mercilessly, and you stood there with a mischievous look on
your face, practically daring your father to rebuke you in front of his guests.” Patience sighed. “I thought you were the hand-somest boy I’d ever met. I still do.”
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A part of Teach wished he could return her compliment, but he couldn’t bring himself to do it. It would be unfair to Anne as well as to Patience.
“Do you remember our first kiss?” she asked.
Teach couldn’t help laughing at the memory. “It was awful.”
“It was sweet!”
“How can you say that?”
“Because it was. You were so hesitant. I thought I’d given
you enough hints—”
“Patience, please, stop. Whatever it is you wish to say, say
it and be done with it. I, too, have something I’d like to discuss with you.” If Teach couldn’t get his father to listen to reason, he hoped he could convince Patience to break off their betrothal.
Patience frowned, clearly not liking the abruptness of his
tone, but Teach could not let her continue.
She placed her spoon on the table and met his gaze. “All right.
I had hoped to approach this subject delicately, but since you
insist on bringing it out into the open, then so be it. Once we are married, you must promise me that you will never set sail again.”
Teach grew very still. “Must I?”
“Yes.”
“And why must I do that?”
“Because you will have no need to labor. That can be left
to those most suited to that kind of work,” Patience persisted.
“Such as your father and others like him.”
Teach stiffened at the slight. Despite their disagreements,
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Teach was still proud of his father’s success, and knew it had come at the cost of great personal sacrifice. “My father’s hard work is making it possible for your family to keep your ances—
tral homes,” Teach said. “I would not be so quick to reject his contribution to this world.”
“I don’t reject his contribution. I recognize it for what it is.
A man who wants to come up in society by climbing on the
backs of his betters.”
“I’m sure my father would be pleased to hear how you hold
him in such high esteem. Perhaps we should discuss it with
him when he returns home. I wouldn’t want you to rush into
a marriage when you have such an obvious problem with his
background.”
Patience visibly paled, but she refused to back down. “She
said you would do this. She said you would try to break it off.”
“Who?” Teach asked, confused.
“My mother.” The smile on Patience’s face looked brittle
enough to shatter. “She said you would lose interest in me. That I wouldn’t be able to hold on to you. I told her she was wrong.
And I’ll prove her wrong.”
Teach remembered the competition that seemed to per—
meate the air when the two women were in the same room
together. “This has nothing to do with your mother, Patience.
Or your father. This is about us not suiting each other.”
“Of course we suit each other.”
He almost felt sorry for her, hearing the desperation in her
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voice. “You know we don’t, not anymore. It’s time we acknowledged that. You don’t care for me any more than I care for you.” He hated having to be cruel, but if she wouldn’t listen to reason . . .
“That’s not true.”
“Yes, it is, even if you’re afraid to admit it. And there is
something of even greater importance that I must tell you.
Something that will no doubt affect our betrothal.”
“Nothing will affect—”
“I’ve been accused of piracy.” Teach hadn’t meant to be so
blunt, but she refused to listen.
His words hung in the air between them. The only sound
in the room was the rain as it hammered the windows from the
outside.
Patience blinked once. Twice. “I see.”
Teach had prepared himself for a number of reactions, but
her calm acceptance of his statement wasn’t one of them.
Picking up her napkin, she dabbed at her mouth, before
placing the cloth beside her bowl. “Is that why your father is
not here?”
“Yes,” Teach said, unwilling to elaborate further.
Studying the table, she frowned. “Then that is all the
more reason to move forward with our wedding,” she said,
eventually meeting his eyes. “We will announce it this weekend at William’s party.”
Stunned, Teach shook his head. “Did you not hear me? I’ve
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been accused of piracy. I could be sent to the gallows.”
“My father is a peer of the realm. Once you join your name
with ours, nobody would dare hang you.”
It was on the tip of his tongue to remind Patience that her
father was merely a baron, not an earl or a duke, but he decided against it. His mother had tried to raise him as a gentleman.
“I’m fairly certain Lord Hervey would not share your opinion. Once he hears about this, I’m sure he’ll want to break the arrangement.”
“Nonsense. I know my father. He wants this union.”
Lord Hervey needs this union.
“Patience, it’s no use. This has to end. Even if by some mir—