*/ -** (^/taking a toll."

  The hood came off then, ana auiokey stared into the face

  of her abductor, his smile and scar still in place

  "What do you want?" she asked softly.

  "What I've always wanted--you."

  "Get out," she ordered him, but he only smiled

  "I should have known a woman of your spirit would need

  more time, but I hoped."

  "Hoped for what?"

  "Why, that you would see reason, my dear." He spoke as

  though addressing a slow child "My offer still stands. I want

  you and the Aramis. I'll have you out of here in an hour, and

  we'll be married by the week's end"

  Smokey's lip curled in disgust, but Haamich Wynn only

  smiled.

  "Will we live with your wife, or have a home of our own?"

  Smokey's voice dripped with scorn, and the smile vanished as

  if by magic. The pirate's face contorted with rage as he came

  toward her. She tried to move away, but he was too fast and the

  room too small. He grabbed Smokey and hauled her against

  him.

  "Who have you been talking to?"

  "Don't touch me," Smokey nearly spat at him.

  With a near growl of rage, Haamich moved and a knife

  appeared, an evil-looking blade that made the breath catch in

  Smokey's throat.

  Aggie came alive upon seeing that blade, but he ignored

  the insults and threats she rained on him in her weak voice.

  Smokey closed her eyes in terror, certain that he was about to

  slit her throat.

  Smokey gasped, and her eyes flew open again when he

  grabbed her hair and gave a great pull. She stared in horror as

  he stood back and held all two feet of her braid up before the

  lantern's light.

  "I always get what I want, my dear." The man's voice was

  so genial that Smokey felt chilled to the bone. "Think about

  226

  my offer, will you? iowecj harxj .light cut something off that

  won't grow back." the men .

  With those words ik,.,, -, Camming the door behind him

  and taking the lantern and Smokey's braid back down the

  cavern. Smokey sank onto the tick, her hand going to the hair

  that was now falling into her face.

  Like a woman in a dream she felt around to the back of her

  neck. He'd cut her hair off at the nape. Smokey hadn't shed one

  tear since she had been thrust into this cell, but she now

  bordered on the edge of hysteria.

  As she collapsed face first onto her pallet, the sobs began

  from deep in her chest and came to the surface as harsh

  weeping. Smokey cried as she never had before, aware of

  nothing but the pain of isolation and abuse. Smokey barely

  noticed when Aggie used what little strength she had left to

  crawl on her belly from her own flea-infested tick. She came

  to clumsily pat Smokey's shoulder and offer words of sympathy.

  G/llMl/~G/fiM0

  both men were spent after their futile search for Smokey.

  They talked for a long time, or rather Dallas talked and Brandon

  listened He shared from his heart concerning the panic

  he felt when they had found her gone, and then the men took

  time to pray, turning the evening into a time of spiritual

  renewal.

  Just before the men turned in, Brandon told Dallas of his

  only remaining worry concerning the case. That was Smokey's

  ledger books. He knew them to be in the hands of a magistrate,

  and Brandon worried that they might have been altered

  The charge of piracy seemed outrageous, but if Smokey's

  trading was too good to be true, the judge might sentence her

  for pirating on her own or as an accomplice.

  "Then you'll have to sail the Aramis" Dallas told him.

  "What was that?" Brandon questioned him, wondering

  why he had never thought of it.

  "I said, sail the Aramis yourself. Then you'd understand

  how she does it. You've never been on a ship so sleek and yare,

  Hawk. I tell you it's like nothing you've ever seen."

  Brandon nodded, his mind going a hundred miles an hour.

  Til do it," he finally said

  228

  The next morning Brandon and Dallas left the town house

  after breakfast. They visited the home of an old family friend,

  and not long after he headed with them to the House of Lords.

  Once again, Dallas watched with fascination as Brandon's

  power and position seemed to melt all obstacles and yield him

  incredible privileges. It took the better part of the day, but

  with very little fuss he was able to pull the Aramis out of

  confiscation and sail her.

  With only a skeleton crew, both men sailed away from

  London with the late afternoon tide. Dallas played the part of

  mate and enjoyed watching Brandon's face as he stood on the

  deck of the Aramis for the ride of his life.

  It took some time for Brandon to notice Dallas' scrutiny,

  and when he did, the young duke only grinned like a boy

  caught in the pantry.

  "Smokey doesn't want to sell, does she?" Brandon cheerfully

  wished to know.

  "I doubt it, but even if she did, I somehow think Sunny

  might have a few things to say about it."

  Brandon's brows rose in dismay, and Dallas laughed as a

  shudder shook his friend's frame. The diversion was pleasant

  as so much of their time had been spent fighting anxious

  thoughts of Smokey.

  They weren't out for long. Brandon had been given a time

  limit, and he had seen enough. Dallas had been right about the Aramis; Brandon didn't know when he had sailed a finer

  craft.

  They talked about the ship at length on the way back to the

/>   town house and were pleasantly surprised to find that Sunny

  and Sterling had arrived in their absence.

  "I got to thinking that this might continue on for some

  time and just knew I had to see you," Sunny told Brandon as

  soon as he walked in the door. Brandon, always happy to see

  his wife, took her in his arms.

  Dallas moved into the study to give them a moment's

  privacy. The door was open, however, so when young Sterling

  229

  joined his parents, Dallas heard every word of their reunion.

  Suddenly his thoughts were on his sister.

  He had given her little thought in the uproar with Smokey,

  but as he contemplated the date, he realized she might already

  be a mother. His musings caused him to pray for her. He asked

  God to bless her and keep her safe whether she was still

  waiting, had already given birth, or was even this minute in

  the process.

  Jenny nearly wept from her place on the bed when she saw

  Tate come back into their room and straight to her side.

  "You were gone so long," she gasped

  "I'm sorry, but I couldn't find the doctor. I rode all the way

  to Willa's and brought her back."

  Jenny's eyes widened as she looked around her husband to

  the older woman near the door. Jenny didn't know Willa

  beyond Smokey's loving description of her, but the sight of

  Willa's serene features was enough to cause Jenny to forget

  some of her fears. She would have told Willa all of this, but

  another contraction hit.

  She gasped as it grew in intensity and was hardly aware of

  the way Willa came to her side, giving words of instruction

  and gentle encouragement. When the pain began to ease,

  Jenny spoke.

  "I've never done this before, and I'm afraid something is

  wrong."

  "Nothing is wrong." Willa had already checked her and

  spoke in confidence. "And you're doing just fine. Your husband,

  on the other hand, is about to faint. Send him away, Mrs.

  Pemberton, or I'll have two of you to nurse."

  Jenny's eyes met those of the man she loved, and her smile

  was gentle in her flushed face. Tate's smile, however, was very

  pained, and try as he might he could not stop sweating.

  230

  "Go downstairs, Tate, unless I call you." Jenny released

  him, feeling calm now that Willa was there.

  Thinking his place was with Jenny, Tate hesitated, but just

  then another contraction hit. With a walk that closely resembled

  a trot, Tate hit the door. He was shaking so badly