Ned ran around until he found Gilias. The man was too busy giving orders to notice him rush up so he grabbed his friend by the shoulders and spun him around. “Gilias!” he exclaimed. “They’re coming. The Gunns are on the other side of the island. They’ll be here in no time.”
Gilias roared to the men. “Arm to defend the ship!”
“Wait, Gilias!” Ned cried. “Dinnae arm yet. I’ll hold them off. Ye get the ship away. That’s all that matters.”
Gilias rounded on him. “I’m no’ leaving without ye. Line up with the others and stand ready to defend the ship. That’s an order.”
Ned almost burst out laughing. His friend was captain now. “Do ye no’ see?” he cried. “They dinnae even ken the ship is here. I’ll hold them off beyond that hill, and they never will ken. They think I’m alone. They’ll track me down, and I’ll hold them off until ye get away. Put out to sea and head for Aberdeen. Find Ree. She can help ye with the Cipher’s Kiss. She’s our best shot. Show her this.” He shoved the book into his friend’s hands.
Gilias frowned at it. “What’s this?”
“I found it in a bookshop in Lyness. Ree can figure out what it means. Just get out of here. Forget defending the ship and get every man to work launching this tub. There’s no time to lose.”
He bolted for the hill and didn’t look back. He drew his weapon as he rushed onto the field. He got well away from the inlet before he slowed down, then cast a breathless glance back. No one could see the top of the masts from here. With any luck, his death would buy his friends the precious seconds they needed to make their escape.
Chapter 16
Ree puffed and panted climbing the clock tower of the big cathedral. She’d had to tell the sextant a terrible tale of misery and falsehood before the man would let her climb to the belfry. She paused to catch her breath on the wooden platform right under the enormous bell. From here, she could see all the way out to sea to the east and up to precipitous mountains in the west.
She turned her face to the northwest, where the Prometheus would come from if it came at all. It would come. She never doubted that. Ned would come back for her, but that would be his undoing and she had to warn him. She had to save him from destruction even if it meant seducing Malcolm Gunn. The longer she spent in this town, the more comfortable she got with that idea. If she could only distract him, he might turn his attentions away from hunting Ned down long enough for him to get away. But was she enough? He was Falisa. He would never turn away from hunting Ned down—never! Hunting Ned down meant a whole lot more to a guy like Malcolm than she ever could.
If she could only find a way to signal Ned, she could use this bell tower to do it. She could send up a flare or something… No, that was ridiculous too. A flare would mean nothing to him even if he saw it in time.
Malcolm wouldn’t let her send a message overland, either. He’d already told her he would read all her correspondence, coming or going, and she believed him.
For the hundredth time, she gave up the project in despair. Warning Ned before he got to Aberdeen was impossible. The British Navy and the Gunns would probably attack him before he ever dropped anchor. They would patrol the outer zone around the country and destroy him the minute he showed himself. They would destroy the ship he just worked so hard to repair, and they would sink him along with everyone on board.
She couldn’t think like that any longer. She headed down the stairs the way she’d come. Out on the street, the same questions assaulted her mind. Where should she go? What could she do with Malcolm’s people following her everywhere? Anything she did, his spies would report back to him. How could she ever hope to subvert the Gunns’ plan?
She started walking back to the garrison in defeat, feeling completely helpless. She was nothing but a woman—a one-legged woman, at that. Her one and only ace in the hole was that none of the Gunns knew she only had one leg. They thought she was as able-bodied as any other woman.
On her way back to her lonely cave, she passed a park where a bunch of young men were practicing sword-fighting. They parried and thrust and slashed each other in their shirtsleeves and kilts. Ree stood watching them for a while, the entertainment taking her mind off her own problems. So that’s what Ned and his brothers did in their free time. They practiced the arts of combat so they would be ready when the time came to fight.
A creeping sensation snuck up her leg and into her deepest being. That was it! She had all this time on her hands. She would learn some combat skills. When Ned came back to town, she’d be that much better prepared to deal with whatever happened.
