Free Patricia Potter by Lightning Page A

insistence, Jeremy had spent much of the rest of the day showing her the stock. She needed to be busy, to be helpful.
    All the while he talked about the island of New Providence, and Lauren realized he was trying to divert her attention from her obviously growing doubts about her mission. He told her how pirates once roamed the seas, how English seamen used Nassau as a base to raid Spanish ships, and the Spanish, in turn, sacked and burned the city.
    The Bahamas had a bold and adventurous history, he’d said, but had settled down to a peaceful and quiet existence until the Civil War. Sunday, he said, he would take her to see the governor’s mansion and some old houses, as well as the Royal Victoria Hotel where Captain Cabot and the other blockade runners stayed. The mention of the captain cast a shadow over the afternoon as Lauren thought again of the lies she would tell that night, the false pretenses, the deceit.
    And yet she still felt so expectant …
    She looked at herself in the mirror. She was wearing a dark green silk dress with puffed sleeves and a high neckline decorated with lace. It was a modest dress, but flattering, and the color made her face appear more vibrant, her eyes deeper, more mysterious.
    Even from her upstairs room, Lauren heard an authoritative knock at the front door, and the rich sound of Captain Cabot’s English-accented greeting as the door was opened. She bit her lips to make them red, and pinched her cheeks for color, but then they flushed naturally as she realized how much she cared what he thought of her appearance.
    Taking a deep breath, she left her room and walked to the parlor.
    There she saw Adrian Cabot standing, listening to Jeremy speak. When the captain turned around, she winced guiltily at his black eye and bruised cheeks. But he merely shrugged and flashed a teasing smile that seemed to share a secret with her. Socrates, dressed in his usual sailor pants, looked up and chattered happily as he started toward her and held out his arms to be picked up.
    Lauren did so, unable to resist the grin on the monkey’s face. Socrates hid his head behind her neck, jiggling up and down with pleasure.
    “It’s clear you’ve won a heart,” his master said. “And believe me, it’s a difficult heart to take.”
    Lauren’s gaze moved from Socrates to Adrian Cabot. His voice was amused, his eyes inscrutable. She felt confusion dart through her, and an unexpected warmth.
    “What about you? Haven’t you also won it?” she asked, afraid that her voice was a bit shaky.
    “Me?” he said with surprise. “I think he considers me an archenemy at times. You should see the chaos he creates in my cabin, not to mention several rather painful bites he’s given me.”
    “Why do you keep him if he bites- you?”
    “It’s become a challenge, trying to civilize him.”
    “And you’re civilized, Captain?”
    “What makes you think I’m not?”
    “The way you seem to enjoy war.”
    “I don’t think ‘enjoy’ is the word for it. I’m merely taking advantage of something that exists.”
    “But you also enjoy it. I remember your telling Jeremy that … yesterday.”
    He grinned suddenly, caught by his own words. “I suppose I’m stimulated by the excitement. Perhaps we all are. If you ever ran the blockade, I think you would understand.”
    “I’ll never understand violence.”
    “Running the blockade is not violent, Miss Bradley. We don’t even carry armament. It’s more a matter of skill.”
    “But people get hurt, don’t they? They die?”
    “Every man knows the chances he takes. He does it willingly.”
    “For money?”
    “For money,” he confirmed. “It’s as worthy a cause as any.”
    “That’s a cynical statement.”
    He raked a hand through his hair. “Everyone has a reason for going to war. Patriotism, money, fear. The reason doesn’t make anyone less dead.”
    “No,” she said in a small voice, some of the challenge lost in the sadness of the word.
    He studied