Her Wicked Captain: The River Rogues, Book 1 Read Online Free Page A

intends to invite us, Sarah.”
    Compared to the excitement of bustling Memphis, Posey Hollow was no doubt the end of the earth for Rory and his crew. Not in the outpost three hours and they were bored already, probably praying for rain.
    She’d been searching the sky for a flood herself ever since the moment she’d recognized Rory.
    “He’s already invited us! He’s invited the whole town, but especially the girls. ’Cause he says the boys on the boat don’t see many women as they travel, and they enjoy dancin’ whenever they can.”
    Footsteps caught Dell’s ear. She glanced around the clothing to see Jeremiah slowly circling the barrels of goods, his hands twisting together behind his back while he watched two farmers warily.
    Time to go.
    “We’ll talk about it later, Sarah.” Signaling her friend with a wave, she then looped her arm through her cousin’s to guide her toward the door. “We need to get back before Ephraim arrives for supper.”
    “I hope you decide to go,” Sarah chirped, grinning ear to ear, “’cause Captain Campbell said to be sure and bring you too.”
    Dell faltered before managing to hide her surprise. She wondered who’d brought her up in conversation—mouthy Sarah or Rory. Perhaps he’d suddenly remembered her.
    If only she had enough money to run away and go to the Cumberland School now. Rosemary Hughes, a schoolmistress who’d passed through Posey Hollow last year, had done just that. She’d said she’d taken everything she owned and got on a stage and rode north. If Rosemary Hughes could do it, why couldn’t she?
    Thinking of the new threat to her peace, she left the store, completely forgetting Jeremiah who’d stayed to pay for Ephraim’s goods. He followed them several yards down the woodsy path toward their house unnoticed until he called out.
    “Will you make it home all right, Miss Dell?”
    “Yes. Of course.” Smiling, she waved goodbye to her friend.
    Doubt clouded his expression as he reluctantly turned away.
    Did she appear so frightened by Sarah’s news? Was it so obvious?
    This was unacceptable. She couldn’t turn-tail and run, quaking in her boots like some silly chit who’d just wandered into the middle of a bull’s pasture. This was her town, her patrons, and she shouldn’t allow a foolhardy man’s poor navigational skills to spoil her hard-won peace.
    She shouldn’t and she wouldn’t.
    She would reason with him, asking him to honor their past friendship with his silence. Hadn’t he protected her in the past?
    Yes. A memory resurfaced of Rory and her running through the riverboat dining room and Quintus’s china breaking. The boy took the blame then, as well as the whipping, but growing up in that den of gamblers and sin, he wouldn’t likely be so kind now.
    If he wouldn’t respect her wishes, she must make him be silent.

Chapter Four
    The town of Posey Hollow consisted of six ramshackle buildings on the side of a hill overlooking the river, but it took Rory two full hours to locate the apothecary. The only reason he’d found the doctor’s home, a pig farm in the woods, was Mrs. Violet Sharpe, the merchant’s wife. Although she didn’t stock the medicine Rory needed behind her counter, she knew where to get it, and with a few compliments and a wink, Rory procured the directions along with several cans of beans and corn for the crew.
    Asa, his youngest crewmember at twelve years old, suffered chronic malaria. The outbreaks could be contained, but not without the right medicine.
    Outside the doctor’s barn, Rory maneuvered around the nervous pigs, holding the tiny brown bottle of the famous Dr. Sappington’s Miraculous Fever Cure high in the sunlight. He studied it carefully, making sure there wasn’t any sediment in the liquid. He’d found in past dealings with drug merchants there was also a chance of the apothecary diluting the quinine—or just plain faking it.
    He took out his folding dirk to open the bottle. When he had the