Now the real conundrum presented itself. She needed a weapon, and she had to keep it hidden, not only from the spies, but from Malcolm himself. Even kindly old Cora was really her enemy in disguise.
Ree looked both ways to cross the busy street and then entered the park. She sidled closer to the men sparring and feinting at each other. A lot of spare sabers sat around on the grass. She walked over and picked one up, pretending to study the scabbard and the construction of the hand grip.
A young captain in a red uniform passing by said, “Be careful there, Miss. Ye dinnae want to hurt yer delicate hands.”
Ree colored. Of course not. What would a woman possibly want with a weapon? “Excuse me, Captain,” she called.
The man came back and presented himself before her. “What is it, Miss?”
“How often does this group meet?” she asked. “What I mean is, I think my brother might like to come along and practice too.”
“We’re out here every morning at eleven o’clock for tea,” he replied. “Tell yer brother to come if he wants to.”
“Thank you,” she told the man. “I will tell him.” That was all she’d needed to hear. Every morning at eleven o’clock, she could come out here and watch and learn. Then she could practice alone in her room.
Ree turned away from the fighting and pretended to put the blade back on the pile with the others. At the last second, she tucked it into the folds of her full skirt and covered the handguard with her arm and shawl. She hurried away as fast as she could. She only hoped Malcolm’s spies hadn’t seen her. If she couldn’t see them, maybe they were too far away to see what she’d done.
She raced back to the garrison and up to her room, then slammed and locked the door before she dared uncover the weapon. She laid it on the bed and stood back to gaze down at it. There it was. She had a weapon. Now she just needed to learn how to use it.
She picked the saber up, slid it out of its scabbard, and examined the blade. Then she crossed the room to stand in front of the mirror, held the sword straight out in front of her, and gave it a few powerful swishes through the air. It felt good in her hand. She wanted to fight with it. She’d stabbed Malcolm in the shoulder with one of these, but that didn’t count. She wanted to learn to keep her head in combat, so she could inflict the damage she wanted to inflict. She didn’t want something like that to happen by accident.
A resounding knock rattled Ree’s door.
She shoved the weapon and scabbard under the mattress, then smoothed her skirts and opened the door to find none other than Malcolm Gunn standing there. Her heart thundered against her ribs. Had he found her out so soon? Had he come to punish her?
He smiled at her. “If ye dinnae mind, Miss Hamilton, I’d like a word with ye.”
She stood back to let him in. She had to play this right, had to make up with him and possibly let him think there might be something between them. At all costs, she had to keep her saber hidden from him.
He strode into the room, his kilt swaying around his knees with each sure step, and walked straight to the window where he commanded a view over the harbor packed with boats. “I’ve been thinking, Miss Hamilton. I’ve been thinking that, with the Lewises under threat, and ye yerself not actually connected with them, ye’d have thought better of aligning yerself with them. After all, it wasnae yer choice that sent ye here. I can understand why ye fought me off when I tried to take ye
off their ship. If ye agree to act as a lure for them, ye’d make yerself some powerful friends in this town when the Lewises do come back.”
“This is a different tune from the one you sang me last time,” she remarked. “To what do I owe the honor of a second chance with you?”
He bit back a smile. “Ye have me at a disadvantage, Miss Hamilton. It seems a beautiful woman like ye are can make her own advantages where she sees fit.”
She suspected something disingenuous under the surface. He wasn’t telling her the full truth. He was trying to trap her with flattery. His eyes told her as much. He had some other motive to winning her trust. But that didn’t matter. She wanted him to trust her—at least, she wanted him to pretend to trust her. That would give her the opening she needed.
“You’re right, Malcolm,” she replied. “I’ve been thinking too. I want you to know I never had anything to do with the Lewises before I came here, and I had nothing to do with getting taken on board their ship. They captured me against my will. I don’t know why I attacked you, and I was sorry I hurt you. That’s why I went out of my way to clean up your shoulder. I hope we can be friends.”
