“You don’t really think that will work again, do you, Georgie?”
Georgina poked her head over Clinton’s desk where she’d been trying to break into the locked drawer. Drew was standing there, shaking his dark golden head at her. Boyd stood next to him, looking baffled over Drew’s question.
Georgina stood up slowly, furious that she’d been caught. Double-damn, she’d been so sure they’d all gone to bed. And Drew was too discerning by half, having guessed what she was up to. She brazened it out anyway.
“I don’t know what you mean.”
“Aye, you do, sweetheart.” Drew grinned at her. “Even if you got your hands on it, that vase becomes insignificant next to what that Englishman did to you. Warren would sacrifice the vase rather than let Captain Hawke go.”
“I wish you wouldn’t call him that,” she said, wearily dropping into the chair behind the desk.
“Am I hearing this right?” Boyd demanded. “You want to let that blackguard go free, Georgie?”
Her chin rose a notch. “What if I do? All of you have overlooked the fact that James came here because of me. If he hadn’t, he wouldn’t have been recognized by you and Thomas, wouldn’t be locked in the cellar right now. Do you think my conscience could bear it if he goes to trial and gets sentenced to hang?”
“He could also be cleared in a trial if Thomas has anything to do about it,” Boyd pointed out.
“I’m not taking that chance.”
Drew’s brows narrowed speculatively. “Do you love him, Georgie?”
“What nonsense,” she scoffed.
“Thank God.” His sigh was quite loud. “I’d truly thought you’d lost your senses.”
“Well, if I did,” she retorted stiffly, “I’ve thankfully regained them. But I’m still not going to let Warren and Clinton have their way.”
“Clinton couldn’t care less that he’s the infamous Hawke,” Drew said. “He just wants him never to darken our door again. He’s still smarting that he couldn’t get the better of him.”
“Neither could you two, but I haven’t heard you calling for the rope.”
Boyd chuckled. “You’ve got to be kidding, Georgie. Weren’t you watching the man? We were so outclassed, it was a joke even trying to take him on. There’s no shame in losing to someone that skilled with his fists.”
Drew just smiled. “Boyd’s right. There’s a lot to admire in the man, if he weren’t so—so—”
“Antagonizing? Insulting? Disparaging in his every remark?” Georgina almost laughed. “I hate to be the one to tell you, but that happens to be the way he is all the time, even to his close friends.”
“But that would drive me crazy,” Boyd exclaimed. “Didn’t it you?”
Georgina shrugged. “Once you get used to it, it’s kind of amusing. But as habits go, it’s a dangerous one, since he simply doesn’t care if he rubs someone the wrong way…like tonight. But regardless of his habits, or his past crimes, or anything else, I don’t think he’s been dealt with fairly by us.”
“Fair enough,” Boyd insisted, “considering what he did to you.”
“Let’s not bring me into this. You don’t hang a man for seducing a woman, or you’d both be in trouble yourselves, wouldn’t you?” Boyd had the grace to blush, but Drew just grinned maddeningly. “I’ll put it another way,” Georgina continued, giving Drew a disgusted look. “I don’t care if he was a pirate, I don’t want him to hang. And his crew should never have been brought into it, either. He was right about that.”
“Maybe so, but I don’t see what you can do about it,” Boyd replied. “What you’ve said isn’t going to make the least bit of difference to Warren.”
“He’s right,” Drew added. “You might as well go to bed and hope for the best.”
“I can’t do that,” she said simply and slumped back in her chair.
She was starting to feel that insidious panic again that had brought her in here to try desperate measures. She forced it back. Panic didn’t help. She had to think. And then it came to her as she watched her two youngest brothers head toward the liquor cabinet, likely what had brought them both here. She wasn’t surprised they needed a little help sleeping tonight, as bruised as they both were. She tried not to think of how much worse James had been injured.
She began by stating the facts. “James is your brother-in-law now. You all saw to that. Will you two help?”
“You want us to wrestle the key away from Warren?” Drew grinned. “I’m all for that.”
Boyd, in the process of taking a sip of brandy, choked. “Don’t even think about it!”
“That’s not what I had in mind,” Georgina clarified. “There’s no reason for either of you to get in Warren’s bad graces, no reason for him to know that any of us did anything, for that matter.”
“I suppose we could break that old lock on the cellar door easy enough,” Drew allowed.
“No, that won’t do, either,” Georgina said. “James won’t leave without his crew or his ship, but he’s in no condition to free either one. He may think he is, but—”
“So you want us to help him with that, too?”
“That’s just it. As angry as he is just now, I honestly don’t think he’d accept your help. He’d try to do it all himself and end up caught again. But if we free his ship and crew first, then it will be an easy matter for them to break James out and help him back to his ship. Then they’ll be gone by morning, and Warren will have to assume that his men missed one or two of them, who were able to help the rest escape.”
“And what about the guard Warren has left on the Maiden Anne who will tell him exactly who came aboard?”
“Those men can’t tell him if they don’t recognize anyone,” Georgina said confidently. “I’ll explain on our way there. Just give me a few minutes to change my clothes.”
As she came around the desk, though, Drew grabbed her arm to ask softly, “Will you go with him?”
There was no hesitation or emotion in her reply, “No, he doesn’t want me.”
“Seems I heard something different.”
She stiffened at the reminder that they’d all heard James say she’d make a fine mistress. “Then let me rephrase that. He doesn’t want a wife.”
“Well, there’s no arguing with that. And neither Clinton nor Warren would let you go, anyway. They might have married you to him, but I can tell you true, it wasn’t with the intention of letting you live with him.”
And she couldn’t argue with that, nor did she want to live with James. She’d meant it earlier when she said she didn’t love him. She didn’t anymore, she really didn’t, and if she kept saying it often enough, it was going to be absolutely true.