“Don’t say that too loudly. You might give them ideas.” Sara glanced around at some of the women who’d already chosen mates. “Unfortunately, you and I may be outnumbered in our desire to remain unmarried.”
Louisa shot her a long, curious glance. “You and I? You’ve chosen a husband, too, remember?”
With a groan, Sara cursed her slip of the tongue.
“Or have you changed your mind and decided to leave Petey to Ann, after all?”
A surge of guilt hit Sara all at once. Poor Ann. “Where is she, anyway?” Sara asked, ignoring Louisa’s question as she scanned the clusters of men and women around them. She’d meant to look for the young woman earlier, to see if she couldn’t patch things up between them, but in exploring the island she’d forgotten about her good intentions.
Louisa jerked her head toward the stream not far from them. “I saw her wander up there a little while ago. I think she wanted to be alone.”
“Oh, of course.” Sara cast a concerned glance up along the sides of the stream and felt a little shiver of worry when she didn’t see the Welshwoman. “Perhaps I’ll just go look for her. She shouldn’t wander so far away from everyone when the island is still unfamiliar to us. She might get hurt.”
“Do as you wish. But if you don’t mind, I’m returning to the dirty little hovel they call a kitchen. We’ll be eating dinner soon. The pirates have killed the fatted calf in our honor—actually, a fatted wild pig—and if I leave the final cooking of it to Silas, he’ll torture it into the toughest, most inedible dish imaginable.”
With that, the young woman strolled back in the direction they’d just come, leaving Sara to climb the slippery banks of the stream alone. The moment she began her ascent, she realized that her half-boots, adequate for treading the well-polished decks of the Satyr, were not at all useful for scrambling over the slick rocks bordering the stream. It took some work to keep her balance while holding her skirts above her ankles, and she was so intent upon not falling that she didn’t hear the soft voices of a young couple talking in the woods until she was nearly upon them.
Then she halted, straining to hear more. In moments she picked out Ann’s dulcet voice, answered by a deeper male one. Good heavens, was one of those dreadful men even now taking advantage of Ann’s wounded heart? Sara wouldn’t stand for that. Ann had been through enough already.
Pushing determinedly through the thick growth along the edge of the stream, she stumbled suddenly into a clearing. The couple before her, locked in a passionate embrace, sprang apart at once. And to her surprise, Petey was the “dreadful man” holding Ann.
Her mouth gaped open. “Oh…I’m…I’m so sorry…. I thought…I was worried—” She turned, her face several shades of red. “Never mind. I’ll just go back to the beach—”
“Wait!” Peter called out as she started off. She heard his boots crunching through the brush after her. “Please, Miss Willis—I can explain.”
Sara shook her head as she pushed doggedly on. “You don’t need to explain anything.” But by that time he’d reached her side and caught her by the arm, forcing her to halt.
“Listen, please.” When Sara lifted her eyes to him, he added, “I told Ann everythin’—about why I’m marryin’ you and who you are. I told her I work for your brother. I had to.”
“Please don’t blame him,” Ann burst out. When Sara looked at the young woman, she was pained to see how red Ann’s eyes and nose were.
She went on haltingly. “I-I came up here to be alone…because…well…”
“She was cryin’,” Petey interjected. “I seen her come up here alone, and I was worried she might hurt herself, so I followed her and found her sittin’ all by herself on that tree there and sobbin’.” He cast Ann a tender look. “She thought you and me was in love. I couldn’t let her go on thinkin’ it, not when it hurts her so.” His voice lowered. “Especially since it ain’t true.”
The look that passed between Ann and Petey then was so sweet that a lump swelled in Sara’s throat. Suddenly she wished it was she and Gideon sharing that look.
As soon as she thought it, she groaned. Gideon, indeed! The man knew nothing of affection or sweetness. All he wanted was to own her body, and he wanted that only because she wouldn’t give it to him. He was like a little boy coveting his playmate’s toys.
