The Duke's Daughter -Wattys2014 Collector's Dream Award Winner-

Chapter Twenty Five

Derek stood near the helm with Alejandro. They had searched the deck and found no sign that Whitmore had been abducted, save for his pipe, which lay discarded and tangled in a net on the starboard side of the ship. Suddenly, Mickey came tearing out of the hallways up onto the deck and ran straight for them.

"Cap'n, sir." The boy was out of breath.

"Out with it, boy!" Alejandro yelled as he grabbed the boy's shirt front and lifted his feet off of the deck.

"She fell out the porthole, sir!" Mickey heaved in a deep breath. "She's hangin' on a rope o'er the starboard rail."

Alejandro dropped the boy and sprinted behind Derek to the railing. Sure enough, down the side of the ship near the waves, hung the soaking wet, sad excuse of a cabin boy that was Arianna.

*****

"So, she is alive." Miser echoed as his American partner stood nodding smugly at him.

"Then have the men turn this ship about!" Miser bellowed into Bell's face.

"It would be wiser," Bell countered, as he drew his kerchief and wiped away the spittle that had landed upon his face, "To get her in New York, sir. A battle at sea is not something the king would take lightly."

"Aye, perchance you are right. Move our guest to his own cabin and keep him under lock and key. There is much planning to be done."

Thomas saluted and turned to do the Admiral's bidding, rolling his eyes as he walked away.

*****

Derek could not get a secure enough hold on the rope that Arianna dangled on to pull her up. He stood from his crouch and turned to find Alejandro waiting with a rope tied to the top of the railing next to him. Derek wasted no time as he tied the free end about himself.

Once the knots were checked, Alejandro and two crewmen held the line and Derek climbed over the rail. They gave him slack as he slipped down the side of the ship to fetch Arianna.

"Hold on! I'm coming to get you." He shouted down once he could see her.

As he got close, he could see the fear across her face and the white of her knuckles, as she clung to the rope for her life.

Derek reached for her and pulled her into his chest. Arianna let go of her rope, clinging to him like a second skin. She was wet from her stomach to her feet but Derek barely felt the cold. Their predicament was serious. Any one of a hundred different things could go wrong any minute now.

"Alejandro!" Derek yelled out over the waves that had risen before the side of the ship. One such wave rose high next to them and slammed against the ship, covering both of their heads and slamming Arianna hard between the ship and Derek's body, she cried out, but her hold on him never loosened. Nor did his hold on her, or the rope.

Finally, once the water receded, they felt the rope tug and they were slowly lifted to safety. Derek crawled over the railing with Arianna still clasped to his chest. Alejandro wrapped a waiting blanket around the both of them, as the crew cheered for their recovered cabin boy. Derek looked down at Arianna, finding her eyes closed and her expression slack, he assumed she had fainted. After a quick, reassuring smile to the crew, Derek turned and carried Arianna to his cabin, her floppy wet hat bouncing with each stride he took.

*****

Jessica Bridger watched the captain carry the cabin boy below deck, as her hand hurriedly scratched across the open page of her sketch book. She sketched the scene of the rescue, then looked down at what her hand had produced.

She must not have been paying close enough attention, because the cabin boy's face was far too feminine, with the long lashes she had drawn closed down against the delicately boned cheeks.

Jessica flipped back to the drawing she had made of Lady Kent's ghost and compared the two drawings. There was a striking resemblance between the cabin boy's exhausted features in her most recent sketch, and the Lady's closed expression in the other.

Could it be?