“That would be me.” Damon stepped forward.
James slowly approached him, and no part of his expression warned that his fist was going to connect so brutally with Damon’s gut, but it did. Once Damon was bent over from that, it was easy for James to follow with an uppercut to the chin.
It happened too fast. Jacqueline screamed, “Father, stop!”
Mortimer snarled, “Bloody hell,” at the first blow and started to interfere, but five of James’s crew were suddenly yanking him back in line, and James didn’t even spare him a glance.
But Jacqueline pushed past her father and dropped to her knees by Damon’s head and tossed back accusingly, “If you’ve broken his jaw, he won’t be able to talk to you!”
“We just had a good talk,” James replied. “When he wakes up, we’ll have it again.”
She growled in frustration at that answer, but her hand was gentle as she patted Damon’s cheek to awaken him. James frowned as he watched her and demanded, “Is that, or is it not, the pirate you named Bastard?”
“It is,” Jeremy answered for her. “But we formed an alliance with him.”
“I gathered something of the sort, since I saw you and your sister on deck without restraints. Which is the only reason he’s still breathing.”
“I’m not saying he didn’t deserve that, but I thought you’d hear him out first.”
“To what point? There was an eyewitness to your abduction,” James said. “Tony caught up with me to give me an account of it.” Then James noticed Percy approaching. “Good to see you’ve weathered this adventure well, Alden.”
“Oh, indeed, Lord M, though I’ve a much better appreciation for my valet now. Going to have to give the chap a raise when I get home.”
“When you get there, do thank your mother and your driver for me. They let my family know what happened near the London Docks.”
Jeremy pulled his father aside to give his own account of that, ending with “Yes, we were utterly foolish to think we could capture him. But he was willing to relinquish his upper hand just to protect Jack from Lacross’s men. And if you have his ransom note, then you know—”
“I don’t have it.”
“Ah, well, that explains it.” Jeremy nodded toward the still-unconscious captain. “He wrote the note this time, requesting a meeting with you in St. Kitts. He took Jack for leverage because he didn’t think you’d cross the ocean again without incentive. Ironically, he wants your help to put Lacross back in prison.”
“This isn’t the way to ask for help.”
“I agree.”
“And I was already going to deal with Pierre.”
“To be fair, he obviously didn’t know that. He got stuck with the pirate’s men this trip, so he had to pretend he was still following the same orders, when he wasn’t—well, he says he wasn’t. I’m not sure what to believe when he never gave any reasons for his own involvement in any of this—though I assume he won’t be so reticent with you. But then the damned pirates aboard wanted Jack for themselves and were making attempts to get at her. The captain was fighting them off, but it was getting close to a mutiny, so he asked for my help in dealing with them.”
“So it was just a temporary truce?”
“To last until you say otherwise.”
James nodded. “Take your sister to The Maiden George. You’re both done with this ship. And try to ignore Tony. He’s been an utter pain in the arse this week since he joined me.”
Jeremy grinned. “I was wondering why he didn’t row over with you.”
“And now you know why I didn’t let him. I know he’s just worried about Judy, but he’s dealing with it by provoking me. Good God, I’m never going through that with Jack.”
“I don’t see how you can avoid—”
“By bloody well denying my blessing to all of her suitors, that’s how.”
Jeremy laughed. “Jack will probably have something to say about that, but at least you won’t find out until next year what a colossal pain in the arse she can be.” Then Jeremy went over to his sister. “Let’s go, Jack.”
She stood up, but reminded him, “I have trunks here that will need to be—”
James cut in, “You packed for your own abduction?”
She swung around to her father. “Of course not. Damon supplied me with clothes and other amenities. He prepared ahead. We didn’t prepare enough. But we’re allies now and—”
“Not anymore.”
She gasped. “Jeremy gave his word!”
“That it would last until I arrived.”
“No, that it would last until Damon gets to talk to you, and then you decide. And not the damned talking you already did with your fists.”
James lifted her chin. “Is this gratitude because he protected you from the pirates on his ship—or more?”
She gave her brother a hard look before she said, “I hated him. I even tried to kill him. But that was before we found out he didn’t really mean us harm. He was just trying to lure you into helping him dispose of Lacross. He didn’t think simply asking you to help would work. Aren’t you the least bit curious why?”
“He’s twice abducted you, poppet. No, there’s nothing he can say to absolve himself of that.”
Despite the endearment, her father’s tone was utterly unrelenting. Even Jacqueline knew not to argue when her father was like this. Yet she still said, “You’ve met him before.”
James glanced down at the unconscious man. “If I have, it wasn’t remarkable enough to remember.”
“It was for him. ‘For reasons better left buried, I don’t like your father.’ That statement of his clearly implies you’ve met before, but he wouldn’t say how he knew you, or from where or when. Yet whatever occurred between you, it affected his decisions in this long chain of events. And as the pawn that was used as the lure, I still want to know why, whether you do or not.” She marched to the railing, climbed over it, and yelled before she disappeared down the ladder, “Don’t hurt his face!”
