by Jewel Adams
“Come on.” Corin dove into the water to reach the ladder and board. “Rogan, you get the anchor. I’m sorry, what are you called?”
“Terry.”
“Terry, you be ready to raise the sail, only half mast.”
She turned back to Rogan. “You will need to release the anchor again once the bow clears or we’ll ram the cliff. I’ve got a towline hooked up, but it might not hold long.”
Too stunned by what she’d obviously accomplished, Rogan found no argument.
“Hey lad, how’s this work?”
Damn, the cranks, she’d forgotten. Running over the deck to Terry, Corin gave a quick rundown, hoping he would understand. Racing back to Rogan, she automatically explained the release brake for the anchor. She took the wheel to guide the schooner out. Corin gave them the signal. “Now Dan, go slow!”
She held her breath over the first feel of movement and eased the wheel about to correct the slow drift toward the cliff. Half way out, “That’s enough, Dan, she’ll coast from here on.” The rubber lifeboats helped to steady their exit.
Dan made a jump for the deck and landed flat-footed. Corin swore the whole boat rocked.
When they cleared the inlet, Corin gently brought the bow around. “Drop it, Rogan!”
Watching the line pull taut, she prayed the anchor would catch soon. She realized the line was going to snap… Rogan’s attention was on the cliff. “Rogan look out!”
Spinning around at her call, he understood and fell flat just as the line snapped.
“Terry, raise the sail, it’ll help hold her back!”
“The anchor’s dragg’n!”
The sail filled and she felt the Raven pull forward, “Raise it, Rogan!”
As soon as it was free, the Raven shot forward.
“Rogan, we’re headed for the reef!”
Rogan waved Terry back away from the woman. All her concentration was on the pathway he saw. Realizing she’d brought this strange schooner in unassisted, he wasn’t about to interfere, no matter how hard it was not to take over. He felt his surprise over the spring of admiration he felt for what she’d obviously accomplished.
The first shot came as the bow entered the passage. Rogan moved silently behind her and stood at her back, never saying a word.
“Dan! Cut away the raft on the starboard side.”
Rogan nodded and Dan moved to the task.
“Terry, once we’re through, raise the full sail.”
“Rogan!”
“I’m right here.”
“Oh!” She kept her eyes on the task still ahead. “Once we clear the reef, take the wheel. I’ll help with the sails. You know the waters.”
He wanted to ask if she trusted him, but held back.
“She’s fast, Rogan, she’ll hit fifteen knots before you feel it and top out at twenty with the jib.”
He couldn’t help doubting her prideful boast. The Tempest was one of the fastest Baltimore clippers on the sea. He’d taken an expensive risk on the new design, but it paid off. Whatever this ship of hers may be remained to be seen. He’d seen fishing schooners similar to this up near Boston, but never such sharp lines.
Rogan wondered if she realized how much she was telling him. Even with her face blackened, she still remained an exquisitely beautiful creature. He wanted to pull that ridiculous cap off her head…soon, my little stranger.
Her smile went from ear to ear when they cleared the cliffs without a scrape. She moved to the side and allowed him to step in and take the wheel.
“This is your compass heading and that is the speed she’s going.” Seeing the way his eyes grew cold, Corin’s locked in breathless expectancy on him; she waved her hand to excuse the rest. “I’ll explain the others later.”
Rogan pulled his gaze back from the glass domes and what they showed. Clenching his jaw, he held his questions, putting his attention on the ship.
Watching her as she helped Terry and Dan raise the sails was like seeing a vision in motion. She didn’t realize that she stopped pretending to move like a boy. Every action flowed with the grace of a woman. The lady didn’t know it, but the man watching decided she just found her match.
Chapter Six
Reality Check
Corin escaped to the cabin, but it didn’t take away the violent shaking in her knees. “Dear heaven, what am I doing? He’s not a fool, Corin!”
