Ransome's Quest (21 page)

“But she’s your woman!” shouted a man aloft the larboard mainmast shroud.

“No. Remember when we were up north, the pretty who came to the beach to bid me farewell?”

After a moment’s thought, most of the sailors nodded.

“She is my woman.”

Several men still looked confused. “But she’s up north. Why can’t ye have one there and one here?”

Yes, it was time he gave up this life. “Because I am content with just one woman. Now, if that is all?”

“Aye, go ahead and let them get married. Bad luck to have a woman aboard anyway.”

Salvador returned to his spot and looked at Charlotte to see how she’d taken the interruption to her wedding.

If her smile grew any wider, her head would split asunder.

The rest of the ceremony went quickly. Ned and Charlotte repeated vows to each other and listened to Jean Baptiste tell them what marriage meant.

“Do you have a ring?”

Panic flickered in Ned’s face. “No, I—”

Salvador turned. “Suresh!”

The steward hurried through the door from the stairs and up onto the quarterdeck. Rather than stop at Salvador, who had called for him, he went straight to Ned and held something out to him between two fingers.

Salvador hoped it was not the ruby ring he planned to put on Serena’s finger the day they married. He had taken plenty of jewelry off the crew of slave ships over the years, and though most went toward paying his men, he’d kept a few nice pieces. Serena’s ring, however, he’d purchased. He did not want any taint on the emblem of their undying love.

Ned slipped a plain gold band onto a finger on Charlotte’s left hand.

“In the eyes of God and this company, I hereby declare that you be husband and wife. What God has joined together, let no man split asunder.”

Ned slipped his hand around the back of Charlotte’s neck and kissed her—thoroughly.

Serena once said she always cried at weddings, because they reminded her of what she was missing. Salvador had laughed at her. In his next letter he would apologize, for he understood how she felt.

As soon as they rescued Julia, there would be no more Salvador. No more
Vengeance.

Vengeance is mine…saith the Lord.

And the Lord was more than welcome to her.

C
harlotte tucked the bundle Suresh had handed her more securely under her feet and positioned her left hand on her lap so the ring on her finger glinted in the starlight. It wasn’t a large, sparkling emerald, like Julia’s wedding ring, but it was a wedding ring.
Her
wedding ring.

Charlotte Cochrane. Delight shivered down her spine. She had come to Jamaica to get married without her family’s permission. A twinge of guilt invaded her pleasure. Ned’s arguments in favor of waiting until they rescued Julia and then seeking William’s blessing nibbled at the back of her mind.

She looked up—and caught Declan’s humor-filled expression before he turned to face forward again. Given her knowledge of Salvador’s true identity, the need for Ned to bring one of his crew on
Audacious
seemed ridiculous, although she had made her argument for it to be Suresh. The only thing that kept Suresh from being the perfect lady’s maid was his gender.

The jolly boat scraped up against
Audacious
’s hull. From his position behind her, Ned called for the bosun’s chair. She turned to argue—to insist she could climb the accommodation ladder—but the look on her husband’s face when their eyes met stilled her tongue.

So many familiar faces gazed over the bulwark along the quarterdeck. Charlotte adjusted the straw bonnet Salvador had given her so the brim shadowed her entire face. His generosity had not extended to giving her one of the gowns meant for Serena, but Suresh had managed to get her own dress back to a clean and wearable, if somewhat crumpled, state.

At least sitting on the wooden swing didn’t threaten to pull her shoulder out of joint the way being hauled up the side of
Vengeance
with a rope wrapped around her arm had. She clutched Suresh’s bundle to her chest as the seat swung her up and over the side of the ship.

Having been aboard
Vengeance
for a week, Charlotte reveled in the size of Ned’s ship. Though the frigate had the advantage of speed and maneuverability over the man-of-war, on
Audacious
the decks were wider and longer, the masts taller, and the crew more respectful and disciplined. They cut Declan a wide berth as he lumbered up onto the deck, obviously in awe of his size.

She tugged at the brim of her bonnet again, aware of the attention she also drew from the men. According to Ned, they knew she was William Ransome’s younger sister, but should any of them recognize her as Charles Lott…she did not want to imagine what might happen.

Ned joined her on deck and ushered her toward the overhang shading the wheelhouse. His steward stepped forward from the darkness. He looked from Ned to Charlotte to their clasped hands. Ned immediately released her. “Please see to Miss…Mrs. Cochrane’s comfort.”

Charlotte handed the canvas-wrapped bundle to the steward, but rather than follow his lantern through the darkness of the wheelhouse to Ned’s cabin, she caught her husband’s arm to stop him from walking away from her. “Are you not going to address your crew to tell them about our marriage and why Declan is here?” She leaned closer and lowered her voice. “Is it not better to do it now, so the darkness can keep anyone from recognizing me?”

His lips pressed into a tight line, but he nodded and motioned to Lieutenant Wallis. “Signal all hands. Mr. Declan, come with us.”

Ned took Charlotte’s hand again and headed for the steps to the poop deck. The leeward wind tried to dislodge her only means of disguise, but she held the bonnet on with her free hand while trying to keep from tripping up the steps to the uppermost deck of the ship—and with Declan close on her heels, she dare not stop.

Whistles and echoed commands hit Charlotte’s ears like the finest music in the most beautiful concert hall in the world. Oh, how she had missed this.

