“A sail, Cap’n!”
The cry from aloft brought the crew to a flurry of action, which Sophia observed with interest from where she was seated near the mainmast, the never-ending mending at hand. Once the crew learned she was, as Mick said, “a dab hand with a needle,” they were all approaching her with their ragged bits and pieces.
But the pay was good, Sophia smiled to herself. So far she’d earned a set of carved bone buttons, one pearl earring (Ralston was wearing its mate), a rather nice bag of clay marbles from Mick, which she gave back to him to hold until they made land, and from the captain, a cessation of comments on her backside as she climbed in and out of her hammock. Which, to her surprise, was becoming a comfortable berth. She didn’t fall out anymore, and last night slept through, rocked like a babe in its cradle by the motion of the ship.
The captain hadn’t yet noticed she was embroidering on the smallclothes he kept for trips ashore. She was amused to think of what he’d say when he discovered his flies were now decorated with daisies.
All things considered, life aboard a privateer had so far been mostly mundane. The men went about their tasks like any other ship’s crew, and they treated her with respect leavened with a bit of curiosity. Once they determined she was to be a passenger for a length of time, they opened up and chatted with her as she sat on deck, shaded from the tropical sun by a canvas awning.
Captain Burrell tolerated it, up to a point, but he and Mr. Rice made it their habit to be sure none of the men spent too long chatting alone with Sophia.
Now the men were rushing to their posts and ignoring her, Sophia set aside her sewing and rose to her feet. Were the privateers going to take another ship? Or if the Jade itself was taken, what would become of her?
Her greatest fear at the moment was that Captain Jack Burrell would get a better offer for her than three possums, but she held on to the belief he was more interested in Garvey’s Gold than he was in getting rid of Miss Sophia Deford.
* * *
Jack was watching Sophia sewing, her nimble fingers fondling his undergarments. He frowned and turned away from her to stare out to the west, but his eyes were brought to starboard by a call from aloft.
“A sail, Cap’n! Three points off the starboard bow!”
Jack shaded his eyes and he could see it now, a schooner rigged fore-and-aft. This wasn’t a good sign, since schooners were the favored vessels of—
“Pirates!” the lookout yelled. “It’s the Zephyr!”
“Damnation,” Jack said to himself. It would be just his luck that out of all the pirates in the Caribbean, his ship would come across the Zephyr.
The schooner was also flying Cartagenan colors. No doubt the Zephyr carried a letter of marque from the fledgling republic, full of official seals and ribbons, and about as meaningful as a parrot’s chatter. Jack knew this since he had a similar letter of marque.
“Cap’n, he’s signaling he wants to parley,” the lookout called.
The Zephyr’s gunports were closed, and she looked innocent enough. Plus they had the advantage of the wind while the Jade was on a lee shore.
“Haul back, Mr. Rice. We shall see what Captain Sinister wants.”
“That pirate’s name is Captain Sinister? What kind of a name is Captain Sinister?”
Sophia came alongside Jack and was watching the oncoming schooner, her hand shading her eyes. Behind her, the crew hustled to grab small arms. When it came to meeting up with other privateers, being armed helped guarantee polite discourse.
“You may ask him yourself, Miss Deford. However, I suggest you address him as Captain Roberts, which is his true name.”
The schooner came ever closer, and in a flamboyant snap of sheets and yards braced up, and Jack admired the maneuver, suspecting the Zephyr’s captain was at the helm. When it was within hailing distance a man with a horn called over to salute the Jade and asked if Captain Burrell might be available for a parley?
Rice called back it would be convenient, and invited Captain Roberts to come over to the Jade. The Zephyr called back it would be better if Captain Burrell came aboard the Zephyr, as Captain Roberts’s guest. Oh, and he should bring the young lady with him.
“I must insist, Captain Burrell,” Roberts himself called out. “A pretty face will brighten our conversation.”
Jack cursed roundly, not caring that Sophia was standing alongside him. He should have insisted she stay below where she wouldn’t be spotted by the Zephyr, but it was too late now.
“Very well, we will join you aboard your ship, Captain,” he called back. He turned to Sophia and eyed her up and down.
“You will do for dining aboard the Zephyr. Before we leave, I have some advice for you. No matter what you see or hear, be on your best behavior and do not cause trouble.”
