Miss Minerva's Pirate Mishap by Maggie Dallen (to read list .TXT) 📗

efforts during her father’s lessons in self-defense. She doubted her father ever expected her to put those lessons to use, she herself certainly hadn’t expected to need them.

She straightened to her full height as she faced his quiet laughter. No, perhaps she was not delicate or dazzling like Abigail. Or demure like Hattie or charming like Rebecca. But she didn’t care what he thought of her.

She’d fought him once and she’d fight him again if the need arose.

His smile broadened as if he could read her mind and he gestured toward the front doors. “Come, let me see you to your home.”

“I do not need an escort through my own town, Mr. Haversaw.” She glanced around pointedly. “This might be a tavern, but it is not filled with strangers.” She turned and gave a little wave, turning back with a smile of her own when a handful of men returned the greeting, their gazes filled with curiosity but no malice. “So you see, Mr. Haversaw. I know every gentleman in this establishment...except for you.”

“Ah.” His gaze turned calculating. “I do indeed see what you mean.”

She blinked. She wasn’t entirely sure what he saw as he seemed to be thinking something else entirely.

“You know everyone here,” he repeated. He said it slowly and she could practically see his mind at work.

She pursed her lips. Why did it seem as though she were no longer in control here? “That’s correct,” she said. “But that is not the point. The point is that I am here for answers—”

“And answers you shall have.” His grin was nothing short of rakish as he leaned in toward her.

She leaned back as he invaded her space. She was in no danger from this man, not surrounded by so many acquaintances, but that did not stop her heart from racing at his proximity. “Really?”

“Truly,” he said. “But it is not a discussion for this place. Please...” He took off his hat again and held it to his heart, his eyes holding a clear question. “Allow me to walk you home.”

She considered it for all of a heartbeat. Would people talk if the visiting stranger was to walk her and Abigail home? No doubt. But she’d already overheard her father explaining this man’s presence in town as an old friend of the family, and so she assumed she was supposed to be acquainted with him. It only made sense, did it not?

Somehow she did not think her father would relish this way of thinking. But then again, he would not be particularly pleased to discover she’d tracked Mr. Haversaw to this tavern and gone inside to confront him.

She bit her lip. Ah, well. In for a penny, in for a pound.

Dipping her head in acknowledgment, she murmured, “Very well, then.”

She was well aware of the looks she and Mr. Haversaw received as he led her to the door, Abigail and Caleb trailing behind. The moment they stepped through the doors onto the main street that ran through the center of town, they both blinked at the glaring sunlight.

And then Mr. Haversaw tripped over children.

“Oh, I, uh—” He stopped and stared down at little Nicholas as though he’d never seen a child before. “I beg your pardon.”

Minerva pressed her lips together and just barely held back a laugh at his overly formal tone with the child. Nicholas’s compatriots surrounded him as they all eyed the stranger in town with wide eyes.

She couldn’t say that she blamed them. Mr. Haversaw certainly was a striking figure. Even groomed and in clean attire, he looked as though he’d stepped off the pages of some illustrated children’s book filled with larger than life heroes and dastardly villains.

She cast him a sidelong glance. Oh yes, he would certainly be cast as the villain.

He shuffled to the side as though he needed to give the children a wide berth. She choked on a laugh as he reached for her arm as if she might need assistance navigating this new youthful peril.

But if his response to the children was stiff and formal, that was nothing compared to Caleb’s reaction. He and Abigail exited the tavern right after them, only to be rushed by the small crew of little ones who flocked about Abigail as though they were sheep and she their shepherdess. Abigail greeted them with her usual cheery smile. “Well, if it isn’t my little army.”

They beamed.

Caleb scowled.

He backed away from them with a fierce glare that they either didn’t see or studiously ignored. Minerva watched in fascination as the largest and most terrifying man she’d ever encountered backpedaled away from the children as though they carried the plague.

“Call off your mutts,” he growled to Abigail.

“I beg your pardon.” She arched her brows in surprise.

He straightened to his full height as Janie, a little girl of six or seven years of age, came up to his knee and tilted her head back to grace him with a toothless smile. “Do you have any sweets?”

The man looked to Mr. Haversaw in confusion before scowling down at the girl. “Don’t you know you shouldn’t talk to strangers?” He made a shooing motion that did nothing to faze the girl. “Go! Get on with you.”

“Come along, Janie,” Abigail said, grasping the little girl’s hand and leading the small gang away from the two strange men.

“What’s wrong with those kids?” The large man growled. “They should be afraid of me. The little fools.”

Minerva swallowed another laugh as she tried to explain. “I’m afraid your growling and your glares will do no good with this lot, Mr. Caleb—”

“Just Caleb,” Mr. Haversaw interrupted as Abigail led her army toward the street, already heading back toward home where their sisters would surely be eagerly awaiting them.

“Caleb, then.” Minerva flashed the large man what she hoped was a reassuring smile. “You see, they trust Abigail completely. If she approves of you then they will never fear you.”

Caleb grunted. “Then perhaps your sister is the fool.”

Minerva smiled. “Perhaps. But I don’t think so.” She leaned