Ann’s gaze was on Sara now. “Since Petey’s explained it all to me, Miss Willis, I understand what he has to do. Truly I do.” It sounded as if she were trying to convince herself more than Sara. Dropping her gaze, Ann smoothed her skirts with her plump, soft hands. “There’s no other way out of it. Petey must marry you to keep you safe from the pirates. I see that now.”
To keep you safe from the pirates. Ann said not a word about her own sacrifice, about being kept safe from the pirates herself. She just accepted the notion that Sara was somehow more important, that Sara deserved more protection than she did.
Never had Sara felt so loathsome—or been so aware of the unfairness of England’s class system. Here was a woman whose every chance for happiness had been snatched from her, a woman whose only crime had been in stealing to buy medicine for her mother. She’d lost her freedom and her mother before she’d even been old enough to find a husband or have children. At last she’d found a man she cared for, one who obviously cared for her. And he too was to be snatched from her for the most frivolous of reasons—so Sara wouldn’t face a scandal if by some slim chance she were rescued from Gideon and his men.
It wasn’t right. Despite her talk of fairness and equality, Sara had tacitly accepted Petey’s sacrifice as if it were her due, without even stopping to ask if it was what he truly wanted.
Well, not anymore. “Peter isn’t going to marry me.” Sara’s voice was firm. “If I’d guessed how you two felt about each other, I wouldn’t have agreed to this arrangement. Now that I know, I certainly can’t go through with it.”
“But miss—” Petey began.
“That’s my final word, Petey. We don’t know what the future will hold, and I won’t let you marry me when you love another.” When he opened his mouth to protest again, she cut him off. “We might be here for years. You never know. It’s foolish to behave as if this might end any day.”
A hopeful look passed over Ann’s face, but Petey crossed his arms stubbornly over his chest. “And what about the Pirate Lord? He’s got his eye on you, y’know. If he thinks y’re free—”
“I’ll deal with that in my own way,” Sara said, hoping she sounded more brave than she felt.
“I don’t like it,” Petey grumbled, then noticed how the hope faded from Ann’s face. He moved swiftly to her side and slid his arm around her waist. “It’s not that I don’t want to marry you, love. It’s just that I got a duty to Miss Willis.”
Sara sighed. Petey would never relent as long as he thought she needed protecting. And certainly from the way Gideon had spoken to her that morning, he intended to pursue her no matter what.
She went very still. Actually, that could work in her favor. “I know what we can do. We can use Gideon’s stubbornness against him. After all, he said he would do whatever he must to have me.”
“When did he—” Petey began.
“Never mind that,” she said quickly. “The point is, as long as I insist on choosing you, he can’t force me to choose him.” Her words came out more quickly as her idea took shape. “Indeed, the more I resist, the more likely he is to put off making the women choose until I’m free to choose him. And since that day will never come, we can stall him endlessly.”
“Endlessly?” Petey’s voice held extreme skepticism. “Beggin’ your pardon, miss, but I can’t see the Pirate Lord waitin’ on your leisure forever. He’s bloomin’ stubborn.”
Truer words were never spoken, she thought. “Still, all we need is time to think of a plan, a way to get us all freed.” She cast the couple a fond glance. “In any case, it’s better than forcing the two of you into a miserable situation.” She faced Ann. “What do y
ou think? Can you two pretend to be strangers when you’re around the others?”
Ann bobbed her head. Clearly she’d do anything to hold on to Petey.
“Good. That’s what we’ll do then.”
Petey tightened his grip on Ann. “And if the pirate surprises us? If he grows tired of workin’ on you and turns to some other lass? If he abides by his promise to make the women choose husbands in a week? What then?”
“Then the two of you will marry, and I’ll fend for myself as best I can.” When he scowled, she added in solemn tones, “You know that’s the only thing to do, Petey. Do you really want to see Ann given to some man without her consent? Because that’s what Gideon will do if she doesn’t choose anyone.”
That apparently decided him. In a gruff voice that held a hint of relief, he agreed to her plan.
“Good. Now, why don’t you two go on back before someone realizes you’re both missing? And you’d better separate before you reach the beach.”
