Harlequin Historical September 2014 - Bundle 2 of 2: Lord Havelock's ListSaved by the Viking WarriorThe Pirate Hunter

by Annie Burrows

‘I wasn’t worrying about the sea. I’d have to be very unlucky to get shipwrecked twice in one week.’

  Mia refused to let his cheeky grin derail her. She was going to find something out about Will Greenacre if it killed her. He knew so much about her and she so little about him.

  ‘So what did keep you awake?’

  Will paused for a long few seconds and Mia wondered if he might just ignore the question completely.

  ‘I was thinking about my brother,’ he said eventually.

  ‘Mr Greenacre,’ a man said in a low voice.

  Mia nearly punched him. Will was just about to tell her something about himself.

  ‘Mr Weston. Please, sit down.’

  Will motioned to the barmaid, holding up three fingers.

  ‘I can’t stay long,’ the mysterious Mr Weston growled, ‘might be recognised.’

  He glanced at Mia suspiciously.

  Will took a cloth purse from the recesses of his jacket and slid it across the table. Mr Weston picked it up, felt the weight with his hand and smiled, treating Mia to a waft of stale breath and the sight of his horrible blackened teeth.

  ‘Who’s she?’ Mr Weston asked, nodding at Mia.

  ‘A friend.’

  He looked her up and down. ‘Do I know you?’ he asked eventually.

  ‘I don’t think we’ve ever had the pleasure,’ Mia replied sweetly.

  Mr Weston grunted suspiciously, then turned back to Will.

  ‘So what do you want to know?’

  Will leaned forward and lowered his voice, ‘I want to know where I can find Captain Del Torres.’

  Mr Weston snorted. ‘That man’s a ghost. The Navy have been after him for years and haven’t even got close.’

  ‘You’ve sailed with him. You must have some idea where he takes his ship in a storm. Where he goes to take on water and food.’

  ‘He’s a very clever man. Difficult to catch.’

  A serving boy appeared with three flagons of ale and plonked them down on the table, causing half the liquid to spill out. Weston took a long draught and shamelessly eyed up Mia again.

  ‘Are you sure I don’t know you?’ he asked. ‘You look very familiar.’

  Mia hadn’t seen her brother for years, but she expected there was still quite a strong family resemblance between them. She didn’t think that bit of information would be terribly helpful in this situation.

  ‘Let’s get back to Captain Del Torres,’ Will prompted. ‘Tell me about the ship.’

  Weston smiled his blackened grin again. ‘The Flaming Dragon is a beauty. Armed with more cannons than any other ship in these waters and still nimble enough to outrun any Navy ship. She’s invincible.’

  ‘No ship is invincible. They all sink eventually.’

  Weston took another gulp of ale, nearly finishing the tankard. Will motioned for another to be brought forward. Mia noticed he hadn’t touched his own.

  ‘How about the crew? And the Captain himself?’

  ‘The crew are all very loyal,’ Weston said, raising a hand to his throat unconsciously.

  Mia leaned in closer and realised he had two jagged scars zigzagging across the skin of his neck. They were partially obscured by grime, but they were visible for all to see if you knew to look.

  ‘The Captain only has to give the word and they’ll rush to do his bidding.’

  ‘How has he earned their loyalty?’

  ‘Fair division of spoils and fear.’ Weston touched his throat again. ‘Del Torres isn’t afraid to slaughter someone if he disagrees with him.’

  Will glanced at Mia. She smiled weakly. She still remembered the little boy who held her hand whilst they sat watching the boats come into port. It was difficult to listen to what a monster he had become.

  ‘And what does Del Torres target?’ Will asked.

  Mia took a sip of ale to try to fortify herself for the answer that was to come.

  ‘Mainly merchant ships. He has contacts in most of the ports who feed him information about which ships to target. That’s one of the differences between The Dragon and other pirate ships—when The Dragon engages with a merchant ship you know it is going to be a big payload at the end.’

