Behind him, his little twin boys were wide-eyed. Then, from the corner of her eye, Virginia saw the front door of the house open as Tillie stepped onto the veranda. But it was too late, she was already in Frank's arms. "Have you lost your wits?" she cried, hugging him so hard he choked. "Of course it's me! Who else would it be!" She stepped back, laughing up at the big young man.

"G.o.d Almighty, that fine an' fancy school sure ain't made you a lady," Frank said, grinning, his teeth stunningly white against his dark skin.

"You do mean 'thank G.o.d,' don't you?" Virginia teased. "Rufus, Ray, get over here and give me hugs, or don't you remember your mistress?"

The boys, both just shy of seven, rushed forward, grabbing her around her thighs. Virginia finally felt the tears rising in her eyes as she tried to bend down and hug them both.

Then she felt Tillie behind her, and slowly, she turned.

Tillie smiled, tears staining her coffee-and-cream complexion. She was as tall as Virginia was short, as voluptuous as she was thin, and very beautiful. "I knew you'd come home," she whispered.

Virginia moved into her arms. The two young women clung.

When she could control her tears, she stepped back, smiling. "My feet hurt like h.e.l.l," she said. "And I'm starving to death! How did the burning go? Did we find rot? And what do the seedlings look like?" She grinned as she wiped her eyes with her sleeve.

But Tillie didn't smile back. Her golden eyes were frighteningly solemn.

"Tillie?" Virginia asked, not liking the look she was receiving. Dread began. "Please tell me everything is all right." For something seemed terribly wrong and she was so scared to learn what it was.

She'd had enough of misfortune. She couldn't stand one more stroke of bad luck.

Tillie gripped her arms. "They're selling the plantation-and everything and everyone on it."

Virginia didn't understand. "What did you just say?"

"Your daddy's in debt. Beg pardon-Master Hughes was in debt-and now your uncle has an agent here and he's started selling off everything...the land, the house, the slaves, the horses, he's selling it all."

Virginia cried out. A huge pain stabbed through her chest, so vast that she reeled. Tillie caught her around the waist.

"What's wrong with me! Here you are, skinnier than ever, as hungry as a winter wolf, and I'm telling you our troubles! C'mon, Virginia, you need some hot food and a hot bath and then we can talk. You can tell me all about what it's like to be a fine lady!"

Virginia couldn't respond. This had to be a nightmare, an awful dream-it couldn't be reality. Sweet Briar could not be up for sale.

But it was.

SHE WAS WEARING HER MOTHER'S Sunday best. Virginia smiled bravely at Frank, who had driven her into Norfolk, smoothing down her blue skirts, adjusting the bodice of her fitted blue pelisse and then her matching bonnet. Her mother's clothes were loose upon her small frame, but Tillie and two other slaves had been sewing madly all night to make everything fit perfectly. Now Frank tried to smile back and failed. Virginia knew why-he was heartsick, afraid his wife and children would be sold off to some distant owner and that he'd never see them again.

But that wasn't going to happen. Virginia intended to move heaven and earth-and more specifically, her father's good friend Charles King, the president of the First Bank of Virginia-in order to prevent Sweet Briar from being sold. She swallowed hard, her entire body covered with perspiration. The stakes were so d.a.m.ned high. She was so deathly afraid. But Charles King had been a good family friend and now he'd see her not as a child but a capable lady. Surely, surely, he'd loan her the funds necessary to pay off her father's debts and save Sweet Briar.

Virginia closed her eyes tightly against the glaring sun, her smile faltering. G.o.d, she hated her uncle, the Earl of Eastleigh, a man she'd never met. He hadn't even discussed the state of the plantation with her! Yet it belonged to her!

Or it would, if it hadn't been sold off by the time she turned twenty-one.

Now the three years between the present and her majority loomed as an eternity.

"Miz Virginia," Frank suddenly said, restraining her from entering the imposing facade of the brick-and-limestone bank.

Virginia paused, her stomach churning with fear and dread. She managed a small smile. "I may be long-but I hope not."

"It's not that," he said roughly. He was very tall, perhaps five inches over six feet, and dangerously handsome. Tillie had fallen in love with him at first sight, almost five years ago, not that anyone would have known it, with the way she'd snubbed him and put on airs. Apparently it had been mutual-not six months later he'd asked Randall Hughes for permission to marry her, and that permission had been instantly given. "I'm afraid, Miz Virginia, afraid of what will happen to Tillie and my boys if you don't get this loan today."

Virginia had been acutely aware of her responsibility to save Sweet Briar and her people, but now it crashed over her with stunning force. Fifty-two slaves were depending on her, many of them children. Tillie, her best friend, was depending on her, and so was Frank. "I will get this loan, Frank. You have nothing to worry about." She must have sounded forceful and confident, because his eyes widened instantly and he doffed his hat to her.

