Lifting his head, Hugh realized with horror that he was not only bound to a bed, he was completely naked. And standing in the doorway of the room was Captain Patrick Kelly.
“Nothing to say, boy?” Kelly’s eyebrows lifted.
Hugh licked his suddenly dry lips, taking in the sight of the pirate. Kelly was clad in only a shirt, breeches, and boots. The opening at the top of his shirt revealed sun-bronzed skin Hugh wanted to taste. Locks of red hair teased the fabric of his trousers, drawing Hugh’s eyes to the bulge there. His response was immediate and apparent for all the world to see.
Lips quirked, the pirate murmured, “It would appear no words are needed.”
Hugh felt his cheeks heat with fury. “Where am I?” he snapped.
“Ah, I forgot you missed the trip. Well then, may I be the first to welcome you aboard the Lir.” A mock bow accompanied the announcement. “I’m afraid you’ll be missing the tour also, having tried to poison me and all. Now then,” his voice was genial, “if you don’t want to find yourself walking the plank and falling to your death, you’ll tell me what fool sent you on your errand. And don’t bother lying. I’ve little patience for it on a good day, and less than none when I have to give up a pleasurable evening to deal with a reckless boy and a bit of cheap sleeping powder.”
“I’m not a boy.” It probably wasn’t the best answer he could give, but it was embarrassing enough to be in this state without having to endure the pirate’s taunts.
Kelly came closer and sat next to the bed. “I can see that for myself, but I do believe you’re avoiding the real question. I’m not your average fool of a sky pirate, lad, and I won’t be distracted by a lovely body.” He flicked a finger down Hugh’s side, the caress leaving an erotic burn in its wake.
Hugh opened his mouth once, twice before a sound came out. “No one sent me.”
“Did you not hear me?” Kelly’s voice was dangerously soft.
“I’m telling the truth. I’ve seen you before. I know who you are, what you’ve done. When I saw you enter the pleasure house….”
“You set out to capture a notorious pirate on your own,” Kelly finished the sentence for him. “What were you looking to gain? Money? Position? Power?”
When Kelly said it aloud, Hugh’s plan seemed far weaker than it had when he’d hatched it. “I—”
A wave of the pirate’s hand silenced him. “I believe you, because only an overeager pup like yourself would make such a mess of a job. Bradock and his cronies wouldn’t allow for such a disastrous plan. Though I will grant you, that ring of yours and these ties are fine tools. Another man with those might have succeeded where you failed. Are they of your design?”
“My father’s.”
“A pity, for I’d have use for someone with that kind of skill on my ship.” He tilted his head and seemed to consider Hugh. “Of course, perhaps you have other uses….”
Lust and fear clouded Hugh’s mind as his desire for the older man warred with his own naked vulnerability.
Kelly smiled. “Or perhaps not.” He leaned down until his face was only a breath away from Hugh’s. His hair fell like a curtain around their faces, adding to the intimacy of the moment. “Listen here, boy.” The lilt in his voice came through stronger. “You don’t know who I am, what I’ve done. I only take to bed what’s given or sold freely. Here’s a warning: not all men do.”
“Are you seeking commendation for piracy? You attack ships belonging to good and honest men—”
The sigh Kelly released gusted across Hugh’s lips like a kiss, and as the pirate shook his head, the locks of his hair brushed Hugh’s cheeks in a soft caress. He licked his lips again, and Kelly tracked the action.
“You’re beautiful, my angel. But blind. And, I fear, not ready for the likes of me.”
“What?”
He felt the stab of something in his arm, and the world began to haze over. “Things are not always as they appear to be. Ask yourself why no one gave a rat’s bulbous ass about the pirate Patrick Kelly until a year ago.” Kelly’s voice sounded distant. “Then tell me about your ‘good and honest men’.”
WHEN he woke, Hugh found himself in bed, Albert leaning over him. His mentor was frowning.
“Where am I?”
“My home. You were found on the steps of the pleasure house.”
“How did I get there? I was on….” The Wings of Lir. Kelly. Had it been a dream? He shifted, then glanced down at the nightshirt he was wearing. It wasn’t his. Not a dream.
