Seduced by a Pirate

ELEVEN

Griffin was rather shocked to discover that he enjoyed talking to his father during the carriage ride to Arbor House. The viscount was fascinated to hear that Griffin and James had imported curry and lumber to England, birdcages and silks to Spain.

So you really weren’t pirates,” he said finally.

I started out that way,” Griffin said frankly. “I was never the yo-ho-ho, walk the plank type of pirate. But I captured many a ship, took everything of value, and sailed away.”

You made your first fortune as a highwayman,” his father said, the corner of his mouth twitching. Then: “Was there anything I could have done to steer you into a more ethical profession?”

I doubt it. There’s no way for an aristocrat to prove his manhood here in England, let alone to win that manhood. My future was handed to me on a silver platter, bound up with a royal patent. I wanted—no, I lusted—to pit myself against other men. To fight.”

His father sighed. He was tall and lean and scholarly by bent. Clearly, he hadn’t the faintest ambition to take on a man in a battle to the death.

I must resemble Mother’s side of the family,” Griffin said cheerfully. “At any rate, piracy proved the life for me. I fought with every possible sort of weapon, and survived sea battles, not to mention storms. I can sail and steer a boat around the most dangerous shoals in the world.”

How on earth are you going to live in England?” his father asked, his tone bleak. “There’s nothing to pit yourself against here. Is this a mere visit?”

No,” Griffin said. “I’m wounded. At thirty, I’m ready to rest on my laurels. I’m not fool enough to try to man a ship with a bad leg. Pirates fight like trapped badgers, and I’d be dead in six months.”

His Royal Highness told me that you and the Duke of Ashbrook were responsible for dismantling a number of ships involved in the slave trade. A disgraceful, disreputable business.”

Yes.” Griffin hated to think of those particular ships. What they found there made them sick at heart, even after he and James sent the human cargo back to their own shores with a heap of gold coins and the slavers’ ships to boot.

You’ll need something to do,” the viscount said. “I’ve a judgeship open. Justice of the Peace for Somerset. You can do that.”

Something to do,” Griffin echoed. “Why, aren’t gentlemen supposed to do nothing, Father?”

His father raised an eyebrow. “I busy myself.”

In fact, we rarely saw you, if I remember correctly.”

My work is important. The nobility of this land stand at the monarch’s shoulder to rule with him, and beside him. But I do wish I had seen more of my children.”

I can’t see myself a judge,” Griffin remarked. “From criminal to justice overnight? It doesn’t seem possible. I know nothing of English law.”

But his father grinned. “You were captain of a ship for over a decade, Son. There must have been many a sticky situation for which you acted as arbiter. The prosecutor for the Crown will inform you of the relevant laws.”

Ah.”

You can begin on Monday. There’s a backlog of cases, since Pursett died last month. I’ve been dragging my heels about appointing another justice.”

Monday!” Griffin exclaimed. “Where does this court meet?”

A mere half hour from Arbor House,” his father said, a distinct note of satisfaction in his voice. “We’ll have the formal investiture, such as it is, at eight in the morning, and you can begin listening to cases at nine.”

Nine in the morning? The same morning?”

His father looked at him. “There are men sitting in jails across the county because no one has been sworn in to listen to their pleas.”

Griffin suddenly broke out in a howl of laughter.

What?”

There’s the father I remember. You always had a way of pointing out the right and moral way to do things, Father. In your eyes, there was never a different way.”

I hardly think—,” the viscount began.

It’s all right,” Griffin said. “I’m old enough. I ran off and became a criminal under all that pressure, but I believe I’m old enough to live up to your expectations now.”

Are you saying that you took up a life of piracy in reaction to my—to me?” His father looked horrified.

Absolutely not.”

The viscount lapsed back into the corner of his carriage, looking shaken. Griffin had always been a good liar, and clearly that hadn’t changed. It was not easy to be raised by a nobleman who put his duty before his family. But it did explain why his son became a criminal famous through three seas, if not seven.

Not that it’s an excuse, Griffin thought to himself. Just an explanation.

In fact, it was time for amends. Likely he would be in the courtroom at 8:00 a.m. on Monday.

But at the moment . . . there were different amends that he had in mind.