After a nerve wracking climb up a wildly unstable rope ladder, Sir George Renfrew swung gratefully onto the deck of the Lovely Lady. To the nearest sailor he said, "I believe that Lord Chandler is expecting me."

"Right this way, sir."

Renfrew followed the sailor across the swaying deck, trying to remember when and where he had last seen his friend Dominick. It must have been five years ago, in Hong Kong. Or had it been in the Sandwich Islands? Somewhere exotic, at any rate, and that night they had become roaring drunk, making toasts to the good old days at King's College. He smiled reminiscently.

The sailor led him to a cabin door, then withdrew. Renfrew knocked and entered when a familiar voice called, "Come in."

Renfrew stepped into the lavishly furnished owner's cabin. "Dominick, old man, how… " His voice cut off abruptly.

In the center of the cabin stood a hulking savage, his face obscured by wild black hair and a riotous beard. He was almost naked, with a crude whale-tooth necklace swinging across his chest and only a loincloth to cover his modesty. Hard muscles rippled beneath his bronzed skin as he stalked across the cabin, a guttural sound vibrating deep in his throat and a stone headed spear in his hand.

For a shocked moment Renfrew considered bolting. Reminding himself that he had bested Malay pirates in the South China Sea, he raised his cane and barked, "What have you done with Lord Chandler, you ugly savage?"

Amazingly, the brute began to laugh. "So I can deceive even you, George," he said in smooth, impeccably upper-class English. "That bodes well."

Renfrew gasped. "My God, is that you, Dominick?"

He looked closer and saw the familiar gray eyes. With a sigh of relief he lowered his cane. "Dare I ask what you are up to this time?"

Dominick waved his friend to the padded bench built against one wall. "I've come a'wooing."

George snorted as he sat and accepted a glass of brandy. "You've been away too long. If you want to win a wife in England, all you'll need is your title and the fortune you made trading in the East. You’ll have to beat women off with a club." In fact, he thought as he examined the other man's powerful body, even the title and fortune wouldn't be needed. Women had always become buttery and wide-eyed around his friend.

"I don't want any woman, but a particular one." Dominick settled into a chair and regarded his brandy glass, his manner utterly at odds with his appearances "Remember the family I asked you to gather information about? The Mayfields?"

Renfrew thought back. It had been over a year since he had made his quiet investigation and sent the results halfway around the world to his friend. "Ah, yes, the eccentric baronet and his spinster daughter. I wondered why you were interested in them." "Not them. Her," Dominick said succinctly.

"You want to court Miss Mayfield?" Renfrew said with surprise. "I've never met her myself, but by all reports she's a dry stick of a female. Hardly your type."

Dominick's eyes flashed. "Roxanne wasn't always a dry stick, I promise you!"

More and more interesting. Beginning to understand, Renfrew remarked, "Sir William is some sort of authority on primitive cultures, isn't he?"

"Exactly." Dominick swirled the brandy in his goblet. "From your report, Miss Mayfield never leaves the estate except in the company of her father. You also found that all letters go to Sir William, and he has long since discouraged her friends from calling." An edge of anger sounded in his voice. "She sounds very near to being a prisoner."

"I wouldn't say that," Renfrew objected. "She is merely a quiet woman who is devoted to her father."

"No," Dominick said flatly. "She's not really like that, but her father has given her no choice."

Obviously there was a story here, but it didn't look like Renfrew would hear it today. "What do you intend to do?"

His friend looked up. "Remember the strange case of Princess Caraboo, about ten or eleven years ago?"

It took Renfrew a moment to place the reference. "As I recall, she was some sort of East Indian princess who had been kidnapped by pirates, then escaped near the coast of England and swam ashore, where she was taken in by a vicar and his wife. But she turned out to be a fraud, didn't she?"

"Correct. In fact, she was a poor Devonshire girl who spent time with the Gypsies, then married a sailor and picked up some Arabic and Malay from him. When he left her, she went off her head and started thinking she was a displaced Asiatic princess."

"An interesting tale, but what has that to do with you?"

Dominick grinned wickedly. "She became quite famous. Experts on primitive cultures came to study her and try to deduce her origins. People would have paid to see her, I imagine."

Renfrew's brows shot up. "You're hoping to lure Sir William Mayfield out to see you?"

"Exactly. From what you learned about the Mayfields, it would be almost impossible to communicate with Roxanne while she is at home, but Sir William would take her with him to investigate an interesting savage." Dryness entered his voice. "I gather that he needs her to take his notes and bring him tea."

"So you're going to walk into the middle of Plymouth dressed like that, and hope that Sir William and his daughter will come racing to meet you," Renfrew said with heavy sarcasm.

"Actually, I have a Polynesian canoe in the hold, and I'm going to paddle it onto a nearby beach." Dominick chuckled. "Let people think that I sailed her all the way from the Pacific. That will bring my quarry in a hurry. Sir William is particularly interested in ancient navigators, I believe. He had a variety of theories, most of them wrong."

"You don't look like any Polynesian I ever met. They don't usually run to beards, their features are shaped differently, and I certainly never saw one with gray eyes."

"How many Britons would know that? No one can prove that I didn't come from an island that hasn't been discovered yet." His eyes gleamed with mischief. "I'll give the experts a dash of Tahiti, a dollop of Sandwich Islands, perhaps a pinch of Samoa, and have them gibbering with confusion. "

"It might work," Renfrew admitted, "though you'll freeze if you prance around in a loincloth in this climate."

"I'll wear my feather cloak if I feel cold," the other man said blithely. "It's most impressive."

Renfrew's eyes narrowed. "'Fess up, Dominick. You didn't invite me here merely so I could admire your clever plan."

"Quite right." Dominick smiled wickedly. "There will be a stir when I'm discovered. Since you live in the area and have traveled widely, it would be quite reasonable for you to come see the wild man. I'll speak a garble of Polynesian languages, and you will profess to be able to understand some of what I say. With the distinguished Sir George Renfrew to certify my savage self, no one will doubt me." He stroked his wild black beard. "In fact, I shall become greatly attached to you and refuse to leave your side. You will become my keeper and protector."

Renfrew's jaw dropped. "Damnation, Dominick, I've turned respectable! Don't try to draw me into one of your mad starts. We're not at Cambridge anymore."

Dominick looked down his aquiline, un-Polynesian nose. "Not respectable. Stuffy. Hard to believe you're the same man who drove a herd of wild pigs through a Jamaican ball after the governor snubbed you."

"He deserved it." Renfrew tried vainly to repress a smile. "It was a most juvenile prank."

"But amusing." Dominick's face became serious. "This is truly important to me, George. I will be eternally grateful if you help. You're the only man I can trust in such a scheme."

Suddenly uncomfortable, Renfrew stared down at his glass, swirling the brandy. He'd been in a bad spot once in Hong Kong, and Dominick had pulled him through it. His friend would not mention that. He didn't have to.

"Very well, I'll help if you wish," Renfrew said slowly. "But are you really sure about doing this? I gather that you fell in love with Miss Mayfield before you left England, but that was a long time ago. You're not the same person now. You may be setting yourself up for a crushing disappointment.''

"Don't think I haven't considered that," Dominick said soberly. "It's true that we were both very young. But there was something between us that was timeless. I believe that it will still be there is I have a chance to meet Roxanne. I must do this."

Renfrew sighed. "Very well. Bring on the canoe!"