by Paula Quinn
“I’ll never ferget what any of ye did fer me. No matter how unimportant ye try to make it, my father has brought me to Africa to reunite me with the man I love. A pirate, Kyle. This was no small feat.”
“Yer father loves ye beyond reason,” a deep voice said, as her father came up beside her. “And would do anything in his power to make ye happy, though I must be honest, I am quite miserable.”
She turned and smiled up at her father and took his hand. “I dinna’ mean to make ya unhappy, Papa. I will be safe and I will come home to visit ye and…”
Her words trailed off as a man broke through a group of traders bickering over the price of a sack of barley. She watched him appear and come skidding to a halt when he laid eyes on her. She felt the same way. Everything stopped. Her feet. Her heart. Her breath. How was it possible to love the sight of a man so much that it made her want to race into his arms in front of thirteen Highland warriors? She held her place while she followed Alex’s gaze to her father, standing beside her.
“Papa,” she said softly, looking up at him.
She didn’t wait for him to acknowledge her. Her father knew who he was looking at. She didn’t need to tell him, so she turned back to her pirate.
She realized that her kin recognized him as well and were closing in on him slowly, from every position.
Her heart beat madly in her chest. Dinna’ draw yer weapon. Dinna’ draw yer weapon, she begged Alex silently.
He moved slowly toward her, his arms outstretched at his sides. She dared smile. He looked wretched. Like he hadn’t slept in days. Her gaze darted to Sam, ever at Alex’s side. He offered her a smile and then looked away.
She would make no apologies for smiling at Alex like a love-struck fool when he stepped up to her father and bowed.
“Captain Grant. ’Tis good to see ya again.”
“It is?” her father asked incredulously.
“Aye. I’d planned on comin’ to Camlochlin to speak with ya.”
Her father cut her a glance. It wasn’t a deadly one. A good sign.
“We’ll speak of it later.”
Alex nodded and turned to her. “Miss Grant,” he said with his whole heart in his eyes.
“Captain.”
He seemed to exhale a long breath and then smiled at her. “I’ve missed yar voice and have so wanted to hear it again.”
Her uncle Colin stepped between them and looked straight into Alex’s eyes, halting his interaction with Trina. “We’re tired and would like a roof over our heads. Where are ye stayin’?”
“’Tis a small inn just up the road a ways,” Alex told them. “Come, I’ll see that ya’re all fed.”
Trina accepted Malcolm’s arm when he offered it and let him lead her away. It was better this way. She and Alex needed to keep their hands off each other for just a wee bit longer. Her father would appreciate her thoughtfulness in knowing that he would want time alone with the man for whom she intended to leave Camlochlin. She looked over her shoulder, and sure enough, Alex walked with her father, the latter doing most of the talking. Kyle was with them as well, petting Risa’s head as they walked.
“Dinna’ fret. They willna’ kill him.” Malcolm urged her along.
She sighed with both relief and longing to run into his arms. “They have a tendency to gang up on a person.”
Her brother looked back. “He seems to be holdin’ his own with them. If Faither hasn’t run his sword through him yet, he likely willna’ do it at all.”
“Och, just the thought of it, Cal.” She turned around again. This time, Alex winked at her. He would be all right. He wasn’t going to make demands or threats. He was no fool. “When d’ye think ’twill be safe fer me to speak with him?”
Her brother shrugged his shoulders. “Later. Mayhap tonight. I will help ye if opposition remains.”
She thanked him, then pushed in closer to him. “I hope Cailean is more like ye when he grows up.”
Malcolm laughed, a rich, vibrant sound that turned a few female heads. “Cailean is a troublesome pain in the arse at times, but nae more than Darach and Kyle, I suppose.”
“Kyle is not troublesome,” she defended.
“He stowed away on a pirate ship with ye.”
“To protect me.”
He smiled, and Trina thought if she hadn’t met Alex, Malcolm would be the most striking man she’d ever seen. “Ye defend love, Cal. Is there a lass in yer life the rest of us dinna’ know aboot?”
“Hell, nae. I defend my sister. Nothing more.”