  ‘How about raiding towns?’ Mia asked. She didn’t want to know the answer, but felt she had to.

  Weston shifted his attention back to her. ‘Land raids are high risk—you get little return for what can sometimes be a big loss of life or capture of men. Del Torres will raid towns, but not often. He normally focuses on the merchant ships.’

  ‘And on these land raids, does he...?’ Mia paused, trying to find the right words without her voice cracking. ‘Does he kill civilians? Does he rape innocent women?’

  Weston looked at her strangely as if she was asking an obvious question.

  ‘He’s a pirate,’ he said simply.

  Mia felt the blood drain from her head and clutched at the table to steady herself. She had known her brother had been branded a pirate and deep down she knew he must do all the atrocious things pirates did, but a part of her had clung to the hope that he’d been nobler than the rest.

  She felt Will move closer and he took her hand in his own under the table. He gave it a reassuring squeeze. Mia wanted to allow her body to sink into his, to feel his protective arms around her, shielding her from the world.

  ‘If you want to see what Del Torres can do, why don’t you take a trip to Savanna-la-Mar?’ Weston suggested. ‘Then you can see first-hand what destruction a pirate raid wreaks.’

  Mia swallowed convulsively.

  ‘Del Torres and his crew raided the town four days ago,’ Weston explained. ‘Think they killed about twenty people, but there’re plenty of survivors to give you the gory details.’

  ‘Tell me about where the ship anchors,’ Will asked quickly, diverting Weston’s attention from Mia and her ashen face.

  ‘Del Torres avoids highly populated areas, especially after an attack. There are some quiet bays on Tortola and Dominica. When the ship needs more provisions or repairs he normally takes it to one of the small harbours on St Vincent or St Lucia.’

  ‘Surely the authorities are on the lookout for The Flaming Dragon even in the small harbours.’

  Weston shook his head and smiled ruefully. ‘Del Torres is a clever man. He pays the right people to look the other way and he never misses a payment.’

  He paused and took another gulp of ale, once again eyeing Mia.

  ‘You look very familiar,’ he repeated again.

  ‘Can you tell me anything more about these bays?’ Will asked, determined to get more information from the former pirate.

  Weston shrugged, ‘I was only a lowly seaman, not privy to any of the plans. They were sheltered, we rode out a few storms in some of the coves. Apart from that I don’t know what else I can tell you. I was only on the ship for a couple of months.’

  ‘Why?’ Mia asked, trying not to glance at the scars on his neck, ‘What happened?’

  Weston grimaced, ‘I got greedy and I got caught.’

  ‘And they let you live?’

  ‘That was a mistake. Del Torres had one of the crew slit my throat, but they did an awful job. Threw me into the sea bleeding like hell, but in no way dead. I managed to make it back to land and someone patched me up. I was at death’s door for a good few weeks.’

  Mia didn’t feel any sympathy for him. He’d been a pirate, happy to kill innocent people. If he couldn’t even stick by the self-imposed rules of piracy, he didn’t deserve her pity.

  ‘Se cosecha lo sembrado,’ Mia murmured.

  Weston stood suddenly, the colour draining from his face.

  ‘What did you say?’ he asked, his voice choking in his throat.

  Mia hesitated, then said again, ‘Se cosecha lo
sembrado.’

  ‘Who are you? Are you working for him?’

  People were beginning to stare.

  ‘Are you working for Del Torres?’

  ‘Sit down, Weston,’ Will commanded. ‘You’re drawing attention to us.’

  Weston ignored him.

  ‘Are you working for Del Torres?’ he asked again.

  Mia shook her head, but seemingly the reassurance was not enough for the ex-pirate. He backed away from the table, then, when he had reached the door, he turned and ran.

  Mia and Will looked at each other in amazement.

  ‘What does it mean?’ Will asked her eventually.

  ‘You reap what you sow. My mother used to say it.’

  Chapter Five

  They began the walk back through Port Royal in silence. Will was trying to process all the information Weston had given them. On the surface it wasn’t much. The man had named a few islands with secluded bays and a couple of others with friendly ports. He really needed to sit down with a map and a compass and work out which bays were the most likely.

