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

Chapter Sixty Three

The Duke stepped from the rowboat onto the dock, and still no soul presented itself. Four of his men were with him, every last one as armed and ready as he was. Marlborough was not sure why the harbor had been left undefended, but he assumed they would meet resistance at some point.

Mr. Green, his man who had been hired on as Arianna's driver, motioned for them all to follow him up the trail that lead away from the docks. They hiked on for half of an hour. Mr. Green was twenty paces ahead of the group, he would stop every so often and motion for them to stop, while he checked the surroundings.

They finally stood in sight of the manor house, which was not quite so deserted as the harbor. Chickens pecked at the dirt drive. A pair of women could be seen hanging sheets on a line around the side of the house, the Duke made his way over to them.

"Ladies," he bowed, "I am the Duke of Marlborough. I am here for my daughter, Lady Kent."

The women exchanged looks, then the older woman wiped her hands upon her apron and stepped away from the line. She sank low, spreading her skirts before the Duke.

"Your grace, your daughter and her ladyship left with the Earl of Trent. They have taken the master prisoner."

*****

The Duchess crossed the sand to Arianna and sat beside her daughter. She pushed a loose strand of Arianna's hair behind her ear.

"What troubles you, Ari?"

"Trent does, Mother." Arianna's eyes lifted from the sand at her toes, to the waves upon the horizon. There was a different light in Arianna's eyes that the Duchess had not previously seen. Suddenly, Arianna's eyes turned to her mother's. "Do you still love father?"

"Aye, daughter, with all of my heart. I always have." The Duchess smiled a bit sadly, "Your father was my everything. My joy in life was to see him smile, and then your brother came along and I thought I could not be happier." Her smile was a bit brighter, "But I was wrong, because then we had you, and I knew then, that my joy was complete. Then I was taken and my joy was left behind."

Arianna slipped an arm around her mother's waist and rested her head against her shoulder. "Were things always pleasant between you and father?"

"Oh, nay, daughter," Arianna felt, as much as heard, her mother's smile, "I loved to disagree with your father. He is stubborn like you and always wanted his own way. 'Twas simply part of who we were, for me to thwart his plans and schedule. We argued quite regularly."

She pulled back to look into her daughter's face. "But we never argued fully dressed."

The Duchess watched the color bloom in her daughter's face.

"Mother!"

The Duchess laughed, "Your father has a vicious tongue and mine is only more so. We found that when we bared our bodies to each other, 'twas much easier to bare our souls. And," a small secretive smile crossed the Duchess' face, "Arguments do not last long under such.. Conditions.."

Arianna quirked a brow at her mother. Just what was she implying?

"You might find that your Earl comes around a bit easier with a show of skin, daughter."

"I could never!" Arianna breathed, her eyes once more focused upon the waves in the distance. But the gleam in her eye told the Duchess that her suggestion would undergo some thought.

*****

Derek sat upon the sand, his back to a palm tree, his stomach full and his mood reflective. The sun sat high above them at midday and even Cook rested.

Derek turned to Alejandro, who sat leaning back against his own tree, Carmelita at his side. "I believe this does not look good for the Lady, my friend." He looked back out to the reef where his ship listed in the receding tide. "I guess we should go see what can be saved that hasn't been already."

He looked around the camp again in amazement. The fact that the Duchess could accomplish so much in such a short time astounded him. It also made him incredibly hopeful. If Arianna had half her mother's talent, she would make an excellent wife. He, however, did not have any disillusions. Arianna was still young, her mother had many years of practice running a household. Yet, Arianna had told him she had stepped into that role at the Duke's dinner parties. Not that Drake actually cared about a well run household. Home for him would mean wherever she was.

This line of thinking made him realize just how little time they had actually spent getting to know each other. Their 'courtship' had been cut short when Miser took her away from him. Before that, things had been progressing well between them. Now they seemed to be at odds more often than not. He needed to find a way to get close to her again, he wished she were here now.

He glanced down the beach first one way, then the other.

Wishing wasn't making her appear, and it wouldn't take care of the cargo either.

Before he could rise to the task at hand though, a small cluster of little girls assaulted him, plying him with sweets they had made with Cook. He couldn't say no to their hopeful faces, so he took two and turned to Alejandro and Carmelita for help.

