The Infamous Rogue Part 37

J ames stared at the high-back chair on the other side of the small, round table. He stared at it until the candlelight blurred and Sophia's ghostly figure appeared in the seat, clutching a fob watch. She dangled the timepiece, rocked it slowly back and forth, mesmerizing him.

May you rot in everlasting h.e.l.l.

And so he rotted in h.e.l.l, his innards twisted at the dark memory of her inscribed words, and the aloneness he had suffered the moment he had realized she had gone from the plantation house, never to return.

James shifted in the chair. He leaned his body to one side and made an L-shape with his thumb and forefinger, resting his chin in the groove.

But Sophia had returned, he thought, for she was again a part of his life. And soon she would know the wretched fires, too. Soon he would walk away from her-and have his revenge.

There was a rap at the door.

James ignored it. He was still recovering from his encounter with Sophia. Her scent and sweet juices still bathed his skin. He wanted to be alone in the shadowy room. He wanted to think about her-and machinate.

William entered the bedchamber. He wasn't aboard the Bonny Meg anymore, and so there was no reason for him to respect the captain's privacy.

James glared at his brother as he crossed the s.p.a.ce in cool strides. William paused and knocked against the snake's gla.s.s prison, rousing the reptile before he filled the empty seat across from the captain, chasing off the phantom image of Sophia.

William stretched out his legs and crossed his ankles. "We've returned."

"I see that," he growled.

"Adam sends his regards."

"Horses.h.i.t." James scowled. "Well? What did you learn from him?"

He might as well hear what had transpired between the men, for his brother seemed determined to report the day's events. James suspected he wasn't going to get any quiet until the matter of the impostors was addressed.

The door opened once more, and Quincy and Edmund sauntered inside the room.

"Egypt?" Edmund frowned. "Why Egypt?"

"Because that's where all the mummies are-and she wanted to get a new one."

Edmund snorted.

William smiled.

"But James put a stop to it," said Quincy as he straddled a chair. "He ordered Squirt to make amends to her mother." He glanced at the captain. "And she did, you know?"

"Did what?" asked James.

"Apologize."

"Of course she did." James folded his arms across his chest. "I told her to do it."

The young bucks exchanged knowing glances.

"He gave her The Look, didn't he?" Edmund settled in the last of the four seats positioned around the small, round table. "I remember The Look."

Quincy grimaced. "I still get The Look."

James eyed the pup. "And yet it doesn't seem to have the same effect on you that it once had."

Quincy looked aghast. "I should hope not."

"Perhaps you should offer Belle some child-rearing advice?" William glanced at the captain. "It sounds like she needs it."

"Like h.e.l.l. She's doing fine. I'm not going to play mother hen." Again! "Let's return to business, shall we? What happened with Adam?"

"Well, we discovered a few things," William said in a business-like manner. "It looks as though the bootleggers and impostors are one and the same. Their leader is a man named Hagley."

"It's just like we suspected." Edmund scratched his chin. "The men heard we were 'dead' and a.s.sumed our ident.i.ties, testing the pirate waters first with bootlegging and then moving on to more dangerous pursuits, like raiding pa.s.senger vessels."

"So where is this Hagley and the rest of his cohorts?"

William shrugged. "We don't know."

James glowered. "So what was the purpose of the trip?"

"We discovered important information." The lieutenant counted off his fingers. "The leader's name. That we're chasing after one band of charlatans, not two."

Edmund nodded in accord with his brother. "It narrows our search."

"We can start making inquires about Hagley in port." William rested his forearms on the table. "Surely someone knows him by his real name."

"Like a scorned lover who'd like to see him hang," said Edmund, snickering.

"I volunteer for that mission." Quincy grinned in a rakish manner. "A scorned lover is always ripe for a bedding."

Edmund snorted. "I'm surprised you don't have the pox."

"You're just jealous, Eddie."

"Of you?"

"I'm charming, so I get all the ladies."

Edmund frowned. "I'm charming."

Edmund was a sour devil, thought James. Moody since boyhood. But James had never figured out the reason behind his younger brother's il temperament. He supposed it was just his nature.

"You're both charming," said James, irritable. "Now what the h.e.l.l are we going to do about the impostors if we don't find a scorned wench in port?"

"I suggest we set another trap."

"It won't work, Quincy." James was firm. "The impostors won't be duped a second time into chasing after the Bonny Meg."

"What if we offer them a harmless proposition?"

James stared at the pup. "What sort of proposition?"

"Well, we can spread word that Captain Hawkins is looking for a shipping partner, that he's interested in a joint business venture with Hagley because he's heard good things about the man. We won't mention the word 'pirate.' We won't spook him."

James scowled. He loathed waiting for the impos tors to come to him-at sea or on land. It was so pa.s.sive, so unlike him. He'd rather hunt the miscreants. However, Quincy had a point. If James reached out his hand in amity, Hagley was much more likely to shake it. Otherwise, James risked frightening the impostors into deep hiding.

"Hagley might consent to the meet if only to hear the proposition, to see if it's worth his while," from William.

Edmund smirked. "And then he'll be ours."

