Served him right for having a night of passion when he really wasn’t up to it. He hated to think what Hestia thought of his clumsy lovemaking, but then she’d have nothing to compare it to.
As Ned scurried about his cabin making the bed, he sat at his desk with his head in his hands. He really did not need this right now.
He was about to face the devil himself, and only one of them would come out of the confrontation alive. He would prefer it to be him. So he needed to focus. Nothing else mattered.
When Ned finished Alex said, “Fetch Jacob, lad. I want to know how far we are from Corfu.”
“I can tell you that,” Foxhall said as he entered the room. “Good to see you up and about.”
“I wouldn’t say about, but I am up.” He motioned for Foxhall to take a seat on the newly made bunk. “How long before we reach Corfu?”
“Two days, and before you ask, yes, the sloop is still following.”
Damn. “We must try to lose it within the many smaller islands around Corfu. Fredrick’s men will have no idea where we are going, and I’d like to keep it that way.”
“Where are we heading?”
“For a hidden cove just south of Pentati. I have loyal men there who will update us on Murad’s movements and where we might find the earl.”
“And this is where you want me to wait with Hestia.”
That had been his intention. He’d thought to see David wed Hestia before he set sail after Murad and her father. If Murad had got wind of his mission to find the earl, he knew that it was now a race to find Hestia’s father first. Murad would go after Hestia’s father to use him as bait to capture Alex.
Another reason why Hestia would stay at Pentati. With people loyal to him, and no one who knew they had any connection to him, she would be well guarded, by both Foxhall and others.
However, he had to confess all before letting Foxhall marry her.
“We have to lose the sloop before we reach Pentati. I won’t risk revealing my hideaway.” He knew what David would say next, and he dreaded the answer he had to give.
“I’m not sure Hestia will be ready to listen to your other plan by then. When do you propose to tell her that she should marry me?”
Alex cleared his throat. “I have changed my mind. I think it best if Hestia marries me. Even if something should happen to me, she’ll have the safety of my name and title. As a duchess she has more power and therefore more protection. My brothers would see to that.”
David sat looking at him, and Alex noticed his eyes narrow and his nostrils flare in anger. “So I’m not good enough all of a sudden.”
He sighed. “That is not the case and you know it.”
David rose to his feet and began pacing. “Then why this change of heart? You told me you had no intention of marrying her and you let me—”
“Let you what?” Then realization dawned. “You’ve developed feelings for Lady Hestia.”
David turned to glare at him with hands on hips. “Have you?”
Cornered. What did he reveal? Not exactly, but I slept with her. That did not seem to be a prudent answer.
“I have always had a fondness for Lady Hestia.” That was true.
“But her father does not want her married to you. I do know that.”
He tried to keep his temper in check. It had been his idea to pair David with Hestia, and it appeared he had done his job too well. “He has not had a chance to learn I have conquered my demons.”
David’s face flushed with color. “I wonder if you actually have. Hestia told me she found more laudanum on your ablution stand. I had not put it there, as I didn’t think you needed it. So where did it come from? A private stock perhaps? Can you tell me you no longer use opium in any form?”
Anger slipped its shackles and Alex’s voice rose. “Careful you do not overstep the bounds of our friendship, Foxhall. My use, or lack of use, is none of your business.”
“I shall make it my business if I think it will hurt Lady Hestia. Or if it is not her father’s wishes.”
“You go too far, God damn it,” he shouted. If he were not as weak as a spring lamb he’d thump him for such a comment.
Some of the anger seemed to leave David as he smugly suggested, “Why don’t we ask the lady her thoughts on the subject? Let her choose?”
A wave of fear splashed in his stomach. That is what he was afraid of. Whom would she choose?
A part of him hoped she would pick David because then he’d be able to go after Murad with a clear conscience, but he would have to tell his friend what he had done. After last night, Alex was sure she’d pick him. Hoped Hestia would pick him.
