Table Of ContentSeaswept Abandon
By
Jo Goodman
ZEBRA U.S.$5.99 CAN.$7.99
In the second thrilling book of her magnificent McClellan trilogy, award-
winning author Jo Goodman spins an exciting tale of passion, daring, and
revenge that sweeps from the war-torn Colonies to the elegant drawing rooms of
England…
THE DARING PATRIOT
Bold and beautiful Rae McClellan eagerly seizes a chance to be a courier for the
Colonies, never anticipating her midnight excursion to a local tavern would lead
to murder—and brand her a wanted woman. Saved from an angry mob of
Redcoats by a powerful stranger, she is swept up into a tempestuous adventure
that will become a battle for her country, her family … and her heart.
THE NOBLE SPY
Jericho Smith curses the moment he became enraptured by the confounding Rae
McClellan—and the feverish desire she arouses in him. Jericho was one of the
Continental army’s most able spies … until Rae makes him want things he never
dared desire before, like the love of this spirited woman and a lost legacy that
awaits back in England. Yet even as Jericho and Rae surrender to an undeniable
awaits back in England. Yet even as Jericho and Rae surrender to an undeniable
passion, a dangerous foe reaches out across the Atlantic, luring them both into a
perilous gambit for their lives—and their love…
Books by Jo Goodman
THE CAPTAIN’S LADY CRYSTAL PASSION SEASWEPT ABANDON
VELVET NIGHT
VIOLET FIRE
SCARLET LIES
TEMPTING TORMENT MIDNIGHT PRINCESS PASSION’S SWEET
REVENGE SWEET FIRE
WILD SWEET ECSTASY ROGUE’S MISTRESS FOREVER IN MY HEART
ALWAYS IN MY DREAMS ONLY IN MY ARMS
MY STEADFAST HEART
MY RECKLESS HEART
WITH ALL MY HEART
MORE THAN YOU KNOW
Published by Zebra Books
ZEBRA BOOKS
KENSINGTON PUBLISHING CORP.
KENSINGTON PUBLISHING CORP.
http://www.zebrabooks.com
For my parents. They never stop encouraging.
ZEBRA BOOKS are published by
Kensington Publishing Corp.
850 Third Avenue
New York, NY 10022
Copyright (c) 2000, 1986 by Joanne Dobrzanski
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by
any means without the prior written consent of the Publisher, excepting brief
quotes used in reviews.
If you purchased this book without a cover you should be aware that this book is
stolen property. It was reported as “unsold and destroyed” to the Publisher and
neither the Author nor the Publisher has received any payment for this “stripped
book.”
Zebra and the Z logo Reg. U.S. Pat. & TM Off.
First Printing: September 1986
Second Printing: September 2000
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2
Dear Reader,
When I began writing about the McClellans in Crystal Passion I didn’t anticipate
there would be a secondary character who would require a story of his own.
What caught me especially off guard was that not only wasn’t the character a
McClellan, but that he didn’t even have a first name. The more I thought about
Smith, the more I realized that Rahab McClellan was meant for him. I’m not
Smith, the more I realized that Rahab McClellan was meant for him. I’m not
giving anything away by telling you this at the outset. If you’re familiar with my
books, then you already know my heroes and heroines tend to work things out
between them and then work together. That’s why some readers might find
Jericho Smith’s behavior toward Rae troubling at different junctures in their
relationship. Interestingly enough, I never received one letter of concern or
protest when Seaswept Abandon was initially published. I imagine this had
something to do with what was, if not entirely accepted, at least could be
tolerated. I have to wonder what the reaction will be this time around—and I
look forward to hearing from you if you have a thought about it one way or the
other.
The McClellan trilogy will conclude with the reprinting of Noah McClellan’s
story in Tempting Torment in 2001. Noah was such a nice guy in the first draft I
was asked to toughen him up. Men. And they think we’re so difficult to
understand.
Best wishes, Jo
Printed in the United States of America
“Auntie Rae! Auntie Rae! Look at my dress!” Courtney McClellan spun on her
small feet, lifting the hem of her frilly pink dress nearly to her knees. “Isn’t
Mama clever? You can’t see where Tommy Miller tore the lace.”
Rahab McClellan smiled fondly at the whirling dervish that was llllr four-year-
old niece. Courtney was a near perfect minia-tare of her mother, and Rae’s eyes
lifted to her sister-in-law, once again startled by the resemblance between the
two. Ashley and Courtney shared thick ebony hair and fair porcelain
complexions. They were delicate in stature but long of limb. Mother and
daughter had a sweep of jet lashes that outlined clear and laughing eyes. The
eyes, so similar in their direct gaze, were different in hue. Ashley’s were the
color of emeralds, startling green in her fair face, while Courtney’s eyes were
very much the silver gray of her father’s.
