Chapter 2

It took a minute for Hestia to catch up with the conversation. She saw the fear on her aunt’s face and went cold inside. “If I die before I marry he gets everything.”

“Or he marries you. Either way he’d get hold of your fortune. Marriage would raise fewer questions than father and daughter dying suddenly and close together.”

Alex’s quietly spoken facts unnerved her. “I don’t know what would be the worse fate. Yes I do, marriage to him would be a slow death. I’d never marry him.”

“He’s the type of man that would not give you a choice. He’d coerce you under pain of death, or worse simply hold you captive, marry you, and after a suitable period of time kill you.”

“I cannot guarantee her safety if she stays here. Who would protect us from Fredrick?” Lady Eliza had a good point. “No one is likely to believe our story.”

He ran a hand through his hair. “It’s just as dangerous taking you with me. No. We have to find another way to protect you.”

His words were true.

Hestia knew how lawless the Mediterranean could be. She still had nightmares about the time she was captured by Turkish pirates when she was younger. If Alex hadn’t come for her…A shudder wracked her frame.

She did not really want to go back to the Mediterranean. But with Fredrick desperate to ensure her father, or anyone who knew what he had done, did not return to England, she would be putting herself in danger again if she stayed.

Coldness came calling even though the fire was roaring in the grate.

“Is there another way? I assure you I’m keen to find one.”

Her aunt merely shrugged. Alex chewed his bottom lip obviously trying to think of a solution. He stood and began pacing. He stopped and seemed about to speak, but then shook his head. He resumed pacing.

“I could simply go into hiding,” she suggested.

He spun to face her. “Where and with whom? Unless we have a valid reason you’ll be ruined. All sorts of scandal will swirl around you.”

“Can’t we clear that up once Father returns?”

“What if he does not return?” he said bluntly. “No one will believe your story.”

Her aunt began to quietly sob. “Your reputation is already tarnished by your capture. The scandal has finally begun to settle down, and you have been receiving honorable proposals of marriage from fine men. Another scandal would put paid to all your hard work.”

Alex stopped pacing and took his seat. “There is our answer. You must marry.”

In one moment Hestia’s world went from trouble to exquisite joy. But it only took one look to realize he was not proposing himself as the groom.

“No.”

Her aunt turned appealing eyes her way. “Lord Barratt offered the day before Fredrick’s news of your father’s death. I’m sure he could be persuaded of the need for a special license.”

“No.” This time she said it more firmly.

“Lord Barratt is an honorable man, a bit short of coin, but he doesn’t have any vices I’m aware of.”

“Then you marry the man,” she said, and shivered with revulsion. He was polite, staid, almost as old as her father, and had the terrible habit of chewing his fingernails to the quick.

Accompanying Alex on the journey was looking a far better solution than a lifetime of revulsion.

Plus there was one upside. The thought of spending so much time in close proximity to Alex thrilled her and pushed her fear aside. He would be there to protect her, and this time she would not do anything foolish, like wandering off to swim privately in a deserted white-sand cove.

“This is not getting us anywhere. I can’t protect my niece here. Fredrick is too devious and ruthless. My brother’s friends are long gone, and being in the wilds of Wales is not a safe place to be.”

Alex seemed to consider Lady Eliza’s words. “It’s likely just as dangerous if she comes with me. Look what happened the last time she was in the Mediterranean.”

“I was young and foolish last time. This time I’m older and wiser. I will obey your commands at all times, and when off the ship I could dress as a man.”

He ignored her and spoke to her aunt. “There is one problem. If both Lady Hestia and I leave London at the same time, won’t Fredrick’s suspicions be aroused?”

“What if I do not leave?”

“I don’t follow.” Both Alex and her aunt looked at her as if she’d gone mad.

“My maid, Mary, can pretend to be me. We look alike. We are both fair haired and the same height. She could go walking in the park with Aunt Eliza, and since we are in mourning I cannot accept any social engagements. With the right bonnet, no one will know differently. If Fredrick has a man watching us he likely does not know me that well. We only need to fool Fredrick for maybe a week or two at the most to give us a head start.”

“Hmmm, your lady’s maid,” Lady Eliza said. “It could work.”

“While that sounds feasible, how will you catch up with me? I can send the ship to Portsmouth on the morrow with one missive. Then I’ll need time to tidy things up here before I leave for Portsmouth via Bedfordshire. If we are to fool Fredrick I have to go home. Then work out some way I can slip away unseen.”

“I’ll come with you. I can go disguised as a man, perhaps a new man of business. With Mary staying here pretending to be me, we should fool Fredrick. If I am still in London and you on your estate, Fredrick may be fooled long enough for us to slip away unnoticed.”

“With my ship leaving Great Yarmouth, and then I leave London, he will watch me like a hawk. He knows you’ll come to me if you have suspicions.” On those words he stood and made his way to the window. He looked down on the street. “There is a man watching the house. Soon Fredrick will know I’ve called on you, if he doesn’t already.”

“Surely he’d know you’d come to give your condolences.”

He turned to face them. “True. I don’t want him thinking anything further. He’s more than likely already sent a ship to find your father.”

Hestia grew cold. “Then we must make haste in our departure.”

She read the indecision on his face. She saw he wanted to protect her from Fredrick, but he was worried about taking her back to a place that was equally dangerous for her. For them both. She remembered hearing the screams of his nightmares as they sailed back to England four years ago. Jacob, his ship’s captain, had told her that Alex had also once been a captive of Murad.

What on earth had Murad done to him?

“We will be prepared this time,” she said quietly.

His eyes found hers and they shared a memory. No one in society, or even her aunt, could imagine what being held against your will, abused, degraded, and terrified was like. Alex could and it was a bond no other person shared with her.

“You will do as I say, stay below deck when we are in port and never leave the ship unless I accompany you.”

The steel in his voice held an edge.

She did not look away but instead stared straight into his eyes. “I will do exactly what you tell me to. I know the penalty I’d pay if I were to be caught again.”

“The pirates will show no mercy. With your fair hair and pale skin they would make a fortune from selling you to the highest bidder, and if they thought you an innocent…”

A shiver ran over her skin, pricking like hail, as she remembered the way Murad had torn her gown from her body. “You don’t need to scare me into behaving, I’m already afraid.”

“You could stay here. I could hire some runners to stand guard.”

She thought about agreeing to stay, but only for a moment. “I’m more afraid of Fredrick than the pirates. It would only take one shot to kill me. The runners can’t protect me from a rifle.”

He nodded and she heard Aunt Eliza give a sigh of relief.

He took his seat once more and said, “Right. This is the plan…”