Surrender of a Siren (The Wanton Dairymaid Trilogy #2)(100)

“It doesn’t matter if I love you.”

He swore violently. “It matters to me.”

Surreptitiously, she wrestled against his grip. She kept her voice low.

“Gray, we can’t be together. We just can’t.” She finally wrenched her arm from his grasp and turned away, her gaze dropping to her feet. He made a motion toward her, but the chains cut it short.

“Look at me, damn it,” he growled.

She did. “Gray, I—”

“If you leave me, I will follow you. And I will find you. I’ve the fastest ship on the sea, and boundless determination. I don’t lose what’s mine.” His eyes burned into hers. “I will find you.”

She shook her head. “Please,” she whispered. “Don’t try. You won’t find me. You don’t even know my name.”

He flinched. Good. She’d struck a blow.

Soldiers took him by either arm. Gray tried to shake them off. “I’m not done here, damn it.”

“Sorry, Gray,” Jenkins said. “It’s time we took you in. Your sister can visit you at the jail.” He gave Sophia a cautious look. “Don’t know about your sweetheart.”

“I won’t be visiting,” Sophia said. “And I’m not his sweetheart.”

He winced this time, as if she’d dashed saltwater in an open wound. Tears stung her eyes. She whispered, “Go with them. Don’t let them drag you by the chains. You wouldn’t want Bel to see you that way.”

“Listen to the lady, Gray.”

The men pulled him back a step, and Gray’s feet moved under him. He hesitated, still staring cold fury into her eyes. “We’re not finished. I will find you.” Then he turned and let them lead him away.

Oh, Gray. We were finished before we began.

Miss Grayson came to her side, crying into her brother’s handkerchief. Together they watched him disappear down the dock. The crowd parted around him as the soldiers marched him into a narrow street and out of view.

There, it was done. She’d never hold him again. The pain of it threatened to split her in two.

“Will you be coming with me, Miss … ?” Miss Grayson asked. “I’m so sorry, I never did learn your name.”

Sophia turned to the young woman. The irony twisted in her heart. Hathaway, Turner, Waltham … She might assume any identity she wished, claim any name for her own.

Any name, that is, save the one she truly wanted.

Mrs. Sophia Grayson.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

“Joss. What the devil is going on?” Gray shuffled into the dank cell. The guard released him from his shackles and left, clanging the door shut and securing the formidable lock.

His brother rose to greet him. “Evidently, we’re pirates.”

“Says Mallory, I gather.”

“Yes.” Joss sank back to a crouch and leaned against the wall. “Swine went for the officers the instant we made port. I should have kept him in the brig until you arrived.”

“Why didn’t you?”

Joss shrugged. “He kept shouting and spitting. It was damn annoying.”

He swiped his cuff across his face. “Besides, I didn’t think they’d pay him any mind. Your reputation is worth gold here, quite literally.”

“It was. Not any longer, I gather.”

“Once the judge hears your side of things, he’ll set us free.”

“Damn right, he will.” And he’d better do it soon. She thought to leave him, did she? There wasn’t anywhere she could go, on this island or from this island, that he couldn’t follow her. A few hours’ delay, even a few days

—he’d track her down. And when he did, this time he would demand some answers.

Gray looped an arm through the bars of the door. “What’s Mallory told him? Do you know?”

“That we attacked the Kestrel without provocation, destroyed her cargo.”

Joss lifted an eyebrow. “Shot down her mast with our cannon.”

“The blackguard.” Gray made a fist around the bar. “Why didn’t I let him go down with his miserable ship?”

“Ah, I expect you were enjoying playing the hero too much. Bent on impressing the ladies, you know. How is the lovely Miss Turner, by the way?”

Gray’s chest deflated. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Good God, man, what did you do?”

“I asked her to marry me.”

Joss gave a low whistle. “And?”

“And—” Gray grabbed the bars with both hands and pushed back. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

He didn’t want to think about it, either, but he could hardly keep from doing so. What had frightened her? For all her brave talk, Gray was certain he’d seen fear in her eyes. Was it watching him put in chains that had spurred her to flee? Perhaps she had her own reasons to avoid arrest.

“Her name isn’t even Jane Turner,” he said bitterly. “She’s not even a governess. She’s some sort of conniving little thief with six hundred pounds beneath her stays.”

“I thought you didn’t want to talk about it.”

Gray shot his brother a look. It was then that he noticed the haggard shadows on Joss’s face, and the bruise purpling beneath his left eye. “No, let’s talk of other things. How long have you been here?”