“Captain Burrell—” she gasped out angrily, but he cut her off.
“There are two kinds of women in Sinister’s world. Ladies and whores. If you want to be treated like the one and not the other, go along with what I say.”
That silenced her. She went below and when she returned Jack picked her up in his arms and carried her down the ladder to the waiting boat, and after Sophia settled herself and unfurled her parasol, they were rowed over to the Zephyr.
It was a larger vessel than the Jade, and riding low in the water. Sinister must have come across some other hapless ship prior to spotting the Jade, which bode well for Jack and his possessions. A pirate flush with booty was a happy pirate.
When they came aboard they were met by the Zephyr’s navigator, Olivera, who told them the captain was below and offered them a glass of wine while they waited. Sophia took hers with a smile for the sailor who served them, then looked around the ship with interest after taking a small sip and setting the glass down. Jack also took the wine, but his look around the ship took in the armed sailors and the guns behind their closed ports, this last observation helping him relax a notch. He knew Rice would keep the men on their toes while he was off the Jade, ready for any tricks from the other vessel.
Jack saw Sophia’s head whip around and heard her sharp intake of breath as she moved in closer to his side. She’d spotted the pirate bearing down on them, a massive brute with a wild beard and hair flying out from beneath his palmetto hat. He could have been mistaken for a nimble Barbary ape dressed in men’s clothes, except Barbary apes couldn’t come close to the size of this behemoth.
He stopped in front of the Jade’s captain and planted his legs apart, arms crossed over his chest.
“Lucky Jack Burrell!” he roared. “I promised you if we ever met again there would be a reckoning!”
Miss Deford took a prudent step away from his side, but then Captain Sinister took off his hat, scratched his mane of hair and looking up at the colors snapping overhead said, “So, how much do I owe you now?”
Jack winced.
“Not much, Morgan. Only two hundred dollars.”
“Jack, Jack,” the pirate shook his head. “How often do I have to remind you about factoring in the interest? That’s only the principal. I know it is more than that by now. But we can talk about this later.”
The pirate looked down, way down, at Sophia.
“Aren’t you going to introduce me to this lady?”
He hesitated, but the lady stepped into the conversational breach.
“I am Miss Sophia Deford,” she said, dropping the pirate a curtsy.
“I am Roberts, ma’am, Morgan Roberts. It is pleasure to meet you, Miss Deford.”
“Oh, the pleasure is all mine, Captain Roberts,” she said, dimpling up at the pirate. The wind roughened cheekbones visible above his thatch of beard turned bright with color, and Roberts shifted uneasily from foot to foot.
She was distracted from her conversation by a grimy looking pirate inching closer and eyeing her, a covetous gleam in his eyes.
Roberts looked at the sailor and frowned.
“Sylvestre, you cannot take the lady’s parasol. And you cannot have her frock, either, it would not fit you.”
“Aw, Cap’n…”
“No, Sylvestre.”
“Thank you, Captain Roberts. I knew such a fine gentleman as yourself would not allow a helpless lady to be molested,” Sophia said. She ignored Jack when he made a noise suspiciously like a derisive snort at the words “helpless lady,” but Roberts frowned.
“Is this sharkbait bothering you, miss?”
Jack looked down at his undersized nemesis and tried to see her through fresh eyes. It would be just like a fool like Morgan Roberts to see himself as a knight errant rescuing a lady in distress. But he’d be damned if he’d let Sinister take away Miss Deford. And her treasure map. Hell, he liked Roberts too much to inflict the scheming little minx on him. Look at her, watching the two of them, weighing which one would best suit her purposes.
“She’s my fiancée,” Jack said suddenly.
“What?” Sophia squeaked, but he ignored her.
“Miss Deford is my fiancée. We are to be married in Florida.”
“Married, eh? Congratulations, Jack, and best wishes to you, miss.” Roberts looked around and frowned. “It is odd you are carrying Miss Deford aboard the Jade. What if you came across the guardacosta? And don’t young ladies travel with companions? Where is your duenna, Miss Deford?”
“Fell overboard. Quite tragic,” Jack said.
“I cannot quite believe it myself,” Sophia said, staring at her new found fiancé.
