Half Title Page

Books by Roseanna M. White

LADIES OF THE MANOR

The Lost Heiress

The Reluctant Duchess

A Lady Unrivaled

SHADOWS OVER ENGLAND

A Name Unknown

A Song Unheard

An Hour Unspent

THE CODEBREAKERS

The Number of Love

On Wings of Devotion

A Portrait of Loyalty

Dreams of Savannah

THE SECRETS OF THE ISLES

The Nature of a Lady

Title Page

Copyright Page

© 2021 by Roseanna M. White

Published by Bethany House Publishers

11400 Hampshire Avenue South

Bloomington, Minnesota 55438

Bethany House Publishers is a division of

Baker Publishing Group, Grand Rapids, Michigan

Ebook edition created 2021

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—for example, electronic, photocopy, recording—without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC.

ISBN 978-1-4934-3147-2

Scripture quotations are from the King James Version of the Bible.

This is a work of historical reconstruction; the appearances of certain historical figures are therefore inevitable. All other characters, however, are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is coincidental.

Cover design by Jennifer Parker

Cover photography by Todd Hafermann Photography, Inc.

Author is represented by The Steve Laube Agency.

Dedication

To all my readers named Elizabeth.
The sheer number of you inspired this tale of mistaken identity,
and I pray you enjoy it.

The Isles of Scilly

Prologue

19 JULY 1645
THE WATERS AROUND SCILLY

He was a prince at sea. That’s what John Mucknell shouted whenever battle was upon him.

Even before he’d stolen the East India Company ship, against whose deck his feet were now braced. Even before he’d presented himself and the John to the exiled Prince of Wales, offering their services against those blasted Parliamentarians who had taken over their country. Even before he’d been knighted and named vice admiral of this new royal fleet.

Pirate fleet, the enemy said. Mucknell’s lips twitched up as he watched the enemy craft close in. He was a prince at sea, a cockney. And, yes, a thief and a pirate. But it was the blighted Roundheads who had forced him to these straits. When his rightful sovereign was forced to barricade himself on an island to escape his enemies and found himself in desperate need of supplies, what course of action was there but to rob the ships passing by? And if the richest prizes were usually from the East India Company, under whose banner Mucknell had worked and kowtowed for so many useless years . . . shame, that.

“Admiral?” His first mate slid to his side, keeping his voice low. “There’s no way we’ll be able to slip by them into the harbor.”