The Ladys Pirate

by The lady's pirate (lit)

  She placed the rest in her mouth and chewed. "I don't think food has ever tasted this good."

  Hal packed their pipes and handed hers over to her. She grinned as she took it.

  "I fear I shocked poor Jeannette with this thing."

  "Smoking in the Governor's Palace?" He tsk'ed. "I'm surprised they didn't have the fire brigade out after you."

  "I was very discrete."

  They sat in the quiet, smoking, listening to the cries of the gulls and the pounding of the surf and the breeze stirring the palm branches. She sighed.

  "What's it like, Hal? What's it like going where you please, when you please?" She turned to face him. "What's it like to be free?"

  "I enjoy sailing. But you know my real reasons for taking to the sea."

  She nodded in understanding. Neither of them wanted to talk about those reasons.

  "Aren't you free, Ellie?"

  She shrugged. "Sometimes I don't feel so. I realized last night my life is like being in a corset all the time. Strung up and having to act the part of the Countess."

  "You are the Countess," he said, returning her to her thought.

  "An accident of birth, nothing more. I'm no more capable of ruling over people's lives than Jeannette is."

  "Oh, no, my lady. I've seen you in action. You have the will to command bred into you. That's not something you learn."

  She shook her head. "I would leave it all behind."

  He laughed. "No, you wouldn't. Don't lie to me or yourself. You feel your responsibility to your people too deeply to just turn your back on them. And your freedom is demonstrated by the fact that you choose to go on being Countess Greymere."

  An impish smile brightened her face. "But now, I choose to be just Ellie. I choose to be your woman."

  "What a fine idea." He opened his arms to her.

  * * * *

  "Elspeth." His voice broke through the warm cocoon of his arms and the heat of his body. "Wake up, dearest."

  She responded to his gentle command by raising her head from his shoulder and tipping her lips toward his for a kiss.

  "No, Elspeth. Wake up."

  His refusal to kiss her brought to her full force the tone of his voice. Strained. Even in her half-asleep torpor, she recognized something was wrong.

  "Yes, Elspeth, dear. Do as your pirate lover says and wake up." Like an Arctic wave, cold fear, remembered fear, buried her and took her breath away. Richard added, "I wouldn't want you to miss the reunion party we're going to have."

  Richard had found them.

  "Won't you wish me a good morning, wife?"

  She glanced at the horizon. It was morning. She'd been here with Hal all night.

  "Yes, my dear. There was quite a frenzy at the Governor's when you did not return from your outing with the Captain."

  Richard's voice was calm, almost jocular. Elspeth wished he would rage. It would be easier to pretend to be brave. When he smiled, she flinched and knew he was satisfied by her fear.

  "No kiss, either, I suppose?" He made a ridiculous moue of despair. "Well, I understand. I haven't caught you at your best, have I?"

  Hal helped her sit up, pulling her shift down around her legs as he did so. She thanked God the cool of the evening had forced her to put on some clothes. As they started to rise, Hal tried to place his own body between her and Richard. She realized with horror Hal was still naked.

  "If you will permit me, March?" He glanced at his breeches on the sand beside their rustic bed.

  "I don't think so, half-breed. You savages like running around naked as apes. Pretending to be a man won't be a concern of yours for much longer."

  Hal didn't flinch at the evil words. If they touched him at all, he didn't show it. For her part, Elspeth's stomach churned as she realized what she had done. By giving in to her desires, she had ensured Richard would show no mercy. For some ridiculous reason, naked as he was, Hal seemed so vulnerable, as though flimsy cloth would be protection. Her terrified mind conjured up terrors of the worst kind.

  As they got to their feet, Richard grabbed her by the arm and pulled her over to him. Hal leapt forward only to have his groin meet the heel of Richard's special boot. He fell with a moan. Richard set the sole of his boot against Hal's cheek and ground his face in the sand.

  "Tie him up to a tree for his punishment," Richard ordered the man he'd brought with him.

