by Jewel Adams
“I’ll escort you.”
Corin failed to see the silent clash going on between James and Diamond. James’ protective hold about her waist never registered beyond her erratic thoughts, making her forget her prior wariness concerning him.
He said nothing to her as they mounted the stairs. It was not until they reached her door that he spoke, making her realized he still stood beside her.
“You seem to know Paul Boviar?”
“What?” Her response came too quickly, causing James’ brow to crease questioningly.
“Your hostility for the man is too strong for a mere acquaintance.”
She needed to escape what she felt coming from him. “James, I am tired…” she turned to go, but his hold on her arm stopped her.
“Where do you know him from?”
“His reputation precedes the man.” She cursed the man downstairs for blinding her to the threat James still posed. Her gaze went from his painful hold up to his angry eyes. “You are hurting me… let go.”
“Why? So you can run to Boviar? I think not, Janice.”
“Don’t be foolish.” Corin heard the panic lacing her voice. “I can’t stomach the man.”
“Is that why neither of you could tear your eyes away from each other tonight?”
His fingers crushed into her arms, making her bite her lip not to cry out.
“James… please stop this.”
“You don’t belong here… or to anyone else!”
The daring game she played with him these last weeks finally turned on her. The only help she could call on became too unthinkable to even reach out to. James’ closeness and the mounting violence vibrating through him became a greater threat to Corin. “You are wrong, James, just let me go.”
He pulled her against him, pressing her against his frame. “Why? So you can stay here and take whatever man your whim dictates!”
Corin’s head shook against the unreasonable rage holding her in his iron grip. Brutally, his hand covered her breast, cruelly claiming what he felt he owned to command. Whispering to her, his painful hold increased; her arguments died as he crushed her back against the door, tearing her bodice to expose the lush ivory mounds to his hungry eyes.
He drank in the sight of her flesh to sate his lust; his low growl made Corin wither beneath his oppressive weight. “James! Please stop this…”
Another time, another hungry-eyed man loomed before her, defeating her will to fight the impending travesty. Her tearful pleas were lost under the force of his assaulting lips and gashing teeth, injuring the delicate tips of her breasts that he ravished.
Her cries went unheard; her mind sought a tender man, one that extinguished her fear with his love. Memories of his loving image caused a breath of denial over what this man wanted to steal. Corin’s rage rose with a fury beyond her grasp, holding its own life and commitment.
Without conscious thought, she struck, forcing the grabbing hands away. Again and again, her bruised body angrily lashed out to end the threat that tried to kill the love she cherished. Deaf to the groans and pain-filled moans of breaking bones and tearing flesh, she attacked with all the skills of her inbred training until the man fell in a lifeless heap at her feet.
Corin reeled back over the crumpled sight of James’ battered body; a wrenching sob tore through her. Clutching the remnants of her dress about her, Corin fought to still her panic. The only cohesive thought she possessed told her to run.
She tore her tortured gaze away from the man and gave into the impulse. Instinct carried her down the stairs to escape the terror. She clung to the shadows, finding comfort in the darkness outside.
Wildness directed her flight and Corin’s mind gave up the struggle, giving into the untamed fears, fleeing the horror behind her. She ran into the jungle.
~ * ~
“Brian, go that way and cut her off. I’ll make sure no one is following her.” Dan, worried over the fleeing image of the distraught girl, reached out and grabbed Brian’s arm. “Be careful son, she can fell a man with one kick, and by the looks of her, she’s not going to stop and ask questions.”
Dan hoped the captain’s brother would take him at his word. Since Dan had broken the chains from the man, Brian started to reclaim some of the strength stolen from him. Cursing the lad’s mistreatment, Dan hoped he also regained his senses to deal with Corin. His own anger for what he feared caused her to run away from the house started boiling to a fevered pitch.
~ * ~
Dan’s parting warning sounded laughable, only Brian couldn’t shake his feelings that the man meant every word. His brother’s wife? Dangerous?
