Judith glanced back to say, “Thank you,” and mouthed a kiss for him, then asked Georgina carefully, “How are you faring, Aunt George?”

“Stop looking at my glass,” George scolded. “It keeps the tears away.”

Judith sighed. Of course Georgina would be as upset as her mother was, if not more so. After all, it was her daughter who had been abducted—again. Judith had just never seen her aunt drinking brandy before.

“Have you heard anything a’tall?” Judith questioned. “Mother didn’t tell me much in her note, only that Jack has been kidnapped again and my father sailed off to catch up with Uncle James to tell him.”

“Tony should have been back by now,” Georgina complained.

“You don’t think he would have continued on with Uncle James after he found him?” Amy asked.

“I suppose he might have, but he still would have sent word back with that captain Jason hired for him. Instead they are leaving me in this horrid position of not knowing!”

Judith hesitated before saying, “I hate to mention it, but it’s possible they haven’t found the fleet yet. If Uncle James followed the sea currents to get to the Caribbean faster, it’s unfortunately a very wide lane. Jack taught me that.”

“Jack knows too much about sailing,” Georgina said with disapproval. “But are you suggesting Tony might not have even found James yet?”

“No, well, yes. I don’t want to lie to you. It’s such a wide shipping lane that he could have passed Uncle James’s ship without spotting it, though I’m sure his captain is familiar with the lane and is doing diagonal searches.”

“Which still could miss the fleet?”

Judith winced with a nod. “My father knows where Uncle James was heading, doesn’t he? He can wait for him if he gets there first.”

“So I’m to know nothing about what’s happening for two to three bloody months?!” Georgina cried. “I’m going to the Caribbean.”

“Now, George, you really don’t want to do that,” Katey said. “By the time you get there, they’ll already be on the way home.”

“But what’s that got to do with Jack?” Judith asked.

“Your mother didn’t tell you?” Amy said. “Jack was taken out to sea. Uncle Tony might even come across the ship that has her.”

Judith frowned. “No, she didn’t mention that part. How did you find out?”

Amy explained, “The night Jack went missing, Percy’s mother showed up just before your father left for the ship Jason obtained for him. The old dame told us that her son, who mucks up everything except letting her know where he’s going, told her he was heading for some excitement near the docks. But then his driver returned home without him and told Lady Alden about a terrible fight by the water on Wapping Street. He ran away from it just as it started, but he hid behind a tree and watched the mayhem play out to its conclusion, then came straight home to inform her.”

“What was the conclusion?”

“The ruffians won. Percy, as well as Jack and Jeremy, were rowed out to a ship in the Thames that then sailed down the river.”

Judith gasped. “It wasn’t—?”

“It was,” Georgina cut in furiously. “I got his note three days ago. But we already suspected who had them, and Tony sailed off to let James know that. The bastard even signed his note ‘Bastard.’ I suppose he figured we’d know him by the name Jack gave him. He wants James to meet him in St. Kitts, and if they can come to terms, he will release Jack.”

Judith sat back on her heels with a curious frown. “That’s a very different message than the one in his previous ransom note. No mention of an exchange this time?”

“No, just a meeting, which James won’t even know about!” Georgina exclaimed. “Obviously the pirate didn’t know that James sailed before he did. Ironically, they’ll both end up on St. Kitts, though James probably won’t stay there long enough to learn that’s where Jack is—unless the pirate gets there first and is watching for him.”

“That will be quite the surprise if Bastard approaches James expecting to have a parley with him,” Katey said.

“Let’s hope not,” Amy put in. “Or Uncle James might kill him before he even knows the man has Jack.”

Judith sighed. “I confess I’m somewhat relieved to know that it is Bastard who has her—and certainly that the demand is different this time.”

Georgina stared at her incredulously. “Have you lost your wits, Judy?”

“No. While Jack reviled the man and professed to hate him, I also got the impression that she found him attractive. There was something she wasn’t fessing up to.”

Georgina looked horrified. “What the deuce are you suggesting?”

“I don’t think she wanted to hate him. She might have said it in disgust, but she called him a polite pirate. And from everything she said, I don’t think he wants to hurt her. I just think there’s more to this than we know.”

“Amy,” Georgina said, a note of fury in her voice, “I’m going to need more brandy.”

Chapter Twenty-Eight

YOU LOOK ESPECIALLY BEAUTIFUL in candlelight.”

Jacqueline didn’t reply, didn’t even glance up from her plate.

“I can see four, no, five, different shades of gold in your hair,” Damon added.

Jack still said nothing.

“Giving me the silent treatment, are you?”

They were sitting at the table, had just finished eating dinner. Two weeks at sea and she still hadn’t clapped eyes on Jeremy. Damon had even stopped allowing them to send notes to each other! Her being nice to Damon hadn’t gotten her what she wanted most—a chance to see her brother, even though she’d asked several times. So she’d stopped being nice when Damon no longer needed her help with his wound, which had healed enough to no longer require elaborate bandaging. And he hadn’t told her anything more about Lacross or what kind of mission he was running. But he still took her up to the wheel every day, which she had to admit—to herself—she enjoyed.

“That was quite impressive what you did today, saving Jackie when the pirates tricked him into climbing all the way up to the topsail yard to fix a sail and he ended up hanging there by his hands. You kept him from panicking, Jack, and got him down safely.”