by Jewel Adams
Rogan, idiot that she decided he’d become, made the announcement they could take the raft over to the island and out from there, eliminating the problem of moving the Raven. Corin became so furious, she went to the cabin, pulled a pillow over her face and screamed into it.
“The sandbar comes before the island.” All afternoon she watched packs of the roaming killers. There weren’t just a few out there; they surrounded the small strip of land by the hundreds… she never saw so many sharks in one spot. “They must have called a frigg’n convention!”
The whisper of running footsteps on deck brought her racing to the surface. Finding Rogan and Terry huddled over Dan, Corin broke through to the man lying on the deck grimacing in obvious pain. She remembered to keep her voice down. “Dan, what’s wrong?”
“Tripped, lass… twisted my foot real bad I did. A fool thing to do at my age.”
Checking, Corin felt around the thick muscled leg and ankle, not finding any swelling or any indication of a break. “Nothing is broken; it is probably just sprained. I think it will be all right once it soaks a while.”
When his hand squeezed hers, it drew her attention away from his ankle to his face. The way he practically nudged her with his bushy brows nearly made her laugh.
“Rogan, would you get the first aid kit out of the bathroom? Terry, please draw up a bucket of water.” She waited until they both were out of hearing distance. “All right, Dan, what is going on?”
“You are a smart lass… you want to keep that man out of those infested waters, you make me real hurt, bad hurt. And if’n I hear you’ve forgot how to use those feet of yours in a fight, I’ll whale your pretty little hide!”
Pulling back from his harshly spoken threat, she recovered in time to hide the knowing smile she finally gave him.
Rogan knelt beside Dan, and his open concern for the man nearly defeated her. But when Dan groaned and grabbed her hand, nearly squeezing it in two, she told him, “He’s real bad, Rogan. I’m afraid he won’t make it down the ladder or even to the beach in this condition.”
The man hid his disappointment better than she probably would have. Clamping her lips tighter to keep herself from stating the obvious, Corin began doctoring her convincing patient, while Terry and Rogan moved away to talk.
She hissed at Dan while watching for Rogan. “If he finds out what we’re doing, you know he’ll kill both of us.”
“Could be right, lass… you want to tell him?”
“Hell no, you just be sure and remember it is the right foot you are babying.”
Dan’s chuckle made her groan.
“Lass, I saw you watching them hunters out there today. I’ve been in these waters a long time… you have a right to worry. What we’re doing he’d do for us if’n he wasn’t so blind.”
“Why is he a pirate? It doesn’t seem to agree with him much, and he certainly isn’t in Billings’ league.”
“You’re a good lass, but some things are best left alone.” He patted her hand when she would have argued. “You brought laughter back to my boy, lass; maybe you can give him back the life he’s turned from because of hate.”
Dan’s words played inside her head the rest of the day. She wished he’d told her more, but these men weren’t open with their information. He said all he would concerning Rogan. It would be up to her to find the reasons. That she wanted to know is what set knots off in her stomach and the arguments that battled her growing feelings. Rogan stirred to life an emotion in her she’d never let happen. A proclaimed loner, Corin didn’t allow anyone to get close, except Janice, but then her friend didn’t take the hint to back off.
As determined as Corin became to maintain a distance, Janice decided to breach all her defenses and enter into a friendship that ran closer to having a sister.
But Corin’s feelings for Rogan didn’t have anything to do with a brother. Touching her lips, she felt the wonder of his kiss. The fright still reared, but only for an instant before it changed into something more demanding, more powerful. He awakened a fire inside her she’d never come close to experiencing or imagined could exist.
Regretfully, that lingering memory of shame didn’t disappear in light of her wonderment. “I wish I had never met Jimmy.” How different would she feel without the ugly memories to cloud the beauty she started to feel in Rogan’s arms? Could she ever find what they wrote about in all those books? “Too bad they didn’t stay back when I came here.”
