by Paula Quinn
Sam Pierce walked back to where he’d left Kyle MacGregor with Anjali. He scowled at his feet as he walked in the sand. How would he ever get the sight of her, naked and asleep, out of his head?
No. Not now. He had to remain in control of his thoughts and his emotions. The same way he’d done it for the last eight years. He couldn’t fail now. Why did Alex have to let Caitrina Grant remain aboard after Portugal? Sam had feared this would happen. Alex was a fool ruled by his heart. He knew Captain Harris of the Excellence could be close by and yet he had to stop here and visit people he hadn’t seen in years. Now he deliberately disregarded the MacGregor threat and seduced one of their women to his bed. He was going to get them all killed.
Normally, Sam didn’t care who Alex settled beneath him. The queen herself would likely bed him given the opportunity. Sam didn’t care. It was no concern of his. Aye, some of the captain’s women grew jealous of his roving eye and, more often than Sam cared to remember, Alex found himself at the end of a knife.
Sam liked Miss Grant, and for that reason he regretted everything when he heard of what Captain Henley tried to do to her. He wished he’d killed Henley himself. Besides all that though, Miss Grant posed a whole different set of problems. One of them being her cousin. Kyle was protective of the lass. He was also a MacGregor and therefore rash and dangerous. He would likely try to kill Alex if he suspected that the captain had deflowered his cousin. Sam couldn’t let that happen, and it had little to do with any map or treasure. Another threat was her kin. They would come for her. Sam didn’t doubt it, and when they did, they would massacre everyone in their way and ask questions later. He knew about the outlawed clan from his brother, David.
Aye, Miss Grant had been correct in her assumption that he was Captain Pierce’s brother. A clever lass, she was. Of course, she knew nothing for certain and if Sam could fool Alex all these years, a pretty little woman would cause no threat. His task was almost done. Just a bit longer. He wouldn’t be stopped in what he meant to do. After living with Alex and calling him friend for eight years, he no longer believed in his first allegiance. But it was too late for regrets.
Royal Admiralty wanted that ship. They still did. No one knew where it was, though many guessed it was hidden somewhere in the Caribbean. William Kidd had never given up its whereabouts. They’d enlisted Samuel, a soldier in the Royal Navy, to lead them to the treasure. David, in the army at the time, didn’t want him to do it. Pirates were a deadly bunch and if they discovered that Sam was spying for the navy, they would kill him. He knew he would likely not see David again but he had wanted to do it. He had been young.
His duty had been to get to know Alex and discover if he knew the whereabouts of the Quedagh Merchant. Alex didn’t, of course, but Sam remained with him, partially for duty’s sake, and partially because Sam had become good friends with the young captain. Aye, he’d grown fond of Alex, even to the point of denying his duty and putting all his heart into being a pirate. Everything changed again a few months ago when David transferred to the navy and had been put in charge of procuring the stolen ship.
Too late for regrets.
“I didn’t find them,” he called out when Kyle and Anjali came into view. “They could have left the island.”
“Left it?” MacGregor stepped forward, breaking contact with the island lass he was about to kiss. “Why would they have left it?”
Sam had to admit that he liked this MacGregor. He liked all of them really. The sheer size of their men was enough to evoke feelings of inadequacy and doubt about one’s battle skills. But they laughed with the same deep passion that they wielded their swords. He and David were raised around tough men like Kyle’s uncles. They were far less intimidating when they were your friends. He wondered if there was still a way to win their favor. He glanced over his shoulder, thinking of Miss Grant.
“He may have wanted to show her his home on Pine Cay,” Sam said, reaching him. This was the one he had to watch. Intelligence and mistrust shone in the depths of MacGregor’s cloudless aqua eyes. The key was gaining his friendship, not his mistrust. “But let’s check their huts again, aye? I could be mistaken.”
MacGregor agreed and promptly left. He knew. Sam could tell that Kyle knew he’d been deceived. He knew Sam was lying about Pine Cay. He knew Sam had just covered for them and was giving them time to get to their separate beds. Was Sam so poor at masking his expressions or was MacGregor that good at reading them? It didn’t matter. Alex would be better off without the MacGregors out to kill him. That was more likely to happen if Kyle didn’t see him and Miss Grant naked and entangled in each other’s arms. Sam wished he hadn’t seen it either. When Alex forgot about Miss Grant, which would likely be any night now, no one would be the wiser.
