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T he meeting broke shortly thereafter, with everyone returning to their respective vessels. Rose lingered behind to spend a little more time with her father for it had been almost a year since she had seen him last and the past few hours were hardly enough to make up for the lack.

They stood together at the rail watching the crowded longboats pull away.

The night air was refreshingly cool after the tropical heat of the day.

Lights twinkled on board all six ships and were reflected on the smooth surface of the water along with the myriad stars overhead.

At Stubb’s insistence, the sound of hammers and saws rang through the stillness and would likely echo through the night as repairs were made to the Daffodil .

Word spread quickly about the intent to take the two British revenuers to Kell’s Bay and the prize value for the ships quashed any complaints from the carpenters and sail makers, who would likely work through to the morning to improve the value of both cutters.

It was a good plan that had been fomented and Rose was heartily in favor of rewarding her crew, but she was frowning as she watched Fonteyne’s gig being rowed into the darker shadows of the Black Wind’s hull.

“If you have doubts about him, best voice them now,” Alexander said quietly, aware of how far even the scantest whisper carried across the water.

“I suppose his arrogance has been duly earned through the years, and it isn’t that I don’t trust him, I just …”

“Don’t trust him. If those same past actions are anything to judge, I cannot fault you for your misgivings. I can, however, be suitably shocked that you have formed any manner of an alliance with him, however tenuous.”

“We need his help, Father. Simply that. He is the only one who can bend Lafitte’s ear. And likely the only one who can get me back into Barataria Bay with the skin on my back intact.”

“When you stole the blacksmith’s ship out of his own port, what were you thinking would happen when he saw you again? That he would shower you with huzzahs?”

“I suppose I hoped the boldness of the act would prove I deserved more than a mocking dismissal.”

“So you enraged the little pirate king and then compounded the matter by taking Fonteyne’s ship as well …

a feat of undeniable recklessness that entire fleets of Spaniards have been unable to do, I might add.

I should think you’d be more wary of Fonteyne’s desire to avenge the humiliation than Lafitte’s. ”

“Fonteyne was angry,” she admitted. “Furious, even, yet he seems to have come around.”

“At what cost?”

Rose looked up at him and saw the hard gleam in his eyes.

He had already guessed the cost. She didn’t know how he knew, but he knew.

“Nothing I wasn’t willing to pay,” she said.

Alexander’s hands gripped the rail tightly for a long moment before gradually relaxing again. “I am not going to insult you by offering any fatherly advice apart from saying you are a woman grown now, not a flighty seventeen-year-old with stars in her eyes.”

“I never had stars, Father. You blame him for what happened that night, but I share the blame equally. He was intriguing and dangerous and made me feel more alive, more of a woman in that one night than I ever felt with Terrence Whitticomb. Being bedded by Terrance was like … being bedded by an excited puppy.”

Alexander cleared his throat. “While I do enjoy the frankness of our discussions, dear girl, there are times I would prefer some limits as to what you share. I’m sure I did not need to know your bedroom habits.”

“Yes, you did. Because at the time, I hoped you would be on my side and not agree with Mother by forcing me to marry someone I did not want to marry. Especially since you and she were not married when Ramsey was born.”

Alexander’s chin jutted defensively. “A situation your mother was undoubtedly striving to help you avoid. And whether you care to believe it or not, I did you a favor.”

“A favor! By marrying me off to a plantation owner’s son who got seasick standing on a dock?”

“Whitticomb was not your mother’s first choice of grooms. She thought you needed the firmer hand of someone like Sir Charles Stapleton.”

Rose’s jaw sagged as she stared up at her father. “Stapleton! He was past forty and had not bathed in as many decades! He had three teeth in his mouth! And his clothes were always stained with the meals he had eaten.”

Alexander arched an eyebrow. “Then you acknowledge the favor I did you by putting young Whitticomb forward?”

Rose rolled her eyes and resumed gazing out over the starlit bay.

