The Pirate Lord Read Free Page A

doing. We want an honest assessment of conditions on the voyages, which is why we can’t tell them of my noble relations.”
    “That doesn’t mean I can’t send someone—”
    “Sara Willis, schoolteacher, wouldn’t travel with a servant, I assure you.”
    “Wonderful,” he said with considerable sarcasm. “You won’t even have a servant on your side.”
    “I won’t need one.” She tried for a lighter tone. “Do you think me so inept I can’t do without a maid for a while?”
    “You know quite well that ineptness has nothing to do with it.” He paused. “So you think to set sail on the Chastity , do you? Devil take it, that’s an inappropriate name for the ship if I ever heard one.”
    When she shot him an irritated glance, he turned his face from her to stare out the window. They were already driving up in front of the Blackmore townhouse on Park Lane, an impressive Palladian villa meant to intimidate any of the lesser mortals who ventured into its lofty halls.
    Sara could remember how its towering pillars and myriad windows had awed her when she and her mother had first come to dinner there. But her stepfather hadn’t let her feel intimidated. He’d offered to show her the new litter of puppies in the kitchen, and that had endeared him to her forever.
    Sometimes she missed him as much as she missed her mother. She’d never known her real father, and the earl had filled that position so admirably that she could never think of him as anything but a father. He’d loved her mother dearly. Though his death a year after her mother’s had devastated both her and Jordan, it hadcome as no surprise. Lord and Lady Blackmore had never liked to be parted.
    The carriage shuddered to a halt, and Jordan climbed down onto the frost-crusted driveway, turning to help her out. He didn’t release her hand at once, but took it in both of his. “Is there nothing I can say to talk you out of this?”
    “Nothing. It’s something I must do. Really, Jordan, you shouldn’t worry. Everything will be fine.”
    “You’re my only family now, moppet. And I have no wish to lose you, too.”
    A lump formed in her throat as she squeezed his hand. “You won’t lose me. You’re just lending me out for a while. The year will fly by, and I’ll be back before you know it.”
    A year. It sounded like forever to Jordan. Although he said nothing as she tucked her hand in his elbow and let him lead her into the house, he wanted to rant and rave and shake her senseless. A woman of her station on a convict ship! It was insanity!
    But there was little he could do to stop her. Perhaps if Father were alive…
    No, even Father had been unable to curb Sara when she was determined upon some course. Her tale of sneaking out to meet Colonel Taylor proved that.
    The devil take Taylor! If it weren’t for that deuced colonel, she might even now be settled with a husband and two babes, instead of gallivanting off to Australia on a fool’s errand.
    He watched as Hargraves came out to take her cloak and she cast the man an accusing glance.
    Poor Hargraves colored to the roots of his thinning hair. “I’m sorry, miss. Truly I am.”
    As usual, Sara softened at the sight of the servant’s remorse. Patting Hargraves’s hand, she murmured, “It’s all right. You were just doing your duty.”
    As she left them both to climb the thickly carpeted stairs, Jordan stood there staring after her. The womanwas too kind and generous by half. How on earth would she survive on a convict ship? Her work with the Ladies’ Committee had given her a taste of human misery, but she’d never been immersed in it. Once aboard that ship, she’d be stuck there a year or more. Unprotected. Alone.
    He looked at her slender back, at the wisps of auburn hair escaping her chignon, at her unconsciously feminine walk, and a sigh escaped his lips. Sara was oblivious to her own attractions. She might feel awkward in society, but that had never kept men from desiring her.