Mable smirked as she pulled the note, sealed with red wax, from her pocket and handed it to Katalin.
Katalin took the letter, cracked the seal over the dressing table, and then turned on the stool so the maid couldn’t peek over her shoulder. She didn’t know if Mable could read or not, but the girl looked rather interested in the contents. Katalin scanned the handwriting she did not recognize. Only four words were on the thick cream vellum: Look out your window.
Folding the note closed, Katalin stood, going to the window in her room. Had Jason sent some sort of surprise for her? She looked down to the street, noting it was busier than usual, horses and carriages and lots of vendors walking along the street in the bright sun of the day.
Eyes searching the scene, she noticed the one thing that was not moving below—a carriage that was parked, and a lone figure in front of it.
Breath catching, Katalin leaned closer to the window, nose touching the glass. It looked like—no—it couldn’t be.
She squinted.
Annette.
Josalyn’s nanny stood in front of a carriage, stone still, with a trail of blood running down her cheek from a swollen left eye.
Katalin went deathly calm.
“I need a dress on this instant, Mable,” Katalin said, her stare not leaving Annette.
“But it be too early fer your wedding dress, miss. I still have to do your hair. Or do ye mean another dress? Which one do you want?”
“I do not give a damn which dress, Mable, just get me into something this instant. And a cloak with a hood. Go.”
Within two minutes, Katalin was flying down the back servant stairs and out into the street, hood tight over her head.
Across the street in a flash, Katalin stopped in front of her, raising her hood so Annette could see her face.
Annette’s petrified eyes widened in relief.
“Katalin, thank God.” Her hands were shaking. “Thank God.”
The carriage door behind Annette opened, and a hand came down, grabbing Annette’s arm and yanking her up into the carriage.
Katalin jumped up into the carriage after her, instantly regretting that in her haste she hadn’t grabbed a sword, a knife—anything to kill whoever was in that carriage.
Annette landed sprawled on the front bench next to a brute of a man—clearly a hired thug. Katalin found the other person in the carriage—a man—and started to pounce, ready to choke the life out of him.
His hand flew up. “Stop, Miss Dewitt. You will note your daughter is not in this carriage.”
Katalin froze, standing, but bent over him, fingers twitching in rage. “Where the hell is my daughter?”
“Sit, Miss Dewitt. I find it curious you brought no weapon with you, what with your history.”
“Where the hell is my daughter?”
“Sit.”
Katalin took a step to the side, sitting on the very edge of the bench the man sat on, her feet still at the ready to push off and kill him. No matter that he was twice her size.
“Where the hell is my daughter?”
“I have her. She is fine. Not here, of course.”
“Daunte?”
He nodded, a tight smile on his face. The man was older, grey hair, but still lean with only a slight bit of paunch. He was also wealthy, if his clothes, carriage, and hired thug were any indication.
Her breath sped, her heart out of control, but Katalin managed a veneer of steel. “You will deliver me to my daughter this instant.”
He waved her words off with a flippant toss of his hand. “The most interesting thing happened to me the other morning. I was skimming through The London Chronicle, but then I was interrupted and had set the paper on my desk. When I looked down, the paper was open to announcements of weddings, which I usually ignore for all the flip-floppery of them, but then, in the middle of the page, a name popped out at me. A Miss Katalin Dewitt. To marry the Earl of Clapinshire, of all things.”
He clasped his gloved hands together in his lap. “What a fortunate moment in time for me. That you were even on English soil was preposterous. I stared at the paper for minutes, bewildered. And I, mind you, am never bewildered. But then I realized your plan, and I realized I had greatly underestimated your father. Marry a peer, gain the privilege of peerage. Convenient for you, what with your colorful past.”
He nodded to himself, a hard smile on his face. “You father always was a canny one, which was why both he, and you, were so valuable to me. But once I knew you were here, you were quite easy to find. Even easier to follow. And you led me directly to the one thing that I know is quite valuable to both you and your father. Your daughter. The one thing that will ensure I get what I want.”
No. No. No. Katalin’s mind screamed, horrified that she herself had led Daunte to Josalyn. But she forced cool calmness into her face, into her words. “What do you want, Daunte? You must want me for something, or I would already be in the gallows.”
“What I have wanted for the past two years. What your father has refused me. I want the Wake Ripper brought down. Sunk.”
Katalin gasped, not able to hide her shock.
Daunte laughed. “He never told you? The bastard. Maybe you would have liked the challenge.”
Katalin reeled at his words. The Wake Ripper was a notorious pirate ship that had wreaked havoc in Caribbean shipping lanes for years. Neither Katalin nor her father had ever dared to skirt near the Wake Ripper. She shook her head. “But that is…You want the Wake Ripper? That is what all of this is about? Why?”
“We used to do a brisk business together, the Wake Ripper’s captain and I, but it ended on a sour note. Much like my association with your father.”
“So? Why would you even care about the Wake Ripper now?”
“I need the shipping lanes open, and the Wake Ripper has been targeting my ships, no matter which flag they fly under. Every ship I have hired to sink the bastard has failed. I was incredibly close to owning those shipping lanes, and now my competitor has taken over. That will not do.”
