Casca 15: The Pirate (13 page)

Going back up the stairs Casca found Michelle still trembling in the corner. Gently he took her hand and said softly, "It's all over." Half carrying her, he took her to her rooms and closed the door behind them. He laid her down on her bed where she instantly fell into the deep sleep of one whose soul needs rest. All the servants had left the house. Casca undressed her and found water and towels. Gently he cleansed her wounds then covered her with a sheet. He left the room for a time to do a little investigating through McAdams' personal papers, but when she awoke with the first light coming through the latticed windows, he was sitting at the edge of her bed.

"What happened?" she asked.

Casca stood. While she was sleeping he had taken the opportunity to clean himself as well, and was nowhere near the fearful apparition of the night before. "It's all over. McAdams is dead and you are now mistress here. He had no other relatives so you own all that was his."

Michelle rose up on one elbow. The sheet slipped away from her exposing one firm breast. She hadn't realized she was naked. But did she know that this strange man had not touched her during the night. There was an odd quality to him, a mixture of violence and gentleness that she hadn't seen in a man before.
Making no attempt to cover herself she reached out her own small hand and took the strong scarred paw of Casca. "I don't know what to do. Will you stay with me?"

Casca grinned to himself. She was a fine looking girl and she would need someone to help her. And after all he was in no great hurry. The Americas could wait a few days longer.

H would send word to Big Jim and Julio not to get impatient. He'd meet them soon enough.

"Yes, I'll stay for a time..."

With a
hardcore group of international mercenaries, Casca assaults a fortress on a mountaintop high above the blistering Algerian desert – to rescue the son of a wealthy munitions dealer and his wife.  But even Casca’s ‘dirty dozen’ might not be able to overcome two hundred of the toughest men the desert ever spawned.

For more information on the entire Casca series see
www.casca.net

The Barry Sadler website
www.barrysadler.com