by Lisa Olech
Ric began rolling up his maps. “So did a lot of folk. At least Tupper’s voice is back in fine working order.”
“Then when ye didn’t sleep in yer hammock last night…” MacTavish shrugged a meaty shoulder.
“Shut your mouth.” Ric snapped.
“Mother and I were so worried.” MacTavish laid a hand to his chest and tipped his head before busting out with laughter and slapping the table.
Ric pushed back and was on his feet. “Did you wake up this morning knowing it would be your last?” He headed out of the galley.
MacTavish called after him. “Don’t envy you today, laddie. Two women mad as wet hens at ya. Yer gonna wish this mornin’ be yer last.”
Damn it, he wasn’t waiting for the bells, he’d been awake all night, pacing the deck ‘til he couldn’t take another step. He’d tried to close his eyes stretched out on one of the hard oak benches in the galley, but images of him and Jocelyn kept flashing through his mind. He’d given up, raised the lantern’s wick, and studied those damn maps until he knew this coast better than he knew--Ric stopped short at the top of the ladder way. The saying he’d always used was he knew something better than he knew the way between a woman’s thighs.
Bloody hell, he rubbed a weary hand over his jaw. He couldn’t say that anymore.
“Jocelyn?” Ric tapped on her door moments later. “This can’t wait any longer. We need to speak now, so please let me in.” Once again, his request met with silence. Was she still asleep? He tapped again. “It’s early, but this is important.”
Anger and frustration flared in him. “I haven’t got time to mollycoddle your tender feelings. Let me the hell in, or I’ll kick down this bloody door.”
Ric grasped the latch to force his way in. To his chagrin, the door opened. It hadn’t been locked. She wasn’t there. The food he’d sent down last evening was untouched. A thread of concern slithered down his back.
There was no way she got past him. Perhaps she was waiting topside as he’d requested. A quick scan of the deck answered that question. Dowd was making his morning climb into the crow’s-nest. White and Summer were polishing the capstan. Bump checked the ropes securing the cannons. Jocelyn wasn’t here.
Tupper came up behind him. That blasted crow of hers cawed at her until she fed him a bit of something from her hand.
Ric spun about at the sound. “Is Jocelyn with you?”
Tupper stroked the crow’s throat. “Not unless she’s black with feathers.”
He frowned. Where the hell could she be? “Maybe the galley.”
“Came from there. Just Hornbach cursing how quick everything’s started to go rank.” She gave the bird another bite. “Leviticus doesn’t mind a bit of spoil on his meat, do you boy?”
“Have you seen her since yesterday?” Ric looked toward the stern.
“No.” Tupper shrugged one shoulder. “Figured if she wanted to talk more, she knew where to find me.”
“Capt’n?” White stood behind Ric.
Ric ignored him for the moment. To Tupper he continued, “If you see her, find me.” Tupper nodded. Ric planted his hands on his hips, “Maybe she’s with MacTavish in the armory.”
“Capt’n?” White repeated his request.
Ric spun on him. “What is it, man?”
“Seems we’ve lost our skiff, Capt’n.”
For a moment, all Ric could do was stare at the man. “Impossible.”
Tupper spoke to the bird as she walked away, “She’s flown the coop.”
“No.” Ric shook his head. “There has to be another explanation. She couldn’t have.” Ric followed White to investigate. Sure enough, there was no evidence the boat broke away on its own. The ropes were still intact. “It takes two men to lower this skiff.”
“Or one determined woman, by the look.” Summer joined them. “Can be done, little from one block, little from the other. Took some time, though.”
Ric held his forehead. “But when? I was on deck most of the night.” He called up to Dowd, “Do you see any sign of our skiff?”
Dowd called back. “Other than it ain’t where it should be? No sir.”
Ric pushed past the others and grabbed a spyglass. “She couldn’t have rowed it by herself. It’s too wide for one. Even if she could, her hand is injured, she wouldn’t have gotten far. I’d say she’d head straight to shore, but the winds picked up overnight.” He lifted the glass to his eye and began a slow sweep of the coastline. “She’s not strong enough to fight anything over three knots. If she used them to her advantage, then we’d be behind her.”
