I gave chase, bending into the pursuit and hugging the trails. At length, I lost track of all the twists and turns and forged headlong into unknown lands.
The terrain grew savagely rugged. Twiggy branches grabbed at my skirts, ripped seams, and gouged irreparable holes in the chintz.
I’d scrounged up a lot of trouble in my life and managed to fight my way out of all of it. But stealing a nobleman’s horse and destroying my mother’s precious gown? There was no coming back from this.
Maybe I wouldn’t have to. Maybe this time he would let me go with him.
My heart rate sped up, filling my chest with giddy anticipation.
He never ventured too close to town, so I wasn’t surprised when the journey extended into the next hour. The hounds maintained a frantic northernly pace, sharing my excitement to reunite with their master.
Deep into the woods, the dirt paths grew narrower, choked with foliage and disappearing beneath unexplored wilderness. But I hadn’t strayed far from the coast. The scent of brine and tang of salt lay heavily in the warm air, and the resonance of surf thundered over the clap of hooves.
A few minutes later, the trees parted to a view of oceanic blue.
The hounds sprinted toward the shore, kicking up sand in their wake. I dismounted the horse and secured him in the shade. Then I darted out of the forest and into the embrace of uninterrupted sunshine.
The narrow crescent of beach formed an inlet some sixty paces across. On the north side, waves broke in a spray of foam against the base of a cliff. Gulls circled overhead and perched on the rock face. Farther out, past the pounding surf, lay endless swells of water.
There were no ships, no signs of human life, but I felt him. He called to me in the crash of breakers upon the beach and hugged me in the clingy damp wind that whisked across the Great Western Ocean.
He was the sea. Rough. Dangerous. Dependable. No matter how far he traveled or how long he stayed away, he always returned to me.
I scanned the coastline to the south, where it curved out of view. The hounds had vanished in that direction, beyond an outcrop of trees.
Gathering my skirts, I dug my toes into the sand and took off after them. But a few steps in, something stirred in my periphery.
I spun toward the movement and shielded my eyes, squinting at the trees.
Shadows shifted in the woods near the horse. Someone was there, right where I’d been standing.
My lungs compacted as a man stepped onto the beach. A huge mast of a man, dressed head to toe in black.
His hair was red, long around the ears, and wild like the wind. He wore a flowing shirt of silk, knee-high jackboots, and a cutlass that glinted in the sun.
Despite his ignoble attire, he radiated a lord-like bearing. Commanding in stance and purpose, he stalked toward me.
My knees wobbled beneath the storm of his surly eyes.
“A lovely young lass like you should pay better attention to her surroundings.” His long-legged strides devoured the distance between us. “You never know what might be lying in wait.”
My throat closed, too constricted to squeeze out a sound.
When I’d dismounted the horse, I hadn’t examined the perimeter or used my senses to probe for threats. In my excitement, I’d let my guard down.
The curve of his mouth descended, his face carved in stone, deeply tanned and infamously elusive.
The notorious Edric Sharp.
His visage was rendered on newspapers, edicts, and proclamations all over Charleston. They called him a pirate and offered a substantial reward for his capture.
I’d read every account of his description. Some said he was tall and mean. Others claimed he was scarred, bearded, and wore a peruke. Every word and sketched reproduction was created from the imaginations of artists who had never encountered him.
He was more handsome in person, more menacing. But I wasn’t afraid.
I was awestruck.
Sand crunched beneath his boots as he paused within arm’s reach. I didn’t move. Didn’t breathe.
A muscle bounced in his stony jaw. Then it spread to his lips, twitching at the corners. I waited for a break in his expression, and when a smile finally lit his eyes, I pounced on the seaman’s massive chest.
“Father!” I embraced his wide shoulders, squeezing with all my might.
“Aw, Bennett. I missed you.” He swung me up into the safety of his arms and buried his scratchy cheeks in my neck. “You must