“Aren’t you comin’ with us?” Petey asked.
“In a minute. I want to explore the area a little.”
Petey looked as if he might protest, but when she cast him a mutinous glance, he shrugged and led Ann off toward the stream.
The truth was, she wasn’t ready to face Gideon again. Those pirate’s eyes of his seemed to see right through her civilized veneer, to show it for the thin protection it was. She was still reeling from his admission this morning—that he’d turned down a night with Queenie because he wanted her. She needed a few moments alone to prepare herself, to marshal her wits for the battles he forced her to fight. A few moments, little enough to ask.
She should’ve known Gideon would never allow her that.
“They make a pretty couple, don’t they?” came a husky male voice behind her, startling her nearly out of her skin.
“What?” Whirling, she found the pesky object of her thoughts ducking beneath the low-hanging branch of a gnarled oak to enter the clearing.
Instantly her heartbeat accelerated to a panicky rhythm. How long had he been there? How much had he heard? Did he know what she and Petey were planning?
“Wh-who makes a pretty couple?” she stammered, stalling for time as she searched his face for some hint of what he’d heard.
As usual, he excelled at hiding his thoughts. “Ann Morris and Petey, of course.” He leaned back against the oak, looking irritatingly sure of himself. “I just saw them headed down the stream.”
The faintest sprinkling of sunlight through the branches limned his dark hair with golden highlights, and his trousers hung low on his hips, exposing far too much of his muscle-taut belly. If not for those trousers, he would certainly look the part of the first Adam, all well-wrought sinew and tanned skin. An image of him in a fig leaf sprang into her mind before she squelched it.
Jerking her gaze from the tempting picture he made, she focused on the break in the trees through which Ann and Petey had disappeared. Oh, how heartily she wished she’d gone with them. Then she wouldn’t be trying to lie about them to a half-naked man who stirred the most unladylike thoughts in her. “Yes, well…Ann and Petey are good friends, you know. He thinks of her as a little sister. He looks after her.”
Gideon pushed away from the oak. “The same way he looks after you?”
“Yes, of course,” she babbled, then corrected herself. “No, I mean, not the same exactly. His affection for her is more…more brotherly.”
“Brotherly?” He stepped closer, his booted feet barely making a sound on the patchwork quilt of dead leaves and live brush on the forest floor. Skepticism laced his tone. “It’s a pity she feels so differently…less, shall we say, sisterly.”
Sara’s gaze shot to his. Bother it all, how did he know that?
At her look of surprise, he shrugged. “Ann practically worships Hargraves. Told me so herself a couple of nights ago. I even got the impression that she hoped to have him for herself.” His eyes narrowed, scanning her face. “It must be breaking her heart to see him with you.”
Sometimes Gideon was far too perceptive for his own good. She gave a dismissive shrug, though her blood pounded in her ears. She mustn’t let him guess the truth! “You obviously misunderstood Ann. Really, Gideon, she thinks of Petey as a brother. I’m sure of it.”
“Then why was it her he escorted down to the beach, and not you?”
She swallowed. This was becoming more and more thorny. “I…told them I wanted to be alone.” That, at least, was true. “After days cooped up on a ship with hundreds of other people, I needed some space to breathe. Surely you can understand that. With all the women demanding so much and the children always asking questions, I just couldn’t take it anymore. I mean, days and days of…” She trailed off. Good heavens, she was babbling, and whenever she started babbling, he suspected her of lying.
She shot him a quick glance, but he no longer seemed to be paying any attention to her. His gaze had shifted to a spot above her right shoulder.
“What is it?” she asked, starting to turn.
“Don’t move!” Though he gave the command in a low voice, he spoke so forcefully she obeyed at once. When his expression grew grim and he still kept his gaze fixed beyond her shoulder, a little shiver of fear skittered down her spine.
She kept her voice as low as his. “Tell me what’s going on, Gideon.”
“Listen carefully, and don’t panic.” With his eyes still on that wretched spot behind her, he slid his right hand slowly to the hilt of his saber.
