“Do ye ken aught about her?” Malcolm asked. “Do ye ken who she is and what she is?”
“I ken as much as ye do,” Ned replied. “That doesnae explain why ye’d come all this way and risk two hundred men’s lives to get her back.”
“No, but ye would, wouldn’t ye?” Malcolm returned. “Ye’d risk a lot more than that over her, and that’s all the explanation I need. She means something to ye, and that makes her a pawn in me game, if I can find one. Go on and say it. Ye’re smitten with her. Ye’d risk all on one woman. Why? Ye want to ken why I came all this way to get her? She’s valuable to ye. That’s why. As long as I have her, I own ye, and no mistake. Ye ken it’s true yerself. The truth is written all over yer face.”
Ned shook his head and turned away—this man’s words had struck terror in his heart. If Malcolm Gunn knew that much, how much more did the whole of Clan Gunn know about his activities?
The jig was up. Now that Ree had defended herself against recapture by the Gunns, word would spread. She’d cast her lot with the Lewises, and she could never go back on that.
A low chuckle made Ned spin around. There sat Malcolm in the same position, Ree’s bandage peeking from under his shirt and a maniacal grin spreading across his face. His teeth bulged under his lips. The light from the open hatch above their heads gave the man a wolfish appearance.
“Ye dinnae have to explain,” Malcolm rasped. “She’s a fine woman. I dinnae blame ye at all. Just be careful ye dinnae make yerself weak against yer enemies. That’s all.”
Malcolm lowered his head and fell silent. In a split second, the menacing aspect of his features vanished. He became once again a helpless prisoner. His face fell into shadow, and his shoulders slumped.
Ned backed away from the cell. What was he thinking, talking to this man alone? He couldn’t let Malcolm Gunn or anybody else weasel their way into his confidence. Could Ree really put him in danger, or worse, put his whole race in danger? Was he weakening himself and the Angui by taking her into his confidence? With a few well-placed words, Malcolm had called all Ned’s decisions into question.
Ned staggered up on deck. The sea breeze refreshed his face but didn’t clear his thoughts. He couldn’t face Ree again until he knew for certain where he stood. The Gunns seemed to know all about her—at least, Malcolm did. He only knew she was from the future, and that he himself had sent her here. What more did Malcolm know about her?
Malcolm was right. There must be some secret that made her special enough for Ned to send her back here. She was valuable beyond anything he could comprehend. She was worth more than two hundred men. She was worth the whole Angui race.
Malcolm was right about another thing too. Ned had all the human women he could ever want. He could find human women on any street corner, in any city in the world. None of them were Ree. None of them held the fate of the Angui in their hands the way Ree did, and she didn’t even know it.
He paced around the deck for a while until he calmed down. He had to question her. He had to get to know her a lot better and find out why he sent her. Still, he didn’t return to the cabin. He had to plan this out so he didn’t make a false move. He couldn’t frighten her away, or he would never get her back.
He thought the matter over while doing his best to ignore his comrades staring at him as he paced the length of the ship. Malcolm had figured out he harbored feelings for Ree. The rest of the crew would cop to it sooner or later too, especially after what he had said to Gilias. He must have felt something pretty strong for her if he took the step of sending her back. He could understand why, though he didn’t feel that way about her now—not yet. He must have developed those feelings later, after spending time with her.
How much time had he spent with her? She could become the love of his life in the future, but they’d only have about forty years before she would die. Was it even possible that he could he open his heart to another woman after everything that had happened—and a human woman at that?
He wouldn’t let himself feel that way about her if he didn’t think he could spend eternity with her. He knew himself well enough to know that. He never let himself love anybody when he knew they would only die and leave him alone all over again. He’d lost one eternal love. He couldn’t lose another one. Whatever else Ree might be, she was human. She would age and wither and die before his eyes while he remained young and vital. He had to hold himself together. He couldn’t let her into his heart. That was asking too much.