“I had hoped you would tell me. A messenger was sent to me, telling me to retrieve my wayward guest. I got the impression that you’re not particularly welcome there, and I hope you will understand if I do not risk my membership by extending another invitation.”
As if a tumble with a whore was on his mind right then. “Where are my clothes?”
“You weren’t wearing any.”
He closed his eyes against the anger over his humiliation.
“It was only prostitutes and myself who saw you that way. Still, it could have been much worse.” Albert shook his head. “What have you gotten yourself into?”
“I’m not entirely sure,” he muttered. “But I’m going to find out.”
One Year Later
WHERE cunning failed, outright strength would succeed. If Hugh wanted to capture that cursed pirate, he couldn’t very well do so on one of the large, slow ships of Her Majesty’s Sky Navy. They’d encountered the Wings of Lir again, nearly six months ago. It wasn’t long after they opened fire that Kelly’s crew released hundreds of the smallest automatons Hugh had ever seen. The automatons swarmed throughout the airship like locusts, attracted to the metal of the airship’s weaponry. They clogged the cannons, made the firearms useless. By the time the pirates were done with them, the airship had nearly been torn to pieces. None of Hugh’s comrades had been harmed, but their defeat stung, particularly for Hugh. Kelly had spotted him in the thick of battle, he was sure of it. The knowing grin that had flashed his way brought back the feelings of bound helplessness… and unforgotten desire.
After that encounter, Hugh resigned his commission with the sky navy. With the aid of his father, he managed to arrange a meeting with Lord Bradock. What better way was there to catch the elusive Captain Kelly than to be outfitted for battle by the man who hated him the most? Bradock had seen Hugh’s hunger, had believed the carefully edited tale he had woven to garner the man’s financial support.
He’d gotten what he wanted: a fine airship in the Falcon, a crew, money, and supplies. He had a year to capture Kelly or Bradock would take back all that he had granted. Half of that time was over, but Hugh wasn’t worried. He was closing in on the man. The money Bradock gave him was most helpful when used for bribes; there was no such thing as honor among thieves. A handful of coins in the right hands had revealed that Kelly would likely attack one of Bradock’s merchant airships that was departing from Glasgow.
His assignment would have been easier had Bradock given him the dates and destinations of his merchant ships. But the lord refused all of Hugh’s requests for information and had grown angry with him over the matter at their last meeting, when Hugh had asked what cargo was being stolen. There was something in the man’s eyes… something Hugh didn’t trust. The crew of the Falcon was a crude, shifty-eyed lot whose loyalty to Bradock’s purse was likely the only thing keeping them from murdering Hugh in his sleep. Listening to the men, Hugh began to wonder about his employer.
The time he spent captaining the Falcon forced him to consider what Kelly had said about good and honorable men. The nights, both on land and amongst the stars, left him with too much time for his thoughts to drift to the pirate. He remembered the feeling of Kelly leaning in close and wondered how it would have felt if he had closed the gap between them and taken Kelly’s lips with his own. In his waking hours, he could cut off his thoughts at that, but in his dreams he wasn’t so lucky. Many nights he woke sticky with his own seed, the fading memory of imagined pleasure making his pulse race
. The man had left him naked in front of a brothel, and yet still Hugh wanted to taste him, touch him, hear Kelly call him “my angel” in that soft Irish lilt.
He was brooding in his cabin when pounding on his door startled him. He opened the door to see the rotting smile of his first mate, Tiber.
“What is it?”
“The Wings of Lir has been spotted.”
Pushing aside his doubts, Hugh smiled at the man. “Very good, Tiber. Prepare the ship; we’ll not be blown to scrap metal by a damn pirate.”
IT APPEARED his angel had made a bargain with the devil.
Kelly lowered the spyglass and grimaced. On any other day, he would have been amused by the boy getting in over his head with the likes of Bradock. His good humor was cut short by the fact that the Lir couldn’t afford to be fired on with the cargo they were carrying.
“Should we open fire, Cap’n?” O’Malley asked.