With a laugh, Alejandro emptied the plate, passing half to Carmelita. The girls were pleased to run off empty handed, to go help Cook again. Derek laughed as Cook started telling them of the things they could help with, once he had rested a bit from their busy morning. It seemed the Frenchman had some admirers. Luckily, he also seemed just as taken with them. He must have convinced them of his need, for after a few minutes they ran off to play with the other children for a while.

Derek brushed his hands together removing the sugar from his fingertips and pushed up from the ground.

Alejandro turned to Carmelita, running his sugary fingertips across her mouth before kissing her slowly, yet quite thoroughly.

Carmelita found herself soaking in every ounce of her husband's affection. Her eyes came open to find him halfway to the water already. She put her own fingers to her lips, and once again tasted sugar, but why was his kiss so much sweeter? She smiled, closing her eyes and leaning back against the tree, thinking about when they would finally get some time alone.

Alejandro was having similar thoughts, until Derek drew his attention once more.

"Shall we check the cargo?"

"Aye, Captain. How many boats with how many men?"

Derek thought about the cargo in the Lady's hull. A considerable fortune was slowly sinking before his eyes. Derek calculated the amount of cargo that would need to be moved. Luckily, Alejandro had sold a good amount in the Americas. They still had the goods they had planned taking to England, those would need to be salvaged.

"We will use two boats, with crews of three. You and I shall stay aboard the Lady and send them into shore one at a time."

"Aye, Captain." Alejandro turned and whistled loudly, calling crewmen to him as he walked towards the boats that had been pulled up on shore.

Derek stared out past the waves at the Green Eyed Lady, though she was not the green eyed lady who occupied his thoughts.

*****

Arianna walked the beach for some time, collecting her thoughts and skipping seashells across the waves. Her mother had left after Arianna had informed her of the direction to the freshwater pool. The Duchess was very excited at the prospect of a bath.

Arianna shook her head as she thought of her mother's advice. There was no possible way she was going to bare herself completely before Derek; modesty would not allow it. But perhaps she might employ the tactic on a much, much, more subdued level.

Arianna sighed, kicking at the surf around her ankles. She was not nearly as upset as she had been earlier. But she still did not know what she wanted from him. She wanted to forgive him, let it go, and move on. Yet, at the same time, the hurt from his duplicity was still fresh and raw. That he had known, and had left her in the dark about matters concerning her, still stung.

And then there was the matter of him being upset with her. She could see his point of view, now that her anger had cooled, and was rather annoyed with herself for fighting with him about it.
Had he been there from the first of Betsy's lesson, he may have been the one with the mango in his hand. She had seen men hit targets dead on, she could even hit a target with minimal effort herself, but Betsy was like nothing she had ever seen before. After showing Betsy the mechanics of the dueling pistol, she had instructed her in loading and firing the weapon.

Arianna had found a stump on the north side of the clearing, to the east was an opening out to the beach, to the south was their camp. Lining up a few coconuts on the top of the stump, she had then pointed out one of the eyes on the face of it. She told Betsy to aim for that and she would probably hit her target.Betsy had walked to the far side of the clearing and squinted at the coconut she was aiming at.

Arianna backed away as Betsy took her shot, and goodness, if the girl hadn't hit it. Not only that, but the bullet went straight through the eye Arianna had pointed to. Arianna's mouth had dropped open, her gaze had shot to Betsy, who was grinning and hopping up and down.

"I did it, my lady, I did it!" She was extremely pleased, dropping into a crouch to reload and try again.

"I'll say, Betsy! That was incredible! Let's see if you can do it again!" Arianna urged, while making sure Betsy loaded it correctly.

Betsy took her shot, hitting the eye dead on. It certainly wasn't beginner's luck, Arianna had thought to herself.

"I have an idea Betsy, reload, and we will have you try a bit more difficult shot this time." Arianna had told her, as she had gathered up an armful of coconuts and set them on the stump they were using. "I am going to toss one in the air and see if you can hit it."

When Betsy was ready, Arianna had tossed a coconut about fifteen feet straight up. At the top, just as it hovered for a second before coming back down, Betsy took her shot and the coconut flew off to the edge of the clearing. Arianna applauded and cried out, "Oh my goodness, Betsy! That was amazing, try it again!"