Lady Pirate

She felt him begin to grow hardwithin her again, and chuckled breathlessly as she wriggled againsthim, her muscles tightening aroundhim encouragingly.

"Aye, " he murmured suddenly."Four more times. Let us seeif we cannotmake it three."

Valoree laughed happily, her heart soaring as she leaned forward tokiss him. Shefeltat that moment as if she had found heaven, and thatmayhap marriagewould not be so bad after all.

Marriage washell.

It wastwo months since those incredible two days and one night in the isolated cove in the Caribbean.They were only a warm memory now. Marriedlife wasn't anythinglike thattime had been. In fact, marriage was very much as she had feared it would be, with Danieltaking overher life as if she were a child.

Oh, it hadnot startedout thatway.It had been a gradualturn.

They hadreturned tothe ship with One-Eye and Skully, then sailed back to PortRoyale to load upon goods andsuch, then had endedupstayingthere two weeks. Valoree had decidedthe men should havesome shoreleaveere they set out on another protractedocean voyage.Meg had spent that time visitingold friends on the island, so Valoree and Danielhad spent the two weeks almostexclusivelyin each other's arms. Oh, they had left the shipseveral times, to play on the beach, to gofor picnics. But always they had ended up in each other's arms. It had been almost asblissful as the two days in the cove, except that now there were occasional interruptions by Henryor one of theother men.Valoree had begun to noticethedifferencethen.

The first time Henry hadcometo her witha question, he had hesitated, hisgaze going from herto Danieland back again, asif he wasn'tsure who to ask. In the end, he had addressedit tothe roomat large. Valoree had frownedat that, but answered, giving orders as always.But the trendhad continued. So long as Daniel was present, the men all seemedat a loss as to whom toaddress.

The matterhad bothered hersomuchthatwhenthey had finally set sail for London, she had been careful to go on deck to give her orders only when Daniel was sleeping. Therestof thetime had beenspent naked inhercabin, working hard at makingthe heir requiredby her father's and hisgrandmother's wills. Very hard. Extremelyhard.

Between Daniel's determination to learn every inch of her body, andherneed to check on her men, their location, and to give out orders whilehe slept, Valoree had hardly gotten any sleep atallthat first week of the journey. Ah, butit hadbeen worth it - until she had comedown with asummer cold, probably from herlack ofsleep andbeing worn out.

Daniel had coddled her then, bundling her in blankets and fetchingher hotspicedrum. Valoree hadslept nearly aroundthe clock for over a week. Bythe timeShe had recovered and made herway ondeckagain, it was to find that he had taken her place.

Oh, themen still calledher captain, but it was to him they now turned with questions, andwhen she gave anorder it was only to seethemen glance towardDaniel before carrying it out.

Valoree'sfirst instincthad been togo intoarage and demand the respect due heras captain.But then she had thought better of it. The men were traditional, andshe knew they wouldbelieve it was a man's place to rule.It wasone thing for her to becaptain when they had thought her aman - andeven mayhap oncethey hadknown she wasa woman, so long as she was seeking the husband they neededto retire. But now that she was married and hada husband, by law he was her ruler, and therefore theirs.

Thus, she had bitten her, tongue and returned to the cabin, determined to wait it out. Daniel was an intelligent man. Heeven hadnatural leadership qualities. But he had not spent the last thirteenyears aboard ship with these men. Hewould slip up, and shewould be there to show him - and the men - that being a lord did notmake hima captain.

Valoreehadspentthe rest of the journey backtoEnglandin the cabin, claiming she wasstillfeeling undertheweather and desired the rest. In truth, she had been pacing the floor and waiting - something she hadneverdone well.

Sighing, sheshiftedin her chair andtried to concentrate onthe chapbook she had sat downtoread. Chapbooks were what she hadfilled hertimewithsince arriving at the Thurborne estate two weeks ago -  tales of banditry, terror on the high seas, and adventure. One-Eye had sneaked them to her. There were romancesin the stack, too, but sheavoided them. Valoree had hadenoughromance to last a lifetime, anditwasn't all that it was chalked uptobe. She had found that it lost some of its appeal quickly whenthe rest of one's life was empty. Actually, she was beginning to resent Danieland the effect hehad had on her life.

Time had seemed to fly bywhen her life had had purpose; now it dragged likean anchor along the bottom of life's ocean. It didn't stop her from enjoying his touch andcaresses, but somehowthey hadlostsomeof theirluster.

