The golden goose kenelm.., p.1
The Golden Goose (Kenelm Chronicles 01),
p.1
The Golden Goose
The Kenelm Chronicles
Book One
By
Felicia Rogers
The Golden Goose
The Kenelm Chronicles, Book One
Copyright ©2017 by Felicia Rogers
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever.
Contact Information:
Website: http://feliciarogersauthor.weebly.com
Email: feliciarogersauthor@yahoo.com
Published by:
Felicia Rogers
Cover Design by For the Muse Designs
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Table of Contents
Other works by Felicia Rogers
Prologue: The Last Hooray
Chapter One: Unexpected Events
Chapter Two: Discoveries
Chapter Three: Rose???
Chapter Four: The Island
Chapter Five: The Natives
Chapter Six: My Wife
Chapter Seven: The Ceremony
Chapter Eight: Choices
Chapter Nine: The Golden Goose
Chapter Ten: Saving Us
Author’s Note
Excerpt from The Silver Moon
Excerpt from The Case of the Missing Cross
Other works by Felicia Rogers
Stand alone works:
The Holiday Truce
All I Have
A Month in Cologne
Andrews Brothers
The Ruse
The Rescue
Southern Hearts Series
Millicent
Amelia
Cora
“Justice” and Miss Quinn Mysteries
The Case of the Missing Cross
The Case of the Puppet Constable
The Case of the Secret Love
The Case of the Chinese Boxes
The Case of the Hidden Treasure
The Case of the Lost Island
The Kenelm Chronicles
The Golden Goose
The Silver Moon
The Bronze Heart (2017)
Meaningful Numbers Series
One of Forty
One of Twelve
One of Three
The Haywood Brothers
Love for All (2017)
The Board Series by F. A. Rogers
(novellas are listed in order)
Maralie
Reuben
Vanessa
Simon
Darla
Daniel
Irving
Levi
Francesca
Benjamin
James
The Return to Eden’s Hollow
Prologue: The Last Hooray
Kenelm sipped at his drink and watched the flow of people. All the important people of the ton were about.
Fortescue Cunning, Baron of Eure, entertained a crowd of important gentlemen, while Eudora hung on his arm. The baron should be in gaol for what he’d done to Magnolia, or under the gaol, which held much more appeal.
Magnolia and Justin were in attendance, as well. They’d only been married a short time and had recently returned from their honeymoon. Quite honestly, he was surprised to see them there. But since Justin Blakemoor had decided to help with the family business, he would need to make contacts. What better way than to hang out with influential people?
Gasps shot through the room. Kenelm turned his focus with the majority. The hostess had entered and held out her arms in welcome. Captain Vernon Shelby walked straight into them.
Now he understood the reaction, and shared it. What was he doing here? He’d kidnapped Magnolia and left her to die on an island. Now two were in attendance that deserved the gaol. Was there no law and order in this town?
Kenelm lowered his glass to the table and fisted his hands at his sides. Justin wasn’t even moving to protect his wife. If he were in Justin’s shoes, he would…
But even though he’d greeted her, Shelby wasn’t looking at their hostess; he had a different focus. Magnolia. She had recognized his gaze, for a flush crept along her cheeks that matched the fiery red of her gown.
The truth hit Kenelm like a cannonball to the gut. She’d wanted him to come. But how? Why?
Too curious to stay away, Kenelm moved closer.
The crowd hushed behind Magnolia as Shelby released himself from the hostess and strutted toward her.
“You came.”
“I did.” His smile broadened.
Kenelm feared he’d be sick in the potted plant he hid behind. Magnolia had asked her kidnapper to come?
She tilted one shoulder upward. “Why?”
“Hmm, let’s see. A beautiful woman requested my presence on a mission of upmost importance. The same woman I left stranded on a small island with minimal food and water.”
“Why did you do that?”
He shrugged. “I could have done much worse.”
“True.” She tapped a finger to her lip.
“Now, please tell me this mission. The longer I stay on English soil, the more likely I am to be arrested.”
There was a mission? Kenelm nearly pushed through the potted plant. Why hadn’t his assistance been asked for? He’d rescued her and her husband from certain death and returned her to her family, when he could have had her arrested for what she’d done to his family home.
“You knew this and still you came?”
Shelby smoothed a hair away from her face. Kenelm barely kept his temper in check. How could Justin sit idly by and let Shelby touch Magnolia? If it was his woman, no man would touch her.
“I did it because I believe I know why you requested my presence.”
“You do?”
“You want me to give up Cunning.”
“I do. And…” she let the word linger for a moment, “I’ve discussed the situation with the constable and he has agreed to drop all charges against you—”
“If I give up Cunning.”
She nodded.
