Becket's Last Stand

Becket's Last Stand by Kasey Michaels Page A

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Authors: Kasey Michaels
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back. " You, sir? But you haven't— "
     
     
"All things end eventually, Courtland, even my self-imposed penance, I suppose. Don't fret. It may be nearly twenty years since I've stood a deck, but I think I remember a thing or two."
     
     
"Yes, sir!" Courtland said, grinning in spite of himself. "What are your plans, Cap'n, if I may ask?"
     
     
"We'll merely watch from some distance away, confront whoever is out there if necessary, board the ships peacefully," Ainsley said as Jacko, still tucking his voluminous shirt into his trousers, slammed into the room. "You hear me, Jacko? We are reconnoitering for the moment, and that's all."
     
     
"I hear you, Cap'n. Means I've got to take myself back upstairs to get my jacket, don't it?"
     
     
Ainsley smiled as he took a uniform jacket complete with ribbons and gold epaulets from a cabinet in his study. "That it does, Captain. Have the Union Jack raised on both sloops, with the Respite taking on the blue, please, as I think I'd enjoy playing a rear admiral for the duration."
     
     
"Aye, aye, sir!" Jacko said, executing a perfectly terrible salute before lumbering back out of the study.
     
     
"You'll board them as English Naval officers?" Ethan asked, grinning. "I hadn't heard this clever bit of strategy. Splendid, sir."
     
     
"Workable, Ethan, although we don't plan to board them unless they turn to fight. We only wish to watch them once we're clear of the harbor and circle about before showing them our lights, as if approaching from the East, a contingent of the Waterguard out on patrol. We let them see the flag, the uniform as I stand at the rail. They sail on, we sail on, as if we've somewhere important to go. They turn toward the harbor, and everything we've planned for will be put into effect. Running without lights? These could be smugglers, or they could be Beales's ships, scouring the Marsh shoreline for us under cover of darkness," Ainsley said, turning back to Courtland once more, a bicorne hat now in his hand. "You know what to do if we're forced to engage."
     
     
"Yes, sir. You have nothing to worry about here."
     
     
"I have everything to worry about here. I brought this on all of us." Ainsley shrugged into the well-tailored jacket of a Royal Naval officer, strapped on the sword Spencer handed him. "Shall we be off?"
     
     
Courtland watched them all leave the study, part of him wishing he could go with them, be in on any action that might take place on the water, but his saner self knew he was needed here, at Becket Hall.
     
     
He went in search of Jacob Whiting, who found him in the hallway.
     
     
"We're closing all the drapes, Court, just as we're supposed to, and dousing all but the candles in the hallways. Ollie and the others with land duty are on their way from the village to man the gunports."
     
     
"Very good, Jacob. And the women?"
     
     
"All of them with Mrs. Eleanor or the little ones, save Callie. Can't find her nowheres, Court, and we been lookin'."
     
     
"Damn! All right, thank you, Jacob. This could all be for nothing, but will serve as fine practice for all of us in any case. Who's up on the roof?"
     
     
"Sheila."
     
     
Courtland stopped short. "Sheila? Your wife is our sentry on the roof?"
     
     
"Best eyes of all of us, Court. Think she's part cat, I truly do. She'll let us know right off if she sees somethin'. Showed her where the pull rope is for the alarm bell, an' all."
     
     
"I suppose that's good then," Courtland said, sighing. "I don't have time for this, but I'll go find Cassandra, and then join you on the second cannon level. Keep the ports facing the marsh closed for now, but open those facing the Channel."
     
     
"Already done, Court. We been practicin' this for a while now, you know. Turnin' a pretty house into a fortress, lickity-split, with its own defenses tucked up inside, ready to pop out. No need for great stone walls around this man's castle, eh? The Cap'n, his mind works a real treat, so we all

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