  Elspeth looked around for the others, but she only saw the one. Only one. Richard never traveled without several guards. Guards who were no more than street thugs who would do whatever perverted deeds their master ordered.

  He had only brought one man with him? Her blood ran cold. What evil did he plan that he only wanted one witness?

  The man strung leather straps around Hal's wrists and dragged him to the nearest palm tree. He wrapped Hal's arms around the trunk, tying his hands together on the other side.

  "Now, my dear, you will see how one deals with upstart half-breed savages. Proceed."

  The man pulled his thick belt from his waist. He held the tail and flung the buckle end toward Hal's naked back. The leather smacked against his strong back. He made no sound. The metal flayed his skin open. Blood oozed from the wound. The man raised his hand for a second blow.

  "Richard, don't..."

  He whirled on her, seizing her arm. "Whore! You cuckold me and then dare plead for mercy for your lover?" Richard drew back his arm. Elspeth braced herself and clenched her eyes shut, waiting for the blow.

  "Touch her, March, and yours will not be an easy death." Hal's voice was not strained as she would have expected. He spoke in his usual tone.

  She might have laughed had this scene been in a play. The villain of the piece holds the heroine at his mercy. The hero, stark naked, bound to a whipping post, blood trickling from his torn back, promises a terrible death to the villain. Truly, no playwright would dare such melodrama.

  Yet it was real.

  "No, savage. You will die. What I do to my wife is none of your concern. Proceed."

  Richard's man again raised the belt and brought the buckle down on Hal's back. Again, his skin opened under the metal's edge. Again. Again.

  Still Hal made no sound.

  "I will hear him beg for mercy 'ere you stop, Cooper."

  "Aye, milord," the man replied.

  The belt flew through the air, again and again.

  Still Hal made no sound. He stared into the trunk of the palm. He bore the beating without complaint.

  Without crying out. Without blaming Elspeth for bringing him here. He hadn't wanted to come with her. He hadn't wanted to be with her.

  He'd tried to get her to leave him alone, but she had pursued him. Yes, like a woman of loose morals, she had sought him out and caused this.

  She'd brought him here, made him vulnerable.

  "Richard, stop this. I am to blame. Let him go."

  "Never fear, you shall be punished as well."

  Elspeth played her final card. "If you hurt him, Richard, you will get nothing more from me."

  "Really, my dove? How will you stop me?"

  "I will kill myself." Elspeth forced her eyes to meet his. "I will kill myself and you shall never get another pence from me or Greymere."

  Richard studied her.

  "I suppose you might. You seem to have acquired fire from somewhere. Well, do as you will, my dear. In fact, I might as well help you in this endeavor. I can make sure the story goes around that you ran off with your lover to some mysterious, romantic place. Even the Queen won't be able to deny me, your lawful, wronged husband, access to your wealth. Once I've spent all your money improving Sandgrove and saving my shipping line, I will have you declared dead and get myself a woman capable of giving me an heir."

  She realized she'd given Richard all he needed: a way to keep her money and get rid of her. And thrown away any bargaining power she might have to save Hal's life. She almost opened her mouth to beg.

  Then she caught Hal staring at her.

  He shoo
k his head. Once.

  Don't beg him. Don't beg for my life.

  But could she watch him be murdered without trying?

  "Cooper, he isn't crying out. I wish to hear him cry out and beg me for his life before I finish him once and for all."

  "Aye, milord." Cooper bent to his task with greater effort.

  Elspeth watched Hal struggle with the agony urging him to the small comfort of screaming.

  "Stop! Please, Richard, stop!"

  The belt fell again and again across Hal's back. She could see him weakening. She knew he couldn't bear to have her see his weakness. She turned her head, offering him what privacy she could.

  "No, no. Look." Richard roughly grabbed her chin and turned her toward Hal.

  Elspeth squeezed her eyes shut.

  Then a scream rent the air. Elspeth dared open her eyes as the cry of exquisite agony, despair, echoed over the small island. It was Hal's cry.