James tsked before he turned his full attention to Mortimer. “Your captain doesn’t look familiar, but you, on the other hand . . .”
Chapter Forty-Two
DAMON AWOKE BEHIND A wall of iron bars. He pushed himself off the floor where he’d been dumped. The small cell had two benches, a chamber pot, and nothing else. There wasn’t even enough room for him to stretch out. He definitely wasn’t on his ship, but this one was actually moving. The wind that had pushed Malory’s fleet into the calm before changing directions must have veered back and filled the sails. Or had several days passed since the cannon was fired at Damon’s ship? He couldn’t tell how long he’d been unconscious, though his jaw hurt like hell.
Trying the cell door to see if it was locked, he saw two guards blocking the entrance to the little corridor outside the cell. “What’s going on? I demand to be released!” he shouted. “It’s imperative that you fetch Lord Malory!” Neither guard answered his questions or fetched Malory for him, even though he bothered them about it for quite a while. Frankly, he was surprised the man wasn’t there demanding answers of his own, but with the ship so quiet, he guessed it was the middle of the night.
Hours passed and the only sounds he heard were the creaking of the ship and an occasional cough from one of the guards. He wasn’t tired, but he did bend his knees to lie back on one of the benches and must have fallen asleep. Metal clanking against an iron bar woke him, and he shot immediately to his feet when he saw who was making the racket with a dagger.
“Where’s my first mate?” Damon demanded.
“That’s your first question? Really?” But then James answered, “Mr. Bower is still on your ship. Very uncooperative fellow, wouldn’t answer a single question. I got his name from one of your sailors. At least they were cooperative, though they had nothing pertinent to say.”
“Did you hurt him?”
“No, I didn’t see the point—when I have you. However, I left him in command of your ship with the request that he f
ollow us. Quite a slippery fellow. He got away from me once before when he stowed away on my ship on my last voyage to Bridgeport. If he takes the opportunity to sail away now, I won’t stop him.”
“He won’t. Now tell me the point of posting guards here when the door is locked? Surely you don’t think I’m strong enough to bend bars?”
James’s brow went up. “No, but all I hear is yet another question that doesn’t address your own circumstances. Surely you aren’t afraid to ask what I’m going to do with you?”
“Why ask what I already know? I’ve been assured by your children and their friend that this would be a meeting I wouldn’t survive.”
“And yet you forced the meeting anyway.”
“To be honest, I expected to have leverage to discuss the matter with you, but I got on good terms with your children instead.”
“Which sacrificed your leverage. A pity—for you. But one fair answer deserves another. The guards weren’t for you, they were to keep my daughter away from you, of course. Like you, she seems to think your truce has made you friends of a sort, and because of it, she doesn’t want you hurt yet. But since she isn’t going to see you again, she won’t know whether you get hurt. Come out of there.” One of the guards leapt forward to open the door. “This reminds me too much of the time I put my nephew-by-marriage behind those bars.”
“You lock up your own family?”
“He wasn’t family yet. He’d been accused of stealing jewels, falsely as it turned out. You’re accused of stealing my children, which has been proven beyond a doubt.”
“There was a reason.”
“Yes, and you might even get to mention it.” And to the guards: “Bring him to my ring.”
Having witnessed the two Malory brothers in a sporting ring in London, Damon would have guessed what James was referring to, except they were on a ship. But after a short walk, there it was, indeed on his ship, a large sporting ring in the center of the hold.
“The place where I restore my sanity.” James waved his hand at the ring, actually smiling. “And where I drag my brother daily.”
“You hate your brother that much?”
Lifting the ropes to get into the ring, James said tersely, “Don’t be absurd. And don’t be hesitant.” He motioned with his fingers for Damon to come forward. “I think you will prefer this to the other options I’m considering.”
Damon stepped into the ring, but warned, “I won’t fight you.”
“Course you will. You have a bone to pick with me. This is the only chance you’ll get to pick it.”
Damon dodged the first swing by only inches and quickly pointed out, “I know you expect to win this fight and probably will, but what if you don’t?”
“Don’t look so suspicious, youngun. I’d actually be pleasantly surprised.”
“But still kill me?”
James shrugged. “I see no cards on the table yet. You might want to play a few, Captain. You joined Lacross, why?”
Damon dove out of the way of the next swing, rolled, and came up nearly at James’s back. He took his shot, a punch to the side, but the man was built like a brick wall, and his arm swung instantly backward in retaliation, knocking Damon into a corner. Bloody hell, he couldn’t win if he couldn’t hurt the man.
Damon leapt again to his feet, determined now to just stay out of Malory’s reach. “It wasn’t by choice. My father went heavily into debt to send me to England to finish my schooling. For one reason or another, he defaulted on his loans. When I returned home, it was to find nothing left, our home sold, his trading vessel sold. But that wasn’t enough, so they imprisoned him as well. When I tracked him down, I tried to pay off his remaining debts to get him released, but the warden, Peter Bennett, refused to take my money—he wanted something else instead.”