A sudden great clatter and crashing from below made its way up tothe sunroom where Valoree sat, and she sighed.Petey and the Thurbornes' cook, Eleni were going at it again, no doubt.

Those two werehavinga battle overwho ranthe kitchen.Eleni hadbeenheadcook here for several years andwasdetermined to keep it that way. Petey hadalways been "the captain's" cook and was determinedto keep thatposition.The two hadbeen throwing pots around and having shoutingmatches sincetheValor had laid anchor two weeks ago.

Instead ofgoing to London, they had sailed the Valor tothe Thurborne estate, anchoring off the point that the castle itself stoodon and reachingshore by dinghy. That had been Daniel's decision. He claimed he had things to tend here, but she suspectedhe was keepingher awayfrom societysoshewouldn't embarrass him. He had since insisted on hiring instructors to teach her "what she needed to know to get by."She supposed she couldn't blame him. After all, she had beenrather a flop during her coming-out. Added to that was the factthat she just wasn't like otherwomen.She supposedhe would rather keep her here, outof the wayof the ton. Mayhap he was even beginning to regret marrying her.

Daniel had wantedthe men all to wait on the Valor, butthey had had oneof theirvotesanddecidedthat the same men who had accompanied them in London wouldcometo the Thurborne estate with them. So, Henry, Meg, One-Eye, Skully, Bull, and Pete were allhangingabout the castle somewhere. Meg usually spent her time helping Henry inThurborne's gardens, wherethe old tar spent his time driving Daniel's gardener crazy with questions and opinions. Skully, One-Eye, and Bull divided their time betweenridinginto the village to try to romance thelocal girls and hanging out around thestables. The three men appeared tohavedeveloped a passion for good horseflesh.

It all left Valoree alone, feelinglike a fish outofwater inthis fancycastle with self-effacing servants, andwith a husband who was foreverbusy runninghisestate. Valoree had spent most of the lasttwo weeks cuddled upwith chapbooks in the chair she now sat in. She had notevenreally looked around much. She had discoveredthis room and stayed put.It wastheroomwiththe least numberof breakables in it. There had not been a lot of fancy little delicate thingsin Valoree's life. At least not since living ontheValor.

Fancy breakables had no place on a ship that dipped and rolled on the high seas, and the Beecham town house had been furnished, but with just the essentials such as furnishings and cooking pots. There had been no easily destructible things there.

HereatThurborne, Valoree was almost afraidto walk around, lest she knock over and smash one of the fancy and delicate itemsher husband seemed to have everywhere.

Sighing, sheset the book down on her lap and peered around the small, sunny roomunhappily. Shecould seeher future quite clearly ifsomething did nothappen soon. The days stretched out before her, an unending paradeof hours spent sitting here, staring off intospace, miserable, asshe waited for mealtime, when her husband would reappear from whatever mysterious chores to which hewas tending.Good Lord, how did otherwomen stand it? Her life hadbeen fullof tasks up to now. Therehadalways been some chore or other to accomplish aboard ship: sails to mend, ropestocheck, maps and charts to read, orders togive.

Even as achild hertime had beenfull of lessons and chores. But Valoreehad no idea what women did once they were married and beyond theschoolroom. Was there anything todo atallbesides stare around?

The only good thing about it was that, if she wasbored, her men, stuck on the boat with its crampedliving quarters and lack of entertainmentandwomen, mustbenear climbing the rigging by now.She was positivethattrouble would break outsoon, and then they wouldsee whowas the real captain.

"My dear girl!"

Valoree's head snapped around, her eyes widening in amazement as they fell on Lady Thurborne barreling into the room, arms outstretched, a wide, welcomingsmileon her face.

Guiltily shoving thechapbook she had been reading down under the cushion she sat on, Valoree stood, and felt her body stiffen as she wasengulfed in a cloud of rose-scented taffeta.

"Oh, my dear girl!I wanted to tell you how happy I am to welcome you asmy daughter-in-law, " the woman trilled in her ear gaily, then pulled back to smile. "I wasbeginning to think that Daniel would never marry. I feared even the requirements of Mother's will would not move him toit. Butyou managedit, you clevergirl! Comesitwithme; wemustchat."