“Quiet,” he tried to say sotto voce, “you don’t want to get involv—”
“No chaperone? That’s not right and proper!” Captain Roberts said, looking at her in a new way that had Sophia edging back toward Jack. “Perhaps I should take Miss Deford to St. Augustine on my ship. She would get there sooner than on your tub. And you are English, are you not? It is not right a flower of English womanhood be left at the mercy of these Americans. No, you’d be much better off aboard the Zephyr.”
Jack put his arm around Sophia, and she tensed for a moment, then relaxed against him.
“Miss Deford is my betrothed, Captain Roberts. I am responsible for her welfare.”
Roberts looked at him for a moment longer, then grinned. Jack was not encouraged by this.
“Jack, I have just had a brilliant notion. I can do you a favor, and it would cancel out the debt you owe me. I can marry the two of you, today!”
Jack’s blood froze in his veins, and he was slightly aware of Sophia making noises beside him as his arm tightened convulsively, but he ignored her and looked up at Roberts.
“You cannot marry both of us, Morgan, that would be bigamy,” he joked weakly.
“Ha! Very amusing. What I meant was, I’ve heard of ship’s captains joining people in marriage when they are at sea, and then there would be no questions about Miss Deford traveling aboard your ship. And you won’t have to pay me for my services either. It will cancel my debt.”
He grinned again at the end of this speech, seeming pleased with his own logic.
“This woman is not going to be my wife until we reach Florida,” Jack said, “And I am not going to pay two hundred dollars for the privilege of marrying her!”
Roberts raised a bushy eyebrow and looked Sophia over.
“She looks like she’s worth two hundred dollars, and if she does not mind traveling across the ocean with you, then she surely won’t mind traveling the rest of the way to Florida with me.”
Jack felt the sweat trickling down his back and stalled for time.
“You need to give us a moment to talk, Captain Roberts.”
“Certainly, certainly. But do not take too long. I didn’t get my nom de guerre because I am known for my forbearance.”
Jack took Sophia by the arm and pulled her over to the railing, out of earshot of the pirates.
“What are we going to do, Captain Burrell?”
“Unless you have a better idea, it looks like we’re going to be married!”
“Can’t we make a run for it?”
“We are in the middle of the ocean, aboard another man’s ship. A man who is already unhappy that he owes me money. I do not think we would get far if we ‘made a run for it!’”
Sophia looked over at Captain Sinister, who smiled at her and gave her a little wave of his fingers.
“I do not know about this. Marriage to you is a drastic a step. Captain Roberts does not seem like a bad sort,” she said. “Perhaps I should allow him to carry me to shore on his ship and I can meet up with you later. After all, he did offer two hundred dollars for me where you only offered five dollars. I am worth more to him than to you.”
“If you wish to negotiate your fees with him, you can do so later, after we get the gold,” Jack said through his teeth. “I am not going to let you walk out of my life with your treasure map onto Roberts’s ship. I still have my obligation to Erasmus Tanner, God rot him.”
A good privateer had to be able to think on his feet, take command and make snap decisions. He could better deal with this latest Deford disaster aboard his own ship.
“Captain Roberts,” Jack called, “you may read the marriage service over my fiancée and me, today.”
The crew of the Zephyr and Jack’s own men were watching this byplay with a great deal of interest, and Olivera hustled to comply when his captain sent him below to fetch his prayer book.
“There are prayer books on a pirate ship?” Sophia asked Jack.
“Privateer, miss. The Zephyr is a legitimate privateer,” Roberts said straight-faced. “I can do everything all right and proper, and you will be Mrs. Captain Burrell before the dog watch.”
“Oh dear,” she murmured. Jack knew she too was caught between the devil and the deep blue sea. That was the only reason he was going along with this farce. He had no doubt if Sophia Deford chose to go with Captain Sinister, she’d be running the Zephyr and have the big man eating out of her hand before the sun set, and with Morgan Roberts at her side she’d be every bit as prepared to find that treasure as with Jack.
Hell, he practically owed it to Sinister to keep him out of her clutches. It had nothing to do with the idea of the annoying little thief walking out of his life and onto another man’s ship. She would be leaving with her treasure map. That was what really mattered.
