Below the Mast

Jessica Lindley doesn't know who or what she hated more, London, England, English society or her mother. She longs to return to her father in the Virginia Colony. Lydia Lindley left her father ten years before taking her twelve-year-old daughter with her. She now insists Jessica choose a husband or she will choose one for her. Her mother wants her to wed a titled and wealthy lord. Jessica has other ideas. She wants a man who stirs her heart. A man she can love. She spots a man that intrigues her at her best friend's ball but doesn't get to meet him before he leaves. Morgan Delacroix returns to London in search of a wife. He lives most of his life at sea despite the fast is heir to an Earldom. At the Gilchrist Ball, he turns to see a lovely young woman staring at him. He can't seem to get her out of his mind, but it doesn't matter for he sails for the Colonies soon. Jessica receives word her father, Ezra Lindley, is dying and a ship waits for her at the London Docks. Jessica takes matters into her own hands. She sneaks out of the house with her maid. Her mother's coachman helps them to make it to her father's ships in time to sails with the midnight tide. After several weeks at sea, Jessica Anne is stopped by a Man 'O War. The Argonaut, Captain Edward Brant boards the Merchantman with the intent of impressing some of her sailors. Jessica stands up to the Captain and he leaves empty-handed. He is angry but the fiery woman interests him enough to seek her out in Virginia. When Jessica finally arrives in Alexandra, Virginia, she finds her father bedridden and her half-brother, John, at his side. Her father has built her a ship based on her designs. A war with England is on the horizon and he wants her to sail the seas as a privateer. Ezra worries that Lydia would get her hands on his daughter again and force her into a distasteful marriage. He arranges a betrothal with Morgan Delacroix. Although Jessica would have liked a say in the matter, she is not displeased. Captain Brant is Morgan's cousin and wants nothing more than Morgan's death. In his mind, his cousin is a rival for the Earldom and now for Jessica Lindley. Morgan marries Jessica at her father's bedside before Ezra dies. After the funeral, both ships take to the sea. With the increased presence of English ships blockading the port and more ships arriving every day with troops, Morgan wants Jessica to stay in Alexandria. No one gives her orders. Not even her husband. She takes her ship out and is captured by the Argonaut. Due to an innovative design, the crew escapes imprisonment in the hole. They take back control of the ship. Can two small brigantines take on an unsinkable Man 'O War and survive? Will Jessica and Morgan realize they love each other before it is too late?