Christmas Wedding Belles: The Pirate's Kiss / A Smuggler's Tale / The Sailor's Bride

‘Why did you do it?’

Daniel shrugged uncomfortably. ‘It wasn’t supposed to be like this. We weren’t supposed to be locked up. I thought that Chance would believe me. My plan was for him to back down and apologise, and for everyone to congratulate us, and then we would simply walk out of there—’

‘And you would walk out of my life. Again. Leaving me to explain—again—the disappearance of my fiancé.’

There was a silence.

‘Something like that,’ Daniel admitted.

Lucinda straightened, moving away from him. Daniel swung his legs over the side of the bed and sat next to her. They were in a hastily converted office on the first floor of Woodbridge Gaol, detained at His Majesty’s pleasure whilst Owen Chance sent to Shropshire for urgent confirmation of Mr Jackson Raleigh’s identity. The door was locked, and a soldier was on guard at the end of the corridor. The Riding Officer had been apologetic but firm. Clearly he had not thought he could consign to the filthy cells a couple who might just possibly be all that they seemed—outraged gentry caught up in a case of mistaken identity. Even so, their situation was not a comfortable one. The room had one pallet bed, a desk, a wooden chair, a bucket, and that was all.

Daniel could not see Lucinda’s face. The unruly strands of hair that he had released now masked her expression from him.

‘You have never cared about anyone else in your life,’ she said slowly. ‘It is all of a piece.’

When he did not reply she glanced sideways at him.

‘Why do you not answer?’

Daniel shook his head. He felt cold within. ‘I have no defence against your words. You are correct. I thought only of myself and how I might escape.’

‘You abandoned me without a word when I was seventeen,’ Lucinda continued. ‘Tonight I almost forgot all of that, and was nearly seduced into caring for you all over again. But you—you care for no one but yourself, Daniel. You always have and you always will.’

Daniel made an abrupt movement of pain and frustrated rage. Until recently he had been his own sternest critic. Sometimes in the dark hours he struggled with his guilt, but that fight was his alone and he never spoke of it. That had changed when Lucinda had burst into his life again. She had confronted him and made him face up to the hurt he had dealt her in the past. And now he had hurt her all over again.

‘Why did you not denounce me?’ he said now. ‘Why did you lie to save me? Why did you not tell them at once that I was using you?’

She shot him a look from her very blue eyes. A tinge of colour touched her cheek. She caught her lush lower lip between her teeth.

‘Because I find that I am not as ruthless as you.’ She knitted her fingers together. ‘I did not want to see you hang.’

‘Thank you.’

She glared at him. ‘Oh, I wanted to denounce you for ruining me. Don’t mistake me. It is simply that I do not have the necessary hardihood.’

Daniel winced. ‘Well, thank you anyway.’

Lucinda turned her head slightly towards him. ‘Is there someone in Ludlow who can vouch for you?’

‘Of course not.’

‘Nor anyone else who will come to our aid?’

‘No.’

‘The Duchess of Kestrel might try, for my sake.’

‘She cannot do anything to help.’ Daniel rubbed his brow. ‘I dare say she realises that I am indeed de Lancey, but she will not intervene. I have worked with Justin Kestrel for the past five years, but he cannot save me now. He offered me a pardon only a few weeks ago and I turned him down. It is understood that if I am captured I am on my own.’

Lucinda was staring. ‘You have worked with Justin Kestrel?’

‘Yes.’ Daniel paused for a moment, but he knew that this was hardly the time to keep any further secrets from Lucinda. ‘You mentioned tonight that you had heard I worked for the Admiralty. Well, it is true. I am no traitor, Luce. I have worked for this government throughout the war.’

‘Then you are no spy?’

‘I spy for the British, not the French.’

‘And the piracy?’

‘I certainly harry the French fleet as much as I can.’

‘And the smuggling?’

‘I have helped smuggle fugitives from Napoleon’s regime.’ Daniel shrugged. ‘And I also smuggle good French brandy, so it is absolutely true that I am a criminal.’

‘Oh, Daniel!’

For a moment he thought Lucinda was going to throw herself into his arms, but being the woman she was she swallowed hard and glared at him instead.

‘Why did you not tell me the truth before? Why did you want me to think the worst of you?’

Daniel shifted a little. He took her hand. ‘Because I had to drive you away, Luce. It is not as simple as you think. I may have worked for the Admiralty, but I have crossed the line many times. By any definition I am a criminal now. That was what I meant when I said that you had not misjudged me.’ His grip tightened on her hand. ‘All the things of which you accuse me—the selfishness and the recklessness and the love of danger—they are all true.’

Lucinda’s eyes flashed. ‘But it is iniquitous for the Admiralty to treat you so when you have worked for them! Justin Kestrel should be ashamed if he leaves you to hang!’

Daniel’s lips twitched. ‘Your sense of fair play is admirable, Lucy,’ he said quietly. ‘But in your haste to acquit me do not forget that I have ruined you. I am as bad as you have painted me.’

‘That’s true,’ Lucinda agreed. ‘You are still a lying, deceitful and manipulative beast, even if you are not a traitor.’

Daniel smiled at her. ‘Thank you.’

Lucinda fidgeted and looked away, though she allowed her hand to remain in his. ‘So, if Justin Kestrel will not come to our aid, we have a couple of days of this…this purgatory…until they get word that you are not Mr Jackson Raleigh and then we are both hanged.’

‘That’s about the size of it.’ Daniel’s squeezed her fingers. ‘But we shall escape before that.’

Her eyes flew to his. ‘Shall we?’

‘Of course. In fact we are about to do so. It is always best to escape early on, with the element of surprise.’

Lucinda raised her brows. ‘I see. And I admire your confidence. So how is this cunning plan to be achieved?’

‘I am not sure yet,’ Daniel admitted. ‘But I know I will think of something.’

Her shoulders slumped slightly. ‘How reassuring.’

He put his arm about her. ‘Whatever happens, Lucy, you are coming with me. You have to now.’

She looked down her nose at him. ‘I have to do no such thing. Why should I?’