Read Beyond Sunrise for Free Online

against the glare off the water. "And precisely how do you figure that, Mr. Ryder?"
    "I might have missed picking you up at dawn, but you threw a bloody pitcher of water on me."
    Her entire body seemed to stiffen. "I see no correlation between the two events at all. If you recall, I was simply endeavoring to awaken you."
    "Huh. I recognize revenge when I see it."
    "Indeed. I didn't expect to hear you admit that I'd been wronged."
    "I didn't say that."
    She swung her head away to stare out over the surging waves, but not before he caught a glimpse of the intriguing smile that played about her lips. "Very well, Mr. Ryder. I accept your apology."
    Jack almost jumped. "Bloody hell. I wasn't apologizing."
    She brought her gaze back to his face. The smile was gone. "Then we're not even."

    They could smell the island of Takaku before they saw it, a spicy sweet tropical aroma that came to them on the stiffening breeze. Then the island itself materialized from out of the haze, a wild, impossibly beautiful place of calm turquoise lagoons and sweeping, palm-fringed beaches backed by steep, wild crags clad in a luxurious riot of tangled greenery.
    Far to the north, the island tapered off into leafy dales and marshy flats where the French had established a trading village they called La Rochelle. But here, at its southern tip, Takaku was a land of near-vertical gorges and high volcanic peaks that rose twisted and menacing toward the tropical blue sky. Steam still drifted from the various cracks and craters of the smaller and southernmost of these, Mount Futapu, thrusting up from the shores of a deep round bay that was itself the flooded caldron of an old volcano. Like most of the islands in this area, Takaku was surrounded by a lagoon formed by a largely submerged fringing coral reef against which the surf crashed in an endless, spray-dashing cannonade. Which meant that the only way into the bay at the base of Mount Futapu was through a narrow break in the reef made all the more dangerous by crosscurrents and an unpredictable wind.
    Idling in the rolling breakers outside the reef, Jack hauled down the staysail. Then he took the tiller again, the yacht dipping and swaying with the swell as Patu scrambled up the mast.
    "Is that necessary?" asked Miss McKnight, her head tipping back as she watched the boy's ascent.
    "What'd you think?" said Jack, shouting to be heard over the roar of the surf. "That people told you the pass into the bay of Futapu was dangerous just so they could up the price of 'conveying' you here?"
    "As a matter of fact, yes."
    Jack grunted and brought the yacht's prow around until they were pointed at the passage. "And the cannibals?"
    "Oh, those I believe in."
    "And they still don't worry you?"
    "They're a necessary risk."
    Jack threw her a quick, assessing glance. The sun was shining warm and golden on the smooth skin of her even-featured face. She looked young and excited and far more attractive than he would have liked. He gave a low grunt that came out sounding like a growl. "You're either very brave, or very foolish."
    "And which are you, Mr. Ryder?"
    Jack laughed. "Me? I'm just crazy."
    After that, his attention was all for the dark blue ribbon of deep water that curled its way between the sharp, submerged shelves of rainbow-hued coral. Gulls wheeled, screeching, overhead, as Patu called down warnings and directions from his high perch. But although Jack was careful, he wasn't particularly worried, and it wasn't long before they reached the calm, flat safety of the inner lagoon.
    "There's sails out there," said Patu, climbing down the rigging as Jack eased the Sea Hawk into the deep, round bay. "A frigate or corvette, by the looks of her."
    Jack found his spyglass and raised it to his eye. A sleek three-masted ship hovered in the haze just off the southern tip of the island. After a long pause, he said, "If she's flying any colors, I can't see them."
    Miss McKnight came to stand at the rail beside him, her narrowed