by Paula Quinn
Pierce shook his head. “The navy, Andersen, the governors in New York… You have many enemies, Captain Kidd. You are being watched at almost all times. I thought it best, as your father did, to distract them by letting you go to Skye and then sail here, to the Caribbean. Everyone suspects the ship is hidden here somewhere. Let them all search for you while we sail toward Africa.”
Hmm, it sounded good. But—“Me father taught me one thing, Captain Pierce,” he said, rising to his feet and handing the map back to Pierce. “Never trust a man. They only want yar treasure.”
“The navy is comin’, Alex.” Sam stopped him. “Or they’ll send privateers. ’Tis only a matter of time before they arrive after Harris. How long can the villages hold them off before they all die? Charlie, Anjali?”
Alex’s murderous gaze silenced him.
“Captain Pierce,” he said slowly, turning to look at him again. “If ya want me to believe ya, ya will have to prove to me that me father would trust ya with the treasure’s true location.”
“Laura Ann MacIntyre,” Pierce said.
Alex stopped in his tracks. He hadn’t heard that name in years. The last time was with his father, after they took a small ship called Laura Ann and shared rum over it later. The name was the same as that of a lass William Kidd loved and lost before he met Alex’s mother. He’d never told a soul about her, save for his son and one other man, the only man his father ever trusted.
So then, David Pierce was that man.
“All right.” Alex returned to his seat. His head was spinning. “What’s next?”
“Andersen’s plan,” Captain Pierce continued, “was to travel with you to Dominica, likely try to kill you once you found the Quedagh Merchant. Since you stopped him, he set the navy on your arse. He’s had you followed since you left Camlochlin. It was clever of you to strand Andersen on Skye, by the way.”
“’Twas Sam’s idea to leave him.” Alex looked at his quartermaster. Sam hadn’t betrayed him then. He’d done all this to help him. Alex felt like hell and was relieved at the same time over Sam’s innocence.
“But ’twill do the navy nae good to follow us,” Kyle surmised.
Pierce shook his head at Alex. “Because you will be on your way to Madagascar, away from the Caribbean, where they will search you out for at least a pair of weeks, maybe longer. The rest of the navy now knows that you are indeed here since you sent Captain Harris back with his head up his arse on a near empty ship. Sam is correct. They are coming for you.”
Alex nodded. “I’ll sail out as soon as I return to me ship.”
“I have more men and a bigger boat in the Bahamas.”
“I don’t need more men or a bigger boat,” Alex told him.
“I’m sailing with you.” Pierce held up his palm to ward off Alex’s further refusal. “I promised your father I would see this through. You will not sway me.”
The sound of cannon fire brought an abrupt end to whatever Alex was about to say. They all sprang to their feet as shouts could be heard from on deck as crewmen scrambled to prepare for an attack.
Pierce flew out of the cabin but Sam paused to share a word with Alex. “My greatest regret in all this was letting Miss Grant take the blame for what I had done, and it almost costing her and Kyle their lives. I needed to make certain the map hadn’t been moved. I hope ya understand now, old friend.”
Alex did. He’d trusted Sam. His friend hadn’t let him down. He was more than happy about it. “I do understand. But I still have more questions. We’ll speak later over some rum. Aye?”
Sam agreed, returning his smile and looking more at peace than he had for the past se’nnight.
When Alex climbed on deck, he was surprised to see his ship gaining upon the Expedition’s rear. How had his crew found him so quickly? They were coming to fight. Who led them? Mr. Bonnet? Gustaaf?
“Captain?” Kyle said, suddenly standing beside him. Hell, the lad moved without a sound. “Ye need to do something. They’re going to attack.”
It was too late. Poseidon’s Adventure was almost upon them; the Jolly Roger had been hoisted.
Alex looked around at Pierce’s crew, soldiers in the royal navy. As captain of his ship, it was Alex’s responsibility to weigh the odds of a possible attack and not engage at all if victory wasn’t certain.
“Captain,” he shouted to Pierce, then ran to join him on the sterncastle deck. “Raise yar white flag,” he said, reaching him and looking out over the rail. “’Tis all that will keep them from shootin’ more canons at yar ship. Ya’re built fer speed. We’re built fer fightin’.”