When the entire crew of
Audacious
stood looking up at them, lanterns intermittently illuminating the faces of men Charlotte recognized, Ned stepped forward—his hand trembling in hers. Charlotte increased the pressure of her grip just a bit, trying to impart courage and assurance.

He cleared his throat twice. “Officers and crew of His Majesty’s Ship
Audacious,
I am honored to introduce to you my wife”—his voice faltered on the word—“Mrs. Cochrane.”

The men exchanged confused looks while cheering and applauding.

“And this is Mr. Declan. We will be working with Captain Salvador of
Vengeance
to continue our hunt for the pirate Shaw, and Mr. Declan has agreed to come aboard
Audacious
to assist us.” Ned turned and gave Salvador’s first mate a challenging look.

Declan nodded. “Put me to work however you see fit.”

For that, Charlotte graced him with a smile. She liked Declan. She just did not appreciate the way he insisted on flirting with her constantly.

“Lieutenant Wallis, please dismiss the crew.” Ned pulled Charlotte toward the steps, and Wallis took their place to issue the command.

Like a Gargantuan puppy, Declan stayed behind Charlotte, almost on the hem of her skirt. She picked up her pace to keep Ned from dragging her down the steps. He didn’t slow until he reached the door of the dining cabin. The marine guard started—Charlotte couldn’t blame him, as it was quite dark down here—and opened the door for them.

When they entered the day cabin, Declan let out a low whistle. “Fancy.”

“This was the previous captain’s decor.” Charlotte flexed her hand, now free from Ned’s tight grip.

Declan stood under the skylight, where he could extend to his full height, though he’d only had to avoid the support beams of the deck above as they entered.

Ned moved from the paperwork on the round table to his desk and then back to the table. Assuming her presence added to his agitation, Charlotte picked up her bundle and moved toward Ned’s sleeping cabin.

“I believe I will rest for a little while.”

Ned gave her no acknowledgement, so she left the main cabin without further words. Exhaustion pressed down on her shoulders. She figured the time to be near midnight. After the wedding, Ned and Captain Salvador’s conference to determine their strategy had been quite long.

The sleeping quarters reflected the former captain’s taste for luxury as much as the main room. A box bed with embroidered panels—wider than a standard hammock, but not quite as large as William and Julia’s double-width bed on
Alexandra
—hung on one side of the narrow chamber, while a standard canvas hammock hung on the other side over a plainly built trunk. She smiled over Ned’s preference for the simple rather than the extravagant. A smaller sea chest was wedged into a corner of the cabin—a sea chest that looked familiar.

She set the bundle down in the box bed and pulled a candle out of the wall sconce to better see the chest.

Kneeling before it, she held the candle over the lid. Scratched into the wood, as she hoped—
C. Lott, Midshipman.
Stifling a cry of joy, she opened the lid. While everything inside seemed to be in disarray, her belongings still seemed to be there—from her uniforms to her toiletries to her log book to…why was the bundle of muslin cloths on top of everything else?

Embarrassment flamed her cheeks when the answer came to her. Ned had searched through the chest when he’d realized it was still here. William had allowed her to use one of his smaller sea chests to pack her belongings in—the dresses and underthings Julia had purchased for her in Barbados—for the journey to Tierra Dulce, and she had never thought to see this one again. She hoped that Ned, being the only person aboard who had known she wasn’t Charles Lott, was the one to have gone through the trunk.

Hot wax dripped onto her hand, and she stood and returned the candle to its holder. Though Ned would refuse to let her be seen in her midshipman’s garb, knowing that she had more clothing to wear should anything happen to her one and only gown was reassuring.

Outside a full moon had risen, sending a bright shaft of light in through the gun port. Charlotte turned her attention to the parcel Suresh had handed her as she left
Vengeance.
She untied the twine, rolling it up and setting it aside, and folded back the corners of the square of canvas.

The silvery light fell across something shimmery and dark with a white square in the center. She picked up the piece of parchment.

Dear Miss Ransome
,

I bought this from a merchant in Philadelphia. I thought I might save it for a gift for my bride, but as I have no woman, I can think of no one more deserving than you to receive it.

Yours cordially
,

Suresh Bandopadhyay

Charlotte lifted the contents of the bundle, which unfolded to reveal a swath of heavy silk embroidered with silver thread. In the dimness of the room, she could not gauge the design of the embroidery nor the fabric’s color, though it looked dark blue or perhaps purple or maybe even burgundy.

After what she had done to Salvador’s steward, she deserved no such kindness. She refolded the fabric and wrapped it carefully in the canvas square. Somehow, she would find a way to return it to him. Though, Ned had mentioned that if they received William’s blessing for their marriage, Ned would insist on a proper church wedding. The fabric would make a beautiful wedding dress, whether or not she was already married.

“You will be treated as one of the lieutenants.” Ned leaned against the edge of his desk and ignored the oncoming headache.

Declan sat at the worktable, long legs stretched before him, seeming to take up at least half of the cabin. “I will ask Lieutenant Wallis to instruct you on your duties as a naval officer.”

Could nothing wipe the grin from the giant’s face? “I don’t know how different it is in your navy, but in the American Navy, we lieutenants received very good training.”

“You were in the American Navy?”

“I served with distinction on USS
Constitution.
Shall I recite for you the list of English ships we captured? There was
Guerrière”
—Declan butchered the pronunciation—“
Java
—”