by Paula Quinn
Listening to the velvet pitch of his voice while he spoke of his adventures made her hate him… or fall in awe of him. She wasn’t sure which, and she didn’t like it.
“He’s quite an unusual man, don’t ye think?”
Trina turned to her cousin, Abigail, eyeing the pirate captain across the hall, where he stood speaking with Abby’s older brother and the chief’s heir, Adam. At Abby’s side, Mailie and her younger sister Violet stood as if entranced by the sight of him. Until their mother walked past them and gave them each a smack on the rump.
“Turn yer eyes the other way,” Isobel MacGregor warned her two daughters. “That one is trouble.”
Trina agreed. The sooner he left, the happier she’d be.
Abby inched closer to her when Isobel left with the others. “Malcolm and Edmund were on the shore when the sun rose,” she told her. “They said his boat was impressive.”
His boat. Och, how she wished she could see it. Just a glimpse before he left. “Is it a sloop or a schooner?”
Abby shrugged her shoulders. “I’ve no idea what the difference is.”
“A sloop is rigged with a single mainsail, whereas a schooner has two masts. Both are extremely fast. Then again he might have—”
“Honestly, Trina,” her cousin cut her off gently. “Ye know more aboot boats and navigation than most of the men here. When I’m chief, I’ll let ye sail my boats.”
Trina smiled at her as Abby moved away to rejoin the crowd. Everyone in Camlochlin and all throughout Skye adored the daughter of Rob and Davina for her beauty and steadfast loyalty to her kin. Abby was born to lead the clan more so than her older brother, who cared nothing for the title. If Abby were chief, Trina would happily follow her.
Alone, Trina returned her gaze to where Alex had stood earlier. He was no longer there. She looked around the Hall and was about to go look for him outside when his husky voice came from close behind her.
“’Tis a brigantine,” he said, his warm breath against her ear making her spine tingle.
She’d never seen a brig before. They were larger than schooners, thereby slower in a chase. Cannons were set into the ship’s sides, not in the front and back like smaller ships, positioned to fire when pursued. So, Captain Kidd didn’t run much, but preferred battle?
“Tell me, what else do ya know about ships, Miss Grant?”
“Not a thing,” she replied without turning.
“Navigation?”
“Nothing at all.” He’d been eavesdropping. A very rude characteristic she made a mental note to hold against him.
She took a step forward, eager to be away from him. She didn’t like how he made her skin feel clammy and her throat, dry.
“Ya didn’t strike me as the kind of woman who ran away from men.”
She stopped and turned to him. She did run away. All the time. She ran from the boredom of courting and the confines of marriage. “I run from nothing, Captain Kidd. I thought I proved that to ye already last eve when I took ye prisoner and held yer men at bay.”
He laughed, a short, amused sound filled with deep baritones and a sensual cadence that curled Trina’s toes and made her curse him silently. “I’ve heard that Highlanders were stubborn and prideful. I hadn’t considered it to be true of Highland women, as well.”
Trina thought she should look away in some modest, repentant gesture, but to hell with that. “That’s quite all right, Captain. I dinna’ imagine ye consider many things.” Before he said another word, she whirled around on her heel and returned to her table, where Kyle was waiting for her.
Before she returned to her seat, three women encircled Alex where he stood, giggling at something he said.
“Why does he cause ye such ire?”
“Kyle,” she said, severing her gaze from the licentious pirate and turning it on her cousin. “What makes ye assume I keep the captain in mind long enough to let him irritate me?”
The crook of Kyle’s mouth said all he needed to say.
Trina sighed and shook her head. She hated not being able to keep her thoughts private around Kyle. Still, she wouldn’t go so far as to admit anything more than the slightest interest in Alex Kidd. He was a pirate after all.
“He’s quite full of himself.”
Kyle looked in his direction. “He has reason to be. He moves with a certain kind of menace in his grace. Like a wolf.”
“I hadna’ noticed.”
Her cousin laughed, but only for a moment, until she kicked him hard under the table.
