Читать книгу To Slight the Jacket Blue - Bronwyn Sciance - Страница 8

"Hold still, Edward, your collar's twisted."

Edward rolled his eyes upward, but the petite, pretty young woman in front of him took no notice as she deftly straightened out the blue jacket collar with gold braid. "There. Much better."

"Jane, are you done yet?" Edward asked, sounding amused.

Jane smiled. "I'm just proud of my Edward. In all my wildest dreams I never imagined you would become commander–at least not so soon. I never thought I would be an officer's wife."

"Well, my dear, you aren't one yet–only an officer's sweetheart, I'm afraid. And I unfortunately shan't be able to rectify that until I return from my next posting."

"You never did tell me where that is," Jane reminded him.

"One near and dear to my heart." Edward stared out the window, as though seeing his quarry already. "I'm for the Caribbean to hunt pirates for His Majesty."

Jane bit her lip to keep it from trembling. Hunting pirates! She had imagined a thousand and one things keeping him from her, but this...

More to distract her thoughts than anything else, she asked, "And when do you expect to return? In six months or so?"

Edward hesitated. "Well...no. I would say closer to a year. Certainly no more than that."

"I shall hold you to that promise," Jane threatened.

Edward laughed. "Oh? And how exactly do you plan to do that?"

Jane put her hands on her hips. "If you do not return within the promised year, I shall commandeer a ship and seek you out myself, and this I swear."

Edward laughed even harder, and this time Jane joined in. Arm in arm, they walked outside to join the party.

Jane smiled at the cheers attending her beloved's arrival. She could hardly believe her good fortune. Any number of women would have desired Edward Sharpe, even before he obtained his commander's commission. At eighteen, he was old enough to be a catch, yet young enough to be desirable still. Jane had fallen in love with him at one of the balls in Bath the previous year, and she was both surprised and pleased when she learned that he reciprocated the feeling. Her father, blinded by the gold chevrons of a first lieutenant, had agreed to allow him to court Jane, but he had not yet formally acknowledged the courtship or given Edward permission to ask for her hand.

"Edward, beloved, perhaps you could ask Father for my hand tonight," she suggested boldly. "After all, you do have your commission now, and you–"

"Jane," Edward interrupted with a sigh, "I asked him for permission last night. He said he should prefer I not commit myself to you–or you to me–until I return from this posting. After all, it will be my most dangerous, and if I don't return..."

"I shall be ineligible for marriage," Jane sighed. It was true. Her father had very strict views about women who remarried after becoming widowed–or even marrying someone after having been betrothed to somebody else. Should Edward die at sea–which she judged unlikely, but her father apparently thought was a possibility–he would brand her a widow and forbid her to wed. The family would die and it would be entirely her fault. "All right, but I shall work on him while you're away, and he shall grant you permission upon your return."

"Even if you have to come and find me," Edward teased. Jane laughed.

The next day, as they parted at the docks, there was no laughter in her face. She held Edward's hands and looked beseechingly up into his eyes. He smiled at her, then raised her hands and kissed them gravely.

"I shall return, Jane," he whispered. Then he was up the gangplank and out of her sight. A short time later, the anchor was raised, the lines were cast, the sails caught the breeze, and the ship was pulling away.

Hunting pirates...Jane began thinking of all the pirates she had heard of in recent years. Christopher Moody, who took no prisoners, and against whom Edward swore the most vengeance, which worried her–he would never surrender to the man. Black Bartholomew Roberts, the most vicious and voracious pirate in the Caribbean. Calico Jack Rackham, who was reported to have spurned a pardon from the Spanish. And the most fearsome of all, Captain Bluejacket, a merciless pirate who hunted naval vessels–unusual for the wavedogs. Clasping her hands tightly together, she whispered a soft prayer. Dear Lord, please bring him safely home!