Even if by some miracle they found the Cipher’s Kiss and turned her immortal, they still had to deal with the Falisa always hunting them down. Maybe Ree would have to stand by and watch Ned cut down, only then to spend the rest of eternity grieving him. Ned understood that immortal grief better than anyone. He couldn’t inflict that on another person. None of this meant anything until they defeated the Gunns once and for all.
With that thought firmly in his mind, he marched down to the cabin. Ree sat on the bench behind the table in a clean dress, gazing out at the wake churning behind the boat. Ned sat down across from her, but she still didn’t turn around. He leaned back and studied her. She was a strange piece of work, that one. She held more secrets than a treasure chest. He just needed the right key to open her up.
“Tell me more about this device ye wear on yer leg,” he said. “Tell me how yer people deal with missing legs and whatnot.”
She kept her back to him. “No.”
He shook his head and chuckled. “Then tell me about Malcolm Gunn. What did ye say to him in the village that would make him come after ye like that?”
“I didn’t say anything to him,” she replied. “I already told you what I said. I told him enough that he could figure out I came back in time. He figured out a lot more than I did.”
“There must have been a good reason I sent ye back in time,” he remarked. “I wouldnae have picked ye out of a packed crowd just to send ye back. There must be a reason.”
She turned to him, opened her mouth, shut it again, and looked away. “There is a reason.”
“What is it?” he asked. “Whatever it is, Malcolm seems to ken all about it.”
“He doesn’t know anything,” she shot back. “If he says he does, he’s lying. I never told him anything about it.”
“Tell me what it is,” he insisted. “I need to ken, if I’m to keep ye on me ship.”
She scooted around the table, walked over to his liquor cabinet, and poured herself a glass of whiskey. “This stuff is pretty good. I didn’t like it at first, but it grows on you after a while, you know?”
He watched her knock back a stiff belt and pour another.
She carried the glass to the table and offered it to him. “Do you want one?”
He accepted the glass, their fingers touching as he took it from her, then tossed it back and set the glass down. Much as he wanted to grab her by the shoulders and shake the answer out of her, he kept still and waited. This moment was all hers. He couldn’t rush her.
She went back to the liquor cabinet and studied the bottles. “I studied distillation in school. Did you know that? I learned how to build a still, and how to do chemical assays and stuff like that.”
“Ree,” he said. “Is there something serious going on between us in the future? I mean, are we married or something where ye come from?”
She spun around with a gasp. “Married! Are you crazy?”
“I dinnae understand why I would send ye back here,” he replied. “I dinnae understand how I could wager the future of me whole people on ye when there was nothing to speak of between us. It doesnae make any sense, and I’m not the only one who’s noticed it. The whole crew is wondering…”
“What do you care what the crew thinks?” she asked. “Aren’t you the captain? You make the decisions, and they have to follow you?”
“It doesnae work that way on this ship,” he replied. “We’re all Lewises here.”
“All but Duncan, right?” she asked. “He’s not a Lewis.”
Ned bowed his head. “No, he isn’t. He’s human.”
“He told me what you did for him. He worships you.”
“Besides him,” Ned went on, “all the men on board this ship are Lewises. We’re brothers in blood if not in fact, and we’re all equals. I might make the decisions, but everything I do affects them. They have the right to call me into question whenever they like, especially when something I do puts everyone in danger. Dinnae forget, Ree. We’re no’ talking about a few men’s lives. These are immortals who have survived millennia of atrocities inflicted by the Gunns. They’ll no’ stand by and watch me risk all on one woman.”
She marched across the room and sat down in a chair next to him. “I’m a chemist, okay? My job is concocting chemical combinations for different purposes. I can only assume you targeted me in the future so I could help you find and concoct the Cipher’s Kiss. That’s all I can figure out. We’re not married. We’re not even involved. I hired you to solve a problem my company was facing concerning a rival. You were coming up with a strategy to thwart my rival’s plans. We met a few times, spoke over the ph—” She cut herself off and shook her head. “Never mind. Altogether we spoke for a few hours concerning our working relationship—nothing more. That’s when you sent me back.”