  "No! Not this way, please!" He sobbed against the trunk of the tree. His legs no longer held him up, he sank to the ground. "Please. She is yours. Please don't kill me."

  The world teetered on an edge, threatening to spill Elspeth over into the void. Hal had given her up to Richard to do with as he pleased.

  Could she blame him, though? None of this would have happened if she had been in control of herself.

  "So much for your champion," Richard whispered derisively in her ear. "That's enough for now, Cooper."

  "But, milord-"

  "I said enough."

  "Shall I dispatch him then, milord?" Cooper fingered the knife in the waistband of his breeches.

  "No, not yet. Let him think about his cowardice." Richard brought Elspeth closer. "And he can listen while my lady and I become reacquainted. Come, Elspeth, be a good girl."

  She squirmed and fought, digging at his hand around her wrist with her nails.

  "No!" she screamed.

  "Do you need a gag for her, milord?" Cooper asked.

  "Who will hear her? Let her savage listen to her beg for her own life now. Come help me with her, Cooper."

  Cooper took her other hand and the two men dragged her to a tree near the edge of the forest and pulled her arms around the trunk, binding her as Hal was bound. Afraid to know what was coming, afraid not to know, she turned as Richard pulled a length of leather through his hand. He snapped it against his palm.

  "You recognize this, don't you, Elspeth?"

  Snap.

  Indeed she did, it was the riding crop Richard had used on their wedding night. She closed her eyes and prayed for the strength to endure what was coming.

  "You wish to share with a savage what you withhold from your husband?"

  Snap.

  "You shall share his punishment, as well."

  "I have never refused you." Elspeth rested her head against the tree.

  "Yes, you have been a model wife, haven't you?"

  "I tried to be a wife to you and you rewarded me with brutality."

  A crack over her head vibrated through the wood, echoing Richard's rage through her body. He pressed against her, his hot breath dank and sour against her neck.

  "Bitch! What you have known before is nothing compared to what you shall learn today."

  She refused to face him. She knew she would lose her courage. He was going to kill her. He would kill her and Hal and leave their bodies here to rot.

  Strange, but she felt no fear. Her only regret was that Hal had been broken. She knew he would rather be dead than live with his failure under trial. She couldn't blame him for faltering. He had borne much more than she could have. More than most men could have. And she would be no less brave. She would not cry until she could no longer hold in the sound of her own breaking.

  A rip told her Richard had torn her shift down her back, exposing her to the air. The cool breeze caressed her skin and she thought of last night, when she had for the first time experienced the joy of lovemaking.

  She flinched when Richard touched her with the loop of the riding crop. He dragged it over her back, gently, a butterfly soft touch. The touch aroused her, immediately bathing her in a shower of shame that she had fallen so far that such a perverted caress could bring her pleasure.

  "Yes, my sweet. It could have been good, if you had only been more willing to participate."

  Elspeth refused to answer.

  "So, the kiss hasn't tempted you to repent? Then you shall know the bite."

  A whistle warned her only an instant before she felt the sting of the crop against her skin.

  Was she so weak? Her mouth had opened to cry out, but she pressed her lips tightly together, refusing Richard an easy victory. She fixed her mind on Hal and how much he had endured before he broke. She would not make him ashamed.

  Elspeth braced herself for the next blow.

  Chapter Twenty Six

  Hal was able to turn his head just enough to see the welt appear on her back and March-the animal-lean forward to run his tongue over it. If he hadn't intended to kill Richard March before, he would have made a vow now.

  He rested his head against the tree, giving the impression of a man passed out from too much pain and loss of blood, while he worked his wrists against the leather bindings. He'd long ago cut though his skin and his blood now softened the leather, giving it some stretch.

  Cooper was too interested in watching March terrorize Elspeth on the far side of the clearing, and too sure of his own prowess with his belt, to pay any attention to one naked half-breed captive.

  The leather finally stretched enough that Hal was able to free his hands, not without the loss of skin, but that was a minor inconvenience. He kept his position and studied the situation, deciding on the best course. But he couldn't take too long. He would not permit another mark to her perfect body.

