Taming the Wilde Read Online Free PDF

allowed out of my cell until we hit open water. It was feared that I might repeat my dive into the river's embrace, so for the first day's sail I was confined to quarters whilst the others took air under the watchful gaze of guards ready to avert any copycat attempts at escape. It was a miserable confinement to be sure, though not a lonely one for Lizzy made a point of loitering near the bars of my cage and speculating on the characters of all aboard the Valiant.
    “That Morrow 'es a right 'un,” she said gleefully. “Keeps 'imself apart from us prisoners o'course, but I've seen the look in his eye, 'ed be up for it.”
    Most men were 'up for it' as far as I could tell, but I did not sully her imaginings with that sort of talk. She was also keenly on the search for possible contenders for 'er Morrow' as she had taken to calling him. There were several other women she imagined to be showing obvious interest, one named Rose was of the most concern to Lizzy, for she was everything that Lizzy was not. Where Lizzy was robust and ruddy cheeked with a booming laugh and shameless personality, Rose was quiet, almost refined. She moved like a sparrow, delicate and easily startled. She was the type to elicit a protective response in a gentleman, but a predatory one in a man lacking in moral fiber.
    I quite agreed with Lizzy's assertion that Rose would be one to catch the eye of the sailors. Her skin was fair and her hair dark, her eyes a pretty blue. Had she not secreted two of her employer's silver teaspoons in her skirts and subsequently sentenced to the same fate as the rest of us, she would have soon been married. The loss of her love was cast like a veil across her face, it should have made her seem morose and dull, but she was a woman who wore tragedy well and somehow her sadness only made her more appealing in aspect.
    “Then there's you,” Lizzy said, giving me a sideways look. “But I'll warrant Roake has designs on you.”
    “Don't be ridiculous.” I must confess I quite snapped the response. Another woman might be offended, but Lizzy laughed her raucous laugh. “You didn't see the way 'e looked at your rear,” she said, beaming away. “'E's a man in love.”
    She had gone too far and I couldn't stand to hear another word. “Elizabeth Jones, I suggest you stop that sort of talk immediately, or you and I will have further words when I am allowed out of this damnable cage.”
    “Settle yerself down there,” Lizzy laughed. “Or I'll pop out for a bucket of finest Thames water to cool yer coals.”
    I did settle myself and not just because Lizzy was capable of making good on her threat, but because any disturbance below decks would almost certainly be blamed upon me. My status as scapegoat had been made clear at the outset, but it was not one I wanted to maintain.
    Still, Lizzy's words had nettled me. Not because I thought Roake had feelings of any kind for me, but because I now saw what a thorough spectacle he had made of my person. He had not only caused me embarrassment, but he had associated himself with me in the minds of all those had seen what passed between us, perhaps even to the point of making me a pariah in the minds of the rest of the crew.
    * * * * *
    It was three days before I saw the man again. At that time we were assembled on a lower deck in a room that served as a schoolhouse. There rows of low tables and benches were provided for us to sit and learn our lessons. Two guards had shuffled us into our floating schoolhouse, which was met with a mixture of curiosity and caution by most.
    “Master Roake will be with ye all shortly, now settle down, for ‘e won’t be tolerating any talking when 'es teaching,” the guard warned us rather sportingly. The man departed then and shortly after Master Roake himself stepped into the room.
    It wasn't until I laid eyes upon him that I realized I had not been prepared for the shock of seeing him again. In the interim I had fancied him a grotesque monster, but