Virginia gave him another rea.s.suring smile, silently begged G.o.d for a little help and entered the bank.

Inside, it was blessedly cool, oddly reverent and as quiet as a church. Two customers were at the teller's queue and one clerk was at a front desk. At a desk in the back sat Charles King. He looked up then and saw her, his eyes widening in surprise.

This was it, she thought, lifting her chin to an impossible height. Her smile felt odd and brittle, fixed, as she marched forward through the lobby and the s.p.a.cious back area of the bank.

King stood, a fat man neatly and well dressed, his old-fashioned wig powdered and tied back. "Virginia! My dear, for one awful moment, I thought you were your mother, G.o.d rest her beloved soul!"

Her father had told her many times that she looked just like her mother, but Virginia hadn't ever believed it because Mama was so beautiful, although they shared the same nearly black hair and the same oddly violet eyes. She held out her hand as Charles took it firmly, clearly pleased to see her. "An illusion of light, I suppose," she said, impressed with her own grace and bearing. But she had to convince Charles that she was a fine and capable lady now.

"Yes, I suppose. I thought you were at school in Richmond. Do come in-have you come to see me?" he asked, leading her back to his desk and the high chairs facing it.

"Yes, frankly, I have," Virginia said, gripping her mother's elegant black velvet reticule tightly.

Charles smiled, offering her a chair and some tea. Virginia declined. "So how have you found the big city, Virginia?" he asked, taking his seat behind his desk. His gaze held hers, with some concern. Virginia knew he was finally noticing how peaked she was, due to the terrible strain of her grief and now her worry over the state of her father's finances.

Virginia shrugged. "I suppose it is fine enough. But you know I adore Sweet Briar-there is no place I would rather be."

For one moment Charles stared and then he was grim. "I know you are a clever young lady, so may I a.s.sume you realize your uncle is selling the plantation?"

She wanted to lean forward and shout that the earl had no right. She didn't move-she didn't even dare to breathe-not until her temper had pa.s.sed. But even then she said, "He has no right."

"I am afraid he has every right. After all, he is your guardian."

Virginia sat impossibly stiff and straight. "Mr. King, I have come here to secure a loan, so that I may pay off my father's debts and save Sweet Briar from sale and even possible dissolution."

He blinked.

She smiled bleakly at him. "I have helped Father manage the plantation since I was a child. No one knows how to plant and harvest, ship and sell tobacco better than I. I a.s.sure you, sir, that I would repay your loan in full, with any necessary interest, as soon as was possible. I-"

"Virginia," Charles King began, too kindly.

Panic began. She leapt to her feet. "I may be a woman and I may be eighteen but I do know how to run Sweet Briar! No one except my father knows how better than I do! I swear to you, sir, I would repay every penny! How much do I need to pay off Father's debts?" she cried desperately.

Charles regarded her with pity. "My dear child, his debts amount to a staggering twenty-two thousand dollars."

The shock was so great that her heart stopped and her knees gave way and somehow, she was sitting down. "No."

"I have spoken with your uncle's agent at great length. His name is Roger Blount and I do believe he is on his way back to Britain in the next few days after seeing to your affairs here. Sweet Briar is not a lucrative plantation, Virginia," he continued gently. "Your father had loss after loss, year after year. Even if I were foolish enough to lend a young and untried girl such a sum of money, there is simply no way you could ever repay me-not from the plantation. I am sorry. Selling Sweet Briar is the only intelligent and viable option."

She stood, sick in her heart, in her soul. "No. I can't let it be sold. It's mine."

He also stood. "I know how upsetting this is for you. Virginia, I'm not sure why you are not in school, but that is where you should be-although if you wish, I could try to arrange a match for you, a good one, and speak with your uncle about it. That would certainly solve your problems-"

"Unless you think to marry me to a very wealthy man, then that solves nothing," Virginia cried. "I cannot allow Sweet Briar to be sold! Why won't you help me? I would pay you back, somehow, one day! I have never broken my word, sir! Why can't you see that this is all I have left in the entire world?"

He stared. "You have a glorious future, my dear. I promise you that."

She closed her eyes and trembled violently. Then she looked him in the eye. "Please lend me the funds. If you loved my father, my mother, at all, then please, help me now."

"I'm sorry. I cannot. I simply cannot lend an impossible sum to a young girl who will never in an entire lifetime pay the bank back."

She could not give up. "Then lend me the funds personally," she cried.

He blinked. "Virginia, I do not have that kind of wealth. I am sorry."

She was in disbelief. He started to say something about a fresh start, and she turned and ran wildly through the bank and outside. There she collapsed against a hitching post, panting hard, shaking wildly, tears of panic and desperation trying to rise. This could not be happening, she thought. There had to be a way!