No, he’d not have believed the strange, beautiful woman to be Rogan’s if Dan hadn’t been along. Today in the stables proved to be a complete contradiction to everything she portrayed in the field yesterday.
Jumping another fallen tree trunk, he started gaining on her frenzied flight. Brian didn’t think she even knew where she was going, or that he followed to stop her. Hair as black as the night flew out behind the ghostly image losing itself in the wild, looming shadows. She no longer portrayed the heartless bitch that bought him out from under Stearns’ nose. Every cruel word she uttered became firmly rooted in his hateful memory. Amber tears in filtered sunlight tore at his heart today, shedding warmth where none existed far too long.
The anger in which he’d lived these last years took on another, more intense fury for what he saw in her as he drew closer. The ivory of her bared flesh glowed like the iridescent lights beneath the sea’s waves, igniting the strength of his rage for the terror he realized she ran from.
Wary of what may be lurking about, Brian refrained from calling out to her. When he reached for her, the instant his hand touched her, she spun on him with the wildness holding her in its talons. Stunned by the attack, Brian cursed himself for not heeding Dan’s warning as he suffered a sharp, expertly placed blow to his stomach. Rolling to avoid the feet flying up to end his manhood, he moved with the urgency she deserved.
Brian tackled her about the waist, causing them to fall in a rolling heap of arms and legs. Using his weight, he pinned her striking limbs, ending the blows but not the fight she waged.
He hissed out at her. “Corin, stop it!”
He captured her frightened gaze, stunning her to stillness. “Rogan?”
Brian suffered the painful intensity of her searching his features.
“It’s Brian… I’m sorry, Corin.” God, he’d never expected the devastation he witnessed in her. The loss of that vibrant light in her eyes shadowed the disappearance of her will to struggle.
“Corin?”
Pulling her up into his arms, his hand raced over her soft features, brushing back the wild mass of her hair, but the girl seemed beyond seeing him. The life seemed to seep from her as she fell limp in his hold. “Damn them!”
Her unconscious hands fell away, exposing the ugly marks on her naked breasts. Brian groaned, and tearing off his tattered shirt, he covered the marks marring her ivory beauty. Something moved near them; Brian laid himself out over her to shield her.
“Brian?”
Dan’s urgent whisper eased the tension holding him. “Here.”
The older man’s approach stilled over what he saw, and the fierce groan of rage vibrated through his body. “Is she?”
“Unconscious. I don’t think she’s hurt bad, but we have to get her away.”
“They’re starting to search for her—that bastard…”
Brian straightened, clutching Corin to him. “Who did this, Dan?”
“Later lad… the boys won’t be able to wait much longer.”
Turning when he realized the lad hadn’t moved, Dan’s jaw worked furiously over what Brian waited to hear.
“Who did she run from?”
“Diamond.”
The admission paled the man standing there in dead silence. Dan forced his next words to come slowly, praying Brian wasn’t beyond hearing him. “She needs us, lad. There’ll be
time for revenge. Your brother left her to face this alone… don’t you desert her for the same reason.”
Dan watched as his words made Brian’s hold tighten on the girl, bringing her up against his heaving chest. The seconds tolled their warning as voices grew in intensity around them.
“Lead the way, Dan.”
The man’s breath came out in a rush before he spun around and started out through the jungle. Dan thanked the saints again for letting him find Jacob today. The boys had gone into hiding ever since they arrived because of Diamond’s presence. When Brian told him of Corin’s visit to the barn, Dan already knew the reason she took such a chance. “The devil himself had hold of her.”
Brian didn’t know Corin like he and the boys did, and he drew all the wrong conclusions about her. Dan refused to allow Brian’s low opinion to hurt Corin. Dan knew damn well what the lad would want to do. His words just then were truthful enough against his brother, and he’d tell Rogan once they found him. Thankfully, Brian listened; maybe his feelings for his sister-in-law would also change once he knew her better.