He gave the order. “Weigh anchor. We’re going to come back in as close to the shore as we can. We’ll find her.”
White looked from Ric to Summer and back shaking his head. “What ya gonna do then, Capt’n, fly te shore?”
Ric began scanning the coastline again. She had to be there. “I was thinking I’d swim.”
Summer laughed, “An’ ride a shark or two to find a woman who clearly don’t want te be found?”
“The sharks are too smart to come in close to the reef.” Ric lowered the glass and looked back at the two men gaping at him.
“But we ain’t?” Argued White.
“You’ll only be there long enough for me to lower myself over the side. Then you can move off, set anchor, and wait for me to bring back both the woman and the skiff.” Ric headed for the ship’s wheel.
White and Summer followed. Summer continued to argue his point. “I say we bid her an ‘au revoir’ and be on our way.”
“Right.” White pointed to Summer and nodded his approval. “We ain’t nursemaids. Should have tossed her long before now. Losing the chit be worth a skiff. We’ll steal another. Let’s point the Scarlet north and go back to theivin’ and pillagin’ like proper pirates.”
Ric stared them down. “Weigh anchor and prepare to head to port then cut in close.”
Chapter 19
“There she be.” White called out as the Scarlet Night made a slow pass several hundred yards off shore. “Mangrove island, west of the clearing.”
Ric handed off the wheel to Summer. “Can you see if she’s all right?”
White nodded, “Still floatin.’”
“Jocelyn?” His heart dropped in his chest.
White lowered the scope. “No, the skiff.”
“Drop anchor. Give me that glass.” White handed over the brass and pointed a finger toward shore. Ric pressed the glass to his eye. There it was, but it floated a few feet off the beach. Had she made it to land and not tied off? He thought he could make out tracks in the sand, but from this distance, it was hard to tell.
He pulled off his boots then handed his baldric to White. Lashing a knife to his thigh, he reminded them. “You have your orders. Now lower a rope.”
* * * *
Ric was a strong swimmer, but it had been a while since he’d had to swim any fair distance. Worry and anger pushed him past the point of exhaustion. He misjudged his way through a ridge of coral, caught the side of his knee and sliced through his pant leg. The salt water stung the gash. Blood clouded the water red. Short of wearing a fish-head sash about his waist, he couldn’t be a bigger target for a shark attack.
He kicked off through the clear aquamarine water with a renewed burst of adrenaline and within a few tense minutes dragged himself gasping and bleeding onto the wide white beach.
Ric peeled back the ragged edges of his breeches to inspect the wound. It wasn’t deep, but it hurt like hell when he stood. Blood mixed with seawater and ran down his leg to stain the pale wet sand. He scanned the water for any shark presence before wading back in to retrieve the skiff.
The small lapstreak boat bobbed free about fifty yards down the beach in waist deep water. If all the blood in the water hadn’t attracted sharks to his heels, he’d be amazed.
By the time he’d dragged the boat up the beach, his leg was throbbing, but thankfully he still had it attached to
his body along with the rest of his limbs. He moved up to the tide line and headed east looking for any sign of Jocelyn. He called out to her, but heard nothing over the crashing of the surf and the breeze through the tops of the mangrove.
The weather he predicted was moving in. A dark line of clouds stretched across the horizon. He hoped to find Jocelyn and make it back to the Scarlet Night before the worst of it arrived.
The island wasn’t overly large. Wide beach to the north, high land to the south. A shallow rocky channel separated it from the main island, and with the protection of the reef off the northern coast, only a ship half the size of the Night could gain access here.
Ric crossed the beach until he found a trail of footprints heading inland. Relief overshadowed his anger. He’d find her. What could she have been thinking to leave the ship? Did she hope to walk to Tortuga? Did she realize she landed herself on the wrong island?