“That depends on how willing ye are to help us capture Niall Lewis,” he said with narrowed eyes.
“Help you capture him?” Ree exclaimed. “How can I do that when you already have every approach to the city under guard? From where I stand, you don’t need any help to capture him.”
Malcolm crossed his arms over his chest. “We always need more help,” he replied. “He values ye above all else. He’ll come back for ye.”
“You already know he will, and I already told you everything I know about his motives. I don’t know how to convince you more than that.”
“Aye. Ye told us why he sent ye back,” Malcolm said, “but there’s more to it than that. I’m convinced of it.”
Ree shook her head. “What can I do to prove myself?” she asked. “What can I do more than I’ve already done?”
Malcom gave her a stoic nod. “I have an idea,” he replied. “Ye ken he’s in search of the Cipher’s Kiss. He expects ye to help him concoct it.”
“Yeah?”
“I was thinking ye could go with him,” Malcolm told her. “We’d find a way for ye to get away from Aberdeen. Ye could go as far as helping him find the recipe. Then, when it comes to concocting the elixir, ye could sabotage it. That’s when we’d take the whole bunch and put an end to them.”
Ree stared up at him. “You want me to infiltrate their efforts to form the elixir? You want me to give them a false recipe and then tip you off to their whereabouts so you can annihilate the whole race in one shot?”
He took a menacing step toward her. “Ye’re a smart one. I’ll give ye that. I can see why he chose ye. Ye’ve a natural head for strategy.”
Ree turned away. She couldn’t look this man in the face. In a flash, she knew she could never go through with what he asked. She could never lie, not only to Ned, but to the rest of his men. She could never play out an elaborate act like that, only to stab them in the backs at the last second. She couldn’t just refuse Malcolm to his face, though. She had to let him think she agreed. That was the best way she could save Ned and get Malcolm to let her and the Lewises go.
She collected her wits and turned around to face him, putting on her best dumb-blonde face. “Very well, Malcolm. I’ll do as you say. You realize, of course, this means you’ll have to let me and the Lewises leave Aberdeen. You’ll have to trust me to go off with them and find the formula.”
“Oh, I understand it well enough,” he replied. “I’ll work it out with Major Kirk. When the Prometheus comes back to town, they’ll send their boat to fetch you. Ye can go with them.”
“How will I contact you when the time comes to strike?” she asked.
“I’ll be in touch with ye before then,” he replied. “Ye’ll no get shut of me so easily. I’ll track yer every move to make sure ye stay loyal to our plan and dinnae cross back over to the other side. When the Lewises get close to completing the elixir, I’ll be there waiting for ye.”
Ree’s blood ran cold. She had no doubt he would shadow her no matter where she went. When the Lewises got close to accomplishing their mission, the Gunns would swoop in at the worst possible time. One thought spun through her mind again and again. She had to tell Ned. She had to warn him about all of this, but how could she? Once the Prometheus entered Aberdeen harbor, all bets were off. Malcolm would be able to follow the Lewises when they left with Ree.
Ree turned up her face to Malcolm’s and smiled again. “All right. I’ll do it.”
“I kenned I could count on you, once ye came to a place of safety where ye could sort yer thoughts without those pirates influencing ye,” he replied. “I kenned we’d be friends after all. I didnae think, after we started out so well at the village, that these things could fall apart.”
Ree didn’t bother bringing up the part about him trying to strangle her in the brig. She’d wanted to get him into a situation where she might be able to seduce him for her own purposes, and now that she’d gotten what she wanted, she better make the most of it.
She reached out and took his hand. His skin vibrated with inner tension and power, and when she gazed up into his eyes, she saw the same thing there. He really was attractive in a mysterious sort of way, but his eyes gave her no comfort the way Ned’s did. When she looked at Malcolm, when he spoke to her, she believed he was watching her from behind a veil of lies. They both knew every word they said was untrue, that they were playing each other, and the veneer would shatter at a moment’s notice.
