Read Online The Pirate and the Puritan by Cheryl Howe - Free Book Online

he hadn’t discovered the lock to the hatch had been tampered
with, he might have waited the storm out. That nothing was stolen worried him
more than if the ship had been looted. The Sea Mistress ’s ownership was
common knowledge. Drew feared someone was looking for information and it was
only a matter of time until they found it. With a mumbled curse, he returned
his attention to the charts he’d spread out across the cherry wood dining
table.
    The bloody tropical storm had
blown the Sea Mistress dangerously off course. He couldn’t depend on the
noonday sun to struggle through the gray, boiling sky to verify his longitude.
His best guess placed them a day and a half sail to the safety of his island
refuge. He consulted his compass and navigation ruler, hoping that the break in
the clouds didn’t find them anywhere near the Spanish Main. The scars from his
last unscheduled visit to Spanish territory had faded from his skin but not his
memory.
    As the deluge pounded his ship
like a kettledrum, Drew counted the one blessing in his favor. The downpour had
washed his hair and face clean of the sticky white powder he wore in the
persona of Lord Christian. He ran his fingers across his scalp and through his
wet hair. Thanks to Marley’s murderer, he would never have to bother with the
ridiculous disguise again. He might have even been grateful if the culprit’s
plan had not included murdering a defenseless man and an innocent woman.
    Not that the pirate had
single-handedly ruined his formerly carefree lifestyle. Felicity Kendall also
wanted a pound of his flesh. But it was his willingness to oblige her with more
than that which created the true problem. Leaving Barbados provided the only
solution to both dilemmas. His strange attraction to the little Puritan left
him exposed.
    He noticed the drops spreading
across his map and shook his head over the overpriced carpet instead, creating
a shower of water. The last thing he needed was a misguided woman clouding his
thoughts with morality.
    A hard thud sounded above the
drumming rain. Startled, Drew juggled the compass he’d just picked up to
prevent it from tumbling to the deck. An angry lurch of the ship conspired to
toss him from his chair along with the delicate instrument.
    God, but he was jumpy. Too long a
time in civilization frayed his nerves, as it must have his crew. He would have
thought securing the mainmast and working the pumps on the pitching deck would
have drained their stores of energy. A second thud resounded against his cabin
and stretched the limits of his patience.
    “Save your bloody fighting for
the bastard who murdered Beatrice and Marley,” he yelled.
    Instead of being followed by
immediate compliance, Drew’s command provoked a frantic onslaught of pounding.
When he realized the racket came from the armoire, he shot to his feet.
    If the storm had not thrown them
off course, requiring him to find a dry place to unfurl his charts, the doxy
one his men had stuffed in the oversized piece of furniture would have remained
undiscovered. The man responsible for spiriting away his favorite whore would
rue the day he went against his captain’s orders of strict discretion. Now more
than ever Drew couldn’t afford to have his true identity or the location of his
island sanctuary revealed.
    Before violently yanking open the
ornate door, Drew caught himself and paused with his hand tightly gripped
around the brass handle. He’d not unleash his frustration on the innocent woman
trapped inside.
    As he eased open the door, the
tangle of black skirts and wild curls that slid from the interior forced him to
reconsider. He’d imagined the storm bad luck? The roguish smile he’d hoped to
use to charm his stowaway slipped into a frown. What had he done to deserve
this?
    Felicity Kendall lifted her head
from the puddle of black wool she’d formed on the carpet. Her face shone a
translucent white through a waterfall of caramel-colored hair. For the first
time in