  ‘I’m sorry,’ Mia said quietly after a few minutes.

  ‘What for?’

  ‘I spooked him. I didn’t mean to.’

  ‘You weren’t to know he connected your mother’s proverb with your brother.’

  ‘I’m still sorry. You might have found out more from him.’

  ‘I doubt it. Men like Weston are not privy to the inner workings of a Captain’s mind. And he was probably rolling drunk half the time and paralytic the rest.’

  ‘Those scars on his neck were horrible.’

  Will looked at Mia’s troubled face and realised the meeting had affected her more than he’d anticipated. She’d had to hear first-hand what terrible things her brother had been doing.

  They’d reached the harbour, but Will felt Mia wasn’t quite ready to set sail just yet. He took her by the arm and steered her in the opposite direction, away from their ship.

  ‘Where are we going?’ Mia asked, looking back over her shoulder.

  ‘Just for a walk. We need to talk and I’d rather do it without the whole crew listening.’

  They walked in silence for a few more minutes whilst Will tried to find the best way to approach the subject. It didn’t help that every time he glanced at her he felt a rush of desire pulse through him.

  ‘That must have been hard for you,’ he said eventually.

  Mia nodded slowly.

  ‘Hearing all of those things about your brother.’

  ‘I’ve known he was a pirate for a few years, but I never really understood.’

  Will could hear the strain in her voice as she tried to keep it from cracking.

  ‘I thought...’ she paused and corrected herself ‘...I hoped he wasn’t like the pirates you hear about. I tried to convince myself he was nobler.’

  Will stayed silent, trying to allow her to vent her pain.

  ‘I knew he stole from merchant ships, and I know that’s wrong, but it’s not as bad as attacking civilians. I can’t believe my big brother could give the orders to raid a port, allow his men to slaughter innocent men and rape innocent women. That’s not the Jorge I know.’

  The tears started streaming down her cheeks and Will gently rested a hand on her arm. He wanted to show her everything was going to be all right.

  ‘Sometimes people change,’ Will said slowly. ‘Circumstance and the crowd they mix in can change someone beyond recognition.’

  ‘But he’s my brother,’ Mia said, ‘and I feel disgusted by him.’

  Will reached up and gently brushed a tear from her cheek as it rolled over the velvety soft skin. He let his hand linger for a second, before dropping it back to his side. Mia turned her face up towards him and looked beseechingly into his eyes.

  ‘I’m scared,’ she said. ‘If Jorge can turn into that kind of monster, that means I could, too.’

  ‘Never.’

  ‘We have the same blood running through our veins, the same childhood, the same parents.’

  ‘Never,’ Will repeated, his voice sharp. ‘You are nothing like your brother. You have a good heart, a kind heart.’

  He wanted to kiss her, to bend his head and devour her lips with his own. He wanted to feel her body mould to his and writhe beneath him. He wanted to touch every inch of her body, then kiss every place his fingers brushed.

  Mia dropped her chin to her chest and broke the moment.

  Will stopped himself from reaching out and tilting her lips back towards him. No matter how much he wanted her it would be inappropriate. She was a prisoner under his care. He would be taking advantage of her situation and of her pain. He knew that, but it didn’t make it any easier to resist.

  He’d been drawn to her from that first moment on the beach when they’d lain there exhausted, legs intertwined. He’d been unable to move and barely able to think, but his awareness of the woman beside him had been heightened. It had been an unfamiliar sensation for Will. Of course he’d been involved with women in the past, normally satisfying himself with short dalliances, but at heart he was a loner, a man who had never wanted to rely on anybody but himself. Now he seemed to be thinking of Mia every waking minute, wondering what it would be like to pull her into his arms and lose himself in her embrace.

  Will was a focused man. He always gave everything he had to the mission in front of him, but Mia was making him lose that focus. He found himself thinking about her when he should be concentrating on catching her brother.

