Ok, I'm going to put the Disclaimer in the last chapter...
Summary: In 1760's England, three daring sisters defy the conventions of their day-by boldly taking to the sea to champion noble causes. Each will meet a man who embraces both her beauty and her proud spirit. And each will find a love more precious than any pirate's treasure... THE HEART NEVER FORGETS Kagome Higurashi's turbulant childhood had made her certain of one thing: she would wed for security, even if it meant a loveless marriage to a wealthy Boston merchant. But her plans quickly went awry when the ship carrying her to her intended was raided by pirates-led by the only man she ever loved. Five years had passes since their swahbuckling days together, when Sesshomaru Tashio had treated her as little more than a younger sister. Now he's smuggling goods for the rebels of the American Revolution-and inspiring a shared passion as intense as the war that rages all around them. Still, Kagome has been promised to another-and she knows that her beloved Sesshomaru can never give her the security she yearns for. If only her heart would believe it...
Okay, on with it then...
Chapter One
One year later
Bleached canvas sails were raised, snapping taut, running the Maiden Fair before the wind. The sun burned against a piercing blue sky, the color so rich and bold Kagome had forgotten such brilliance existed. London was a beautiful city, but it dwelled beneath a perpetual ashen cloud-soot from too many chimneys and the incassant belching of smokstacks. But out here, riding the waves in the middle of the world, the oceans glittered like hammered gold tossed about in handful after giant handful.
It had been eight years since she'd stood on the deck of a ship, felt the rhythmic rock of wood fighting sea, heardd the flap of sails, the siren cries of gulls. Smelled the salty spray the wet her tongue. She'd never thought that to experience those things again; had, in fact, vowed to never experience then again. But here she was, on a ship by her own choosing, crossing the Atlantic and heading for her future. To the Americas, where her fiance awaited her.
She smiled and lifted her face into the warm breeze, letting the brackish air fill her lungs. She would have laughed out loud like a carefree child had it been proper, but since it wasn't she contented herself with simply smiling and reflecting on how unpredictable life could be. Disheartening one moment, meraculous the next.
A moan of pure agony drew her attention to the woman beside her. Frowning with worry, Kagome reached out, but quickly let her hand drop to her side. Once before she'd made the mistake of patting Kagura Akurei on the back and had recieved a tongue lashing for her effort. Life was not only unperdictable, it had a cruel sense of humor by confining her to Kagura's compamy for the five-week voyage to Boston.
"Did the dill weed tea I perpared for you not help?" Kagome asked, wincing whenthe woman's groan turned into a sucking gasp. The ship tipped leeward, then dropped into a stomach-clenching dive. Just as quickly, the deck righted itself to meet the next wave.
Holding onto the railing with a white-knuckled grip, Kagura shuddered, then clamped a shaking hand over her mouth. Lavender would have made a better remedy for seasickness, Kagome thought, troubled by the woman's continued illness, but there was none to be had on the Maiden Fair.
"Nothing will help except getting off this horrid ship." Kagura glared at Kagome as if faulting her for her wretched condition. Ever since they's sailed from London port three weeks past, Kagura's conplexion had been as green as her temper had been black. "I feel as if my stomach has twisted around my throat."
Her mouth pinche tight, and her face became even more drawn and pastly than before. Her brown hair, always perfectly smooth and coiled in the latest fashion, now clung in sweaty strands to her jaw and neck.
Though they had been far from being friends, Kagome couldn't help but feel sorry for the woman. Kagura hadn't wanted to make the voyage to the Americas. But after losing thier wager when Kagome was the first to become engaged, Lady Akurei thought it a grand idea for her daughter to take a trip abroad. Kagome had thought it odd that Lady Akurei had booked her daughter passage on the same ship that she sailed on. When she'd asked Kagura about the coincidence, she'd turned a cold shoulder and entered her cabin, slamming the door closed behind her.
"The cook might have some alfalfa," Kagome said to herself, clenching her hand to keep from reaching out to the woman. She couldn't stand to see anyone in pain-even someone who didn't like her. "I could make a-"
"Don't bother. I don't trust you or your tonics. You're probably trying to poison me."
Sighing, Kaogme contemplated the ocean once more, though it had suddenly lost its shimmer. She didn't fault Kagura for her spiteful remark. The woman had ben humiliated before all of England the night Kanna Kori hosted a ball announcing Kagome's engagement. Kanna had spoken the truth when she'd said everyone attended her mother's assemblies. Though secrectly, Kagura was partly blamed for her disgrace. Had the woman not baosted that she would find a husband while the poor, timid Kagome Gathered dust on the shelf, her loss might not have been so traumatic.
But Kagome had not only won the wager, she'd poured salt on Kagura wound by becoming engaged to the very man Kagura had set her sites on.
She bit down on her lip, still felling guilty over that fact. She'd met Lord Naraku Akuma, viscount of kensale, at a garden party Kikyo and Inuyasha had given. He'd arrived with Kagura and her family, making it clear that he'd intended to court her. But when Inuyasha had introduced Kagome to the viscount as his sister, the tides had turned. Within days, Lord Kensale had begun appearing at Inuyasha's home fior dinner, and on the grounds to accompany her on her afternoon walks. She'd discouraged his attentions, but her persistence, and his assurance that he had never intended to offer for Kagura, had worn her down. But the fact was, she'd had a hard time resisting his charm.
