Page 3 of The Lady’s Sweet Revenge

“…much farther do we have to go?” one man asked. “Seems a waste to go all this way just to turn back to return her to her father and collect our pay.”

The other man chuckled. “Nay, we don’t plan to return her. Cap’n said Polk is lettin’ us keep ’er. The toff didn’t put up much ov’a fight to protect his poor niece when we took her. Stood there, ’e did.”

“Do ye think Polk will give the cap what he wants now?”

“I ’ave my doubts as he didn’t stop us. But if not, ’tis no matter. For once the Zephyr is safely ported in Inverness, a ransom letter will be sent. Ye know Cap’n Merrick wouldn’t take a job without a weighty payout.” The two laughed.

“What if they don’t pay?”

The man chuckled again and the sound sent a shiver up Harlow’s spine.

“They will pay. And we get to keep the girl to do what we…”

Harlow swallowed and shrunk back closer to the edge of the ship as the men passed, their horrid conversation getting pulled away by the wind.

Polk. They’d spoken the name as that of an accomplice. Someone who had been aware of the activities in the park, and had no intentions of returning her to her father even if he paid the ransom for her safe return.

They’d said he’d not tried to save his niece. Which meant there could be no misunderstanding that the Polk they spoke of was her Uncle Edgar Polk.

Swallowing too loudly, she shuddered with the betrayal that her dear uncle would be part of such a plan. Her mother’s younger brother had always doted on her and her brothers, almost seeming like another sibling rather than an uncle.

How could it be that someone she loved so dearly planned to trade her off to these men and whatever abysmal fate they had planned for her? They spoke of him giving something to the captain; she imagined him getting himself into debt with such people and couldn’t fathom it. She’d not known her uncle to be a heavy gambler. Had he borrowed the money and been unable to pay it back? But why would her uncle ever have need to borrow from brigands such as these? Her father would have helped him.

Whatever the reason, she wasn’t going to puzzle it out here.

In a daze, she glanced over the deck of the ship. It would soon be light, taking the safety of the shadows with the sunrise. She would be found missing from the room below and they would begin searching.

Looking over the rail at the black water below, she pulled away. She was a fair swimmer, but had only ever done so at the lake at Haverston Manor. She’d never tried to swim in the ocean. And how far would she have to swim?

She frowned at the dingy. If she could deploy it she’d be able to row to safety. But she knew she was not strong enough to do so and even if she could, it would be far too noisy and take much too long.

She had this one chance of escape and she wouldn’t waste it. If she were going to have to swim, she didn’t want the hindrance of yards of heavy wool weighting her down. She deftly removed her riding habit, and then reached behind her tugging at the laces to remove the corset that would restrict her movement. It was unladylike to be sure, but she’d rather not drown if it could be helped. Propriety easily fell victim to survival.

Reaching inside the small boat, she gripped onto an oar which was tangled in a fishing net attached to odd chunks of wood. Rather than spend more time disentangling the net, she just grabbed onto the whole mess and tossed it over the edge of the ship a few seconds before she crawled to the rail.

“If this doesn’t work, at least I’ll be dead and won’t have to worry over whatever fate I would face here.” As motivational speeches went, she found hers quite lacking, but it was the best she could muster before jumping into the inky depths below and letting the sea take her.