Face to Face (The Deverell Series Book 2) (29 page)

His answer came, short and abrupt. “No.”

“Why not?” Merry asked, making a pretty pout.

“The less notice we cause in port the better,” Indy bit off, moving toward the cabin door.

Merry sprang to her feet and stopped him with a hand. “I want you to take me ashore.”

The boy’s black eyes harshly mocked her. “And see myself to the brig for defying Morgan’s order? No thank you.”

Merry’s eyes brightened. “Ah, but he did not order me locked in the cabin. He only stated I could not join him.”

“Merry, you know very well what Morgan expects.”

She hugged his arm close against her breast, her wide cornflower blue eyes pleading, and her pretty lips in a pout. On a sweetly wheedling voice, she said, “I want to find something special to have at my party on this glorious day. I am having a celebration in this cabin and you will not stop me. I will be good. I promise.”

“Merry…”

She hugged his arm even tighter. “What harm will it do if Varian does not know? I will be good. I promise. And I will love you forever, if you do this for me!”

Her excited expression was his undoing. Morgan would have his head for this, he thought, even as he found himself saying, “Damn it, Merry, one stunt while we’re ashore and I will lock you in the brig myself.”

Merry hopped and squealed with pleasure. She danced back to her chair and sank down upon it with a bounce. She grabbed her fork and attacked her plate.

Indy watched her from the doorway, feeling a smile and scowled instead.

Merry looked up from her plate. “I will hurry to eat and dress. Don’t look so worried. I will do exactly as you say.” She reached down to the floor, grabbed pug and dropped a quick kiss on his nose. She held the dog out to Indy. “Pug needs some time above decks. I should be ready for our adventure when you return.”

Grumbling under his breath, Indy grabbed the dog and marched from the cabin. In the passageway, Indy handed the pug to Brandon Seton. “Take care of the damn dog,” the boy grumbled.

Mr. Seton frowned. “What’s sent you into such a foul mood? Where are you off to?”

“Ashore.”

“Why?”