At the moment, Dan’s concern centered on Corin and what he feared she suffered. For all her outward show of strength, he knew how fragile the lass truly could be. “So help me, if he’s hurt her like this, I’ll be in the lead to finish that bastard.”
Shielding her from the whipping branches, Brian’s acute senses picked up the whispered vow from the man before him. His own already given in silence as it had been repeated every day since that fateful battle two years earlier.
His anger surged anew as his eyes fell on the girl, and what kept him from the bastard’s throat. The heated curse against her died on his lips, conflicting with the tangled emotion that came with his unwanted burden.
Brian forced his concentration on their escape, telling himself the moment they relieved him of this woman he could settle what he left behind. Staying back, he waited for Dan to alert his sons to their arrival. Before he could move to the plank and board, Dan’s son Jacob raced toward them.
Having known the man since childhood, Brian senses came immediately alive to the seething rage in the man as his heated gaze came to rest on the woman. Without a word, Jacob demanded that Brian release the stricken woman to him. For a moment, Brian felt an unwanted surge of protective denial. Angrily dismissing it, he let Jacob take her.
The gentleness in the man turned into an almost a physical thing, adding to Brian’s growing confusion over his brother’s wife. He told himself it was only curiosity that made him search Jacob’s features for answers. All he found were the accusing eyes of his childhood friend that made him recoil. Jacob didn’t try and shield his feeling that he blamed Brian for the girl’s present state.
Anger rose in Brian; he was the outsider here. What was it they all seemed to hold this girl in? Was she a sorceress capable of bewitching all men? Had she weaved her magic on Rogan?
His brother left her—did Rogan see her for what she really was?
His angry thoughts didn’t clear the mist surrounding Corin. Beyond his anger, he could admit gratitude to the stranger. But his doubts because of her acts proved stronger. What reason did she have to put herself in the danger she obviously faced…for him? If Brian were honest, he’d admit this bothered him more than anything else about her. By her action, she made him beholden to her. Well, he’d brought her here, and that paid back the debt. The slate should be clean. So why couldn’t he walk away?
“Come, on lad, we’ve got to get out of here. Help Jess with the sails.”
Dan moved away, not seeing Brian’s indecision. But each of his sons did what they saw in his eyes as they crossed theirs. Only Jacob remained absent. But Caleb and Jess’ gazes held the force of their own condemnation for Brian’s hesitation.
The orders Dan called out broke the hold between the men. Relenting, Brian gave up the argument and joined Jess at the sails…only to halt again over what he faced with the schooner.
Chapter Twenty-four
Revelations
The sun began to rise on the horizon. Easing the strange spyglass about, he made another sweep of the lightening distinction between sky and water, but there were no signs of any pursuers.
Lowering the strange marvel, he shook his head over the entire wonder of the schooner he stood on. Nothing could catch her. Raven… she fit her namesake.
Brian went back to the main deck and approached Caleb at the wheel. “We’re clear so far.”
Brian couldn’t hold it in any longer. “Caleb, did my brother have this built? Ship designs must have improved drastically in two years.”
“Raven doesn’t belong to Rogan.”
“Then your father.” Dan always possessed more talent than most seafaring men. But when Caleb didn’t say anything, Brian’s questioning look went unbidden to the man.
Never releasing his gaze from the course before the clipping bow, “You’d best give your praise to the lady.”
It took a moment for his friend’s meaning to penetrate. Scoffing, Brian said, “Next you’ll tell me she sails the damn thing!”
“Better than any of us; they seem to communicate with each other. Corin can feel Raven’s slightest shift. When she tacks, it is so smooth you’d miss it if you blinked.”
The man held such a serious look on his face Brian’s mouth slowly closed over the denial, deciding he’d find his own answers from then on.
Jacob finally came back on deck; everyone moved to confer with him.
“Brian, would you take the wheel for a while?”
“Sure she won’t mind?” Brian regretted his sarcasm once spoken, suffering the full brunt of Caleb’s anger. Considering the girl’s condition, Brian knew his remark was a terrible thing, even if he didn’t believe the praise they tossed her way. Stewing in his own shame, Brian swore not to ask how she was if they didn’t tell him.