Pierce studied him for a moment, then called out to his crew to raise the white flag. No one questioned him.
“What’s next?” the captain asked. “I’ve spent most of my years on land in the army. Are the rules of engagement the same?”
Alex didn’t know if they were or if they weren’t, and he didn’t care. “They’ll be comin’ aboard fer me and fer Kyle. Let me show them immediately that I am free to return to them and we will avoid bloodshed.”
“Of course,” the captain consented quickly. So quickly, in fact, that Alex looked at him.
“Ya don’t know me and yet ya trust me word without quarrel?”
Pierce eyed him and Alex saw years of battle and bloodshed in his steel-colored gaze. “Your father’s blood flows through your veins, Kidd. My brother wouldn’t be so loyal to you if you weren’t worthy of it. Nor, I imagine, would Mr. MacGregor or Miss Grant. But if I am wrong about you,” he said calmly, “if you try to kill my brother or me, I’ll kill you and your entire crew.”
Alex liked David Pierce. One didn’t come across his kind of confidence often. Alex wanted to find out if his bold words held any substance. “Let’s agree then, not to lift a weapon against each other’s crewmen.”
They agreed and watched Poseidon’s Adventure bear down on them, ropes swaying in the sea breeze as Alex’s crew prepared to board ship.
Seeing Caitrina at the rail in her breeches and bandanna almost made him forget his agreement… and his reason for being. When she swung out wide over the ocean on a rope, he watched her, enthralled by her very being. Oh, God help his pitiful heart.
She was the first to jump.
She had led them.
“I’m no prisoner!” he called out, holding out his palms. “Quarter has been granted on both sides!” He wanted to run to Caitrina the instant her feet hit the deck. He wanted to take her in one arm and a rope in the other and fly them back to his ship, to his cabin, to his bed. But he remained beside Pierce, watchful of any sign of going back on their agreement. His father may have told the Englishman about Laura Ann, but now Caitrina was involved. “There will be nay fightin’!” he shouted, noting the withering disappointment on his crew’s faces as they landed like a plague on a village, ready to cut down their victims.
Remarkably, Captain Pierce remained steady, his expression unchanging while pirates took over his ship.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Trina was so shocked and so relieved to see Alex and Kyle standing together on deck that she almost mislanded and went sprawling on her arse. Thankfully, she stopped herself in time. Keeping her feet from running to Alex was a much more difficult task. During their hours of searching, she feared she might never see him again. She couldn’t take life without him in it. Now, here he was, and Kyle, too, looking well and unharmed. She wouldn’t let anyone take them again.
What was it Alex had shouted? No fighting? Why in the world would he order such a thing about the men who’d kidnapped him? She had to keep her wits about her, do nothing foolish.
Giving David Pierce a good tongue-lashing wasn’t foolish, was it? Turning to him, she laced her hands together in front of her.
“Captain Pierce, I hadn’t expected to see ye on the ocean.”
“I left the army six months ago, Miss Grant. Soon after I left Skye, as a matter of fact.” He smiled while she set her gaze on his dog.
“Ye’re fort
unate. She looks more like her mother than her father.” She raised her eyes to the dog’s master. “Do ye have to be reminded of who Kyle’s brother is? Who his faither is, his uncle?”
“No, I do not,” Pierce assured her. “Edmund is a trusted friend. As you can see, Kyle is unharmed.”
She eyed her cousin and nodded.
“D’ye make it yer duty to kidnap yer friend’s brother?”
Pierce shook his head. “My intentions weren’t to kidnap either of you, but now that I’ve found you, I will be bringing you home after I aid Captain Kidd.”
She laughed and crossed her arms over the thick braid falling over her chest. “I’m not going anywhere with ye. If ye have intentions of forcing me, let me warn ye now, Captain, I will not be bullied and I will not go without a fight that will likely cost ye an eye. It willna’ kill ye, but ’twill make it more difficult fer ye to fight in the future. Unless, of course, ye’re Mr. Bonnet.” She angled her head to catch the first mate’s eye. “He could cut down a man with no eyes at all.”
