She looked to the ocean again and blinked away moisture. Those tales had not reached her ears and with good reason. Fraser had likely made sure of it because it would have crushed her. He had made sure of many things it seemed.
“He blamed himself as much as I did for them being able to steal you away,” Audric divulged. “And has been punishing himself ever since.”
“But ’twas not your fault,” she whispered. “Neither of your faults.”
Audric offered no response to that but kept praising Fraser. It was clear he had a great deal of respect for him. It was also clear he was getting at something. Soon enough, that something became evident.
“There is nothing Cap’n Fraser would not do for you, Elspeth.” His eyes remained on the water. “Nothing he would not do to keep you and yours safe.” He paused for a moment before his gaze finally settled on her. “Trust in that, yes? Trust in him.”
Rather than answer, she continued staring into the darkness. Having said his piece, Audric didn’t linger much longer but nodded goodnight and left. She didn’t have to wonder what he meant by his heartfelt request. Like Fraser, he knew she wasn’t honest, and her reasons for being on the ship were nefarious. That said, might she consider being truthful? Might she reveal the secrets they knew she kept from them?
She continued staring at the stars as she often did. Wondering like a fool if they would somehow, someday lead to a happy ending. If there would ever be a light at the end of the long, dark tunnel she had been going down all this time.
In a small way, Audric had just lightened it a wee bit with his words. Or should she say by sharing Fraser’s actions? Not only had she worried endlessly about her kin’s safety, but their mental well-being. She knew what it felt like to be the one left behind. How awful the loneliness when all hope faded.
Though Fraser hadn’t stayed on with them, he had offered her parents and sisters something she never had when it came to her husband and daughter. Vengeance. They might have had to let her go, but they retained the certain knowledge that Fraser would see her avenged. That he would end her captor’s life as ruthlessly as he had supposedly ended hers.
And Fraser would have had she not begged him to stay his hand.
Which showed the sort of man he really was.
What he was capable of. What he had been capable of since this all began.
He had used his wits and wiles, embraced something he despised, and never gave up. And though Audric had not said it in so many words, he also reminded her that at the peak of rage, Fraser didn’t lose himself but thought rationally. He did so the night she was taken, and again during this recent sea battle. Then yet again when he didn’t end Estienne when he had the chance.
As she had speculated, Fraser was a man who would listen before acting impulsively. He would keep things in perspective. He had proven it time and time again. So was it fair then that she gave up on him now by not putting her full trust in him? Did he not deserve such after all he had done for her?
He did. She knew he did. But that made it no easier to confess. Because once she did, she had no control over what happened.
She might not be able to save his life.
Chapter Eleven
Fraser sat at his desk and continued to watch Elspeth sleep. After keeping a discreet eye on her the previous night as she stood outside for hours, he pretended to be asleep when she returned. Though he wanted to confront her and continue their conversation, he decided to wait for her to come to him.
He would not force secrets out of her.
She had been through far too much.
When she dozed off in a chair rather than lie down beside him, he transferred her to the bed. Though tempted to join her and pull her into his arms he instead spent the remainder of the night sitting at his desk staring out to sea.
Now, like a lovesick fool who ought to know better, he gazed at her. It was still hard to believe she was here. That she lived. It felt surreal in an unexplainable way. As if he had yet to awaken from a dream.
He had stood over her several times as she tossed and turned, caught in sleep that seemed as restless as his soul. When she muttered in distress, and her eyelids fluttered, he almost found himself offering comfort. Many times he nearly sat and rested her head on his lap. Many times he longed to caress her soft skin and remind her she was no longer caught in a nightmare.
Yet he did none of those things.
Instead, he eventually set her ring on his desk and joined Magnus above deck. All was as it should be and the weather seemed fair enough.
“As ye ordered we remain just enough off the coast to avoid detection,” Magnus reported. “We’re through the Firth and dropped our speed.” He nodded at Fraser. “Everything’s going precisely as ye said it would Cap’n.” Then he shook his head. “Yer a smart bastard.”
Fraser winked then eyed the crew. “What’re the men sayin’?”
Magnus didn’t need to ask what he meant. “They like her.”
“Do they trust her?”
“Aye.”
“And ye?” he asked, already knowing the answer.
While some might dance around an answer to appease him, his first mate was no such man. “Not at all.”
“Nor should ye,” Fraser replied. “Not yet anyway.”
He clasped Magnus’ shoulder before he decided to break his fast with those of the crew not seeing to the sail’s. Unlike most captains, he spent nearly as much time with the men as his quartermaster. He liked to be in the thick of it and cut out the middle man on occasion. As Magnus had said, they seemed fond of Elspeth. The one whose face was cut wore his bandage like a badge of honor, seemingly her new protector if she found herself in need.
By the time he returned to his cabin with food for her, she was staring out the window with her arms crossed over her chest. She seemed lost in thought. As if mayhap contemplating how she wanted to phrase things. How she wanted to approach him this time. Would they bicker again or was that behind them?
“I see we’re already through the Pentland Firth and a ways down the west coast,” she finally said, her back still to him. “You’re making good time.”