“For a woman.”

~~~

Strolling the sand-laden streets with her arm carelessly looped through Indy’s, Merry passed a delightful day purchasing treasures for her party. The streets, crowded with British uniforms, added to her joy and air of celebration. It felt strange to be among gentlefolk again, to have men quickly bow and doff their hats at her passing, and yet even that didn’t diminish the heady pleasure that there was at last peace with France.

The boy, laden with packages, was anything but buoyant over the endeavor. Chancing a glance at his face, Merry giggled. The scowl on his face had slowly lowered throughout the day and now rested permanently at the top of his nose.

“May we return to ship?” Indy asked tersely. “You have enough here to entertain the entire crew. You do realize that your party will be a small one? Other than Mr. Seton, Mr. Boniface and Mr. Colerain, there isn’t another among the crew I would allow into Morgan’s cabin with you.”

Merry shook off his arm and lifted her chin. “Allow? Who says you have a right to allow me anything?”

The boy rolled his eyes and she made a face at him.

“Merry, it is late afternoon. We must go back.”

She ignored him and instead focused on a shop window.

He tried another tact. “You do realize if we’re caught by the Captain, I’m going to find myself locked in the brig.”

“Whatever for? We’re shopping.” She wagged her finger at Indy. “Morgan did not forbid me to shop.”

She grabbed his hand and tugged the boy toward the door.

“Merry…”

She was almost through the establishment’s entryway when Indy's fingers went limp, then his hand was no longer in hers. She looked back at him, to find the boy sprawled in the dirt, her packages strewn around him.

A hand roughly clutched her shoulder, and her heart still instantly as her wide eyes fixed on a face she hoped never to see again:
Rensdale!

She had a single flashing moment to wonder what the foppish Rensdale was doing in Bermuda, before thought was no longer possible. She was lifted up from the ground to be held below his repulsive face.

“Well, well, well. What have we here?” he remarked. It was then Merry noticed a change in his voice, a malevolent edge, and her repulsion turned into fear. “So, my future wife thought to run to Bermuda to escape the alter and me. I’ve got to give you credit. Even your father didn’t think to look for you here.”

She tried to shake out of his clutches. “Let me go! What did you do to the boy?”

He jerked her once, hard. “A knock on the head. I expect the lad will be fine in the morning.” He kicked Indy’s motionless body. “But that depends on you, my dear.”

She made to slap him, “Don’t call me dear, you arrogant buffoon,” but he stopped her arm mid-air.

“Keep a civil tongue, girl. I’m not inclined to be generous with you after the bother you’ve put me through.”

He was practically dragging her down the street, his fingers cruelly biting into her arms, preventing her escape. People rushed passed them, and only her fear that the authorities would discover she was Lady Meredith Ann Merrick, her link to Varian, and return her to Falmouth kept her from crying out for help. Rensdale was danger enough. She did not want to risk Varian’s safety to save herself.

“Let me go. I’m not going anywhere with you,” Merry hissed, struggling furiously in his callous clutches.

Rensdale spun her around and flattened her against a wall. The cold edge of a knife was pressed into the satiny flesh of her neck. Her eyes flew wide. “You are going to do exactly what I tell you to do, girl. Or I will go back with my knife and finish the boy. It would serve neither of us well if your presence in Bermuda was made known to the authorities. There is much I have yet to finish with you, Merry. So stay silent. Do as I say or I will kill the boy. Do you understand? Are we clear?”

Merry’s eyes did a frantic dart of the street. Rensdale had pulled her into a deserted alley. Her eyes shifted back to his face and she nodded.

Rensdale’s smirk made her stomach turn. “Ah, you do know your place, at last. Not quite the hellion you were in Cornwall. But then you do not have your family near to shelter you from your own folly. Or has someone taught you your rightful place with a man, my dear?”

He leaned into her, pressing his body hard against her in a revoltingly intimate manner as his thick lips roamed the curve of her neck. Merry felt as if she’d be sick. When his lips touched the side of her neck, every muscle within her went cold and still, and Rensdale laughed softly before lifting his face.

There was a look of triumph in his eyes as he stared at her. “No maidenly outrage and blushes? No slap of the face. I should have thanked the boy. Not hit him. Come.”

He started dragging her again.

“Where are you taking me?” Merry asked, struggling to keep pace.

Rensdale didn’t look at her. “To my rooms first. I’ve spent the better part of a half of a year searching for you, you puling trollop. Your rescue deserves some kind of reward, don’t you think?”

Merry swallowed hard, and tried again to break free of his hold. His hand only clutched her more fiercely.

“I demand you release me,” Merry exclaimed. “If you don’t, I will make sure you rue the day you didn’t.”

He crushed her against him, making her thrash in his arms as his lips covered her neck with loathsome kisses. Then he sank his teeth into her shoulder and a scream tore itself from Merry’s throat.

“Your father is going to deliver you in marriage to me gladly, my dear,” he threatened, his amber eyes hot shots against her face. “So there is no reason to wait to indulge my pleasure with you. Perhaps I might even marry you after I’ve collected the bounty for your safe return from your father. You do come with a hefty dowry, and I am sure the Duke of Dorset will sweeten the bride’s purse to save you from your shame. But I fully intend to sample your wares before I am committed to the purchase!”

He clutched her ruthlessly against the bulge in his pants, arching her backward as his mouth slowly started to descend to her breasts. She heard a rip, and realized he’d torn her bodice with his teeth.

Doggedly fighting to contain her rising panic, she forced the resistance from her body, going pliant in his arms. She heard Rensdale’s soft laughter as his mouth lifted briefly from her breasts.

“Oh my dear, someone has taught you well,” he breathed, his vile lips brushing her ear.

A slight space appeared between them, separating their bodies just enough, and with all the force she could muster, she brought her knee swiftly up, making perfect contact in that perfect spot to level a man.

His hands fell away from her and Rensdale groaned out in agony. The second he doubled over, she ran.

“Goddamn bitch,” he growled, and a series of oaths followed her trek, but his voice was growing more distant as she scurried down the alleyway.

Blinded by fear, she ran as fast as she could, as far as she could until Rensdale could be neither seen nor heard.

By nightfall, Merry realized she was lost. She found herself huddled in a darken doorway, bodice ripped, bedraggled and afraid. With the coming of night, gentlefolk had deserted the streets. The sparsely lit walkways were crowded with loud and boisterous men of a different ilk than she had seen in the daylight hours; drunk and rough of manner.

She knew not which direction to go to find the docks and
Corinthian
, and worry Rensdale was out there searching for her kept her in her pathetic hiding place.

That she had no one to blame for her current predicament was no less disturbing than the fear no one would find her. Or what Varian’s reaction would be if he did.