Naraku Akuma was the epitome of nobility with his blue blood, his heratage, his tall, lithe body and patrician nose. He had deep-set, blood-red eyes that had the power to capture and hold. His manners that were beyond impeccable. She still couldn't believe that he'd chosen her to be his wife. Her dowry of fifty-thousand pounds had swayed him heavily in her favor, of course. But it was the ties to Inuyasha's business in trade that Naraku valued most. Such a bond would undoubtedly help the shipbuilding enterprise he'd started in the colonies.
The arrangement didn't bother her in the least, at least not very much; they were both bringing things of value into the marriage. She a dowry and connections; he the security and respectability she craved.
Within two months, she would become viscountess of Kensale. Just the thought of how close her dream was from being fulfilled made her smile. She didn't know Naraku as well as she would have liked, nor did she love him-a fact that upset both her sisters, who werew madly in love with both their husbands and argued she shouldn't marry for anything less. But she liked him, just as he likes her. Caring would grow after time, and if they were lucky, love would follow.
Because of Naraku's schedule the wedding would take place in Medford, atown north of Boston, so all of Massachusetts's society could attend. It was almost too good to be true. Everything would be perfect. Even the name of her new home sounded like a fairy tale. White Rose. Naraku had assured her it was as beautiful and grand as its name.
Feeling her smile fade, she took a deep, fortifying breath. She would have felt better if her sisters had been able to make the trip eith her. But Sango was exspecting her first child, and her husband, Miroku, had refused to let her travel. Kikyo had stayed behind to see Dango through the birthing.
The birth of a neice or nepfew I might never know. She brushed the anxious thought away. She would see her family again, and when she did, she just might have her own baby to intorduce.
Lifting her face into the wind and closing her eyes, Kagome recalled the worry in Miroku's eye as he held onto his wife, afraid she might fall on the slippery dock when they'd come to see Kagome off. Would Naraku be so concerned for her?
She opened her eyes and blinked against the sharp rays of sunlight. She couldn't imagine her fiance fretting on her behalf. It took a man foolishly in love to behave so.
And she wasn'tmarrying for love; she refused to. At a young age she'd not only learned how dangerous life could be, she'd learned how much it hurt to love someone, desperately, with all her heart, and not have that love returned. If only Sesshomaru-
Stiffening her spine, Kagome cut off the thought, reminding herself that this was the beginning of the most wonderful time of her life; she was on the brink of having everything she ever wanted. She wouldn't spoil it by wishing for something that could never be.
"Admit it, Kagome," Kagura demanded as she clung to the ship's rail, fighting to stay on her feet. "You're enjoying my Disgrace."
"That's not true."
"You can stop your virtuous act. We're in the middle of a godforsaken ocean. It's time you showed your true colors."
"You don't feel well, Kagura. You don't know what you're saying."
"Don't I?" With a shaky laugh, she ran the back of her hand over her damp brow. "You can pretend to be one of us, but you can't disquise what you really are."
Kagome shook her head, wanting to stop whatever the eoman meant to say next. Though she could have guessed what was coming. Kagura knew about Kagome's past-as did all of England.
"You're a pirate." She spat the last word like a curse. "A thief. Why you and your sisters haven't been run out of England, Or beheaded, is beyond me."
"That's all in the past, Kagura. The king pardoned us," Kagome said, knowing the pardon could have come for God Himself and people like Kagura still wouldn't of cared.
Nor did they care about the reasons that had driven her and her sisters to pirating in the first place. They only saw the rough, violent life she'd led, the cargo she'd stolen-from some of them personally-the laws she'd broken that were punishable by hanging. A sentance she and her sisters would have recieved if not for Inuyasha,whose love for Kikyo had saved them all.
A cold tremor ran over her skin. Try as she might to ignore her fears, she could never escape her past intirely. Kagura's accusation forsed her anxiety into the open, forced her to look at it and remeber when all she wanted to do was forget. Kikyo had always taken precautions during thier time at sea, but Sango had been wild and reckless, always searching for a fight. And Sesshomaru, he's loved the sea and the freedom it gave him. Of all of them, he had loved thier nomatic life the most.
she squeezed her eyes closed. She couldn't think about Sesshomaru again, or how much she once loved him. That time is over, she firmly told herself. Over and buried. I'm to be married soon. I'll have a husband, a home . . .
Truning away, Kagome headed for the bow as it pitched it's nose into the air. The sea swelled and rolled the hull beneath her feet. Behind her, she heard a dyingmoan that ended with an unladylike curse. An old reprimand sprang to her lips; cursing hadn't been allowed abroad thier pirate ship, Sea Queen, but she didn't think Kagura would care to be admonished right now.
Folding her hands at her waist and adjusting her step to the ship's sway, she kept walking.
"I'm not finished with you yet," Kagura called after her.
