In Like Flynn, page 20
“Robbie, this is Brianna,” Nicholas said. “Brianna, this is Roberta.”
“You might as well call me Robbie. All the men do.” Roberta sighed dramatically.
“Why Robbie?” Brianna was a little confused, but it only made Roberta laugh.
“I disguised myself as a cabin boy when a certain pirate captured my ship. He still calls me Robbie, and now he’s got Nick doing it as well.” Roberta shot that impish look at her husband as he joined them. Then she threw her arms around Nicholas, hugging him in an intimate way that made Brianna’s jealousy flare, much to her own surprise.
“We’re so glad you’re safe, Nick,” Roberta said. “Reese arrived yesterday with news that you were kidnapped by . . .” Roberta looked to Brianna. “Well, her.”
“It was a small misunderstanding,” Nicholas reassured her.
“I see.” Roberta’s eyes glittered with amusement.
“So, it’s been a while, Holland.” Dominic’s voice rumbled in a laugh, and then he looked to Brianna. “Finally got caught in the naval net like me?” The former pirate grinned at her.
She managed to smile back at him. “So it would seem.”
Dominic winked at her, and she rolled her eyes. It would be easy to relax around Dominic. He was from her world, after all. She’d been a young girl when Dominic had first visited her father as part of the pirate Brethren, and he had gotten along well with her father. She’d missed him deeply in the year since he had left the life.
“Come inside.” Dominic, rather than trying to take her arm, simply waved at the door, and they proceeded toward the house together. “Everyone here is former crew from the Emerald Dragon or a friend or family member of one. You are among trusted friends.”
She let out a breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding as she and Dominic walked inside, Nicholas and Roberta following behind. To keep his crew with him at his house rather than normal servants suggested he wanted to have a crew ready to leave at any moment, for whatever reason he might find. Perhaps he hadn’t left his pirate ways behind completely.
Dominic and Brianna had a moment alone as the admiral’s daughter showed Nicholas some new additions to their home. He took Brianna’s hand. “You know me, Brianna. I wouldn’t send any man to the gallows, and I won’t send a fellow comrade in arms to her doom, and that includes being leg-shackled to my best friend. I have a magistrate in the parlor.” She looked up at Dominic in surprise. “But say the word, and I will sneak you off the island and send Nicholas off on a wild chase to the opposite end of the Caribbean.”
Brianna wanted to say yes, but she couldn’t. She was trapped. Trapped by her feelings for Nicholas, trapped by her fears for the fate of her crew and the need to know who she really was and where she came from.
“I . . . ,” she started, but then shook her head at Dominic just as Nicholas and Roberta rejoined them. Their heads were bent toward each other as they talked. They shared an easy intimacy of friendship that Brianna found herself longing for with him.
“Those two knew each other before I ever met Robbie,” Dominic said. “Fate is a funny thing, is it not? When I thought I was going to hang. I made them swear to me they would marry each other. They agreed, the liars, both of them.” He said all this with affection. “They promised to stay away the day I was supposed to hang, but instead they came to try to save me. They never planned to do what they’d promised.” Dominic’s tone held a note of bittersweet misery. “I remember seeing them standing there on the platform as it gave way beneath me. I wasn’t thinking about their broken promise then, only how damned glad I was that they were so loyal and loving that they refused to obey my orders. Knowing that their faces would be the last I saw was a strange comfort.” Dominic cleared his throat. “If you marry him, Brianna, he will be that for you. Nicholas is a man who doesn’t do anything by half measures. He loves wholly and completely as a friend or lover. He will be yours until he dies, if you but give him the chance.”
Other than her father and Joe, Dominic was perhaps the only person whose opinion she trusted. He was from both her world and Nicholas’s, and his allegiance had not broken to either side. If he said Nicholas was a man she could trust, she would not doubt Dominic’s word.
Roberta left Nicholas and came over to her, that infectious smile of hers making Brianna reluctantly smile back. “Brianna? Do you mind if I call you that? I feel like we shall be as close as sisters, now that you will be Nicholas’s wife.”