It also annoyed him that as the Zephyr’s captain and crew prepared for the happy event, Miss Deford continued to project her air of innocence and fragility, wearing a simple gown that made her look younger than her twenty-five years. Her dress of pink-striped white muslin was topped by a light wool spencer of palest rose to keep out the sea breezes, and a straw chip hat with pink ribbons kept the sun off her pale face. A white lace ruff peeked over the neckline and framed her deceptively delicate features, while her modest glances downward at her dainty little shoes had one of Roberts’s pirates stumbling over himself and shifting from foot to foot with nerves at having to converse with a young lady.
Jack scowled at the hapless man and resisted the temptation to heave him over the side.
Olivera returned with the Book of Common Prayer and gave it to Roberts. All the sailors were on hand to watch. Sailors stuck aboard ships love a good distraction, and today’s events were about as good as it got, short of visits ashore to spend their money as quickly as possible.
Roberts leafed through the book until he came to “The Solemnization of Matrimony,” cleared his throat, and looked around to make sure he had an audience.
“Jack, you stand on the lady’s starboard side. ‘Dearly beloved, we are gathered here in the sight of God, and in the face of this company…’”
Roberts’s deep tones rolled over the bridegroom like waves rolling over a drowning man. Jack made his responses and kept his eyes fixed on the prayer book until he heard “‘…who giveth this woman to be married to this man?’”
Roberts looked around but seeing no one except Jack and the sailors said, “I suppose we can skip that part, Miss.”
When they exchanged vows, however, Sophia’s voice was clear and light, and seemed to put a special emphasis on “till death do us part,” which didn’t make him feel any more at ease about what was occurring.
Roberts asked for a ring and Jack was at a loss, his own hands bare, but a voice piped up, “I have a ring you can give the lady,” and Sylvestre, the parasol-coveting pirate, removed a dainty Florentine gold band from his ear and passed it over. Jack reluctantly took it from Roberts and, looking at Sophia, he followed the prompts and said, “With this ring I thee wed, and with all my worldly goods I thee endow: In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.”
To her credit, Miss Deford, or perhaps now she was Mrs. Burrell, did not smirk over the idea of receiving all of Jack’s worldly goods.
“Says here, ‘Let us pray,’” Roberts said, “but I don’t want to get struck by lightning for leading this lot in prayer. So we’ll skip down to…” He ran his finger down the page. “‘Those whom God—and the captain—have joined together, let no man put asunder!’”
He continued “‘…and have declared the same by giving and receiving a ring, and by joining hands; I pronounce that they are Man and Wife, In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen!’ And then there’s a blessing, but we’ll skip past that, too. Best wishes all around!”
The sailors, now fully into the spirit of the occasion raised a hearty, “Hip, hip, hooray!”, and cheered when Jack leaned over and gave Sophia a peck on the cheek.
“Holy Christ, Jack, do I have to do everything for you?” Roberts said, snatching the bride off her feet and giving her a heartfelt buss on the lips. Jack pulled her back to his side and looked down at her dazed face.
“Are you well?”
“Yes…just a bit overwhelmed.”
“Captain Sinister has that effect on people.”
The pirate in question was busy directing his men back to their work, while Olivera brought him the ship’s log. He knew Captain Roberts was bound by law to record marriages, births, and deaths aboard his ship, but having a record of it could make Jack’s future more difficult.
“Well! This has been a good day, Jack,” Captain Sinister said with a wide grin, rubbing his hands together as the crew toasted the bride and groom with an extra ration of grog. “I have discharged my debt to you, spliced you to a lovely lady, and protected the reputation of an Englishwoman. My work here is done. No, don’t even try to thank me, lad.”
“I was not going to thank you.”
“No matter,” he said cheerfully, turning to the bride, who was looking bemusedly at the earring on her finger. “My best wishes to you, Mrs. Burrell. I hope I will see you in Florida. In fact, as a wedding gift, why don’t the two of you stay at my house in St. Augustine? I have to travel back to Havana to pick up Mr. Lopez and the rest of my crew, so the house will be vacant for a month or so.”
“Thank you, that is a lovely offer.” Sophia Burrell, nee Deford, gave Captain Sinister one of her best smiles, which made him blush again, but Jack took her by the elbow and said, “It is time we returned to the Jade.”
