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CHAPTER TWENTY

“ O f course I will not marry you.”

Anne was astonished at the calm in her voice as she delivered the words.

Old Anne would be quaking in her half boots.

Old Anne would be weeping with nerves. New Anne glanced out the window, saw the clouds rolling in, and drew a rush of power from the gathering storm.

If only she could shoot lightning from her palms, she would clear all this away in a moment.

She whirled to face her brother. “If it’s a matter of the money, beg it of Aunt Gertrude yourself. You don’t need me.” She stabbed a finger in her aunt’s direction before turning with a shame-faced smile. “My apologies, Aunt.”

“Oh, I would do the same.” Aunt Gertrude shrugged. She affected calm, leaning on her ebony walking stick with its elaborately carved ivory head as the ship rolled lightly. But the tightness in her face, around her ears and jaw, betrayed her discomfort. Aunt Gertrude was going to be seasick.

“But I don’t have the money, boy. And if I did, I’m not sure I would help your father anyway. I most certainly would not hand it over to you to spend on whatever you will.”

“You said you would give Anne an inheritance.” Daron’s face too, was taut, but with a different kind of sickness. When had her brother gone from greedy to obsessed? “Where’s mine?”

“You insolent child,” Aunt Gertrude said softly. “Your father did not take you over his knee near enough, did he?”

“Now, Gertrude.” Anne’s mother stiffened. “We did not desire your instruction when our children were young, and we do not require it now.”

Aunt Gertrude stamped her cane on the floor, where it echoed against the planks, sticky with whatever resin was used for polish.

“You spoiled him, Eliza. You and Richard gave him everything he wanted, and when he disobeyed you, did you correct him? No. You laughed and let him go his way. Let you reap what you have sown, a spoiled, willful?—”

“That is the outside of enough.” Anne’s father frowned.

“You might save the recriminations and family spats for later,” Calvin struck in. “We’ve a wedding. Vicar?—”

“Wait.” Darch held up a hand. Calvin and Daron instantly fell silent, and Anne saw that he somehow had both men in his thrall. Vicar Stanley swallowed hard, his Adam’s apple bobbing beneath his white clerical collar.

“You said there was money, Sutton. And you said her marriage to Vaughn was the way to secure it. Now it seems that is not the case.”

“He supposed I’ve a fortune, and I don’t,” Aunt Gertrude barked. “The nerve of you all! Let me off the ship this instant.”

She turned to leave, but Daron blocked her way. The room was not warm, but he was sweating. His sweat smelled sour, like old drink, not the lovely warm spice of Hew.

Hew . How Anne wished he were here. He would know what to do.

“Let me past. I’ll die on this boat before I’ll be held for ransom by a spoiled boy.” Aunt Getrude raised her chin.

“Best hope it doesn’t come to that, you old harridan,” Darch said sharply. “You’re here, all of you, because Sutton claimed you were worth geld. Enough to pay the debt he owes me and more.”

“What debt?” her mother yelped at the same time her father barked, “How much?”

Aunt Gertrude overruled them all, thumping the floor once again with her cane as she whirled on Darch.

“I don’t owe you a scrap, you insolent pup, much less an explanation.

But I will say this. What money I have is tied up in a trust for Anne, and Anne only.

No one else can touch it, not her brother, not her father, not her husband, not God himself.

It is hers to dispose of, hers alone, precisely because I do not wish her hand to be forced. For any reason.”

“Here now, calm yourself, Aunt Gertrude,” Calvin said with a mocking smile. He reached for Anne’s hand. “Gel agreed to marry me. Love, and all that. Can’t help if she wants to give me all that she has and more, can I? Luckiest of men, etcetera.”

Anne pulled away from his grasping hand, cold and moist as an eel reeled from the river. “I said I won’t marry you. I’m going to marry your brother.”

Calvin scowled. “Trollop! Threw yourself into his bed to get Greenfield. Think I don’t know that?” He pushed his face close. “You’ll marry me if you know what’s best for you.”

Anne shied backward, her stomach flailing. “I’ll throw myself over the side of this ship first.”

“Then you’ll drown when the tide comes in, or I’ll leave you stranded on the sands.” Calvin sneered. “Save us all the fuss, there’s a good Nanny, and let the good vicar say his words. Took a bit of convincing to get him here, but he’s a man as loves a pretty love story.”

“I do believe,” the vicar said in a mild tone, though his eyes were wide, “that Miss Sutton is contracted to Captain Vaughn. The captain spoke of it to me mere days ago?—”

“Promised to me first!” Calvin roared. “ Me .” He clamped a hand around Anne’s wrist. “Now quit being a hussy and say the words.”

