Free Lynna's Rogue by Kitty Margo

back!”
     
                  Weeks later, Lynna was sitting in the center of the huge bed regarding the dolphins that frolicked alongside the ship when Joshua entered the cabin. Her eyes were still red-rimmed from her ceaseless crying, she had dark circles under her eyes, and she appeared even thinner.
                  Her monthly flow had always been irregular, but she was well aware that she should have started by now. But she had not. According to Joshua, that offered only one conclusion. For the hundredth time on this voyage she wished to have Gertrude by her side. She would know how to handle this crisis that Lynna had mulled over and over in her head until it ached.
                  With no family, friends, or a confidant with whom to discuss her troubles , she had arrived at the most crucial decision of her life on her o w n. She was certain she was enceinte and could arrive at only one resolution to the problem of being unwed and with child. Gathering her dwindling courage , she forced her gaze from the window and blurted, “Joshua, will you marry me?”
                  Her heart sank as she watched the horror register on his face at her words. She knew then that he had no intention of making an honest woman of her. She was totally alone in her plight. While she agonized over the birth of his child, he would be off on another voyage , perhaps instilling the same predicament on another young lady. She knew his answer before he said the words.
    “We will wait to see if you carry my chi ld, Lynna. I will not marry unless I have to.”
                  “Unless you have to?” She couldn’ t believe what she was hearing. He was refusing to marry her? After what he had done to her! “What kind of low, depraved, black hearted seadog are you? You planted the seed inside me, after getting me drunk on wine, and now you refuse to take the responsibility of seeing your child reared?”
                  “I said I would marry you if circumstances required it.”
                  If circumstances required it! He made it sound like it was the last thing on God’s green earth he would ever choose to do. Who did this man think he was? For the love of all that was holy, she was the daughter of Nathan Rhodes. Where was her backbone? “R est assured, Captain Jordan, you will never be forced into an unwanted marriage with me. You acquire females as if they were another novelty to store in your sea chest, without regard for the fact that no respectable man would marry a woman who is no longer pure and chaste.”
                  Joshua’s nerves were almost at the breaking point. With his jaw set and his eyes smoldering, he said, “All that you say may be true, Lynna. However, at the time I was acquiring you , I do not recall hearing any grievances uttered from your side of the bed.”              
                  Her gasp echoed around the cabin and Lynna wanted no thing more than to claw the arrogant expression from his face with her fingernails. “I will hate you until my dying day for the agony you have caused me. I can only pray that my father tracks you down, and we both know that he will, and shows absolutely no mercy when he does. Now get out! I never want to see you again! Ever! ”
                  Ignoring her temper tantrum, Joshua tried reasoning with the girl. “Lynna, believe me, the odds are definitely not in fa vor of your having conceived the very first time. You are working yourself into a dither for naught. Why not wait and see what happens and let us concern ourselves with this matter of marriage when , and if , it is forced upon us ? ”
                  Lynna had never felt hatred before, but she felt the emotion full force now. He was so tranquil, when her entire life was in shambles. He would have no trouble turning his back and walking away without a care. She could