The Sea Rose by Amylynn Bright

doing here?”
    “ He’s got pardons for the
cap’ns who surrender to ‘em. I got nothing left, Jack. My armada is
gone, the traitorous, mutinying bastards.” Hornigold spit into the
street in disgust. “All signed with Blackbeard. What do I have to
lose?”
    Jack was aghast. “You
surrendered?”
    “ Rogers let me keep my
ship and give me a crew if I go hunt down Vane.” Hornigold
shrugged. “Better’n stretching my neck like those sots at the
pier.”
    “ I saw ‘em.” Jack shook
his head in disgust.
    “ You go surrender, Jack.”
Hornigold clapped his friend on the shoulder in parting and
continued on his way down the street.
    “ I can’t do that….” Jack
did have something to lose, if it wasn’t already lost. “I’ll have
to come up with something else.”
    “ Keep your handsome head
on yer neck. You’ll get the same deal as me, I bet.” The turncoat
pirate called over his shoulder when he rounded the
corner.
    “ What deal?” Roselyn asked
as she strode down the church steps. She peered down the street but
Hornigold was gone. “I don’t know why you were so worried about me
in this town. There’s no one here.”
    “ There are very dangerous
changes afoot,” was all he offered by way of an explanation. He
grabbed the first urchin on the street and gave him urgent
whispered instructions. He sent the boy away with several coins and
a purposeful expression.
    Jack offered the lady his arm, and
they headed down the walk. He concentrated on conrolling the urge
to throw her over his shoulder and race back for the ship. But he
knew, as much as he loved and wanted her, he needed to do the best
thing for Rose. He would escort her to the fiancé’s house and prove
to himself that this Rupert was the right man for his
Rose.
     
     
    They found Rupert’s little, white
house only several blocks away. As they entered the tiny yard, the
front door swung open and two doxies stumbled out of the house,
laughing brightly. Roselyn stopped and stared with slatted eyes at
the two painted women, one with bright-red, hennaed hair and the
other a blond. Their breasts were practically falling out of their
bodices and their faces were done up with powder and rouge. Her
first thought was that Rupert must be ministering to their souls,
but that thought quickly extinguished.
    “ Handsome Jack!” the blond
squealed in delight. “We used up the preacher, but we’ve got plenty
left for you!”
    “ Come back to Wilhelmina’s
with us, Jack,” the red-head cooed, running her hands up Jack’s
chest in a manner entirely too familiar as far as Roselyn was
concerned. “Everybody else’s gone and me and the rest of the girls
is lonely.”
    “ Cora. Prissy.” He nodded
to the two women, and Roselyn was pleased to see he deftly removed
Cora’s hands from his person before the harlot felt the need to
grab anything lower than his belt. With his subtle rejection, the
two prostitutes noticed Roselyn for the first time.
    Cocking her hand on her hip, Prissy
asked, “Who’s the fancy lady?”
    “ I am Miss Roselyn
Weldon,” her tone was dry and hard. “I am Reverend Merickel’s
fiancée.”
    The floozies howled with laughter.
“Good luck with that dry old fart,” Cora crowed.
    “ Yeah,” Prissy chimed in,
“I hate to think of the poor woman who has to do him for
free.”
    With that horrible recommendation
hanging in the air, the women flounced off, blowing kisses to Jack
as they strode from the gate, laughing with contemptuous
glee.
    With newly minted confidence, Roselyn
marched towards the open front door only to find her fiancé
standing in the middle of the parlor buttoning his pants, his shirt
tails still hanging out. Roselyn gasped in disbelief. This was her
fiancé?
    “ Miss Weldon!” Surprise
evident in Rupert’s voice as well as his expression. “What are you
doing here?”
    “ I sent a letter informing
you I was coming. Father died and I had nowhere to go.” Rupert
stood there blinking at her so she