He had a reason to let her go and rejoin Ned, and it had nothing to do with using her as an infiltrator into the Cipher’s Kiss plot. She was more valuable to him as a decoy. He harbored some secret plan to follow her and Ned. She had to find out what it was but doubted she could penetrate this man’s iron façade.
He eased closer to her, and she let it happen. Everything about him sizzled along her nerves. She never let herself get this close to any man, not even for nefarious reasons. She’d never felt worthy after the accident. Felt unattractive because of her leg. But suddenly, here was a chance for her to finally toss that notion aside and fulfil her needs. Did that make her weak? Selfish?
She gazed up at Malcolm Gunn. He was tall, dark, and mysteriously magnetic. He commanded the space around himself with pinpoint control. He understood every nuance of body language and facial expression. No one could pull the wool over his eyes about anything, and she shouldn’t hope to try.
Still, he wanted her, and she wanted him to want her. That might be his only weakness, so she should exploit it. If he planned to use her and kill her when it was all over, maybe he would spare her if he started to feel something for her. These Gunns were human. They loved and bled and felt, the same as every other human on the planet. They married and cared for their children. Maybe he would develop true feelings for her.
She couldn’t think like that when she didn’t feel that way about him. He was a means to an end, and she would use him the same way he was using her—nothing more. Did that make her a bad person? Maybe, but right then both her sexual and survival needs were driving her. She prayed that not only her body survived, but also her soul.
She sat down on the bed and drew him down next to her. His nostrils flared, and his pupils dilated. He showed all the signs of desire, so why did that strike terror into her heart? Hadn’t she made up her mind to seduce him?
He leaned closer and kissed her. His breath filled her mind with the heady scent of man. Her body tensed, and the electric fire of quivery excitement burned through her guts. She hadn’t even kissed Ned, and here she was getting excited about a man she didn’t even like.
He slipped one hand behind her back and pulled her toward him. She couldn’t go far sitting on the bed, but that simple gesture sent a scorching lick of hot juice bubbling between her legs. She wanted him. She wanted Malcolm. The hidden motives behind that veil of deceit on
ly excited her even more.
Seducing the enemy…did that make her a bad person? She wanted to be bad, just this once. She wanted to do something so far beyond the bounds of her successful, good-girl, follow-the-rules persona that no one would recognize her, not even herself. She wanted to throw all caution to the wind. She wanted to have mindless, meaningless sex with a man she cared nothing about. But the truth was that she did care about Malcolm. He wasn’t a faceless stranger off the street. They shared a connection, even if it was a deceitful one.
She draped her arms around his neck. Their kisses escalated in passion. He nudged her mouth open, and his hot tongue licked inside. It tickled her brain with its wicked suggestions. His body pressed against her breasts.
What was he like under that kilt? All of a sudden, his kilt represented something so unbelievably sexual she couldn’t believe the whole Scottish culture didn’t understand it. The kilt suggested phallic desire, sexual freedom, erection, and a thousand other ideas of wanton carnal wildness. These men were wild. Far from holding them back the way regular trousers would, the kilt left them free and unfettered to express their primal masculinity to the world at large. That was their power. That was their male prerogative. It was their ultimate bald challenge to the world to accept their maleness or go hang. Scottish culture rested on that foundation and nothing else.
Already she sensed him getting hard under his kilt. For the first time in her life, that thought didn’t scare her away. She didn’t retreat. She wanted it. She wanted him like this, right here, right now.
She heaved her breasts against his iron chest, their kisses deepening. He tightened his arm behind her back and lifted her off the bed. She didn’t even care that he would find out about her artificial leg once he undressed her. That alone shattered all the old bonds holding her back. She just didn’t care anymore.
What had she been doing all her life? Why had she cared so much about every stranger finding out she had only one leg? What difference did it really make in the end? Hadn’t she fought Malcolm on board the Prometheus? She was just as capable as if she had two legs. That’s what Ned had said, and now she knew it was true.
Pirates of the Angui (Cipher's Kiss Book 1): A Scottish Highlander Time Travel Romance Page 13