He shook his head. “I don’t want to risk any hits right now. Go to the engine room. Sound the distress signal and make it look like we broke something. And tell Ross I need to speak to him.”
“Ye think that’ll stop ’em from attackin’? Respectfully sayin’, Cap’n, yer outta yer wits.”
A sharp glare had O’Malley retreating to do as he was ordered. Kelly rolled his shoulders and prayed to all the saints. He was risking a lot on the honor of a man he barely knew.
HIS men were not pleased that Hugh wouldn’t let them fire on Kelly’s airship. It could be a trap—Hugh wasn’t foolish enough to trust a pirate. At the same time, it didn’t sit well with him to fire on an airship in distress. They let the Wings of Lir approach and kept their guns at the ready. The pirates stood on deck, unarmed and unthreatening.
“Permission to come aboard?” Kelly shouted.
Hugh nodded at Tiber, who pulled the lever for the metal plank to unfold. It bridged the gap between the two airships, and Kelly came across, hands out to his sides. When the pirate leaped onto the deck, he smiled.
“It seems we have a bit of a problem… Captain,” he said.
Hugh’s eyes narrowed at the smirk in Kelly’s tone. “I’d say you were the one with the problem, pirate. Tell me why I shouldn’t blow your airship out of the sky.”
“Killing unarmed men? I don’t think that’s like you.”
“You have no idea what I’m like.”
“But I’d like to.” Kelly’s voice was so soft Hugh barely heard him. Then Kelly clasped his hands in a prayerlike gesture. “My ship needs to dock before it falls straight into the sea. I need not tell you it’s far less buoyant on the water than it is in the air. I’m asking for safe passage.”
“It’s a trap,” one of the men muttered.
Hugh ignored him, staring into Kelly’s dark brown eyes. “How do I know this isn’t a trick?”
“I’d give my word of honor, but I doubt you’d believe me.”
“That would be correct. I’ll need something more valuable in exchange.”
“Such as?”
“You.”
“Why, angel, I didn’t know you cared.”
Hugh fought the urge to blush and narrowed his eyes instead. “Keep talking, and I might choose not to believe your tale of woe. If you’re so honorable, then you’ll trade yourself for the safety of your men.”
Kelly glanced at his airship, then back at Hugh. “Fine.”
That was a surprise; he hadn’t thought Kelly would agree to the bargain. “You’ll give yourself up, just like that?”
A sharp nod. “I told you once before, lad. Things are not always as they seem.”
“Do you have Lord Bradock’s cargo on board?”
“There are no stolen goods on the Lir at this time, Captain.”
Hugh believed him, but there was something in the way Kelly spoke that made him think there was more to the story. He turned to Tiber. “Pull back the bridge and let them pass.”
“But—”
“We’ll follow the Wings of Lir and check it for stolen cargo once it has landed. We’re not attacking an airship without cause, Tiber, no matter whose airship it is. Should the airship be clean as Kelly claims, then we’ll leave it be and take Kelly to Lord Bradock.”
The men didn’t look happy, but they did as Hugh commanded. By the time the Wings of Lir sailed by, Kelly had shaken off his seriousness, and a cocky grin was in its place.
This time, Hugh smiled back. “Lock him in the brig.”
That wiped the smile off the man’s face.
HUGH stretched as he entered his cabin, trying to release some of the tension in his neck. There was muttering going on among the crew, and he’d been concerned they’d blow the pirates out of the sky regardless of his command. It struck him as odd. Not their hatred of pirates, but the fact that men such as they would rather destroy the Wings of Lir than raid it for cargo. What was on that airship? He’d find out soon enough.
“Your position in the world has markedly increased since last we met.”
He jumped, startled by that silky smooth voice. Kelly was on his bed, stretched out on his side like he hadn’t a care in the world, one arm propping up his head.
“How—?”
The other man pulled a small metal object out of his boots. Hugh had seen those clever little keys before. Their shifting grooves were the bane of any locksmith’s existence. His father had a few in his workshop and even now was using them to create more secure locks.
“I imagine you know what this is, your father being Nathan Edwards and all.”
“You know who I am?”