Once the Zephyr raised sail and set off to hunt for fresh victims, the crew of the Jade politely gave the bride and groom time to themselves as they walked around the deck, but there was no holding hands or cooing or burning glances between the wedded couple.
“This cannot possibly be a valid marriage. Captain Roberts is a pirate!”
Sophia’s words echoed Jack’s own thoughts, but he wasn’t so sure.
“I don’t know. At the very least we have to pretend we’re married,” he said gloomily.
“You cannot be serious!”
“Never more so. Morgan Roberts gossips like an old woman, and word will get to Florida before we do. People will know about us traveling together.”
“Who is going to listen to Captain Sinister?”
“Everyone. In St. Augustine Roberts is a respected British merchant and planter.” He thought about it some more, then ventured, “There may be some benefit to this farce. We cannot travel together without some kind of relationship between us that will not make people snigger or insult you. You saw how Roberts reacted, and he’s a pirate! What is going to happen when we go out in society in St. Augustine or Fernandina? And we will need to move about freely to accomplish our goals. Your being my wife will give us freedom.”
“I think not!”
“Think again. Believe me, I do not want this any more than you do. I would sooner crawl into bed with an asp as with you, Mrs. Burrell, so do not flatter yourself!”
“I would rather eat worms than let people think I have lost all my good sense and agreed to marry you,” Sophia gritted through her teeth.
“Suit yourself.” Jack shrugged. “Just do not expect me to come running up to defend your honor when the soldiers, sailors, and drovers in Florida draw their own conclusions about Miss Sophia Deford traveling with a man who is not her husband.”
That silenced her, and she tapped her foot on the deck as she thought.
“Very well, I will consider what you have said. But I am sure there is another solution.” Her brow furrowed for a moment while she thought. “Something just occurred to me. If the pirates are claiming to work for Cartagena, won’t Captain Roberts be arrested in Florida by the Spanish authorities?”
“Not likely since he’ll put into port in Fernandina flying British or Spanish colors. Florida does not get enough support from Spain to harass one of their landowners, a man who contributes a great deal to the local economy. Trust me, some of those goods he stole will end up in the Florida markets, and the governor will be glad of it.”
“Did you know Captain Roberts during the war?”
“From opposite sides. I never encountered his ship in battle, but we were sometimes in the same waters, and would on occasion meet in neutral ports.”
Sophia hesitated, then said, “I feel like I have to thank you for what happened today. Not the marriage,” she said, “but the idea you had to keep me safe. I am in your debt.”
“I imagine you wish you did not need to say that,” he said dryly.
“You would be right. I do need help to find Garvey’s Gold. If I was a man, I would set off on my own and look for the treasure. But as it is…”
“You have had to do much on your own, haven’t you?” He hadn’t really thought about it, what drove a young Englishwoman of good family to take off in this harebrained fashion. He looked at her, and when she caught his glance she did not look away.
“Yes, Captain Burrell, I have had to do much on my own.”
She looked out over the railing at the sea. “Now that we are supposedly married you should know more about me.” She smiled, but it faded quickly.
“My father inherited property in Kent that would have allowed us to live in comfort, if not luxury, had he paid attention to its management. He did not. Mr. Deford was not a bad man, and I do believe he cared for my mother and me, but he was a weak man. His weakness was gambling.”
She took a deep breath of the brisk salt air and continued.
“After my mother died, he hosted parties at our home for his friends, trying to shore up his fortunes by getting a cut for the house from these events. But he was as bad a gambler as he was a farmer, and by the time I was old enough to take over the books and the management of the expenses, it was too late. He’d run through his money, my mother’s money, and since my late mother in her naivete had not secured my dowry, run through my money as well.”
“And that is how you met Lord Whitfield?”
“Lord Whitfield is a distant relation, but I did not meet him until he came to the house parties. He began paying more and more attention to me as I grew up, so I kept a pistol beside my bed and the door locked at night. For all his faults, there were some things Mr. Deford did well, and teaching me to shoot was one of them.”
Jack was appalled.
“Did you tell him about what was happening? He did nothing to stop Whitfield from bothering you?”