“You do realize this arrangement is simply to keep me from hanging, don’t you?” She found her voice more bitter than she meant it to be.
Roberta eyed her thoughtfully. “To you, perhaps. But to Nicholas, this wedding is real, which means it is real to Dominic and me.”
Brianna bit her lip a long moment, taking in Roberta’s words before she finally replied.
“You may call me Brianna, if you wish.” Brianna wondered why Roberta wanted her as a sister. She’d never given a thought to siblings before. Living on a crowded ship had given her plenty of brothers, but a sister . . . that would be such a different thing, perhaps even exciting. She could ask Roberta the sort of questions she’d never asked anyone, except Elida, but Elida didn’t have the experience of an English lady. If Brianna’s fate did lead her to England and she had to meet her uncle, Roberta’s instructions would help keep her from being laughed out of London’s ballrooms.
“Would you like to come upstairs? Nicholas mentioned you had a gown. I thought we could have it pressed and see if it might suit for your wedding tonight?”
“I . . .” She looked helplessly at Nicholas, who held out the bag that contained her mother’s dress, as well as the other items from her parents. She took the bag from him, hesitant about what to do next, then remembered who she was. She was a pirate’s daughter, a pirate queen herself. She wasn’t about to let a fine house or a fine gown or a forced wedding rattle her.
Squaring her shoulders, she followed Roberta up the stairs to a bedchamber and set her bag down on the bed. A little embarrassed, she dug through it until she found the gown, then held it up against her body for Roberta to see. What if it didn’t fit? What if her mother had been a petite woman? She was rather tall, like her father . . . Wait, had Hugh St. Laurent been a tall man? She suddenly found herself wishing she knew.
“Oh my heavens,” Roberta gasped. “I’ve never seen a gown so exquisite in my life. Oh, it’s perfect.” She pulled the bell cord for a maid to come and collect the gown to press it.
Brianna reluctantly relinquished it to the maid when she arrived. “You think it is suitable?” she asked Roberta after the maid left.
“It is one of the finest dresses I’ve ever seen,” Roberta said with no hint of exaggeration. “Your mother had wonderful taste.” She offered Brianna a sad smile. “I know what it’s like to grow up without a mother. Mine died when I was very young. In a way, my life wasn’t very different from yours.”
At this Brianna glanced up, stunned. “Really?”
“Oh yes, I sailed almost every time my father did. I’ve even been in a battle or two. I once helped the powder monkeys. Papa was furious when he learned of it, but later, he crowed to all the officers at dinner that I saved the day. He’s such a dear.” She blushed a little and chuckled at the memory.
“I did the same for my father,” Brianna admitted. “Before I was allowed to join his crew officially. Powder work is hard and dangerous, but when you’re small, it’s the best job to do.”
Roberta nodded. “When I got older, I took over helping with the ledgers of the food storage and even the ammunition. The officers were glad to leave that work to me so they could be out on deck. I wasn’t allowed up in the rigging, at least while we were at sea, but I snuck up a fair bit when we reached port and learned to tie knots as well as any sailor.”
“Why are you telling me all this?” Brianna asked. She sensed Roberta was trying to make a point, but she wasn’t sure what.
“Life isn’t as awful as you’re imagining for young ladies in our position. As the wife of an officer, you’ll have privileges, and when Nicholas leaves the navy, you’ll have even more freedom. I run wild here at King’s Landing. Dom finds it charming to see me break the rules of society whenever it pleases me. He quite encourages it.”
Brianna wasn’t convinced that Roberta’s life was as free as it could be, but that was a discussion for another day. She focused on one thing Roberta had said. “Nicholas is leaving the navy?”
“Yes. My father said in his letter that Nicholas was resigning his commission after your marriage. I think a naval life was never what he wanted. He did it hoping to find Dominic, but now he should be free to do what he wants.”
“I only wish I knew what that was,” Brianna muttered, but Roberta overheard her.
“He wants a life with you, and whatever adventures that life will hold.”
“He’s only doing this to save my life. He’s so bloody noble,” Brianna argued.
