Defiant (36 page)

Irma yelped as the other man kicked her awake. He wrenched her to her feet and pushed her forward.

Shoulders aching, Gwyneth pulled against the man’s hold.

“Fight and we’ll chain you. You’ll have a better chance on the boat being unbound.”

Holy Mary. Despair threatened to crush her chest. What a fool she was to have trusted Jared. He would be too late to save them.

“Nay!” Gwyneth shook her head. “I can pay you.”

The man cuffed her across the cheek. “We’ll get our payment. Move along.”

Guards shuffled her and Irma into darkened streets. A light mist shrouded the moon and rained down on them. Coldness seeped through her bones. A glimmer of hope lit as she recalled how Jared had rescued her in the alleyway behind The Bald Cock. She looked this way and that at the passing shadows, hoping that she would see him.

Naught.

Nothing.

Tears stung her eyes. Jared would be too late to save them. If he was coming for her, surely he would have been here by now.

She touched her wooden bracelet.
Her price is above rubies.

The scent of briny water wafted in the air as they neared the docks a short while later. Moonlight glimmered across the waters.

“There has been a mistake.” Gwyneth’s heart pounded. This could not be happening.

“Silence, woman, or you will be gagged.”

Irma stared out at the harbor. Light gleamed off the tops of the gentle waves.

Wood clattered as they were forced down the gangplank and loaded onto a ship. Water lapped the edges of the ship.

Darkness and the stench of unwashed bodies nearly overpowered her as the two of them were hauled below deck and thrust into a chamber that was filled with bedraggled women. The stench of desperation hung in the air even stronger than the dirt and mildew and uncleanliness. Agony lanced her chest. These were the ones she had been unable to rescue. In the corner, she saw Blythe, her thin shawl still wrapped around her shoulders. Elfreda sat against the wall, eyes closed, face turned upward.

Gwyneth’s eyes clouded as two fat drops blurred her vision. Unheeded tears trickled down her cheeks.

She wiped them away angrily as betrayal cut her heart. Jared had set this up to punish her. He had at last gotten his revenge against her—just as he had promised when they had married.

He had taken everything from her. Her castle, her freedom, her friend. She tugged at her shortened locks. Even her hair.

Her heart,
a voice whispered inside.

The red stone in her wooden bracelet glimmered. He would not have given her that if he intended to abandon her, would he?

Torn inside, she bit the inside of her cheek to distract her thoughts. She could not think of it—she needed to formulate a plan to escape. Somehow she would find a way to free herself. And others. Just as she had done for years. Without Jared’s or any man’s help.

She felt the ship rock and sway beneath them. A woman lurched against her and pinched her cheek. “Fine white skin. Will your titties look as creamy when they strip ye naked and haul you to the block?”

Gwyneth cringed and closed her eyes. She bit the inside of her cheek until the copper taste of blood formed on her tongue.

“Maybe you’ll get a rich master who won’t expect much but a quick tup every now and again.”

The breath left her lungs and dark spots danced before her eyes. Wrenching away from the woman, she fought her way to the locked oak door, which loomed more daunting than a fortress wall.

Mother Mary full of grace.

Nay.

Mary had abandoned her.

Panic rose. She pounded on the door with her fist, welcoming the pain that shot up her arm at the effort. “Let me out! Let us out! ”

“They won’t let the likes of you out of here.”

She pounded harder, desperation clawing at her throat as she felt the ship sway, moving away from the dock. The note to keep silent had obviously been a trick.

Heedlessly, recklessly, she began to scream.

Another woman, this one with a toothless grin, laughed.

Irma, who had been slumped against the far wall, leapt to her feet as a loud noise, like that of a cannon being fired, sounded and the entire ship rocked. It was dark in the chamber and Gwyneth wondered how many hours had passed. There were no windows to tell if it was dawn or still night. The stench of sweat and urine choked the air.

“Now, Gwyneth! Now! We’ve got to get the women out of ‘ere.” She ripped the yellow scarf off her head. A long flow of silverish gold hair cascaded downward and flowed to her waist. A wig. “Wh—”

“No time to explain. We ‘ad it made with your ‘air. Give me your cloak and lead the women up the stairs and toward the back of the ship after I ‘ead off the guards.”

