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tonight. I have a lot to think about. Please have my meal sent up to my room instead.”
“I’m your father. I would still like you to join me.”
Teach met Drummond’s eyes. “And I would like you to
leave me bloody well alone.”
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C H A P T E R 3 4
Anne
Anne lay on her back, surveying the small room where she had
been brought. The gloomy sky outside did little to brighten
the space. Despite what Drummond had told her, she knew for
certain this was not an inn. She’d heard of the White Stag, and this place was most certainly not it.
The coarse mattress beneath her smelled of dried sweat and
urine, and Anne tried not to think about what had caused the
ring of stains marring the surface. The room itself was chilly and drafty, with several boards broken and missing from the
walls, allowing a stiff breeze to blow through the cramped
space. Anne shivered, her dress still damp from the rain. She
pulled at the ropes that secured her cold hands and feet, hissing as a sharp pain pierced her side. The two men had trussed her up like a turkey after she’d tried to escape. She’d waited for the carriage to slow down before she’d jumped from the interior. If
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it hadn’t been for her skirts, she could have outrun them.
As it was, they’d knocked her to the ground, and Anne was
sure she’d cracked a rib when she’d landed.
There had to be some way out of this mess. She hoped the
hints in the note she’d left for Teach would be enough for him to come after her.
If only Anne had returned the stolen items sooner, none
of this would have happened. Margery wouldn’t have become
suspicious and followed her out to the trees. Drummond would
never have evicted her, and Anne would be with Teach.
But for how long? Drummond had said that he still
intended for Teach to marry someone with a title. And he’d
made his prejudice against Anne all too clear.
It was late in the evening, and she had been gone for hours.
Teach would have noticed her absence by now. She should have
accompanied him to the city. Would Drummond have confronted her in front of Teach when they’d returned? Or would
he have waited?
She squeezed her eyes shut against the prickle of tears. It
was no use getting upset over what might have been. Right now
she needed to concentrate and wait for an opportune moment
to get away.
The door opened, and Martha entered, her silhouette illuminated by the candle in the hallway. Drummond had told
Anne he’d hired a lady’s maid for her, and Anne had been surprised that he’d gone to the trouble of securing her a companion.
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When Anne had first seen the aging woman, she’d thought it was Margery, the resemblance was so striking.
Martha had clearly been an efficient lady’s maid in her
youth. But with her hunched shoulders and poor vision, Anne
wondered why she had accepted Drummond’s request. No
doubt he had decided to employ her because she was old and
frail and he wouldn’t be required to pay her very much.
“I have some broth for you to eat,” Martha said, her cloudy
gray eyes searching the gloomy interior.
Anne shrugged, forgetting momentarily that Martha’s eye—
sight prevented her from seeing very clearly. “I’m not hungry.”
Martha’s hands shook slightly as she carried the broth. “It
won’t do you any good to starve yourself. You’ll need all your strength when we take you to the ship shortly.”
Anne held out her hands. “I can’t eat tied like this.”
“You can sip it at least. It’s your fault, you know. If you’d
just come quiet like, instead of jumping out o’ the carriage, my Bartholomew wouldn’t have had to use the ropes. He didn’t mean to hurt you.”
“Then why didn’t your Bartholomew take me to the White Stag like Mr. Drummond told him to?” Anne asked.
“Stop your fussing.”
“What do you think Mr. Drummond will say when he
finds out you didn’t do as he said?”
An ugly smile crossed Martha’s lips. “He won’t never find
out, now, will he? He won’t know we kept the money he gave
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us for the White Stag. If I was you, I’d mind my words. I’d hate for such a pretty thing to meet with an accident. These parts of the docks are dangerous. Girls like you go missing all the time.”
Part of Anne longed to fly into a rage, but she knew it would
not help her cause any. It would be much better to retain her
wits and try to think of a way out of the situation.
“It was very kind of Master Drummond to secure your passage,” Martha continued. “He’s a generous man, not turning
you over to the constable. Any other master woulda done just
that, and you’d be swinging from the gallows. My sister, Margery, warned me about you. She said you’re a crooked one.”
That was how Martha had come to be Anne’s lady’s maid.
“It was Margery’s idea not to take you to the White Stag.