“You two are the most lovey-dovey pair I ever did see,” Sparrow commented one afternoon, finding them wrapped in a tender embrace on the beach. “If you stop hanging all over each other, you might be surprised to find that you can walk by yourselves.”
“Haven’t you ever been in love, you old sea dog?” Ian asked, barely taking his eyes from Bethlyn’s face for a second to pose the question.
“Aye, I have, but sometimes a man has to do other things besides sitting in the warm sunshine and making cooing noises to a beautiful woman. Eh, Captain Hawk?”
Ian turned his full attention on Sparrow, a great sadness stealing across his face at the hidden meaning behind the man’s words. Nodding at Sparrow, Ian watched the older man as he turned away and meandered down the windswept beach. When he was a dot on the horizon, Ian tenderly kissed his wife’s mouth.
“You’re leaving soon.” Bethlyn’s voice caught in her throat.
“Yes.”
She gave a trembling sigh, finding herself held more tightly against lan’s chest. “I knew things couldn’t go on like this much longer. Such a paradise can’t last forever.”
“I’ll be back before you’ve had sufficient time to miss me,” he assured her.
“I shall miss you five minutes after the Black Falcon leaves Windhaven.” She was silent for a few seconds. “You want to go, don’t you?”
“Yes, I want to go because I’ve missed the sea, but no, I hate leaving you even for a minute. Let’s not use our last hours together talking about my going away.” His lips caressed the lobe of her ear, then trailed to the tops of her enticing breasts which swelled above the thin orange-and-white calico dress’s bodice. A warm, wet mouth sensuously grazed her flesh, and Bethlyn felt her body responding to his.
Without a further word, Ian lifted her from her feet and carried her into their small cottage, which had become more of a home to them than Edgecomb. Up the stairs he carried her, his lips in contact with hers. As one, they fell upon the bed and, in each other’s arms, they found heaven.
~
Two days after the Black Falcon sailed away, Bethlyn had explored every inch of Windhaven, baked four pies, and watched young Nate consume two of them by himself, visited with Tansy and Jack Tolliver, then returned to the cottage, and, like a whirlwind let loose, cleaned and mopped the three rooms until they shone. She even rearranged some of the furniture. But when the third day arrived, she had nothing to do and was so bored she wanted to scream — and so lonely for Ian she felt like crying.
Tansy arrived and found her sitting listlessly on a chair in the kitchen. “You look as happy as a seagull who’s lost its wings.”
Bethlyn barely reacted to Tansy’s comment except to say, “I feel lost.”
“Goodness, child, you’re much too young and pretty to sit here moping over your husband. Captain Hawk is tied to the sea, and you’re going to have to accept that. He’s a lot like my Jack, who can sit at home during the long months of winter, but when the frost starts thawing and the sun comes out, I can see him getting restless. I never say anything to him, because Lord knows I can’t stop him from getting in his boat and taking off somewhere. One time I screamed at him that if he went off again, I wouldn’t be here when he got back.”
“Did he go?” Bethlyn asked, growing interested.
“Got right in his boat and sailed off, never said a word to me.”
“And you were here when he returned.”
Tansy laughed. “0f course I was. Where else would I go after I’d been married to that man for thirty years? I’d be lost without him.”
Sitting on a chair next to Bethlyn’s, Tansy patted her hand and gave her a motherly smile. “You’ll do fine, Beth. Before long, Hawk will be back. His privateering is important to our country.”
“I know, but I still miss him.”
A devilish gleam danced in Tansy’s eyes. “Sometimes I used to imagine stowing away on Jack’s boat, hiding somewhere until we were far out, and then popping up to surprise him. But knowing how calm Jack is, he probably wouldn’t flick an eyelash, but ask me to help with the rigging.” Her gaze grew soft. “Since he’s older now and only goes to Philadelphia a few times a month with the fish, I see enough of him. Sometimes too much, because, like most men, they get underfoot now and then. But I love him and accept that wild streak in him which needs to break free, the same way you must do with Captain Hawk.”