She hesitated, but then resumed speaking. “As I said, he was weak. I believe he wanted to do something but he was afraid of angering Whitfield, who by that time was holding his vowels for a substantial amount of money. It was at the conclusion of one of these parties, a month before I encountered you, that Mr. Deford accepted an invitation to Lord Whitfield’s hunting box in the north. I tried to convince him not to go, but was adamant he could win back the monies he had lost, if he only had one more chance.”
Jack’s mind made the connection he’d been searching for.
“Deford—your father was Lionel Deford, wasn’t he?”
“You knew my father?”
Sophia looked at him and Jack felt the heat rise in his face. He had been at Whitfield’s hunting box, a callow young buck fresh off the boat from America, thrilled at the opportunity to gamble with a noted sportsman. He quickly lost his funds and his illusions. The story about Deford reached Jack in London and he’d dismissed the affair as none of his business. He was only interested in getting his money back from Whitfield, any way he could.
“This time, he didn’t return,” Sophia continued softly, unaware Jack knew what she was going to say next. “Instead, Whitfield came to my home, all concern with his talk of poor Mr. Deford’s ‘hunting accident,’ and how everything he owned was now his property, lost in the turn of a card—my house, the few possessions we had left, even the clothes on my back. And he said since I had no other male relatives, I would come live at his house as his ward.”
A shudder raced over her frame at the memory, and Jack leaned toward her, offering a hand, an embrace, an arm to lean on—he was not sure what he offered, but she had stopped talking and he pulled back.
“And then you met me.”
“Yes.” she smiled. “A night where my luck changed for the better. Fortune’s wheel turns, Captain Burrell. She who is on the bottom may find herself on top…”
“And he who believes himself on top can find himself bound and left naked in a cave,” he finished dryly. “And I really must insist if we are married you refer to me as ‘Jack,’ because I intend to take advantage of this opportunity and call you Sophia.”
She turned and looked at him, and after a moment gave her head a slight nod, fluttering the ribbons on her hat.
“And now that I’ve told you my story, Captain Jack, what is your story? How did you become a privateer?”
“You might say I was born to it. My father was a privateer against you British during the war for American Independence. It was a small step from merchant captain to captain of a privateer when the war began.
“Do you gamble, Mis—Sophia?”
“I have been known to place a wager or two.”
“Privateering is gambling at its finest, and that is much of its allure. You risk losing all—your ship, your men, your very life. But if you win it is a drug in the veins, and one that has attracted many an honest merchantman over to the side of legalized ship stealing.
“The ultimate prize is specie—it is like winning a lottery. The Spanish waters are famous for the treasure ships carrying silver from their mines back to Spain. In this game sometimes you get silver, sometimes you get ballast, sometimes you get oranges.”
“Oranges?”
He smiled at her surprise. “Yes, the crop that’s most likely to come out of East Florida, along with sugar, and sometimes deer hides. But the oranges are valuable. New York, Boston, Halifax, they pay well for ‘liquid gold.’”
He looked at the woman who was now purportedly his spouse, and realized this was one of the few extended conversations he’d had with her where they were not sniping at each other. Since she was appearing more open to the idea of their “marriage,” he plowed ahead.
“Whether or not we are in fact married, we have to pretend to be married because East Florida is not England, Sophia. As we travel there won’t always be inns where I can book separate accommodations for us. In Florida, travelers spend the night at the homes of planters and farmers along the coast and inland. Or they sleep under the stars with the insects, but I would prefer to sleep indoors when I can.”
She looked out to sea, and Jack waited for her to mull this over. No matter what else he might think about her, he couldn’t deny she was an intelligent girl.
“What you say makes sense. However, I still have to think about this. We have a few days before we make landfall?”
“Yes, we should be in Fernandina by the end of the week.” He gave her what he hoped was an engaging grin. “Can I anticipate you will take on the role of Mrs. Burrell?”
She looked at him coolly. “I will mend your clothes, Captain, and share your table. But I will also continue to sleep in my hammock at night. No one need know what our sleeping arrangements are.”
He shrugged, though he was disappointed. Hell, he ought to be getting something out if this if he wasn’t going to see his two hundred dollars—plus interest—in this lifetime.
“Suit yourself,” he said.
She looked at him over her shoulder as she walked away.
“I always do, Captain Burrell.”