Beautiful Disaster (A Pirate Romance book, Historical Romance) Read Free Page B

jump once again.
     
    However, it was not the strangeness of the voice, but rather, the familiarity of it.  Wincing, he slowly turned around and was met with two, startling blue eyes.  Willow had always been uniquely beautiful.  She was tall and slim, with long, straight red hair and attractively pale skin.  Her smile was crooked and mysterious, and freckles dotted a few points in her cheeks.  Johnny believed that her heritage was Irish, but he couldn’t quite place her accent, nor did she give him any clues.  Details about her personal life were unknown; anyone who knew her claimed that she was some sort of mystic, some sort of witch.  Johnny had no idea what she was, but occasionally, she would heal his wounded body and give him a place to stay.  Despite using his flirtatious abilities, she consistently refused him, and seemed intent on trying to dissuade him from being so selfish.
     
    “Ah!” he exclaimed.  Though the two didn’t particularly get along, it was good to see someone familiar in this strange land.  She was dressed as she usually was, with her long hair in two braids, and a pastel colored dress on, this one blue.  Her feet were bare; she was used to walking everywhere without shoes, saying it helped her connect more with nature.  “Willow!  How lovely to see you, dear.  Just a quick question, though, if you don’t mind, but where the hell are we, and why are we here?”
     
    “Do you not remember me warning you of your selfish behavior, Johnny Clover?” she asked him in her soft spoken voice, giving him one of her unreadable looks.  “I told you that if you continued to be selfish and not learn the trait of compassion, I would send you somewhere you knew naught of.  It would seem you did not listen to me.”
     
    “I thought you were joking,” he told her.  “Of course, this is obviously my mistake, but I am happy to inform you that I have learned my lesson and am ready to go home now.”  He took in a deep breath and closed his eyes, waiting for her to send him back.  After a long moment, he opened one eye and frowned at what he saw.  She seemed to be waiting patiently for him to give her attention once more.  “Well?  What are you waiting for, love?  No time better than the present, eh?”
     
    Anybody else would have rolled their eyes, but Willow continued to stare at him whimsically.  “No, Johnny Clover, you have yet to learn your lesson,” she murmured, her voice a melody.  “It is much harder here to learn such a lesson, but you will not return back to your time until you learn it.  You cannot be a leader without compassion, without selflessness, and you know better than anybody that pirates such as yourself need a leader.  I do hope you find what you are looking for here, my friend, but my time here now is fading.  I will be back to check up on you, though.”
     
    “Wait!” Johnny exclaimed, pushing his brows up.  His worry finally etched itself onto his sharp features, and his eyes focused on the sole rose in her hand.  Flowers were common to find in the mystic’s palms.  “Where am I supposed to go?  I have no idea where I am; I know nobody here.”
     
    “Which is why your lesson will be harder to learn,” Willow told him, and smiled that mysterious smile of hers.  “But your reward will thusly be greater, and more beneficial.  As to where you should go, Johnny Clover, let me remind you that it is a universal law that everything happens for a reason.  I placed you at this exact moment in time for a reason.  Maybe as a starting point, you should return to that place, hmm?”  And with that, she completely vanished.
     
    Johnny quickly looked around, wondering if anyone else saw what he had, but the people seemed to ignore him as the chatted amongst themselves.  In fact, some people actually gave him odd looks.  Apparently, what he was wearing was quite strange to them.
     
    Well, there was no time to fix that now.  He turned and crossed