The Highlander's Pirate Lass (Brothers of Wolf Isle)

by McCollum, Heather

  “The curse says we cannot father bastards,” Adam explained, “but it matters not if they come onto the isle.” He glanced at the children, but they were just staring up at the rafters and the iron chandelier.

  “A stabbed tree, an abandoned village, and a curse,” Alice said, shaking her head. “Any witches about too?”

  “Aye,” Eagan said. “One, near where ye landed on the south side.”

  “Grissell is not a witch,” Eliza said, frowning at him. “She cares for mistreated children and women.”

  “Ye know Grissell?” Callum asked.

  “She visited Wolf Isle before we came back,” Beck explained.

  “Ye steal any sheep while ye were trespassing?” Rabbie asked, narrowing his eyes.

  “No,” Eliza said.

  “Eagan is the youngest of the five of us brothers. Ye’ve met Drostan on board and Adam, the chief, when we landed.”

  “And I am Callum, just a year younger than Beck.”

  “Drostan is his twin,” Lark Macquarie said from the stairwell. She was alone, her bairn likely napping. She smiled broadly, her red hair caught in her usual thick braid to lay over one shoulder. “And I am Lark Macquarie, Adam’s wife and lady of Gylin Castle,” she said.

  Eliza nodded in greeting. “I am Eliza…Wentworth, wife of no one and lady of nothing.”

  Lark’s smile broadened, her gaze shifting to Beck and then back to Eliza. “So glad to have you here, and all of your family.”

  Callum was still staring at Eliza. “Do ye bake tarts? Lark’s sister, Anna, is supposed to make the best tarts. That’s why Beck is going to wed her.”

  “Wed?” Eliza asked.

  “I met Anna once,” Beck said. “I haven’t even tasted her tarts.” He looked to Eliza. “And I have no current plans to wed anyone.”

  Callum made a snorting noise. “Well ye better soon.”

  “We don’t need to marry in the order we were born,” Eagan said. Being the youngest, he liked to make it clear that he could wed before them all if he found the right lass.

  The right lass? Who exactly would that be? Beck always thought she would be a sweet woman with an easy smile and talents for baking. Someone who would see him off as he sailed around Wolf Isle, protecting their home, and who would welcome him back with gratitude and long hugs and longer kisses. In complete contrast, Eliza frowned at him with her arms crossed.

  “And this is Mistress Alice, Pip, Hester, and Anders,” Beck said. Pip dipped into a small curtsey. Hester squirmed for Alice to set her down, where she imitated Pip by dipping low and holding out her skirt.

  “Very nicely done,” Lark said. “I think you are about a year older than my Johnny. When he wakes up from his nap, he can show you some of his toys,” she said to Hester. “And I think our wonderful cook, Jasper, has some tarts in the kitchen.”

  “I love tarts,” Pip said. “We had them on the Calypso.”

  “Do ye bake—” Callum started to say again.

  “No,” Eliza said, glancing his way but then her gaze landed on Beck. “I do make a good fish chowder when we can find fresh cream and butter.”

  “We can definitely find some of that here for you,” Lark said. “Mistress Wentworth, I will take you and your family upstairs where you can take a warm bath and change into fresh clothes. Eagan, see if you can find some tarts to bring up.”

  “Aye.”

  Eliza took a step toward Lark, but Callum jumped in front of her, his hand out as if to grab her arm.

  Beck strode over. “Callum—”

  “Stop.” Eliza’s command snapped out of her, making his brother freeze. A dagger appeared in her hand, and she held it pointed toward Callum’s throat.

  Chapter Five

  Eliza’s blood rushed through her, giving her energy, as she stared at the tall Scotsman who looked as if he would seize her.

  She stared into his wide eyes. “If you or any man touches me without asking, the body part you touched me with will be cut off,” she said and sliced the sharp edge through the air. “Whatever part that is.”

  Beck’s brother stepped back, lowering his hand. She watched the man swallow.

  “Understood?” Eliza asked.

  “Aye,” Callum said, his brows raised high.