“Who, Corin?”
Jumping up at the question, she felt Rogan’s hold on her shoulders keeping her from running. “I said, who didn’t stay back, Corin?”
“No one, memories that’s all. Let go okay? Please…”
Even in the darkness, he could feel her panic over what he heard. Haunting ghosts? Rogan knew them all too well. It pained him to think Corin suffered in the same manner.
“Rogan, what did you want?” He seemed to go away from her just then. It scared her more than the discovery he tried to uncover.
“It seems you get your wish… we’re leaving.”
She felt her heart leap in thanks. Dan’s ruse worked.
“As much as I hate it, would you put that infernal cap and the grease on?”
She started to go and do his bidding, but his hold didn’t end, and his fingers dug painfully into the soft flesh of her shoulders. “Corin, this isn’t a game. Promise me you’ll follow all my orders without question?”
Didn’t he realize she knew how dangerous this would be? Feeling a little put out by his lack of confidence, her answer didn’t come and he shook her. His controlled strength came too close to being released, and Corin never wanted to see the full force of Rogan’s anger. “Yes, Rogan, stop it, I promise.”
He stopped so suddenly, she knew he hadn’t realized what he was doing to her.
“Get ready!” his order hissed out.
Confused, Corin left, unsure why he was angry.
Rogan gripped the rail and took a deep breath to control his rage. Taking her along gnawed at him like a festering boil. Torn between his need to regain the Tempest, his standing with the Council and Corin’s safety, Rogan fought a war that he waged since her outburst this afternoon. “Damn her for being so right!”
If anything happened to her… no, he refused to think about it again. He pulled on his brother’s image and the revenge left unsettled. He repeated his vow to see this through to the finish.
~ * ~
Corin sat so straight and still in the raft between Terry and Rogan, she felt sure she’d crack if touched. She swore she could feel the fins of those beasts rubbing the bottom of the raft. God, I’m such an idiot! The lifeboat wasn’t any safer than swimming and, for the first time, Corin questioned her desire to ever want to sail.
“We’re almost there… you all right?”
A quick nod was all she could manage. She wanted to cry because she’d shown him her fear. He’d think her a complete waste. If he ordered her to stay in this thing, she would probably scream out in fright and get them all killed.
The bump of the raft almost earned her squeal before she realized it wasn’t a shark. Rogan took hold of her arm and put her hand on the rope, motioning her to start up the ladder. He held her legs and guided them because her knees shook so terribly. She finally got a foothold and started up the side. Rogan came right behind her, practically covering her as he went with her, move for move. His breath brushed her ear as they neared the rail. “Wait until the watch makes a round, and we learn his walk.”
Nodding, she held fast, putting her head against the hull planks. But fear had nothing to do with the weakness flowing through her body. Rogan’s virile frame pressed in full regalia into her backside, and Corin thought she’d die trying to control her erratic breathing. She told herself now wasn’t the best time to be mentally enhancing the strength and firm press of muscled thighs and iron chest, but the impossibly vivid images took shape. Heavens, he is so big, and yet she felt so very comfortable against his groin.
The urgency in his voice said she had groaned out loud. “Nothing.” Oh God, this wouldn’t do! Here they were ready to take on a ship full of pirates, and all she could think about was the hot muscular evidence of the man touching her. Time travel must have warped her brain; she didn’t have her priorities straight. She never felt so turned on.
When he tensed, she knew the time had come to move; she forced all thoughts away for what lay ahead.
“Go only where I told you. You remember the diagram?”
“Yes.”
Another minute passed. “Go now, Corin.”
Slipping over the side, Corin ran silently across the deck to beneath the forecastle. She could see the grate latch and the hand that came up to grip the bars. Rogan’s crew… so far it was all as he told her.