“I dinna’ care how he looks or how he sounds, or moves,” she told him while he bent to rub his ankle under the table. “If I cared aboot the beauty of a man, I would have married Kevin MacKinnon last winter. The only thing I find of interest aboot Captain Kidd is his adventurous life.”
“How d’ye know he leads an adventurous life, Trina?” Kyle put to her. “Mayhap the majority of his days are lonely and dull and coming ashore is like waking up again?”
This wasn’t a guess. Kyle read expressions better than any book in their grandmere’s vast library. She knew he’d want to study any new souls who turned up in Camlochlin, but had he gleaned this from the captain himself, one of his men? Trina turned to examine Alex with a new perspective. Did he spend months at a time at sea? Was setting foot on land with different faces to look at, fresh food to eat, and fragrant women to share a night with, better than hunting treasure? She could understand that. Aye, she could. She felt her dislike for him fading and when he glanced at her with the residue of a smile he was in the middle of offering to another, she smiled back, then turned away.
And looked straight into the cerulean gaze of her cousin.
“Yer faither would kill him.”
She blinked as the fleeting realization of that truth sank in. She looked toward the table her parents shared with her aunts and uncles. Connor Grant was still the most handsome man in the Hall. Every woman in Camlochlin who wasn’t his kin wished she were Mairi MacGregor. His smile was still as wide as the heavens and as bright as the sun. And it shone most on his wife and bairns. Because he loved her so, he would never let her leave Skye on a pirate ship.
“My faither would have no reason to kill him,” she corrected Kyle when she realized it appeared—at least, to him, and he’d be correct—that she was considering it, “because I have no intention of doing anything so foolish as what ye’re thinking.”
“Good.” He downed the cup set before him and rose to his feet. “Captain,” he called out and beckoned Kidd to come closer. “Sit with us.”
Trina stiffened in her chair as Kidd moved toward them, vowing to smash Kyle in the head with the flat of her blade later on. “There are things ye’re bursting at the seams to know, but he makes ye a wee bit breathless,” he explained to her gently, ignoring the blush across her nose. “I’ll find oot fer ye.”
Was she supposed to forgive him now? What the hell was the use not to? This was why Kyle was her dearest, most beloved friend. She barely had to tell him anything he didn’t glean on his own. Sure, sometimes his ability was irritating, like when he knew things she didn’t want him to know, but most of the time, it saved her from having to explain herself.
“Captain”—Kyle offered the pirate a seat opposite hers—“I wanted to steal a bit more time to chat with ye before the hour is up and ye leave.”
“Another lesson on readin’ lips?” The captain slipped his gaze to her while he accepted the invitation.
Trina cursed her traitorous nerve endings for tingling over the barest attention from him. She didn’t dare look at Kyle to see if he was watching her. She prayed he wasn’t.
“I think I’ve got the art down close,” Kyle let him know. “I’m a quick learner. Nae, I had hoped to learn more aboot the life of a pirate.”
“Oh?” The captain asked with the slightest upward quirk of his mouth—a quirk that sparked more flames in Trina’s belly. “What would ya like to know?”
“What are some of the places ye’ve been t
o?” Kyle asked.
Trina settled into her chair, eagerly awaiting his answer. After listening to him for a little while she grew captivated by his tales of adventure on the high seas, from places as far away as Africa and as exotic as Barbados and Madagascar. Och, but she’d never heard such tales and doubted they were true.
“Captain,” she said while he swigged a cup of whisky—and after the sound of his voice and the slow slant of his mouth didn’t cause her heart to accelerate. “I know many noblemen keep servants, but surely the kind of slavery ye speak of in some of these places is an exaggerated rendition.”
“The Indies and Africa are not Great Britain, Miss Grant. They are far more untamed and foreign than anythin’ ya’re acquainted with. Slavery is a harsh truth some people live with. But there be places where the natives live, unbound to master or law. They live free, and they live hard, plantin’, fishin’, dancin’ to music beneath the stars, to music that saturates yar soul and tempts ya to do the most wicked things.”