He ran his hand through his thick hair and then took ahold of her hands. “I shall do so for you. I owe you for my boorish behavior.” He traced the scar on her cheek. “For what happened to Blakemoor and to you.”
“Thank you.” The words seem to catch in her throat.
Kenelm wanted to punch Shelby in the face. He had no right to touch Magnolia, no right to even breathe the same air as her!
“As a wedding gift…” He dropped her hands and moved away.
Vernon strolled across the room toward the constable. Kenelm noticed secret glances between Magnolia and Justin as if the entire moment had been staged.
Constable Roskin narrowed his eyes and stared across the room as Shelby whispered and pointed. Roskin motioned to several gentlemen standing behind him. Another potted palm shook in its pot and a lady cried out as Constable Roskin and his men grabbed Fortescue Cunning despite his violent protests.
Cunning narrowed his eyes as he passed Magnolia. “I don’t know how you did it, but you’ll never prove my complicity in any crime.”
She smiled. “Don’t worry about a thing, my lord. All has already been proven.”
Cunning’s eyes widened as he was escorted from the room.
Kenelm didn’t wait to witness any more. Obviously Magnolia was in good hands—not his, but good ones.
He slipped from the party unnoticed. Magnolia hadn’t even seen him, just as he’d planned. She thought he’d already left for places unknown, and he would have if not for Cunning. The man deserved his comeuppance. While Justin and Magnolia had been off on their honeymoon, he’d tried to catch the gentleman in the act of some arrestable event, but the baron had kept his nose clean, at least in public.
Now that Kenelm’s reason for staying had disappeared, it was time to begin his employment with the shipping company. Running fabrics to Spain wouldn’t be so bad. He’d be back on the sea—his first love.
At least there his heart would never be harmed again.
Chapter One: Unexpected Events
Seven years later
1825
Wind lifted the hair from his neck. The sails billowed out and the ship’s pace increased as she leaned into the wind. The mainland had disappeared days ago. Weather permitting, his destination would be within sight soon.
Deckhands swabbed the foredeck. Lefty, the cook, prepared a minimal meal below. Others worked on rigging or took their shift sleeping. He kept watch—constantly.
Mother hadn’t been pleased when he’d announced his intent to return to a life at sea seven years ago that day. She’d hoped to prevent such an action by thrusting Magnolia Quinn, now Blakemoor, upon him. Magnolia had been a powerful draw, he wouldn’t lie, but her heart had always belonged to another. He’d not stood a chance of wooing the young socialite. There had been other ladies, but none as interesting as her. None that compared.
Now there he was, still captain of a rented vessel, hoping and praying to discover his own treasure. It was the only way he would ever acquire his own ship, now that the French wars were finally over and the days of seizing prizes gone with them.
And a ship of his own was what he wanted most in the world. Women had failed him. Men had failed him. The only thing left for him was
“Captain, the wind be whipping up. Should we lower the sails or turn about?”
The wind’s direction might carry them slightly off course; however, he had already acquired Mr. Necome’s cargo of fabric and he’d been vying for a new adventure. His final destination wasn’t going anywhere and he got no bonuses for being early.
“Give her her head, Mr. Stevens. Let’s see what she can do.”
By nightfall, he realized his mistake. A squall raged around them, tossing the ship about like a chess piece. All headings and bearings had been lost as they drifted further and further from his goal. The rigging had to be secured, the hatches battened down, the lifeboats towed in line. Then the only thing left to do would be to wait for the storm to pass so they could decipher their location and find their way back to land before they ran out of stores.
****
Rose pushed the kerchief up a fraction and wiped sweat from her brow. The heat caused the binding around her midsection to itch worse than usual. When the captain turned away she would rub her back on one of the rough poles, but not until then. Her secret needed to be preserved. If anyone aboard suspected she was a…
“Swabbie!”
She stood at attention.
“This is the cleanest deck I’ve ever seen. Now, go help in the kitchen.”
She dipped her chin and reminded herself not to curtsy.
Rats scurried past her feet on her way to the kitchen and she fought revulsion. The mess she was in was unconscionable, but there she was.
When her own vessel had been boarded years ago, she’d only had two options — be captured as a high-class lady or as a low-class serving boy. When she’d chosen the second, she hadn’t realized the accommodations she’d be forced to endure or the length of time she’d have to carry the disguise. If she ever escaped, and she’d tried multiple times, she was traveling to Rome, renting an entire bath house, and staying in the water for a month.
“Swabbie, grab that tray.”
Virgil was ready for her. The tray weighed at least fifty pounds. The contents shook with her every step. Smells of baked mutton and broiled potatoes tantalized her senses. Too bad she would be consuming other fare. Probably rotted potatoes, weevil-filled bread, and putrid water. What she wouldn’t give for a glass of wine. Perhaps butter smeared on a slice of fresh bread baked from Trudy’s kitchen. Trudy, her father’s cook, had been marvelous. On the rare occasion that Rose had snuck to the kitchen for a snack, Trudy had had something waiting for her. She’d always wondered how Trudy knew she was coming.