Once out of the cove and in open sea, Corin held no doubts concerning Raven’s ability to outrun Billing’s ship that also cleared the cliff point. With the Raven in full sail, she felt Rogan’s admiration for the ship, which made her more nervous than the guns firing down upon them. Before she collapsed in a state of very feminine nerves, she fled the deck with the excuse of getting a course heading.
“Maybe it would have worked if it wasn’t him.” She talked to calm herself. Hugging her waist, she felt the bag of jewels and nervously pulled them out of her shirt. Moving about the small cabin, she searched frantically for a hiding spot. Stuffing them under the back corner of the mattress, she couldn’t stop shaking as the image of Billings bored down on her.
She rubbed her forehead to take away the creases of worry as she pulled out the leather bond packet. Staring at it, she pulled the leather knot free. “Might as well see what he’s after.” The strangest conviction came over her that this barbarian pirate wouldn’t stop hunting them until he got his hidden prizes back.
Corin settled Indian style on the bunk as her fingers gingerly spread open the packet. Two maps spread out across the blanket.
A silly giggle rushed out before she covered her mouth to silence herself. In an awed whisper, “Buried pirates treasure. Damn Corin, you’re in it now.”
The declaration made her close her eyes. “You really are back in…1725.”
The vicious shaking refused to be held back; she could no longer deny the truth. What those men were going to do to Rogan and his friends… Billings… they were all very real.
The movement of the men on deck snapped her out of the stunned shock that overwhelmed her. Careful not to damage the maps, she folded the detailed map of the Virgin Islands with its numerous Xs with directions of where each treasure must be buried. She slid it into the pouch before taking up the next map. When she opened it, she immediately noticed the difference. The obvious thumbprint in blood at the bottom of the oath of secrecy below the map made Corin’s stomach tighten in a vise. “On penalty of death, no soul of the Black Council will reveal the secret location of the Black Diamond Cove. No quarter will be given to the traitor that doth betray his league!”
The skull and crossbones said more than the words. “Very dramatic.”
Almost afraid to look, Corin forced herself to study the map. The island held no name nor did it show any other islands that might be near it that could be identified. Sliding off the bed, she quickly went to the charts. Laying the antiquated map beside her detailed charts of the islands, her finger followed the island chain, slowing over the Sargasso Sea. “There! That’s it, no mistake… here’s the mountain and the island’s long arm.”
She turned the map until they matched up. Corin found the inlet that led to the mountain-enclosed bay. The depth on her maps showed it could accommodate the draft of any size modern liner, let alone those of a pirate fleet.
Corin almost laughed that she’d be the last person to want to visit such a place. “New Orleans is where I’m bound, mates!”
After taking the headings she needed for New Orleans, she stuffed the pirate’s map back in her shirt, rolled up the charts, and put them in the bottom of the wardrobe.
Before leaving, she checked her image in the mirror to gather up her courage to go back on deck before they came looking for her. All three of them were together at the wheel. Upon seeing her, Terry and Dan moved away from Rogan, who never took his gaze away from her.
The tightness in her throat became almost suffocating, but she forced herself to move forward, knowing there was nowhere to run.
When s
he came up beside him, she felt relieved that he seemed to be concentrating on the Raven and not her. Corin silently warned herself not to get too secure, and she backed slightly away in case he struck like a cobra.
“Where’d you get a ship such as this?”
A shiver passed over her heated skin. Explanations were something she hadn’t thought of yet! Never could she tell him she stowed away on a ship—at least not on one that wouldn’t be built for another hundred years. No, it would mean telling him that she, like the Raven, was out of their time.
His back and shoulders seemed to expand in front of her. Before he could turn, “My… father! He ah, designed her… Raven.”
She concentrated on his hands. God, they actually looked gentle as they held the wheel, moving in a mastering caress to do his bidding.
Corin rubbed her arms and pulled her gaze away from him. She needed to stop thinking like this, feeling as if she wished his hands…no! She blurted out the heading for New Orleans, refusing to listen to the troubling emotions he activated. “…New Orleans.”