Trina wanted to blink, but she couldn’t separate her gaze from the pirate’s, even for that brief amount of time. Her insides seared and burned and made her skin damp. He conjured images in her head that quickened her breath and turned her bones to mud. She wanted to leap from her seat and run away from the confident crook of his mouth, the menace of his dark eyes. No man had ever attracted her so. She was correct not to like him. He was more than dangerous. He was perilous to her morals, her virtue.
She remained for as long as she could, imagining him wielding his cutlass against a horde of enemies, wondering how he looked without his shirt, or standing at the helm of his ship, guiding it toward the next adventure. Soon though, she could take no more and excused herself from the table and the Hall. She left the castle, looking over her shoulder every now and again to make certain she wasn’t being followed.
It didn’t take her long to reach the shore. She only wanted a glimpse of his ship in the first light of day. She knew she shouldn’t look. Curiosity had never been her friend. She should be satisfied with her life, safe and content in Camlochlin. But she wasn’t… because of curiosity.
Her breath caught in her breast at the sight of the magnificent beast heaving atop the waves, gleaming in the sun, its tall masts piercing the heavens. She’d seen a ship similar to this one many years ago, when the first Captain Kidd visited Skye. She’d never forgotten it, letting the memory of its wind-stretched sails and buoyancy, despite its mammoth size, fuel her dreams of leaving in search of adventure. Here was one even more breathtaking.
She so wanted to see it up close. Smell it. Touch it. Just for a moment or two. She’d been too young to get any closer to his father’s ship. How often would opportunities like this come along for her? She looked toward the rocky incline. Did she dare board the ship and take advantage of this moment? It may never come again.
She bolted left and took off along the steep coastline. She knew the best way to reach the boat. She just wanted to feel the ship’s planks beneath her feet, the water rocking her to and fro. What kind of adventures would its sails lead her to? Although the thought did cross her mind, she didn’t plan on hiding aboard, stowing away and setting sail to some strange new land… perhaps in the Indies. She paused at the top of the cliffs and looked back at her home. What would her life be like away from here? Would leaving her family tear her heart to shreds and make her long for home? Och, Lord, she didn’t want to marry Hugh, or anyone else. Not yet. She wanted an adventure. Just one. What would following a map across the ocean and searching for treasure be like?
She would never admit that what she did next had anything to do with the pirate. Or that the thought of him at her side while they sailed across the horizon made her heart jump in her chest. She stood poised above the ship and looked down at the waves slapping against it, the rope ladder dangling from the hull, inviting her aboard. Desire to spread her wings and be who she wanted to be coursed through her veins the same way it had in her mother’s and her grandparents’ before her.
Just a brief visit upon its decks, a moment to look around and sear the memory into her mind. She would board and then leave before discovery, and…
… secured her bow and arrows to her waist and dove into the depths.
Seagulls scattered and took to the sky above the cliffs; the only proof that she had been there. The earth went silent for a moment and then shattered when Kyle cursed the wind and jumped in after her.
Chapter Five
Why the hell did ye follow me?” Caitrina demanded the instant Kyle climbed over the starboard rail, only seconds behind her.
“A better question,” he countered while she wrung out her long hair, “is what the hell d’ye think ye’re doing boarding this ship?”
“I wanted to have a closer look, Kyle. I may never get the chance again.”
He looked as if he were going to say something but clenched his teeth instead. Heavens, she thought, watching him commanding control over his temper, his eyes certainly were a perfect blend of vivid blue and sparkling green, made even more dramatic by his emotions. He wasn’t angry with her. He was simply worried. Insulting, but she had to love him for it.
“I’ll leave before any of them come back.” She took a step forward and patted his soaking sleeve. “And then—”
He could hold his tongue no longer. “Have ye forgotten that most of them are still on the ship, Trina?”
