Aunt Mary sent her a long, measuring look as she sipped her tea. “Indeed, I think I can. But tomorrow is soon enough to start. You must be exhausted.”
Her aunt was right. The past six weeks with the Black Dragon haunted her.
Of all that she’d endured during their time together, leaving had been most difficult.
“You’re right, of course,” Christina answered finally.
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Mary rose. “My…club will be open tonight. The boarders to whom I rent rooms will meet here with some of the local gentlemen. But you rest up. I vow I shall introduce you to everyone another time.”
Standing, Christina nodded. Another time would be soon enough to delve into local society.
“Thank you,” she murmured.
With a grand flourish, Aunt Mary waved her appreciation away. “Think nothing of it. Abebi will show you to your room.”
A moment later, the African woman who delivered the tea service appeared, her expression solemn. She nodded to Christina and turned for the stairs.
“Sleep well, darling,” Mary called out. “We shall begin on your future tomorrow.”
* * *
Drex tore through the door joining his cabin to Lilli’s. Gone, along with her valise of belongings. Damn her!
He’d worried when she wasn’t on deck, when he had not located her in the galley with Pauly or in the ratlines with Davie. Now, both his cabin and hers stood empty.
Why? He’d promised to row her ashore.
Yes, but had he intended to keep that promise?
This morning’s docking had forced Drex to face some unpleasant truths, chief among them that he would miss Lilli. A part of him didn’t want her to say good-bye and walk out of his life. Why, he didn’t know. He didn’t have time to tolerate her reckless behavior, which reminded him too much of his twin.
Besides, finding and rescuing Ryan should be his focus.
But Lilli could have at least said farewell before fleeing.
Slamming the door behind him, Drex bounded up to the poop deck. When he learned who had taken Lilli ashore without his permission, he would string the bastard up. If he had harmed a hair on her golden head, the man should consider himself dead.
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The Lady and the Dragon
“Who took Lillianne ashore?” He enunciated each syllable in the modulated tones of controlled anger.
Hancock approached and muttered, “That be me, Cap’n. The girl was wanting to leave. I thought it best, so ye could focus on the ship and her crew again, like before. But—”
“You defied my wishes.”
“Aye, but—”
“I had plans to see her ashore myself.” He raked a hand through his long, disheveled hair. “I intended to see her safely to her destination.”
“Which I did,” Hancock said. “But I think ye should know something else.”
At Hancock’s pause, Drex shouted, “Get on with it, then.”
The little man swallowed, increasing Drex’s alarm. “Lilli had me deliver her to the door of Saint Mary’s.”
Drex opened his mouth to deny Hancock’s assertion, but no words came forth. The infamous Saint Mary’s? The brothel? Not possible. Not his Lilli.
But hadn’t she been prepared to jump from the bed of her deranged lover and into his own?
No, she wasn’t the kind of woman to sell her soul, or any part of herself, to a stranger—to anyone. Lilli was determined to make her own path, and he doubted she intended to make it on her back. Then what the hell was she doing there?
“And you left her there?” Drex exploded.
“The lass was eager to be inside, but said to say good-bye.”
“Did anyone greet her?”
Hancock shrugged. “I didn’t stay to see.”
Panic churned his gut. “Did she say what she intended to do at Saint Mary’s?”
“She said she’d come to live with èr aunt.”
Her aunt? Confusion and anxiety warred with anger. Had Lilli lost all her remaining faculties? He sighed, grasping for rational thought. Did a woman who believed she was going to live with a relative expect to employ herself in
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Grand Bahamas’ most expensive and dissolute bordello? Usually not, but with Lilli, anything was possible.
Still, what if she needed him?
His emotions thickened into a rock of determination. Lilli had proven time and again that she didn’t think about her actions, that she needed guidance.
He knew there existed a very real chance she didn’t know what went on at Saint Mary’s. After all, if she had merely aspired to sell her body for a living, she could have done so in England, or on his ship even. Yes, she had admitted to having a lover, but that hardly made Lilli a whore.
Damn it, now what was he supposed to do?
* * *
Christina set aside the tray on which Abebi had delivered her meal and left her appointed room. The scents of perfume and some earthier musk hung in the air, so thick even the tropical gales streaming through the open window couldn’t disguise them. From behind the closed door down the hall, she heard a man groan. An unusual sound in the midst of the chatting revelry downstairs, to be sure. Perhaps he was ill.
Shrugging, she crept closer to the stairs and peered down into the press of bodies occupying her aunt’s home. A bevy of beautiful women conversed with men of all ages. Nothing so unusual, she supposed, except the shocking attire of the ladies. Dresses cut scandalously low, exposing a dangerous amount of bosom. The island gentry certainly did observe lax standards.
She searched about for Aunt Mary. Instead, her gaze encountered a woman adorned in a vibrant shade of green. Her dress possessed a slit from ankle to knee, exposing most of her leg when she walked. In deference to the heat?
Men all around the room leered at her and the others. Little wonder, Christina supposed, given the way the local women attired themselves. Still, if she had any hope of belonging to their free society, she must stop thinking like a London miss.
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The Lady and the Dragon
A man circulating within the crowd gained her attention. His back faced her. But those wide shoulders, that dark hair, bisected by a knot of black silk, could only belong to one man.
The Black Dragon.
A redhead in a copper-hued dress approached him, her bosom exposed like some of the fast women her grandmother had warned her to avoid. The woman spoke, leaning close to the captain. He said something in return, which the redhead answered by shaking her head and placing a hand on his shoulder.
Christina stared, mouth gaping open at the pair. If the woman exhaled, they’d be touching in a most scandalous way!
He dipped his head closer and spoke again. As the woman swayed yet closer and the conversation continued, Christina felt fury rise up within her.
How dare he! The man had made her feel something for him. She clenched her fists at her sides. She had been prepared to make him her lover. How quickly he had cast her aside to flirt with a woman she would hardly call a lady.
Well, she would just let him know what she thought of him. The brute. The knave!
Lifting her skirts, Christina marched down the stairs and headed directly for the captain. Before she could reach him, she was waylaid by a paunch-bellied man with bleary eyes, holding what couldn’t possibly be his first glass of brandy.
“Well, m’dear. Don’t believe I’ve see you before.”
“I’ve just come from London. If you’ll excuse me—”
“Don’t rush away. I couldn’t bear to lose a tempting morsel like you tonight.
Why don’t we—”
“Why don’t you leave her alone?” said a voice Christina recognized instantly.
“I saw her first,” the man argued, then turned to look at the competition.
The instant fear on the older man’s face was nearly comical.