Her new friend only shook her head. “He is noble, but oh, Brianna, you don’t see what I see. The way he looks at you, the way he moves when you’re near him. He is connected to you in a deeper way than you can possibly know. I’ve been friends with Nicholas for a while, and I’ve learned to see things in his eyes that he tries to hide. He’s not even trying to hide what he feels when he looks at you. He wants to marry you because he loves you.”
“Loves me?” she echoed, a sudden burning longing filling her, and yet the piratical part of herself, the part that made most of her decisions, scoffed at the idea.
“Yes. He may not have said it yet, but he does. Trust me on this. He wants a life with you.”
“A life with me.” Brianna suddenly dared to let herself think about what that might really mean. If he loved her . . . he would help her free her men, and he would not cage her and leave her to die a slow death as a highborn lady. He might be free with her. If he left the navy, they could do whatever they wished. Suddenly, a new hope lit Brianna from the inside.
Roberta embraced her, fierce and tight, and a brief sob came from her. Roberta backed up, cleared her throat, wiped at her eyes, and smiled.
“I’m sorry. I just . . . Why don’t you have a hot bath, and then we’ll do your hair. Your gown should be ready by then.”
Brianna let Roberta take control as weddings and things ladies such as her would know to do were well beyond her element. Brianna was in deep, foreign waters with no oars and at the mercy of wherever these winds of change would blow her.
Dominic poured two glasses of brandy for them. “I think you need a drink,” he said with a chuckle.
Nicholas sagged in the chair by the fire, a heavy weight settling over him. “You have no idea.”
“So tell me, what on earth happened? One minute I hear you’re off on a spy mission, the next you’ve been captured by pirates in Sugar Cove, and now you’ve shown up in desperate need of a wedding to the Shadow King’s daughter. Christ, Nick, I thought you wanted a simple life. It’s as though after finding me after all these years, you’ve been set on a mad path to adventure. Have I been that bad of an influence on you?”
“Undoubtedly you have,” Nicholas teased. “But I assure you I got into this mess all on my own.” He sipped the brandy. “Dom, how long have you known her?”
“Brianna?” Dom considered the question. “About ten years. Buck gave me a position on his crew, and we worked together until I was able to take my own ship as a prize.”
“The Emerald Dragon?”
“The same. Brianna, well, she was at his side, even as a tiny little thing. Blonde curls and big green eyes, she was doted on by all the men, but she was strong, and she learned the ways of the sea alongside boys twice her age. She is nothing like the other women you’ve met.” Dom’s gaze grew distant. “You do realize that this ceremony means nothing to Brianna, don’t you?”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, back home, marriage carries social, spiritual, and legal weight behind it. But Brianna is not from that world, and she feels none of that weight. To her, these are just words on a piece of paper and vows being made under duress.”
Flynn frowned. “What are you trying to tell me?”
“Well, if your only intention is to offer her some measure of legal protection, then nothing.” Dom took a sip and gave him a cunning look. “But if you actually wish to have her as your wife, then you are in for a grave disappointment. This contract? Simply another cage to escape. She is not someone who will become a docile wife and wait at home for you with a babe in her arms. She is more like those old Viking princess tales we heard as boys.”
“Harcourt said much the same thing.” Nicholas dragged a hand through his hair.
“If you wish to keep her, Nicholas, you must win her. You won’t do that by forcing her to fit your expectations. She’ll leave you the first chance she gets if you try.”
“I don’t want to cage her or change her, but she can’t go back to pirating. Times are changing, the war with the Spanish is waning, and that means the Royal Navy will be turning their attention back to restoring order to the shipping lanes. Her father’s days are numbered. As for her ship and crew . . .” Nicholas leaned in and spoke to Dominic in a hushed tone. “That reminds me. Most of her crew escaped to Basseterre during the fight, but about half a dozen were captured, including Brianna’s cabin boy, an innocent lad. We must free them. I can’t let those men hang.”
“You want to save the lives of some pirates?” Dominic asked, his dark brows arched in shock. “Why the sudden change of heart? You once believed we were only capable of murder and mayhem.”