“I acknowledge nothing aside from the fact that he was clean and had all of his teeth.” She thought about it for a moment and added, “Aye, he was sweet and I was sorry he died of the fever, but even then, returning home as a forlorn, distraught widow—” she paused and glared as her father coughed— “I found no sympathy in anyone’s heart.

Not Mother’s, not yours, certainly not Ramsey’s.

I was of half a mind to sail to France and seek refuge with Simon. ”

“I doubt the monks would have allowed a red-haired hellion in a seminary.”

“I would have stormed the abbey and kidnapped him. It is difficult enough enduring the thought of my brother becoming a friar, let alone thinking of him living in a cold stone cell for the rest of his life.”

“You made your choice which path in life to take; Simon made his.”

“All through his boyhood years Simon fantasized about becoming a Templar Knight. We used to joust at palm trees, hacking melons and breadfruit as if they were the heads of Saracens. Discovering priests no longer carried swords probably came as an appalling shock once he was robed and tonsured. What is more, I’m shocked at Mother agreeing to let him go. He was ever her pet.”

“Fiona loves all three of her children equally,” Alexander said with a wry grin. “As do I. It’s just that some of you enjoy putting that love to the test more often than others.”

“And Ramsey? How far does he test you with his blatant pandering to the Crown? You know full well he wrote that note instructing the British how and where to attack Barataria.”

“Your brother walks a very fine line …”

“Yes, yes. An excuse I have given myself to explain some of his actions. But is holding the seal of the governor more important to him than loyalty to his family?”

Alexander’s shoulders slumped slightly, for he had no real answer. “I suppose we will discover the answer to that in the coming months.”

“And in the meantime?”

“In the meantime, I want you to take every good care. I assume you are going to set out for Barataria regardless of Fonteyne’s displeasure? The now crooked door to my cabin would suggest there was some difference of opinion?”

Rose clenched her jaw. “I don’t need his permission to sail where the wind takes me. And if it takes me to Barataria in his wake, so be it. I have some leverage of my own if I need to deal with Lafitte.”

“Even so, if you suspect the smallest reason not to trust Fonteyne, break away.”

She turned her gaze to the silhouette of the Black Wind . “If I have the smallest reason to suspect him of treachery, Father, I will slit his damned throat.”

Alexander let the comment hang in the air for a moment, then leaned on the rail again. “When you were in Charleston, were you able to speak to our friend again?”

“Briefly. He wasn’t looking well. He was tired and drawn, with a cough that seemed to rattle every one of his ribs.” She paused and frowned. “He is not pleased with the President’s decisions on where to send his armies. Losing Washington City was a great blow.”

“A city and the houses in it can be rebuilt. What cannot be replaced are the generals and the brave men who must win them back. Or hold them. Has he persuaded Madison to send him south?”

“Not in the strength he asked for. Which is why, curse their arrogant stubbornness, they will need Lafitte’s help more than ever.”

“Is the General in agreement?”

“He has … reservations.”

“In which case, my dear, you have your work cut out for you. You must convince Lafitte to throw in with Jackson and convince Jackson to accept his help. Which reminds me, I brought a little present for you, courtesy of the iron foundry in Liverpool. I’ll have my men transfer it to your ship in the morning. ”

Rose laughed. “You needn’t worry. Billy has had it moved across already.”

“Rather presumptive of her.”

“It was either that or she was remaining here on board with it.”

“In that case, I applaud her initiative. Come. We have time for one more sup of wine before the play-acting begins.”

Rose was alone as she rowed the jolly boat across the dark waters, the oars dipping and swishing cleanly with each stroke.

The day and evening had visibly drained her father and she left him to enjoy a last night of sleep in the warmth and comfort of his cabin.

She had hugged him fiercely and knelt for his blessing, then climbed down to the gig and set off for the Cygnet .

How easily the words had spilled off her father’s tongue: convince Lafitte to help Jackson, convince Jackson to take that help. Easy to say, so horrendously more difficult to carry out.

Major General Andrew Jackson had been a family friend for decades.