  March teased Elspeth's breasts with the crop, his actions a mockery of lovemaking.

  Hal stood up, shook out his muscles, fixing his eyes on Cooper's neck. Much as he'd like to show Cooper something about meting out pain, he couldn't spare the time. Cooper would have to die quickly.

  As the crop began its downward motion, Hal launched himself at Cooper's unprotected back. Cooper had no time to turn before Hal was on him, wrapping his arms around the man's neck, twisting quickly.

  A satisfying crack ended the man's life. Before he dropped the lifeless body to the beach, Hal took the knife from Cooper's waistband, then started toward March as the man raised his arm to deal a second blow to Elspeth's exposed back.

  Hal's bloody fingers wrapped around March's wrist, jerking his arm back. He tore the riding crop from his fingers and flung it away before shoving him to his ass on the sand.

  As he cut her bonds, Elspeth stared at him as though seeing a ghost.

  "Hal." She whispered.

  "At your service, my lady."

  Hal pushed her behind him and turned back to March who was still sitting on the sand, a look of utter confusion and surprise on his face.

  "Now, as for you," Hal said, "as my people say, it is a good day to die."

  March looked around, seeking help, but his own arrogance had ensured that here, at last, he would have to face Hal Merritt man-to-man.

  "My men are returning soon, Merritt. You won't get away."

  Hal laughed. "You think not? I know these islands well. We can hide for months and never be found. And it may well take months to extract from you the vengeance I require."

  His threat had its desired effect.

  "M-m-months?" All color drained from March's florid complexion.

  Hal knew there would be no months left in Richard March's life. Revenge would be taken here. Now. There would be no extracting or prolonging the pleasure. Perhaps if Elspeth had not been here he would have taken more time, but as it was, he wouldn't expose her to any more savagery than necessary.

  Perhaps he could even appear to be sporting. The English set great store by good sportsmanship. Perhaps he could ameliorate the disgust she would feel for him when he did what
he must eventually do, if he made her believe he'd given Richard a sporting chance.

  "Do you have a knife, March?"

  Both March and Elspeth stared at him as though he'd lost his mind.

  "Why?"

  "I feel generous and am willing to give you a chance to fight me. Man-to-man."

  "And if I defeat you?"

  Hal almost laughed at the hope in March's bloodshot eyes. "If you defeat me, I'll be dead. You may do as you will." He held March's gaze with his own. "But you won't. I aim to take your hair this day, Richard March."

  Horror filled the man's eyes.

  "No. Elspeth, stop him. Don't let him scalp me." March reached for her, but she skittered backwards out of his grasp. "Please, Elspeth. Don't let him treat me like a savage."

  "Why not?" she asked, her voice reasonable. "He is a savage, as you have so often pointed out. Why not accept his offer, Richard? You will at least die like a gentleman."

  "Have you no decency? Has he completely despoiled you?"

  Elspeth turned her back on March, then ran over to where they had slept. She picked up his breeches, shook out the sand, and brought them to him.

  "Thank you," he said. Not taking his eyes off Richard March, Hal stepped into his breeches and buttoned them one-handed, his other hand ready with the knife. "I'm sorry, Ellie. I wouldn't have you witness this."

  "Do what you must to finally put this behind you," she replied calmly.

  Was it possible to finish this and put it behind him? He knew he wouldn't find out until it was over.

  "Get up," he ordered.

  Hal waited for March to rise shakily to his feet. It wouldn't be a fair fight. March moved awkwardly, only partly because of his uneven legs. He was a large man unused to exerting himself. Except to beat women, Hal reminded himself, lest he begin to soften in his resolve.

  "I can't," March whined.

  "You don't seem to have much trouble when your opponent is a woman."

  There was no response to that.

  Hal crouched and waved his knife in tight circles.

  "All you need is a quick blade between my ribs. No, hold it this way." March turned the knife so the blade was horizontal. "That's right. Now just jab it right here." He stood straight, opening himself up for a killing blow.