“He loves her.”
Sam turned and looked down into Anjali’s soft coal eyes. “What?”
“Dee captain. He loves Miss Blue Eyes.” She looked after Kyle. “I understand why.”
Sam sighed and Anjali looped her arm through his on the way back to the village. “So my little spitfire has been done in by a pair of eyes?”
“Now, Sam, have ya seen dee man’s eyes?”
He shook his head at her and hoped MacGregor’s eyes found his cousin safe and sound. If Kyle tried to kill Alex, Sam would have to kill him. And then, besides the Royal Navy coming down on Alex, thanks to Sam’s work, the captain would have to fight off Kyle’s clan, because of him, as well.
He looked out over the sea and prayed that David had received the letter he’d sent off in Portugal with Senhor Moreno. He hoped his brother found them before Captain Harris or the others did, and mostly, he prayed David would grant him his request. David was Sam’s only hope. Even though Miss Grant could help tremendously, her kin could just as quickly jeopardize everything. Sam was going to have to watch the two of them more closely.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Alex hadn’t expected that practicing with Kyle would be so taxing. He blocked a slice to his throat with a jarring crash of metal that shook his arms. He fought, for the time, on the defense, letting Kyle’s speed and strength push him back. The lad fought with impressive speed and power. Alex’s experience in actual combat proved Kyle’s undoing though, when an opportunity presented itself and Alex slashed with his blade, turning his position to offense and taking the weary combatant down almost instantly.
“I didn’t see that coming,” Kyle confessed, rising to his feet with the aid of Alex’s hand.
“That’s the point.” Alex smiled at him.
“Show it to me again.”
Alex’s smiled faded. He may have experience over the lad, but he had about seven or eight years on him as well. He wanted to rest, go find Caitrina, and steal a few kisses from her, perhaps a bit more. Practicing always made him more passionate. And now, at least, he was practicing with someone who would keep him in shape.
“One more time,” he agreed, then raised his cutlass to Kyle’s.
Metal clashed over their heads and Alex thought about what happened when Kyle had found him in his hut the morning Sam had come upon him and Caitrina. Alex had told him the truth. Since that morning, he had told no one else, even putting it out of his own head, or he tried to. He loved her. It wouldn’t go away despite his determination to ignore it. He didn’t want to think overlong about what it meant. What loving her could do to him. Kyle seemed to forgive him after Alex confessed to him, and to him alone.
“My faither was once the most infamous spy in the three kingdoms.”
Alex blocked the strike to his neck and struck back, rattling Kyle’s bones.
“His blood flows through me.”
“Are ya tellin’ me ya’re a spy then, Kyle?” Alex retreated a step, holding him back.
“Nae.” Kyle smashed his blade against Alex’s, sparking the metal. “But I know how to read people, Captain. Remember the privateers disguised as merchants and know I speak the truth.”
Alex remembered and nodded. He parried two more mas
sive blows and waited for the third.
“Someone on this ship works against ye.”
Alex saw Kyle’s predictable opening and turned this fight into a victory. “I’ve known him fer eight years,” Alex growled, holding the edge of his cutlass against Kyle’s throat. “If ya mean to make charges against him, ya better have proof.”
Kyle swallowed, then, seeming to gather his courage around him like a cloak, he stared at Alex straight on. “I believe I know his brother. He is a friend of my brother.”
Alex shook his head and backed away, removing the blade. “So? I don’t see—”
“The man’s name is Captain David Pierce of the Royal Army. He is—”
“Kyle, I’ll hear no more of this.” He sheathed his sword and yanked off his gloves.
“Trust me, Captain, please. Something doesna’ sit well.”
“Trust ya?” Alex couldn’t help but laugh. “I don’t know ya. Him, I know. Do ya understand that?”
