Justified Treason (Endless Horizon Pirate Stories, Book 1) (8 page)

It felt so good to say it out loud, and I was delighted to see Mary’s eyes lift up in fascination. Mary had come to
Jamaica from Ireland and knew plenty about adventure and diversity, so it was easy for her to accept the forbidden nature of my secret romance.

We carried on as Mary dressed me in my gold colored gown, and she truly seemed to be just as awestruck by my encounter with Sterling Bentley as I was. While she fixed my hair she asked, “So what will you do about Mr. Braddock?”

“All I know is that I will not be marrying him.”

“Oh, Miss Charlotte, this is going to be tricky, but I will help you in any way I can.”

“I cannot thank you enough, Mary.”

Breakfast was quietly awkward. The tension in the air was heavy and thick. I contemplated the notion of acting in means of piracy and tried to capitalize on the silence by reading everyone’s faces. Hester was irritated and stiff, picking at her plate, but hardly eating. Father’s plate was almost empty, but he seemed worried and unnerved. The silence surrounded me like a cloud of guilt and I couldn’t help but feel responsible for their disgruntled moods.

As soon as my father cleared his plate he stood up and ordered, “Young lady, you will be meeting me in the garden after your breakfast.”

After his strict demand, he walked out towards the pavilion. Hester rose like a chicken ruffling her feathers and she headed to the parlor. The room was silent while I finished my ham and eggs, but my mind was a ruckus of anticipation. Once I was done I took a deep breath and headed out to the garden to meet with my father. I was determined to see this discussion through.

The rain had stopped for the moment but the ground was still wet and the sky was covered in clouds. Father waited for me under the pavilion, and as I approached him he invited, “Sit down, my dear.”

Relieved to hear the tenderness in his voice, I sat next to him on the bench and smiled as if nothing was wrong.

He took a deep breath before he announced, “
Charlotte, there was a break in at the Patterson’s home the night before last. Maureen was attacked and the parlor was destroyed.” My heart flooded with horror. This had to be the situation Sterling was talking about.

“Is everyone alright?” I gasped.

“Yes, my dear, everyone is alright. Maureen has a lump on her head, a bruise on her face and is as frightened as could be, but she will heal fine. The mess in the parlor will take some time to repair, and Maureen is so shook up she has yet to relay the details of what happened. All we know for sure is that this travesty was committed by pirates.”

I was ever so relieved to hear Maureen was alright but struggled to wrap my mind around what had really happened. As confused as I was, I kept hearing
Sterling saying,
I didn’t hurt anyone.
I believed him, but I agonized over the fearsome possibilities. He said he protected her by his own honor and at a great risk. I would have to find a way to ask Maureen about the details.

“Ease your worries, my dear
Charlotte. Governor Morgan will be going to great measures to help resolve this piracy problem. In the meantime, I want to use this situation to remind you how important it is to find you a strong and protective husband.”

When I heard the words I remembered the way
Sterling had his sword out to protect me as he hid me behind the rock last night. The memory made it easy for me to nod in agreement.

“I am an old man Charlotte; I cannot protect you forever. I want to know that you will be safe and cared for once I am gone.”

“That makes sense father,” I acceded.

“I think you will be pleased with Mister Braddock; he is very well off,
Charlotte. He is an attorney and is buying the Eden’s Edge estate up the road. He will be practicing law and making a life here.”

In my mind, I flinched at the thought of being stuck on the island for the rest of my life, but I politely nodded in appreciation. Father put his arm around me and I leaned my head onto his shoulder, resisting my urge to sigh in despair.

He kissed me on the forehead. “Alright, my darling. Go up to get Mary and we will head to the market.”

X

Mary and I made our way around the market, and though this was usually my favorite thing to do, I was too busy dreaming about Sterling, and worrying about his part in the break in to show much interest in the world around me. I blindly fumbled through the goods as I wondered where he was. Knowing he wasn’t leaving until sunset, I hoped I would run into him somehow. Then I remembered him talking about The Rusty Anchor, and I tempted Mary with the idea of sneaking into the tavern.