Valoree allowed herself to be drawn over to the settee, her expression bemused."Whendid you arrive? How didyou know we were here? "

"I arrivedjust now, dear." Lady Thurborne dropped ontothe settee, dragging Valoree down with her so that they sat half turned andfacing each other. "That nice young man with the unfortunatemissingnose arrived with Daniel's letter, telling me you had married and werehere."

"No-Nose, " Valoree murmuredto herself. Three months had seenhis leg heal quite well, though hestilllimped.

"And the momentI readthat, I had theservants start packing, the carriage drawnaround, andI headed here."

"Oh, " Valoreemurmured, then glanced towardthe door with a frown asanother round of clattering, crashing, and curses in both Greekand English reachedthem.

"What on earth is that? " Lady Thurborne asked, rising anxiously.

Valoree sighedand waved her concern away. "Itisjust Petey andElenigoing at it again"

"Eleni? " Lady Thurborne sat down with a frown. "Daniel's cook? "

"Aye. She andPetey, my cook, are struggling for who isin charge. They have severalbattles a day."

"Isee, " Lady Thurbornemurmured with a frown, then tilted her head slightly to the side andpeeredat her consideringly."You do notlookhappy, " she announced.

Valoreesatalittlestraighter. "Oh, I - "she began, butLady Thurborne waved herto silence.

"What do you do with your time? "

Valoreehesitated slightly, then gazed around the room rather blankly.

"Being a lady is much different from being the captain of privateers, Iimagine, " she said now, and Valoree nearly fell off the settee in shock. Smiling at her expression, Lady Thurborne explained."Meg told me everything."

"Meg did? " Valoreeasked in amazement. "When? "

"The day the men druggedyou bothand tookyou backto your shipto sail out. She did not wish me to worry about Daniel's suddenly going missing."

"Did Henry know? "

"Yes. Apparently he was not pleased with the idea, but she convinced himit would be right - that Imightbe able tokeep Daniel's driver quiet about his going missing from your town house. And shewas correct. I did handle the man."

Valoree peeredather with confusion. "Why? "

"Whydid Ihelpthe plot along inthat manner? Well, because, mydear, I wanted to seeDaniel married, settled, and starting on mygrandbabies.Andit did seemto methat hewanted to marry you, only you were reluctant to agree."

"Youdo not mind that he married apirate? " she askedwith disbelief.LadyThurborne grinned.

"Actually, Ithinkitis allratherexciting and romantic. Though I thinkyouare being rather hard on yourself, my dear. Youare notreallya pirate.You are aprivateer. Meg explained about your keepingtheking'sportion togive to him." She tilted her head againand said, "It must be veryhard for you, though.

I fearI didnotthink of all this from your point of view. No doubt Daniel took over everythingthe minute you were married.

Hehas a tendency to do that, " sheaddedwithirritation. "And doubtless he did not consider that someone who has led the adventure-filledlife you have, would needsomething otherthan embroidery tofillher time."

"Ido not do embroidery, " Valoree said with disgust.

Lady Thurborne laughed. "Somehow, I do not think Daniel really minds."

"Ifearyou would bewrong, " Valoree muttered.

Lady Thurborne glancedat her sharply, butbefore she could comment, the sound of a rather ostentatious throat-clearing filled the room, drawingtheir attention to a short, flamboyantly dressed littleman standing in the doorway.

Valoree sighedatthesight of him, then forced asmile forLady Thurborne when the woman glanced at her questioningly. "My dance instructor, "she explained. "Daniel's idea."

"Oh." Lady Thurborne looked nonplussed for a moment, then pattedValoree's hand and stood."Well, Ishall justgosee how Bessy is doing getting thingsput away in my room, then."

Master Henderson smiled beatificallyatLadyThurborne as she passed him, then closedthe door behind her and started toward Valoree.

"My lady!" Taking the hand she offered, the man bent low, pressing several sloppy kissesover herknucklesas he murmured, "Mydear, dear, sweet lady. What a delight to see you again."

Valoree snatched her hand back and glared at the man suspiciously as he straightened. He was a bit effusive for her taste.

"I understand that Master Carson will notbe with us anymore toplay the music." He gave asad little moue, thensighedheavily beforemurmuring, "Thenwe shall haveto make our ownmusic, shall we not? "

Daniel wascoming from the kitchen, where he had been trying to sortout yet anotherdisagreement betweenPetey and Eleni, when hespied his mother bearing down on him like anavenging Valkyrie. Cursing under his breath, he managed a weak smile.