“Fine. When we get to Corfu we will ask her for a decision.” That should leave him enough time to ascertain just what happened last night and to find out how Hestia felt about it.
David nodded and turned to leave. “If you see Hestia, could you ask her to come and see me?”
“She’s sleeping. She’ll be at supper tonight. Do you think you can eat with us at the table?”
Alex forced himself to stand up, tall and straight, ignoring the pull on his stitches. “Yes. Before you go, can you take out my stitches? The scab is well healed.”
David twirled his finger indicating he should lose the bandage. Alex gritted his teeth as his friend roughly prodded the wound.
“These can wait until Corfu too. A few more days will ensure the scab doesn’t split open should you do anything too physical.”
He’d already done something physical and they’d held nicely. So nicely that a thought that he’d like to make love to Hestia again flashed through his head. He needed to talk with her, and it was going to be a long day waiting for her to wake up.
“Fine. Can you ask Jacob to find some time this afternoon to see me, and send Ned back in? I need a bath.”
David merely nodded and left, closing the door with a bang. Alex shook his head and sighed. What a mess. He should have known Hestia would appeal to a man like David. His friend was as kindhearted as she. He needed money, and he was handsome enough to understand he could sway any woman. David had never been so inclined until now.
He could not fault the man’s taste. Alex had all but told David to make Hestia fall in love with him. Had David managed to sway Hestia?
Her willingness to fall into Alex’s bed said otherwise. That filled his chest with relief and it shouldn’t. Revenge consumed him, and he could not afford to look forward to a future. He had to be prepared to die and leave this world. If killing Murad meant his death, so be it. He would have his revenge in this life, not the next. It was not fair to Hestia to leave her a widow with a broken heart.
He wished he could remember more about last night. He glanced at the clock on the desk at the far end of his cabin. He wasn’t a patient man, and supper this evening seemed a long way off.
Chapter 15
Alex drummed his fingers on the table. He was ravenous. “Is she normally this late? Supper is getting cold.” After a blissful bath, he’d made his first foray up on deck that day, and the sea spray and breeze lifted his spirits.
Jacob threw him a stern look. “Perhaps all these late nights of seeing to your needs have finally caught up with the girl.” His sarcasm was not lost on those at the table.
David flashed a concerned look between the two and began to rise. “Perhaps I should look in on her.”
Before he could move, young Ned arrived. “Lady Hestia apologizes, but she has a slight headache and has requested supper in her room. She says to go ahead and eat without her.”
David threw down his napkin. “I’ll just check it’s nothing serious,” and he left the table.
Jacob’s eyebrows rose. “Didn’t tell him then.”
Alex shrugged and began to fill his plate. “There seemed no point.”
“You think it right he learns on his wedding night?”
He stopped with his plate half full. “You think I’d let David marry her now? I’m offended.”
“It hard
ly seems fair turning her into a widow a few days after her wedding.” As Alex gently put his plate down on the table, Jacob added, “You’re in no state to take on Murad.”
His anger subsided. He could hardly deny the truth.
“Why don’t we simply find the earl and return to England? Murad can wait for another day. Marry the girl, make an heir, and live for the future instead of the past.”
Alex sank back in his chair, anger, shock, and disbelief warring inside. How could Jacob think he could put what Murad did to him out of his mind? Simply forget the past—after he’d tried for four years? “Would you not seek vengeance if in my position?”
“Don’t get that thunderous look. You’ve let Murad be for over four years. Four years! Why now? The only reason you’re thinking of revenge is because Hestia handed you a reason to come to Murad’s stamping ground.”
That was also true.
“It took me almost a year to recover. Then Father was ill and I was expected to run the estate. Some of us have responsibilities. Then my father died and I became the Duke of Bedford and had several duties thrust upon me. I have worked hard and I have waited for my brother Harris to come of age. He’s twenty, almost one and twenty. If anything happens to me he’ll be able to manage the dukedom.” He looked at Jacob. “I would have gone after Murad later this year anyway. Hestia’s situation simply brought my departure forward.”
