Historical Romance Boxed Set by Brenda Novak Page B

the only person who knew otherwise, besides the midwife, who was old at the time and died shortly after.”
    “But why didn’t Martha try to establish the truth while Nathaniel was still a baby? It would have been far simpler back then.”
    “I don’t know. She was probably afraid of the duke at first, afraid for Nathaniel. And she wanted him as her own. She went to London and lived in hiding for several years. Then she heard about your birth and decided, since you were a girl, that the duke might welcome Nathaniel back after all, especially when he saw that the boy’s arm was no handicap. She knew she could never give Nathaniel all the duke could, so she risked her life to take him home—and she paid the price.”
    “Could the duke be so evil?”
    Trenton’s eyes became as hard as flint. “You have no idea.”
    “Listen,” she said, hoping an honest appeal to Trenton might help her case. He seemed like a decent man. “I’ve not heard any of this before. I’m not Lady Anne. I don’t even know her or the duke. Can’t you see that? If you don’t let me go, I’ll miss my boat to India and then—”
    Frantic banging at the door made them both jump as Nathaniel’s voice came through the panel.
    “Trenton! Let me in.”
    Trenton appeared relieved by the sound of his captain’s voice, but Alexandra suspected he was equally glad to be saved from having to respond to her entreaty. He crossed the room and threw back the bolt, and the pirate captain pushed inside.
    “We must go. Now,” Nathaniel told him, a determined look on his face.
    “What happened?” Trenton followed his friend around the room as Nathaniel stuffed into a bag what few belongings he had brought with him the night before.
    “Mary’s been found out. My father’s on his way here.”
    “But what about Richard? And her?” Trenton indicated Alexandra with a nod of his head.
    Nathaniel lowered his voice, but Alexandra could still hear his words and the anger that infused them. “He’s coming after us, so he must have no plans to release Richard, even for her.”
    “What do we do now?”
    “She goes with us.”
    “Why? What good would that do?”
    “What other choice do we have?”
    “She’s no good to us if the duke won’t trade for her. I say we let her go.”
    “Not on your life.”
    “But the Royal Vengeance is no place for a woman!”
    “That’s the way things are for now.” Nathaniel held his bag next to his body so he could tie it shut with his hand. “We’ll simply have to do the best we can.”
    “It’s too dangerous. Even if we could keep our own men from molesting her, the Vengeance could take a ball and sink, or we could lose our lives in the middle of a boarding. Then what would happen to her?”
    Alexandra held her breath as she awaited Nathaniel’s response. Besides the dangers Trenton had already enumerated, she knew Aunt Pauline would be long gone if she didn’t get away from Nathaniel and his men soon. Please listen to him, she prayed. Let me go. Let me go.
    “Then her life shall rest on my father’s conscience. He had the chance to rescue her, and he didn’t take it,” Nathaniel responded.
    Alexandra felt her heart plunge to her knees.
    “Nathaniel—” Trenton began.
    “Look,” the pirate captain interrupted, “when my father’s played his ace and comes here only to find us gone, maybe he’ll see that we’re serious and agree to the trade. If we let Anne go, there’s no telling what he might do to Richard. Things are too precarious to go after our own right now. My father’s been counting upon our taking the bait all along.”
    Trenton nodded, and Alexandra could have guessed his next words before he spoke them. Concession, pure and simple.
    “Then we have no choice.”
    “None.”
    “But how can we go?” Trenton asked. “We don’t have much by way of supplies. We weren’t planning on leaving for another three days.”
    “Get what you can,” Nathaniel told him. “Regardless, we sail