Mr. Bonnet beamed at her. As did Gustaaf, Charlie, and the others. They liked her. Finally. She was glad, because she liked them, too.
“When your kin eventually learn that I saw you,” Captain Pierce pressed, “had you safe in my custody, and didn’t return you, I will lose my allies in the north. I will not sacrifice that.”
Alex had apparently heard enough and stepped directly in front of Pierce, blocking his view of her.
He was close. His scent of sea and forest covered her like a dream of balmy nights and passion’s many embraces. Her eyes soaked in the sight of broad, supple shoulders tapering down into a long, muscular torso, the golden streaks in his chestnut hair spilling out from beneath his bandanna. She wanted to step closer, to caress him. She remained still when Alex spoke.
“’Twill be yar allies ya sacrifice, or yar life, Captain Pierce. Ya can all have me father’s treasure. I would give up his legacy to me, my inheritance as Captain Kidd’s only son, but if ya try to take her from me, ya will lose it all. I’ll hand over anything else. But not her.”
Did he just say what she thought he said? Her heart swelled within her breast until it brought tears to her eyes. She swiped them away. Would he give up his treasure for her?
“For your father’s sake,” Captain Pierce said after a few moments thinking about it, “I will agree.”
Alex bent his head to him in thanks, believing more and more Pierce’s story about his father.
“I will ask in return a supply of the herb you fed me to stave off nausea.”
“Agreed,” Alex said.
“Good.” Pierce seemed sincerely happy about their deal. “I’ll go inform my crew that it will just be us heading for Madagascar.”
Trina waited while David Pierce left and Alex finally turned around to look at her. She wanted to return his smile, to gleam like a star when the moon shone on her.
“What do ye mean giving away yer treasure fer me? Have ye gone daft, Captain Ki—”
He swooped down like a hawk and gathered her into his arms before she could finish his name. He dipped his sexy mouth to hers and engulfed her in flames with the simple stroke of his tongue. She fell limp in his embrace, entranced by this sensual sorcerer. She wanted him to carry her to the nearest bed and take her to the edge of the world.
But all the men were watching. Kyle was watching.
She didn’t know she possessed such strength until she managed to push out of his arms.
“I’m glad to see ye alive.” She looked at his lips and almost lost the battle not to pull him down for another kiss. She patted her braid and turned to the eyes staring back at her. “I wasn’t about to leave ye, love.”
Och, but the fearless confidence in his grin, in the flash behind the smoky shadows of his eyes… he coursed like wildfire through her veins. She tossed her arms about his neck and kissed him one more time. Hard, possessive, and to hell with any opposition.
None came, but she broke away from him nonetheless and ran to her cousin. “Were ye hurt? Mistreated?” After a brief hug, she examined him.
“I was treated well,” he assured. “How did ye find us?”
“Aye, how?” She felt Alex’s arm coil around her, careless to who saw him. Her bones went soft.
She told him about eavesdropping on him and Sam the night they were kidnapped and hearing Sam mention the Bahamas. She looked across the deck now and found Sam standing with his brother. How could he betray Alex the way he had? What kind of cold, calculating man was he?
When Sam beckoned her over, she decided now was as good a time as any to find out. She went, leaving Alex to his men.
“Ya won’t believe me,” Sam said, holding up his palms when she reached him, “so I’ll put yar accusation to yar cousin, whom ya will believe. Kyle,” he called, beckoning to her cousin, “did I betray our captain?”
She was stunned when Kyle shook his head. “Nae, ye remain a loyal and trustworthy friend.”
“What is this all about?” Trina asked them.
They both filled her in on the meat of the tale and the truth of it. When she remained unconvinced, Sam continued, after a pulled breath and well-concealed tenderness in his gaze. He was clever at hiding his true emotions, better at it than Kyle, and perhaps even Kyle’s father. He’d have to be a master in order to fool his best friend for so long.