Bethlyn’s spirits lightened suddenly. Tansy had placed the seed of a most intriguing and interesting suggestion in the fertile garden of Bethlyn’s mind. Now all she had to do was wait until the Black Falcon returned to bring it to fruition.
~
Ian returned home within three weeks. The moment he and Bethlyn embraced, they walked along the beach to the cottage and didn’t appear again until three days later. During one of their hours together after their bodies were satiated from lovemaking and they’d drunk a bottle of wine by candlelight, Ian told Bethlyn that the Black Falcon had captured one of the British Navy’s most prestigious and well-outfitted warships. He gloated that his crew had no trouble capturing the heavy Jupiter because the Black Falcon’s lightweight and sleek lines accounted for swiftness on the high seas.
“Do you think you’ll ever give up privateering?” she asked, struck by Ian’s animation as he explained the ensuing battle. She remembered how frightened she’d been when he’d attacked Nightingale and decided that fear mustn’t be as great when you’re certain of victory. His excitement was contagious, and she found herself not dreading the moment he sailed away from Windhaven again,
“One day when this war is over,” he answered.
Ian pulled her against him, and she buried her fingers in his chest hair. Kissing the top of her head, he said, “I missed you so much, Bethlyn. This seemed the longest mission I’ve ever made. I hate leaving you again so soon, but I have to set sail day after tomorrow. There’s a large amount of British ships crossing the Atlantic suddenly, most probably because I haven’t been as active for the last few months, and we both know why.”
A gentle laugh fanned the strands of her hair. “England is transporting a great deal of arms and supplies for her men and they must be confiscated. Sometimes it seems we’re fighting a losing battle against so much might and ready munitions. If we win this war, it will be by sheer willpower and self-sacrifice. “
She’d never heard Ian sound so discouraged. “Didn’t you just tell me you’d confiscated an important ship? Why do you doubt victory now?”
“Because for each ship I take, two slip by me. I can only hope that other American privateer ships get a crack at them. I’ve heard a rumor that the French may offer help to us and pray it is true. Otherwise, this war may drag on indefinitely.”
Lifting a hand, she tenderly stroked his brow, wiping away his frown and his doubt. “Let’s forget about the war for now, Ian. I don’t want to think about it at all.”
“Hmm, I don’t, either,” he agreed, and kissed the pearly tip of one of her breasts. “I want to forget that I have to leave you soon.”
Bethlyn gave a little moan of pleasure, aching to tell him that they weren’t going to be separated again. But all thought died when he parted her legs and she welcomed him inside her.
~
They had agreed that he’d leave without telling her farewell.
In the hour before dawn, Bethlyn felt Ian kiss her and leave the bed to dress in the darkness. As he dressed, she could feel his eyes on her, watching her sadly, but she wasn’t sad this time. She felt a mischievous grin tugging at the corners of her mouth and joyous laughter welling inside her, but she willed herself to lie quietly.
When she heard the bedroom door close, she waited a few minutes before getting up and hurriedly pulled on a thin dress for the warming days and threw on a shawl to protect herself from the cool nights. Then she grabbed a small carpetbag she’d hidden beneath the bed and left the house.
She knew the way to the cove by heart where the Black Falcon was hidden,
having no trouble finding her way in the darkness. She also knew that before a voyage Ian and his men ate a hearty breakfast in the galley. This would give her time to sneak onto the ship and stowaway in the captain’s quarters to hide in the smaller adjoining room and make her appearance when the ship was a great distance from Windhaven.
Would Ian be angry with her? she wondered, and decided that he would be, but when she’d kiss him, her lips promising future delights, he’d be more than pleased she’d stowed away.
Nearing the ship, Bethlyn saw in the torchlight and lantern light that all was deserted on deck. No one was about when she made her way onto the ship and down the darkened corridors to Ian’s cabin, but she could hear male voices and laughter coming from the galley.
As she entered the room in which she’d spent so many wondrous and love-filled nights in the arms of Captain Hawk, her mouth twitched with delight, and her gaze immediately centered on the unrumpled bunk.
