Rose's Pledge Read Online Free PDF Page A

outstretched and waiting.
    Rose fumed. The hussy . Furious, she broke free from her captors’ grasps and lunged toward her sister, grabbing a handful of Mariah’s stiff taffeta skirt. “Come down from there this instant.”
    “Miss Harwood has a point. Set the lass down.”
    The captain’s words surprised Rose. Renewed hope flowed through her.
    “Ye’ll not be taking her anywhere until there’s hard cash in me hand and ye put yer signature on the indenturement.” He slid a satisfied glance to Rose. “Everything proper and legal.”
    Rose could not abide such a display of impudence. He should be thrashed. She jerked once more on her sister’s blue taffeta.
    Mariah gifted the handsome rider with an apologetic smile then complied by allowing him to lower her to the ground, which he did much too slowly.
    So appalled she could not speak, Rose tugged Mariah to a spot between her and Lily. But before she could deliver a scathing reprimand, the captain seized Lily beneath the arms and deposited her on the platform.
    “There ye go, child,” he said sternly.
    Rose’s heart jolted as her sister’s eyes grew round with fright and her face lost all color. Hiking her skirts, Rose stepped a foot onto the stage. “Mr. Durning. Lily and I must be sold together. She’s far too young to go forth alone. I beg you to reconsider.”
    Durning booted her foot off the platform. “Stay put and hold yer tongue, or I swear I’ll clap ye in chains and sell ye in another port a few days’ sail from here.”
    Rose ignored the vehemence in that statement and met his glare. She would not be intimidated by this blighter of honest dealings.
    Gradually his expression eased, and he glanced away. “If someone wants the both of ye, he’ll not be prevented from bidding on yerself next. In the meantime, I advise ye to mind yer manners.” He placed an arm around Lily and ushered her a few steps farther away.
    Shy, timid Lily pleaded silently with Rose, her soft silvery eyes clouded with fear.
    Rose had to clamp her hands over her mouth to keep from crying out. This was all wrong. So wrong. The villainous captain had lied to her, to Papa. To all of them.
    Durning again raised his voice to the gathering growing steadily in the midmorning sun. “This young lass is also of the merchant class. She’s had the finest education a maiden of her advantages could receive. She can read and write and has been taught all the latest stitchery designs. She’s a good-natured girl and quick to learn.”
    Unable to bear so many eyes upon her, Lily slid behind the captain.
    He dragged her forward again, this time holding her in place with a firm grip. “She may look a bit frail, I’ll avow,” he went on, “but I assure ye she didn’t suffer a day of illness on the long voyage here. She’s—”
    “The little thing don’t look like she’d stand up to much hard work,” someone behind Rose challenged. “But I’ll give ten pounds for her—if her teeth are sound.”
    Durning took hold of Lily’s chin. “Open your mouth, girl. Let’s have a look.”
    “How dare you!” Utterly insulted by the blackguard’s thoughtless ill treatment of her poor sister and humiliated for her as well, Rose hoisted herself onto the stage, only to be immediately plucked off by the same ruffians who had restrained her moments before. She had no choice but to stand by as the younger girl closed her lashes over tears. Helplessly she watched them roll down her sister’s pale cheeks. Her own followed suit.
    Durning made a show of peering into Lily’s mouth then smiled with benign assurance. “As perfect as the queen’s own pearls, I must say.”
    “Ten pounds, one shilling.”
    The firm but gentle voice came from quite near Rose. Swiping the moisture from her eyes, she noted that this man did not wear the tailored clothing of a city businessman. Wearing plain-spun and simply made attire, he was rather tall and lean, with a build similar to that of their father. He had a