“My brother had the map fer eight years,” he said, “more than enough time to sail to Madagascar and steal the ship. Bringing the Quedagh Merchant to England would have made me brother a hero, likely got him promoted. But here he is, ready to hand the true map over to his friend’s son.”
He made sense, and since Kyle and Alex believed him… “Are we truly going to Madagascar?” she couldn’t help but ask him.
When he nodded his head she resisted the urge to shout and leap around like a palsied fool. Madagascar? How much better could this dream become?
Pierce returned to the deck and stopped and turned to his brother. “You were correct about him.”
Sam turned to Trina for a moment. “As ya were correct about Highlanders, brother.”
It was that moment when Trina realized exactly how skilled Samuel Pierce was at masking his heart. But one only had to look a wee bit closer to see that he was no Judas. To see that he was in love with her.
Alex watched Pierce leaving him for the second time and decided he liked Sam’s brother. But like him or not, what the hell was he going to do with him for the six-hour sail back to Parrot Cay and then on to Madagascar?
One of the first things they were going to do, according to Sam, was to practice a bit with the soldiers when they reached shore.
“Do ya think ’tis wise?” Alex asked him while they prepared the crew to return to their own ship. Sam had chosen to return with Alex, not his brother. The gesture went over well with Alex, but he didn’t want his friend to continue seeking absolution for sins he didn’t commit.
“The idea was hers.” Sam pointed and Alex turned to see Caitrina moving toward him. She smiled at him. He smiled back and reached out his hand to her. He didn’t want to stay on board another instant. He wanted to get her in his bed. When she’d arrived with his crew to save him, he thought he couldn’t want any woman more than he wanted her. He would marry her, live a new adventure with her, and happily make her fat with his children. He looked at her gazing up at him. He wanted to kiss her. He could barely keep himself from doing it when her lips parted.
He caught her in his arm and pulled her close, his muscles pulsing to claim her.
“Captain,” she said, slightly breathless. “Ye look a bit flushed. Let me see to ye.”
“I’d like nothin’ more, Miss Grant.”
He couldn’t wait to get her back to his ship, to his cabin, his bed. He wanted to tear away her clothes and take her hard against the rocking boat walls.
He looked around at his quartermaster, his first mate, and Kyle, a lad he was growing to trust perhaps even more than he trust
ed Sam. “Make sure everyone is accounted fer before we set sail. I’ll see ya all later. Me lady means to see to me.”
He reached for the end of a rope and wrapped his ankle around it. Holding Caitrina fast, he pushed off and covered her mouth with his as they soared back to his deck.
Their landing was rough, a fitting start to the night he intended on having with her. It would take the night to reach Parrot Cay, and Alex didn’t want to be disturbed until the morning. If any of the men, including her cousin, took issue with them being together, they would have to learn to live with it or leave the ship.
After a quick run to his cabin, they burst through the door laughing and basking in the pleasure of being together… alone. Alex locked them inside and began removing his garments while he turned to her.
When she began working the laces at her own breeches, the last of his restraint shattered and he moved to her and took hold of her shirt. Looking into her eyes and seeing the same passion he felt for her, he pressed his mouth to the delectable fruit of her lips. Her arms coiled around his neck and rather than tear away to relieve her of her shirt, he rid her of her breeches instead.
Half naked and suspended from his neck, Caitrina commanded all the attention of his cock. Hell, he throbbed until he thought he would burst with the need to be deep inside her. He made a quick end of his breeches and taking hold of her soft, bare arse, dragged her against his hard shaft. When she leaped up and wrapped her thighs around his waist, he gripped himself in both hands and almost erupted when she sank down on him.
He felt mad with desire, releasing himself to make room to take her deeper. He spread his lips over her throat, her chin, her mouth, guiding her over him with her tight arse in his hands. He held her up with the strength of his hips, the passion of his thrusts.
“What is this spell ya have cast over me and me crew?”
She smiled against his mouth and bit his full lower lip. “Ye’re crew has warmed up to me, ’tis true. But I am unsure of how their captain feels.” She tossed back her head, exposing her throat to his hungry mouth. When he closed his teeth around her flesh, she felt her strength leave her and wilted in his strong embrace.