She smiled up at him and he tweaked her nose the way he used to when she was little.
Even though she found the Pepper Coast somewhat oppressive, it was turning out to be a very good day.
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Alex sat at one of the three tables the innkeeper had butted together in order to house some of his men and the Highlanders while they ate. He liked her family. Aye, he was aware of their more savage nature. He respected who they were and the battles they’d won. If the only way to gain their respect was to compete with them in some friendly rounds with a sword, he was perfectly willing to do it. He would do anything that would get Caitrina into his arms faster.
During the talk he had with her father, Alex did his best to reassure him that he would always do what was best for Caitrina. Soon, he would be rich and providing a good life for her would not be a concern. He would do his best to keep her safe until she decided to live a quieter life and start a family with him in Camlochlin. Aye, he’d promised Connor Grant that one of their homes would be in Camlochlin.
Alex couldn’t wait to get started.
His eyes found his love now across the length of the tables. He still feared he might be dreaming. He’d never expected her to come. But why hadn’t he? Hadn’t she come for him before? How the hell had she convinced her father to bring her back to him? Was there nothing his Highland lass couldn’t do? He smiled at her when their eyes met. He couldn’t wait to touch her. To kiss her full, pink, saucy mouth. Hell, if this woman had set out all along to win him and get his map, she’d succeeded. He’d give her the map and the world if she wanted it. Wherever she wanted to go, he would take her. Whatever she wanted to do, he would do it with her. He wanted to begin his new adventure with her and he couldn’t do that with her kin guarding her.
Risa barreling into the inn first and bounding for him alerted him to David Pierce’s approach. Damn it, he liked this dog. He greeted her with a rub behind the ears and a kiss to her head.
“Well, that isn’t a good sign.”
Alex looked up from his chair at the tall, golden-haired, only living English Highlander known in Scotland, Edmund MacGregor. At his side stood Gaza, Risa’s mother.
“What’s not a good sign?”
“Risa’s reaction to ye, since she’s his dog.” He hooked his thumb over his shoulder and pointed it at Pierce. “I’ve seen it happen with both Risa’s sire and her dam. Fickleness runs in her blood. Grendel, who was mine, became loyal to my wife. Gaza, who belonged to my wife, became loyal to me, and Goliath, the only male pup, which I wanted fer myself, chose my cousin.”
Alex followed Pierce’s descent into his chair and ran his palm down Risa’s head and throat. “Will she switch her loyalty back to Captain Pierce?”
“It isn’t likely.”
Only a hint of amusement passed across Alex’s eyes when the English captain met his gaze. “Then ya would agree that the dog belongs with me?”
Pierce laughed and Alex wondered if they would ever meet again after Madagascar. He hoped they would.
“Your attempts to relieve me of my dog remain feeble,” Pierce said and waved to his brother, who was entering the hut with Malcolm. “Risa has four more sisters at Camlochlin. Perhaps MacGregor here will sell you one.”
Alex looked at Edmund. “Do ya think ya can persuade Captain Pierce to part with Risa fer another dog? I would purchase it fer him. Whatever ya ask in coin, I will give ya.”
Edmund shook his
head. “I would not rob ye by asking fer more than a dog is worth.”
“I never had one,” Alex confessed. “But how do ya measure a good friend’s worth? What was Grendel worth to ya?”
Edmund’s cup paused at his lips. He smiled at the red liquid inside. “Caitrina told ye of him then.” He drank, then put the cup down and grinned, remembering his faithful friend. “Grendel was unrivaled by anything on this earth.”
Alex nodded and put his hand on Risa’s head. “Something tells me she has her father’s potential.”
Edmund was quiet for a moment or two while Alex turned his attention to Caitrina. His heart burned for her across the chasm when he found her already looking at him. His blood felt ablaze in his veins, coursing through him. He wanted to speak to her, hear her voice, touch her—
“Ye understand the value in a friend,” Edmund cut through his thoughts. “But what is my cousin worth to ye?”
