Free Sea of Desire by Christine Dorsey

“I’ve no taste for secrets and subterfuge. I’ve a wish to
wash my hands of it once and for all.”
    “Aren’t you forgetting one small thing?”
Paddy’s dark brow arched questioningly.
    “I’m not forgetting her, if Lady Merideth is
whom you’re alluding to. Nor am I forgetting that someone knocked
me out and killed Lord Alfred. And,”—Jared raised his hand for
emphasis—“stole the gold I planned to use as payment.”
    “Lady Merideth?”
    “ ‘Tis possible. She was certainly there.”
Jared gave an exaggerated sigh. “Unfortunately there seems to be
naught I can do about it now.” He paused. “Not unless I can
convince the lovely Lady Merideth to talk.”
    “If she’s an informer, that shouldn’t be
difficult.”
    “She insists she knows nothing.”
    “But then perhaps she’s telling the truth.”
Paddy lifted his palms in question.
    “Before he was killed, her father told me a
different tale. I think perhaps the lady is trying to control who
she tells her information to and for how much.”
    “And you...?”
    “Want her to tell me what she knows... and
for payment most likely already received.”
    Padriac held up his mug in salute, then
downed the contents in one gulp. “Good luck to you, then.”
    Jared shrugged. “If she doesn’t answer to me,
I’ll turn her over to Daniel when we get to France.” But he didn’t
want to. He was the one who had been sent to get the name of
the traitor. He was the one who had been lied to and robbed
and very nearly hanged. And, by God, he should be the one to
discover the truth. Jared splashed rum into his mug.
    Delany held up his hand when Jared reached to
fill his. “I’ve had enough, and think it past time I seek me bed.
Good night, good friend.” Paddy pushed himself to his feet, only a
bit unsteadily. “I’m glad you’re back among us, safe and
sound.”
    “And I’m glad you decided to stay around
Land’s End. Even though it was against my orders.”
    “Now as I recall, your orders only said
something about not getting the Carolina captured by some
damn English cruiser. To that I followed them precisely.”
    Jared’s deep laughter filled the cabin.
“Remind me to write my orders down in the future, for that’s not at
all as I remember them. Still”—Jared clasped his friend’s
shoulder—“I’m grateful that you stayed.”
    “ ‘Twas nothing you wouldn’t do for me.” With
those words Padriac left the wardroom, and Jared sat down to finish
his rum.
    A half-dozen mugs later, he was still in the
wardroom, more sprawled than sitting on the wooden chair. Memories
wouldn’t let him seek the oblivion of sleep.
    John.
    His twin brother, older than Jared by mere
minutes.
    On the surface they’d been as different as
two people could be, but underneath, where it counted, they were
close.
    They seemed as different as two sides of the
same coin. John was fair and slight, where Jared was tall and dark.
John was the thinker, the reader of books, where Jared was the
doer, the impetuous one who rushed into things without thinking
them through.
    “Except for that one time,” Jared whispered,
closing his eyes. “Why did you have to pick then to rashly follow
the cause?”
    Because John was also passionate and good.
Jared was the cynic, John the believer. A man committed to the
ideals of Adams and Jefferson. A man who knew his effectiveness
wouldn’t be at the helm of a ship or in the heat of battle.
    “I can do this, Jared,” he’d said that last
time they were together. “We Americans need information, and I can
see that we receive it.”
    “Don’t be foolish,” argued Jared, the selfish
brother. The brother who wanted to keep his twin safe. “You’re
needed here at Royal Oak now more than ever.”
    “So you can go off on one of your ships? I’m
sorry, Jared. I didn’t mean that. I know what you do is important.
You cause havoc with the British navy as few can. But I must do
this.” His face had split into a grin. “I