“What am I not supposed to be panicking about?” she snapped. He was scaring her to death, the wretch, and probably for nothing!
His gaze shifted to her face for the briefest instant before returning to the object of his intense perusal. “There’s a black mamba in the tree behind you.” She opened her mouth, but before she could even ask the question, he added, “It’s a snake. A poisonous one.”
She paled as a horrible chill seized her. A poisonous snake? Behind her? “H-how close?”
“Close enough.” His face was expressionless, as if he didn’t wish to scare her. That in itself terrified her. Moving in infinitesimal increments, he lifted his left hand toward her. “Take my hand.” When she started to move her hand toward his, he ground out, “Slowly, Sara, slowly. Not too fast.”
Sweat beaded along her upper lip as she inched her hand upward. The wind rustled the leaves of the trees overhead, and she froze, her heart leaping into her throat.
“You’re doing fine,” Gideon said reassuringly. “Right now, he doesn’t seem too interested in us. Let’s keep it that way.”
He drew out his saber with his right hand, using the same measured movements she was using.
Her body trembled violently. “Wh-what are you going to do?”
“Chop his head off.”
Trickles of sweat dripped down the side of her face. “What if you miss?”
“You damned well better pray I don’t.”
Praying was easy; a thousand prayers were already springing to her lips. Please, God, don’t let Gideon miss. Please, God, don’t let the snake get me. Oh, please, dear God, don’t let me die on this wretched island without ever seeing home.
Suddenly Gideon’s hand met hers, and he clasped it in a tight grip.
After that, everything happened at once. With his left hand, Gideon jerked her to him, while with the right, he swung his saber in a wide arc toward the tree. As she pivoted against him, she caught a glimpse of an inky raised head seeming to come right out of the tree. There was a swish of blade against air, a flash of steel, and a horrible hiss.
Next thing she knew, the blade of the saber had severed the snake’s head cleanly from its body, and both had dropped to the ground.
With a cry, she buried her face in Gideon’s hairy chest, but not before she saw the snake’s body writhing wildly on the ground only a foot away. “Oh, my God,” she cried as she clutched at Gideon. She felt rather than saw him stab his saber into the ground. Then both of his arms env
eloped her in a hug so tight she could barely breathe.
“It’s all right, sweetheart, it’s all right,” Gideon said over and over as he cradled her in his arms. “The snake’s dead. It can’t hurt you now.”
“B-but it could have,” she stammered. “It was so close…it was just there!” It wasn’t like her to panic, but she’d never even seen a poisonous snake, much less been menaced by one. Coming on top of everything else, it was just too much. “If it…if it had gotten me—”
“But it didn’t.” Cupping her face firmly, he lifted it until she was staring at him. “It’s all right, I promise. I wouldn’t have let it hurt you.”
She couldn’t seem to get enough breath. She sucked in air in great gasps, and still the panic closed her throat. “What…if you…hadn’t…been here,” she choked out. “What…if…”
“But I was here.” Her panic now seemed mirrored in his eyes. He clutched her close, stroking her back with soothing hands. “I’ll always be here. I’ll never let anything hurt you. I promise.”
“Are…are you sure it’s dead?” She knew it was a stupid question, yet she had to ask.
“It’s dead.” He moved aside a little and gestured to the ground. “See? It’s not moving.”
She peered over his shoulder to where the scaly black rope lay limp across a blanket of leaves. A shudder rocked her body. “Is it…is it very poisonous?”
“It doesn’t matter now.”
“Curse you, Gideon, tell me the truth! Could it have killed me?”
A muscle ticked in his jaw. “Let’s just say I’ve never heard of anybody surviving the bite of a black mamba.”
The irony of it hit her all at once. “I should have known there’d be snakes here,” she said woefully as she clung to him. “What would the Garden of Eden be without the serpent?”
He ventured a smile. “I don’t know. Boring?”
Boring? She stared at him incredulously. Had he just said…after what had nearly happened…but then, this was Gideon.
The Pirate Lord Page 17