For the Love of a Pirate Read Online Free Page A

addressed him. “Why, yes. I do enjoy the theater.”
    â€œAnd so will dear Lis-Lisabeth,” she said, putting her hand over her mouth as she hiccupped “She’s never been, you know. To the theater, that is. She’s been to local plays, church pageants and the like, of course. But how lovely that you will be taking her to the London theater. ‘The world’s a s-stage,’” she said, her chest leaping with another hiccup. “As the bard said. It’s too bad that she has not yet seen famous thespians tread upon it, isn’t it? Name a number from one to twenty,” she commanded, so suddenly Constantine wasn’t sure whom she was talking to. But she was staring at him.
    â€œAh, eighteen,” he said.
    She smiled, closed her eyes, sucked in a long breath, and held it. Her pale face was growing pink when she let it out in a sigh. “That’s done it,” she said with satisfaction. “No more hiccupping. So inelegant, you know. But now you’re here, and all will be well. And end well. As the bard—No!” She frowned at the captain, who was about to touch a book on the shelf he was squinting at. “That’s never the book. Higher, the next shelf. Yes, there.”
    Governess indeed! Constantine thought. If she had been, he shuddered to think what she’d taught her young charge. The old woman was either addled or drunk.
    When the captain pushed the volume she’d pointed to, the bookcase swung back to reveal another room, complete with what looked like a fine array of bottles and a serviceable counter to put them on. Constantine had difficulty keeping his expression serene. This house was elegant. It was the only thing he’d seen so far tonight that was. A raven might move into a dove’s nest. It couldn’t change its feathers to suit its new nest. The captain was beneath him; his people were too. All that there was left to do was to meet the captain’s daughter, tell her that he was already spoken for, make sure no one was angry enough about it to make a public fuss, and then he could leave this place forever, and good riddance.
    He might have to pay the captain a goodly sum for his silence. But Constantine had enough money, and he knew no price was too high to pay for his continued respectability.
    â€œAh, here we are. Good brandy, old enough to vote!” The captain chortled. “Care to join me?”
    â€œI’ll have the Jamaican rum,” Lovey said quickly. “I was drinking it and reliving old memories. The islands were where we met, Captain, remember?”
    â€œCan’t hardly forget. Took you aboard there and hauled you home again after your man passed on. When I heard you were a governess before you met him, ran away, and sailed with him to nowhere, the thing was simple. My Lisabeth needed a woman of learning and spirit. You’ll have your rum. But I was talking to young Wylde here. So, my lord. Care for a tot? This one,” he said, squinting at the bottle, “was your father’s favorite of a damp night.”
    â€œThank you,” Constantine said. “I will.”
    He accepted the glass the captain handed him, and sipped some of the dark liquid. It was a potent brandy, and drinking it was a strange feeling, because it was the first time he’d actually had a living link to his father, his preferences and personality. Hs uncle never told him anything personal about the man, and as it turned out, what little he had told him was false.
    â€œAh!” the captain said, turning around eagerly. “Here’s our Lisabeth! Lizzie, come meet your . . .” He saw Constantine’s expression, and changed what he was about to say. “Won’t make your mind up for you, Lizzie, my love. But come on in and meet Lord Wylde.”
    Constantine turned to see the woman his father had selected for him as his bride. He breathed a great sigh of relief.
    If she’d been a