She waited and watched as he ran and slid his body down beside the latch and began working on the lock, silently removing them all around the hatch. She couldn’t see Terry but knew he would have gone to take care of the deck guard. Corin searched the upper deck across from her, seeing a figure of a man moving toward the banister. She tapped lightly on the deck. Her rap sent Rogan rolling into the shadows.
When the man moved back, she rapped again, bringing Rogan back.
Before Corin could react, the door beside her opened, flooding the deck with light.
“I’ll send Charley down when I relieve him. Send up some rum later.”
Someone gave a gruff answer. Plastered against the wall behind the door, she couldn’t see Rogan. When it shut and the man stretched his arms up in the air with his back to her, Corin didn’t wait until he turned. She struck out in earnest, sending the man in a slumbering pose onto the deck. Grabbing his shirt, using all her strength, she pulled him back out of the light.
Open-mouthed and stunned by what he’d just witnessed, Rogan physically shook himself to move back to where he should be and release the men. A volley of soft-spoken curses helped finish his task. “No chances. The woman doesn’t know the meaning of caution.”
He wondered how he escaped receiving the same deadly blow. God, what a puzzle and more aggravating than any woman should be allowed to be.
Rogan put to memory the growing list of moves he must watch for in the future. Like a cat, she struck with an unexpected swiftness and dead accuracy. Rogan told himself never ever to give the lady a weapon of any kind.
Rogan gave the first man his instructions to be passed along and the man told him how many of Billings’ men were on board. Of Rogan’s crew, only three went over to join Billings’ fifteen… that left sixteen to take out.
She watched the men sneak out of the hatch until the crew was free. Terry took care of the man on the upper deck.
Rogan joined Corin. “There are still sixteen men. Carter says most of them are in the officers’ quarters, the rest are down in the crews’. I want you to go up by the helm and stay hidden.”
She worried about leaving him.
“Do it now, Corin!”
She jumped over his harsh order that sent her to the stairs. Her fingers moved over the belaying pins. “Just in case.” She took out two and raced up the stairs. She didn’t exactly hide, deciding it would be safer to see what and who might be coming. Not able to see what Rogan was getting into wasn’t a comfortable position. If it weren’t such a serious situation, she could have laughed at herself. After all, the man was a pirate, Dragon.
“Hercules suits him better.” Somehow Rogan came across as a contradiction to what her image of a pirate should be.
The shouts and sounds of clashing steel drove her out to the banister.
If the man behind her hadn’t growled as he charged, she never would have escaped his assault. She moved out of the way and off the rail so that his body crashed into it. When he turned around to face her, Corin felt her heart stop. Like a mad dog, the saliva oozed from the corner of his mouth. She backed away; he sneered and laughed at her attempt to escape. He raised the cutlass, waving it threateningly back and forth.
She did nothing to fight what the beastly man in front of her planned. Rogan shouted her name, causing her to blink and come out of her trance.
When her attacker swung the cutlass, her smallness became an advantage, allowing her to dance away from the blade. Crouching down, she tried to make less of a target. The pin in her hand was ready to throw, but she waited, knowing only hitting him in the face would do any damage. “I should have taken up swords and knife throwing.”
When he raised the blade, she let the pin fly, but the man dodged the pitiful attempt. She used the other one to fend off the sword’s tip.
Corin tried to move away, but each time the sword moved faster. He was playing with her, but she knew the game would end soon. She concentrated on the sword and never saw the movement until the figure suddenly stepped between her and her stalker. Rogan pushed forward, forcing the man back. Corin bit her knuckles to stop her scream as the cutlasses clashed.
She couldn’t turn away from the deadly battle taking place before her. She tasted blood and pain, but to cry out could cost Rogan his life… a life and man that suddenly meant so very much to her.
She never realized when the fighting stopped, only that Rogan still stood tall before her as he walked toward her.
“Corin?”
She saw him, but she couldn’t move or speak, afraid she would shatter his image.