She reached the narrow stairwell and laid the tray on the rungs and pushed. She’d used the method on a few occasions to help bear the heavy load. One good wave and the tray would fly through the air and scatter the contents. Hopefully today wasn’t the day for that. Crew members had been lashed for less. And that was one activity that would surely give away her farce.
The ship careened sideways and Rose steadied the tray. Shouts echoed from the deck above. Whatever was happening didn’t sound good.
Legs trembling, she scurried up the last few steps, pushing the tray before her. She would get in trouble for leaving it behind, no matter what was causing the commotion.
A sword sailed through the air and embedded in the timber railing supporting the mainmast. Her nose burned from how close it had come to striking her. She dropped down, the tray falling, contents scattering across the deck. Crew members shoved her aside as they raced toward the railing. She had no intention of being involved in a fray. Whether a pirate had come to take the vessel or not was immaterial to her, except for how it might help her escape.
She slipped on the slick deck and hid beneath a piece of canvas that had been hung to dry. She would await her opportunity.
“We are taking over this vessel! I’ll teach you to attack a private ship!”
Her heart leapt to her throat. She’d heard that voice before. She knew it. She lifted the canvas and peered out.
Standing on the railing and holding a rigging line was a man with long dark hair, considerably longer than she remembered. Muscles bulged behind the thin material of his white blouse. He’d gotten larger since she’d seen him last. And darker. His skin was a golden bronze.
She moved her gaze to his face and swallowed. Her fears were confirmed.
Kenelm Kennaway…
Chapter Two: Discoveries
“Drop your swords.”
A thrill raced over him as weapons clattered to the main deck. That would teach pirates to attack his vessel while he was lost and in search of land. The attack might be a blessing, for surely the pirates knew their own location. But he wouldn’t be thanking them for the attack.
“Jones, my first mate, will collect your weaponry. Then we shall discuss your terms of surrender.”
The burly, redheaded Irishman grabbed the swords and threw them across the water, onto their vessel. Jones’ strength never disappointed.
“What do you plan to do with us?” The pirate captain stood before him, trembling. Had he never considered that one day he would not succeed? He seemed terrified. Perhaps Kenelm should suggest he choose another line of employment.
“Let me think.” He no longer sailed for the crown. He wasn’t a pirate or a privateer. He was a captain for hire, but he was also bored and looking for something more. The crew didn’t even know his identity—not completely. They knew he, Kenelm Kennaway, had been a ship’s captain in the past, but they didn’t know he’d been knighted or that he’d supped at the King’s table or that his family was fabulously wealthy. The fact was, if they discovered he’d worked for the Crown, they might have thrown him overboard.
The pirate captain still stared at him. The weasel really should have considered the consequences of his actions. However, what punishment could Kenelm serve that would be appropriate?
A squirrelly man of no more than five feet shouted, “Don’t leave us!”
“I beg your pardon?” Kenelm noted that, with those words, the pirate trembled even more; his teeth chattered as if they would break in twain. He most definitely should consider a new occupation.
Squirrelly continued, “This man sank our ship years ago and took us without consent! Please save us!”
Jones grunted. He was a man of few words. But the popped knuckles meant he wasn’t happy.
The squirrelly gent might have provided a unique solution to the pirate’s punishment. Kenelm would thank him later.
He faced the crew. “How many of you have been taken against your will?”
Hands rose about the deck and one arm appeared from beneath a canvas.
“Very well. If you wish to be returned to England you may come with me—”
The pirate finally gained courage. “But you can’t! They belong to me! I took them fair and square and I need them to man the vessel.”
Kenelm pointed his sword tip at the pirate captain’s neck. He stopped moving instantly.
“Do not make me regret my decision to let you live and keep your ship.”
The pirate held up his hands. “Oh, no, of course not, no, no.”
Kenelm sheathed his sword. “However, if I hear of similar antics from you, I won’t be responsible for my actions.”
The pirate lowered his head, but not before Kenelm caught the gleam in his eye. The fellow would continue in his ways, maybe even seek revenge. Ah, the game was afoot. The adventure he sought could be at hand.
Jones assisted all those interested in returning home aboard the Sheltering Wind. Kenelm took the opportunity to climb onto the quarterdeck and study the charts spread beside the helm. They were closer to the African coast than he’d realized. His original destination would have to be forgotten. He would need to resupply before attempting to chart his course home. With more passengers, the need for food would increase.
Jones returned and led selected crewmen in tying the pirate captain and his crew to the mainmast and the foremast with loose ropes. It would be just enough to hold them while Kenelm made his escape.