“But this is my daughter, Daunte. We have nothing to do with you. You cannot do this.”
“I can. It is unseemly, but if taking your daughter is the only way to make you go after the Wake Ripper, so be it. I need that ship, that crew, that captain taken down, and you are the one to do it.”
“No, but I cannot. I have not been a captain in years. I do not know where all of the crew is. I have no ship. I—”
“You will do it if you want your daughter back.”
Katalin’s open jaw snapped shut.
“My fastest ship, the Black Falcon, is leaving port tonight. I renamed it, but I think you will recognize the vessel. I procured it quite cheaply at auction.”
Katalin eyes went wide. “You took the Windrunner?”
“It was available, and I am no fool. The Black Falcon sets sail on the high tide. I suggest you be on it.”
“And if I am not?”
“I do not think you would dare to put your daughter in that danger. Nor would you dare to tell another soul what you are going to do. The consequences of that would be severe. I think you forget that I now know exactly where you are. Exactly where your father is. Exactly where your daughter is. Exactly whom you are to marry. One way or another, you will be on that ship when it sets sail tonight.” Daunte leaned forward, drawing the closed curtain open a crack. “As I see you have another engagement to attend to, I am magnanimous when I say, I do not care what you do between now and tonight. Put your affairs in order, child. But be on that ship.”
He pointed at Annette. “Although we had a regrettably rough start, I am sure this fine lady will take excellent care of your daughter under my watch until you sink the Wake Ripper and return. Am I correct in that?” He raised an eyebrow at Annette.
Annette nodded before Katalin could even begin to beg for her help. Annette was part of the family, adored Josalyn, and was beyond loyal to Katalin. Katalin abhorred having to put Annette in this awful situation, but she had
no recourse.
Katalin mouthed the words, “Thank you,” to Annette, not able to impart the enormity of her gratitude. Her eyes went back to Daunte, turning icy.
“I will get her back—unharmed—when I return?”
He nodded.
“Swear it.”
“You will get her back when you return.”
“And if I fail—if I do not return, you will deliver her to the Earl of Clapinshire?”
Daunte shrugged. “I recommend you not fail. I do not know what the earl would want with a bastard baby, but yes, I will do so upon your death.”
He leaned past Katalin and opened the carriage door. “The tide is rising, Captain. It is time for you to set your affairs in order.”
Katalin pulled the hood of the cloak over her head and stepped out of the carriage, her legs numb and almost dropping her to the ground.
Sheer force of will brought her shaking limbs upstairs to her room, and she collapsed, sitting onto her bed, the shock not subsiding enough for tears.
Her door opened and Katalin turned her head to see Mable walk in. She sat up.
“When is high tide, Mable?”
Startled, Mable cocked her head in confusion. “High tide, miss?”
“Yes. High tide.”
“I don’t rightly know, miss.”
“Go—go now. Find out the answer, and get back here as quickly as possible with it.”
“But, Miss Dewitt, your hair—”
Jumping to her feet, Katalin pointed at the door. “Go now. Now, Mable, now.”
Katalin knew she was sharp with the girl but could not bring herself to care. She would have to be sharp if she was to captain a ship again.
She had no choice.
~~~
The most miserable moments of her life snarled with what should have been the happiest. Time ticked by slowly with Katalin’s mind in a thick haze. The wedding, the small celebration afterward, the early dinner. Aggie and Reanna had made sure the day was magical.
Magic that Katalin could not feel. Not through the pain of her little girl missing. Not with her being unable to tell Jason what had happened.
And now Katalin was half-naked, facing Jason, her now unquestionably official husband.
He stood shirtless, staring at her. He had put on ragged old trousers—slops—slung low from his hip bones, loosely tied with white rope—rope from a ship, and bare feet. Exactly as he was when she had first met him. The nostalgia of it made her heart ache, that he would do this to bring a smile to her lips.
She faced him, but her eyes kept flickering over his shoulder to the ticking hand of the clock on the bureau behind him.
Four hours left.
Four hours to make Jason feel everything she ever needed him to know. Make him feel how intensely she loved him.
She would sink the Wake Ripper. She would get her daughter back. But once she disappeared on Jason, she knew he would never be hers again. She had sworn to trust him. But she could not trust him with this. Not when it meant Josalyn’s life. Not when it could mean his life.
She sacrificed her husband once. She would not do it again.
Even if she failed, Josalyn would have her father. Daunte would no longer need Josalyn, and Jason would find a way to their daughter. That was the part she had to trust him with.
Her eyes swung from the clock to Jason’s face. Light from the fireplace across from his bed danced on his cheek, the shadows much like it used to be late at night on the deck of the ship. A shiver ran down her spine.
The past. The future. Both loomed, suffocating her.
She had to live in this moment. Live in every second they had together until she had to disappear. It was the only way to honor what Jason meant to her. What he would always mean to her.
She stepped to him.
“I am almost afraid to touch you, Kat.”
She took another step, closing the distance between them and letting her thin, dark blue night rail fall open in front of her. It skimmed her nipples—the only part of her body that remained hidden. “I have never seen you afraid of anything.”