Moving inland, he called out to her once more. The footprints disappeared the deeper Ric traveled. He plucked at his shirt, pulling the cold damp cloth away from his skin. Unaccustomed to traveling without his boots, each twig and rock beneath his feet slowed him down. At least his leg had stopped bleeding.
It was then he saw her. “Jocelyn!” Damn it! Where was she going?
Ric took off after her. Cursing his leg, each stone the sole of his feet found along the way…and her.
“Bloody hell, woman, stop!” He caught hold of her sleeve and held tight.
Jocelyn spun on him, tugging against his hand, but he refused to release her. “Let me go. Why did you follow me?”
“You stole my skiff.”
She grabbed for his arm then pushed at him. He dropped his hand ready to capture her again should she decide to run. Instead, she stood her ground. Her gaze darted over him, before meeting his. “You’re soaked through. Did you swim here?”
Ric plucked at his clinging shirt once more before bending to remove the boulder lodged in the arch of his foot. “I told you, you stole my skiff.”
Guilt followed by defiance flitted across her features. “So take it, and leave me. It’s on the beach. I tied it up.”
“And you still haven’t mastered the round turn and two half hitches. Remind me never to ask you to tie up the ship.” Images of being lashed to a chair flashed in his memory.
He watched her throat work before she lowered her gaze, was she having the same memory? “What does that matter anymore?”
A rumble of thunder rolled overhead. “What did you think you were doing? These islands aren’t safe. You could have rowed yourself into more trouble.” He lifted her hand. “You’re stitches are bleeding. Let me see.” She pulled her hand away and curled it to her chest. “You’re lucky it was only me who found you.” He took her arm once more and urged her back toward the beach. “Come back to the Scarlet Night.”
“I’m not going back with you. My hand is fine.” She broke away from him, and crossed her arms over her chest. “I heard what you said. I heard Tupper.”
“Tupper was wrong.” His voice rose with frustration.
“About which,” she snapped, “the fact that my father is evil incarnate, or that you laid with me to exact your revenge?”
Ric returned fire. “I didn’t lay with you to get back at your father. Hell, I didn’t want to lay with you at all.”
Jocelyn’s jaw went slack before she turned and kept walking.
“Stop. That didn’t come out right.” The first step he took to go after her reunited foot with boulder. He winced, cursed, and limped to catch up to her again. Ric turned Jocelyn to face him, but she wouldn’t meet his eye. “When I first saw you, something inside of me shifted. I can’t explain it, but I knew I wanted to take care of you. Even when I learned who you were, those feelings didn’t stop. I made a promise. To you, but more important to myself. I wasn’t going to give in to the instinct I had to lie with you. I fought my desire every day.”
She met his gaze. “Seems you broke your promise.”
“And not well, so I’m told. Quite a blow to my pride.” Ric ran a hand down her arm and gave it a gentle squeeze. “I was selfish. I’ll never make the same mistake again.”
Jocelyn studied the center of his chest. “Did my father truly do all those horrible things?”
“Yes, but I bet he never wanted his only daughter to hear about it in such graphic detail. When the fighting starts, we all do horrible things. To win. To survive. I can’t explain your father to you. We might as well be talking about two different men.”
“Maybe Tupper isn’t wrong. Maybe he is the devil. Perhaps he isn’t a different man. What if it’s a mistake bringing me to him?”
“What else can I do? Drop you to fend for yourself on some remote island?” He teased before lifting her chin. “He won’t hurt you. He’s only ever wanted a good, safe life for you. It may not be the life you wish for, but it’s better than any life I could offer you.”
Jocelyn shook her head and laid a hand on his chest. “If he finds out you’re the Captain of the Scarlet Night…he’ll do the same to you as he did to those other men.”
He slipped his hand over hers. The worry in her eyes made him want to sweep her into his arms and kiss it away. “Then we’ll make sure he doesn’t find out.”
Her fingers clutched at the fabric. “I couldn’t bear it if something were to happen to you, or Tupper, or the rest.”
All at once, it made sense. Realization punched him in the chest. “Is that why you ran?”
“He’ll kill you,” Her eyes lifted to his. Tears shimmered in the dimming light.
