Till Dawn Tames the Night Read Online Free PDF

mistaken, Miss Dayne. What could you be seeing? Are you displeased with the ship?"
    "No, no! The ship is quite wonderful." She gave him a sheepish smile. Whatever had possessed her to think anything was sinister?
    "I do apologize for the delay, however. It has been regrettable, but I promise we shall leave within the hour."
    "At night?" she inquired. "Isn't that most unusual?"
    The captain gripped the railing. She glanced down and for the first time noticed that three of his fingers were missing. The scars on his hand were massive and she wondered how that could have escaped her. Not wanting to be caught staring, she quickly looked up, but he gave her a reassuring smile. "I know the Thames, miss. We'll be out in the Channel in no time."
    "And shall we leave the owner behind after all?" she asked, trying to divert her attention from his hand. Her question seemed to startle him, even though he quickly hid his feelings behind a facade of joviality.
    "Oh no. He'll be here, Miss Dayne. That I can guarantee." Abruptly he excused himself to go below and check on his men.
    She was left alone for only a minute before Mrs. Lindstrom appeared. She was in a luxurious black wool pelisse that didn't quite hide the blue brocade of her dressing gown. Her bonnet was on crooked and she looked blowsy, as if she'd just been awakened from a deep sleep and hadn't had the mind to pull her appearance together.
    "There you are, my dear!" The matron called to her and waved a hand through the air. "Can you believe the racket? And at midnight!"
    "Yes, it's quite something," Aurora agreed and made for her side. She was just about to speak when a further commotion broke out on the docks. As if expecting it, the captain appeared from belowdecks , and strode to the gangway. Curious, Aurora and Mrs. Lindstrom went to the railing and peered down at the dock.
    Aurora had never seen such dark splendor. Below was a black japanned coach pulled by eight shiny black steeds. Its presence seemed to stamp out everything else as unimportant. Even the Midsummer revelry on Queenhithe seemed to hush and the pounding cease beneath their feet. The harness fittings were gold and a thin gold edging outlined the carriage, but there were no crests on the doors to identify the rider. Ominous was the only word for the vehicle, yet even that word was weak when it came to describing the man who appeared from inside it.
    "My God . . ."
    The matron gasped from the delicious horror of it all. Aurora felt Mrs. Lindstrom's hand take hold of her arm and though she wanted to comfort the older woman, somehow she found she hadn't the fortitude she thought she had. When she tried to speak, her voice would not come. As if captured by the man who was making his way onto the ship, her mouth would not form words and her gaze would not leave him.
    He was tall—several inches taller than the captain, who was a tall man himself—yet the hint of barely restrained violence in this man made him appear towering. He wore a fashionable black carrick , his coat sporting no fewer than nine capes. Beneath this Aurora could see a white batiste shirt and trousers made out of black superfine. From just his clothes, she would have guessed that the man conducted his life well within the confines dictated by society, but when she looked further, Aurora sensed there was very little that confined this man.
    In truth, he flaunted fashion, and not with just the glossed-over ferociousness of his manner. He wore his hair almost down to his shoulder blades, tying the unruly black coils into a queue at his neck, a style unheard of for nearly twenty-five years. And a tiny silver hoop pierced his left earlobe, giving him an unspeakably wicked look, so that when all the parts were put together, there seemed only one way to describe him.
    "He's a pirate!" Mrs. Lindstrom gasped, tightening her hold on Aurora's arm. Aurora wanted to soothe her, but there was no way to deny what she said when, in fact, she'd been thinking