“Not at all.” He offered another smile. “You are probably the most genuine lady in attendance this evening.” He shook his head. “I know I keep saying it, but even your actions remind me of Mary.”
Fallon decided to humor him. “Tell me about her. If it doesn’t pain you too much, of course.”
He hesitated for a moment as if trying to gather the right words, and then he said, “Mary was my cousin and a verylivelygirl. But then, when you have familial ties towell-knownpirates, I suppose it’s easy to adopt some of their traits.”
“Pirates?” Fallon breathed, suddenly hanging on to his every word as shepicturedthe Raven and his piratical demeanor.
“Indeed.” He chuckled. “It’s not a tale many would enjoy bandied about regarding their ancestors, but I, for one, always thought the idea of female pirates quite fascinating.I’m sure you’ve heard of the infamous Calico Jack Rackham that plundered ships along the Bahamas in the early 1700s beside his wife, Anne Bonny.Anne, alongwith Mary Read, were referred to as the Pirate Queens. Mary was my great-great aunt.”
“That’s… remarkable,” she breathed. She had a sudden vision of herself dressed in men’s clothing hanging onto the galveras she steered the shipand shoutedorders to a crew of rowdy women. The image made her grin.
“Quite. I imagine it was part of the reason Mary was such a free spirit. My mother told me that was why she—” He hesitated with a frown. “Forgive me. It’s notin my natureto gossip about those who have passed on, and most especially to a stranger at a proper gathering such as this.”
Fallon desperately wanted to know more about Mary Reading, for she did sound fascinating, but she didn’t wish to upset the gentleman any further. “It’s all rightif you don’t wish to continue, although I found it rather intriguing.”
For a moment, he fell silent and Fallon imagined that was the end of the conversation. But when the dance ended, he eyed her intently. “If you would care to take a turn about the room, I will share the rest of my tale with you, however sordid.However,I feel that you won’t judge Mary too harshly for her actions and, for some reason I can’t rightly explain, I feelthat you would…understand.” He shook his head and gave a slight laugh. “Ifear Imust beg your pardononce again. You must believe that I’ve got a few bats in the belfryat this point, so I understand if—”
“No!” Fallon lowered her tone, for her exclamation turned a few heads their direction. “Please, Mr. Reading.” She swallowed over the sudden lumpof emotionin her throat. “As odd as it may sound, I feel the same. It’s as if IknowMary.”
“Very well.” He held his arm out to her and she accepted it.“I suppose, in some way, it… comforts me to speak of Mary.” He offered her a kind smile. “As I said before we were very close as children, almost like brother and sister. We certainly rubbed along a lot better than she did with her sister. It seemed that they were always at odds. But then, I think Teeny was jealous of Mary and the attention she received from the village boys. But that was just her way. She had an outgoing personality.”
“Teeny?” Fallon asked.
Mr. Reading’s lips twitched. “Something of a nickname, as it were. Rather ironic, really, since she was the elder sister and taller than Mary.”
He turned solemn, his gaze distant, as if lost to the past. “The trouble began after Mary and Teeny’s parents moved to Southampton, but I believe Mary would have always been difficult to control, even if they would have remained in our modest village. Nevertheless, it didn’t take long for Teeny to find a proper suitor, but Mary had no desire to settle down. For years, her parents despaired that she would become an old maid.Not long after that is when scandal struck.”
If Fallon had been sitting down, she knew she would have been on the edge of her seat. “What happened?” shepracticallywhispered.
His expression turned grim. “Maryhad an affair withTeeny’shusband.” Fallon couldn’t hold back a gasp. He paused near a secluded alcove at the edge of the ballroom. “Theyran off together, and everyone swore that Mary had bewitched Teeny’s husband to get him to leave behind a wife and even a young son.Their parents were so ashamed that they moved to London and lived in near seclusion until they died a few years later, both sufferingfrom lung fever.”
Fallon’s heart broke for the family and while she didn’t want to think unkind thoughts of Mary Reading, she couldn’t deny that her actions were selfish in the extreme. “Do you know what happened to her?”
He shrugged. “I learned that a few months later Teeny’s husbanddied at seaand his remains were sent back toher, but Inever heard fromMaryagain.I just wish I would have known what sort of life she lived. Or if she even made itoffthat ship.”
Fallon couldn’t resist reaching out and squeezing his arm in a show of empathy. “I’m very sorry that you never got proper closure for your cousin. I can tell you cared about her very deeply.” As an afterthought, she asked, “What happened to Teeny?”
Mr. Readingnodded toward the other end of the ballroom. “Oh, she’s alive and well.Because we were so close as children, wetend tocorrespond from time to time, but it’s been years since I’ve been back in Southampton. I spend most of my time inLondonthese days.I don’t even know if she would remember me after all this time. I’m here tonight at the invitation of George Hayes. We both serve in Parliament.”
“Are you saying that Teeny ishere?”Excitement rushed through Fallon’s veins as shewhipped her head around in the direction that Mr. Readinghad noted, but she had no idea which of the matrons standing along the wall might be Mary’s sister.
“Of course,” Mr. Readingchuckled. “You would likely know her by her proper name, Martina Durmor.”
Just as quickly, the blood receded from Fallon’s face as she turned back to her companion. “Mrs. Durmoris Mary’s sibling?”
He tilted his head slightly. “You seem surprised.”
Fallon realized that she needed to offer some sort of explanation for her reaction. She put a hand to her suddenly pounding heart. “I’m sorry. It’sjustthat I wasn’t expecting that.Locklyn is my current… beau.” She nearly choked on the admission, but she managed to keep herpolitesmilefirmly intact.
“Ah.” Mr. Readingnodded. “I see.” He glanced across the room and studied Martina for a moment and then shook his head. “Are you quite sure you don’t have any relation named Reading? I daresayeventhe resemblance between you and Teeny is remarkable.”
Fallon attempted to look at Martina through Mr. Reading’s eyes and a trickle of unease trailed up her spine, for now that he had pointed out how similar they were, she had to admit there was a bit of truth to it.From the shape of the elder lady’s face, to the once dark hair, and even the laugh, allwere oddly familiar.
But recalling his earlier query, she shook her head. “Not that I know of. Most of my family is from Ireland. In fact, itwasjustrecently that I was reunited with my aunt, Francine Shaw.”
“Francine Shaw?” A frown instantly creased his forehead. “Teeny always mentioned the widow in her letters, but I was under the impression she had been anonlychild.”
The slight buzzing that had started ringing in Fallon’s ears at his admission now grew to a full swarm.
