by Kresley Cole
And now he could.
When they'd docked in Recife among the many ships crowding the main harbor, Derek learned the damage to the Bella Nicola was nothing more than a broken rudder. They'd be repaired and on their way in half a day. But by then he would have had a woman or possibly two, restocked his ship with perishables, and made open sea.
As he pushed through the market stalls set along the docks, he scarcely perceived the pungent odor of coffee or the sour smell of rotting sugarcane. He hardly noticed the locals gaping at his height or demeanor. His thoughts were focused inward.
He didn't actually decide to go to her ship. He just found himself walking there, and to justify his direction, he convinced himself it was on the way to Maria's. Or not too far out of the way. When he came upon the spotless vessel, he asked a crewman scraping the deck if he could speak with Miss Lassiter. The man ignored him.
Permission to come aboard was denied by another crewman. Unless Derek wanted to start a war between his crew and theirs, he'd have to back down. He inquired one last time about Nicole, and this time was answered by Chancey as he walked up behind him. Derek turned slowly, prepared for a fight.
The big man only stared at him, taking his measure. Finally, he said, "Ye touch her again--ye die," then casually walked on aboard.
Derek took one last look at her ship. He would prefer having Nicole, but at this point, he'd make do.
Decided, he made his way to an elegant Spanish-style palazzo overlooking the harbor. Casa de Delgado was the largest and most impressive home in the city, and if he remembered correctly, its inside mirrored its immaculate exterior. The rooms were spacious, lofty, and colored in the rich colonial tones that the plantations favored. Minutes after he walked through the heavy wooden doors, a guard escorted him to a tasteful study.
When he entered, Maria Delgado looked up from her account books. Unconsciously she pushed at the spectacles that made her look more like a headmistress than a madam. He'd met her many years ago when he was a young man on his way to the Pacific Ocean for the first time, and occasionally he'd remembered with pleasure his experiences in the upscale bordello.
"Captain Sutherland, how good you are to visit us once again." She smiled warmly as she rose to clasp his hand. "It has been far too long." It had been a long time, but you couldn't tell from her demeanor. She seemed completely unsurprised that he'd arrived even after all these years. And she studied him closely.
"You are, of course, welcome to enter directly." Madam Delgado unfailingly screened every potential client before allowing him to frequent her place. He recalled many regulars joking that new clients should bring Maria character recommendations just to get into her exclusive brothel.
He took her hand in his. "It is good to see you again, madam. You're looking beautiful as usual." And she was. Possibly in her early forties, she had a youthful radiance that made her dark eyes sparkle. Her thick black mane was not yet laced with gray.
"I suppose we must get you in and out as soon as possible. No?"
Derek stared at her in amusement until she asked, "You are sailing in the Great Race?"
"I'm sorry, I misunderstood. Yes, I am sailing the race, but we've got a good lead so I have a bit of time."
"I see." She smiled and tilted her head to the side as she stared at him intently. Strangely, when Maria tilted her head like that, he was reminded of Nicole.
Her curious behavior made the hair on the back of his neck stand up. He was glad he was prepared for a shock, because she mysteriously asked, "So, what would you like today, bello? I'm thinking you look to be in the mood for a slender, small-waisted redhead with dark blue eyes. No?"
The sun was just reaching noon when he made his way back through the palazzo to leave. Though Derek should have been running from here after what he'd just done, he was strangely reluctant to go, and his steps were slow.
"Oh, Captain Sutherland?" Maria called from behind him, and he groaned inwardly. "Captain Sutherland..."
He did not want to hear about his actions from her, but she didn't look like he could easily avoid her. Her bespectacled eyes blazed with a look of determination.
He stopped in the breezeway and waited for her to stroll over, wondering why she looked pleased.
"Captain, you did not have to pay Juliette so much. That is far too much for even one thousand minutes with her," she said with a sly smile, "much less five."
His lips thinned. The last thing he needed right now was to be subtly ridiculed by a Brazilian madam. "I paid Julia what I did--"
"Juliette," Maria interrupted.
