Read Online Scalpdancers by Kerry Newcomb - Free Book Online Page A

combined fear of Vlad and a healthy respect for Penmerry enabled the fur trader to reach the deck of the Magdalene unchallenged.
    It wasn’t a large ship. Morgan estimated it to be about one hundred twenty feet from bow to stern and about one hundred forty tons. He judged that the seventeen men who readied the ship were all the crew she needed.
    Morgan glanced around and caught the nearest man by the arm. The seaman stepped back and raised a knuckle to his forehead. He was a mulatto and sweat beaded his coffee-colored features.
    â€œWhere’s the reverend?” Morgan asked.
    â€œReverend Cap’n Emerson ain’t about,” the seaman said, hefting a fifty-pound sack of rice flour to his shoulder. He started to elaborate, but a shadow fell between them and he hurried off toward the stairwell amidships leading to the hold.
    Julia Emerson had emerged from the captain’s cabin and advanced toward Morgan. The reverend’s daughter was as sternly clad as before, in a high-necked dress with a gray bodice and charcoal skirt, but the otherwise somber effect was offset by a gaily patterned apron depicting an elegant flotilla of brightly stitched swans.
    â€œCaptain Penmerry, indeed have you had a change of heart? Do you intend to pilot us to the northwest coast of the Americas after all?”
    â€œI’m looking for Drexel Reilly, one of my crew. I was told he hired on with you yesterday.”
    â€œThen he is the Magdalene’s carpenter now,” Julia stated flatly. She folded her hands upon her apron and studied this brash, bold-talking sea captain.
    He wasn’t a pretty man; there was certainly no trace of the dandy in his rough features and brawny physique. He’d founder on the floor of a ballroom, to be sure. If the cloth he was cut from was coarse, it was also strong and resilient: It might never dress a prince, but it fit a man. Her eyes dropped to the thatch of black curly hair matting his chest where his shirt had come untied. Then she lifted her sparkling emerald gaze to meet Morgan’s dark eyes. She remained uncowed by his stern visage, and Morgan Penmerry could only sigh and allow his scowl to melt away.
    â€œI thought parsons’ daughters were a weak-kneed, trembling lot.” Morgan ran a hand through his hair.
    â€œOn the contrary, Captain Penmerry,” Julia replied, fastening a bonnet in place and tying the ribbon beneath her chin. “A minister and his family must be able to endure even the most austere hardships. We may turn the other cheek, but we don’t back down. So you see, there is a great deal you have to learn about ministers and their daughters.”
    â€œWhen is school in session?” Morgan asked. “I just might sign on, if the right teacher is about.” He stepped back and flashed her a daring grin. He was becoming more and more intrigued by this woman. He liked her spirit as much as her well-curved figure.
    â€œAs this is my last day in Macao, I should like to visit someone special. It is a long walk, but as you have a carriage…” She looked down the gangplank to the carriage and mare tethered to a post alongside the walkway. “I assume it is yours.”
    â€œDon Rodrigo’s. You might say I borrowed it.” Morgan chuckled, adding, “And he might say I stole it.”
    â€œGood. Then I’ll allow you to drive me. And in return, I will tell you all about daughters of ministers.”
    She held out her arm, waiting for him to escort her down the gangplank. Morgan looked at her in disbelief. His own ship, the Hotspur , was undergoing feverish preparations so that she could sail away under cover of night and escape Chiang Lu’s wrath. He had no business following some missionary around the port city no matter how appealing her auburn tresses and delicate high-boned features or the way her abundant bosom swelled with each breath, rose and fell like the billowing tides of the