  Eliza walked around Callum, never taking her eyes from him. Watching a potential enemy often stopped them from following through on their dark thoughts. She guessed that Callum Macquarie was honorable like Beck, but she took no chances. She walked backward toward Lark at the steps.

  Pip stopped to glare at Callum too. With her free hand, she drew a slicing motion across her neck. “Not a touch, Scotsman,” she said. Hester imitated her glare as she held Pip’s other hand and moved her finger across her own neck.

  “Now show him your teeth,” Pip whispered. Hester opened her mouth wide, making it difficult for Eliza to hold her glare. “No, keep your teeth together,” Pip said, and the child clamped her teeth together with a loud clack. The two girls pulled their lips back into a pair of human snarls.

  Alice frowned at Callum. “As women who must traverse ports, we ladies do not give second chances. No touching, and if the leering gets too strong, you will lose an eye or two.”

  Lark stood behind Eliza. “We are going to get along famously,” she said lightly. Beck, Callum, Eagan, and even Rabbie watched them exit, and they climbed the narrow stone steps up to the floor with bedchambers.

  “This is a small chamber where I keep my bathing tub,” Lark said and pointed to a second door. “That leads to Adam’s and my bedchamber. You can bar both doors, and you will not be disturbed.” She pointed to the hearth where a small cauldron sat on a grate. “The brothers will bring up cold water from the cistern, and you can heat some.”

  “One could drown in that,” Pip said as she inspected the tub, her eyes wide.

  “Pish,” Alice said. “You can swim, and I will bathe Hester.” From the quickness in Alice’s voice, she was just as excited as Eliza to sink into a bath.

  “You must not have much of a chance to have a warm, freshwater bath living on a ship,” Lark said.

  Eliza shook her head. “I had one as a birthday gift on Christmas Day several years ago. At a whorehouse in port.” She still remembered relaxing in the warm water, letting it rise to her chin. She’d stayed in it until the water had turned completely cold.

  “Well, you could have one every day here if you can haul the water,” Lark said. “I have a bathing tub down in our cottage in the village too.”

  “You have a second dwelling?” Eliza asked.

  Lark flushed. “When Adam and I need to be away from his brothers or we are working in the village, sometimes we just stay the night there. If my sisters move here, they may live in it.”

  The children inspected every inch of the room, and Lark told her about the rooms in the castle until they heard footsteps. “Water is here,” someone called. Callum, Eagan, and Beck walked in with buckets, each one pouring fresh water into the tub.

  “Jasper says tarts will be baked by the time ye finish up here,” Callum said with a quick glance at Eliza.

  “Thank you,” Lark said and shooed them out.

  Beck went to the hearth and worked quickly to start a fire. “Ye can heat the cauldron right on the grate,” he said, and crouched to gently blow on the growing flame. Eliza watched the play of his muscles through his tunic. Lord, he was fine to look at.

  He stood, turning to Eliza. “Your trunk has been placed in a room down the hall where there are three small beds. Next door is one with two beds.”

  “Where do you sleep?” Eliza asked, not quite sure why that seemed important.

  He met her gaze, and something stirred in her stomach. His eyes were dark in the room, but she knew they were a pale gray. “We are each working on a cottage in the village where we will eventually live.”
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br />   “You are always welcome at Gylin,” Lark said, straining with the water-filled cauldron.

  Beck took it from her and set it on the grate. “’Tis crowded here,” he said, and Lark laughed. “My place is nearly finished, so I will sleep there,” Beck said.

  Pip’s eyes grew round. “In the haunted village?”

  He chuckled. “I am not afraid of ghosts or curses or even pirates.”

  “Well, I am,” Pip said, going to the fire to stare at the heating water.

  “A good amount of fear keeps you alive,” Alice said. “As long as it doesn’t paralyze you.”

  “Wise words, Mistress Alice,” Lark said. “Come along, Beck. Let’s leave them to their baths.”

  Eliza stood at the door, closing it slowly as she watched Beck walk away toward the tower stairs. He looked even larger inside the confined space. At the top of the steps, he glanced back as if he felt her stare. Their gazes connected and her breath stopped. Damn. He had some sway over her.