"Juliette received that much money," he ground out, "because she wouldn't stop crying." And because he wanted to mitigate his embarrassment.
"Ah, bello, I only tease," she said with a laugh. "It was very kind of you. Especially since I get twenty percent," she quipped. "But now I know you must leave us. I only ask that you take the east exit, down the steps there." She pointed. "You will go through a garden past my little home, and you can see lovely blooms all around."
"I'll have to pass," he said, mustering no regret in his voice. "I have a rather limited interest in botany."
"I'm afraid you will insult me," she said in a mulish tone, her laughter forgotten. "I extend this invitation to view my private home to no man."
He eyed her, knowing something was wrong with this situation. But he had a lot on his mind and didn't want to fight with the woman, who looked to be digging in her heels.
"As you wish, madam," he said with a curt bow. "Just down these steps?" At her nod, he turned to leave, thinking this day grew odd indeed. He entered the garden and found it nice but not the earth-shattering experience Maria thought it was.
Her home consisted of a main house with two wings, separated from the palazzo by the garden as well as a sturdy gate, open now. It was pleasant, but nothing like the grandeur of the bordello. Maria's behavior from this morning on had been baffling--
His thoughts were interrupted by a conversation between two women drifting out from a cracked-open door in one of the wings.
One woman had a thick British colonial accent, Indian, he'd wager. In a crisp, businesslike tone, she said, "Now, relax, please. And unbutton your shirt further." Had Maria wanted him to stumble on something here? Curious, he slowed outside the door.
He froze at the woman's next comment.
"You have to relax, Nicole. Just trust me. When I am through with you, you'll feel like a new woman. So get your mind off your problems. Chancey will take care of your boat--"
"Ship."
"Very well, ship. Now, take a deep breath so I can finish with you before you have to leave."
She couldn't be talking to his Nicole; it just wasn't possible. But her dulcet voice, the strangely accented voice he recognized at once, replied, "Sasha, this doesn't hurt."
"Of course not, silly."
His whole body tensed as he moved closer. Was he losing his mind, or was Nicole Lassiter in this Brazilian madam's personal abode getting undressed for a woman? His hand shot to the doorknob but just as swiftly stilled. He should listen, find out more about her. Like what she was doing in there with a woman.
"I've never done this before."
"You should have," the woman confided. "It drives men wild."
"Ah, that tickles!"
"Stop squirming, Nic."
Derek, his teeth grinding, heard a pause, and then the more sharply commanded, "I mean it!"
"You should have more sympathy. When was the last time you had it done?"
"I do it to myself. I could teach you if we had more time." Christ, just what were they talking about?
Nicole sounded wistful. "I wish I did. I miss it here," she added before she began giggling.
"We miss you t--Nic, I can't continue until you can stop your belly from quivering like that."
Enough. His blood boiled. Jaw clenched, he yanked open the door and sucked in a breath, loudly exhaling as the scene before him unfolded. A fully, though scantily, clothe
d Eastern woman bent over a half-clad Nicole. Luckily, the woman snatched her hand away just as Nicole bolted up or, as he now realized, she would have had a streak of red henna going straight up her neck.
A feeling of acute relief washed over him. The woman was decorating Nicole's body with henna in the traditional Indian mehndi. His lips crooked up in a grin, which wasn't surprising, considering his intense satisfaction at finding her, and finding her innocently uninvolved. Maria, he thought with an inward laugh, had gathered exactly what he wanted.
"Sutherland! What are you doing here?" Nicole cried out. Could she know what her open shirt and hennaed skin did to him?
"I could ask the same of you. I was certain I'd see you again--I just didn't expect it to be in the home of a madam," he replied. Then he hitched in a breath as he got a full glimpse of the braided vine design drawn on her creamy skin. It circled her waist like a bracelet, and then, in a pattern of swirls and buds, crawled up her torso to meet in a point between her breasts. In an instant, he knew the memory of her wide eyes and wildly decorated body would stay with him his whole life.
She was too astounded to do anything but gape at him, until she saw his heated stare assessing her body. Her hands flew up to grab the sides of her shirt to pull it closed.