“Jacob, you’d best get it out.” Dan’s request of his son came with caution; he’d never seen the boy hold such an undercurrent of rage. But then for all their arguments, Jacob and Corin’s relationship grew as close as any of his sons were between them. Dan knew each of them considered her their younger sister, but for Jacob it turned into a responsibility that he took hold of with his life.
“She’s finally sleeping.” They waited for his gaze to refocus on them. “She’s terrified she killed a man.”
“Diamond! The bastard deserves it.” Dan’s vehemence proved too great to contain.
Jacob met his father’s fierce gaze.
Dan didn’t have to ask. “Whitney… I should have killed him that first time!”
“Corin may have. She ran… all she remembers is seeing him lying in a bloody heap at her feet.”
“Then he didn’t…”
Shaking his head, Jacob ran his fingers through his hair, “No, he hurt her… she kept repeating he was trying to kill her love for Rogan.”
Dan looked skyward. “No, our lass could never allow anyone to do that.”
Bringing his attention back to the boys, Jacob spoke of his fear for Corin. “We have a bigger problem; Diamond won’t try and hide her identity if Whitney is dead.”
Dan felt torn over which direction to take. They needed to know for sure if she had indeed killed Whitney. But they also needed to get Corin to a safe place. The problem was, right then, whether she could go back to Desireè.
“How bad is she, Jacob?”
“Physically she’ll mend, but I’m not so sure if she’ll forget as easily. Whitney’s attack did a lot of damage to her. She keeps calling for Rogan… where the hell is he?”
Dan patted Jacob’s shoulder. “Caleb, turn the Raven about… we’re taking her home.”
Jacob’s hand shot out, stopping his brother. “What if he’s dead? They’ll be looking for her there; you can’t take the risk.
“Do you think it’ll be safer going back?” Caleb asked his brother.
“Maybe not, but we’ll know where we stand.”
His others sons slowly nodd
ed in agreement, making Dan relent. “All right, but Corin can’t be seen or even know where we’re heading.”
“There is a small cay where we can make anchor but only one of us can go ashore.”
They discussed their plans: The Raven could be back at Hattie before nightfall. Dan felt they’d at least discover if Diamond stayed or sailed. Before they broke their meeting, Jacob voiced the one question Dan hoped wouldn’t surface.
“What about Brian?”
Sighing, Dan guessed it would have been too much for the boys not to notice Rogan’s brother’s attitude concerning Corin. “He’s got a right to be angry, lads.”
“But why is it directed towards Corin? She risked her life to get him out of there.”
Caleb’s anger surprised Dan, making him wonder what Brian said. His concerned gaze went to the hate-driven man at the wheel. “He’s had a hard two years and Corin was a surprise the lad couldn’t have prepared for.” Dan returned his hard gaze on his sons. “Corin bought him from Stearns to save him from being whipped to death. My guess is that he faced the final blow to his pride. She sensed it right then. Let’s hope Brian will see the truth before his hate eats away his senses.”
~ * ~
Damn them all! His self-imposed solitary existence would soon end. “One way or the other I’m going ashore.”
“Like hell you are.”
Brian slowly turned to face Jacob’s sober declaration.
“Even when we were kids, I could beat the tar out of you.” Jacob’s gaze moved over Brian. “Wouldn’t be a very fair fight, considering you’re a might run down.”
“You’re welcome to try, Jacob.”
“You always did jump in before thinking anything through. Seems rather hard on the body, always falling over your own mistakes.”
Jacob’s senses were keen to the coiling anger he deliberately pulled to the surface in Brian. His dad was right… the man carried a gut full of hate, and it looked as if it had eaten right through him. Jacob decided Brian needed to release that anger before he exploded; maybe then the man would listen to reason. Brian might have suffered more than most survived, yet Jacob figured he was in for one hell of a fight.