“Let’s just say my views have changed of late. Not all are cut from the same cloth.” He’d spent time among the men, living with them, laughing with them, hearing tales of their raids, and Brianna was right. They weren’t the sort of men who deserved to be killed. Perhaps imprisoned for a time, but death? Not her men.
At this, Dominic’s eyes glinted dangerously. “You know what you’re asking, don’t you? To save them, we can’t play by your rules. We have to play by mine. It means a jailbreak. Are you certain you can stomach that? It would be a direct action against the navy and Charles Harcourt. People might get hurt. People you know.”
Nicholas let out a slow breath. “I’m aware.” He took another long sip. “I believe I gave up on any future in the navy when I fell in love with a pirate queen.”
Dominic chuckled at what he’d just said. “As she is the Shadow King’s daughter, I do believe that makes her a princess, not a queen. Very well. I have an idea. Once you are wed, you will tend to your bride, and I will go—”
“Not alone you won’t. Those men are my responsibility. I betrayed Brianna’s trust, and this is only one of the many ways I must atone for that. I’ve been a fool for separating good and evil so easily in my mind. We live in a world where so much is painted in shades of gray rather than black or white, right or wrong. Take the navy, for example. We uphold the laws of England, and England allows slavery to continue. You know just as I do how wrong owning another man is. Yet England continues to support the trade.” He paused, his thoughts turning back to Brianna. “She once asked me if I’d only saved her because she was a woman, if my compassion was limited by gender, whereas I would let a cabin boy hang. Well, I won’t. Patrick is a good lad. I will save him and the others or die trying.”
Dominic was quiet a moment as he sipped his drink and watched Nicholas. “There’s the Nicholas I left behind in Cornwall,” he said, a smile on his lips. “Brianna saved you where I could not.”
Nicholas didn’t argue the matter. In a way, it was true. She’d saved him from the version of him that had refused to see the areas in between, where most men and women actually lived.
“We’ll wait for Brianna to fall asleep and go together,” Nicholas finally said.
Nicholas and Dominic drank, perhaps a little too much for what a groom and his friend should drink before the groom’s impending nuptials. They were laughing and wiping tears from their eyes as they reminisced each other with boyhood stories.
By the time Roberta announced Brianna was ready, Nicholas was seeing the world in a rosy hue. Alcohol had always calmed his nerves.
Dominic fetched the magistrate and escorted him outside into the gardens while Nicholas waited at the foot of the stairs for his future bride. Roberta came down first, beaming at him, and then she stepped aside and looked back up the stairs as Brianna emerged from the corridor. Her silver-and-blue gown was unlike anything he’d ever seen.
The evening sunlight poured in through the windows, illuminating Brianna in her diaphanous gown like she was a falling star. She glided toward him with a grace that reminded him of how she moved on the rigging of her ship. She paused on the bottom step, her hands knotting worriedly in her skirts.
“Well? Do I pass muster?” she asked.
“I . . . What? Oh yes,” Nicholas stuttered. “You look . . .” He didn’t have the words to finish.
“That means you look lovely,” Roberta told Brianna. “When you strike a man speechless, it’s usually a good sign. Come along, bridegroom.” Roberta tugged at Nicholas, and he offered Brianna his arm as they followed Dominic’s wife into the gardens.
The heady scent of flowers perfumed the air, and Nicholas felt as though he’d drifted into some wonderful dream. Beside him, Brianna stared wide-eyed at the gardens and the fountains, the paradise that would soon host their union.
“It’s so beautiful. I’ve never seen some of these flowers before,” she admitted with a blush. Nicholas made a silent vow to always have flowers for her, wherever she went. But first . . . he’d have to win her heart and her trust again.
Dominic and the magistrate waited in the garden near an archway trellis covered in pale purple wisteria. Nicholas escorted Brianna down toward the magistrate. Suddenly, he realized more than ever what Dominic had said about this being a false marriage in Brianna’s eyes. He didn’t want that. He wanted her, and he wanted her happiness. If he had to force a marriage like this, it wouldn’t be real to either of them, no matter what the magistrate said.
