A Captain and a Rogue

‘I am baiting the trap,’ he said, and knew the words were merely appeasement for what he was going to do.

The feel of her cheek against his palm took him from being a captain to being a man looking into the eyes of his beloved. Every time he gazed into her face he saw something that made him forget how a man was supposed to act and start thinking of those treacle-laden words that made a woman smile.

Touching her, he realised he’d completely erred in thinking Thessa had any resemblance to the stone statue. She was far more appealing.

She watched him just as intently as he looked at her.

His lips closed over hers, tasting, letting her femininity caress every part of him. The kiss fired up his spirit. Erased the memory of what she’d forgotten to tell him. The touch of her lips cloaked him in armour and told him such beautiful things.

AUTHOR NOTE

Captain Benjamin Forrester first appeared in my novel SAFE IN THE EARL’S ARMS, and almost instantly I knew I wanted to tell his story. I saw him as a man without a care in the world except for a love of the sea and a deep fascination with mermaid lore. For months I looked forward to writing the first scene in this book.

But Captain Forrester’s personal story didn’t unfold in the way I expected.

During my research I read about some of the hard-ships a Regency sea captain would have experienced. Voyagers could take several years before returning to their home port, and every day at sea was much the same—except for when something happened to make things worse. If tempers flared no one could immediately leave or be let go.

To live in such conditions, and to be able to return to them, would take a very strong man—particularly if he had a privileged life that would have welcomed him back.

The day after I’d finished the story of this captain I missed writing about him—much in the same way you’d miss a good friend who’d moved out of your life.

I hope you see Benjamin Forrester the same way I do.

A Captain and a Rogue

Liz Tyner

LIZ TYNER began creating her own stories even before she decided on the lofty goal of reading every fiction book in her high school library. When the school gave her a career assessment they came up blank—they double-checked and still came up blank. Liz took it in her stride, because she knew that on the questionnaire she’d ticked an interest in everything but scuba diving. She believed the assessment proved she was perfect for becoming a novelist.

Now she and her husband live on a small acreage, where she enjoys strolling her walking trails and wishes the animals she shares the trails with wouldn’t visit her garden and fruit trees. She imagines the wooded areas as similar to the ones in the children’s book Where the Wild Things Are. Her lifestyle is a blend of old and new, and in some ways comparable to how people lived long ago.

Liz is a member of various writing groups, and has worn down the edges of a few keys on her keyboard while working on manuscripts—none of which feature scuba divers.

A CAPTAIN AND A ROGUE

features characters you will have met in Liz Tyner’s debut novel for Mills & Boon® Historical Romance SAFE IN THE EARL’S ARMS

DEDICATION

To my mother, who is making heaven an even better place for the angels to be.

Contents

Cover

Introduction

Author Note

Title Page

About the Author

Dedication

Contents

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty-One

Chapter Twenty-Two

Extract

Copyright

Chapter One

‘Capt’n. There’s yer mermaid.’

At his first mate’s words, Benjamin’s head snapped around and his eyes locked on the form slicing through the Aegean Sea.

Benjamin took two steps closer to the edge of the craggy rocks overlooking the water. The sea air took some of the rotted-egg smell of the island from his lungs and the shape reaching the shoreline took all thoughts from his head.

He reached to his side and took the spyglass from the hanging sheath, and peered. His movements must have caught her attention, because as soon as her head appeared in his eyepiece—she treaded water. Her eyes locked on his, capturing him.

Then she turned, long arms finishing the swim quickly. Everything else in the world disappeared but the vision in his spyglass. His breath caught. He’d truly found a mermaid.

‘Ah, she saw us,’ Gidley grumbled. ‘Now she’ll go and turn into a reg’lar woman. Blast the luck. Once a mermaid sees a man, she sprouts legs. Happens every time.’

The woman stepped on to the sand. Benjamin grunted in disappointment, realising he’d been lost in a fantasy.

