Lady Vixen by Shirlee Busbee Read Free Book Online Page A

Nicole gasped,
"Yes, sir. Will you have me? I'm much stronger than I look and I would
work very hard!"
    Shaking
his head slowly, Saber tried to soften the blow as he confronted the urchin's
pleading topaz eyes. "I'm positive you would, but you are a little . . .
too young. Perhaps next time?"
    He
gave the boy a polite nod and turned to mount his horse. One foot was already
in the stirrup when a desperate hand clutched his arm and an impassioned voice
cried softly, "Oh, please, sir! Take me with you! I promise you'll never
be sorry. Please!"
    Gazing
down into those wide, begging eyes, he hesitated, strangely touched by this
boy. Sensing he was weakening, Nicole pleaded, "Please give me a chance,
sir!"
    Saber
might have ridden away, regretful at having turned the child down, if the
stableboy hadn't been aroused by their voices and chosen that moment to
interfere.
    Though
only a country inn, the Bell and Candle was a very proper inn, one that didn't
put up with its guests being plagued by beggars and nasty riffraff. Bristling,
the stableboy approached and ordered Nicole away. Grasping her collar, he
attempted to throw her out of the stable and shouted, "Be gone with you,
you little tramp! Go beg somewhere else. Don't bother this gentleman."
    All
her hopes disappearing, Nicole gave into a wave of undiluted anger and nearly
spitting with rage, she fought back, clawing and kicking like a wild little
animal, even going so far as to bite the unprepared stable-boy on the arm.
"Let me go! I shall go to sea. I shall! I shall!"
    The
stableboy was nearly twice Nicole's size and once his first surprise vanished
he flew at her, intending to give this little beggar the thrashing of his life.
But Nicole was fighting mad and she gave as good as she got, receiving a bloody
nose in the process. It was an unfair fight and had but one ending until Saber
took a hand. Plucking her bodily off the stableboy, as she pummeled him wildly,
he said laughing, "Very well, my little fox cub. You shall go with
me!"
    Astonishment
held her motionless, and then ignoring the pain of her bloody nose and a
rapidly puffing eye, she grinned. And Saber, unable to understand his motives,
found himself grinning back.
    Mounting
his horse, he reached down and swung her light weight up behind him, and then
riding out into the black night, they left Beddington's Corner behind them. Her
head pressed tightly to Saber's back, her skinny arms wrapped around him in a
death hold, Nicole could hardly keep from shouting out loud for joy. It had
worked! She was off to sea!

PART ONE:  YOUNG NICK
     
    "Let
tomorrow take care of tomorrow—leave things of the future to fate."
    —Charles Swain,
"Imaginary Evils"

CHAPTER 4
    1813
    The
lagoon was like glass and dreamily Nicole stared into the smooth turquoise
depths, her thoughts drifting in lazy rhythm with the waves. She was lying with
a companion on the warm white sands of one of the many small islands that
comprise the Bermuda Islands, having left the ship a short while ago for a few
hours of quiet and privacy. The islands had long been one of Captain Saber's
favorite stopping places, and the fact that a large portion of the British Navy
was stationed at the main island added a bit of spice and danger to his
continued use of it.
    The
more than three hundred tiny islands, strung out like a hilly green necklace
across the Atlantic Ocean, were ideal hiding places for many of the American
privateers that preyed on the British, French, and Spanish shipping fleets. The
Bermudas were the last bit of land until the Azores, and the warm Gulf Stream
that carried the ships, loaded with spices, tobacco, and sugar from the West
Indies, toward the colder, greener waters of the north Atlantic flowed just
beyond their coral reefs.
    There
were too many of the islands, most uninhabited, for the British Navy to patrol
effectively and American privateers were quick to take advantage of that
fact—besides they were not frightened of the greatest sea