Lynna's Rogue Read Free

every need unt il you reach Georgia, where Aunt Judith will be waiting with open arms.”
                  “I shall be waiting for your missive, Father,” she cried around the tight knot that had suddenly formed in her throat. “ Au revoir , Father. Je t’aime !”
                  Brushing a betraying tear from his cheek , her father opened the door , and over his shoulder Lynna noticed a man leaning casually against the doorjamb, patiently waiting. As he r father closed the door and she heard the lock click behind him , she felt a moment of panic, wondering if she had traded one prison for another.
                  Alone in the cabin , she removed the whalebone hoops from beneath the thirteen yards of ruffled, cornflower blue silk material that made up the skirt of her gown, and perched on the edge of the bed , removing kid slippers. Feeling gloriously unencumbered (her father never forced her to wear those two foolish contraptions, hoops and corsets, at home) , she listened to the muffled voices coming from the opposite side of the portal. As she fidgeted nervously with the hem of her flounced petticoat, her enthusiasm was almost impossible to contain. Was this really happening? Was this ship about to set sail? With her in it ? She would not believe it was truly happening until she heard the wind billowing in the sixteen canvas sails of the Windjammer .
                  Taking a moment to survey her new surroundings, she found it to be a room much like her father’s study, with the addition of an intricately carved four-poster and a massive sea trunk. Along the walls were shelves lined with delicately shaped trinkets of ivory, glass and metal. A large desk took up one corner of the room , cluttered with maps, a compass, a sextant and a hand carved model of the ship. This must be the Captain’s cabin. She smiled , wondering how much it had cost her beloved father to persuade the Captain to give up the comfort of his bed for her convenience.
                  Wiping the perspiration that dotted her brow and trickled into her cleavage, s he considered taking leav e of her traveling outfit and choosing a more appropriate day dress. It was stifling hot even though the four large windows in the cabin were open. H opefully, the ship would soon be underway and she prayed she might benefit from a cool ocean breeze on this sweltering day. Retrieving a fan from her reticule and fanning herself vigorously , she plopped down in the middle of the bed and gazed out across the gently rolling swells.
     
                  After having assured Nathan for the umpteenth time that he would care for his daughter as tho ugh she were his very own sibling , and escorting him off the ship, Joshua strode toward his cabin to console the poor , sheltered recluse. He had put off his duty as long as he could , now he must see to his charge. No doubt she would cower in the corner when he entered and scream bloody murder if he so much as looked at her sideways. Were there any female passengers onboard who could be persuaded to befriend the child and perhaps share sleeping quarters with her? He would make a few inquiries on the morrow. No, that wouldn’t work. Nathan would have his head if he allowed the youngster out of his sight.
                  Surely the girl must be as overwrought by this situation as her father, being banished from the only home she had ever known without so much as a maidservant. After living such a secluded life , albeit a spoiled and pampered one, for so many years , she could hardly be expected to be a social butterfly, more likely a painfully shy wallflower. A lready dreading the long , sleepless nights ahead spent cal ming the grief-stricken child, h is consolation would be that he and his crew would certainly be well compensated for any disturbed sleep. Joshua breathed a deep sigh and tried to prepare himself for her caterwauling as he knocked