Page 71 of The Moonstone Pirate
As the evening came to an end, Draco and her uncle disappeared into her uncle’s study. A few minutes later, Melrose stepped onto the terrace. “Lady Imogen, your uncle requests your presence.”
At last, she was to be included in their discussions. “Thank you, Melrose.”
She hurried down the hall and marched into the study, not knowing quite what to expect. However, she was ready to do battle if Draco continued to hide what was going on between him and the Irishman. He stood beside her uncle’s desk with his arms crossed over his chest and a frown on his face.
Did this gorgeous man always have to frown at her?
“I’ll have you know,” Draco said, his voice deep and commanding, “that I disagree wholeheartedly with your uncle’s decision.”
Imogen took a chair beside her uncle’s desk. “What decision, Uncle Cormac?”
Her uncle closed the door and then took a seat beside her. “The one where I insisted he tell you everything.”
Imogen gasped. “And he agreed?”
“Grudgingly,” Draco muttered.
She turned to her uncle and smiled. “Thank you for making him see reason.”
“Don’t thank me, child. I am only requiring it because no one seems able to control you, and now you may have been seen by those pirates.”
“Oh, I don’t think I was. Draco was very careful about that.”
“He told me the same,” Uncle Cormac admitted. “Still, I would ship you off to London if I thought you would be any safer there. But I fear that would be worse while Driscoll’s friends and Healey and Burke are there. Go on, Woodley. Tell her what you are doing. It is time she learned the truth.”
“All right.” Draco sighed and then ended with a groan. “I am working as a special agent on behalf of the Crown.”
“I knew it!” Imogen was bursting with joy, for he was every bit as honorable and wonderful as she had always believed. “You are so kind to your family and good to your dog. I knew you had to be a man of valor and not a bloodthirsty pirate.”
“Do not impute noble motives to me. I am only a notch above a pirate, for that’s all a privateer is. The difference is that I usually work under contract for a particular country rather than marauding for myself. Mostly, I raid enemy ships and confiscate their treasures. It is a dirty business, and those who partake are ruthless. It is a requirement of the trade. Anyone soft or merciful would not survive beyond a first voyage.”
Imogen’s heart sank. “Do you mean to say you murder people?”
He cast her a cold stare. “I kill enemy soldiers in the heat of battle.”
“How can you be sure there are no innocent women and children aboard these ships you attack?”
“I go after warships, not merchant vessels or passenger ships.”
“That is a relief.” In truth, agreatrelief, because she could not love him if he were a brutal killer. “What happens when you attack those warships? Do you sink them?”
“Sometimes, but not always. Some I allow to limp safely to the nearest harbor. It depends.” His expression remained stern because he was obviously not about to soften his explanation to accommodate her tender feelings. Nor would she want him to, although the thought of his allowing others to drown made her ill. Yet this was an ugly fact of war, and often what happened during maritime battles. The enemy would have gotten him if he did not get them first.
Still, it was a hard thing to reconcile. Why did men have to be so cruel to each other?
“On what does your mercy depend, Draco? And do you always act on behalf of the Crown?”
“Yes, always for the Crown. As for the ships I engage in battle… Well, a battle is a battle. Someone is going to lose, and I will not have it be me. If the opposing captain is willing to surrender, I offer him and his crew merciful terms. But not all are willing, and one cannot negotiate with such men.”
Imogen clutched her stomach. “That is awful. All those needless deaths.”
He stood there like a gargoyle, unmoved by her compassion for the sailors drowned at sea. “I do not go out of my way to take lives, Imogen. We spare those who surrender. But I won’t apologize for my actions.”
She was beginning to understand why her uncle and Draco had been so keen to keep her out of the murder investigation. Obviously, something was going on well beyond the killing ofLord Driscoll, which was upsetting enough. She had seen theDroghedaand its captain in the harbor, and now had seen Draco dealing with him by the caves. “Are you going to sink that Irishman’s ship?”
“Not unless I am left with no other choice. But first, I would have to get mine, theAthena, out of dry dock in Portsmouth. She is undergoing repairs.”
“Does the Irishman know you plan to sink his ship?”