Darch watched with fascination as Calvin attempted to wrestle Anne before the vicar, Anne resisting every step. Daron threw himself in front of Aunt Gertrude when she raised her cane. Her parents fell back in confusion, clutching each other in alarm.

“Vaughn, you said the gel was willing,” Darch put in.

“And you said you’d witness my wedding in return for my help against the excise men,” Calvin snapped. “Said I’d be your partner, and I will. Put in my share to cover expenses, get my share of the revenue. But have to … get the capital … first!” He hauled on Anne’s wrists and she yelped.

“I won’t marry you! I promised to marry Hew.”

“Then I’ll kill him and take his widow!” Calvin’s face transformed in fury.

“And I’ll kill all of you if I don’t get my money.” Daron’s voice was a hoarse croak, yet somehow the more terrible. So was the pistol in his hand. Anne recognized it as one of a set of dueling pistols that had been on display in Hew’s study at Greenfield.

A man had a chance of walking away from a pistol shot at dueling range. But Daron stood far closer than that.

“Whoa. Easy, easy.” While everyone else stood frozen, staring at the weapon in Daron’s palm, Darch raised his hands above his shoulders, his voice as calm as if soothing a horse. “I’m not here for a murder. That’s what’ll get you hanged.”

Daron wiped the sweat off his face. “You can keep to your smuggling runs and hiding your casks of brandy, Darch. I’ve a bigger operation to run. I’m the new Black Hound.”

“What in the world,” Aunt Gertrude barked. “Is the boy run mad? Richard! Since when is there madness in our blood? This must be your doing, Eliza.”

“You cannot be Y Gwyllgi,” Anne choked out.

That was the monster who had kidnapped her and Gwen and the viscountesses.

His men had beaten Leah’s husband to death over money and he had meant to kill Penrydd, too.

“Penrydd defeated him. The Black Hound disappeared. He was swept away by the Severn bore after Pen and Evans blew up his ship and rescued us. You cannot think to be what he was, Daron!”

“Not be rich? Not be powerful? Not be feared?” Daron curled his fingers around the trigger guard. “You all think I am nothing, all of you. You’ll learn better.”

“Daron, my son—” Their father bit off his words when the pistol bore swung in his direction.

“What, Father? You taught me to shoot. You know I’m fair with a close target.”

“Threatening us won’t gain you what you want,” their father said through gritted teeth. “And you’re frightening your mother.”

Daron’s face softened as he regarded his mother, who clutched her husband’s arm, whimpering.

“I’m doing this for you, Mother. So you won’t be in want. So you needn’t worry about who will keep you. I will.”

“Sutton,” Darch drawled, his hands still raised, “if you shoot at this close range, you’ll put a hole in the side of my brig. I’d rather you didn’t.”

Daron swung the gun on Anne. “Marry him, Anne. Say the words. I promised Calvin I would share your inheritance with him. I’ll pay my debts and have more money than Midas.

Calvin will ensure the Newport officials don’t come close.

We’ll have an empire, and you’ll be taken care of so long as you do what you’re told. ”

Anne set her jaw on the words that wanted to spill forth. Daron, the beloved boy of her youth, had never denied a thing she’d begged of him. But begging would not avail her now.

Daron swerved the pistol toward the vicar. “Now say the words.”

“Ahem. Who brings this woman to be wed to this man?” Vicar Stanley managed. “You know I must see a special license?—”

“We’re at sea!” Daron shouted. “It’s done when you say it is. We’ll sign the license later.”

“After I have the money to pay for it.” Calvin cackled. He looked desperate, Anne thought, watching Daron with apprehension. But when Calvin looked at Darch, she saw real fear. Darch was the dangerous one—but why?

Her father cleared his throat and puffed out his chest, pushing his wife behind him. “I cannot consent to this marriage. I won’t give my daughter to you, Vaughn. Not like this.”

Anne closed her eyes briefly and choked back a cry of relief. Her father, in the test, would stand by her. “Never mind that I already objected,” she managed to say.

“Richard.” Their mother moaned and clutched her husband’s coat sleeve. “Richard, I believe I might faint. Why does Daron have a gun? Just let him marry Anne. Gertrude, this is all your fault!”

“ My fault? Did I drive them to this madness?” Gertrude banged her cane on the floor, her plump body swaying with the increased rocking of the ship. “I already told him they can’t touch the money. It is Anne’s.”

“And she’ll sign it to me as soon as we’re married,” Calvin snarled. “Now hold your peace or I’ll have your nephew plug you, you old beldame!”

“Hew,” Anne whispered, saying his name like a prayer. “Hew is going to stop this. Stop all of you.”

“Stop us how?” Darch asked curiously.

“I don’t know. He’ll think of something. He’s a gunner and a sapper.”