~~~

His room at the
Rose and Crown Inn
was dark when Varian entered. His instincts sharpened in alarm, and he struck a match to candle. It was then he found the boy, slumped in a chair, quietly sobbing into the cup of his hands.

His senses had known something was amiss, but finding the boy a sobbing, discomposed mess confirmed his greatest fear. Only one thing could make the boy
this
distraught. With numbing fury, Varian asked, “What’s happened? You would not be here if all was well with Merry. What’s happened to Merry?”

The boy’s face shot up, reddened by his tears, his black eyes uncharacteristically wild with emotion. “I don’t know. Tom and the others are searching for her. We went ashore. I don’t know where she is or what happened. We’ve been searching all day. Nothing.”

The boy was rambling and he grabbed Indy, lifting him harshly up from the chair. “What do you mean you took her ashore? Dammit lad, answer me.”

The boy broke free from his hold. “One minute we were together. The next thing I know I’m waking in the dirt with a bump to my head and Merry was gone.”

Varian released the boy, his eyes searching the lad’s face. “What are you saying? That Merry hit you to escape?”

The boy’s eyes flashed with anger. “I don’t know what happened, but not that. She would never run from me.”

Varian’s eyes widened as he met Indy’s burning stare.

The boy sank heavily into the chair. “I don’t know what happened. Find her. I will never forgive you if you let harm come to Merry.”

Varian studied the boy. There was much here to deal with, but now was not the time.

Without another word, he rushed from the bedchamber.

~~~

It was Mr. Seton who found Merry. When he sank to the ground and reached to pull her from the darkened corner of a building entryway, she began to fight him wildly. She struggled against his hold as he eased her onto her feet.

“Damn it, Merry, stop hitting me. If you hit me again I’m going to leave you here,” he warned and her eyes widened, as if unable to believe she was really seeing him. Then she melted against him sobbing. Cursing, he gently brushed back her tangled curls and said, “It’s a fine time to get all affectionate.”

“Mr. Seton,” she wept, clutching his coat. “I did not think anyone would find me. Not ever!”

He noticed her ripped bodice and his demeanor became more nervous. “Quickly, Merry. Tell me what happened. We haven’t much time.”

“Rensdale,” was all she could say through the tears clogging her throat. The sharp widening of Mr. Seton’s eyes confirmed to Merry the name was not without meaning to him.

He jerked her torn bodice in place as best he could, and began to pull her along with him. “Did he harm you?”

Merry shuddered, shaking her head. “He kissed me and ripped my dress, but I got away before he could do more.”

Mr. Seton glared. “After the melodrama you’ve caused, a little rough handling is the least you deserve. I’m not even going to ask how you know Rensdale. I don’t want to know and we haven’t the time. I need to get you back to ship before Morgan finds us.”

He froze in his tracks and stared out into the darkness. His tall, lean body held the posture of a wild animal tuned into danger. He turned around to face her and clutched her chin forcing her to meet his eye.

“Unless I’m imagining things, Morgan is going to be upon us very soon. Merry! Pay attention.” His voice intensified with greater urgency. “You must never tell Morgan of Rensdale. Do you understand? If he learns Rensdale is behind this dastardly business, there will be no stopping the Captain.”

The words had been spoken harshly, though with genuine concern. Comprehension came slowly to Merry as the panic of the proceeding hours faded into a new panic.

Mr. Seton swooped her up into his arms and began to march more briskly toward the docks. “An angry man is a rash man. Unless you want to see Morgan hanging from the gallows for murdering a peer of the realm, you must never let him know Rensdale is near and that he harmed you. Never, Merry. Never tell the Captain this was Rensdale’s doing,” he warned one last time, then Morgan was upon them.

She was transferred without ceremony into Varian’s arms. Mr. Seton quickly put in, “She’s well, Varian. A little harsh handling and a torn dress. That’s all. She was huddled and frightened when I found her, and wept down my shirt buttons. Ruffians tried to steal her from the boy, but as you can see she escaped, is well, and has learned her lesson.”