Hearing a noise down the corridor, she quickly scooted into the small room where she’d stayed when she nursed Ian back to health after stabbing him and settled herself on the small cot. She knew she wouldn’t sleep in here tonight.
~
Ian was indeed angry. He’d just entered his cabin to have Bethlyn pop out of her hiding place, scaring the wits out of him. “What in the name of God are you doing here?” he cried, and his tone of voice sounded less than warm, but Bethlyn ignored it.
She smiled, unwittingly beguiling him with her beauty and the sweetness of her kiss when she rose on tiptoe to reach his lips. “I couldn’t stand to be parted from you an hour longer, Ian. I hate upsetting you, but aren’t you just the teeniest bit pleased to see me and know that tonight you won’t have to sleep alone in your cold bed?”
He wanted to be angry, she could tell. But a grin stretched across his handsome face, and in a moment she found herself ensnared in his arms and then in his bed.
~
“Our agreement is that when an enemy ship is spotted, you’re to come into the cabin and stay in here, even if fighting starts.” Ian gulped down his morning coffee and buttered a biscuit before devouring it. “You do understand, Bethlyn.”
Bethlyn lazily stirred her tea, too contented and still flushed from last night’s lovemaking to concentrate on anything but Ian’s face and hard, bronzed chest. She was fascinated at the way his muscles rippled with each movement, growing aroused again. “Hmm, what did you say?” she asked, her eyes a smoky brown.
“You’re to stay in the cabin if fighting breaks out.”
“Ah, yes, I will.”
Ian rose from his chair and stood beside her and cupped her chin. “Chase that wanton look from your eyes, wench. I have a great deal of work to do today and can’t make the time for another toss in the bed with you.”
“Why, such a thought never crossed my mind.” Pretending to be offended, she made a mock pout.
“Insatiable hussy. You’re going to be the death of me yet, but never let it be said that Captain Hawk ever turned down a willing woman, even if she is his wife.”
To Bethlyn’s surprise, Ian lifted her from the chair and falling to the bunk with her amid husky and seductive laughter, he somehow managed to find the time.
~
Almost four weeks later, the Black Falcon had captured three British frigates. Two of the battles had been unsettling for Bethlyn, who waited them out in the cabin, but they amounted to brief skirmishes. The ships’ goods were confiscated and the British crew set adrift in longboats.
However, three days after the last attack, Bethlyn was still shaken and offered a prayer of thanks that two of Ian’ s men were only wounded in the foray. The British crew wasn’t as lucky and didn’t survive. It was only now that Bethlyn began to realize how awesome was the Black Falcon’s sea power, and that Captain Hawk gave no quarter to his enemies.
Ian, sensing her disturbance over the last sea battle, had decided to return to Windhaven. He’d just given the command to head for the island when Sparrow spotted a ship in the distance.
“Damn,” he muttered softly, feeling rather unsettled himself and not eager to engage the enemy so soon after the last confrontation. Raising his spy glass, he located the approaching ship. “She isn’t a warship,” he shouted up to Sparrow in the crew’s nest. “Still, she is British, and if she comes closer, we must take her.”
“Aye, aye, Captain,” Sparrow called and slithered down the pole as Ian ordered his men to prepare for a possible battle.
The noise of running feet and the sound of artillery being loaded alerted Bethlyn to imminent danger. She groaned and looked out of the window in Ian’s cabin, hating the thought of another fight. Ian had told her they’d be returning to Windhaven, and she wanted more than anything to be there now.
Spotting the ship, she watched as the dark speck on the horizon grew increasingly larger, and, with it, her fear. The ship fired a cannon boom at the Black Falcon, she supposed in the hope of running them away, but the answering boom which echoed from the bowels of the ship beneath her feet, clearly expressed another sentiment.
Bethlyn braced herself for the inevitable, waiting for the other ship to fire again. It didn’t. As the ship drew ever closer, she was finally able to make out the flags on the masthead. She was a British passenger ship for certain, but also something else.
