The Captive Heart Read Free

full bellied.”
    Her smile grew, lighting Molly’s whole face and nearly pulling Eleanor headlong into Freddy’s dream.
    “Freddy’s words filled me clear up with hope, miss. First time I ever felt so light. Like I were floating. You ever felt that way?”
    A shadowed memory fought to surface. Light, love, promise … despair. Even after all these years, the hurt was too deep, too raw. She blew out a sigh, dispelling the smallest whispers of remembrance, refusing to examine them. “Not often enough, I am afraid.”
    “Fear? Pah!” The words barged in from behind, accompanied by the clink of chain and drag of a cannonball across wooden planking.
    A wad of chewed tobacco hit the deck beside Eleanor’s skirt. A wiry woman, all bones and bluster, stared at her with eyes so blue and intense, it was a dare to simply meet her gaze. Eleanor couldn’t help but smile. There was nothing subtle about Biz Hunter. The woman was inappropriate from the tip of her cursing tongue to the bottom hem of the man’s waistcoat and jacket she wore over her filthy skirt. Even so, Eleanor admired her spunk and daring, though she claimed to be a year junior to Eleanor.
    “Fear’s for cowards!” Biz’s voice rose to rival the flapping of the sails. “You won’t last a day if you give in to such weak-kneed rot.”
    “We can’t all be as brave as you, Biz.” Molly’s quiet tone couldn’t have contrasted more.
    “Aye.” Biz cocked a brow. “That’s a truth now, ain’t it?”
    In light of the sun, which had finally decided to break free from the clouds, a smirk slanted a defiant streak across Biz’s face. Was the woman truly so fearless? Eleanor brushed an errant strand of hair from her eyes to gain a better view. “Do you not have a care who your new master will be?”
    “Hah! I know who my master is.” She thumped her thumb against her chest. “Me!”
    “I own I’m a bit nervous.” Molly smoothed her palms along her skirt, again and again, further wearing the threadbare fabric. Any more of that and she’d need to patch her patches. “Starvation in a familiar alley seems a mite more comforting than perishing on a foreign street.”
    Biz snorted. “The way I heared it, we’re going to a land o’ milk an’ honey. And the way I sees it, the law did me a favor by packing me off on this tub o’ boards. Good riddance to London town.” She flourished her hand in the air, as one might flick off a horsefly.
    Eleanor bit her lip instead of rolling her eyes at the woman’s dramatics. No sense refuting Biz’s embellishments. She lifted a smile to Molly instead. “I am sure Biz is correct. Whoever puts down money for you would not willingly see you perish. That would be a bad investment.”
    “La, miss.” Molly quit smoothing her skirt. “Yer so smart.”
    “Not smart enough to travel with the real ladies, though, are you?” Biz nodded toward the upper-class passengers clustered near the bow. “I wonder why.”
    The challenge hung heavy on the air, like a squall about to break. As much as she liked Biz, she also wouldn’t mind slapping the smirk off the woman’s lips. “Curiosity is a dangerous virtue at times.”
    “And other times it pays off.” Biz’s eyes gleamed. Was she provoking on purpose, or did she really know something?
    “All right, me beauties.” One of Captain Fraser’s men sauntered along the bulwark and joined them at the railing. The smell of hemp and hard work accompanied him. This was a change, for other than lewd comments, the sailors mostly kept their distance. Eleanor had thought it strange at first, until she realized were she in their shoes, she’d stay an arm’s length away from death and disease as well.
    The man lifted a finger, indicating the stairwell to the hold. “Time to take it below.”
    Eleanor squinted over her shoulder, calculating the sun’s height. “Our time is not yet finished. We are allotted an hour at the rail.”
    “I says it is.” He folded his arms, his