Alex didn’t hesitate in telling him. He knew the tale of Edmund and the Duke of Queensberry’s niece. Edmund would agree there was no shame in speaking the words of your heart. “What I once considered priceless fades and dims in the light of the rarest jewel. She’s worth me life.”
Edmund smiled at him and patted him on the back. “All the dogs in Camlochlin are spoken fer, but I’ll see what I can do about Risa.”
Alex and his crew laughed and shared their supper and some good drink with the Highlanders of Camlochlin until the sun began to set. It was time for Trina’s kin to leave. If the wind was good, they would sail up the North Atlantic and reach the area closest to where any naval ships lurked at about the same time tomorrow night.
They all walked to the docks together, preparing their farewells. Kyle was staying as well. He would be an asset for as long as he wished to stay, as he proved presently when he elbowed Alex and motioned toward the docks.
“Who is that?”
Alex studied the ship docked close to Poseidon’s Adventure. It hadn’t been there this morning. It was not a naval man-o’-war, which was a good thing, since it would have been difficult for David Pierce to explain what he was doing, docked and trying to escape the Pepper Coast with pirates and MacGregors.
A shot rang out and everyone scattered for cover. There was still enough light to see the smoky cloud from the pistol. Enough light to see the Highlanders go into action immediately. A signal from the chief sent Malcolm and Edmund around a row of trader’s stalls to capture the shooter unawares, but they would be too late. Colin MacGregor appeared from the shadows and drew his flintlock pistol, aimed with one eye, cocked it, and fired. He waited, standing in the open until the shooter fell out into the open, clutching his chest.
Kyle raced past his father, and then waited for him behind stacks of hay, carefully concealed with Alex, Caitrina, and some of the others.
“How did they find us so quickly?” Sam asked, “Did Charlie tell them?”
“No. Never.” He looked over Sam’s shoulder at Caitrina’s father. “I heard Captain Pierce askin’ what became of Hendrik Andersen.”
Colin looked toward the ships and cursed under his breath. “I knew we shoulda’ killed him.”
Alex was glad they hadn’t. He wanted to take care of the man who had betrayed his father personally. “He must have overheard where ya were headed and bought a ride when the ship arrived.”
“Who does he sail with?” her father asked. “Navy?”
“Privateers, licensed by law to pillage and plunder. They are sometimes as skilled as soldiers, and they always sail with more men aboard then the navy.”
“So we’ll likely have a descent fight at least.”
Alex smiled at Trina’s uncle Colin. He would have made a fearsome pirate. But he’d likely want to be captain.
“I don’t like hiding,” her father said.
“Nor do I,” her uncle replied.
Before both men left the cover of the haystacks, Connor turned to his daughter. “Stay here.”
Alex almost smiled at the reaction painting her cheeks scarlet. He didn’t smile though. She didn’t like orders and sometimes she was going to need to obey them.
“I beg ya,” he said to her when she swore under her breath, “obey him. And if not him, then me, yar captain. Stay here.”
He didn’t wait for her reply but drew his pistol and disappeared with Kyle behind a small stage set up to show slaves.
“Well?” Trina looked at Sam, the only man who hadn’t run off on her yet. “What are ye waiting fer? I’m not a child who needs someone to sit with me.”
Sam smiled at her. She wasn’t sure if he ever had before. She was certain she would have remembered if he had. He was quite striking when he smiled, when he let his guard down, like he was doing now.
“I stay behind because I want ya to know something.”
She didn’t know what it was or if she wanted to hear it. He gave her no choice when he began speaking.
“Alex is me closest friend. I’ve spent more time with him than me own brother. I would give me life for him, and never would I betray him.”
Trina nodded. She knew he spoke the truth. “I no longer believe that ye would, Mr. Pierce. I was mistaken and I sincerely apologize.”
“There’s no need fer that. I just wanted to make certain ya knew. ’Tis important to me.”
“Why?”
“Because when we leave Madagascar, I’m goin’ back to the navy with me brother. Alex won’t understand me decision.”
Nae, he wouldn’t. He would be devastated. Why would Sam do this to him?
“But ya will understand.”