"Oh, no, you don't," the Indian woman, Sasha, commanded in a stern voice as she swiped at her hands. "The last bit isn't dry yet."
She gave the woman an oppressed look and moved to the side of the bed. In a huff, she turned herself from him to button her shirt.
She stopped when she received a cuff to the ear from Sasha. "I'm sorry, Nic. But you won't do anything to ruin this mehndi."
The woman turned to Derek, her large flattened earrings chiming as her doe eyes flickered over him. Then she gave a pointed, amazed look to Nicole. "He is Sutherland, the man you spoke of?"
Nicole grimaced at the question, and a furious blush stole across her face. Derek was surprised but extremely pleased that she'd spoken of him to this woman. And obviously to Madam Maria, too.
Nicole glanced down. Evidently, she thought she'd covered everything important, so she whipped around to face Sutherland. But not before flashing Sasha a look that screamed, Are you happy now?
Sasha looked back at Derek and gazed at him in awe, muttering something about powerful magic. As Nicole watched Derek, her expression changed rapidly from wary bemusement to outright exasperation, until she finally jerked her glance to the woman. "What are you talking about?"
"The mehndi is very powerful. It is already working."
"Already working?" Nicole choked out. "You said it would bring me luck and ward off evil. But on the contrary, Sutherland's arrival is unlucky and he is not being warded off, so I'd say this stuff"--she looked down her chest--"is definitely not working."
Sasha arched an eyebrow at her. "No, no, Nicole. Don't you see the lotus here?" She tugged up Nicole's shirt and pointed out a finely drawn, lacy flower on her flat belly. "I drew that for fertility and love. And then your mate just happens to walk through the door! It is most definitely working."
Nicole's jaw dropped. "Sutherland is not my mate! A-and you can count on the fact that we won't need any luck with fertility, because there won't be any--any--"
"Planting?" he added helpfully as he bit back a grin.
"Planting?"
She was angered that he played with her, but he couldn't help it. He found he enjoyed teasing her.
"Again, what are you doing here?" she demanded.
He'd watched the whole scene between Sasha and Nicole in grinning amusement. But his grin was wiped off his face when the lapel of Nicole's shirt brushed a hardened, pink nipple just visible under the linen. Fascinated, he hardly trusted himself to speak intelligibly, so in response he smiled down at her, hoping it didn't look as predatory as he felt, and answered her question with a question. "What do you think I'm doing at a brothel?"
"Oooh, get out!" She threw a silken pillow that he easily dodged and didn't notice when her shirt gaped open even wider. "You have no right to be in here. This is private! If you came here to cart me away, you'll soon realize that won't be happening."
He might not have come here expressly for that purpose, but carrying her away was exactly what he'd been thinking of. For her to presume so...His half-smile was replaced by a sneer. "Don't flatter yourself, princess--I did not come here for you."
She blinked up at him, and he could swear he read a look of regret in her eyes before she turned to the bewildered woman. "Sasha, please go get Berto and see that this man is dragged out of here. Violently!"
"I'm afraid we can't do that," Maria said as she swept past Derek into the room, her silks and exotic scent trailing delicately behind her. At a nod from her, Sasha quitted the room, and Maria continued to them, "We'll have to come to some kind of agreement until he decides to leave. You are my little bella, but he is a good customer," she said as she pinned Derek with a pointed look.
He nearly flushed. To change the subject, he said, "Maria, I would like an explanation as to why Jason Lassiter's daughter is in this place. Now."
"This place? You make it sound awful. Though you certainly never complained before."
It riled him to see Nicole trying not to smile at Maria's set-down.
"An answer!"
Maria replied in a casually conversational tone, "She is a daughter to me."
Maria looked at Sutherland's dropped jaw and bit back a laugh. This was going to be too much fun.
"Daughter to you?" he managed.
"Yes, I have known her for fifteen years." She paused before she asked, "How long have you known her?"
Sutherland gave her a tight, impatient look. "How do you know her?"
Maria looked to Nicole in question. Nicole responded, "I don't care."