“That’s why you requested I add more cannons to the Angelica a few months ago.”
He nodded. “I always planned to go after Murad, and a letter I received from Costa just before I came to London meant I would have left England a few months from now anyway.”
Costa was a fisherman who had rescued Alex in the Mediterranean after his escape from Murad.
“Costa has information on Murad?”
Alex continued to fill his plate. He needed to rebuild his strength. “Yes.”
“I assume Costa knows you are coming then? Our arrival will not be a surprise.” As Alex merely grinned, Jacob added, “I wish you had told me this from the start.”
“What difference does it make?”
“I would have suggested confronting Fredrick Cary before leaving London and marrying Hestia before we left. The worst thing that could occur is if Cary joins forces with Murad. The enemy of my enemy is my friend.”
That thought made the food on his plate look like ash. Bloody Cary did know of his past. But would Cary dare to enter any kind of agreement with Murad? Murad was a slippery snake who would turn and strike friend or foe if there was profit in it. However, Murad wanted Alex back—and not only for profit. He’d pay anything to accomplish Alex’s capture. Cary would know that.
That is why he’d instructed his family solicitor not to pay any ransom should he be captured. He’d already decided to die if he were caught. He’d not be Murad’s plaything ever again.
Jacob asked, “You think Fredrick Cary is on that sloop as well?”
Alex nodded. “If I were him I would not leave a loose end like Lady Hestia, or ignore the chance the earl might alert anyone to his treachery before Fredrick disposes of him.”
“Bloody hell, you’re right. We have to capture the sloop.”
“Aye, we do, but not near Pentati. Should we fail we can’t let Cary lead Murad to Costa and his crew.”
Alex took a long slug of wine. “We can’t engage them with Hestia on board. Can we?” At Jacob’s grim face, he added, “You have an idea.”
“I suggest we head to the other side of the island. Wait until nightfall and under the cover of darkness we row Hestia and Foxhall and some men ashore, hoping the sloop is too far away from us to see.”
“Then we engage the sloop.”
“It can’t outrun us for long, and one well-aimed cannon shot should send her to the bottom of the sea.”
He pondered that point. “Don’t we need Fredrick Cary alive?”
“Do we? Would it not be best for Hestia and her father if he did not survive?”
But unless he saw a body, Alex would not take anything for granted. There was too much at stake. “I’d need proof he died. I’d prefer to capture him.”
Alex played with his food as he thought through the situation. Fredrick dead would be a perfectly acceptable choice, but perhaps the earl deserved the right to decide his cousin’s fate. He wanted to kill Murad himself. That honor went to him and him alone. He had this terrible feeling that the terror of his captivity would only fade away if he killed Murad himself.
Would the earl want to exert his own justice against Fredrick Cary?
There was only one problem as Alex saw it. “How do you propose to capture the sloop without sending it to the bottom of the sea? It’s capable of short, sharp bursts of speed and it can tack quicker than us.”
“We simply threaten to sink her. If I know anything of Fredrick Cary, he’s a coward at heart and he’d prefer to live to fight another day.”
“Sometimes you are bloody brilliant.”
Jacob gave a wry smile. “I didn’t think you kept me around for my scintillating conversation.”
Both men smiled with renewed vigor from arriving at a course of action and they both began eating with gusto.
At the end of the meal Jacob said, “You best go and alert Foxhall and her ladyship to our plan. The sooner we capture the sloop, the sooner we can focus on a more evil adversary.”
Alex looked down at his plate. “You can tell them.”
“You have to face her sometime. You have to face both of them. It was you who put the notion of a marriage to Lady Hestia in Foxhall’s head, and it looks as though he’s come to have feelings for the lass.”
Alex’s head whipped round. “Are you implying I should let him marry her as planned?”