  She frowned over her reaction and pulled back into the room, closing the door.

  …

  Beck sat at the table in the great hall, watching Anders fidget with his empty plate. “We eat when they come down?” the lad asked. He’d bathed in the loch with Beck, Drostan, and Rabbie and was dressed in clean clothes that the boy had pulled from the stuffed trunk upstairs.

  “Eat a bannock while ye wait,” Beck said. A growing boy was forever hungry. Anders snatched up the oatcake.

  Pip’s voice came from the turning tower stairs. “I could have stayed in that bath forever.”

  “Me too,” Hester said, her little voice high-pitched like a bird’s chirp.

  Beck stood and tugged at Anders. “Ye should stand when a lady enters the room.”

  “What? Why?” he asked, his mouth full of bannock. Beck lifted under his thin arm, and the boy stood. Adam and his brothers walked in through the entryway, but Beck kept his gaze on the alcove as the two ladies and two children emerged.

  Eliza wore another blue dress, perhaps one of Lark’s. A white smock, edged in lace, lifted above the bodice that was cinched to show Eliza’s waist and the curves she had hidden well under her sailor’s tunic. Stays pushed her lush breasts upward and petticoats belled out her skirt. Her hair had dried in loose curls of gold, half of it plaited and pinned to the top of her head. With the added color from the sun, she radiated health that came from exercising outdoors.

  He could not stop studying her as she walked with a grace that came from growing up on a moving ship. Her nose was straight and just the perfect size for her face, set between eyes full of depth. He’d never thought of a lass’s eyes before and realized that he’d like to look in Eliza’s longer.

  Eliza’s sharp gaze quickly took in the room, as if she must always know where danger lurked. Was Jandeau responsible for her constant wariness? Or Captain John?

  Callum came to stand next to Beck. “Does she have to look so bloody fetching?” he said under his breath.

  “Ye will be missing a hand or a set of lips before she leaves,” Eagan said to him. Anders snorted, crumbs on his lips.

  Beck cut Callum a shaming look. “She has been through enough. Do not give her reason to defend herself.”

  Callum’s face pinched in. “Och, Beck, ye foking know I wouldn’t do anything a lass wouldn’t want me to do.”

  “Aye,” Beck said. “But it won’t do to become attached to her if she’s planning to leave as soon as she can.”

  “Ye best remember that too,” Eagan said.

  Beck glanced at Anders. “She doesn’t plan to marry ever, does she?”

  “Nay,” Anders said. “Never.”

  “Excellent,” Lark said, striding in with her son, Johnny. With red hair, chubby cheeks, and happy blue eyes, the bairn was nearly as big as Hester even though he was at least a year younger. Adam came over to take the lad.

  Eliza sat across from Beck, with Pip and Hester between her and Alice. Eliza smiled at Anders, and again Beck watched her face, soaking in the softening. “You look clean,” she said.

  “I smell good too,” he answered. “Captain Beck uses a soap with pine needles in it.” Anders held up his arm and sniffed along it. “I smell like the forest.” He looked at Eliza. “What do you smell like?”

  Aye. What did she smell like? Beck could imagine inhaling along her warm nape under the fall of her golden hair.

  Eliza imitated the boy by inhaling along her own bare arm. “Lemon and rosemary.”

  “The lady of Aros Castle makes soaps in many different scents,” Lark said. “Strawberry is my favorite. I will find you some to try.”

  “’Tis my favorite too,” Adam said, but his tone made it apparent that he liked strawberry the best on his wife, not himself. He leaned over and kissed the bare skin above her shoulder. God’s teeth. His older brother exuded utter contentment. ’Twas part of why he and his brothers were working on their own cottages, so they wouldn’t keep stumbling upon them kissing and tupping in dark corners. As if they didn’t already have the largest bedchamber in the castle.

  “Can we eat now?” Anders asked.

  “Certainly,” Adam said.

  “First,” Eliza cut in, raising an eyebrow at the lad, “we say a thanks for our food.”

  Pip frowned at Anders. “You know that, because there are so many without.”