"Miz Virginia? Are you all right?" Frank had her by the elbow. His tone was concerned and anxious.

She met his black eyes but did not respond-because an idea had struck her so forcefully that she could not respond.

Her uncle was an earl.

Earls were wealthy.

She would borrow the money from him.

"Miz Virginia?" Frank was asking again, this time with a slight pressure on her elbow.

Virginia pulled free of his grasp and stared blindly across the busy street. She did not see a single wagon, carriage or pedestrian.

She had not a doubt that her uncle had the funds to save Sweet Briar. He was her only hope.

But clearly he didn't wish to save the plantation, or he would have already done so. That meant she had to confront him directly-personally. A letter would not do. The stakes were far too high. Somehow, she would find the means to cross the Atlantic Ocean, even if it meant selling some of her mother's precious jewelry, and she would meet her uncle and convince him to save Sweet Briar rather than sell it. She'd beg, rationalize, argue, debate, she'd do whatever she had to, even marry a perfect stranger, as long as he agreed to pay off her father's debts. Virginia realized she had to make plans and quickly, because she was on her way to England.

She knew she could do this. As her father was so fond of saying, where there was a will there was a way.

She'd always had plenty of will. Now she'd find a way.

CHAPTER TWO.

May 1, 1812 London, England WORD HAD SPREAD OF HIS arrival. Cheering throngs lined the banks of the Thames as his ship, the Defiance, proudly edged her way toward the naval docks.

Devlin O'Neill stood square on the quarterdeck, unsmiling, his arms folded across his chest, a tall, powerful figure as still as a statue. For the occasion of this homecoming-if it could be called such-he was in his formal naval attire. A blue jacket with tails, gold epaulets adorning each shoulder, pale white britches and stockings, highly polished shoes. His black felt bicorn was worn with the points facing out, as only admirals had the privilege of wearing the points front to back. His hair, a brilliant gold, was too long and pulled back in a queue. The crowd-men, women and children, agile and infirm, all London's poorest cla.s.ses-raced up the riverbanks alongside his ship. Some of the women threw flowers at it.

A hero's welcome, he thought with no mirth at all. A hero's welcome for the man one and all called "His Majesty's pirate."

He had not set foot in Great Britain for an entire year. He would not be setting foot there now, had he a choice, but it had become impossible to ignore this last summons from the Admiralty, their fourth. His mouth twisted coldly. What he wanted was a steady bed and a pox-free woman who was not a wh.o.r.e, but his needs would have to wait. He did not wonder what the admirals wanted-he had disobeyed so many orders and broken so many rules in the past year that they could be asking for his head on any number of counts. He also knew he would be receiving new orders, which he looked forward to. He never lingered in any port for more than a few days or perhaps a week.

His glance swept over his ship. The Defiance was a thirty-eight-gun frigate known for her speed and her agility, but mostly for her captain's outrageous and unconventional daring. He was well aware that the sight of his ship caused other ships to turn tail and run, hence his preference for pursuit at night. Now top men were high on both the fore and main masts, reefing sails. Fifty marines in their red coats stood stiffly at attendance, muskets in their arms, as the frigate cruised toward its berth. Other sailors stood with them, eager for the liberty he would soon grant. Forecastle men readied the ship's huge anchors. All in all, three hundred men stood upon the frigate's decks. Beyond the docks, where two state-of-the-line three deckers, several sloops, a schooner and two gunships were at birth, the spires and rooftops of London gleamed in the bright blue sky.

The past year had been a very lucrative one. A year of cruising from the Strait of Gibraltar to Algiers, from the Bay of Biscayne to the Portuguese coast. There'd been forty-eight prizes and more than five hundred captured crewmen. His duties had been routine-escorting supply convoys, patrolling coastal sh.o.r.elines, enforcing the blockade of France. Nights had been spent swooping upon unsuspecting French privateers, days lolling upon the high seas. He had been rather wealthy before this past year, but now, with this last prize, an American ship loaded with gold bullion, he was a very wealthy man, indeed.

And finally, a smile touched his lips.

But the boy trembled and remained afraid. The boy refused to go away. No amount of wealth, no amount of power, could be enough. And the boy had only to close his eyes to see his father's eyes, enraged and sightless in his severed head, there upon the Irish ground in a pool of his own blood.