Jacob shrugged. “Why do you care? Destroying Murad is all you care about, all you’ve thought about for four long years. You’ve not thought past the day you’ll face your nemesis.”
An image of Hestia large and round with child immediately flashed in his brain—his child. What would it be like to have a family, have her with him always?
He wasn’t a saint where women were concerned, but he’d never fathered a child, and his relationship with Tulay lasted almost two years before she was killed and she had had no issue. He wondered if he could. He’d never cared about children before, consumed with revenge instead. It bothered him that just as he was bent on seeking his revenge, thoughts of a life with Hestia had begun to intrude.
Damn her father. Over the years he had kept away from her on purpose, wanting nothing to confuse his need to slake his thirst for revenge.
The light in his heart was because he’d been Hestia’s first. His body screamed that she belonged to him. His heart slapped in his chest because he knew he did not deserve her. Even now he could not put her first.
“I’m not going to make any decision on who Hestia marries until we reach Pentati. Foxhall doesn’t need to know anything until I decide what to do.”
Jacob shook his head. “That decision speaks volumes. The old Alex would know honor dictates you do the right thing. Don’t let Murad warp you into a man I don’t recognize.” Jacob stood and walked to place a hand on Alex’s shoulder. “Think carefully on what you really want. Revenge makes a cold bedfellow. Even colder if Murad kills you.” Jacob stood looking at him with pity in his eyes, and Alex almost choked on it. “Murad has taken so much from you already. I understand the burning pain and the desire to seek revenge, but wouldn’t the best revenge be to spit on Murad from afar and show him how he has not won? That you have not spent the last four years bitter and tormented but have in fact built a new life full of love and family?”
“I can’t…” Alex’s fists clenched. “I can’t forget…”
Jacob sighed, and his hand left Alex’s shoulder; the coldness crept back into Alex’s skin. “Aye, after what you’ve been through I daresay I’d feel the same.”
There was nothing more to say. Jacob left to go up on deck and Alex knew he ha
d to face Hestia. He couldn’t wait any longer.
He made his way to her cabin and hesitated outside the door. Her supper tray lay on the floor, virtually untouched. Perhaps she was ill. He knocked.
No answer.
He knocked again.
Again, he got no answer.
As quietly as he could, Alex opened the door and looked inside. There was a lantern lighting a strip on the cabin floor. He could just make out Hestia’s tiny frame curled like a child under the sheet.
He stood watching her for a moment, trying to decide if she was feigning sleep. She was breathing evenly. He tiptoed across the cabin until he reached her bunk. The light grazed her face and he could tell that she was indeed asleep.
Her hand was tucked under her cheek, her mouth was slightly open, and she was emitting soft little snuffles. She looked so much younger than twenty. Almost as young as the first time he’d seen her, when she’d stood naked and defiant before Murad.
He couldn’t help himself. He reached out and let his finger glide over her silky, soft cheek. His heart ached in his chest and he silently cursed his nemesis, wondering what his life could have been like if he had not been captured.
Could he have found happiness with a woman like Hestia?
Would his duties as a duke have sustained him?
He thought back over the last four years and all he’d accomplished for his family, tenants, and country. He took pride in the fact that he had worked extremely hard to ensure his estates were profitable. As for the House of Lords, he didn’t attend regularly, but when he did his peers took notice. When he was in attendance, it meant he had something to say and they sat and listened.
Yet deep in his soul all his accomplishments were not enough. They did not chase his nightmares away, nor did they give him peace. He was sure the only way to put the past behind him was to kill Murad with his own two hands. Only then would he find peace.
Not even the beautiful woman lying on this bunk, like an angel, could sway him from his course of action. What he had left of his heart could quite easily belong to her—if he let it. The devil on his shoulder whispered in his ear, If you could capture Fredrick there would be no need for her to marry Foxhall. The selfish man that he was, he realized that he had a chance with Hestia if he forswore Foxhall.
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