Alexandra Benedict - [Too]

by Too Dangerous to Desire

  “I happened upon a group of men. They were searching the countryside, asking travelers about a woman.”

  Adam bristled. “What woman?”

  “Your ward, sir.”

  Adam reached for the lieutenant’s throat—and squeezed. It was the duke who disentangled the couple, forced Adam to back away.

  “How could you betray me, Faraday?!”

  It churned in Adam’s belly, the incomparable disloyalty. The vile hurt crushed the very breath from his lungs.

  “Betray you?” Faraday sputtered and rubbed his tender throat. “You betrayed me, Capt’n. You betrayed the entire crew!”

  “How?”

  “You abandoned our righteous mission to apprehend Black Hawk for a woman. You surrendered to lust!”

  “I told you, Black Hawk is dead.”

  “I don’t believe it! You just want to be rid of your obligation, so you can cavort with another man’s woman.” Faraday paused for breath. “I know the truth. I was informed of your treachery. How could you steal another man’s bride? A royal bride?”

  “You son of a bitch!”

  Adam again reached for his former friend’s throat—and again he was curtailed by the duke.

  The lieutenant was unabashed. “Perhaps now—with her out of the way—you will come to your senses and fulfill the mission you’re honor-bound to meet.”

  “What did you tell them, Faraday?”

  “I think you had best confess the truth,” admonished the duke.

  “I’m not ashamed of anything I’ve done,” said Faraday. “I’ll gladly reveal the truth…I told them you had the prince’s fiancée.”

  Adam and Damian exchanged quick glances before both charged back toward the Bonny Meg.

  “Evie!”

  Adam shouted her name over and over again, zigzagged across the deck in a desperate search for the woman.

  “What the devil are you bellowing about?” demanded Black Hawk. He approached Adam from behind, expression dark.

  “Where’s Evie?”

  “Belowdecks, I’m sure,” said the pirate captain. “There’s no reason to disrupt my—”

  The duke was quick to advance. “The prince knows we have Evelyn.”

  Black Hawk faltered.

  But within two seconds the pirate captain roared: “Search the ship! Find the woman!”

  The men scrambled to obey.

  A frightful image stormed Adam’s brain: Evelyn accosted by the henchmen, throttled by the prince. Her lifeless body…

  He shoved the dread, the wretched sickness back down into the bowel of his belly.

  Be strong, Evie.

  Fight!

  Curse the blackness! A fierce storm brewed in the distance, the thick clouds hiding the precious moonlight, making their search for Evelyn all the more difficult.

  “Over here, Captain!”

  Black Hawk thundered across the deck, Adam and Damian quick on his heels. The men gathered at the starboard rail and looked out to sea.

  The tar lifted the lamplight higher. “Do you see her, Captain? The boat?”

  The men peered into the darkness.

  Every so often a flicker of torchlight reflected off a pair of wet oars, as a small rowboat moved across the waters toward the much larger rig moored a league away.

  That alone was not suspicious enough—but for the figure struggling in the rowboat.

  “Oh God!” cried Adam. “Evie!”

  Black Hawk rounded the deck. “Weigh anchor! And ready the cannons!”

  The pirates followed instructions without a moment’s pause. The deck was thrust into organized chaos as each brigand headed for his appointed station.

  “Gentlemen.” Black Hawk returned a minute later with two shiny pistols. He handed one to Adam and the other to Damian. “You’ll be needing these.”

  Chapter 31

  Evelyn was alone in the cabin with Prince Vadik.

  As soon as she had been dragged aboard the royal vessel, the prince had ordered the captain to weigh anchor.

  She was trapped.

  There was a table wedged between them, dotted with sumptuous dishes. She didn’t care for a bite, though, her belly twisted with nausea. And it was not the undulating waves making her queasy. It was him.

  “You look so much like your sister.” He said the words with pleasure. “I miss your sister very much.”

