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She was enraged to the point of speechlessness.
His smile remained a few seconds longer, and then his expression became serious. Look at me.
Celia felt her heart stop as she heard those last three words, the same words he had spoken several
hours ago in the heat of passion.
I said look at me, Celia.
Unwillingly she raised her eyes to his.
Your grief over your husband may have been the reason you gave in to me the first time. But not the
second.
* * *
When Celia asked Griffin how much farther they would have to travel, she was startled to learn they
were much closer to the Crescent City than she had thought.
About three hours, he said, reining the horse back to a slow gallop when it tried to break to a canter.
They were riding along a trail in the forest, nearly invisible until one stumbled directly onto it. After
crossing the river, it s a short ride to the plantation on the Bayou St. John.
How do you know where the Vallerands live?
I m& acquainted with them. They came to a stretch where many low-hanging tree branches forced
Griffin to slow the horse to a walk and duck his head.
That cannot be true, Celia said haughtily. The Vallerands do not associate with thieves and pirates.
Griffin laughed. The Vallerandswere thieves and pirates until two generations ago. So were many other
fine families of New Orleans.
Are you not afraid of Monsieur Vallerand?
I m not afraid of anyone.
Irked by his arrogant self-confidence, Celia tried to nettle him. Monsieur Vallerand is very powerful and
dangerous. Philippe told me that his father has the best sword arm in all of Louisiana. When he hears
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what happened to Philippe
He already knows what happened to his son, Griffin said quietly. Your ship was due in port two days
ago. It was one in a string of attacks in the Gulf. They ll have no choice but to assume the worst.
A string of attacks? How many other ships had been overtaken? Celia gave a little shudder as she
remembered all the slain men on board the Vallerand merchantman, the mutilated bodies, the blood-slick
deck. She was not the only woman who had been bereaved. Many families would be mourning the
losses of sons, husbands, fathers, and brothers. I heard Legare give an order, she managed to say, her
throat constricting, to lock the men who were still alive in the hold& and& set fire to the ship. How
could anyone& It is inhuman&
I agree, he said tersely.
Do you? Or are you and Legare cut from the same cloth? After you capture a ship, perhaps you find it
convenient to do just as he
Nay, there is nothing to gain by the slaughter of innocent men. I take ships for profit, not out of
bloodlust.
But you have killed before. I have seen it with my own eyes. You killed at least three men while taking
me away from the island.
If I hadn t, you d be dead. After being tortured for hours by André Legare.
You and the others on that island& you are so different from the men I ve known. Philippe was like my
father. He had such kindness, such respect for life, and he would never hurt anyone. He would rather
bear pain himself than see someone else suffer
Much good his kindness did him, Griffin said coldly.
He died without regrets.
So will I, when the time comes.
Celia realized with awed uneasiness that it was probably true. Griffin was like an animal in the
wilderness, never thinking of the past or future, only of how to satisfy his needs for the present. Regret,
guilt, shame, repentance, all of those human qualities were something he could not afford or perhaps even
understand.
When did you begin your pirating? she asked.
I began as a privateer. All strictly legal. I captured ships from warring countries who gave me
commissions to do so and rewarded me well when I delivered enemy goods to port. But on one or two
occasions I was tempted to help myself to the wrong ship, and I was branded an outlaw.
Which is what you are.
True.
If you are ever caught
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I ll hang.
But you cannot continue being a pirate, because Captain Legare will be looking for you, and he wishes
to harm you,non?
I ll probably stay out of sight for a while. Grim satisfaction colored his voice. I wish I could have seen
his face when he found out his brother was dead. Oh, I enjoyed sending André to hell. He felt Celia
tremble, and he frowned. There s no reason to be afraid of him. I ll keep you safe from Legare.
I am afraid ofyou, she said in a tense voice, and after that there was nothing but silence between them.
They reached a secluded bank of the Mississippi River where two men in rough garb ferried them across
on a flatboat. The men were obviously part of an established smuggling network, for they treated Griffin
with great respect and seemed to feel a sense of companionship with him. At Griffin s request, one of
them gave Celia his hat. She stuffed her long hair under its wide brim and pulled it low over her face.
Because of the looseness of her outlandish garments and her less than amply endowed form, she gave the
appearance of being a skinny boy.
While the men conversed in soft tones clearly meant to elude her, Celia rested her hands on the wooden
railing of the flatboat and stared into the sluggish water. In one of his letters Philippe had described the
muddy river to her. He had said that some claimed the silt-filled water was healthier to drink than clear.
Viewing the amber depths skeptically, she decided it could not be true.
Clusters of woods and hardy trees reached up toward a deep turquoise sky rippled with hazy clouds.
Turtles swam near the banks of the river, congregating around the exposed roots of a tree that grew
half-in, half-out of the water. As she looked downriver she saw a smudge on the horizon that might be
the distant city of New Orleans.
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