Rae did not have to look in a mirror to know her own face had suffered today
from the unexpected warmth of the sun. She had refused to wear a bonnet and
now there were a number
10 Jo Goodman
Rae’s answer successfully diverted Courtmey’s attention. She chortled. “You
sound so funny, Auntie Rae. Like o1’ Jacob at the landing.”
Ashley and Rae both laughed. Rae thought her gravelly excuse for a voice did
indeed sound like the voice of the family’s ancient retainer. She was surprised
that Courtney remembered Jacob. It had been almost a year since Ashley and
Salem had visited the landing.
Ashley spoke to the surprise on Rae’s face. “O1’ Jacob whittled her a pull toy
and she has never forgotten him. I think she spent most of the visit with him.
Your mother would have been quite put out if she hadn’t had Trenton to fawn
over.” She gave her son a small squeeze. “But he was such a handful no one
seemed to mind that Courmey was amusing herself.”
Rae pointed to the way Courtney was presently occupied with the cameo brooch
securing the shawl over Rae’s shoulders. “She is fascinated with everything
around her,” she rasped.
“Oh, Rae! Please don’t talk! It hurts just to listen. Shall I make us another cup of
tea?” Rae’s horrified glance indicated that if she drank one more drop she would
consign herself to Boston Harbor. Ashley smiled ruefully. “I suppose I have
been overdoing it a bit. And I know drinking tea goes against all your principles,
but I find that I cannot abandon my past entirely.”
Rae was quick to see the shadow that passed over Ashley’s features. Though
Ashley tried to hide it, and was successful for the most part, there were those
moments when she could not help but shudder at the thought of the life she had
known in England, a life that had had very little to recommend it until the
interference of one Jerusalem McClellan. Rae would have given anything to
have been able to comfort her, but she knew that it was something better left to
Salem. He understood more than anyone what demons chased his wife. Rae
Salem. He understood more than anyone what demons chased his wife. Rae
knew Ashley’s brief melancholy had its roots in his absence as much as it did in
her fears.
“I know. It’s silly of me,” Ashley said, seeing Rae’s sympa SEASWEPT
ABANDON 11
thetic look. “When Salem isn’t here I brood. I find it hard not to think that Nigel
will—”
Rae threw her a sharp look, but it was too late. Courtney’s interest in the brooch
had waned and she was listening intently to her mother.
“Who is Nigel, Mama?”
Ashley frowned at her daughter’s inquisitiveness. “Little pitchers he is
my uncle, Courtney. Like Noah and Gareth
are your uncles. But I do not like my Uncle Nigel.”
,
“He is not a very nice man.”
,,Why.9,’
“Because he doesn’t have anyone to love, I think.” She could have added that
Nigel Lynne, Duke of Linfield, had only ever loved one woman, his twin sister,
and that his twisted obsession had brought about her death. Ashley felt regret
that she had never known her mother, but she had made every effort to clear her
mind of the haunting bitterness that accompanied such thoughts. Nigel’s
Machiavellian tendencies were better left in the past. It was only when Salem
was away from her
that she wondered if she were entirely safe from his plotting. “Why.9”
Rae rolled her expressive eyes at Courmey and shook her head, placing her
index finger on the child’s pink lips.
“Enough,” she whispered. “Naptime.”
“Oh, Auntie Rae. Must I?”
“Yes, you must,” Ashley said, standing. She walked toward the drawing room
doors, shifting the sleeping bundle in her arms. “Come, Courmey. Trenton is
sleeping now. He will want to have company in the nursery when he awakes.”
Rae gently pushed Courtney from her lap and watched her reluctantly follow her
mother up the carpeted stairs to the nursery. She waved goodbye as the girl
played peekaboo through the rails of the banister until she was out of sight.
When the trio had disappeared, Rahab leaned her head against
12 Jo Goodman
the side of her wing chair, closing her eyes against tears that threatened her
composure.
How she envied Ashley her family! It was absurd, this jealousy. Rae knew it and
didn’t like herself the better for it. Ashley Lynne had been the outsider, once
upon a time. Five years ago Rae had not known of her existence, but when her
brother had brought her home to their Virginia plantation, Rae had welcomed
her, and now it seemed hard to believe there was ever a time that did not include
Ashley. She had presented Robert and Charity McClellan with their first
grandchild, and no one seemed at all perturbed that Courtney had arrived earlier
than the wedding vows should have allowed.
