“The best-laid plans . . .”

“Yes, in this case, they definitely went awry because of Catherine Meyer.”

“The jewel thief,” James said. “Is she really one of Lacross’s bastards?”

“She claims she’s his daughter and had only just found him herself. She spoke to her father at length that day but kept looking at me as she did. And then she approached me with his ‘test of loyalty’ for me and bragged that it was her idea. She said more than anything else, Pierre wanted to kill the man responsible for putting him in prison. But she also had her own agenda. She wanted to prove her worth to the old man, and because I arrived at the island with a ship and crew, she thought she could have me as her lover, help her father get his revenge, and make him rich to boot, all in one trip. But in the end, she only succeeded in making him rich—”

“With my family’s jewels,” James interjected darkly.

“Yes. Unfortunately, she insisted we leave immediately so I had no time to set up or enact a plan to capture her father that night.”

“So to capture one, you must capture many? You don’t think your plan went a little off track?”

“It wasn’t my plan. You think I wanted the delay when it means my father must rot in prison even longer? Lacross didn’t even think we could capture you, which is why he suggested one of your women instead. I didn’t like it, and I never would have given Jack to him, but I expected you to attack once you had her back—but you didn’t do that, you went home instead. And I got blamed for letting her go even though she escaped on her own before I could.”

“Yet you tried again.”

“I wouldn’t have gotten out of his dungeon if I didn’t at least pretend to go along with another attempt. But I got stuck with a full crew of Pierre’s men this time.”

“Not a good year for you, is it? Where is he?”

“I don’t know.”

“Wrong answer.”

Damon couldn’t breathe. Malory had just been toying with him, he realized, letting him only think he could dance around him all night. Doubled over, he gasped out before the next blow knocked him out again, “Wait!”

“I’d rather not” was said drily.

“There’s a man . . . who will . . .”

“Bloody hell,” Malory snarled. “Sit down and catch your breath.”

Damon dropped to his knees first, then lay on his side on the tarpaulin-covered floor. Malory was pacing in front of him, obviously annoyed, though at whom wasn’t clear. By the time Damon was able to sit, he decided the floor might be the best place to stay.

“When I first found the pirate, he was still building his base. When I returned, it was mostly finished and there were a lot more men. When I was let out of his dungeon three weeks later, I saw that the ranks had grown, and his men were packing and tearing down structures because Lacross was moving again. There’s a tavern keeper in St. Kitts who supplies them with rum. I’m supposed to get their new location from him when I return this time.”

Damon tensed when the pacing stopped and James stood in front of him. “My daughter seems to think I should know you. From where?”

“Considering you knocked me out the last time we met four years ago, I’m surprised you don’t remember.”

“I’m never one to turn down a good fight,” James said drily. “Refresh my memory about the one you seem to think we had?”

“You really don’t remember?”

“Should I?”

“I suppose not. It was late at night, the street was dark and we spoke—I spoke, only briefly. I asked you where my mother was. You answered with your fist.”

“That does ring a bell, actually, and you were quite belligerent in the asking, weren’t you? Can you be more specific so we can clear up why you think I know where this woman is?”

Unable to contain the anger he’d harbored for years, he shot to his feet and spat out, “You seduced her into leaving her family!”

“I beg to differ,” James replied blandly. “I’ve seduced hundreds of women, including unhappily married ones in my more rakehell years, but the one thing I’ve never done is try to lure a wife away from her husband. You appear to have mistaken me for someone else.”

“Your memory might be faulty, but mine isn’t. I know exactly who you are, Captain Hawke.”

Malory’s demeanor changed abruptly. Damon braced himself again. It was no wonder men feared this man when he could become so deadly menacing in the blink of an eye.

The neutral tone was gone when James said, “Aside from my family, barely a handful of people know that name. How do you?”

“You were my neighbor in Jamaica.”

Again, Malory’s demeanor changed. “Only the Ross family were close enough for me to call neighbors, from the plantation that butted up against mine. So you’re the window breaker all grown up—and still daring?”

“And you’re the man who stole my mother!”

“Give it up, lad. I did nothing of the sort. She was leaving Cyril of her own accord. Your mother told me of his drinking and gambling—and that she’d never been happy there. But there was a desperation, too, to leave immediately. She didn’t say what the urgency was and I didn’t know her well enough to pry. But in any case, she was aware that I had a ship anchored nearby and she asked me for passage to England.”

“Is that where you took her?”

“No, I had other business to attend—”

“Yet you still took her away!”

“Yes, I did, but not far a’tall, just around to the other side of the island, where she could find a passenger vessel in Port Antonio to take her and you to England. It was far enough away from your home that your father wouldn’t look for her there. And I promised I’d help her retrieve you when I returned, but unfortunately, I never made it back that way.”

Damon found it hard to let go of the anger he had harbored for this man for so long, thinking what he did. In fact, Damon couldn’t. He was supposed to just believe an ex-pirate?

“You don’t look convinced, Captain. I don’t actually care other than to say, no one calls me a liar without seriously regretting it. So before it comes to that, perhaps I can be a little more clear. I have no shame in admitting that I am the black sheep of my family for good reason. I was wild and reckless and had been since I came of age, so I wasn’t particular in those days about the women I bedded, including wives who weren’t happy in their marriages. However, I drew the line at stirring up trouble in my own backyard, as it were. And your mother tugged at something in me that wasn’t prurient, might even have been compassion, though I was quite sure I was no longer capable of that feeling back then. She was gracious, beautiful, but so very melancholy. And yet she was still kind to my son, bringing him hot meals and treats when he was there alone with just the servants. Now you’ve twice asked me where she is and I’ve told you where I last saw her, but I haven’t a clue where she ended up. She was crying that day when you bolted instead of going with her. If she left the island, it would have been to get help to fetch you out of there, which I assume didn’t happen?”