Sparhawk's Angel by MIRANDA JARRETT Read Free Book Online Page A

to guide her toward the side. "Now back to the boat."
    But Rose shook him off. "I suppose, Captain Sparhawk, being a rebel is why you've behaved so dishonorably by capturing the
Angel Lily
. Privateers aren't supposed to attack other privateers, and that's exactly what you did to poor Captain Fotherill."
    Nick's smile lost some of its gleam. Pride kept him from confessing that Fotherill had attacked him, not the other way around, and that the Englishmen had come horribly close to winning.
    "Any vessel that sails under a British flag is fair game," he said, dodging the truth, "just as we Americans are always in season for your gunners. Doesn't make one whit of difference whether it's a doryman or another privateer."
    "But that can't possibly be true!" said Rose indignantly. "It's not fair!"
    "This is a war, Miss Everard. It's not supposed to be fair."
    "I still don't believe it. My father is a cautious man in matters of business and trade, and I can't conceive of him taking on such a risk, especially with such a costly vessel that is named for my sister!"
    Nick frowned, staring at her for a long, unbelieving moment. He wasn't the mad one. She was. "Your father's caution doesn't figure in it at all," he said. "He may have his eye on his ledger book, but the rest of us are here to fight a war. The rules haven't changed much since the Greeks, unless your Admiralty Board's taken on a few other petticoat despots to alter them to suit you."
    Rose stiffened. "Foolish nonsense like that won't change the facts. You've unfairly captured the
Angel Lily
, and I'm not leaving until you admit it."
    "I'm not admitting anything, and you're leaving regardless." This time he took her arm before she could wriggle away. Lord, she was thin, he thought, nothing but little bird bones inside her sleeve. "Come along."
    "No, I'm not!" Stubbornly Rose tried to pull away, but her efforts were as ineffectual as a child's against a parent's will, and, humiliated, she felt herself being almost carried across the deck. She struggled harder, raising her voice. "I'm not leaving, I say!"
    "And I say you are.
Now
." She was light as a thistle and nearly as prickly, thought Nick with grim satisfaction as he pulled her across the deck, and he'd rejoice to see the last of her. So much for Lily's grand plans. He'd show
her
he was still the master.
    But as soon as Nick reached the side to send Rose back to the boat, Gideon slung his leg over the rail and clambered onto the deck.
    "Everything's squared away as you ordered, Nick," he said with a hurried, haphazard salute as three more Yankee sailors followed him up the rope ladder and over the side. "We stowed the English in the hold with nary a squawk, jury-rigged the mast and sent them on their way. I left Hibert in command, as you said, and he'll have her in Charles Town in two days if this wind holds."
    Nick looked across to where the
Commerce
had been, and then to the east, where she was already making good progress with the wind at her stern.
    "Damnation, Gideon," he demanded, "why did you have to be so bloody quick about it?"
    Gideon looked at him strangely. "Because that's the way you always want it. The faster Hibert can get her into Charles Town, the faster the prize courts can declare in our favor and sell her off, and the faster we'll all be paid off. Your orders, Nick," he said defensively. "And damned good ones they are, too."
    "Well, they're not much good to me now, are they? Now they've stuck me with this wretched woman!"
    Gideon folded his hands across his chest, tucking his hands beneath his arms, and frowned. "I thought that was what you wanted. You kept her long enough."
    "What
he
wanted!" sputtered Rose indignantly. "What of my wishes in the matter?"
    Nick ignored her. "I wasn't keeping her, Gideon. I was trying to send her back."
    "Why the devil would you?" asked Gideon. "Do you know who she is, Nick?"
    "She's a damnable pest, that's who!"
    Gideon stepped closer and lowered his voice so that Rose