  Evelyn was damp with sweat. If she lifted her eyes to look at the prince, she might faint. Did he have a coffin aboard ship? How long would he keep her interred this time?

  Her heart pumped madly. She was grateful for the support of a chair, for without it she would surely collapse.

  Tears welled in her eyes. Hopeless tears. Adam had trained her to fight with fists and swords. He had demonstrated kicks and punches. Where had all that knowledge gone? She sat quiet, trembling.

  Dead.

  It was useless to fight the prince. One thought—one look—at him and her mind panicked, her fingers froze.

  “I suppose it’s too much for me to hope my fiancée is still a virgin?”

  She remained silent, but took small pleasure in the thought she had aggrieved him in that matter at least.

  “You disappoint me, Lady Evelyn. I believed you less rebellious than your sister. But I broke her spirit. I will break yours, too.”

  Evelyn was resigned to her wretched fate—but she had yet to resign herself to her sister’s death.

  “You killed Ella.”

  The prince poured himself a glass of red wine. “My late wife died in a terrible riding accident.”

  Evelyn was willful. “You killed Ella.”

  After a measured sip of the spirits, the devil smiled. “It’s better to let the matter rest, Lady Evelyn.”

  She clutched the heart-shaped pendant at her throat. “How did Ella die?”

  “Too rebellious, Lady Evelyn. I warned you.” The prince set the glass aside before he slipped the silk cravat off his throat. “Do you see this?”

  She stared at the crisp white fabric through her tears. “You choked her?”

  Her own words choked as ghastly images stormed her brain.

  “I did.” The prince caressed the silk cravat in fond memory, it appeared. “I choked her…while I was inside her.”

  Evelyn’s hands trembled. She couldn’t feel her fingers anymore, the nerves numb.

  “What can I say? I’m fascinated by the beauty of death.” He gracefully fastened the cravat around his neck once more. “It all happened so long ago. I saw my mother’s corpse laid out as a child. She was so exquisitely lovely in the coffin. I’m afraid it’s been an obsession ever since. I cannot help myself.”

  Years of misery and aloneness and fear gathered inside her, and in one brilliant burst, the sentiments twisted together into pulsing, feral—

  “You son of a bitch!” She pounced on top of the table and lunged for the prince. “I will kill you, Vadik!”

  Spooked, Vadik cried, “Men!”

  The door burst open and the cabin filled with henchmen.

  Hunkered near the prince at the other end of the table, Evelyn snatched the cravat from his throat and wound the silk around her knuckles. He would take no more pleasure from her sister’s brutal death.

  The henchmen approached.

  Evelyn stood and kicked the plates of food across the room, the henchmen her target.

  Red-hot anger strangled her fear. There was a wild need inside her to fight. And she tossed the silver-plated chargers around the cabin like a mighty windstorm.

  In the confusion the door was left open. Evelyn jumped off the table and dashed out of the cabin.

  An uproar resounded behind her.

  “Bring her back to me!” cried the prince.

  Filled with energy, Evelyn sprinted through the corridor and scrambled up the steep steps leading topside.

  A tempest raged.

  She was soaked within seconds. But Evelyn didn’t care about the wild winds or the crashing waves.

  Sh
e wanted off the ship.

  She snatched ratlines for support, making her way toward the stern. In the distance lightning charged, the bright blue light sparking quickly, illuminating another ship.

  The Bonny Meg.

  Evelyn grabbed hold of the portside rail and started to climb overboard.

  “Light the cannons!”

  “No!” Adam grabbed Black Hawk by the arm. “If you sink her, you’ll kill Evie.”

  “I’m not going to sink her!” the pirate captain shouted in return. “Just send her—and the prince—a warning.” He then ordered, “Aim off her portside rail!”

  “Aye, Captain.”

  The tar rushed to impart the command to the gunners belowdecks.