Kyle nodded, looking repentant. Why the hell did they keep trying to bring it up? Caitrina had tried talking to him about it last night around the village fire. He didn’t know what they had against Sam, and Alex hadn’t had the chance to ask Caitrina, since no one in the entire village had left them alone for a moment.
“Don’t bring it up again,” Alex said, turning away from him. He didn’t want his crewmen, especially possible future relatives, hating his best friend.
“Aye, aye, Captain.”
Alex thought Kyle had left the small meadow and sighed when he heard Kyle’s voice again. “May I ask just one thing, Captain?”
“What is it?”
“What did he do fer ya to make ya trust his loyalty so fiercely?”
Alex thought about it. Hell, there was a lot. “He has me back in any fight. He has never failed to be where I needed him to be. He brought me back from a heartbreak I wallowed in fer almost a month.”
“Madalena?”
Alex turned finally and looked him over. “Are ya studyin’ me, lad?”
“Why would I?”
Extraordinary, Alex thought. Kyle didn’t bat an eyelash while lying straight to his face.
Could Sam do it too? Was that why he didn’t tell Sam about his feelings for Caitrina? No! They were making him doubt the only man he’d ever trusted besides his father.
“Ya give me no reason to trust ya.”
Kyle lowered his gaze and then exhaled. “Aye,” he admitted. “I study everyone. I canna’ help it. It doesn’t make me untrustworthy though.”
“Nay, it doesn’t,” Alex agreed. “But lyin’ does.”
He turned again and began to walk away from Caitrina’s cousin.
“How many years ago did yer faither take the Quedagh Merchant?”
According to what Alex had heard in New York, it happened shortly after he left his father’s ship. “About eight years ago.”
“And when did ye meet Mr. Pierce?”
Alex laughed over his shoulder at the lad following him. Was Kyle trying to tell him that Sam had been duping him for close to a decade? He had to laugh. To give credit, even the tiniest morsel, to Caitrina’s or her cousin’s mad accusations would have to mean that the only man he trusted in his life, with his life, was betraying him. And he was too dense to know it.
“Ya think me a fool.” He tried to sound flippant but he heard the dip in his cadence, and if Kyle was as good as he suggested at reading people, he heard it too.
“Nae, Captain,” Kyle answered, meeting Alex’s steady gaze when he turned to face him. “He’s difficult to read. I think ’tis because he genuinely cares fer ye. I have yet to hear him utter a negative thing aboot ye. Nor does he allow the faintest whisper of complaint against ye. I don’t know what he’s up to, but he considers ye his valued friend.”
“Then why would he want me map?” Alex put to him earnestly. “Yar own words bear the truth.” He turned again and walked away. “Let this go with Samuel,” he warned over his shoulder, “before I take offense.”
“Fine,” Kyle called out. “If ye’re going off to see my cousin, ye might consider picking her some flowers.”
Alex stopped and pivoted around, doubting his ears. “Pick her flowers?” What the hell kind of men picked flowers? If the crew happened to see there’d be mutiny for sure.
“All the men in Camlochlin do it, Captain. From lads to warriors, young and old. I’m told my grandsire started it by picking flowers for my grandmere, but the Grants insist it began with Jamie, who mended the tattered heart of a young Maggie MacGregor by showering her with flowers.”
“What the hell kind of people am I entangling meself with?” he muttered to himself.
“What kind should I pick?” he called out a moment later. After he lost his mind.
Her cousin shrugged, deciding suddenly to be no longer helpful. “Whatever ye think she would like.”
How was he supposed to know what she’d like? Why was he even entertaining the idea of picking her flowers? Wild orchids immediately came to mind. He thought of Caitrina on the way back to the village. It had been two nights since he’d touched her, kissed her. They sat around the bonfires with the others and pretended that their bodies weren’t aching for each other’s embrace. They smiled respectfully when they met on a path, hooding their eyes from the temptation of glancing upon desire and coming away unscathed. But their need for each other was palpable. Alex knew the others could feel it. It made the balmy air thicker, hotter. The nights, longer and lonelier.