“This. That this is real. That you are real in front of me. That this is not a dream. A dream where I will touch you and you will disappear and I will wake up in the dank hold of a ship again.”
She set her fingers on his chest, letting them slowly spread wide until her palms were on the heat of his skin. His heartbeat pulsed under her hand. Solid. Even. Chin down, her eyes went up to him. “Did I disappear?”
The smile spread slow, lazy across his face. But then his hand shot out, grabbing her behind her neck and dragging her up to him, their lips colliding. Not lazy. Not soft.
He pulled back, his deep voice rough. “You do not know what this means to me. You are mine and the whole damn world now knows it. Never again do I have to hold my hand at my side when I need to touch you. Bow my head instead of looking at you, hungry. Hide my every thought of you from the world.”
“I do. I do know. It means the same to me, Jase. More than. This moment. This is the moment I want to be in—the moment I have always needed to be in. No past. No future. Just you and I.”
Her hands went down, working loose the rope that held his trousers. “I like the rope.”
“I thought you might. Homage to our early days on the ship—the moments that made me fall in love with you.”
The rope came loose, and Katalin tugged it free from the trousers as her lips went to his skin, tasting the crease in the middle of his chest. His trousers fell, but Katalin kept the rope in her hands. “And useful beyond holding your trousers up.”
Jason chuckled. “I cannot wait.”
“But that is the point.” She pushed him backward until his thighs hit the bed. “We have never truly had the luxury of time. You are always so quick to attend to me, but I want this. Time for you to feel every caress, every breath, every lick. This will merely ensure that. ”
She gave him a slight shove, and he landed on the bed. Katalin straddled him, knees on the bed, and grabbed his wrists. She leaned forward, kissing him, even as her hands worked a tight weave of the rope in a figure eight around his wrists.
Pulling up, Katalin looked down, seeing Jason was already more than ready for her, pulsating large. Which was exactly why she needed to do this. Needed to slow time.
Snapping the rope tight, she took the free ends of the rope, tugging him to the end of the bed, and tied him to the bottom right bed-post.
“Take care you do not make this too exquisite, Kat, or I am liable to have to pay you back for this.”
“First, I want to see your back.” His arms above his head, she flipped him over so his stomach was flat on the bed. She sat on his backside, her legs on either side of him. “I did not get to see this up close the other day.”
It was as she had thought. Scars she did not recognize on top of the ones she did. Her fingers slid along the newer ridges. “These are from after we were captured?”
“All of that was a long time ago, Kat. They have long since healed.”
“They are new to me. Suffering because of me. Because you needed to save me, when you should not have.”
“I would do anything to save you from harm, Kat. How do you not know that?”
But she did know it. Know it, and it terrified her. If she did not leave England without Jason knowing, there was no limit to what he would do to save her.
And then who would save Josalyn?
Tears sprang to her eyes, and Katalin was grateful Jason could not look at her directly. The present. She had to concentrate on the present. She bent over, her fingers, her lips trailing over the new scars, the taste of his skin mixing with the salt of her tears.
When she had thoroughly kissed every bit of his back, her tears had finally dried, and she slipped her hands along his hips, wedging them under him to caress his front side.
“Agony, Kat. Agony. Tell me it is time to flip.”
She leaned forward, trailing the tip of her tongue along hi
s neck until she reached his ear. Her voice a whisper, she offered one word. “Flip.”
Katalin didn’t think it possible with his hands tied, but he spun around with ease, sending her flying off of him onto the bed.
Laughing and knowing she had his eyes full well on her, she went tall on her knees, stripping off her night rail, shoulder by shoulder, letting the silk slip down her skin.
“Time to untie me, Kat.”
“No. Not nearly.” She snatched his closest ankle, her lips going to his skin, and she worked her way up his calf and then veered inward to his thigh.
A low groan escaped him, vibrating his chest as Katalin worked slowly upward until her lips met his very solid member. She grasped him, her tongue working the length of him, the ridges, until she took him deep, sucking a tormented grunt from him.
His hips arched with the strokes of her head until he buckled away from her mouth, shaking, straining. Katalin looked up to his face, and she could see he was at his breaking point.
“Kat. Dammit.” He grimaced. “Dammit. You need to untie me this instant, Kat.“
Her fingers released him, but then she moved her hands achingly slow up his body, her lips following along the hard lines of his stomach, to his chest where she bit, teasing each nipple, to along the stretched muscles of his shoulders and his neck. Stopping at his mouth, she hovered over him for long seconds, her eyes intent on his.
This. This was how she needed to remember him. Love. Lust. Wonder. All of it in his eyes as he looked up at her, the heat vibrating out of control between them.
“Kat—”
She met his mouth, halting his words, taking his tongue into her mouth. Their lips bruising, hard, and she reached up and worked free the knot she had tied. Tied much too well—and she swore at herself.
In the same breath his hands were untied, Jason clasped an arm around her and flipped her onto her back, his body covering hers.
“Kat, I need—”
“Yes.” Her word said it less than her eyes did, and she reached up to grasp his neck.
Hold Your Breath 03 - My Captain, My Earl Page 21