“Oh, beautiful, did you think I’d forgotten you? I couldn’t possibly. I had to learn more about you after our last adventure.” His words were mocking, but something in his face made Hugh’s breath catch.
Annoyed with his own weakness, he pulled out a knife.
Kelly arched his eyebrows. “Do you mean to gut me from all the way over there? Not even your… blade… is that long, lad,” he said with a wink.
“I won’t let you escape.”
“I have no intention of escaping. Not when I’m exactly where I want to be.”
“You wanted to be on one of Bradock’s airships?”
“In your bed, angel. In your bed.”
Hugh opened his mouth to speak, but at that moment, an explosion rocked the Falcon. He slipped, the knife falling from his hand. It slid toward Kelly, who rolled off the bed and kicked the blade away. Before Hugh could get to his feet, Kelly had him pinned against the door, his back to the pirate’s front. Warm air brushed his ear as Kelly sighed.
“I do hate a missed opportunity, but alas, there just isn’t enough time.”
“It was a trap.”
“Well, I didn’t actually give you my word of honor that it wasn’t, now did I? You should have asked for it.”
Shouts from outside the cabin had Hugh struggling. Kelly merely leaned harder into him.
“Don’t be a fool twice. You should know by now you’re not the only captain with an eye for inventions. Remember the plague I visited upon your last airship? They’ve been improved.”
“That’s why you let me take you prisoner. So you could disable our weapons before your men attacked.”
A nip on his ear made him jolt. “Clever lad. You should have checked my pockets. Now, you have a choice: you can crawl back to Bradock or you can come peacefully aboard the Lir, and we’ll be holding you for ransom. I can promise you that my men are far less likely to kill you than your own.”
He turned slowly, and Kelly let him. Facing the other man, he weighed his doubts about Bradock against the stupidity of trusting a pirate. “If my father pays the ransom, you’ll let me go?”
“Ah, beautiful,” Kelly’s eyes twinkled with laughter. “You won’t want your father to be paying my price.”
HIS angel had a dazed look about him as he stepped onto the deck of the Lir. Bradock’s crew was too busy scrambling to keep the Falcon in the skies to make any foolish attempts at an attack. They’d make it back to po
rt, though Kelly couldn’t honestly say he’d be sorry if they crashed. He’d faced many of those men before—criminals one and all, who took pride in preying on the weak.
He signaled Ross to take charge, and as the Lir set sail, he took his young man by the hand. Wide blue eyes stared at him as he led the lad below deck.
“Are you throwing me in the brig?”
Kelly laughed. “Not today, Hugh.”
That brought the man up short. “You used my name.”
“Did I? How interesting.” He wasn’t ready to talk about that yet. “I want to show you something, if you’re ready to look past your pride.”
“Lord Bradock’s goods?”
“No man’s goods.”
Comprehension seemed to dawn on Hugh as Kelly led him to the sleeping quarters. Half a dozen pairs of eyes turned their way. Not one of the boys or girls they’d taken from Bradock this time could be more than fourteen. The bastard had gotten cannier in the past year; children were easier to subdue than their elders.
“It’s safe now,” he reassured the youths. He looked at Bridget, who minded the rescued ones until the Lir got them to safety. She took charge of the room as he turned to go back up the stairs, and Hugh followed in his wake.
The other man said nothing until they reached Kelly’s cabin, but as soon as he closed the door, Hugh bombarded him with questions.
“What is Bradock using those children for? Are all of his airships used for this? Why haven’t you informed—” His eyes narrowed as Kelly placed a hand over his lips.
“The children are bought or stolen and sent to brothels. Not all of his trade is in flesh, but plenty of it is. And yes, before you ask, we happily relieve that rotter of any cargo he carries, human or otherwise. Bradock’s been using threats or bribery to keep this quiet since he started trading flesh, which, as best I can tell, was about three years ago. Even if he didn’t… who would believe the word of pirates and street urchins?”
“I would.”
He smiled at the fire in his angel’s eyes. There was vengeance in those blue depths. “You would now. Would you have listened a year ago?”
Cross Bones Page 34