Kagome blew out a breath when her heard the sound of unsteady footsteps. She hoped it was one of the crew following her, but she knew the men to be barefoot, wearing their traditional wide-legged sailors pants and dirty striped shirts. Not soft leather boots with dainty little heels. Reaching the bow, she kept her face into the wind, not caring that her hair pulled loose of its twisted knot to tangle behind her. She must fix it soon, she thought distantly; a lady never allowed herself to be seen with her hair undone-regardless that grubby sailors were the only ones to see it.
"I don't see what Naraku sees in you," Kagura said, the desperation in her voice tugging at Kagome'd guilt. "You must have lied to him. He know you're a pirate-"
Was a pirate, Kagome wanted to interject. A long, long time ago.
"-I told him about the horrid things you've done. What fib did you tell him? He's an honorable man. He never would have asked for you unless you tricked him with a lie." Angry tears shimmered in Kagura's eyes. "He shoudl be my fieance. Mine!"
"I'm sorry, Kagura."
"I don't want your pity."
"I told him the truth." Kagome wished her voice were stronger, wished there were some way she could lessen the woman's anger and obvious pain. The only way to do that was to break off her engagment with Naraku, and that she couldn't do.
"You version of the truth, which is no truth at all."
Kagome held her tongue, realizing it would do no good to repeat what she told Naraku. He hadn't asked about her past, but she'd felt compelled to explain. If they were to have a happy life together, he had to know everything, beginning with the day a horrific storm nearly distroyed Dunmore, the fishing village where she'd been born. A pirate ship had washed into their cove, frighting then with it's sheer size and presence. Would they be attacked and murdered? Or meerly robbed of what few belongings they had left? But the vessel had been abandoned, a floating ghost ship.
Her village had been on the verge of starvation. With their crops destroyed by the king's soldiers and their fishing boats sitting at the bottom of the North Sea, the elders had desided to abandon their homes and move to London. Kikyo had opposed their decision, terrified they's all become beggars, living in the streets. But there hadn't been any other alternative.
Except for the Sea Queen.
Pirating had seemed an unlikely option for three young sisters and a handful of aging men, but they'd set sail nonetheless, saving Dunmore and their homes. Their very lives.
At the time it had seened like their only choice, but now, Kagome wondered if there hadn't been another path they could have chosen, one that wouldn't have put them at such a risk. Feeling Kagura's spitful glare she pushed the thought away. There was nothing to be doone about her past now, she reaffirmed. And it didn't matter now. She would be a married woman sioon, and Naraku didn't care about her past as a pirate.
"England might know about your escapades on board the Sea Queen," he'd told her before sailing to America two months ago, secure that she would soon join him. "But no one in Bostoin need know."
He wanted to forget about her past as much as she did. For that alone, she could come to love him. She would have her new beginning. Only two more weeks and she'd be reuinited with her fiance. A week following that, she would be his wife. She'd have her new life, her new husband and her own special place to belong. For the first time ever, everything would be perfect.
Kagura's sharp toungue could threaten her happiness, but fortunately Kagura wasn't staying in Medford, rahter traveling futher south to a town called Abington where she had relatives.
Desiding it was best to ignore her, Kagome focused on the horizon. The seas were becoming restless, gathering force with the surging wind. Tilting her head back, she studied the sky. When she'd been little more than a child on board the Sea Queen, she'd had a way of predicting the weather, knowing if brewing clouds held a storm, or just a fiistful of wind.
A band of thin, hazy white clouds had gathered off to the east, building speed beneath the dazzling blue sky. Behind them, hours away yet, thicker, peat-colored clouds billowed like soup bubbling in a cook pot.
"Shortly after nightfall," Kagome mused out loud. "Or it could strike as late as midnight." Kagome had to warn Captain Peters to batten down the ship.
"What did you say?" Kagura Demanded.
Kagome glanced at the woman and noted that while her mouth was still pinched tight, color had returned to her cheeks. Evidently her anger had taken her mind off her sick stomach. "You should go below and get some rest. A storm is coming."
The fire drained from Kagura's cheeks. She glared at the sky. "You're just trying to frighten me. The day couldn't be any clearer."
Off the starboard side, Kagome spotted a flash of white canvas, another ship on the same heading as the Maiden Fair. She watched it struggle against the building waves, it's three masses full of sail, driving the vessel at a reckless pace. She'd lived through too many stroms to know that this was just the beginning. The captain other the other ship nedded to furl her sails, bring his ship under control or he'd never survive.
The nerves in her stomach pulled tight. This was my last time at sea. Once I reach Boston, nothing will ever make me go near the ocean again.
"Excuse me," Kagome said absently, alternately watching the other vessel and the sky. "I need to speak with the captain."
Leaving the woman gaping after her, Kagome made a list of things that needed to be done to secure the Maiden Fair. A list she made out of habit. It suprised her how readily her long-forgotten duty came back to her. Though tension coiled in the back of her neck, she was relieved that in this instant her experience would serve her well.
She was going to reach Boston and marry Naraku Akuma, she vowed, and nothing, not Kagura's animosity or a tampermental storm, was going to stop her.