Were they two and the same? Not ten minutes ago, he saw her deck a man. But right now, she looked no more than a child scared half out of her mind. When he moved to hold her, she never blinked; she seemed to be devouring him with those large golden eyes of hers. Afraid she’d shatter in his arms, he moved slow and took hold of her arms.
“It is all right, love, it is over.”
“Rogan?” her shaking hand came up and touched the plane of his cheek. “It’s you, really you.”
He smiled, “Oh yes, I’m real.” Pulling her to him, he watched her gaze move over him in wonder. Her cheeks flooded in color beneath the grease and he knew awareness just intruded, but Rogan wasn’t ready to release her. Lowering his lips to hers, he ignored the small hands pressing against his chest to keep him back. “Kiss me, Corin, kiss me with the fire of passion I see in your eyes.”
He didn’t give her time to think, capturing her lush lips beneath his own. He tasted the trace of blood on their softness and groaned over the force she used to hold herself back. His kiss commanded the woman in his arms to respond. When her fingers dug into his hair and held him with the force and strength she possessed, he felt victory swell in his chest.
“You are my Tempest, Corin.”
His words were almost delivered in pain, making her hold him all the harder to prevent the release she felt coming between them.
“Captain, all decks are secure.”
Terry’s hesitant report ended the battle they waged against and for each other. The sudden awareness of their rather astonished audience made Corin want to run and hide.
Rogan began issuing orders, but the men seemed not to hear their captain.
Terry looked worried and moved to her side. “They think he’s daft or worse, lass, please take the cap off.”
She stared at him in confusion over his whispered words. When his eyes rolled over her cap, she reached up and pulled it free, releasing the long braid.
It wasn’t until she heard the group sigh and the rush of whispers that it dawned on her what they must have believed. Her gaze flew to Rogan, thankful he remained oblivious to what just happened with his crew.
He shouted more orders and everyone started moving at once.
“Terry, see that my cabin is clear of… the debris, and then escort Miss McCloud there.”
“Aye, sir.”
“Are you all right, Corin?”
“Yes… yes, I’m quite fine now. I really should get back to Dan and the Raven.”
No, she didn’t mistake the sudden flash of anger in his eyes. Why would he be mad at her?
Only a moment ago…
He turned away from her confused search of his face before she could discover the answer. Reason told her the Tempest needed him, but she failed to stop the sudden rush of jealousy. Pure green-eyed jealousy, and of a ship no less!
Not liking the admission, Corin felt a very real panic settle around her.
“Rogan, I want to go back to the Raven, now please.”
But he didn’t acknowledge her request. So, she walked up behind him and touched his shirt sleeve, letting her fingers dwell on the power rippling beneath the material. “I don’t mean to be a problem, but…”
Shaking off her hand, he went to the rail and called down, “Terry! Is the cabin clear?”
“Aye, tis’ now, Captain.”
“Then please escort the lady there…Now!”
Staring at him, she knew damn well he felt the heat of her scathing rage. “I’m not staying!”
When he took care in turning to face her, she knew what he would say.
“Oh, but you are, Corin.”
Gasping at his determined stance, she said, “You swore!”
“I did and will hold to my promise… the Raven will most certainly be taken to New Orleans.”
Golden flames of fury clashed with his thunderous stormy eyes.
“You are a deceitful bastard!”
“And you, my lovely, need a lesson in what is and isn’t proper for a lady to say.”
“I hate you!”
“And I relish your passion! Now, do you go peacefully, or must I force you?”
He knew her answer when her petite form tightened.
Terry walked past him, unaware of the battle. Corin didn’t waste words or motion, sending him flying back in Rogan’s arms.
“Get away from me!”
Jerking Terry up, he waited until his friend regained his breath, never taking his attention off Corin. He stood between her and the stairs and knowing her fear of sharks, he didn’t need to be concerned she’d throw herself over the side. No, she’d come through him or over him.
“Sorry Terry, are you all right?”
“She just gave me a warning… can’t say as she’ll be as considerate with you.”