Lynna's Rogue (Curse of the Conjure Woman, Book One) Read online

Lynna Rhodes fought the urge to skip up the gangway in her eagerness to experience her first sea voyage. Yet, to the casual observer, she remained the embodiment of a heartbroken daughter leaving both her father and her homeland behind.

  She peered under long, sooty lashes as her distraught father clutched her arm the same way a drowning man would the nearest floating object. Her gaze dropped when a sudden wave of guilt almost overwhelmed her. How could she be so elated when he was obviously miserable and looking so forlorn? He reminded her of a man in mourning, or one on the way to the gallows, while her own excitement was almost impossible to subdue.

  Due to her father’s irrational fear for her safety, not once in her eighteen years had she been onboard a ship or even allowed to venture to the docks for that matter. She had often watched the ships entering the harbor from her daydreaming perch on her upstairs window seat. How she had longed to sail into the horizon to one of the intriguing far distant countries that until now had only been visited in books. Now that dream was about to become a reality and she could hardly wait to experience it.

  She was destined for an exciting new land, a new home, and a new way of life. Best of all, she was setting sail without the hovering bodyguards that had forever been a perpetual thorn in her side. Just this morning her father had informed her that she would be traveling without them, or even her maid Gertrude, since they would only draw unwelcome attention. Instead of the ever present bodyguards, she was to rely on Captain Joshua Jordan for her every need.

  She eagerly anticipated hearing captivating tales of his thrilling adventures around the world. Hopefully there would be plenty of time for storytelling, since the Captain was to assume total responsibility for her safety and they would be spending a surplus of time together.

  But sea captains were, according to the numerous books she had read, an old and dowdy lot and this one would no doubt pay little attention to her whereabouts. He would most likely be too busy with steering the ship, or whatever captains did, leaving her to explore the sailing vessel and its passengers at her leisure.

  Lynna wanted to run across the deck laughing and singing to the high heavens, instead she peered into her father’s miserable countenance as her heart dropped to her feet. She had never felt more torn as excitement and sadness waged a heated battle within.

  Consoling herself with the fact that his sorrow would be short lived, she was convinced that he would soon see the villains captured and hanged, thus sending word for her to return home. With that thought firmly fixed in her mind, she forced her eyes away from her father’s sad visage and counted the billowing sails above her.

  She was so excited to be meeting actual strangers for the very first time in her life, yet, would she know how to conduct herself properly? What to say? When to say it?

  Lynna’s father escorted her to her cabin and, with tear filled eyes, hugged her close. “My dearest daughter, you will never know the agony that this decision has caused me. You must realize why I am sending you away and the heartache I feel in doing so. Please, tell me that you understand.”

  “But of course I do, Father.” Lynna’s happiness rapidly dissolved as she gazed into his grief stricken eyes. In all her life she had never seen her distinguished father looking so miserable or defeated. “And we will be together again soon, you shall see. Your men will have those awful despots caught in no time and I will be awaiting word that I may return home.”

  “Godspeed, my darling child. Rest assured that I shall send for you as soon as the danger has passed. Now, I must leave before I am recognized. Look to the Captain for your every need until you reach America where Aunt Judith will be waiting with open arms.”

  “I shall be awaiting your missive,” Lynna cried around the tight knot that had suddenly formed in her throat. “Au revoir, Father. Je t’aime!”

  With sagging shoulders, her father opened the door, and she noticed a man leaning casually against the doorjamb, patiently waiting. As her father closed the portal she heard the lock click behind him and felt a brief moment of panic, wondering if she had traded one prison for another.

  Alone in the cabin, Lynna removed the whalebone hoops from beneath the thirteen yards of ruffled, cornflower blue silk material that made up the skirt of her gown and perched on the edge of the bed to remove her soft kid slippers. Feeling gloriously unencumbered, she was grateful that her father had never forced her to wear those two foolish contraptions, hoops and corsets, at home. She listened to the muffled voices coming from the opposite side of the door as she fidgeted nervously with the hem of her flounced petticoat.

  Was this ship really about to set sail?

  With her in it?

  Or would her dear father have a sudden change of heart at the last minute and insist that she return home?

  She would not truly believe that she was about to begin her first grand adventure until she heard the wind billowing in the sixteen canvas sails of the Windjammer.

  Taking a moment to survey her new surroundings, she found it to be a room much like her father’s study with the addition of an intricately carved four poster bed and a massive sea trunk. Along the walls were shelves lined with delicately shaped trinkets of ivory, glass and metal. A large desk took up one corner of the room, cluttered with maps, a compass, a sextant and a hand carved model of the ship. She smiled, wondering how much it had cost her father to persuade the Captain to give up the comfort of his bed for her convenience.

  Swiping at the perspiration that trickled into her cleavage, she considered taking leave of her traveling outfit and choosing a more appropriate day dress. It was stifling hot, even though the four large windows in the cabin were open. Surely the ship would soon be underway and she might benefit from a cooling ocean breeze on this sweltering day.

  Retrieving a fan from her reticule she fanned herself vigorously before plopping down in the center of the bed and waited patiently for her introduction to the captain of the Windjammer.

  Chapter 3