Still Maria hesitated. It was only partly her story to tell. Plus, she doubted she could conceal her feelings for Jason if she spoke of him. But what did it matter? Nicole knew. It seemed as if everyone knew. Except Jason.
And Maria sensed Nicole wouldn't mind Sutherland learning more about her. Reluctantly, she began, "I was reading here one night when a messenger brought me an urgent request. An American captain was losing his wife in childbirth."
She paused and swallowed. "No one, not even the one doctor here, would help them because a couple of cases of yellow fever had come in on an American ship the week before. I was afraid as well, but the thought of some poor woman...Well, I had no nursing skills, but in my business I've certainly helped birth a number of children. It was what the American thought when he sent for me."
Maria encountered the familiar sadness as she continued, "When I arrived at the ship, the screams echoed along what would have been silent docks. I hurried on, but when I saw the woman, I knew it was too late. She'd lost far too much blood. Jason Lassiter, of course, was the captain. I'd never seen a human being who was so beside himself in misery." Her voice had lowered to a whisper.
Moving to Nicole's side, she looked down at the girl she had come to love as a daughter and smoothed a curl behind her ear. In a stronger voice, she resumed, "He didn't care that I was a madam. All he cared about was his young wife. We struggled all night, and finally a baby girl was born. But they were too weak and within the hour both had passed away."
She paused when she saw Nicole's watering eyes. Sutherland saw, too, but he looked surprised, as though grasping how little he understood about Nicole and possibly Jason. Dragging his eyes back to Maria, he commanded, "Continue." She only raised her eyebrows at him until he reluctantly added, "Please."
"Jason became...inconsolable." She recalled that fateful night so well, it was as if she could still hear him yelling, weeping, smashing anything within reach. "None of his crew could restrain him."
She absently stroked Nicole's shining hair. "My heart hurt for them, the little mother so brave and the husband so in love. I began making arrangements for her and her baby's burial. Just when I was about to leave, Nicole, such a beautiful child, ran aft
er me. She was terrified and crying, and when I picked her up and quieted her, she clung to me as if she'd never let go. I told a crewman I was taking her and bullied him until he let us go. She fell asleep in my arms that night, and I have loved her since."
Sutherland paused, seeming to digest all she'd told him, but then a muscle pulsed in his jaw. "This visit's over," he said abruptly as he strode over to Nicole and grabbed her arm. "You're coming with me back to the ship."
"Maria!" Nicole called, trying to twist away.
"Anything you have to say to Nicole can be said here," Maria said in an authoritative tone.
"Maria, please! You're not allowing him to stay! This man hunted Chancey and me down in London, offering outrageous rewards--"
"You knew that, damn it?" He ran his free hand through his hair. "Why did you hide from me?"
"Why? Do you think I'm daft?" she asked, finally wrenching her arm out of his grasp. "You were out for revenge."
"Is that what I was looking for?"
"What else could you want from me after that night?"
Maria watched the two interacting and knew what Nicole had just said angered Sutherland terribly. Surely if the man offered rewards for her after their brief acquaintance, he wanted more from her than that. Looking at her lovely Nicole and seeing the way the two sparked off each other, she didn't see how he could be unaffected.
Yet instead of telling her that, he simply looked her over slowly. "Yes, that would be the only conclusion."
Meu Deus, perhaps I made a mistake hoping for these two.
"Of course it is. See, Maria..." Nicole turned beseeching eyes toward her. "He wants to get me back for that night. You can't let him."
"She doesn't have any say in the matter," he snapped.
"Of course I do, Captain," Maria countered. "If I call, guards will come here and stop you. Or you can be civilized and speak with her here. But I warn you, if you so much as raise your voice, you are out for good. Compreenda?"
He looked from her to Nicole, and finally gave a quick nod.
"Well, that's just fine," Nicole fumed. "He can choose to stay here, but I don't have to. Let go of my damn arm, you beast."
"You didn't think I was a beast that night in my cabin...."
Maria studied them as they argued back and forth. She'd never known two people so right for each other.