He tipped the end of the glass downward to ascertain she did have legs. She wore a chemise, but the thin, wet garment viewed through a strong imagination left little covered. He braced himself, keeping his knees from giving way, while he leaned forward, trapped in his thoughts.

Gidley nudged Benjamin. ‘Lend me that glass, Capt’n. Want to see if she be sportin’ a tail.’

Ben pulled air into his lungs, giving himself time to relearn to speak. ‘No,’ he said. And then he murmured. ‘No fins.’ Breasts, yes.

‘Bet she’s the one we’re looking for,’ Gidley said.

‘I hope so,’ Benjamin spoke softly. ‘She’s...’

‘Mermaid like or reg’lar woman like?’

Benjamin paused. He’d not really studied her face. He raised the view of the glass, taking in the sculpted lines of her jaw and moving up to the graceful cheekbones. ‘I would say—better than either.’

Then he saw her pulling clothing on and he lowered the spyglass. He turned and slapped Gidley on the arm. ‘Turn your back. We’re gentlemen.’

Gidley grimaced, shuffling around until he faced the opposite direction. ‘Speak for yourself. I be an able-bodied seaman. And that’s a mermaid. Had to look and so did yer. Would be wrong not to appreciate, like spittin’ out good ale. Don’t let her get close enough to spit at yer, though. They’ve venom in their mouths.’

Benjamin shook his head. ‘She’s not a mermaid. She’s a woman. And if she’s Melina’s sister, then she’s not someone to dally with.’

‘Then I need to find the little treasure that I left behind last time. Bouboulina or Alenakous or something like that. Would ’uv remembered if I’d known we was returning. I brought more coin this time—so I’m expectin’ true love.’ He dropped the canvas bag of gifts they’d brought to give Melina’s sisters. Gidley tugged up his trouser waistband, puffed out his chest and straightened the rag of a cap that stuck to his head even in the roughest squalls.

The island breeze blew across them and Benjamin waited on the woman to scramble upwards through the rocks.

‘This ol’ island’s not a bad place, if yer don’t mind breathing in the whiffs of an old volcano demon’s breath.’ Gidley peered around the area. ‘But we need us a real voyage under our legs—not bouncin’ around to make yer brother happy. Just seems wasteful.’

‘Not if I make good on the deal,’ Benjamin muttered half to himself. He wanted to leave as badly as Gidley. Sailing was his life—not running errands for his brother, the earl, who just happened to share ownership in Ascalon with Benjamin.

But the earl had made a solemn promise. If Benjamin returned with Melina’s treasure—some artefact that neither of the men truly gave a whistle about—Benjamin could own the Ascalon from port to stern.

Marriage. His brother was so besotted with his wife that he was willing to trade away half a ship just to make a woman happy.

‘Yer snarlin’.’ Gidley’s words broke Benjamin’s reverie, while the first mate scratched his head and made his hat wiggle. ‘Thought seeing a real live mermaid would put a smile on yer face.’

‘I’m thinking of my brother losing his mind.’

‘Some women are worth losing a mind for. Just never seen one myself, ’cept that mermaid climbin’ this way.’

‘Don’t be daft, Gid. She’s just another island lightskirt.’

And at that moment, Benjamin heard her scrambling footsteps bounding up the rocks beside him, turned to her and lost his grip on the spyglass.

Even Gidley didn’t comment on the glass dropping, tumbling to rocks far below them.

Ben saw the resemblance to his brother’s wife—but this woman caught his eyes in a way no one ever had before. She might not be a mermaid, but Benjamin wouldn’t rule out her being descended from Aphrodite.

* * *

Thessa pushed back the dripping tendril of hair she’d not managed to capture in her bun and let her eyes linger over the agklikos who’d had that looking piece trained on her.

She waited for him to speak. She’d heard his last words. He was English. Like her father, a man who believed lies would feed his family.

‘I’m Benjamin, the captain of the Ascalon. I took your sister to England.’ This from the one who had weak fingers and too-strong eyes.

