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He glanced back at me to make sure I was all right, and then he swung up on the rail himself, holding onto the rigging to steady himself. I ran up to stand beside him and grabbed his leg to hold on, remembering how much he’d had to drink that night. He tried to shake me off, but I clung to him like a tick. I was terrified for him, because I knew that Lexington would give him no quarter. And if that truly was Harrison’s ship, I could only shudder to think what he would do. It was his ship that Roxbury had sunk, after all. I couldn’t see any way this would end well. Peering around Rox’s leg to see exactly who it was on the other ship who had jumped to the railing, I saw Lexington himself, his face bold and handsome in the uncertain light of the moon and the red glare of the torches.
Chapter Eleven
“Ahoy on the ship! Are you the captain?” Lexington called across the water to us.
“None other!” Roxbury shouted back. “Captain Jack Devane at your service. Were you wanting to surrender to us? I think I’d be willing to offer you some very good terms.”
I sighed in exasperation and pulled on his pants leg. “Don’t piss him off.”
Lexington gave a bark of laughter. “I think not, Captain Devane. Though I am prepared to offer you a deal.”
“And what kind of deal would that be? Sink us now or sink us later?”
“Oh, definitely now. But I’ll allow you and your crew to get on your lifeboats first in return for my demands. We’re not too far from Igellan shores. You might even make it. A few of you, anyway.”
“How kind of you, sir. And what exactly are these demands you speak of?”
“Hand over your hostage unharmed! Do it immediately and you won’t hang.”
“My hostage? Who might that be?”
“Lord Brandon Bedford, as you very well know. We know he’s onboard, and if you’ve harmed him in any way, I’ll hang you from the yardarm myself so you can watch as your ship sinks to the bottom of the ocean.”
“A handsome offer! Let me think about it…” he put a hand to his brow rather dramatically, I thought and then shook his head. “My answer is no! Fuck you and your offer!”
“Damn you, pirate, I mean what I say! I’ll destroy you and your ship!”
“You won’t dare fire on this ship for fear of sinking it before you can get your man. Accept my terms. Surrender and let us go.”
I could see Lex was fighting mad but trying hard to control himself. It would be only minutes before he lost his temper and started firing again. I tugged on Roxbury’s pants leg again.
“Yes, damn it, what is it?” he growled at me. “I’m a little busy up here at the moment, dearie.”
“Tell him I want to talk to him.”
“Hell no.”
“Hell, yes! Let me get up there.”
Roxbury turned back to shout across at Lexington. “One moment, please! I need a moment to confer with my colleague.”
Roxbury swung back down to stand beside me, and I clutched his sleeve. Jacobs, his first mate and some of the others crowded around us.
“Let me talk to them.”
“No. Now is that all you wanted? Because I don’t think he’s going to hold his fire much longer.”
“What’s it to be then, Captain?” Jacobs inserted. “The other frigate can come about on our starboard side. Do we negotiate for the hostage’s ransom?”
Roxbury shot him a look. “I said no. I don’t believe our position is strong enough for negotiations at the moment, Jacobs, seeing as how they could easily soon have us surrounded!” He glanced over at me and shook his head. “I won’t give you up without a fight. That’s my final word. Don’t worry. I’ll get us out of this.”
“Don’t be crazy, Roxbury. We won’t get out of it. You heard Lexington. He means to sink this ship with all hands on board. Let me try to talk to him and make him see reason. I think I can get him to listen to me.”
“No.”
I glared at him, cursing his damn obstinacy, and a few of the men around us were muttering and looked ready to revolt. But only a few. The rest of the lot were as bloody minded as their damned captain was and looked like they were ready and willing to fight, because being put out on the open sea in a few lifeboats wasn’t a much better option, and they all knew it. We were probably five knots off the Igellan shore. In a ship, it was close, but not in a lifeboat full of men.
“Let me negotiate with them. Please, Roxbury.”