“My God!” she whispered, and wondered if Ian realized that this ship was the Jessica, named after the woman who’d stolen her father’s heart and the woman who was Ian’s mother. Only her father, the earl, ever traveled on this ship. What if her father was on the ship now, at this moment? Suppose he were coming to America to see her, to atone for the wrongs he’d committed against her? Bethlyn didn’t dare hope, but hope surged through her nonetheless and she rushed from the cabin onto the upper deck — and discovered all of the men had pulled on their masks, and Ian in the guise of Captain Hawk appeared more formidable than any of them.
She pulled at his shirt-sleeve, and Ian didn’t hide his aggravation at finding her above deck. “That’s my father’s ship, the Jessica,” she exclaimed with bright eyes, filled with anticipation. “You mustn’t destroy her. He could be killed and I couldn’t bear wondering for the rest of my life what he might have said to me.”
“I have no intention of attacking the ship, Bethlyn, In fact, they’ve raised the white flag. If your father is aboard, then you should hide in the cabin until I hear him out. He can’t see you; otherwise, my privateering days will end with me dangling from a rope.” Ian sounded patient, and she couldn’t argue with him. She turned and left the deck to find a place by the doorway and waited until the Jessica drew up to the Black Falcon.
The grappling hooks connected the two ships, and Ian and his men nimbly jumped the distance, easily capturing the booty and crew of the Jessica.
An hour later Bethlyn was still waiting. What was happening? Had Ian found her father? What would he say to her when they met again after all of these years? Father, I love you. Daughter, I love you. She shook her head. No, her father would never admit his feelings in such a straightforward manner. Still, he must have some feelings to have come all of this way.
Her palms perspired, and she wiped them on the pants she’d borrowed from Amos, perfectly aware that Ian didn’t care for her male attire, but she felt more at ease wearing the pants and the white ruffled shirt than a dress on board ship with an all-male crew. The time seemed to drag, and when she didn’t think she could stand another moment of waiting, she saw Ian grab a rope from the Jessica’s masthead and swing across to land steadily on his feet like a jungle cat.
Even behind his mask, she sensed an eager anticipation in his steadfast gaze, which never wandered from the man who now boarded the Black Falcon by way of the plank.
Bethlyn’s heart sank when she recognized the man as Thomas Eversley. Where was her father?
Apparently the earl wasn’t on board, for minutes came and went, and Eversley perched on a water barrel like a frightened bird whose nest has be
en disturbed. Droplets of sweat rolled down his face and into his fine lace cravat. But then again, not many men could sit, unmoving and unafraid, beneath the ominous countenance of Captain Hawk.
Bethlyn should have felt sorry for Thomas Eversley, but she didn’t. He’d been responsible for transporting women to the Colonies, and she thought he was a disgusting man and wanted to face him and berate him for what he’d done, but he’d recognize her. Then the idea hit her and she ran back to the cabin.
Ian surveyed Thomas as if he were a bug about to be squashed by a boot heel, and as he paced, circling the frightened man, he didn’t hide his contempt “Delivering any women this time, Eversley?” Ian asked in his raspy tone of voice.
“No, no, Captain Hawk. How do you know my name?”
“I know the names of all the snakes who inhabit the king’s garden. And you are the most loathsome one of all.”
“I … I’m sorry you feel that way, Captain Hawk.” Thomas’s face was horribly pale, and his skin looked pasty and damp.
Ian bent down, and Thomas quivered for a second at the black-masked bird and the hate-filled eyes behind it. “Are you going to puke, Eversley? Are you afraid that I will end your wretched life here and now?”
Lifting his sword, Ian ripped away the buttons on the front of Thomas’s jacket. Thomas flinched, seemingly expecting the blade to tear through his shirt and lance his chest. The terror etched on his face was clear for all to see, and the crew of the Jessica did when Sparrow and Ian’s men led them to the railing.
“Please, please…” Thomas could barely mouth the words.
“Yes, Eversley?”
The blade’s tip rested on his pounding heart, a cold sweat broke out on Eversley’s forehead, all too aware of the condemning eyes upon him. He’d been the one who’d ordered the white flag to be raised.
“I beg for … my life, sir.”
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