Before Gwyneth could speak, Irma had untied Gwyneth’s cape and wound the yellow scarf around Gwyneth’s head. Pulling the cape from Gwyneth, Irma pushed Gwyneth toward the crowd of women. “Hurry! Jared is coming!”

“But—” Gwyneth’s emotions tumbled one over the next and her thoughts jumbled together.

Irma swirled Gwyneth’s cape around her shoulders and pushed her way to the door.

“I don’t underst—”

A key appeared in Irma’s hand as if by magic. “Well, come on then. Don’t just stand there with your mouth agape!”

“I don’t—”

“Jared. It was hidden in me hem. No more time. Take the women! Go!”

Confusion melted into understanding. ‘Twas another of Irma’s outlandish plans. She grabbed her friend in a huge bear hug. “I thought you’d abandoned me.”

“Never! You are my finest friend in all the world. ”

Renewed hope brought strength rushing through Gwyneth’s limbs. She stood straighter, waved to the women, and began counting them.

“To me, women!” Irma called to the crowd as another cannon blast rocked the ship. She waved her arms in the air to get their attention. “Attend me!”

Dirty faces turned and stared at Gwyneth and Irma. Irma peered at Gwyneth expectantly too. She took a breath of the rotted air, then pushed her shoulders back. The two of them had gotten out of many situations together and this would be no different.

“To me, ladies! We have a plan to get all of you safely out of here.” Gwyneth had no idea what the plan was, but she would be more believable if she did not tell them that. Irma had said to lead them up the steps and go to the back of the ship. She trusted her friend.

“Likely the guards outside the door will be some-what distracted by the ‘urly-burly above the deck,” Irma said, adjusting the wig. The silver-gold hair fanned around her. “I will race past them and lead them on a chase. They know that if the officials find a noblewoman ‘ere that they will be taken to the crown and put into prison to await trial. We suspect that they ‘ave orders to kill you.”

“To kill me?”

“Aye—because you are of noble blood. Your testimony could get all of them ‘anged. But if we get to Jared, we can stop the whole slave trade. Take the women.”

“Jared did this?”

“He came to see me.”

Gwyneth’s hands trembled. “He didn’t abandon me.”

Irma touched her face, dark wisdom in her eyes. “'e brought Kiera and Elizabeth to me at The Bald Cock. I’ve never seen a man so wracked with guilt about letting a woman be taken. I told ‘im the whole story with killing a man in the woods. ‘e loves you.”

Her heart pounded. “I love him too, Irma. He’s—”

“Well, come on then. We have to get to ‘im.”

Joy leaping inside her, Gwyneth nodded and faced the women who were staring up at her with grimy faces and matted hair. Stopping the inhuman selling of souls had been her quest for three years. She had done it one woman at a time, and the possibility of stopping it altogether sent a thrill of hope up her spine.

“Someone has come to rescue us,” she announced. “Follow me closely, and all will be well.”

Nervous whispers filled the chamber but Gwyneth cut them off with a raised hand. “Silence.” She nodded at Irma and a look of trust passed between them.

Irma slid the key into the lock and opened the door a tiny crack. Loud shouting and the clomping of boots and cannons could be heard. The guards were not standing at the door but down at the end of the hallway. One was on the ladder and only his legs and feet could be seen. He seemed to be communicating to the other what was happening above.

“Once you get on the deck, lead the women to the stern of the ship,” Irma whispered, leaning close to her friend. “I will distract the guards.”

“But—”

“Whatever you do, keep covered and pretend that you are me. The other women are of no consequence to them, being commoners and whores, but if
you
are found here …”

Gwyneth’s stomach churned with nerves. “Nay, ‘tis too dangerous for you.”

“I will be fine.”

“Nay! Let me go!” Gwyneth held her friend’s sleeve, but Irma swung open the door and clattered noisily into the hall. The guards turned.

“Hey!” one yelled.

Irma flipped the long silver wig behind her shoulders and took off running down the opposite direction.

“That’s the noblewoman!”

“After her!”

Boots stomped as the men clattered past the open doorway and raced after Irma. The rest of the women stood wide-eyed. Carefully, she counted them again. Twenty. Twenty souls she could save. And Jared was waiting for her.