“That’s a risk I’m willing to take.” He cupped her face and brushed a tear from her cheek with a sweep of his thumb.
“Why?” she whispered.
“Foolish woman, haven’t you figured that out by now?” He lowered his mouth to kiss her. “For the same reason you ran.”
* * * *
Thunder rumbled overhead. Ric heard the rain before he felt it. “We’re going to have to find some shelter.”
Fat drops fell from the trees. Jocelyn tipped her chin off to her right. “I found a cave not too far from here. It’s not very tall inside, but it has a light shaft that spills into a pool. It’s over here.”
By the time they made it to the cave’s narrow entrance, the sky had opened and the rain fell straight as a mast and hard as hail.
Climbing into the cave, Ric was grateful to see the space opened wider past the pool. Without a lantern, Ric hesitated venturing farther into the gloom. But a faint glow beyond the dark hinted there might be another entrance to this cave coming from the island side.
Rain ran into the light shaft and splashed into the pool. The water was clear. Every rock strewn across its bottom could be seen.
“Looks to be a spring.” Ric dipped his fingers into the water and tasted it. “Fresh and warm, full of minerals, tastes a bit like a rusty nail, but I’ve drunk worse.” Taking advantage of clean water, he bathed the wound at his knee.”
“There’s been a fire here, too.” Jocelyn pointed to a charred area farther in before turning back to him. “We should--You’re bleeding.”
“I’m glad you finally noticed.”
Jocelyn stripped a length of her skirt and pushed aside what was left of his pant leg to wrap his knee. Ric was afforded a good glimpse of creamy thigh. If Jocelyn tore anymore of her skirt, there’d be nothing left.
Crouching before him, she placed a gentle hand upon the bandage. “Why didn’t you tell me you were hurt?”
He pulled her to her feet so he could finish the kiss the rains had interrupted. “I was too busy trying to tell you I’m in love with you.”
Jocelyn pulled back, her eyes wide. “Y-you can’t be.”
“Doesn’t seem to be something I have much control over.” He tugged her into his arms again and lowered his mouth to hers.
Before his lips could claim her, she pushed away once more. “But…how will I ever leave
you now? And how will you let me go?”
He took hold of her arms and gave a small shake of his head. How did he explain it to her when the thought of letting her go made him ache? But she needed to understand. He wouldn’t build her hope for something impossible. Because I’m a thief and a pirate and you deserve a chance for a better life. A better man. He slipped his hand over her shoulder and beneath her hair to curve about her nape. “Because it’s for the best.”
“The best for whom?” Within the cave, the only sound came from the water spilling into the pool. Their voices were hushed and intimate.
Ric gaze held hers. “You.”
“I thought you were selfish?”
He gave a bitter smile before brushing her lips with his. “I thought so, too.”
Jocelyn let out a small sob as Ric slipped his tongue into her waiting mouth and crushed her to him. Aye, he may let her go, but right here and right now, she was his. He was selfish and even if it were only for this one night, he wanted to love her.
His hands slid down the curved of her back and over the swell of her behind. Jocelyn trembled beneath his touch. Between kisses he murmured, “Maybe I should get a fire going. It’s getting cold. Looks like we’re going to be here all night.”
“We should get you out of those wet clothes,” she whispered against his lips.
“We should get you out of your wet clothes, as well.” Ric grabbed fists full of skirt and pulled her even tighter to him.
“But mine are dry.” She tried to laugh, but he was too intent on kissing her.
Ric lowered his forehead to hers. Their breath coming in quick pants. “You could go stand in the rain? Or I could toss you into the spring?”
“Or you could take them off and kiss me again.”
Chapter 20
Rain continued to fall through the opening in the roof of the cave to splash gently in the pool adding to the sound of the crackling fire and the beating of Ric’s heart. Flames cast dancing shadows upon the walls and across the planes of her beautiful body.
He cradled Jocelyn in his lap. His back leaning against one low rock, the only thing between them and the soft dirt floor was a makeshift blanket made up of their clothing.