Pirate of My Heart: A Novel Read Online Free PDF

The damage is done.”
    Andrew waited, standing silent and still, head hanging, face in shock, like the golden boy who had just been sentenced to prison.
    “I don’t want to see any more of you now, leave me.” Edward pointed toward the door. “And don’t bother my daughter!”

Chapter Three
    A n ominous thunderstorm slashed the night sky as Dr. Radley hunched deeper into his cloak, rain pouring in a steady stream off his hat and down his back. He tried to hurry through the shards of sleet but his horse trembled beneath him and started with every flash of lightning, making progress difficult. His gaze rose to the swirling dark clouds as his face contorted in agony, wishing to be well away from this night, this news he must impart. It was eerie—the similarity between this night and the other, over nineteen years ago, when he had been to the Arundel castle and helped deliver the lovely woman he raced to see.
    Minutes later he rode through the gate, yelling to the guard to fetch a stable hand for his horse. He rushed through the castle, the cold clinging to him like his news. There she was, in the main salon, looking out a window toward the direction her father would arrive home, even though it was too dark to see. Doctor Radley stood there, dripping all over the floor, his sodden hat limp in his hand. She turned as he walked further into the room. “Lady Kendra.” He held out an arm toward her. “I have terrible news. I’m sorry, my lady. There’s been a terrible accident. I’m so sorry.”

    Kendra shook her head slowly back and forth, a sensation of falling making her sick and dizzy. “What?” But he didn’t have to say it. She saw it on his ravished face. She turned away from the doctor, the news, and buried her head into her hands. “No, no. It cannot be.” She shook her head, a small move of disbelief, the anguish pulling her under. He was dead? Her father? The only person in her life who had always loved her? Her knees gave way and she collapsed to the threadbare settee, numb, dazed with the shock. Her fingernails dug into the ragged cloth of the arm.
    “It was a terrible accident.” Doctor Radley’s voice seemed to come from very far away. “The only carriage that remained in the earl’s possession this past year wasn’t in good shape. Lord Edward shouldn’t have taken it out.”
    “How? How did it happen?” Kendra managed to make herself look up into his pain-racked eyes.
    “My dear, mayhap we should discuss the details after you’ve had a chance to, ah, calm down.”
    “Calm down? Calm down,” she repeated, her hands reaching up to either side of her head. She rocked back and forth, pressing on her head. “My father is dead and I’m to calm down.” Her voice dropped to a whisper as if all the strength had pooled out of her. “I have nothing now. Nothing. Tell me what happened.”
    “The horses must have been frightened, the lightning you know. It’s a devil of a storm out there.” He rushed on, “The carriage plunged over a cliff, there was nothing but scraps of wood left of it.”
    Her father had driven out to an old family friend to ask for a loan. It had taken the last of his pride, Kendra knew, but they needed the money if they were to even consider spring planting. He had been gone two days and had likely wanted to return home to Kendra despite the storm. She had watched from the window all evening.
    “Where is he?” Kendra whispered, her hands pressed to her heart as if to keep it from breaking in two. “I have to see him.”
    “I don’t think that would be wise, my dear. It was such a great fall. You would not recognize him—” He took a step toward her but she jerked away.
    The doctor stopped and then turned toward his black bag. Reaching inside, he pulled out a bottle and poured some of the liquid into a cup of tea that was sitting on a small, round table and had grown cold. “Come, Lady Kendra, drink this. It will help calm you.” He coaxed her into a sitting