Captain of My Heart Read Online Free PDF

damned
river in yer life!”
    “First time for everything, eh?” Still
grinning, Brendan returned his attention to the drafts.
    The frigate was so close now, they were
almost riding her bow-wake. Carriages squealed as her mighty guns
were rolled into position. Musket fire cracked from her tops, and a
ball whizzed past Liam’s ear, parting a stay. Another holed the
speaking trumpet beside Brendan’s hip and flung it to the deck.
Forward, Annabel’s men began to shout an alarm, while
Fergus’s chanting rose to a desperate pitch: “The Lord is my
shepherd, I shall not want—”
    Shots pinged against a nearby cannon, tore
another chunk from the deckhouse, drove into the mast.
    “ He maketh me to lie down in green
pastures; he leadeth me beside the still waters—”
    Another shot ripped the tricorne from
Brendan’s head.
    “ Yea, though I walk through the valley of
the shadow of death, I will fear no evil—”
    Brendan looked up, his expression puzzled.
“How odd, all this time and I never knew Fergus to be a religious
man . . . Oh, Liam, would you fetch my hat, please? I seem to have
lost it. Faith, what would Ashton think if I showed up for dinner
half dressed?”
    “— for thou art with me; thy rod and thy
staff they comfort me—”
    “I do hope I can find this place,
Liam. Ashton says I’m supposed to look for a big, handsome Georgian
house when I get into town, white with green shutters and an anchor
out front. Newburyport’s a sea town. I’ll bet everyone has white
Georgian houses with green shutters and anchors out front. Think
I’ll have any trouble finding it?”
    Pop. Crack. More musket fire. Pieces
of wood exploded from the boom above their heads. Liam buried his
face in his huge hands.
    “And do you think Ashton’ll have the table
all set?”
    Liam’s head jerked up. “What?!”
    Brendan folded the drafts with precise care,
slipped them into his pocket, and grinned. “Why, I could just kill
for a nice, savory neck of mutton, a wedge of fine cheese, hot
boiled potatoes, and Indian pudding, drenched in maple syrup.
...”
    “Dammit, Brendan, how can ye even think o’
supper at a time like this?!”
    “And why not? ’Tis seven o’clock, precisely
the time I should be thinking about supper, as it is when I
usually dine. Oh, Mr. Keefe! You might let her fall off another
point; we don’t want that broadside staring us in the face . . .
Liam? Liam, are you listening to me?”
    “Jay-sus, Brendan, Jay-sus—”
    “Well, please do, because if I should fall
today—which I’ve no intention of doing, of course—you will remember
your promise to get these drafts to Ashton, won’t you? Have him
build the schooner and use her as the privateer I’ve designed her
to be. And as for the steeve in the bowsprit, I’ve decided that
more is better, after all . . .”
    But Liam wasn’t listening; he was staring,
transfixed, at Dismal, his mouth opening and shutting like a
gasping fish as he caught sight of the haughty, triumphant figure
on her quarterdeck. “B-Brendan,” he choked out.
    “And if Crichton should take us—again, I vow
he shall not—then, and only then, rip the drafts up. Toss the
pieces over the side. Destroy them, burn them, swallow them if you
have to, but do not, I repeat, do not allow them to fall
into British hands. If the Admiralty manages to get hold of them,
’twill be a terrible thing indeed. . . . Why, Dalby!” Brendan
glanced up to find the terrified little sailmaker standing before
him, his Adam’s apple bouncing up and down amid the cords of his
birdlike neck. “’Tis kind of you to join us, but I really would
like a good eye up in the bows—”
    “Those sunken piers are beneath us, sir, I
just know it! And I can’t see a thing with all this glare on the
water. We’re going to hit one of them, and it’ll be my fault!”
    “Calm yourself, Dalby. I have things well
under control.”
    “But, Captain, I’m going to be sick, sick—”
    “Please don’t get