Page 121 of The Pirate and the Pagan
“What about Spencer?” she whispered.
He cupped her face with his strong hands and looked down at her delicate beauty with reverence. “I’ll have him out before lunch-time,” he promised.
Tears of gratitude welled in her eyes and he quickly kissed them away. “Precious love, don’t weep. I never want you to weep again. See here, see what I have for you.” He reached into the little cabinet and drew out the waterfall of diamonds. They only made her cry harder.
“Oh, Ru, you are so good to me.” She smiled through her tears. “I don’t want you to give me diamonds.”
“What do you want, beloved?” he murmured.
Her arms slipped up about his neck. “I want you to fill me with your babe.”
Ruark jerked awake, saw the empty place in the bed, then reality washed over him. What a cruel bastard he’d been to take her baby away from her. He threw back the covers. To hell with the Dutch, he was returning to London for his wife.
It took a whole week before the unbearable pain of the burn began to dull. Summer suffered alternate chills and fever, gave most of her gruel to Nellie, and managed to steal one more wooden spoon. Ironically, the first day she began to feel better physically, she was almost distraught, for she knew Oswald’s promised return visit was upon her. When he entered the cell, the other five women shrank back from him, each fearing he might choose her, but when he took Summer again, even the hardened Sidney wished she could have done something to help the girl.
“You know the routine. Take off your clothes.”
Summer had done everything he’d demanded of her last time, answering each command with a submissive “Yes, Sergeant-Major,” and still he had tortured her with the hot iron. Perhaps the outcome would be no worse if she defied him. When she didn’t obey him immediately, however, he took hold of her breast and twisted it viciously. She cried out with pain and cursed herself for being weak. Slowly she removed her soiled clothes, almost glad to be out of them. When he ordered her to serve his dinner, the delicious smell of the food made her mouth water, then her empty stomach cramped painfully. She gathered her courage. “May I bathe, Sergeant-Major?”
“No, you may not,” he said pleasantly.
“How can you bear to have me serve your food when I’m so soiled?” she cried angrily.
“I am amazed that the first thing you beg of me is a bath. That tells me that cleanliness is more important to you than food.” He smiled. “The filthier you become, the happier I’ll be. When you are so begrimed with dirt that no soap will ever get you clean again, I shall be content, Lady Bitch. You may put your grimy rags back on now.”
This time she did not relax once she was dressed. She remembered too vividly what happened last week and expected him to have some cruelty planned again.
He finished his ale and surveyed her through narrowed eyes. “I bet you thought you’d be able to bribe me with sexual favors. You don’t know me very well yet … but you’ll learn. I’ll bet your hair drives Helford mad with lust. Does he spread it across the pillows before he makes love to you? Too bad,” he said with mock regret, “regulations say I may cut your hair to stop lice.” He reached for a bone-handled razor and licked his lips with excitement as he chopped it so short it barely covered her ears. She knew if she struggled or defied him, he might shave her bald.
When Summer was shoved back into the cell, she saw sadly that the other women had suffered the same fate. Sidney said, “Bloody pervert!”
“Never mind,” Lardy said, “it’ll grow again. We were crawling with lice anyway.”
Summer took heart at their comments. It showed they were beginning to care what happened to one another. She had no time to mourn her lost beauty because around midnight Nellie went into labor.
The moment the Pagan Goddess dropped anchor in the London Pool, Ruark Helford went directly to Lil Richwood’s house in Cockspur Street. He held up his hand in hopes she wouldn’t launch into a long list of his shortcomings. “Lil, before you say anything, I know it was wrong to take Ryan like I did. I want you to know I’m finished with all these damned silly games. I want to ask her … beg her … to come back to me.”
“That’s wonderful, darling,” drawled Auntie Lil. “Summer lost absolutely everything, you know—her house, her gold, all her clothes.”
Ruark was beginning to understand why she hadn’t rushed to Cornwall. “Then you think she’ll agree to come to Helford Hall?” he asked hopefully.
“Darling, she went. She was absolutely incensed with you for taking her son.”
“How could she travel without money?” he asked, a feeling of alarm growing steadily inside his chest.
Lil Richwood shrugged her elegant shoulders. “You know Summer, darling. I tried to tell her she couldn’t go off alone, but that was like waving a red flag at a bull!”
“I know how headstrong she is, Lil,” he supplied, both hope and dread warring inside him. “Tell me her plans.”
“She ‘borrowed’ a horse from the palace stables and was riding to Portsmouth to take ship for Cornwall,” said Lil.
“I knew she would come after Ryan, that’s why I took him, but where under heaven and hell is she?” he demanded. He felt Lil was keeping something back from him. Suddenly all the churchbells began to ring. The servants ran into the street to see what was amiss. Everyone knew it was an alarm signal of some sort. Since the disaster of the London fire everyone was alert to unexpected calamity befalling.
A footman came back into the house, ashen-faced. “What is it, man?” demanded Ruark.
“They say we are attacked! The Dutch have landed!” he cried.
Ruark clapped on his wide-brimmed hat. “I’ll go across to Whitehall and find out what this is all about,” he said grimly. He went directly up to the King’s closet and found Charles in his shirt sleeves with his brother James, Chancellor Hyde, and some men from the Navy Office.