  Adam grabbed a thick rope and wrapped it around his hand to keep steady. Another tempest raged in his breast. It scrubbed and polished and washed away all the years of guilt and confusion. Truth lighted. For years he had lived under the pressure of pain, imposed a sentence of solitude upon himself as a form of punishment. But there was nothing he could have done to save Tess. He realized that now. She was gone. But he was alive. And somewhere in the deepest part of his soul, he could hear her sweet voice:

  Be happy, Adam.

  The sea churned with angry might. The wind pushed the rain across the night sky in thick and blinding sheets.

  Adam now looked out with anxious expectation to the furious sea for that very happiness: he looked for Evelyn.

  She had stroked his heart back to life from their first meeting at the beach. And she had been stroking it ever since, bringing him hope and joy and peace.

  “Adam!”

  He looked at his brother. Damian pointed across the deck of the Bonny Meg, toward the other vessel.

  Adam stared in the same direction—and chilled.

  Lightning flickered across the stormy heavens. For a brief moment he recognized Evelyn crawling over the portside rail.

  And then she was gone.

  The sea black once more.

  “Evie!”

  But it was an unheard scream, swallowed by the roar of thunder and the lashing waves.

  Adam moved closer to the ship’s edge. Heartbeat wild, he gripped the sturdy rail and peered into the darkness, willing to see Evelyn again.

  Another distant crack of electric light.

  It illuminated the other rig—and revealed a gruesome sight.

  Evelyn was struggling with the prince!

  A blast roared from the Bonny Meg.

  “No!” Adam cried.

  The cannonball streaked the skies and exploded in the waters off the other ship’s portside rail.

  Both Evelyn and the prince tumbled into the churning sea.

  Without another thought, Adam vaulted off the side of the Bonny Meg and into the swirling waters.

  “Adam, no!”

  Damian charged after his brother, but Black Hawk grabbed him by the arm. “You can’t go after him, Damian!”

  The duke struggled. “I won’t lose him again!”

  “Adam belongs in the sea with Evie. You belong on land with Belle.”

  The pirate captain was right. Curse it all to hell! Damian slammed his fist against the ship’s rail in defeat.

  Once he was sure the duke would not follow his brother into the ocean, Black Hawk shouted, “Man overboard!”

  Evelyn struggled with the long hem of her skirt, trying to make her way over the rail and into the sea.

  She had to get to the Bonny Meg.

  She had to get to Adam!

  After her duel with the prince and the henchmen, the years of murky uncertainty and dread had washed away. Her mind was clear now. And for the first time, she could see what was truly in her heart.

  “You little bitch!” The prince snatched her ankle and yanked her roughly. “Come back here. You belong to me!”

  Evelyn kicked and thrashed.

  The prince grabbed her by the waist and tried to haul her back onto the deck. He maintained a firm hold, and she scratched and slapped him to get him to let go.

  The low and heavy boom of a cannon blast pierced the stormy night.

  Evelyn glanced sidelong in time to catch the explosion rock the already tempestuous waves.

  The ship rolled.

  She and Vadik plunged into the ocean, tangled together.

  The water cut like ice, so cold and sharp. It embraced her. Strangled her.

  Evelyn kicked and kicked. She surfaced and gasped for air. A comber crashed over her head. She drowned—and surfaced again.

  Thank God for her swimming lessons with Adam! Now if only she could get to the Bonny Meg.

  A desperate Evelyn stroked across the turbulent waters—but something snagged her foot.

  Vadik surfaced. “Help me!”

  There was chaos aboard the other ship; the henchmen tossed ropes overboard. But the prince was too far away from the vessel to grab hold of the rigging.

  “I can’t swim!” cried the prince.

  He latched on to Evelyn like a lifeline. She drowned under the pressure of his hold, but the will to live surged through her blood, and she cast off the prince’s death grip.

  Vadik seized her again. “You’re mine!”

  “I’m not yours!” Evelyn sputtered, the waves pounding her, the prince suffocating her. “You have no power over me!”

  She summoned a surge of strength, and with all her might crashed her elbow into Vadik’s nose.