So many questions pounded into her mind at once that she couldn’t speak. She couldn’t put the words into the English she’d learned at her father’s knee. She couldn’t ask what she wanted to know most—her sister’s fate. If the ship had returned and her sister wasn’t with them, then she must be dead. Thessa shoved the thoughts from her mind and stared at the man in front of her. He had taken Melina to her death.

He lifted the bag at his feet and moved towards her. She didn’t take the offering. She knew not to accept anything from one of the sailors. Gifts were not without cost. And never would she take something from a man who’d caused hurt to Melina. She’d die first.

‘Captain. Vessel. Melina. Away.’ He spoke carefully, snaking his other hand up and down in a bobbing motion to indicate a ship sailing.

‘We.’ He touched his friend’s arm and then his own chest. ‘Are here.’ He pointed to the ground. ‘Searching.’ She thought he mimicked digging. ‘Melina sent...for treasure.’ He touched the gold ring and she noticed both his smallest fingers had rings.

She shook her head. But he’d mentioned her sister. And he spoke as if she were still alive. The thoughts darkening her vision vanished. The world around her reappeared and she stared at the two men.

‘Try French, Capt’n,’ the straggly one said. ‘’Cause of all the French ships that dock here, whores has to learn it early.’

‘Whores?’ Thessa snapped out the word.

‘See, Capt’n...’ The silver haired one smiled so big she thought his face would burst. ‘Just have to find the right words. Melina told me both her sisters can speak King’s English better’n me. ‘

‘I did not learn it by choice,’ Thessa said. ‘My father forced us.’

‘I must be grateful,’ the younger man said. ‘To see a woman swimming and then to be able to speak with her is indeed a treat. Women in London do not prefer to swim.’

She searched his face. He didn’t have the thrashed-around look she’d seen on many men. In truth, his eyes had the colour of sky and sea combined.

‘It’s true,’ he added. ‘A few of my men still cannot swim. The ones who have been with me longest, when we’re in warm ports that are not well populated, I have commanded them to learn. But near people, the water carries away the waste. You’d not willingly immerse yourself.’

She looked the tall one over carefully. An officer’s coat contrasted with the seaman’s duck trousers, the legs tucked into scuffed knee boots. Wind whipped hair with strands of lightness, possibly put there by some spirit running her fingers through while he slept. Small whiskers at the sides, but trimmed, near his ears.

He did look pleasing to the eyes. Better than the usual men she saw.

His nose wasn’t broken. He had teeth. Both ears. No scarring. A bit odd, that, but then he was from a country where the men rode horses instead of using their own legs, worked with ledgers and wore flounces around their necks. But this one left off his lace. Near the string tying the neck of his shirt closed she saw darkened skin, almost like a man from her own country.

Even though she couldn’t fault the man his appearance, he needed to leave Melos. The men who docked on the island were refuse tossed out by their own countries. If they’d been worth anything, someone would have kept them at home.

‘If yer mermaid had a tail when she was afloat, might ’uv been a bit sharp at the end—pointy like,’ the older one said quietly, one brow twitching aslant.

‘With such perfection of face and form, one can’t be too upset that there’s a flaw somewhere,’ the captain answered. Then he gave her a smile which she was certain would help any woman overlook his heritage.

She realised her sister could be sitting in their home at that very moment. Just because she wasn’t with the men didn’t mean she hadn’t returned with them. ‘Did you bring Melina?’ The words rushed from her lips and her eyes locked on him. She moved two steps towards the trail to the house before he answered.

‘No,’ the captain stated. ‘She married my brother and we feared the trip for her as she could be adding to the nursery. Her first trip did not do her well, and since she is already having seasickness on dry ground, she couldn’t manage another sail.’

‘She’s gonna drop a babe on the ground real soon. Doing herself proud,’ the older one said. He looked too bland and spoke too sweetly. ‘Knows a woman’s place.’

‘Nothos.’ She bit out the word. They had let her sister stay behind—or forced her. Surely Melina had been forbidden passage if she did not return. And the child. That meant Melina had sold herself to a man. Her sister had sacrificed for family.