“Aye,” he replied. “Come eat, Elspeth. Ye barely touched a thing last night.”
“The wind’s in your favor too,” she remarked, making no mention of food.
So she wished to talk then. Good.
“We’ll drop anchor for a few hours,” he said as he joined her. “Then continue on when the time’s right.”
She frowned, her mental wheels spinning. “Would it not be better to keep going?”
“We’ll be sailing into a storm,” he supplied. “’Tis best to travel through it at high tide.”
It would be best not to travel it at all, but they would nonetheless.
A fact that made her eyes narrow on him.
“Och,” she whispered as she figured things out damn fast. “Pirates are always talking. Ye must have caught rumor of bad weather.” She shook her head. “Nay, my guess is ye purposefully asked in port about the weather on this side of Scotland. Ye were scheming.” Her eyes narrowed further still. “What are ye up to, Fraser?”
He arched a brow and didn’t budge an inch. “What are ye up to, Elspeth?”
“Are we back to that then?” she murmured.
“I dinnae think we ever left it.”
Their eyes stayed with one another’s as she appeared to mull something over. She might be testing his patience, but he enjoyed how the copper in her eyes brightened when she was set to be cunning. It reminded him of the fire that flared in their depths when she was in the heat of passion.
Her eyes remained narrowed as she finally put all the pieces together. “Ye know dinnae ye.” Her gaze drifted back to the water. “That’s why ye went this way rather than through the southern channel.”
“Aye, I know,” he replied. “I have all along.”
What she referred to was the fact that Estienne was following them at a distance.
Elsp
eth closed her eyes and shook her head. “Which means ye knew there was another ship waiting to pick him up. Two ships actually.” She looked skyward before her eyes returned to him. “Which means ye know why I’m here.”
“Aye,” he said softly. “What I havenae been able to figure out yet are your intentions.” He scowled. “Other than that they arenae in my favor.”
“I warned him ye were no fool,” she muttered as she braced her hands on the sill and looked to the sea again. “I knew better than to ignore the rumors about ye, but I thought mayhap…”
He tried to ignore how much that stung. How she had undoubtedly tried to betray him.
“Whilst at one time I would have assumed ye spoke of Estienne,” he said darkly. “I now know he is but his father’s puppet.” While tempted to shake some sense into her, he had to remain calm and get to the root of things. “What bargain did ye strike with André? What did he promise ye in exchange for my head?”
In truth, he would have gladly forfeited his life to free her of that monster. Yet as she made so clear yesterday, she knew how to take care of herself regardless of who she had to step on to get there.
“’Twas not your head he was after.” She inhaled deeply before turning steady eyes his way. “’Twas what ye possess. What will finally get him his treasure.” Her eyes narrowed again. “Where are they, Fraser? Where are my stones?”
So that was the crux of it. The reason for the whole bloody charade with Estienne’s ship yesterday. To get her on board, and lead Fraser and his stones straight into a trap. As it was, had they simply lured him to land with any other excuse there was no guarantee he would have had the rocks with him.
Yet he wondered.
“There’s more to this.” He crossed his arms over his chest. “Tell me what he wants beyond treasure.”
“Is treasure not enough?”
“Not always.” He stepped a little closer, watching her intently. She might be putting up a good front, but he saw telltale signs of more deception. A tiny vein in her neck throbbing. The tight line of her lips. She was hiding something. “Tell me, lass. Save me from sailing my men into certain death.”
“Save ye,” she whispered as her eyes caught his. “That’s all I’ve been trying to do.”
She sighed and shook her head. Her voice wobbled some, but she kept going.
“Though the son wanted a pet, ’twas always his father that wanted more,” she explained, her eyes troubled. “Ye havenae heard of André because he wasnae a pirate originally but defected from La Royale to enjoy darker pursuits. To gain more wealth than what his country could offer.” She visibly shivered. “To satisfy the sinister longings he was forced to keep repressed.”
So he was once part of the French navy. Not overly surprising really. Sailors did such on occasion. Typically, they leaned toward privateering first, but it sounded like André was by far a different sort of creature entirely.
It also sounded like Elspeth was finally ready to be honest.
“Whilst he was certainly indulging Estienne by letting him keep me,” anger flashed in her eyes, “’twas also a way to keep me under his thumb, in a prison of sorts, as he readied his crew and established a stronghold. Which, naturally, needs financing.”
“Where is this stronghold?”
“Verra close to where my clan was originally from,” she replied. “’Tis his hope to eventually ally himself with either the Devils of the Deep or mayhap Poseidon’s Legion.”
“Och,” he muttered. “He’ll not have the chance.”
“Let’s hope not,” she murmured.
“’Tis hard to believe he let ye out of his sight to sail with Estienne.” His eyes never left her face. “’Tis equally hard to imagine that he had time to whip ye but not rape ye.”
“His ways were a bit more sadistic and twisted than that,” she said softly, her jaw set as she clearly fought bad memories. “Though I’m sure that might change in the future.”