  The blow disarmed an already confused and panicked prince, and he released his hold.

  Evelyn quickly swam off, leaving the shrieking prince to sink under the thrashing waves.

  She was exhausted. Pure will was keeping her afloat. She eyed the Bonny Meg. It was so close—and yet so far.

  Her strength was slowly slipping away from her, the sea too brutal to combat.

  She was going to die.

  She was going to die without telling him.

  A set of hard arms circled her waist.

  Adam!

  “I’ve got you, Evie! Now kick!”

  Her heart shuddered with delight. She kicked.

  “Now swim!”

  She started to swim. Adam’s presence offered her enough strength to keep fighting.

  But the furious waves seemed set against their reaching the Bonny Meg. The combers swelled and smashed over them with livid purpose.

  Adam put his arms around her, and together they treaded water.

  “I love you, Evie!”

  Evelyn laughed.

  Weeks ago she had searched for death. Now she had finally found life—yet it was going to be snatched away from her.

  But she would die free of her fears. She would die knowing the prince had no hold over her mind anymore. She would die knowing she could trust Adam, that she didn’t have to be afraid to give her heart away.

  “And I love you, Adam!”

  He kissed her hard. “We’re not going to make it back to the ship, Evie.”

  “I know!”

  “Don’t be afraid! I’m here with you.”

  “I’m not afraid.” Her heart was filled with joy. The joy of letting go of crippling fear and welcoming the love she had searched for for so long. “I’m not afraid of anything anymore!”

  The comber surged and crashed over the entangled couple with savage force.

  Adam and Evelyn slipped beneath the wild winds and rolling waves…and slowly started to sink.

  Epilogue

  It was a crisp fall morning.

  Evelyn split the log with an axe. There was a lot of work to be done before the winter winds set in and the snow started to fall.

  The brisk sea breeze carried with it memories, and she neglected her chore for a moment to look out across the gray water.

  “Are we dead?”

  Adam spit seaweed. “I think so.”

  She touched herself to feel the aches and fatigue and…“Then why are we wet?”

  The waves still crashed and the winds beat, but the brutal summer tempest was dying; the
ocean was righting itself.

  Adam rolled across the rough sand to be beside her. “Maybe we’re not dead?”

  Had the sea taken mercy upon them and tossed them back out onto land? She looked into the distance to see the faint flicker of lights in port.

  Evelyn grinned despite the hurt in her jaw. “I think you’re right, Adam.”

  Another grin touched Evelyn’s lips at the fond recollection. It had surprised her and Adam both, their survival. The sea had offered them a second chance.

  The clip-clop of hooves resounded.

  Evelyn searched the beach for Adam with her eyes. “You’re late!”

  He steered the horse over the embankment and toward the sturdy cottage. With an easy grin, he dismounted—and kissed her passionately on the lips. “It’s good to see you, too, my dear.”

  Content with her husband’s atonement, she said, “What took you so long in the village?”

  Adam fingered the fob watch in his pocket and checked the time. “I was detained at the post.” He then handed her the letter. “It’s a note from the duke and duchess.”

  Evelyn set the axe aside and snatched the missive. She broke the red wax seal and scanned the elegant script. “We’re invited to a wedding.”

  Adam unpacked the household supplies strapped to the animal’s back. “For whom?”

  “For Captain James Hawkins.”

  Adam balked. “Black Hawk? You’re not serious?”

  Evelyn giggled with equal astonishment. “I’m afraid it’s true.”

  “But who the devil would marry him?”

  “I don’t know…but I can’t wait to find out.”

  Adam whistled in disbelief. “I suppose splitting wood will have to wait, then.” He nudged his head toward the pile of kindling. “You really should let the servants do that.”

  “We don’t have any servants.”

  “We really should get some servants to do that.”

  She laughed heartily. “Maybe when the babe comes.”

  Evelyn patted her belly. Although she wasn’t showing yet, she had missed her menses, so it was natural to assume she was enceinte.