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Morgan smirked at the pirate’s answer for everything. “Confronthim.”
Jake expelled a snarling breath before curling his lip in disgust. “Since when do you take the sissy way out?”
“Excuse me?” Morgan asked, infuriated by the insult.
Jake laughed good-naturedly, dispelling Morgan’s anger. “Face it, Drake, that good English breeding of yours is showing itself. Talking ain’t a man’s way of doing things. You know that. You got a problem, you cut its heart out and then it’s not a problem anymore.”
“Last time I checked, following that philosophy is what has you one step away from the gallows. Forgive me if I don’t take your advice.”
Jake shrugged off Morgan’s words. “You, my friend, have come a long way from the piss ’n’ vinegar youth who used to try my patience. But then, you were always too honest for your own good.
“By the way,” Jake said before taking a swig of rum. “I’m sorry for getting you mixed up with that wench.”
Morgan snorted. “What possessed you to take her hostage?”
Jake shrugged again. “You ought to be grateful. My first impulse was—”
“To cut her throat.”
“Exactly.”
Morgan rolled his eyes. Tolerance had never been a strong point for Jake, and it seemed not even these last years away from the sea had managed to mellow him any. “Just answer me one question. How did Lorelei ever survive long enough for you to marry her?”
Jake guffawed loudly. “What can I say, she puts up a good fight.” He downed the last of his rum. He laced his hands behind his head and sat back with a satisfied smirk. “And she handles a sword better than most men.”
Morgan laughed, remembering Lorelei’s intrepid spirit as she stood toe-to-toe with the surly pirate.
But who would expect less from the granddaughter of the infamous pirates, Anne Bonny and Calico Jack?
“You must be mellowing with age,” Morgan said at last.
Snorting, Jake poured himself another mug of rum. “I think it’s too many years of being around you.” He eyed Morgan keenly. “So, what do you plan to do withher?”
“I don’t know,” he answered with a sigh. “In all honesty, Jake, I have so many problems right now, I don’t know where one ends and the next begins.”
Jake gave a knowing nod. “You’re thinking of Penelope?”
Morgan sighed. “Aye,” he said. He could never hide his thoughts from Jake. “I keep thinking that I’m no better than Winston.”
Jake’s gaze hardened. “What, are you daft? How do you figure that?”
“We’ve ruined Serenity every bit as much as Winston ruined my sister.”
Jake frowned. “Last I checked, we weren’t planning on selling Serenity to a wh—”
“Don’t you say it!”Morgan snarled.
Jake held his hands up in truce. “I’m sorry, Drake. I know how much you loved her.”
And Jake did. If any man alive knew how much Morgan Drake’s sister had meant to him, it was Jake. Jake had helped Morgan track her down and it’d been Jake who’d paid to free her from the bordello she’d been sold to.
“You know,” Morgan said, scratching his chin in thought. “I was actually thinking we might be able to turn this around with Hayes.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, this time of year, he usually heads toward the Caribbean to try and roust some of our good brethren from their winter homes. If we were to head that way, we might be able to cross paths with him.”
Jake took a deep swig of rum. “You know there’s nothing more I’d like than to see that bastard dead. But you go after him and the Brits will raise their price.”
