Care and Feeding of Pirates Read Online Free Page A

surprised at
Ardmore's generosity. Christopher had possessed information that
Ardmore had very much wanted to know. He hadn't realized the
information worth his life.
    "So you have been in China all this time?"
Mrs. Ardmore interrupted.
    "I worked my way from port to port,"
Christopher said, glossing over disease and hardship, the many
nights he believed he'd never reach home again. "I also spent time
searching the world for my crew. I had a small fleet before my
flagship was destroyed, and my crew had scattered. I wanted to find
out what happened to them." He shrugged. "They're my family."
    That was true in the deepest sense, but he
had no wish to become sentimental in front of Ardmore's wife.
    "Why did you come to London then?" Diana
asked, rocking her son again. "You had no reason to believe Honoria
would be here."
    She might be making small talk at a dinner
party, but Christopher knew she'd report anything he said to her
husband, and he had to answer carefully.
    "I'm still looking for the rest of my crew.
My second-in-command is rumored to be in England. My ultimate
destination was Charleston, but now I don't have to bother."
Christopher moved his gaze to the soft flesh he could see of
Honoria's breast, remembering the way her nipples had grown firm
under his touch not a half hour ago. If he saw well enough, the
kissable tips were tightening even now. "Lucky for me, I opened a
London newspaper and saw Honoria's name in it. Announcing her
engagement to another man."
    Honoria didn't flinch, though her cheeks
reddened. "I thought we would come to that."
    Christopher looked at her fully. "I decided
I'd pay you a call and ask you about it."
    "When I accepted Mr. Templeton, I believed
you dead."
    "I hope so. Or else you could be arrested for
bigamy."
    "You were officially dead and hanged in
Charleston," she said, her voice cracking. "Years ago."
    "I was officially transported. There was
never a record of my hanging and death. Didn't it occur to you to
check that before you rushed into another marriage?"
    Honoria sat back, anger making her eyes
glitter. Christopher liked that anger--he preferred it to her
weeping or fainting, or telling Mrs. Ardmore to go ahead and shoot
him. "Hardly rushed," she said. "It has been four years. And you
gave me no reason to believe you were alive. I knew only the
newspaper stories. I thought you had been hanged." Her voice grew
more agitated with each sentence.
    "But I've turned up again," Christopher said.
"And I claim the marriage."
     
    *****

Chapter Three
     
    Honoria continued to stare at him. Her loose
hair hung down her back in a black wave, a riot of curls haloing
her face.
    She had the beauty of a deer--quick, lovely,
graceful. Christopher would give anything to see her run. Along one
of the sun-drenched beaches of a Caribbean island perhaps, and
she'd have left her dress behind. He'd be pursuing her, of course,
and she would not be trying very hard to get away . . .
    "I didn't marry you in jest, Honoria," he
said quietly. "I married you because I wanted you. So tell Mr.
Tuppenny that you have a previous contract and are no longer free
to wed him."
    "Mr. Templeton is a good and
respectable gentleman," Honoria said.
    Christopher's famous temper stirred. He did
not release it often, but when he did, lesser fleets sailed for
their lives.
    He'd not expected Honoria to welcome him with
open arms. He had been, in fact, surprised to find her still
unmarried. But in that cell in Charleston, when she'd promised to
be his wife, he'd read in her eyes true grief and caring, not just
pity. She'd loved him.
    When Christopher had read the announcement of
her engagement in London, his strong reaction had also surprised
him. He didn't blame Honoria for wanting to marry again--no woman
should live her life in solitude because the man who'd been her
husband for one less than a day had vanished.
    Even so, Christopher had told himself that
he'd speak to Honoria, discover how she fared, and make
arrangements