"Fine." James sighed in reluctant agreement. "But what will we do if Hagley doesn't consent to the meet?"

The men quieted.

William looked at the captain. "There is one other option."

"What is it?"

"You stil haven't told him, Will?" cried Quincy.

James glared at the lieutenant. "Told me what?"

William rubbed his jaw. "If we don't find Hagley and put an end to his piracy...we can always confess our true ident.i.ties."

James glared at his brother. Was Sophia's cold already seeping into his brain, making him woozy? One of them wasn't making any sense.

"Are you drunk, Will?"

"Listen, James. There's always the threat of discovery hanging over our heads. Even if we find Hagley, there's no stopping another impostor from taking his place."

James stroked the bridge of his nose hard. The spot between his brows pulsed. "So you suggest we hang ourselves and get it over with?"

"No," Wil iam drawled. "I suggest we seek a pardon."

James scoffed. "The king will not grant us a pardon, even if we are the duke's brothers-in-law."

"But he might grant us the pardon if we...join the Royal Navy."

James hardened. The blood in his head throbbed like he was deep under water and his skul was about to implode from the pressure. "What?"

"The Royal Navy's African Squadron is undermanned and is searching for privateers to help hunt and capture slave ships." Edmund broached the matter carefully, his inflection steady. "If we enlist the Bonny Meg-"

"No."

James looked daggers at his brothers. A dark energy welled inside him, choking him.

The old loathing for the Royal Navy burned his innards and scorched his throat.

"Listen, James," said William.

"No."

William sighed. "I know you hate the navy for pressing Father into service-we all do -but be reasonable. We have to protect ourselves. We have to protect Bel e."

Curse his brother for using her against him! It was still raw in his belly, the grief James had suffered two months ago, believing his sister about to perish. He would do anything to keep her safe. William knew it, too. But James would find the impostors and crush them. He would not join the Royal Navy even if the devil himself offered him a pardon.

"We'll still have command of the Bonny Meg," William said in a sensible manner. "But we won't haul cargo across the Atlantic. We'll hunt slave ships instead."

James gritted, "I would sooner burn the Bonny Meg than see her serve the Royal Navy."

"James, think about it-"

He slammed his fist against the table, shaking the furniture. "I will not let the f.u.c.king navy have my ship!"

James jumped to his feet, the bile churning in his belly, the disgust filling his heart and head, making him sick with vertigo.

"Your ship?" Wil iam stood and grabbed the table's edge. "The Bonny Meg belongs to all of us."

Drake Hawkins had served as captain of the Bonny Meg for more than fifteen years before il ness had weakened him. Chronic headaches and bleeding gums had sapped his burly strength, his robust energy. So as not to appear feeble in front of the crew, he had transferred command of the vessel to James in 1817...the same year James had met Sophia.

He dismissed the thought from his mind, the peace he had found in her arms that year.

He thought instead about the Bonny Meg. Drake Hawkins had died three years after giving James command of the vessel. The ship belonged to all of his siblings now, even Bel e. But James had always considered the mighty schooner as his possession, his home.

She was a loyal and steadfast companion. If he lost her, too...

"We've talked about this, James." William said slowly, "We've made a decision."

James stalked across the room and stopped beside the fireplace, encased in st.u.r.dy oak wood. He placed his hands against the protruding mantel and lowered his weight. "What decision?"

But it was Quincy who responded with "We want to seek a pardon. We want to be privateers."

James gripped the mantel until his knuckles turned white. He stared at the low-burning fire, listened to the hissing flames. The light reflected off his polished boots, laughing at him.

"We're not merchant sailors." Quincy sounded wistful. "We're pirates. It can never be like it was, we can never return to piracy. But we can be privateers. We can still know the taste of the hunt, the thrill of a battle."

James gasped for breath. He struggled to keep the demons caged in his head. He had sacrificed his blood. He had sacrificed years of his life to protect them, the wretched savages! But they were bored with being merchant sailors. And for that they were going to betray him?

"We'll have freedom, James," offered Edmund. "The threat of the noose won't hang over our heads anymore."

"Traitors," James hissed.

The chair legs sc.r.a.ped across the planked flooring as the last two brothers lifted to their feet.

"We are not traitors," the men said in unison.

Would they thrash him for the slight? It was more than he could bear. He had reared them, the ungrateful b.a.s.t.a.r.ds! He had guided them through perilous waters, and wiped their a.r.s.es when there had been no one else to care for them. And this was how they expressed their respect? By casting him aside like soiled laundry and stealing the Bonny Meg-his soul!-right out from under him?

"You're betraying Father's memory," James said quietly, darkly. The ruthless deserters might not give a d.a.m.n about him anymore, but what about their father? "Drake would never have let the Bonny Meg sail under the navy's thumb." He had turned pirate, offering his own children freedom from servitude with the Bonny Meg. For what? So that in the end his sons could join and serve his former tormentors? "And what about Mother? The ship's named after her. It was a testament to the years she had suffered alone, while Father was held captive-tortured! How can you even think about joining the navy?" James smashed his fists against the mantel. "You have no shame!"