HELD CAPTIVE BY A ROGUE

Chapter Two

It was an hour before dawn when the Mariner rounded the final bend before making its way slowly into the harbor of London. It had been a long wet voyage from the colonies with one storm after another plaguing them all the way. Half the fresh water supply had been lost overboard in a gale off the coast of the Carolinas, so it had to be rationed out to the displeasure of the crew.

Captain Christopher Steele sat at his desk going over the accounts from this last voyage. He had planned to turn the Mariner over to his half-brother Jeffrey as soon as they docked. He looked up when he heard the sound of his cabin door opening.

"We're just about ready to unload the cargo, Chris," Jeffrey said, cheerfully entering the cabin.

"Excellent, I've just finished going over the books, it looks like this will be a very prosperous trip despite the troubles we've had. Tell the crew there will be a bonus in it for them if they can get us unloaded by noon tomorrow."

"Are you sure you want to give up the Mariner, Chris? I just can't see you anywhere else but at the helm."

"Yes, I'm sure. It's about time I settled down and faced my responsibilities. With father dead, I must take my rightful place as the Marquis of Dartmoor."

"When are you leaving?"

"As soon as I can settle my affairs concerning the Mariner. "You better get top side and see to the unloading." As he watched his younger half-brother leave, he thought of how different they were.

Christopher was born to the Marquis and Lady Gwen who had died giving him life. As an only child growing up without a mother, he became a wild and rebellish youth. When Christopher was ten, his father's mistress Anne gave birth to a son, but because she was just a servant girl he would not wed her and make their son legitimate. The Marquis set them up in a small cottage on the estate and would visit them often. Jeffrey had the blue-black hair of the Steele's but he resembled his mother as well as having her easy going manner. He took the fact that he was illegitimate lightly and never let it intimidate him. Christopher on the other hand resented anyone who made a remark about his brother. He was always there to protect him and took him with him whenever he went off to sea as a privateer. They traveled around the world visiting exotic places. Christopher had bought the Mariner a number of years later and started a shipping business, trading goods between the colonies and England.

Christopher got up from his desk and stretched out his cramped fingers. "I guess I better pack up my gear," he murmured to himself. He glanced around his cabin, first at his sea chest and then to his bunk. How many years he'd spent here, he thought. He was going to sorely miss the sea with the wind and sea spray blowing across his brow for he would stand on the deck for hour on end. He had known he was going to have to give it up some day but he had never expected it to be this soon.

It was well past the noon hour when Christopher finally emerged from his cabin. The deck was a flurry of activity as the crew unloaded the cargo from the hole. Fat merchants waited in anticipation while the newly arrived goods were been lowered to the dock.

Jeffrey stood on the forecastle shouting out orders.

"Well Captain," Christopher said, when he approached. "She's all yours! Are you going to join me in London when she's unloaded?"

"Maybe, I haven't made any plans of yet." Jeffrey then smiled sheepishly at his brother for a moment before he asked. "Are you going to visit Cassandra while you're in London?"

"Hell no! Why would I want to visit that bitch!"

"Well, we've been at sea for several months, I just thought...."