Free The Devil's Necklace by Kat Martin Page B

three months ago the truth had finally come out. Her real father had cared about her, sent money for her education. He had wanted to raise her as his own. Though he was never part of her life, he hadn’t forgotten her.
    How could she turn her back on him?
    Captain Sharpe asked questions as well, though he usually went out of his way not to broach too volatile a subject. “Do your parents live in London?”
    “Yes. My father’s a physician. We don’t really get on very well.”
    “Why not?”
    Because I’m not really his daughter and he hates me for it. “He doesn’t approve of me. He thinks I’m too outspoken.” Among other things.
    “You are outspoken. More than any woman I’ve ever met.”
    Her cheeks went warm. “It’s a bad quality, I suppose.”
    “Not necessarily.” He lifted her chin with his fingers. “I’m beginning to find I like a woman unafraid to speak her mind.”
    She looked into his eyes, wondering if what he said was the truth, or if he was merely trying to win her confidence in order to gain information.
    “You rarely mince words yourself,” she said, and he smiled. He seemed to be doing that a little more often, she thought, wondering at the cause.
    “I don’t suppose I do.”
    It wasn’t until the following afternoon that he brought up the subject of the prison escape. “We both know you’re guilty. You’ve admitted as much. If you would tell the authorities where to find Jeffries, they would be far more lenient in dealing with you.”
    She arched an eyebrow in his direction. It was the question she had expected him to ask long ago. “Is that the reason you let me come up on deck, the reason you’ve been so agreeable lately? Because you want me to tell you where the viscount is hiding?”
    He glanced away. “Part of the reason, perhaps.”
    “At least you are honest.”
    “Do you know where he is? If you do, for your own sake, you would be better off to divulge the information.”
    “I don’t know where he is. Even if I did, I wouldn’t tell you. The truth is I haven’t the slightest clue.”
    He eyed her as if trying to decide whether or not to believe her. Then his expression subtly changed. “You’re telling the truth, aren’t you? You have no idea where Jeffries is hiding.”
    “I never spoke to him after he was arrested. He has probably left the country. That is what I would do. Why is finding him so important to you? You believe he is a traitor. I can understand why the government would want to find him, but this seems personal in some way. What did the viscount do to you?”
    His jaw clenched so hard she almost wished she hadn’t asked. He took a steadying breath and released it slowly. “I had a ship before this one. Sea Witch. We were on a mission for the War Office. Jeffries had access to information that revealed exactly where the ship was headed. He sold that information to the French.”
    “You don’t know that for certain!” She was shocked at the accusation.
    “He was the only man who knew, the only one who could have betrayed us. Sea Witch was captured and sunk, my men killed or died in prison. Only one of them escaped.”
    “Long-boned Ned—and you.”
    “That’s right. The French kept me alive. They thought prison would be worse than dying and they were right. Fortunately, I had friends, people who refused to give up until I was free and they could bring me home. The rest of my men weren’t so lucky.”
    She didn’t say more. She could see the anger seething beneath his surface calm, read the fury in the ice-blue of his eyes. “You must be mistaken about the viscount. I’m sorry about your crew but—”
    He turned on her, halting her words with a frozen glare. “Are you? If you are truly sorry, you will tell me how to find Harmon Jeffries.”
    “I told you, I have no idea where he is.”
    He took her arm, none too gently. “Come, it’s time togo in. Believe it or not, I have work to do, matters more important than entertaining my