  “Very true,” Lark said, cutting a stern glance across at Beck and his brothers.

  Eliza bowed her head. Beck did, too, but kept his eyes open, free to watch her without her catching him. There were other colors in her golden hair, browns and even a hint of red. When her eyes were closed, her long lashes fanned out under her eyes.

  “We thank you, Lord, for making this food available for us. Keep us healthy, strong, and courageous or take us away from this world,” she said. “Amen.”

  “And squeeze the hearts of our enemies until they burst and they descend to hell,” Pip said and looked up at Eliza. “You forgot that part.”

  Eagan laughed from his spot down the table.

  “Captain John’s favorite prayer is not suitable for all tables,” Alice said.

  Eliza reached forward to spoon out a piece of mutton pie for each of her wards, Alice, and finally herself.

  “This Captain John sounds like an interesting fellow,” Adam said. “Ye have been on his ship for ten years?”

  Eliza chewed, and Beck could see her face tighten. No matter how casually Adam asked, she was clever enough to know she was being questioned.

  “Aye,” she said and took another bite.

  “Have ye all been on his ship for that long? Well, those of ye older than ten?”

  Eliza set down her spoon. “One’s history is one’s own to tell. If they wish to tell you, that is up to them.”

  “How about ye then?” Adam asked. Lark placed her hand on his arm, but he did not pull the question back.

  Eliza set her cup down and faced Adam. “When I was twelve, Captain Jandeau boarded the ship that my parents, baby brother, and I were sailing on from England to Ireland where my father was to be stationed. Jandeau stabbed my father through his chest and gave my mother to his crew to be raped repeatedly until they slit her throat and threw her overboard. I was kept alive to sell into slavery. I was onboard the Bourreau for two weeks when Captain John came across Jandeau’s ship.”

  She took a sip of her wine and set it back with a clunk on the table. Everyone sat in silence as she spoke, only the children eating. “John knew Jandeau well enough to check his cabin. He found me there and dragged me out. Captain John’s crew crippled the Bourreau’s sails while he swung me back across to the Devil’s Blood. I have been there ever since.”

  The room was silent. “And your brother?” Lark whispered, her face pale. After all, that could have been her if Adam and their family hadn’t rescued her.

>   Beck watched Eliza swallow and then inhale slowly as if pain bit down within her. “I did not see him after I was locked in Jandeau’s cabin.”

  “We found Hester holding onto a piece of floating gunwale several months ago,” Pip said. She shrugged when Anders frowned at her. “She is too young to tell.” She looked back down the table. “Her ship was torn apart in a storm. She is the only one we found alive.”

  No one said anything. Most of them, like Beck, had probably lost their appetites. Silence fell along the table until Alice cleared her throat. She had washed too and looked quite handsome in a green costume. “Captain John’s men also rescued me from Jandeau’s ship. I had not seen Eliza or her brother because I’d been shackled below.”

  Lark’s hand pressed against her heart. “I… I can only imagine the horror.”

  Alice flushed as if she knew what everyone was imagining. “I luckily get very ill at sea, and the smell of vomit, and the fact I did not try to stop myself from soiling myself and all who came close, deterred the men for the three days I was there before Captain John and his crew boarded the Bourreau.”

  Lark looked at Adam. “I need to write to Anna to let her know Jandeau is back in Scottish waters.”

  He nodded, his face grim.

  “I was taken off a different boat,” Pip said. “It was a horrible place with very smelly pirates. Luckily, I was too young to remember much.” The girl looked down at her plate while she spoke and then began eating again.

  Everyone along the table turned their gazes to Anders. He finished chewing and shrugged. “I was raised in a whorehouse in the West Indies. Mistress Amanda said Captain Jandeau dropped me off there when I was a baby and would come back for me someday. Captain John paid her for me before that happened.”

  “Does that mean ye belong to Captain John?” Beck asked, his voice rough.

  “No,” Eliza said, her eyes cutting to him. “A human belongs to no man. ’Tis Captain John’s belief. We are all free to go, but we choose to stay to help others.”

  “Is that what your captain does?” Lark asked. “Saves children and women from pirates?”