Chapter Five

“I still can’t believe it!” In the light of a swaying lantern, Ginny Tart faced her companion in the cramped cabin into which they’d been thrust. “You let those great louts abduct us, truss us up, and throw us into this cubbyhole without a single word! You left me to do all the cursing, all the wishing them to scorch in Hell!”

“Hush, Ginny.” Annie put fingers over her friend’s mouth and spoke in a whisper. “I had an excellent reason. As my lout was carrying me from the manor, he referred to me as ‘princess’ and ‘your highness.’ Don’t you see? He believes he’s kidnapped Princess Cassandra!”

“God in heaven, do you really think that’s what happened?”

“I do.”

“But why take me as well? If it’s ransom they’re seeking, I’m not worth a farthing.”

“He had no choice but to abduct us both. He couldn’t risk leaving you behind to raise the alarm. Quite possibly, because of your attire, he may think you’re my lady’s maid.”

“He…they couldn’t be so daft.” Ginny’s eyes rounded.

“Think about it. We were in the princess’s room. I’m wearing one of her gowns, I have the same color hair, and they saw only our backs. We both know the duke had no desire to marry her royal highness. I’m guessing he hired these picaroons to abduct her.”

“Bloody hell! I didn’t think the blighter had the guts to do such a thing.”

“It’s the only explanation I can fathom.”

“That makes sense, but why do I have to pass myself off as a blinkin’ servant? Blimey, if you’re to pretend to be a blasted princess…”

“Firstly, because of the way you’re dressed. Secondly, you have to be my English-speaking servant, the only person who can communicate with her mistress, through signs and signals.” She grinned. “You do have a way with language…especially when you’re annoyed.”

“Reckon as how I do.” Ginny relaxed into a sly smile. “Being able to keep my own way of saying things will come in right handy when I tell that big son of a bitch what threw me over his shoulder exactly what I think of him.”

“I thought you already had.” Annie smothered a chuckle.

“You did, did you?” She placed her hands on her hips. “I was only getting started. Be prepared to hear a whole lot better next time I see the bugger, your royal highness.”

She paused and looked around the cabin. “Clean enough, but little more than a hole in the wall. Bed looks wide enough for both of us, though. And just look at these.” She gave the two belaying pins hanging on hooks on the wall above the bunk a contemptuous push. “Imagine that great brute of a mate grinning when he said he was leaving them here to make us feel safe from any crew member who might attempt to invade our sanctuary. Some sanctuary! The arrogance! What made him think we might not use them against him?”

“Because he’s assuming we’re reasonably sensible women,” Annie replied. “Knocking him or the captain senseless when we’re miles at sea would be like signing our own death warrants, since they’re probably the only two aboard who can navigate.”

“I suppose.” Ginny turned to the mate’s sea chest, which took up most of the room aside from the bed, and tried to lift its lid. “Locked.” She screwed up her face. “As if he’d have anything we’d want to steal. What do you think they plan to do with us?”

“Since our abductor thinks he captured a princess, I’d say ransom describes his intent.”

“Bloody hell.” Ginny plunked her bottom on the chest. “So we haven’t got a snowball’s chance in July. Once they find who we really are, they’ll know we’re not worth a farthing to anyone and chuck us overboard like so much garbage.”

“That’s why it’s so important to maintain the fiction that I’m Princess Cassandra…at least until we get to a port where we can escape. We have to make them believe they’ve got the correct victims. Otherwise, we may become, as you suggest, fish food…or worse.”

“I’d like to see any of these sea tramps try the ‘or worse’ part with me.” Ginny clenched her hands into fists in her lap. “I’d…”

“Ginny, be rational. There’s a full crew aboard. We’d be overpowered in seconds. Now, tell me you’ll go along with the farce I’ve proposed. Believe me, it’s our only hope.”

Her companion drew a deep breath, glanced around the rolling cubicle, and finally sighed.

“Very well…your highness.”

“Good, very good. Now we’d best settle in as comfortably as possible. Since we’re bound for America, this will be our home for some time.”

“I suppose.” With a sigh, Ginny began to straighten the rumpled bedding. “But, Annie, did you look at the one the captain called Mr. MacDougal? Tall, sandy curls, a grin that could make a curmudgeon smile…” She turned back to her friend in the shadowy illumination of two lanterns fastened to the wall. “And that devil-may-care twinkle in his eyes…”

“The embodiment of your perfect man? The one you’ve just termed a great lout?”

“Oh, don’t tell me I didn’t catch you ready to devour the captain, with more than a bit of interest,” she snapped, returning to her task. “Quite a fine-looking specimen, isn’t he?”

“Perhaps…if you care for the overbearing, arrogant type. Help me out of this ridiculous gown. I’m exhausted. We both need our rest if we’re to be bright and strong enough to handle those two brutes for the remainder of the voyage. My head is beginning to ache from too much champagne.”

“Your highness.” Ginny started to favor her companion with a mock curtsy but the ship dipped and heaved. Tossed backwards onto the bed, she bumped her head on a beam near its head.

“Miserable, bloody tub!” She rubbed the sore spot. “I can’t get off it soon enough!”

Later, as they lay in the bunk in their chemises, wrapped in woolen blankets, Annie pulled herself up on an elbow to look down at her friend in the swaying lantern light.

“You know, Ginny, this adventure might not be all bad.” Her words were slow and calculating. “We’ll be free in America, a land full of opportunity. We can make our own way, become wives to rich and powerful men. I’ve heard there’s a dearth of marriageable women in the colonies, and we’re not exactly ugly.”

“But that beast of a captain said they’re taking us to a nunnery!”

“Convents aren’t prisons…at least not for a shrewd couple of ladies such as us. We’ll be out of there and looking for likely mates in no time.” Grinning, she punched her friend lightly on the shoulder. “Come on, Virginia Tart. It’s time we took our own fate in our hands. Let’s show the world it’s not only men who can be scallywags.”

Ginny hesitated, then heaved a sigh. “Very well, Ann Pudden. In for a penny, in for a pound. Good God, but I’ve got a pounding in my head as would make a rock moan. All that bubbly wine and then being tossed about like so much baggage…”

“Nothing a good night’s sleep won’t remedy. We’ve got a busy time ahead. We’ll start first thing tomorrow morning. We’ll liven up this voyage no end.”

“Annie, what are you plotting, you evil wench?”