“Let me guess, your father’s in the same prison Lacross was in?”
“Yes, on Anguilla.”
“Bureaucrats don’t usually snub their nose at blunt falling into their laps.”
“Ambitious ones do. Bennett has his eye on the governor’s seat at St. Kitts, which has jurisdiction over the nearby islands of Anguilla and Nevis, too. In order to get his name on the list of candidates to replace the current governor, he has to clean up his own record, as well as accomplish what the preceding governors of St. Kitts didn’t do.”
“Which was?”
“Settle a few outstanding warrants for men who were never captured or proven dead. He also has to remove the blemish on his own record—Pierre Lacross’s escape. He wants Lacross returned to his prison—or proof that he’s dead. He’s very serious about this. He wouldn’t even let me see my father while I was there and won’t, until he has what he wants.”
“He sent you to your death,” James guessed.
“No, he gave me his own ship to use for the task. He wouldn’t have done that if he didn’t expect me to return it and Lacross to him. I have until the end of the year to accomplish the mission.”
“How did you even find Lacross?”
Damon barely ducked the next blow. Malory was trying to corner him against the ropes, likely fed up with Damon’s evasive tactics. If he was going to dance around the man, it had to be in the center of the ring!
“Before I left Anguilla, one of the men named in those outstanding warrants I mentioned walked right into my hands when I was hiring a crew. He either thought enough years had passed that he was no longer wanted, or he was too addled to realize he shouldn’t be using his real name. Twice turned down within the week, he complained that even Lacross didn’t want him, so I bought him a few drinks and he told me exactly where to find my target. But learning that Lacross was also hiring gave me an excuse to approach him and offer my services. I didn’t expect to have to actually work for him, but I saw that he had too many men for me to attack his stronghold with my untrained crew. So I needed time to figure out a way to get him off that island without a fight or kill him if I couldn’t and then escape.”
“The best-laid plans . . .”
“Yes, in this case, they definitely went awry because of Catherine Meyer.”
“The jewel thief,” James said. “Is she really one of Lacross’s bastards?”
“She claims she’s his daughter and had only just found him herself. She spoke to her father at length that day but kept looking at me as she did. And then she approached me with his ‘test of loyalty’ for me and bragged that it was her idea. She said more than anything else, Pierre wanted to kill the man responsible for putting him in prison. But she also had her own agenda. She wanted to prove her worth to the old man, and because I arrived at the island with a ship and crew, she thought she could have me as her lover, help her father get his revenge, and make him rich to boot, all in one trip. But in the end, she only succeeded in making him rich—”
“With my family’s jewels,” James interjected darkly.
“Yes. Unfortunately, she insisted we leave immediately so I had no time to set up or enact a plan to capture her father that night.”
“So to capture one, you must capture many? You don’t think your plan went a little off track?”
“It wasn’t my plan. You think I wanted the delay when it means my father must rot in prison even longer? Lacross didn’t even think we could capture you, which is why he suggested one of your women instead. I didn’t like it, and I never would have given Jack to him, but I expected you to attack once you had her back—but you didn’t do that, you went home instead. And I got blamed for letting her go even though she escaped on her own before I could.”
“Yet you tried again.”
“I wouldn’t have gotten out of his dungeon if I didn’t at least pretend to go along with another attempt. But I got stuck with a full crew of Pierre’s men this time.”
“Not a good year for you, is it? Where is he?”
“I don’t know.”
“Wrong answer.”
Damon couldn’t breathe. Malory had just been toying with him, he realized, letting him onl
y think he could dance around him all night. Doubled over, he gasped out before the next blow knocked him out again, “Wait!”
“I’d rather not” was said drily.
“There’s a man . . . who will . . .”
“Bloody hell,” Malory snarled. “Sit down and catch your breath.”
Damon dropped to his knees first, then lay on his side on the tarpaulin-covered floor. Malory was pacing in front of him, obviously annoyed, though at whom wasn’t clear. By the time Damon was able to sit, he decided the floor might be the best place to stay.
“When I first found the pirate, he was still building his base. When I returned, it was mostly finished and there were a lot more men. When I was let out of his dungeon three weeks later, I saw that the ranks had grown, and his men were packing and tearing down structures because Lacross was moving again. There’s a tavern keeper in St. Kitts who supplies them with rum. I’m supposed to get their new location from him when I return this time.”
Damon tensed when the pacing stopped and James stood in front of him. “My daughter seems to think I should know you. From where?”
“Considering you knocked me out the last time we met four years ago, I’m surprised you don’t remember.”
“I’m never one to turn down a good fight,” James said drily. “Refresh my memory about the one you seem to think we had?”
“You really don’t remember?”
“Should I?”
“I suppose not. It was late at night, the street was dark and we spoke—I spoke, only briefly. I asked you where my mother was. You answered with your fist.”
“That does ring a bell, actually, and you were quite belligerent in the asking, weren’t you? Can you be more specific so we can clear up why you think I know where this woman is?”