Gidley leaned his head to Benjamin and spoke from the side of his mouth. ‘I don’t think that was praisin’ me on either one of my parents bein’ wed. Maybe if we toss her into the sea she’ll turn back into a mermaid and swim away.’

‘But then we would lose this charming creature,’ Benjamin said and tilted his head in acknowledgement.

Thessa looked at the man, then let her eyes move skyward to dismiss his flattery.

The captain’s lips quirked up. ‘It takes more than two sea ravaged men to impress a mermaid.’

She waved an arm, indicating the gnarled olive trees and scrubby grasses behind her, and then pointed to the cragged rocks rising majestically from the edge of the perfect sea and the water itself. ‘I live with this every day. I am not easily impressed.’

‘I wouldn’t prefer a woman who was,’ the captain said, and in that moment, he looked away from her.

But just before his head turned, something sparked behind his eyes, watching her in such a way her breath caught and warmth tickled in her body. She took half a step back and squared her shoulders.

‘What do you want?’ Thessa asked.

‘Melina said you could show us to the artefacts. The stones.’

She raised her brows. ‘Artefacts. For an Englishman? The island is covered with rocks. Take your pick. They are all valuable to me.’

They were, but only as places to put her feet. She was more concerned for her stomachi. The rocks couldn’t save her now.

Marriage to Stephanos would not be so bad. She would have the home he was building. She would have a friendship with his mother. She would have food to eat. And she would learn not to breathe the spoiled air when Stephanos stood near.

Chapter Two

Benjamin imagined his plans for ownership in the Ascalon sinking and he felt his resolve harden. His fingers tightened on the bag he’d brought. This woman had to help him. And Gid was right. She did have a pointy-tailed look on her face, more like Boadicea ready to eviscerate her enemy than any water creature. He liked her much better when she was in the sea.

‘I’m sure all the rocks are quite precious at one’s birthplace,’ he said. ‘But this particular rock has the likeness of a woman’s face on it and Melina uncovered it near your home. She wasn’t able to take it with her on her voyage to England and I’ve returned with funds to purchase it from the man who owns the land.’

Thessa gave a shrug. ‘You did not let my sister return. I will not help you.’ She nodded towards the sea. ‘And you should be on your way. Because I have no intention of giving the treasure to you. I do not know if Melina requested the rock or if you have locked her away somewhere. She could be a prisoner on your ship.’

Benjamin didn’t say a word. This was why he liked his imagined mermaids. They never spoke. They never argued. And they were always gone when his dream ended.

‘Didn’t think of that, now, did ye, Capt’n?’ Gidley’s cheeks puffed with humour.

Her dark eyes challenged Benjamin. But even if she pointed a flintlock at his heart, he was not moving.

Without the stones Melina claimed to have found buried just below the land’s surface, it would be a decade or more before he could hope to buy his brother’s share of the ship. By then the Ascalon’s hull would be ravaged by sea worms.

And his sister-by-law desperately wanted the stones—claimed the face resembled her mother and believed, in some long-ago time, a member of her family had posed for it.

He didn’t care who’d posed for the rocks—they were stone. Colourless. Lifeless. Bland. But if collecting mouse whiskers from the island would get him his ship, he’d be hunting mice. He would take on the whole island if he had to in order to get his Ascalon.

He’d been told by Gidley many times that fortune had favoured Benjamin his looks and kicked Gid in the teeth. Benjamin had hardly passed his sixteenth year when Gid had suggested Ben give a tavern wench a most indelicate proposition and a smile, and see what happened. Ben had assured Gidley that no woman would accept such a brash offer. He delivered the words and was half in love by morning when Gid had thumped on the wench’s door to awaken Ben. For the whole of the next voyage, Gid had ducked his eyes, shook his head and grumbled about the fates. Ben had grinned back at him each time.

Benjamin watched Thessa, then he smiled.

Her eyes narrowed and she took a step back.

Gidley’s snigger did not hide well under the cough.