Mary put her hand over her heart in a sarcastic display of a bashful expression. “Oh Miss Charlotte, that would be brazen.”

Unlike myself, Mary had experienced hard times and dark places. She had worked at a bar in the slums of Ireland so the thought of sneaking into a pirate tavern was not the least bit intimidating to her. After I laughed at her silly facade she acceded, “I said I would do anything to help. Your father will be expecting us in two hours. Let us get going.”

We purchased some multicolored shawls and planned to disguise ourselves with them as we walked to the tavern. I assumed we looked like traveling merchants as we passed down the alley, for we snuck right into The Rusty Anchor without notice.

The moment we entered through the heavy wooden door, my eyes opened wide with shock. I was aghast by the entire setting. Smoke and music drifted through the dim and musky room, and the crowd was quite vulgar and ever so sloppy. The men were salty from the sea and cursed as they staggered and swayed, while the women were lacy and busty, floating about the room lacking all sense of virtue. There was a scuff of men surrounding a volatile arm wrestling match in the corner, and the whole room felt like it could go awry at any moment. It was definitely a shocking sight, but I knew if I wanted to be a part of Sterling’s world I had to learn to be comfortable in this sort of chaos.

I settled my nerves and straightened my posture as I scanned the room to see if he was there. Once I saw him, my heart skipped a beat and I grasped Mary’s arm as I gasped, “That is him.”

He was standing in the back holding a leather tankard buzzing with his mateys. It was mostly his back facing us, but when he would turn to talk to Faron, we could see a clean profile of his handsome face. I admired the wisp of the feather in his hat and enjoyed the view of his broad shoulders.

“Oh. He is definitely a fine looking man, Miss Charlotte.”

Before I had a chance to blush with pride, one of the barmaids put her hand on Sterling’s arm and looked to be flirting with him. The intruding woman was wearing a deep red dress that was embellished with black lace, and her dark hair was pinned up with a feather, but I was most alarmed by her tempting red lips, and the way her bosom busted firmly out of the low chest line of the dress. She was quite stunning and the thought of competing with someone like her cause my heart to sink into my gut.

Mary held my arm to keep me in place as she attempted to soothe me. “Oh deary, calm down, let’s get closer to listen.”

She dragged me to the table behind the pillar they stood near, and we wedged close together while we eavesdropped. Mary insisted, “Just wait and see what he does…”

Through the rowdy volume of the music and the crowd, I couldn’t quite make out the words they spoke to each other, but my heart heated with an awful fire of jealousy as I watched her giggle at something he said. Next thing I knew she was pressing her ridiculous cleavage up against his chest, and as she whispered in his ear I watched him wrap his arms around her waist. I had not ever felt so betrayed.

Though I had never been in any kind of fist fight, and I had never before been so angry that I wanted to hurt someone, watching that floozy claw all over my man overwhelmed me with a wild urge to run over there and grab her by the hair. Of course I opted to resist my violent impulse, but the surge of outrage continued to rush through my blood as I watched him carry on in conversation with her.

The music slowed, and in the lull of volume, I heard his words. “I got meself a woman, and she don’t want me money.” He let go of her waist and smirked, “I just came here to drink, so if yer wantin’ so bad to be doin’ something
for me, ye can go get me an ale.”

He laughed at himself but she was hardly amused. In fact, she looked upset as she walked away from him, but I felt as if a bucket of cool water was poured over my firing blood, and I exhaled my worries as my nerves numbed with relief.

Mary rubbed my arm and smiled, “Awe, I think he loves you too, Miss Charlotte.”

“Shall we go talk to him, Mary?”

“Well, we did not come here to watch the filthy wenches.”

Suddenly I felt extremely awkward for attempting to approach him in a bar that I shouldn’t even be in. I led Mary to the table across from where he stood with his friends, and told Mary we would just watch them until he noticed me. She agreed with the notion and as the band picked back up, we relaxed and watched Faron tell his over dramatized tale. I could tell
Sterling was feeding his exaggeration as he asked questions from behind his mug, and once Pete picked up on the story he started reenacting the amusing details with Faron. Looking over at Mary to laugh, I realized she was watching Faron with an awestruck gaze. I whispered, “He sure is handsome isn’t he, Mary?”