He’d never kept himself from a woman before. He’d never had to control his desires until now. He did it out of respect for her cousin, her kin. Hell, what was he going to do about her kin? If they didn’t come for him, he’d have to bring Caitrina back to Skye after he found his treasure. He hoped her father was a reasonable man and didn’t mind a pirate courting his daughter. He was going mad. He was sure of it. Only madness would have him pondering talking to a gel’s father, risking a claymore in his gut. But the treasure he’d found, the one he’d attained, was well worth the risk.
He wanted Caitrina. He wanted to feel her quivering body in his hands again. But more than that, he wanted to win her heart, her affections. He didn’t care why. He would do whatever he needed to do.
He smiled, looking over the thick bushes of pink and yellow jasmine swaying in the slight breeze. He moved toward the flowers, their fragrance reminding him of her. Releasing a dagger from his sash, he snipped a dozen of each color and held the bunch out before him like a torch.
He realized what he looked like when he saw Anjali and her dearest friend, Hester, staring at him from three huts away. He put down his arm as he passed them, but it was too late.
“I not be knowin’ how I feel about dee tradition of killin’ flowers to show regard.”
Alex glanced down at the wilting bouquet and agreed with her. “Terrifyingly, ’tis more than regard,” he told her, hoping his admission would earn him forgiveness.
It did.
She granted him a wide smile that hadn’t changed since she was two. “I knew eet!” she boasted. “I saw how ya look at her. She’s out wit Samuel and Charlie by dee water.”
“Thank ya, Anj, I’ll leave ya somethin’ pretty before I go.”
“Not flowers!” she called out over her shoulder as she and Hester continued on their way. “Don’t kill any more of doze!”
Alex’s smile faded when he passed the last hut and the seashore came into view. His eyes searched the coastline until he found them walking this way. What did he know of courting? It was too late to leave. And he wouldn’t have gone anyway. He’d killed the damned jasmine and he was going to make sure he gave it to her. He returned her smile while he picked up his steps to meet them.
“Are ye visiting a grave nearby?” Caitrina asked him when they met in the sand.
He raised his brow, not understanding her question right away. When she glanced at his bouquet, he shoved it toward her.
“Aye,” he told her. “Mine.”
“Alex?” Charlie, Anjali’s brother, stepped forward, eyeing the bouquet. “Is she yars?”
Caitrina wasn’t any man’s possession, and to call her his before he wed her would dishonor her, according to Kyle. But that didn’t make it any easier for Alex to deny her. He dropped his hand when she accepted his offering, then looked at Charlie when he spoke. “Nay. She’s not.”
“Nevertheless.” Her voice stopped him when he turned to leave. “I would speak to ye alone.”
He nodded, offering his hand to her and trying to ignore the flood of pathetic joy he felt that she liked his offering.
Hell. He loved her. She left him breathless, mindless, helpless. It scared the hell out of him.
“Thank ye fer the flowers,” she said, turning up her chin so she could shine her radiant smile and set those large blue eyes on him. “They’re verra’ bonny.”
He nodded, not really knowing what to say. When she dipped her face into the jasmine and inhaled, he watched like one stricken. He didn’t like it. He felt weak, a bit queasy in the belly, a little soft in the knees. It was repulsive and needed to be stopped.
But not now. Now, he wanted to kiss her. Now, he didn’t give a rat’s arse about who might take issue with his feelings for her. Let her kin come. Let his crew mumble. Let Kyle disapprove of their passion.
“I’ve missed ya, lass.”
She moved in closer, tilting her face up to meet his. “Prove it, Captain,” she whispered.
He smiled, intending to do just that.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Trina gazed at Alex poised above her. She smiled at him while he moved his hips to a rhythm as spellbinding as the sounds around her; water falling and crashing below her, the dulcet cries of many birds, the rustle of leaves all around her. His body filled her, slowly, deeply, each thrust a dance that led her to the edge of reason.
She wanted more. Like some succubus of fable, she hungered for every part of him. She would be mortified later, but now she curled her calves around his waist and lifted herself to him, accepting him, drawing him deeper. He was hard enough to wedge himself into the tightest crevice, and big enough to hurt going in, despite the days she’d had to recover from their first encounter. She groaned with the pain and with the pleasure of taking him from head to hilt.