8. Jonto #2
For whatever reason, the shepherd had overgrazed some areas and kept the herd out of others.
Simply moving the sheep through this part of the woods would help introduce air into the soil and leaves.
As she climbed, the trees again thinned out, and she came on a meadow that should have been verdant with healthy grass.
It was more of the same, overgrazed and unhealthy.
Hearing the faint sound of someone weeping, she strode to an impressive boulder field where several stones of various shapes and sizes surrounded one massive boulder.
Someone blew their nose, and Jonto waited a moment before calling, “Hello?” When no one answered, she said more gently, “Lady Brighton? It’s Jonto. Are you all right?”
After a disgusted huff, Isla said, “You were right. Does that make you happy? I trusted my shepherd and steward to manage my fields and herds, and they’ve destroyed my land.”
“May I come around?” Without waiting for a response, which she assumed would be a firm ‘no,’ Jonto stepped around the rock and found Isla rubbing her eyes to erase the evidence of her tears.
“Was that who rode away in such a hurry? Your steward?” Isla glared at her, but Jonto saw indecision warring with the anger in her eyes.
“My Lady, I’m neither here to gloat nor to make fun of your circumstances.
Could you tell me who it was who rode away in such a hurry? ”
“Yes, it was my steward. I fired him.”
“And the shepherd? We’ve seen none on our land, and I’ve not seen one today on yours.”
“Apparently, he left the day before you arrived without giving notice. My steward said he was afraid of what a pirate would do to a man illegally running sheep on his land.”
Jonto’s brows lowered. “But he was doing it on your orders, yes?”
Looking thoroughly disgusted with herself, Isla slowly lowered herself onto a rock and wiped at fresh tears that had escaped her determination not to cry in front of Jonto.
“I was a fool. But that probably doesn’t surprise you, does it?
Don’t men take women for fools regarding estate management?
” She huffed, and by the way her brows descended, it seemed she’d realized something.
“I wouldn’t put it past those two misogynistic bastards to have purposefully destroyed my land specifically because I’m a woman.
Or else one of the noblemen who’ve coveted my land for years paid them to maliciously ruin me so they can rush in and take my estates for a song. ”
Realizing the unladylike light her words put her in, her gaze shot to Jonto’s.
“Forgive my language, Lord Jontoreaux. Like my mother before me, my words become a bit colorful when I’m angry.
But it’s so vexing that as far as men are concerned, any woman is a fool who thinks she’s bright enough or strong enough to run an estate.
And, taking that a step further, since I’m practically the only woman in the kingdom running an estate, perhaps I should say, don’t most men consider me a fool for pretending I can manage my estates as well as any man? ”
Jonto watched her a moment before shaking her head. “Not this man. I believe women can do anything they put their mind to, quite often better than men.”
Another huff told Jonto that Isla didn’t believe her, so she mentally shrugged and forged ahead.
“My Lady. I’m fairly good at business and even better at seeing my way out of problems. Maybe if you tell me why you think you were a fool, we could discuss finding a solution to your problems.” She waved her hand, indicating the land surrounding them.
“Yes, this is bad, but not unredeemable. With proper management, you can restore the land to how it was before it was damaged. So, you called yourself a fool. What do you think you did to brand you as such?”
The color rose in Isla’s cheeks as she debated the wisdom of trusting a pirate.
Jonto hesitated, wondering why she was even bothering.
She hardly knew this woman after all, but she was uniquely positioned to understand Isla’s frustration and so she decided to try again.
“I suppose you could speak with your uncle, but does he understand land and herd management? Because I do. My title isn’t an honorary one.
I inherited vast estates from my father and had to learn to manage those estates while I was away increasing my fortune on the seas. ”
Isla scoffed, “Is that what you call raping women, murdering sailors, and stealing other peoples’ ships? Increasing your fortune?”
Jonto’s temper flared. “You can choose to believe this or not, but kings and queens in many, many kingdoms call me friend because I keep their merchant vessels safe from pirates such as the ones you describe. Yes, I kill those pirates, claim their riches, and take their ships as my own. I’ve never taken an honest captain’s ship.