“I find that hard to believe,” he replied.
“You do? Well, I don’t see why. There’s nothing between us. We’re strangers here and we’re strangers there. It’s a business arrangement. That’s all.”
“I don’t believe that,” he countered. “I mean, I believe what ye’re telling me about us only having just met, but I dinnae believe I targeted ye for being a chemist.”
“Why, then?”
“I felt something for ye,” he replied. “I was probably even in love with ye.”
She burst out laughing and covered her eyes with both hands.
He didn’t even smile. This was no joke to him. “It’s true. I ken me own mind on these things. I wouldnae risk the whole world on a woman—any woman—if I didnae think I could spend the rest of me life with her.”
She sucked in her breath. “The rest of your life! You mean…?”
He nodded. “The rest of eternity, if ye like. I have no use for human women I can spend no more than a few decades with. I dinnae give me heart to a woman if I’m to watch her die a crippling death in old age. I dinnae waste me time. That’s me way. I wouldnae paid ye any mind if I thought it would end like that between us, and I sure as blazes wouldnae have sent ye back in time to meet me if I didnae believe in me heart and soul I could spend the rest of eternity with ye.”
She stared at him without blinking.
There. He’d said it, and he couldn’t take it back. She knew, and he knew, and everybody knew. He wanted her. He believed he must have been in love with her, even if he hadn’t found out why yet. That was the only reason he would send her back like this.
She stared at him for too long, then jumped up and raced to the window. Gazing out with her back to him, she said, “This is a bad idea, you know? Don’t start getting any ideas. You don’t really know what you’re getting into.”
“Then tell me, Ree. Tell me what I don’t know.”
She shook her head. “You told me once that you killed somebody.”
“I killed a lot of people,” he replied. “I’ve been killing people all my life. What of it?”
She couldn’t keep still. “You don’t know what you’re saying. There can never be anything between us. Whatever the reason you sent me back, it can’t be that. There will never be anything between us. It’s impossible.”
Chapter 10
Ree gazed down at the still figure in the cell. Malcolm’s hair had come completely unbraided and now curtained his face as he rested his head on his arm. He slept with his good arm perched on his knees, his kilt bunched up, revealing most of his muscular legs. His breathing mirrored the slow creaking roll of the galleon.
Her mind kept asking her what was she doing down there? What compelled her to go near the man she’d almost killed? She couldn’t keep away from him. Something about him drew her to him, and it wasn’t concern over his wound. Something about him sparked an intense curiosity in her. Ned caused that kind of reaction in her, but this wasn’t Ned. This man moved in the primordial world of death and destruction. He carried the Gunns’ undying vendetta against Ned’s people. He lived and breathed death. He traded in death. It was his bread and butter. Some part of her had sensed that when she met him at the village. Her spirit had recoiled from him. At the same time, he fascinated her in a way not even Ned could.
She hadn’t moved or made a sound, but all at once, his head snapped up, his eyes popped open, and he saw her. Her throat constricted. She shouldn’t be there but stood rooted to the spot.
He glared at her for a moment, then turned away. He raked his hair back from his face. “What do ye want?”
“Why did you come after me?” she asked. “Why did you attack this ship?”
“Ask yer friend, the Lewis. He’ll tell ye.”
“You’re trying to kill these people,” she fired back. “You don’t care about anything but slaughtering them all. I thought you were a caring person. Now I find out you’re a demon from Hell.”
“The Gunns and the Lewises have always been enemies,” he replied. “Do ye think ye can change that by bandaging a man’s shoulder? They’re using ye for their ends, the same as I am. Dinnae ever fool yerself about that.”
“I know that.”
“If ye came down here to kill me,” he growled, “ye better go ahead and do it. I dinnae care to hang about and wonder who me friends and enemies are.”
