Seducer. Kayla Gray

her decision too long. The anchor was raised and the Oxford slipped out of her mooring into the harbor. No one on the docks was rushing toward them, coming to take her away in irons.

      “I take it you are not going to miss Charleston,” Olivia ventured gently.

      Madelaine shook her head slowly. “No, I won’t. I’ve lived here my entire life…but things have changed so much,” she said, placing her hands on the railing next to Olivia’s.

      “Perhaps things will change again and you could come back someday.”

      “I don’t ever wish to come back here,” Madelaine replied.

      “But what about your family?”

      Madelaine swallowed hard but couldn’t answer.

      “You know, you still haven’t told me why you’re leaving Charleston.”

      “The less you know about me, the better you’ll be.”

      “Oh, Madelaine, you are in some kind of trouble,” she whispered, placing her hand on Madelaine’s arm. “You can trust me. I promise I’ll try to help you.”

      “I appreciate that, truly I do. But we’re going to be together for only a short time and I know it would be best that I keep my secrets to myself,” she said, trying to sound less frightened than she truly felt.

      Olivia nodded and smiled gently. “Do you have family in Virginia?”

      “No. I have an aunt and cousins in London,” Madelaine replied, leaving out the fact that she had already decided against that option.

      “You simply can’t travel to London now. The blockades are terrible. And dangerous. You must wait until it’s safer.”

      Madelaine sighed. Olivia was smart. And persistent. “Well, perhaps I can find employment when we reach the island. Which one are we sailing to?”

      “Oh, dear, Captain O’Brian didn’t say and I didn’t think to ask. I’m quite excited—I’ve never been to the islands. I hear they are brilliant with color. But, Madelaine, you simply can’t stay there.”

      “Why not?”

      “Because I know already that I would miss you terribly,” she said, with a kind smile. “Besides, didn’t we already agree that you would accompany me to Virginia?”

      Madelaine attempted to smile and then nodded.

      “The matter is settled, then. You will come home with me. Mother will be as pleased as rose petals to have company. You’ll stay at Riverside for as long as you like.”

      “That’s very kind, but I won’t be able to stay for long.”

      “But why? You don’t have anywhere in particular you have to be, right?”

      “I’m afraid you don’t understand. I know I haven’t explained myself very well. It’s just…I don’t know how to say this, really,” Madelaine said, pushing a curl from her eyes.

      Olivia’s velvety brown eyes filled with concern, a tiny stack of wrinkles forming just between her brows at the top of her pert nose. Madelaine felt she could trust the girl, though she had never given her trust to anyone so quickly.

      “My family…I am alone now. Everything from my past is gone and…well, I must find employment,” Madelaine finished, averting her gaze. She felt her cheeks burn with embarrassment at having to make such a humiliating admission. It wasn’t that long ago that Hartwell House was filled with servants and luxuries of every kind. Olivia would have been her peer.

      “I’m terribly sorry about your family, Madelaine,” Olivia said, draping her arm around Madelaine’s shoulder.

      They looked out over the choppy waves for a few moments in thoughtful silence. The sun warmed Madelaine’s shoulders and the salty breeze lifted her hair off her neck.

      “I may have a solution to both of our situations,” Olivia said, clapping her hands with a smile. “You need employment and I need a companion. My governess is far too busy with my sister to keep up with all of my social engagements. My father wouldn’t have allowed me nearly as much freedom if I hadn’t been dragging the dear woman with me everywhere I wished to go. But I know he would approve if you would accept the position,” she said, with an artful lift of her dark brows.

      “I don’t know….”

      “We’ll go to Market Square and eat at Chowning’s Tavern. We’ll go about Williamsburg as if we hadn’t a care in the world. And as soon as you’ve saved enough money, you can go to London or wherever else you wish to go. See? This is a perfect arrangement, don’t you think? You must accept,” Olivia said, presenting her case with her gloved palms outstretched facing the sun.

      “It hardly seems fair for you to pay me to spend time with you.”

      “But you and I both know it is fair. I understand that you have suffered family tragedy, Madelaine, but that cannot change the station to which you were born. You could never be less than the genteel lady you are. And that is precisely the type of companion my father would insist on me hiring.”

      Madelaine lowered her head and swallowed, feeling relief flood over her guilt. It was a perfect arrangement, indeed. Now, Olivia was acting the part of guardian angel and Madelaine found she couldn’t say no. Nor did she want to.

      “I accept.” She stuck out her hand to shake Olivia’s, setting the deal.

      Olivia laughed and pulled Madelaine into a hug. The petite brunette smiled as if she was used to getting her way. Madelaine hardly remembered a time when she felt like things might actually work out for the best.

      Two sailors coiling rope nearby were talking and their voices carried on the wind to Madelaine. She listened merely to distract herself from thinking of Geoffrey, his lifeblood draining into the Oriental rug.

      “I hear that Angel sank another one,” one man said.

      “That one came straight from hell. He ain’t no angel to us English merchant ships, for sure.”

      “Damn Colonials. Think they’re above the king’s law. They ain’t no better than pirates, takin’ what they want and killin’ like animals.”

      “They are pirates. Can’t get no navy so they just go out and plunder us honest blokes just tryin’ to make a livin’.”

      “General Gage is gonna be mighty grateful for them hundred guns we got hidden in the hold.”

      “Think we’ll really be goin’ to war?”

      “That’s what Cap’n O’Brian said. And the more weapons and ammo we steal from them Colonials, the more we line our pockets.”

      “As long as Angel don’t find us out.”

      “God help us if he does. I heard he tortures everyone before throwin’ ’em overboard and torchin’ the ships. Don’t even give ’em a chance at a trial. He don’t care about the law; he just likes killin’.”

      The other sailor crossed himself and spit a line of tobacco juice in a bucket on the deck. Just then an order rang out and both men dropped the ropes they were coiling. They took off their shoes and shirts and climbed into the rigging to unfurl the last of the sails for more speed.

      Madelaine shivered despite the heat of the morning. Olivia still looked out toward the shrinking coast, unaware of the conversation between the sailors. She wouldn’t tell Olivia that they were on a British ship merely disguised as American. She didn’t want to worry her and there was nothing they could do about it now. At least the captain was flying Colonial colors. She prayed that if the American pirate they spoke of was out there on the water with them, the Oxford would slip by unnoticed until she and Olivia were no longer passengers.

      Chapter Four

      “Ho, Cap’n Angel, thirty degrees, port side!”