Free The Pirate and the Pagan by Virginia Henley Page A

boot—at Ruark Helford’s expense, of course.
    Lil Richwood watched her beneath lowered lashes. She had been a total success tonight. Six men had made outright offers for her and four others had made overtures, but Lil wouldn’t have told her for a thousand pounds. There was no way she was going to introduce the beautiful, vibrant girl into the life. It was too tempting, too seductive, and before you came to your senses, it was too late. The name on everyone’s lips would be Lady Summer St. Catherine. She must get her back to Cornwall before she took those first tentative steps down the road to perdition.

S ummer sat in the small breakfast room pensively sipping her chocolate. Guilt nagged at her for leaving Spider alone for so many days, but she reasoned that he was beginning to chafe at her mothering him and was probably delighted to be fending for himself, as a man.
    Lil came in with sparkling eyes and Summer could tell she had news. “Darling, the most extraordinary thing! The King is sending Helford back to Cornwall.”
    Summer’s quicksilver thoughts raced about to put this exciting information to advantage when Lil’s drawl dropped a bombshell.
    “He’s been appointed magistrate of the whole of Cornwall to put a stop to smuggling.”
    “Oh, no!” cried Summer, all her lovely prospects lying shattered at her feet and a small curl of fear threatening to knot inside her stomach. Again she saw clearly the dark, piercing eyes, the hard, dangerous mouth, and the risk and challenge he represented sent a shiver of excitement through her. She loved to sail too near the wind and knew in that moment she would hazard everything. Fortune favored the bold!
    She saw her situation clearly, knew she was in danger of getting her fingers badly burned as she would constantly be between two fires, but the simple truth hit her.
    She had chosen him.
    She was going to get him.
    It was fate.
    She pushed the chocolate cup away, stood up decisively, and said, “Where can I go to meet him again?”
    Lil made a moue with her lips. “It will be difficult if not impossible. The reason he wasn’t at Anna Maria Shrewsbury’s last evening was because he’s readying his ship. He’s leaving at the end of the week, so I don’t suppose he’ll be socializing at all.”
    “Where is his ship?” asked Summer.
    “In the Pool of London, of course. Oh no, darling, you can’t possibly go wandering about the docks,” insisted Auntie Lil. “There are limits to what a lady may do and still remain a lady. Perhaps we could get away with a discreet note asking him to call.”
    Summer shook her head. “For God’s sake, Lil, I was on the docks in Plymouth and sailed to the docks of Portsmouth. How the devil do you think I got here? I’ll not wait about for discreet notes. I’ll go this morning.”
    Lil took hold of both her hands and made her sit on the small satin-covered settee while she imparted some much-needed advice. “Listen to me, darling. You must make him think you are a lady. If he thinks you’re anything less, he will love you and leave you as casually as he would buy a jewel or a horse. You must accept nothing less than carte blanche.”
    “I know that’s French, but I don’t know what it means exactly.”
    “It means full powers of a mistress,” Lil explained.
    Summer squeezed her hand. “Don’t be so serious. I promise I will accept nothing less.”
    Lil sighed and relaxed her hold. “I’ll send the little maid with you, who brought your chocolate this morning.”
    “Oh, no,” said Summer. “I want that older woman with a face like the back of a fishcart.”
    “She isn’t a waiting woman, darling, she’s the terror of my kitchens,” explained Lil.
    “He won’t know that,” pointed out Summer. “I’ll take that haughty old footman, too. The one who looks like he just smelled something disgusting.”
    “Very good, Summer,” drawled Lil with admiration. “You play the game rather well.”
    The corners of