  Kissing her wouldn’t be right or fair to her and it most certainly wouldn’t be right for him.

  But he wanted to so badly.

  ‘I’ll help you,’ Mia said quietly.

  Will looked at her quizzically.

  ‘I’ll help you to catch my brother and his men. I have to or I’m as bad as them. My mother used to say those who knew of bad deeds but did nothing were as bad as the perpetrators themselves’

  ‘Thank you. She sounds like a sensible woman’

  Mia nodded and turned away from him. She took a few steps along the path and turned to look out at the sea. Will stayed where he was, sensing she was going to need a few minutes to herself.

  He watched her as the wind whipped at her hair, pulling strands loose from the pins at the back of her head. The first time he’d seen her standing up on the cliff her hair had been loose, flying in the wind. He liked it. It seemed to suit her personality more than the demure bun she’d worn the past couple of days. He wanted to reach out and pull at the pins, allowing the dark locks to cascade over her shoulders.

  Maybe it’s best if she keeps it up, he thought as once again he felt a rush of attraction. In fact, maybe it would be a good idea to buy her a hat.

  ‘What now?’ Mia asked, turning back to face him.

  ‘We get to work.’

  ‘That old crook Weston barely told us anything.’

  On one level Will had to agree. He’d given them a few vague descriptions and the names of a couple of islands. Del Torres and his crew could be hiding in any one of the thousands of secluded bays dotted around the Caribbean. Equally they might be anchored in plain sight, having paid off a crooked harbourmaster.

  ‘But he did tell us something.’

  Mia wrinkled her nose and frowned, as if trying to pick something useful out of the information Weston had given them.

  ‘He told us your brother will anchor in secluded bays, and he gave us the names of a couple of his favourite islands.’

  Mia didn’t look convinced.

  ‘That could be hundreds of different locations. How are we going to work out where he is right now or where he’ll be in a week’s time?’

  ‘With a map and a weather forecast and a big dollop of luck.’

  ‘
Hmmm.’

  ‘Not convinced?’

  Mia shook her head, but Will was glad to see the traces of a smile on her lips.

  ‘Okay, a very big dollop of luck.’

  ‘It would have to be a massive dollop of luck.’

  ‘You forget I’m a very lucky man. I survived a shipwreck and met you the very same day.’

  Will was pleased to see the very beginnings of a blush creep into her cheeks.

  ‘That was a very lucky day for you,’ Mia agreed, smiling properly now. ‘But maybe you used up all your luck.’

  ‘Then I’ll just have to be clever instead.’

  Will offered her his arm and together they walked back towards the harbour area. He enjoyed how she leaned on him when the ground became a little uneven and how her fingers gripped his arm a little tighter.

  ‘So you have plenty of maps and you claim to have the luck, but how on earth are you going to get an accurate weather forecast?’ Mia asked.

  It was the question that was bothering him. He could study the maps all he liked, but if he didn’t know which way the wind was coming from or if they were due a storm he had no way of narrowing down Del Torres’ whereabouts.

  ‘I’m not sure,’ Will said. ‘The Captain seems quite knowledgeable, but all he can do is give me his best guess based on what normally happens at this time of year.’

  ‘Well, if you think his best guess is good enough...’ Mia said lightly.

  ‘You’ve got a better idea?’ Will asked.

  ‘You could ask someone who can actually predict the moods of the sea and the changes in the weather.’

  Will knew his face was a picture of scepticism.

  ‘It’s only a suggestion.’

  ‘A fortune teller?’

  ‘No. A wise woman.’

  ‘A charlatan who will tell us what we want to hear.’

  ‘As I said, it’s only a suggestion.’

  ‘And what do they base their predictions on? Whispers from God?’

  ‘Actually it’s quite scientific.’ Mia paused and laughed when she saw Will’s face. ‘They have a lot of equipment that measures wind speed and air temperature and cloud movements.’

  ‘These are the same women who make love potions and claim they can talk to the dead.’