Heart thumping, Gwyneth waited until Irma and the two guards rounded a corner and then began motioning women out into the hall. “Shh,” she admonished as she led them to the ladder and quickly climbed it. They were in the lower portion of the ship and there were a series of other ladders to climb. She set one woman who looked strong and healthy in the back of the line to alert them to any issues, then found another woman who could count and set her in charge of making sure that the group was accounted for. The sounds of the men fighting grew louder and louder.

At last, one by one, the women climbed out of the ship’s dark hull. They squinted and covered their eyes in the dawn’s bright, stinging light. The fresh scent of sea breeze mingled with the sulfuric stench of cannons.

On the bow of the ship, less than a stone’s throw away, swords flashed in the air. Men shouted.

She craned her neck, searching for Jared’s dark hair, for the staff that he always carried.

A screech sounded above and she glanced upward. Aeliana perched on the mast of the ship, her yellow eyes gazing at the men fighting on the deck.

Silently, Gwyneth said a prayer of thanksgiving. Jared had come for her, and the women would be safe.

“This way, ladies.” Hope renewed, she began leading them toward the back to the ship just as Irma had instructed. The briny breeze lifted her shortened hair. The ship rocked and swayed. Seabirds cawed.

“By order of the king, this ship is under arrest!”

Gwyneth whirled as she heard the words being boomed out across the deck.

Jared stood, staff in hand, legs braced wide apart on the bow of the ship. Desire shot through her. He wore a solid black tunic and black breeches and was the most wonderful sight she had ever seen. Her legs tensed and she wanted to run to him, wrap her arms around him, and never let him go.

Montgomery and men dressed in garments depicting them as members of the king’s guard stood beside him. Swords glinted, and the men who had taken her and Irma captive had their hands in the air in a gesture of surrender. She saw the jailor with the uneven earlobes. The judge was also in the crowd.

A breath of relief whooshed from her lungs. Another ship, one flying banners that she recognized as Montgomery’s, was pulled alongside the ship that they were on.

“Jared!”

His head lifted at the sound of her voice. Their gaze caught and he hoisted his staff as if in greeting. The carved dragon looked majestic against the backdrop of the ship and sea. Wind lifted Jared’s dark hair so that strands of it beat around his striking features. “Lady wife.”

They stared at each other awkwardly and she realized she was still unsure where she stood with him. Irma had said that he loved her, but his dark face gave her pause.

“You must explain your experiences to the magistrate,” Montgomery said.

Behind her, the women whispered among themselves.

Jared held out his hand, a gesture both tender and strong. “Come, Gwyneth. You are mine.”

Her heart soared at his words. Lifting her skirts, she raced to him. Their bodies melded together as he lifted her in his arms and squeezed her tightly. Their hearts thumped against each other. He felt warm, so very warm, and she wanted to bury herself in his embrace.

Her fingers wound into his thick, straight locks. “I thought you had abandoned me.”

His green eyes smoldered and his breath caressed her cheek. He touched the wooden bracelet on her arm. “Her price is far above rubies. ”

“I do not deser—”

Her protest was cut off as his lips crashed down on hers. Gwyneth felt herself being sucked into a storm of passion. Jared’s tongue breached all her defenses and pushed past her lips to intertwine with her own. All the activity around them seemed to disappear until only heat and heartbeats remained.

Montgomery cleared his throat.

Gwyneth started. Jared released her slightly but his arms still curved around her waist possessively. They turned back to the circle of men and the ones they held captive.

“What is the meaning of this, Montgomery?” demanded the judge. His wig hung askew, just as it had before.

“These men planned to sell my wife as a slave.” Jared pointed at the ruffians.

A barrel overturned on the deck and rolled toward them. Irma crashed through crates, rigging, and chains. The long silver-gold hair flowed behind her.

Burly men chased her, swords drawn. “Come back here, bitch!”

The magistrate puffed out his chest. “Arrest those men too!”

“Halt!” called one of the king’s men, leaving the circle of the others. “Wh—”

The men chasing Irma looked confused as they were stopped and hauled over to the rest of the group.

Irma stumbled to the edge of the deck and propped herself against the railing, panting. “At last.”

“Explain!” demanded the judge.