“Welcome aboard theSantanas, LordRutland. I am Capitan Diogo.”
Nicolas’s gaze clouded as he fumbled withmemories. Who was Capitan Diogo? And why was he imprisoned? “I amat a loss for I do not know you. Perhaps you can enlighten me.”
“Who I am does not matter other than I havebeen well-compensated for your voyage.” The captain looked down hisnose and sniffed.
Kidnapped.Shadows clawed his mind,churning and rising. His sister, Abby’s betrothal party at hisancestral home at Belvoir Castle. He had been summoned by hisfather to attend an important meeting. A shockwave hit him and he’dbeen thrown to the ground in front of his brother’s laboratory.Fire. Heat had singed his face. Crushing pain in the back of hisskull.
“My father will pay for my return,” herasped.
“Your father is dead,” Captain Diogo saidmatter of fact.
“Dead?” Nicolas swallowed the nausea thatrolled through his stomach.Not true.
“Everyone dies…a bitter unchangeable law oflife.” Diogo shrugged, his eyes dull. “TheSenorwho paid megave instructions to inform you that your father, Duke RichardRutland, and your brother, Anthony, were lured to the laboratoryand killed in an explosion. Your sister, Abigail has been put on aship to suffer your same fate.”
Bile clawed in his throat.Dead? Killed?No. It can’t be.Except his shackles said otherwise. His soulsplintered like shards of glass. “Why?”
“You do not think the Rutland’s would haveenemies?”
Nicholas glared. “Return me at once. I’llpay you twice as much.”
Capitan Diogo stroked his beard. “I thinknot. The risk of entering the Thames again is troublesome. I’llmake additional profit from Brazilian slavers for a buck likeyou.”
Not a chance in hell was he going to beanyone’s slave. “I demand to know who paid you.”
Captain Diogo laughed. “You are not in asituation to demand anything, Lord Rutland. Enjoy our hospitality,I will see you again.”
“I’ll see you in hell,” Nicholas calledafter the lowlife scum, then rolled over and heaved his insides. Hewiped his mouth on his jacket, then sat huddled, arms wrappedaround his drawn-up knees for warmth.
His father? Anthony? Dead? No. Poor Abby.How vulnerable she was. He scrubbed his face with his handsremembering the terrible fight he’d had with his father in thelibrary during the ball about changes he wanted to make to theestate…and his father’s stubborn refusal.
Hot blood rushed through his veins. Hestabbed stiff fingers through his matted hair. The years he’d spentadhering to his father’s obsolete, fruitless policies. All thearguments, the harsh words. For naught. His chest seized.Oh,God.Tears welled. If only he could take it all back.
But he couldn’t. Words once said can neverbe taken back. He straightened, sucking in a deep breath. He sworeCaptain Diogo and the crew of theSantanastoperdition.
The sail high atop cracked and flappedviolently. If his Maker delivered him from this hell, he would findwhomever had done this to his family. He would make them pay. Hewould make them all pay.Nicholas slammed his fist into thewall.
“Hold my hand.”
Nicholas jerked his head back, stared at afilthy hand stuck through an apple-sized hole in the wall in frontof his chest. A woman?
“Please hold my hand.”
Her small voice broke. Well-shaped fingers,filthy yet unlike the ill-bred inhabitants of St. Giles with theirtwisted, claw-like talons. A lady’s hand? He accepted what wasoffered.
“I heard the captain’s orders to stop dosingyou with laudanum yesterday. The nausea, sweating, headaches andfatigue will wear off.”
Laudanum. Of course. He’d deduced as much.How else would they have managed to imprison him without hisknowledge.
Warmed by her touch and soft voice, hegently closed his fingers around her trembling hand.
“You fought like a bull every time you woke.They were afraid you would hurt yourself and deprive them of theirprofit. They kept you drugged.”
“More likely, I would hurt them.” Hesnorted. “You are a prisoner?”
“We are the only two prisoners aboard. Thescoundrels on the dock in London who paid Captain Diogo made surethere were no witnesses to our abduction and that we’d never reachthe coasts of England again.”
“Who are you and why have you earned thisvoyage?”