She stepped back. Why… aye, she had. Fool! Once again her curiosity kept her from thinking her actions completely through. What would Captain Kidd’s crew do if they found her and Kyle on board without an invitation? Her stomach sank. They were pirates. She’d read enough about them to know what they would do.
“I just wanted to see it, touch it—”
“Then be at it, Trina,” Kyle offered somewhat tightly. “Turn and see it and then let’s be away before they awaken.”
Trina smiled at him. Drinking in a deep breath of cool air, she turned in her spot and then stopped breathing altogether.
She craned her neck, following the enormous trimmed sails of the mizzenmast to the mainmast in the center and the foremast at the far end, toward the bow. Breathless, she marveled at the height of the masts, square on the foremast with fore-and-aft rigging on the mainmast. She’d never seen a brigantine before and she relished every vision before her. Such a powerful beast to ride the turbulent ocean. It took a man just as untamed as the sea to steer her.
She felt Kyle tug on her arm, but she didn’t want to leave yet. Her eye caught the crow’s nest nearly at the top of the mast, a small net basket where one could look out over the sea. Och, she’d love to sail from such a height.
“We must go.”
“What d’ye suppose is doun there?” she asked, ignoring her cousin. She stepped away from him and moved before he could stop her toward an open hatch. She heard Kyle whisper her name in urgent entreaty, but she just wanted a quick look.
She froze in her tracks at the sound of male voices stepping onto the deck from somewhere beyond the bow. The crew was beginning the day and any moment now they were going to spot her and her cousin. She spun around and looked at Kyle. There wasn’t enough time for her to run back to him and for them both to jump overboard. But he could make it if he jumped now.
“Go!” she commanded quietly. Without waiting to see what he would do, she turned and disappeared down the hatch.
Of course, he followed her. As each second passed with more of them waking up, Trina felt more guilty for getting them into this. The deeper they went belowdecks to avoid being seen, the more it would look to everyone that they were stowing away.
“We’ve got to get our arses off this ship,” Kyle worried as they slunk into the shadows.
“We’ll wait here fer a wee bit and give the captain time to return,” Trina suggested, shivering in the dark and swiping her hand across her nose. “He’ll let us leave withoot a sword in the back.”
She yawned when Kyle held her, offering warmth. She wasn�
�t calm, but she was tired. None of them had slept all night after discovering pirates in Camlochlin and then breaking an early fast with them. She leaned her head against Kyle’s arm and closed her eyes. Just for a moment.
Trina opened her eyes to the pitch-black and the smell of fish, rotten vegetables, and urine. She sat up. How long had they slept? She waited a moment, listening, feeling the floor beneath her. Then she moaned. They were moving. They were moving! Dear God, what had they done?
“Kyle?” she whispered, unable to make out if he was still lying near her. He didn’t answer. He snored though. Trina opened her mouth to rouse him then stopped. They were stowaways, set out on a brig to parts unknown. The thought of it thrilled her and terrified her at the same time. She doubted the captain would kill her or Kyle. Not after meeting her kin, at least. Kidd was no fool. He would turn his ship around and bring her home.
She sat there in the dark, holding her breath and contemplating her future. Marriage waited for her at home, a dull future of cooking and cleaning and sewing. After another hour though, an hour in which she weighed her desires against what disappearing would do to her and Kyle’s parents, she rose up on her feet and climbed over a crate. Where were they? Suddenly she wanted to know. If she could get a look at the landscape she would recognize Scotland. But what if she was no longer near Scotland?
Without waking Kyle—no sense in causing him more hours of worry than he needed—she found the creaky stairs and climbed up to the next deck. She set her nose to the air and followed the scent of fresh, briny air. They were on the ocean. She found a stairwell and ascended slowly, cautiously. The vast twilight sky above her appeared close enough to reach up and touch. She looked around but couldn’t tell where she was. She was sure, though, that they weren’t anywhere near Scotland. She climbed no farther when the sound of men’s voices suddenly frightened her. She had to find the captain. Surely, Kidd wouldn’t let his crew have their way with her. If she was wrong, she would fight to the death. Preferably theirs.