Sabrina Jeffries - The Pirate Lord (Lord Trilogy Series #1)

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Go tell the King of England,

Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html Go tell him thus from me,

If he reigns King of all the land,

I will reign King at sea.

Anonymous

"A Famous Sea Fight Between Captain Ward and the Rainbow"

The tropical sun dusted the palm trees with its fading light as Captain Gideon Horn of the Satyr and the ship's cook, Silas Drummond, climbed up the path through the crowded market of the town of Praia, which was carved in Santiagos mountainside. Santiago was the last and largest of the Cape Verde Islands that Gideon and his men had visited. They'd gone to the smaller islands first, thinking they'd have better luck finding what they wanted, but they'd been wrong. And now Gideon feared they wouldn't find it even on Santiago.

So he'd decided instead to buy provisions to carry back to Atlantis Island. If Praia couldn't provide them with what they really needed, there was no point in staying here any longer.

He scanned the nearest stall, where a grinning native woman wearing a crumpled straw hat offered bolts of dyed cotton and called out to passersby in the bastard Portuguese the islanders used.

"How much?" Gideon asked in English, then waited while Silas, who spoke a little Portuguese, translated.

Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html The woman shifted her eyes to him, her grin fading at once. First she rubbed the sweat from her brow with indigo-stained hands. Then she let forth a veritable torrent of words, gesturing to Gideon with jerky motions.

His burly translator chuckled. "She says if the 'American pirate' wants the goods for his lady, he'll have to pay dearly for 'em."

Gideon scowled. "Tell her I don't have a lady and am not likely to have one soon." Then, before Silas could get out a word, he added, "How did she know who I am, anyway?"

Silas talked to the woman animatedly for a few moments. Apparently she found Gideon's presence at her bamboo stall alarming.

When at last Silas faced Gideon, he was tugging on the ends of his heavy brown beard. "Word travels quickly on the islands, Cap'n. It seems they all know that the notorious Pirate Lord and his crew are here. She took one look at that saber tucked in your belt, and figured you were him." He looked thoughtful. "Maybe that's why we've had little luck gettin' what we want from these damned islanders. When they found out who we were, they started hidin' their young women."

"Maybe." Gideon shot the stall-keeper an ingratiating smile that didn't seem to mollify her one bit.

"Confound the woman! Tell her I don't want her cloth after all. What good does it do us if we can't get any women?"

Silas nodded solemnly as Gideon spun on his heel and headed for the docks. After muttering a few words to the stall-keeper, Silas hurried after Gideon, moving with surprising speed on his wooden leg.

"So what do we do now, Cap'n?"

"I don't know. We'll have to talk to the crew. Maybe some of them have had better luck today than we have."

"Maybe," Silas said, though he didn't look hopeful.

Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html They strode down the rock-strewn paths of Praiain silence. Gideon was barely conscious of the scowling man at his side. This whole scheme was pointless; he should have seen that from the beginning. It just couldn't work.

He was still telling himself that when Barnaby Kent, his first mate, rushed up the mountain path toward them. "You'll never guess what's come into port!" he cried.

Barnaby was the only Englishman Gideon had ever allowed to join his crew, but he'd never regretted it. The man was a gifted seaman, even if he dressed like a dandy.

"What is it?" Gideon asked as Barnaby drew to a halt in front of them, gasping. It must be something fantastic to excite Barnaby enough to hurry. The man generally strolled languidly about, surveying everything and everybody with a jaundiced eye.

Barnaby bent over and planted his hands on his thighs as he sought to catch his breath. "A shiphas come into portone that might interest us."

Gideon groaned. "We've been through all that, Barnaby. We've got enough blasted jewels and gold and silver to fill a warship. It's women we need, not more prizes."

"Aye, sir." Barnaby straightened, then took out his handkerchief and mopped his face. "And this ship has women. Lots of women. All for the plucking."

Gideon and Silas exchanged glances. "What do you mean?" Gideon asked.

Barnaby had finally caught his breath and now he spoke quickly. "It's a convict ship from Englandthe Chastity. It's carrying women to Australia. There's fifty or more women aboard, from what I could gather, and they might just fancy being rescued, if you know what I mean."

Glancing down toward the crowded harbor, Gideon rubbed his chin. "Convict women, you say? English convict women?"

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"I know what you're thinkin', Cap'n," Silas put in, "but it don't matter if they're English. English women will do as well as any others. The men don't all hate the English as much as you do, you know."

When Gideon glowered at him, he added hastily, "Not that I don't understand why you hate 'em. I do. Truly, I do. But these here womenthey ain't like the kind of English you don't like. They're just poor sods like the rest of our crew, who got handed a raw deal from the first. They'll suit the men just fine, much better than these uppish island girls who think themselves too good for a bunch of pirates."

"But we don't have much time," Barnaby said, wisely staying out of the entire discussion about the English. "The Chastity sets sail in the morning. She only put in here tonight for provisions."

Ignoring Barnaby, Gideon focused on his normally grumpy cook, who had no personal stake in the scheme. Silas disliked women and had sworn never to take up with one. "Do you really think this will satisfy the men?"

"Aye, I do," Silas said. "I truly do."

Barnaby straightened his cravat with a knowing look. "It'll certainly satisfy me."

Gideon hesitated. But he really had no choice. This was the best opportunity to come along in the past few months. And a convict ship would be easy to take at sea. Convict ships were never well armed.

"All right." When his two closest friends looked relieved, he went on. "Barnaby, find out all you can about the shipwhat guns it carries, its dimensionsanything we need to know to take it. And for God's sake, try to be subtle about it. Luckily, we're moored in another harbor, but do what you must to keep the Chastitys crewmen from hearing that a pirate ship's in port. Keep them drunk, even if you have to pay for their drinks the whole night. We don't want to spook the prey."

As Barnaby hurried back toward the docks, he turned to Silas. "Round up the crew. Tell them we sail at first light, and I want them on board tonight." When Silas bobbed his head and started off down the rock-strewn path, Gideon called out, "And make sure they know why, so they don't curse you for it."

Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html After they were gone, he gazed down at the harbor to where a ship with a demurely draped female figurehead squatted in the water. The Chastity. It had to be. Though he saw no sign of the women, he imagined they were kept in chains below when they were in port.

The Chastity' screw was scrambling about, obviously eager to finish furling her sails before they went in to Praia to drink and gamble and whore. Good. With any luck, they'd play right into Barnaby's hands.

He assessed the ship as best he could from the distance. Square-rigged, three-mastedand obviously sitting heavy in the water. He didn't see many guns from here, and he counted twenty-odd crewmen, far less than the sixty-three men in his company. He couldn't ask for an easier prize.