Devlin had gone to sea three years after the Wexford uprising, with the Earl of Adare's permission and patronage. Adare had married his mother within the year, although his baby sister, Meg, had never been found. The earl had fabricated a naval history for Devlin, enabling him to start his career as a midshipman and not as the lowliest sailor far below decks. Devlin had quickly risen to the rank of lieutenant. Briefly he'd served on Nelson's flagship. At the Battle of Trafalgar, the captain of the sloop he was serving on had taken an unlucky hit and been killed instantly; Devlin had as quickly a.s.sumed command. The small vessel had only had ten guns, but she was terribly quick, and Devlin had snuck the Gazelle in under the leeward hull of a French frigate. With the French ship sitting so high above them, her every broadside had sailed right over the Gazelle. His own guns, at point-blank range, had torn apart the decks and rigging, crippling the bigger, faster ship immediately. He'd towed his prize proudly into Leghorn and shortly after had received a promotion to captain, his own command and a fast schooner, the Loretta.

He had only been eighteen.

There had been so many battles and so many prizes since then. But the biggest prize of all yet remained to be taken, and it did not exist upon the high seas of the world.

The heat of highly controlled rage, always broiling deep within him, simmered a bit more. Devlin ignored it. Instead of thinking of the future reckoning that would one day come with Harold Hughes, now the Earl of Eastleigh, he watched as the Defiance eased into its berth between a schooner and a gunship. Devlin nodded at his second in command, a brawny red-haired Scot, Lieutenant MacDonnell. Mac used the horn to announce a week's liberty. Devlin smiled a little as his men cheered and hollered, then watched his decks clear as if the signal to jump ship had been given. He didn't mind. His crew was top-notch. Some fifty of his men had been with him since he'd been given his first ship; half of his crew had been with him since the collapse of the Treaty of Tilsit. They were good men, brave and daring. His crew was so well-honed that no one hesitated even when his commands seemed suicidal. The Defiance had become the scourge of the seas because of their loyalty, faith and discipline.

He was proud of his crew.

Mac fell into step with him, looking uncomfortable in his naval uniform, which he seemed to have outgrown. Mac was Devlin's own age, twenty-four, and this past year he had bulked out. Devlin thought they made an odd duo-the short, broad Scot with the flaming hair, the tall, blond Irishman with the cold silver eyes.

"Ach, got to find me land legs," Mac growled.

Devlin smiled as the land heaved under them as high and hard as any storm swell. He clapped his shoulder. "Give it a day."

"That I shall, a day and seven, if you don't mind." Mac grinned. He had all his teeth and only one was rotten. "Got plans, Cap? I'm achin' meself for a l.u.s.ty wh.o.r.e. Me first stop, I tell you that." His laughter was bawdy.

Devlin was lenient with the men-like most ships' commanders, he allowed them their wh.o.r.es in port, but he preferred them to bring the women aboard, so the ship's surgeon could take a good look at them. He wanted his crew pox-free. "We were in Lisbon a week ago," he said mildly.

"Feels like a year," Mac grunted.

Devlin saw the post chaise waiting for him-he'd sent word to Sean by mail packet that he was on his way back. "Can I offer you a ride, Mac?"

Mac flushed. "Not goin' to town," he said, referring to the West End.

Devlin nodded, reminding him that he was expected back aboard the Defiance in a week's time to set sail at noon, with all three hundred of his men. His rate of desertion was almost zero, an astonishing fact that no one in the British navy could understand. But then, with so many spoils taken and shared, his crew were all well off.

Thirty minutes later the chaise was clipping smartly over London Bridge. Devlin stared at the familiar sights. After days spent in the wind and on the sea, or at exotic, sultry ports in the Mediterranean, North Africa and Portugal, the city looked dark and dirty, unclean. Still, he was a man who liked a beautiful woman and refused a common wh.o.r.e, and his wandering eye took in more than his fair share of elegant ladies in chaises, carriages and on foot, shopping in the specialty stores. His loins stirred. He had sent several letters ahead and one was to his English mistress. He fully expected to be entertained that night and all the week long.

The London offices of the Admiralty were on Brook Street in an imposing limestone building built half a century before. Officers, aides and adjutants were coming and going. Here and there, groups of officers paused in conversation. As Devlin pushed open the heavy wood doors and entered a vast circular lobby with a high-domed ceiling, heads began to turn his way. Portraits of the greatest admirals in British history adorned the walls, as did paintings of the greatest ships and battles. His mistress had once said his portrait would soon hang there, too. The conversation began to diminish. An eerie quiet settled over the lobby; Devlin was amused. He heard his name being whispered about.

"Captain O'Neill, sir?" A young lieutenant with crimson cheeks saluted him smartly from the bottom of the marble staircase.

Devlin saluted him rather casually back.

"I am to escort you to Admiral St. John, sir," the freckle-faced youth said. His flush had somehow deepened.

"Please do," Devlin remarked, unable to restrain a sigh. St. John was not quite the enemy-he disliked insubordination, but he knew the value of his best fighting captain. It was Admiral Farnham who wanted nothing more than to court-martial him and publicly disgrace him, and these days, he was egged on by Captain Thomas Hughes, the Earl of Eastleigh's son.