CHAPTER 22
Anne
Wandering through the house the next morning, Anne found Teach in his father’s library. He sat at the desk, tracing the wood grain with his thumbnail, but stood as she entered.
There was no sign of Drummond.
“What do you plan to do today?” Teach asked, leaning against the corner of the desk.
“I thought I might go back to the city.” It had taken her a while to fall asleep, even after Teach had brought her the book. She’d been too distraught over the charges against him. If Drummond didn’t find some way to have them dropped . . . Anne didn’t even want to think about what might happen. No, she had to continue to believe in Drummond’s abilities, for herself as well as for Teach.
For the first time in her life, she liked to think she had a friend. She admired Teach’s intelligence and his drive. She envied his confidence and his ability to listen to others.
Of course, she also couldn’t deny her attraction to him. Last night, when he’d given her the book, she’d been very aware of him as a man. And more than once she’d caught a certain gleam in his eyes, one that betrayed a deeper emotion than simple friendship.
In order to put some distance between them, she had decided to return to the city for the day. Every time she saw a glistening candlestick or spoon, it weighed on her. It was one thing to steal from Richard Drummond, a cold, heartless master, but it was something else to steal from the man who had opened up his home to her.
She also hoped to hear more about the charges against Teach.
“You should go. There’s no reason for both of us to suffer. You are free to leave as you choose,” Teach said.
Anne walked toward the desk, her skirts rustling. She knew she should leave, but his voice alarmed her. She’d never heard him so despondent. “In a few days you shall be free to leave as well.”
A wry smile touched his lips. “If only I had as much faith in my father as you do, Anne.” His voice was soft and tender, the sound of her name a caress.
“He obviously has faith in you. Otherwise he would never have agreed to let you spend the year at sea.”
“He agreed to let me go only because I threatened to join the navy.”
“You didn’t,” she gasped.
“Oh, but I did. Not that I would have followed through with it, but my father didn’t know that. I’d sooner stay on land than be part of the Royal Navy.”
Anne had heard rumors about life aboard naval vessels. “Is it as bad as they say?”
Teach nodded, his mouth turned down. “They’ll take anyone, willing or not, and will use royal press gangs if necessary. On a naval ship, they rarely stock enough food and water. The only thing possibly worse is life aboard a merchant ship.”
“Not my father’s ships,” Anne said. “I saw the way he kept them.”
“No, not your father’s ships. Andrew Barrett was the exception.”
She noticed he didn’t say anything in defense of Drummond’s fleet. “I’m sure your father’s aren’t terrible either.”
“How many of my father’s ships have you seen?” Teach asked, his eyes narrowed.
Anne flushed. “None. But how bad could they truly be?”
“It depends on the captain. Anyone foolish enough to speak out on a merchant ship will most likely be punished. The same on any naval vessel. But if the crew of a pirate ship doesn’t like their captain, they won’t hesitate to select a new one.”
“I felt pity for those men I saw yesterday, for the waste and ruin of their lives. It almost sounds as if you respect them.”
He leaned back, crossing his long legs in front of him. “I don’t respect them, but neither can I judge them too harshly. If I were put in the same situation, I’m not so sure I would act differently.”
“You would not become a pirate,” Anne said, shaking her head. “They act without authority. They’re scoundrels and crooks—”
“And is your brother so very different?” Teach asked. “I’ve seen some rather questionable characters who claim to be educated and well-bred act far more maliciously than any pirate. Nobles claim that the poor and uneducated cannot govern themselves, yet I’ve witnessed destitute men do just that, obeying their own laws like a priest obeys the word of God.”
Any further argument Anne might have made was forgotten. A high-pitched scream sounded from the courtyard outside, and Anne rushed to the window, noticing a dust cloud churning near the barn.
It took her a moment to realize that it wasn’t due to the wind. Two figures wrestled on the ground, while Mary and Margery stood nearby, both of them shrieking at the men to stop.
Teach was already out of the library when Anne picked up her skirts and rushed after him. He strode through the house and out the back door, toward the commotion, his expression grim. Anne recognized only one of the participants, Tom, the young groom, his shirt torn and his breeches covered in dirt.
The other individual was a stranger, but he was strongly built. Teach grabbed his arm in an effort to pull him off the prone figure of the groom, but his efforts were rewarded with a fist to the gut. Teach doubled over, and Anne rushed to his side.
Mary sobbed, clutching her apron. “Stop it! Stop it, I tell you!” she cried.
It didn’t take a stretch of the imagination for Anne to realize that the other person must have been John, Mary’s beau. If someone didn’t act fast, who knew if the fools would stop.
Anne raced to the barn and grabbed a pail full of water. Charging out into the fray once more, she flung the contents onto the combatants. The force of her swing sent her flying, and she landed on her backside, next to Teach.
Everyone else froze, as if they, too, had been doused. Too shocked to move, Anne simply sat there. Teach heaved her to her feet and wrested the bucket from her hands. He turned on the two men—boys, Anne quickly told herself, for they couldn’t have been more than three years her senior—and dragged them apart. Water was dripping down their shirtfronts.
“What happened, John?” Teach demanded, looking between the two.
John pointed a thick finger at the groom. “I caught him taking liberties with my Mary,” he snarled, a pained look on his face.
Anne’s heart ached for him.
Teach turned in the direction of the plump maid. “Is this true?”
Mary twisted her mouth, clearly trying to think of a way out of her present situation.
It was enough of an answer for John. He lunged for the groom once more, but this time Teach was ready. He grabbed John around the shoulders from behind, leaning back to prevent the two of them from toppling over. “You are both dismissed,” he said to Tom and Mary through clenched teeth, struggling to hold John back.
Margery, seeing the need to intervene, pushed Mary toward the back door. “You heard him. Mr. Edward says it’s time for you to go.”
Tom stood there for a moment. “But his father hired me—”
Teach’s face was bright red from exertion. “Go now!” he bellowed.
It took Tom less than two minutes to gather his belongings and leave the property. Mary quickly followed suit, in a rush to catch up to him. She left without so much as a good-bye in John’s direction.
Teach released John slowly, his back tensed in case he needed to intervene again. He needn’t have worried. John’s shoulders slumped forward, his face crumpling with grief.
Although Anne had never lost a beau, she felt an overwhelming amount of sympathy for the young man. She could not imagine how he must feel, watching his love walk away with another.
On the other hand, she was relieved that Mary was gone. The girl had always been trouble.
Anne turned, wanting to give John some semblance of privacy. Her eyes met Teach’s, and she saw the same emotions she felt mirrored in his.
“I’ll go see about some food,” she said to no one in particular. At the door to the house, she cast one last look over her shoulder. Teach spoke quietly to John as the first few drops of rain fell from the pewter sky.