“Bloody hell,” he said through clenched teeth as he understood her meaning. He knew of men who found more pleasure in watching the beating of a lass than the baser act of laying with her.
Betrayal or not, he couldn’t help but reel her close and rest her cheek against his chest. How many times had she been beaten for André’s benefit? Her soft skin wounded to give him pleasure? Unimaginable rage filled him as he thought about it. As he realized the hell she must have been living in even before she ended up on Estienne’s ship.
“It wasnae just my kin’s life he said he would spare if I brought him the stones,” she whispered, “but yours, Fraser.”
“And ye actually thought he would keep his word?” He cupped the back of her neck beneath her hair as he had once done. “Ye cannae be that naïve, lass.”
“’Twas not just now that I bargained for your life.” She pulled back and met his eyes. “But all along.”
When her hand rested on his chest, he realized she wore his ring again.
“The only reason Estienne has kept ye in his tailwind and not had ye slain in your sleep all this time is because I’ve promised myself to André.” Her lower lip trembled slightly before she bit down on it. “And I promised him when he was ready, I would find a way to lead ye back to MacLauchlin land with the stones.” She shook her head, her eyes moist as they searched his. “Dinnae ye ken yet? This ruse was my idea, Fraser.”
“And ’twas a bloody good one,” he assured, grateful for her cleverness. It didn’t matter who came up with the plan because he was making it work in his favor. Honestly, he was surprised André hadn’t done it sooner. But then he understood the logic in a defector maintaining anonymity until he was in a good position to defend himself.
“Surely ye suspected someone would be coming after you eventually when ye took those stones,” she said. “Ye must have been prepared for it.”
“Aye, I knew the day would come,” he replied. “I would have sold my soul for it to come sooner and my enemy within arm’s reach.” His gaze stayed with hers. “Now the day has come. Ye have come.” His eyes flickered from the ring back to her face. “And ye wearing that now tells me ye have decided not to go it alone…ye’ve decided to trust me.”
“Aye,” she whispered. “And ’tis no greater trust to be given than allowing ye to protect the man I love…the man I’ve always loved.”
No words had ever sounded better.
“Did ye not think I could defend myself, lass?”
“Not as well as I could have defended ye,” she assured, cocky. “As I have all along.” She peered at him, concerned as she revealed what had really been at the root of her deception. “Now ye know the truth I fear ye will think with your heart rather than your mind. And when ye do, he will use that.” She shook her head “He will use me against ye somehow, Fraser.”
He offered a slow grin. “Not if I use someone else against him first.”
Her eyes lingered on his for a moment before understanding dawned, and her gaze flickered from the ocean back to him. “Estienne.”
“Aye.” He took the hand that had been resting on his chest and began dropping small kisses on each knuckle. “He’ll be captured by nightfall.”
“Sounds devious,” she murmured, her eyelids half-mast as he massaged the back of her neck and ran the pad of his thumb along her sensitive jawline.
“Oh, ’tis devious,” he assured, grateful to have her in his arms again. To see the pleasure in her eyes.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered. “About trying to deceive ye no matter my good intentions…for not listening that night two winters ago…”
He knew she hadn’t listened. That she had feared for her kin’s safety and not stayed behind the rock. And while he was angry at first, he did not hold it against her overly long. He understood how much she loved her family and knew full well he would have done the same for his own.
“’Tis all behind us now, lass,” he whispered before he brushed his lips across hers then tilted her chin until her eyes stayed with his. “There w
ill be no more lying, though, aye? Ye willnae battle me anymore but allow me to fight alongside ye?”
A small smile curled her lips. “’Tis a lot to promise.” Her smile widened. “Though I see ye have the right of how things should be betwixt us when it comes to battling.”
He knew she would appreciate that. And truth be told he liked it immensely. He liked that she could battle with the best of them and hold her own. Not only that but she seemed to enjoy it as much as him. It had never been that way with other lasses. The last lass. If anything, she found his passion for fighting troubling at times. It had been a point of contention.
Interesting, in retrospect, how destiny worked.
Because he knew very well it had played a part in bringing him together with Elspeth. He knew without hesitation that it had resurrected something he thought lost to him in more ways than one.
“You’re an admirable ally, lass,” he murmured, more than willing to pay her the compliment she deserved as he brushed another kiss across her lips. “’Twould be foolish of me to think otherwise.”
“As ye learned on the enemy’s ship yesterday,” she agreed.
“As I almost learned,” he countered, grinning.
It had been a long time since his smile was genuine. He had missed the feeling. Her. This. And showed her as much with a considerably longer kiss. One that found her perched on the opposite side of his desk this time.
Long overdue, desperate to see her, be inside her, he pulled her shirt over her head and finally feasted his eyes on her nudity. As he always knew she would be, she was perfectly made with delicate bones, satiny smooth skin, lush breasts, and a tight wee waist.
She gave him little time to admire her as she pulled his lips back to hers. The kiss she gave him this time was far more insistent as was the way she pressed her hot center against him. He had never wanted anyone as much as he wanted her right now. Eager, impatient, both breathed heavily as he began to tug her trousers off.
The Seafaring Rogue Page 10