I have a reputation for being an honorable man, a trait I’m proud to claim.
As for raping women, any man or woman on any of my ships who forces themselves on another person is tossed from the deck and left to drown in the sea. ”
Jonto reined in her temper. She closed her eyes and rubbed her temple, wondering why she was taking the time to convince this ungrateful woman to accept her help.
Isla had been nothing but rude to her from the first time they’d met, and she once again considered walking away and leaving the woman to her troubles.
At Isla’s prolonged silence, Jonto looked up to see her studying her with a puzzled expression.
After a few moments, Isla shook her head and sighed.
“You’re nothing like I envisioned. You’re a pirate.
Pirates murdered my father. Pirates are murderers, and yet, you tell me you’re a pirate who protects merchant vessels from other pirates. How is that even possible?”
“Your father was a sailor?”
“He was an officer in the navy. Pirates attacked his ship and sank it. There were no survivors.”
Suddenly, Isla’s animosity made sense, and Jonto allowed herself to relax. “That explains a lot.”
Isla chuckled ruefully. “You mean it explains my bad manners around you? Yes, it does.”
“It doesn’t, however, explain why you called yourself a fool.”
When Isla began speaking, it was like a dam burst and all the troubles of the past day came spilling out.
“I trusted them. Both men have worked for me for years. Six months ago, they came to me with a plan to quietly shift our herd to Count Deverell’s land since they knew my plans to purchase it after he passed.
They convinced me that between his land and ours, we could easily double the numbers in our herds. ”
When Isla daintily dabbed at her nose with a silk kerchief, Jonto turned away to give her privacy.
Small tufts of grass were growing in between the smaller boulders.
She stepped to one, squatted, and pulled up a handful.
After breaking several stalks and rolling them in her hands, Jonto lifted them to her nose to smell the crushed greenery.
She dropped them and returned when Isla began speaking again.
“When I asked my manager this morning why only about one hundred and fifty sheep had come off your land, and yet there were none to be seen on mine, he told me it was because my land was dead and wouldn’t produce enough forage for my herds anymore.
They’d taken the rest of the herd to your furthest pastures, and your people simply hadn’t found them yet.
” Squeezing her eyes shut, she bitterly ground out her next words.
“I agreed to use Count Deverell’s land, never thinking they’d suggested it to cover up the damage they’d done to mine.
He was an old man with only two other old men to manage his pastures and the three horses they kept for occasional trips into the city.
I justified my actions by telling myself I was doing him a favor by keeping the land from becoming too far overgrown. As I said, a fool.”
Jonto crossed her arms and paced away from Isla.
She needed time to think. She had a habit of riding gallantly to the rescue of distressed women, as Niko had repeatedly and with an air of fond exasperation pointed out over the years.
Most of the time her efforts ended in disaster.
Either the women didn’t want rescuing, or the men in their lives took umbrage at whatever she was trying to accomplish.
Isla had proven her dislike for pirates and for Jonto in particular, and they’d only known each other a few days.
On the other hand, they were neighbors, and Jonto intended to spend as much or more time here as she spent on her family’s estates.
She didn’t particularly like going home anymore.
Whenever she was there, it felt like people were staring at her, as though they were suspicious that maybe she was Luc and not her brother, Jonto.
Nico assured her that she was being paranoid, but there had been times when she’d laughed out loud, and the people who’d known the twins their entire lives stared at her with queer looks in their eyes.
While her laughter was similar to her twin’s, there was still a quality about hers that didn’t match that of her brother’s.
Here, on the other hand, there was no doubt in anyone’s mind that she was Admiral Lord Jontoreaux.
Ever since Jack had taught her to apply hair to her face that only came off when she wanted it to, no one had ever suspected she was anything other than the pirate king of the seas, as some referred to Captain Jonto.
If she could befriend Isla, perhaps this could become a more permanent home than her family’s estates. In fact, she might even consider selling that land back home if she could find a buyer who would treat her people well and whom she could trust to take care of her tenants and animals.