Swept to Sea Read Free Page A

leave.
    Leave her family, leave her friends, and leave everything she had ever known. She did not care about what she would do once she got to the Caribbean. And yet would she be able to find work for herself there? Eden shivered at the thought. Even though she had heard many glorified stories about the Caribbean from her brother, she knew plenty of women had gone to the Caribbean hoping for a new life, but events forced them to become harlots in order to earn enough money to survive. She decided she would die before she did something so demeaning. Perhaps she would have greater luck remaining in England. Then again, maybe she could find Adam over in the colonies. He had adored his younger sister and would no doubt take her in until she could settle on her own feet…
    Yes, she would leave, and hurry, too, for anything was better than marrying Lord Rutger and enduring his beatings her entire life. Eden had suffered enough of them by just becoming the man’s fiancée. She snatched the sapphire necklace Rutger had given her off of her vanity, realizing it could provide money when she began her new life.
    Eden grabbed her valise which contained only an extra set of clothes, a stale crust of bread one of the servants had been about to throw to the dogs, and the few shillings she had been able to gather. Eden positioned her valise on one arm and swung her legs over the edge of her bedroom window sill. She had absconded with a pair of trousers and an oversized shirt from her brother's old bedroom, both of which she was now wearing. The waist of the trousers was cinched in with a rope she had found in the stables to keep them from sliding off, but otherwise her outfit fit just fine. Her hair was stuffed snugly into a bicorn hat.
    How much easier it was to climb down from her bedchamber in nothing but trousers and a shirt rather than cumbersome layers of taffeta. She held back a giggle, remembering a year long ago. Adam had convinced Eden to sneak out of the house with him through her window so they could go outside and play while she was supposed to be taught by her poor, confused governess. Oh, how she missed dear, fun-loving Adam.
    Eden leaped the final few feet to the ground and glanced around. She paused only to smudge a handful of dirt across her face to disguise her feminine features then sped down the streets to the harbor. Luckily, she knew the way from her stolen days with her brother. He had always dragged her to the docks in the full light of day to look at the ships he was so fascinated with. By the dark of night, the streets looked entirely different and not nearly as friendly and cheerful. The moon illuminated Eden’s path, and the still-bustling docks were infested with grimy sailors who ambled about. Salty, moist air, laden with the smell of fish, hit Eden’s face. Ships — too many to count — bobbed up and down in the harbor like children’s toys in a small pond.
    Which one to choose out of so many? Which one to start her life anew and carry her to the Caribbean?
    A loud guffaw caused her to turn, her heart racing. Men, a rowdy group of pirates by the looks of them, sauntered toward her. A bullet of dread shot through Eden. Could they somehow see past her disguise? Was some of her stubborn hair falling down from its confines in the bicorn hat she wore? Panicking, Eden dove behind a stack of barrels, in case the vile creatures realized she was not a boy. She did not need any unnecessary troubles before she even left London.
    A look behind her told her it was too late. They were heading toward her makeshift hiding place, laughing drunkenly.
    A frigate, her only hope of salvation, loomed tall behind Eden's back. On the hull of the ship, the name Dawn's Mist was painted in black, unfriendly spikes.
    She glanced around the barrels again. The group of filthy sailors was still strolling closer, but they no longer appeared to be looking at her. Maybe they had not noticed she was a woman. Maybe they had not seen her at