“Please, Anne. Will you do it for me?” Sara asked, her voice
pleading. Her mother was sick, and it was up to Sara to earn
money for the family. She could not afford to lose her job.
“All right. I’ll go.”
Sara gave her what she no doubt thought was an encourag—
ing smile but actually resembled a grimace, before turning back
to the dishes.
Impulsively Anne slipped into the pantry and scanned the
different earthenware jars that lined the shelves. She settled
upon a small, red one. Ginnie pepper. Her mother had often
used it in her cooking. The seeds were very hot and dry. She
grabbed a few and slid them into her apron pocket, determined
to return to the fight with her own form of ammunition.
41
C H A P T E R 5
Teach
The dining room door swung open, and Teach watched as
Anne reentered, her back straight, her expression closed. She
kept her gaze on the carpet, crossing to the buffet and following the other maid’s movements.
He wondered what was going through her mind at the
moment, amazed she had the nerve to come back after Patience’s
and his father’s comments. His father no doubt believed he was
helping Anne by allowing her to work in his household.
Patience was another matter. Teach noticed the frown on
his betrothed’s lips, a sure sign of her unease. He was quite
certain it had more to do with Anne’s beauty than with her
suitability as a maid, or her race. Patience did not take well to competition, especially in the form of a house servant.
When Teach had been younger and had first been attracted
to Patience, he’d found her caustic nature amusing. He’d never
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been on the receiving end and had often laughed at her cutting remarks when she’d discussed other members of the aristocracy.
But now he recognized her comments for what they were:
a way to make herself feel better when confronted with a rival.
Despite his irritation with Anne, even he had to admit that
Patience’s words had been in poor taste.
“The food is simply wonderful,” William said, taking a portion of potatoes from the platter in Anne’s hands.
Anne hesitated before moving on to Patience.
“Drummond demands the best,” Lord Hervey boomed,
taking a hearty bite of pheasant. “Have you not seen his ship?”
Lady Hervey laughed, a shrill sound like breaking glass,
much like her daughter’s laughter. “I, personally, have not.
Would you be so kind as to show it to me?” she said, leaning
toward Teach. “My own private tour.”
Teach chanced a glance at the baron, surprised the baroness would speak to her future son-in-law in that manner. The
baron didn’t seem to notice his wife’s boldness.
His daughter certainly did. Patience cleared her throat.
“Mr. Edward doesn’t have time for such things, Mama. We have
much more pressing issues to discuss.”
Lady Hervey leaned back in her seat, a frown between her
brows. Teach could practically see the wheels turning in her head as she tried to come up with something to break the strained silence. It was clear from Patience’s reaction that she was accustomed to her mother’s flirtatious behavior. Only the baron
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appeared unaffected. If her daughter’s marriage hadn’t been planned for two years, Teach had the distinct feeling the baroness would likely have made a play for him herself.
It had been more than a year since Teach had last seen the
Hervey family. He was trying to decide if they had changed so very much in that time, or if the change lay solely with him. Before, he’d found their eccentricities amusing. Now he was annoyed.
The maids retired to the side of the buffet, and Teach found
his eyes drawn to Anne over the course of the meal. Her expression was oddly calculating. She appeared to be watching the
group, waiting for something, but he was unsure what.
All he knew was that her expression did not match that of
the other girl’s. The two could not have been more different.
The plump one made eyes at William, blushing a pretty pink
when he returned her stare. Anne looked like she wished the
entire dinner party would fall off the end of a dock, with nary
a boat in sight.
“Tell me about your year at sea, Mr. Edward,” Lady Hervey
said, reaching over and touching Teach on his sleeve.
“I wouldn’t know where to begin,” he said, his face lighting
up at her request.
“Was it terribly difficult?”
“It was the most difficult thing I’ve ever done. In the past
twelve months I’ve encountered more danger than some men
experience their whole lives. We nearly sank in a storm off the
coast of Jamaica. We were attacked by a Spanish sloop with ten
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guns and a crew of fifty, and barely made it to port before our captain died from his injuries,” he said, aware he held the entire room captive with his voice. “Yet if the chance were to present itself, I would leave again tomorrow.”
Teach wasn’t sure who appeared more displeased at his