Stop it! she admonished herself. That was an unworthy thought. Ashley is not
the source of all this self-pity. It’s this damn plaguey cold and a row of freckles
you wouldn’t even have if you had worn a bonnet in the first place. Rae listened
to the train of her thoughts and had the good sense to wonder why the freckles
bothered her so much. She was not one to be vain about her appearance, and this
new concern with her looks bothered her not a little. She thought perhaps she
was feeling her age.
Twenty-two. In a society where girls were married as young as fifteen, it seemed
to Rae that twenty-two, soon to be twenty-three, was a very great age, indeed.
to Rae that twenty-two, soon to be twenty-three, was a very great age, indeed.
Ashley had married Salem when she was nineteen, and Leah, two years Rae’s
junior, had wed at eighteen. Her brother Gareth’s wife had been barely seventeen
when she’d married him. Only Noah and Rae remained single, but, Rae
reflected, Noah was hardly in danger of becoming the maiden aunt. It was unfair
the way Noah was good-naturedly teased about chasing skirts while she was
expected to be chased. Or was that chaste?
Her smile was wry. She had certainly been the latter. RigiOty she had controlled
the ache and longing she felt for the special intimacy shared by Ashley and
Salem. Some nights she would bury her head beneath her feather pillow to
muffle the sound
SEASWEPT ABANDON 13
of their giggling and loving. Thank God they were mostly quiet, else Rae knew
she would have had to leave a long time ago. The thought of returning to the
landing and seeing, even hearing, Leah and Troy engage in such play, brought
bile to her throat. She did not love Troy, but by God, she had her pride.
So sleep with your pride, re’girl. It’s all you’ll ever know as long as you expect
every man you meet to betray you for another. Where’s your courage? It’s not as
if you have any more sisters.
Rae knew the argument well. She had battled with it long enough. But at the
moment she convinced herself to take a risk, to allow some man the chance to
win her heart, she would remember there were other women who cord take him
away. When she realized she was spuming her suitors before they could reject
her, hurting them for no other reason than that she was afraid, she held herself
aloof from them all.
The irony of her name was not lost on her. She was Rahab, named for the
biblical harlot at Jericho, and now called untouchable by the men who had
approached her. Better that she should have been named Mary, for she was
likely to remain virgin till she died. The unkindness with which she had
considered this last thought brought her up short. Restlessly she moved to the
large bay window and pressed her palms against the warm panes.
Outside the sun beat new life into the cold ground. There were tender green
Outside the sun beat new life into the cold ground. There were tender green
shoots in the flower boxes that lined the sills of the house across the street.
Looking down, Rae saw several small buds in the box below her window. She
felt unaccountably frightened for them. So much could happen. They were only
ignorant plants, coaxed by the warmth of . fickle sun to aspire to color and
beauty. Tonight it would be cold; she sensed it. There would be a frost and the
unsuspecting buds would freeze and become nothing but fertilizer for the buds
that would replace them. She wanted to protect them, perhaps bring them in for
the night, but she could not help them every evening. No, it
14 Jo Goodman
was better they learned nature’s little cruelties now. She turned away, wondering
if she were the only one who felt melancholy in springtime.
There was too much to risk, too much in question, this time of year. There were
those moments when a spring breeze would catch her unaware. It would be cool
and brisk, but thick with the fragrance of new life, and she would feel as if her
heart were being squeezed with the fear of her anticipation. Springtime reminded
her she was lonely, for all that she was not alone.
Ashley stood at the entrance to the drawing room, pondering the gentle slump of
Rae’s shoulders. It was not often Rahab could be seen looking defeated, yet
Ashley sensed this was precisely how she was feeling now. Ashley knew Rae
well enough to know nothing would come of questioning her mood. Rahab was a
wonderful companion, but she rarely confided her innermost thoughts. She was
outspoken on a variety of subjects, but Rae McClellan was not one of them.
Ashley reflected that it had not always been this way. When she had first met
Rae the young girl had been vivacious and passionately involved in everything
around her. The change in her mien had come on gradually, brought on first,
Ashley thought, by Rae’s unhappiness with her woman’s role in the rebellion.
She did not hide her desire to accompany her brother Noah onto the battlefield.
She would gladly have taken Gareth’s seat among the Virginian delegation if
such a thing had been permitted. Once she had tearfully begged Salem to allow
her to go with him on one of his clandestine missions for General Washington.
He had refused her. With regret, it was true, but it was a firm refusal,