Ben changed tactics and then clasped Gidley’s shoulder. ‘My first mate is superstitious. And he believes, if he casts his eyes on this stone woman, our vessel will be protected from storms.’

She looked as if they’d just suggested she collect all the mice whiskers in the world.

‘Wouldn’t hurt,’ Gid said. He patted the decades-old waistcoat he’d worn in anticipation of impressing the females on the island and lifted the hem and pulled a handkerchief from his waistband. The handkerchief probably hadn’t started out as the colour of wet sand. ‘Thought if I could wipe her face with this, I’d have a protection from all them evil spirits been chasin’ us here.’

Gid waved the cloth with a flourish and Ben jerked his head back, dodging a not-so-innocent snap of the fabric. The rag smelled as if Gidley had been washing his feet with it although Ben knew that wasn’t possible.

Ben turned to Gidley and glared, before softening his stance and appraising the woman again. She would not slow him down. He had a cargo waiting to be loaded in England and needed to leave Melos quickly. Though his ship was not one of the gilded East Indiamen, if returned to the docks in time, he’d been promised a voyage for the company. Two years he’d be at sea, but he’d wanted this since before his first sailing. To be a captain, and to sail for the East India Company—nothing meant more.

‘Miss. Think of your sister. In her...’ he paused ‘...family condition.’ He blinked and put a look on his face he thought a vicar might use when comforting. ‘Wanting a precious memory from her homeland, probably to show her own little one what their grandmother looked like—how can you keep that from her?’

‘She left us and she didn’t come back with you. If her stomachi was already fighting her, then it could have fought her at sea and she could have returned to us. Why did you not bring her to say these words herself?’

‘My brother worried for her safety.’

The woman touched the sash at her waist. Her eyes narrowed. ‘Fidi. Snake. That is Englishmen.’ Her eyes challenged him. ‘You have kept my sister and refused to let her return home, and now you want the treasure.’

He kept his eyes on her hand, watching for the hilt of a knife. Disarming her didn’t concern him, but it would be harder to convince a woman who’d just tried to slash his throat to show him to the stones.

The Ascalon was in his grasp. The voyage of a lifetime was waiting and the ship was still young enough to have at least two more good trips in her before the sea took her hull. She was made of good English oak, but even that didn’t last long in the oceans.

Benjamin could not go back and admit failure to his eldest brother. He took in the sandy soil and the shallow-rooted trees. Surely he could find the rocks on his own. Surely. But he couldn’t bring all the men from the ship. If anyone knew he must have the rock, he wouldn’t be able to bargain. He needed a strategy and he did not want this woman to think him defeated.

He firmed his jaw and let his eyes linger on Thessa’s face, but he spoke to Gidley. ‘Melina said it was near her home. We’ll start searching in the morning. I’ll bring the crew and we’ll look at every rock.’

Gidley nodded to Benjamin, the first mate’s voice a scholarly tone. ‘I’ll find it if’n it’s here. Have eyes like a ferret and I can sniff out treasure better’n any ten pirates.’

But they could find the stones a lot faster with the woman’s help and Ben didn’t have time to dig up the island, no matter how small it was.

He picked up the bag Gidley had dropped, aware of its weight, and put it on the ground in front of the woman. ‘We did bring some things, and if you look closely I think you’ll agree they’re things a sister would select for another sister. Not anyone else. She couldn’t send this if she’d been a captive. She’d want you to help us.’

Benjamin had no idea what kind of fripperies were inside the canvas, but Melina had had tears in her eyes when she’d asked him to give it to her sisters.

Thessa didn’t move. He strode forward and put it gently at her feet. ‘She sends her love.’

She bent, reached in, pulled out a parcel and unwrapped it, unveiling a thick woollen shawl. She retained her wariness and trapped the clothing and its wrapping under her arm.

Then she pulled out another parcel, but before she examined it, she looked into the bag and laughed. The sound of joy from her lips moved through him quicker than a dive into a warm freshwater pool and he had to wait to come up for air.