“Beckett saw he made it safely to shore. We spared Connell’s life, as yer uncle wished, but he’ll be a plague to ye until I leave … or he carries me back to Newgate for trial.”
“My uncle’s authority exceeds his. So long as you stay with us, you are safe.”
“And what of ye? Would ye risk another kidnapping?” Nick asked with a scoff.
“In all fairness, the kidnappings had nothing to do with you.” Darcy bit his tongue. They had little to do with Nick, and everything to do with Alex. The woman who would be his sister once she and Nick married.
Nick waved his hands. “Me. Alex. It’s all the same. Once a pirate, always a pirate. Nobody’ll see me as anything different.”
Darcy shook his head. “Nobodyhere knows you. Nobody could testify to your likeness. They only know your name. That is what they fear. It is the same with Alex. If you truly wish to change, now is your chance. Let me help you.”
Squeezing his eyes shut, Nick bowed his head. Was he frustrated? Was Darcy wearing his resolve down?
Praying he was making some progress, Darcy voiced his most powerful argument. “Do not make me hunt you. I could not do it.” His voice was softer than he had intended, but the thought of chasing his brother down to spare his uncle’s honor was too deplorable to exclaim.
Nick heaved a sigh. “What if it’s too late? What if I’m beyond redemption?”
The air sucked out of Darcy’s lungs. He knew exactly what his brother felt, having only recently worried the same about Elizabeth.
And yet, he would ask Mr. Bennet for her hand at the first opportunity. Darcy would fall to his knees and apologize and explain, and he would beg the man for his blessing. Darcy would do it because he loved her enough to take the risk of another (final and permanent) refusal.
He looked intently at his brother. Did he love Nick, a brother he had only recently met, enough to accept the risks an attachment to him would surely bring to his family?
Darcy knew without a shadow of doubt what Elizabeth would counsel. Her loyalty, her love for herfamily, would never allow her to forsake them—not even to spare herself society’s censure. She would rise to their every challenge, eyes glinting with mischief as she upheld what she knew in her heart to be true and right and kind. Elizabeth had no time for those who would mock her, and she was clever enough to laugh at the faults and flaws of the people she loved so as to lessen the power of society’s cuts. She was above their reach.
How could Darcy ask Elizabeth to spend the rest of her life with him unless he was willing to demonstrate that his loyalties were as strong as hers? Slowly, Darcy spoke. “I will not deny the risks, the scandal we stand to confront. However, if people will interfere and make accusations, let them do so to our faces, so that we may unite in opposing them. We are stronger together, and few would dare mock my uncle. Few would dare to mock me. They will soon learn better than to mock you.”
“Ye’d endure that for me?” Nick asked, more in shock than incredulity. “Ye don’t know me.”
“I know enough. Or would you allow me to believe you had nothing to do with my and Elizabeth’s recovery?”
“That was nothing.” Nick batted the compliment away with a wave of his hand. “Ye’d already convinced Alex to bring ye to shore. She told me everything.” He shook his head. “Yer lady is a worker of miracles. I’ve never seen Alex work so hard to beproper. She hasn’t uttered one curse since I boarded theFancy—and that was with yer uncle denying her the ship she’d captured. Like taking a bone from a hound is taking a prize from a pirate. The man has gall!” His eyes were wide with awe and respect.
Darcy accepted the change to a lighter topic, seizing the opportunity to learn more about his brother’s life. “How did you end up at sea?”
“An old fisherman and his wife raised me, taught me how to make and mend fishing nets ‘til I was old enough to apprentice on a merchant ship. We were captured near Charleston.”
“The Lafittes?”
Nick nodded. “The captain didn’t even put up a fight. Just let ‘em board and take their cargo. The ones who fought got shot. I climbed up the rigging for a better look and to learn what the pirates meant to do with the rest of the crew—with me. They saw me dangling like a monkey from the lines over their heads and figured I was more useful to them alive than as crab feed at the bottom of the harbor.”
Condensing twenty-eight lost years into the small hours of dawn was no trivial task, but Darcy did his best. And with every strum of the passing hour, his conviction strengthened. His brother was a good man.
CHAPTER 31
Elizabeth slept soundly. How could she not when Lord Matlock and Fitzwilliam were at one end of the hall, the colonel and Nick on the other, and Jaffa sat on a chair just outside her and Alexandra’s door? Elizabeth was surrounded by protectors, and she finally felt safe.
The only cloud on her otherwise perfect morning was the knowledge of her imminent departure. She would rather stay with Fitzwilliam and Nicholas—her curiosity demanded satisfaction—but her father would wish for her to return to Longbourn. What would she tell him? What would Fitzwilliam tell him? Knowing what she did about Fitzwilliam, the way he took everything so seriously, responsible to a fault, she feared he would assume more blame than he deserved for the events of the past week.
Her father lived such a comfortable life…. How would he react? What would he say?
Elizabeth did not know how to make light of the situation, but she trusted she would think of how best to phrase what must be said to achieve the desired outcome along the journey. She had days to think.
True to her word, the innkeeper’s wife had found two gowns for Elizabeth and Alexandra to wear. They were a simple design—one plain blue muslin, one a printed pink. Not nearly enough frills and lace to suit Alexandra, but Elizabeth selected the plain blue for herself in the hope that the floral print would appease Alexandra. She would get along famously with Mama and Lydia. A smile creeped up Elizabeth’s lips as she thought of that trio, feeling wicked at the pleasant realization that, for once, her mother and sister would not be the most scandalous in a room whilst in Alexandra’s company.
Tying the layers into place, dismayed at the stiff, scratchy muslin, Elizabeth went downstairs in search of some nourishment.
The taproom was full to the brim with theFancy’s crew, many of whom nodded respectfully, mouths crammed with food, at Elizabeth. Boone rose to his feet, head bowed, hands clasped in front of him. “The gents are behind ye in the private parlor, Miss.”