It seemed like an eternity before he answered, never changing his course. Corin thought she’d explode over the apprehension he made her feel.
“I know the way to New Orleans.”
“Oh. Well, then could you turn her about?”
Rogan could feel and hear her nervousness. Smiling to himself, he didn’t want to help her any…at least not yet. He wondered how she expected to handle a schooner this size alone. The thought she’d even try and put herself in such danger infuriated him.
Her growing uneasiness turned to anger as she waited for him to respond. “Turn her about…”
“No.”
“No? But you gave your word!”
“Aye, and we kept it.”
He called to Dan to take the helm. Foolishly, Corin stepped forward to take it. His hand grabbed her wrist in a painful hold.
“I said no.”
Thoughts of fighting him deserted her as thoroughly as her courage. Pulling against his hold, her unexpected release sent her stumbling back across the deck.
Strides moving determinedly towards her sent her further back. She didn’t dare look away from the anger in his powerful body. She held out her hand and tried to halt his steps with more bravado than she felt. “You lied!”
“I don’t lie.”
“You swore you would follow my orders.” Knowing her arguments were useless made her temper flare, and she mistakenly glared up at him. Sucking in her breath, the shock of facing the dark rage etched on his face nearly made her faint for the first time in her life!
“Stay back, Rogan!”
Corin trembled over the devilish gleam entering those magnificent ocean dark eyes.
“What will you do if I don’t?”
She opened her mouth to answer, but the words froze. Corin’s own reaction to this man made it too hard to think.
“Is something wrong…Miss McCloud?”
Large as tiger eyes, those golden jewels flared to life. Rogan realized just how taken in he was by the beauty in his possession. “Did you honestly believe I would not recognize you?”
“No.” The sober admission made her pull the cap from her head and let the thick braid fall in vivacious freedom down her back. The release felt wonderful and invigorating, though she held a healthy respect for the large dangerous man standing challengingly before her. Corin regained her self-control.
It was like watching the Tempest come to life after a calm windless sea. His lips parted in admiration for the woman who refused to cower to his dominance. Every nerve and fiber in his body flexed in understanding over what he saw in her and wanted more now than ever before.
“Raven is my ship, Rogan, and I give the orders here.” Corin was proud of the strength she heard in her voice. The flash of prideful scorn he gave her earned her returning smile. All her beliefs of what she would face in this time were just confirmed in this one man.
“This ship, madame, is hardly yours to…”
“Stop there! She’s mine… my father built her, and she is mine. No man can take what’s mine!”
If there were lies to be found in her statement, the vehemence in her conviction outweighed their worth. But he heard the deeper, more frightened, meaning behind her vow and something warned him to use caution should he want more than to touch the flower and forfeit the essence within her velvet petals.
Corin’s sharp eyes followed his casual steps and the way his lithe frame eased back against the rail. Not for a second did she believe he’d accepted her declaration. He was trying to lure her into dropping her guard.
“For the moment, we shall assume the Raven is yours, madame.” Her chin rose against his attempt at civility. “We have a problem.”
“No doubt the problem is yours, sir.”
His guarded smile came and was given begrudgingly. “I have a ship and a crew, madame, that need their captain.”
Like a bolt, the vile announcement of Billings’ came forward. “You are the Dragon! A pirate!” Her accusation came hissing out at him. “I can’t believe it… I almost killed myself saving a thief! Good one, Corin, you are a first-class idiot!”
Being the brunt of her ravings was almost more than Rogan could tolerate. “Shut up, woman!”
Spinning at him, “Don’t you dare tell me to shut up! I should be telling you to jump off my ship and go to hell!”
“Look, I’ve had about enough…”
“You?” Her arms dropped to her side when she saw him push off the rail. She let the vile words die in her throat. Maybe it was unwise, but Corin knew she needed to keep him angry; what his eyes held for her when not iced in rage carried more danger than all his fury. “One pirate stealing from another, and I thought there was a code among thieves. Maybe you should change your profession?”
