Miss Abigail's Beastly Beau by Maggie Dallen (amazing books to read TXT) 📕

openly because Roger was there. He looked just as crazed as ever. Though even unshaven and ill-kempt, he was handsome.

If one liked crazed, smug gentlemen.

Abigail glanced over at Caleb. It seemed she was far more prone to the tall, broad, growling type herself.

“Are you alone?” Roger asked, his gaze darting this way and that as if a band of officers might have been hiding in the weeds at their feet. If there’d been any doubt about his level of desperation, one glance at him now ought to have confirmed it.

She turned to look at Caleb with arched brows. See?

He gave a hmmph, and it seemed to be one of amusement.

Oh yes, he was definitely enjoying this.

A flicker of fear had her biting her lip, but that fear had nothing to do with Roger. Rather, she had a moment of doubt about Caleb. About what he wanted for his future, to be precise.

She frowned. Perhaps that kiss hadn’t meant as much as she’d thought, after all. Perhaps his love of the sea and danger outweighed any affection he might feel for her.

“Will you help me?” Roger’s voice was hoarse, his words a plea as he reached them.

Caleb crossed his arms. “That depends. What information can you give me?”

Roger straightened and Abigail caught a glimpse of the man she’d known before all this madness. The upright, confident officer who’d set his sights on Minerva. “I know who’s behind the thievery.” He arched a brow. “I also have the information of the smuggling ring in London.”

Caleb grunted. “If that’s true, why don’t you try your luck with the captain. He might take pity on you. Grant you some leniency if you give them cause.”

Roger’s nostrils flared and annoyance made his handsome features contort. “The captain would be more apt to murder me than help me if he were to find out what I know.”

His gaze flickered over to Abigail and she stiffened as she instinctively lifted the knife, which still felt too heavy and unwieldy in her hand. Caleb shifted so he was partially in front of her. His presence was reassuring, and she found herself narrowing her eyes at Roger. “My father is not a murderer.”

Much to her annoyance, his response was a smirk that made her insides churn with foreboding. “No,” Roger drawled. “Your father might not be a murderer.” His smile was slow and sickening. “But your mother is.”

Chapter 10

Caleb turned in time to see the blood drain from Abigail’s face, but she did not swoon and she did not cower. Instead, she shifted so she was standing beside him, her shoulders back and her spine stiff.

Caleb’s first instinct was to tackle this cad to the ground and beat him to a bloody pulp for Abigail’s sake, but her voice broke the shocked silence and he’d never heard it so filled with venom. “You are insane.”

“Am I?” Roger shot back.

Caleb’s hands clenched into fists and he growled. The sound had Roger’s attention back on him, and his face grew nearly as pale as Abigail’s. Even more satisfying was the way his smug smile faded fast.

“Spewing lies won’t help your cause,” Caleb said.

“It’s not lies.” Roger looked offended, which might have been funny in any other situation. As it was, his Abigail was being hurt by this man.

Which meant this man clearly had to die.

To both men’s surprise, it seemed—Abigail laughed. Caleb turned to her in alarm. It wasn’t a jovial sound, but a mix of shock and disbelief. “Roger, my mother is dead.”

Roger’s answer was a baleful stare. “You know as well as I do that’s not true.”

Caleb also knew that she knew that it wasn’t true, but her attempt at a lie was admirable. Unfortunately, his Abigail had little experience with lying and it was not her greatest strength. She dropped the pretense quickly, waving the dagger like one might a white flag. “All right, very well. So you’ve caught on to our family’s dirty little secret. She left us.” Her voice didn’t even waver, and Caleb felt a surge of pride.

Minerva might have inherited a love of adventure, but no one could deny Abigail’s own sort of bravery. Her courage to keep moving forward no matter how difficult the circumstances. The ability to forgive a man who’d held her hostage. The nearly unfathomable way she was able to find the good in everyone.

Even a brute like him.

Caleb stared at her profile, marveling at this woman whose heart was bigger than anyone else’s in the world, he’d wager.

“Your father’s secret is more than you know,” Roger said.

Abigail huffed in exasperation. “If you mean to blackmail your way onto a ship out of port, you’ve chosen the wrong tack, I assure you.” Her tone was almost pitying as she added, “No one would take your word over Father’s. And even if they did, it is no crime to have a wife walk out on him and his family.”

“Ah...” Roger’s expression was so knowing it made Caleb want to shove a fist down his throat just to wipe it away. “But that’s where you’re wrong, Abigail. Your mother didn’t just leave your family. Your father sent her away because he’d discovered she was a traitor.”

Abigail stilled. “You’re lying.”

“I’m not.” Roger looked entirely too pleased with himself—until Caleb growled again. Roger glanced over, took one look at Caleb’s expression, and hurried on. “And what’s more, after she left, she took up with a band of pirates.”

“Stop it.” Abigail’s voice was tight and colder than Caleb had ever heard. “You have no right to be speaking of my family this way.”

“But that is why I’m here.” Roger threw his hands out wide. His gaze darted from Abigail to Caleb and back again. “You wished to know who was behind the pirates’ ring that has been gaining a stronghold on these shores, did you not?”

Caleb stared at the man, temporarily shocked into silence. It seemed Abigail was suffering the same stunned shock beside him.

“You cannot mean...” she started.

Caleb turned to her in