She quirked her brow. “I will?”
He nodded and inhaled a breath that expanded his chest. “I will never betray him, and bein’ around ya tempts me to do that.”
She blinked, too stunned to say a word for a few moments. He cared for her. That was why he’d saved her so many times. She was thankful to him and saddened that she was the cause of Alex’s losing his best friend. When she looked away, his voice grew softer.
“I tell ya this because when I go, I don’t want ya to think poorly of me.”
How could she think poorly of a man who would give up his lifestyle and the friend he loved rather than hurt that friend? She looked up to tell him, but he was gone.
She fully intended to obey her captain and her father, this one last time. She would stay where she was and wait it out, even if it killed her. But then someone called her name, softly, as if they were in pain. It was a man’s voice. Alex? Kyle? Her father? She left her hiding place and ran straight into the arms of Hendrik Andersen.
“Miss Grant, lovely to see you again.” He took her by the arm and yanked her closer, pointing the tip of his dagger to her throat. “Give a shout to your father, will you? Tell him to gather his men and return to their ship else I will slice your pretty throat.”
“Rot in hell.”
He returned his dagger to his belt and pulled out a pistol in its stead. “Do it,” he said, lifting the barrel to her temple, “or die. My fight is not with them. I merely want the map.”
“The instant either one of us alerts my kin to yer position,” she snarled at him and reached for his dagger, “they will slaughter ye. Look what they are doing to the men ye arrived with. Ye dinna’ have a chance, traitor. Even if ye kill me, ye canna’ fight them all. Are ye a fool?”
“I want that map.”
“More than yer life?” It was Sam. He met Trina’s gaze for a moment, a cutlass in one hand and a dagger in the other. “If ya shoot her, I’ll kill ya before ya draw yar next breath.”
Andersen laughed, a cold sound that chilled Trina’s bones. “Then perhaps I should kill you first.” He turned the pistol on Sam and fired. Trina screamed and tried to break free of him, but he held fast to her wrist. She swiped his dagger across his face, cutting his cheek, and for an instant he let her go. She watched Sam go down. No! No! He couldn’t die! Her cries didn’t end even when Andersen tossed his used pistol aside and produced another o
ne from his cloak.
“Call your chief now, or I’ll blow off your head.” He cocked the lock again and Trina closed her eyes.
A shot rang out and she waited to feel something. Pain. Blackness. The end. But nothing came. She opened her eyes to find Andersen clutching a smoking hole in his chest, looking quite stunned before he fell to a heap on the ground.
She looked across his body at Alex standing there, looking like he just saw the end of his own life. He’d saved her. Again. She had much to thank him for. But it would wait. Now she just needed to be in his arms.
Chapter Forty
The Highlanders gathered around Caitrina and Alex for their final farewells, and for the first time Alex felt a bit intimidated next to them. But it was only because they were trusting him with a treasure more precious than gold and he felt the weight of what it was costing her father.
“Take care of her.”
“I will,” Alex promised him.
Captain Grant turned to his daughter. “Don’t ferget us” was all he seemed to be able to say.
“Papa, I willna’ ferget ye.” Caitrina flung her arms around his neck and wept softly. “I… We will visit soon, and one day, when I am ready to be a mother, we will come home fer good.”
“If I’m not there,” Connor Grant said with a lighter tone in his voice, which made Alex feel better and Caitrina, as well, when she looked up at him, “’tis because yer mother has killed me fer not bringing ye home straightaway.”
Stepping back enough to look him straight in the eyes, Caitrina curled one side of her lips, making her left dimple flash without the right. “Mother willna’ kill ye when ye tell her that her favored brother, Uncle Colin, told me all aboot the both of ye in England when James was the king, before Malcolm was born. I know she was a spy fer the militia, that she raided the homes of Presbyterians, and that she made an enemy of her future king, William. I know she followed her own path and didna’ let anyone stop her, woman or not. Tell her that her blood flows in the veins of her only daughter. I want to follow my own path, wherever it my lead. I’ve decided it, and I’m determined to see it through.”