“I didn’t come down here to kill you,” she returned. “And I made Ned promise to keep you alive. I wouldn’t have wasted my time fixing your shoulder if I wanted you dead, but you don’t seem to appreciate that, either. Maybe I should let him do what he wants with you.”
He looked away. “I thank ye for fixing me shoulder. It was kindly done, and I’m grateful. Now will ye please go away? Go back to yer friend.”
“You keep calling him my friend. I don’t know him from Adam. I don’t know him any better than I know you.”
“If that was true,” he snarled back, “he’d be down here with a hole in his arm instead of me. Did ye stab him in the shoulder when he took ye on board this tub? Of course not.”
“That was different.”
“Of course it was,” he muttered. “It was him. You said he sent you back in time, and now here you are with him again, so don’t lie about knowing him.”
Ree stared down at him. He didn’t even try to disguise his hateful attitude. She’d sided with Ned, and he hated her for it. But she hadn’t. She wasn’t taking anyone’s side, especially not Ned’s after his pirates kidnapped her and took her hostage on their ship. She never asked for any of this and only wanted to go home. She’d only stabbed the man because he’d attacked her, tried to kidnap her again. Neither one of them had the right to put her in the middle of their feud, use her as a pawn.
She crouched down next to the bars, getting as close to Malcolm as she could get. “Malcolm, I—”
The Highlander launched himself off the floor, and the next thing she knew, he’d hit the bars going a mile a minute, shot his hand through, and closed his fingers around her throat.
She choked for air, frantically trying to break free, but his iron grip was crushing her throat. She couldn’t even cry out for help. She stared into the burning infernos of his eyes and beheld the bottomless rage and cruelty written there.
All of a sudden, something struck his arm and his hand broke away from her throat as he collapsed on the ground with an ear-splitting scream. Ree looked up at the big bruiser who had captured her. She could only gasp for air and rub her throat as he laid hold of her arm and dragged her away from the cell.
He flung her down on the floor across the room, then leaned back against the wall, folded his arms across his barrel chest, and trained his
eyes on the prisoner. He paid no further attention to Ree.
Ree struggled to stand up. Her throat hurt something awful.
Malcolm narrowed his eyes and bared his teeth at her from inside the cell as he rose to his full height and pushed back his hair with both hands. The light coming through the hatch set off his cheekbones and cast his eye sockets in shadow, giving the illusion of his bare skull scowling at her from behind the bars. Then he turned away, trudged back to the corner of the cell where his bed of straw awaited, and slid down into the same slumped position as when she’d first walked in.
Ree realized she had deluded herself into thinking she could remain allies with both the Lewises and the Gunns and stay out of their feud. Now she knew that wasn’t possible. She’d made her choice. Malcolm was her enemy, the same way he was Ned’s enemy.
She raced out of the brig, needing air. She had to find some refuge from his hateful glare. She needed Ned’s comforting acceptance. He would know how to deal with Malcolm.
Once she got out on the deck, she didn’t want to go below again. She walked to the rail and looked out at the open sea, turning her back on the crew casting sidelong glances at her. They would all be wondering about the captain’s woman. Well, they could think what they liked. She never signed up for any of this and belonged to no one.
While she stood there inhaling the salt air and thinking over everything that had happened, Duncan walked up next to her. “Begging yer pardon, Miss. The captain wishes to see ye in his cabin right away.”
“I’m sure he does,” Ree muttered.
Duncan waited. “Miss? Can I tell him ye’re on yer way down?”
“Tell him whatever you want,” she fired back. “I don’t come and go at the captain’s beck and call. I’ll go see him when I’m ready.”
The boy gasped, “I cannae tell him that, Miss. He’d have me head on a dish.”
Ree rounded on him with a laugh. “I’m sure he wouldn’t do that, Duncan. He loves you as much as you love him.”
Pirates of the Angui (Cipher's Kiss Book 1): A Scottish Highlander Time Travel Romance Page 8