Rogan held himself back as he unclenched his fist to release the violent thoughts she drew from him. The expletive he released under his breath drove her dark brow up and drew a gentle smile from her deep fuchsia lips. The smudged grease that remained to blemish her creamy skin infuriated Rogan.
He turned away from her before he lost all control, and barked out his fury at Dan. “Turn this tub back to Saint Thomas!”
“Dan, don’t you dare turn this beautiful schooner anywhere but towards New Orleans.”
Corin waited as if she were standing on hot coals for him to turn back to face her. Arms folded across her chest, her nails bit hard into her flesh in order not to flinch before his thunderous stance.
“You, madame, have no say in where we head!”
She wasn’t stupid; Rogan could take…anything he wanted from her. “And you, sir, are so wrong!”
Corin’s arms pressed tighter against the map inside her shirt. “Unless, of course, you know where the Black Council has taken your dear ship?”
The stunned straightening in his broad shoulders made him loom over her. Swallowing back her panic, she told herself not to back down before the hurricane she just unleashed.
“What do you know of the Council?”
She realized he didn’t know the location or he wouldn’t be heading back to Saint Thomas. She almost sighed in relief. A pirate, but not like Billings. Somehow Corin believed there was much more to Rogan, the Dragon, than he would want anyone to know.
“I know where they have their fortress and no doubt where your ship is being taken.” He looked ready to charge at her, but Corin didn’t think all his suppressed rage came because of her knowledge.
“How do you know of such things?”
No, this man carried a fierce pride, one that she already put too many kinks in on two different occasions. All her instincts told her to be careful least she ignite a force in him that wouldn’t be extinguished with mere words.
“Let’s just say I stumbled upon it. If you want your ship back, we can overtake her before she reaches the island.”
Rogan felt himself relax as his body uncoiled… he’d almost believed her. “Dan, turn her
about to Saint Thomas! Now!”
The schooner started an easy curve, tacking against the shift in wind current. Corin wanted to scream at the fool! She caught herself before venting her anger when she realized he was watching to see her reaction. Why should she care if he got his fool ship back!
Corin dropped her arms and shrugged. She forced herself not to show any of the turmoil she felt as she started to move by him. When his hand snaked out and grabbed her arm, she managed not to tense. She looked questioningly from his hand to his face.
“Where do you think you are going?”
“To get rid of the scum I’ve collected.” The slight twitch at the corner of his firm mouth said she’d cut him. “When you finish chasing shadows, I expect you to take me and my ship to New Orleans for its use.”
With that, she pulled out of his hold and marched down the hold to her cabin.
Corin fell against the closed door as the shudders passed through her. “God, he is a fierce man!”
The binding about her chest was chafing her skin and the need to be rid of it finally made her push off the door.
She gathered up her toiletries defiantly, picking out a cool cotton blouse and flowered skirt. No longer having a need to hide, Corin held an undeniable yen to feel like a woman. “In a man-ruled world! Oh, girl, you are in trouble, big time.”
While in the cold salt water shower, she repeatedly asked herself what she’d done to deserve such a sentence. “All I wanted was independence, a life! Instead, I got the most insufferable, egotistical, stubborn, chauvinistic essence of male authority anyone could find in the whole entire universe!”
The list became endless, and so was her growing indignation. “Let him rule my ship; we’ll see who is right! And Raven is mine!”
She tugged on the off-the-shoulder blouse and tried to regain some of her composure. Without the disguise, she felt more like herself. Toweling out her hair, she gave up the battle of untangling it in the small confines of the bathroom. She grabbed the comb, and her washed out things and headed for the open deck.
Ignoring them all, she headed for the stern. She draped her things about the private small deck and sat with her legs hanging out over the side of the ship. She began working on a section of her hair. The large comb slid easily through the drying waves. The wind prevented her from taming the lengths into a braid, and she finally gave up and let it lift and fly free with the same freedom as the Raven’s sails.