Before she could respond,
Sterling came plowing over in my direction. He lifted me out of my chair and basically attacked me with his sloppy embrace. He started kissing on my neck as if I were one of his common bar trollops, so I put my hand on his face and shoved him away from me. He laughed from behind my hand and playfully bit at my palm as he pulled me closer to his chest. “At first glance I thought ye were a beautiful woman, second time I thought I must be dreaming because ye looked just like my Charlotte, and now I think…ye must be her, right?”

I liked how he called me his Charlotte, but I wasn’t sure how I felt about the fact that he was terribly drunk and reeked of alcohol.

I poked at his nose that was ever so close to my face as I teased, “Yes, it’s me. Have you been swimming in a vat of ale, my love?”

He let go and yanked off his coat as he laughed, “Aye, this bloody thing keeps jumping in me booze.” He threw his coat on the table as if he defeated it in a fight and slugged back another gulp of ale, but seemed to spill most of it all over himself. I loved the way he looked in his long sleeved ivory shirt and long brown leather waist coat. His weapons were much more pronounced without his coat to hide them, and I could better see his muscular arms through the thin fabric of his shirt.

I snapped out of my reverie and introduced Mary. “Sterling this is my friend, Mary Daley. Mary this is Sterling Bentley.”

Mary stood up to greet
Sterling, and he sloppily kissed her hand. “Mi’lady.”

I was humored by his drunken attempt of eloquence, and as Mary also chuckled at him she greeted, “Nice to meet you, sir. I have heard a lot about you.” She looked back over towards Faron and asked, “Is that Faron Flynn over there?”

Sterling reached behind him, nearly stumbling over as he did so, and grabbed Faron by the collar. He yanked him over and slurred, “This beauty thinks she knows yer bilgey lubbin face.”

Faron pulled his arms out and hunched down as if he was going to tackle
Sterling for grabbing him, but his wild reaction instantly tamed the moment he laid eyes on Mary. Faron hollered his disbelief. “Holy Mary. It’s Mary Daley.”

Faron redirected his tackle maneuver in her direction
. Grabbing her by the waist, he lifted her off of the ground to spin her around, and Mary giggled, “I thought I would never see you again, Faron.”

Once he set her down, Mary turned to me with sheer excitement gleaming on her face. “Oh
Charlotte, we grew up together in Ireland. We came over on the same ship and had…” Mary winked at Faron as she continued to say, “…other such adventures.”

I was surprised by Mary’s promiscuous wink and thought I caught a glimpse of feeling behind Faron’s dark eyes. I was intrigued by the situation between them but just went on to say, “Well you never know what you will find when you sneak out of the market and into the tavern.”

Faron straightened his drunken posture to carry on with Mary, and since my friend was well occupied, I turned to Sterling and smiled. His green eyes grew wild with surprise, and as if we hadn’t spoken yet he gasped, “What ye be doing in a filthy pirate tavern, love?”

I laughed as I shot him a quirky smile and made my own attempt to flirt. “I thought I might find myself a handsome buccaneer in here.”

He slapped the side of his shaven cheek. “How’s this for handsome?”

I giggled at his joke and assured him that he was very good looking indeed.

His shirt was untied beneath his waist coat so I could see his bare chest, and I noticed a mark of ink peeking out from under the wet spot on his shirt. Poking his skin with my finger, I asked, “What is this?”

Sterling
pulled his shirt back with his left hand and revealed the art of a beautiful tattoo. It was a unique compass rose that covered the muscle over his heart. The line of the east and west arrows doubled as the horizon line of the ocean, and the sun was setting into the artistic rendition of the sea. I was just as intrigued by the swirling arrows and scripted letters as I was enticed by the golden hue of his sun tanned chest.