Page 57 of Any Duke in a Storm

Raphael handed her the spyglass. “Frigate up ahead, port side, heading toward us. We’re going to take it nice and quick.”

The frown was unexpected, as was her next question. “Takeit? But why?”

“Why not is the better question. They will either have a lot of valuable cargo or money received for cargo already sold and delivered. It’s much easier to divest them of it.”

Handing him back the spyglass, Lisbeth stared at him with shock on her face. “Wait, you attack other ships?”

“Only bad ones,” he said.

Her confusion was baffling, though the shock on her face was morphing into something sharp and accusatory. “I don’t understand. Why?”

“What does it matter, Bess? They’re bloody criminals, just like we are. You of all people know that out here on the sea, only the strongest of us survive and the weak do not.” He shrugged. “It’s better this way. In a ship like that this near to the coast, sooner or later, they will get interceptedand arrested, and all those goods or money will be confiscated, going to the pockets of corrupt agents.”

She blanched, her face tightening, but Raphael didn’t have more time to continue the conversation as theVauquelinclosed the distance even at its reduced speed to the other ship.

“Ahoy, there!” Thorin roared. “State your name, captain, and fleet.”

“SSFrolicand we have no quarrel with you,” a voice called back. “I’m Captain Briggs on way to Cedar Key. We’re merchants for Delaney Trading.”

“Even better,” Thorin said. “Well, Mr. Briggs, I regret to inform you that your journey ends here. You will be boarded, your crew disbanded, and your post terminated, and if you refuse our rather generous offer, we will put a hole in your hull.” He cackled, enjoying every second of this. “A few holes. Do you surrender?”

“Now wait a minute, who do you think you—”

He didn’t have a chance to finish his protest before Thorin gave a hand signal and the ship’s aft mast was struck by a well-aimed shell. Wooden fragments flew everywhere, the explosion loud in the night. “Sink or swim, Briggsy. Or we shoot your paddle box next and leave you to take on the Treasury ships and certain incarceration coming this way.” Raphael wanted to laugh. Thorin certainly had a flair for the dramatic, but he wasn’t wrong. Any nearby ships patrolling the coast would have heard the shot. They didn’t have much time.

“Surrender,” Briggs cried eventually.

“Good decision,” Thorin replied, and signaled for his crew to board the other ship.

It wasn’t long before a chest full of money was identified along with several crates of unsold coffee and cigars. Briggs and his men were given the option to make their way inland in the rowboats or become crew under a new captain. Three-fourths of the men stayed, while the others left with Briggs.

Lisbeth all the while was frowning as she watched the transaction play out. When Thorin reboarded theVauquelina short time later, minus a good number of the men who had gone with him, her frown deepened as theFrolicsailed past and put out to sea as if she’d never been stopped in the first place. The soft splash of the rowboat oars were the only indication that there’d been a crew change.

“You’re letting her go?” she said.

“That money is bound for the islands for people who need it. Not soft-bellied crooked agents who fatten their own pockets.” He gave a boatswain the order for the ship to go back to its original pace of twenty knots. If they made good time, they’d be in New York in a day.

When she stood still staring at him as if trying to work through the details of what had happened, Raphael exhaled. “We don’t keep the money. Anything taken from any ships in the business of smuggling is reinvested in infrastructure, food, and shelter for the people whose lands were stolen. Trust me, Delaney of all people will not miss it. TheFrolicwill head to Tobago and will most likely be scrapped for sale while the spoils are distributed to those in need.”

Her eyes rounded with understanding and her voice was soft when she finally spoke. “Not everyone is corrupt. And maybe they think that that money rightly belongs to the American Treasury. It’s stealing no matter how you look at it, even if you give it away.”

“Ironic coming from a woman who has divested the American Treasury of hundreds of thousands of dollars in contraband herself,” he countered. “Bonnie Bess is hardly innocent.”

Shadows dropped over her eyes, making her look vulnerable for an instant before her face hardened to its usual neutrality. “No, she’s not.”

They were interrupted by a shriek and the sound of pounding feet as a determined Narina came running across the deck, three men at her heels, one hobbling and holding his crotch. “Was that a cannon?” she shouted. “I felt it shake the ship and I heard yelling, but those three cock-flapping dunghills tried to stop me from coming up! I tricked the filthy swabs, though. Pretended I was choking, then I kicked Ballsack right in the fucking ball sack.”

“Nari, language!” Lisbeth yelled.

The girl ignored her guardian and rushed to the side to peer over the railing, eyes huge with excitement. “What did we scuttle? Who was it? Where are they? For fuck’s sake, why is it so fucking dark?”

“Narina.” Lisbeth gritted her teeth.

“A cannon went off accidentally when one of the gunners was cleaning it,” Thorin interjected just as Raphael opened his mouth to defuse the situation.

Narina turned to him with a suspicious glower. “And the shouting?”

“I was angry.Ishouted.”

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