The Pirate Lord (32 page)

Confound it, what had she said?
If you’re willing to fight for it instead of letting it die
. Perhaps he hadn’t fought hard enough for her either. She’d gone away, and he’d let her, so angry over her betrayal that he hadn’t acted when he could have.

But now that he looked back on those weeks they’d had together—and especially the last two days—he couldn’t believe she hadn’t meant any of the things she’d said about wanting to marry him and help him rebuild Atlantis. No one had forced her to agree to marry him, after all. And if she’d known her brother was coming to rescue her, why hadn’t she simply resisted Gideon’s attempts at seduction until her brother arrived?

His blood ran cold. Perhaps he’d been too hasty in assuming she wanted to leave. He strained to remember what Ann and Petey had told him that night on the beach. Petey
had
hinted that Sara had been forced, before Ann had stopped him. And what had Ann said about Sara’s begging her brother not to attack the island? Perhaps it hadn’t been her brother she was concerned about.

He shook his head. He was pinning his hopes on a few chance words and misconstrued meanings.

Yet he couldn’t shake the feeling that something else had gone on that day to make her leave without a word.

“Well, Cap’n,” came a lilting voice from the door, “she’s borne a fine baby girl.”

He turned to find Ann standing there beaming. Relief swept through him, so intense it staggered him. “And she’s all right? And the baby?”

“Both right as rain. Queenie surprised us all, she did, but she knew what she was doin’ and took good care of them both.”

“Thank God somebody knew what to do.” He raked one hand through his hair wearily. “I certainly didn’t.”

Ann started to leave.

“Ann?” he called out.

“Yes, Cap’n?”

“I want you to tell me exactly what happened the day Sara left.”

She dropped her gaze to the floor. “I…I already did.”

“You didn’t tell me everything, did you? You kept something back.”

She drew a circle on the floor with her slippered foot. “It don’t matter what happened that day, Cap’n. Miss Willis will come back soon as she can. I know she will.”

“I can’t wait for that.” He drew in a breath and thought of how close Molly had come to losing her child and her life. “I’m going to England. I’m taking any women who wish to return. I won’t have the blood of any more women on my hands.” He paused, feeling more at peace than he had in a long time. “And I’m going to find Sara, and make her see that her place is here. I have to find her. I must tell her that I need her…that I love her.”

Her gaze flew up to his, fraught with worry and fear. “Oh, but Cap’n, you can’t! You mustn’t! If you go after
her, what she did will all be for naught! She’d never forgive me if I let you go! Never!”

He went still. “What do you mean?”

Clapping a hand over her mouth, she stared at him with round eyes.

“Ann, tell me the truth. Why wouldn’t she forgive you? Does she…does she hate me?”

“Oh, no, Cap’n! How could she ever hate you?” Ann twisted her hands in her apron as if debating something. Then she sighed. “Her brother—the earl, that is—he told her he’d raze the island if she didn’t go back with him to England. She feared he’d do it, too. He’d brought plenty of men and guns to do it and was sore determined. He relented only when she agreed to leave with him.”

So Sara hadn’t betrayed him. Sara had done what she always did—sacrificed everything for the ones she loved. Anger filled him—anger at Sara’s brother, anger at Ann and Petey for lying to him…and most of all, anger at himself for believing that Sara would ever willingly abandon him.

“Why did you let me think she
wanted
to leave?” he said in a voice raw with pain as he took a step toward her. “Why would you do that, knowing how I felt about her?”

Guilt shadowed Ann’s face. “I didn’t want to do it. I had to. She made me promise not to tell you the truth, because she was afraid of the very thing you’re speakin’ of. That you’d go to England after her, and get yourself hanged. She feared for your life too much to risk it.”

“As if I have any kind of a life without her,” he bit out. “Now I
have
to go. I can’t leave her there with her beast of a brother.”

“No, you can’t go after her! It would break her heart if you were caught! She said she’d do whatever she could to return, and I know that she—”

“Do you really think he’ll let her come back here? A man who’d threaten to destroy everything she loves to
get her to return with him?” He clenched his fists, wishing he could use them on Sara’s brother. “He won’t let her go.
I
wouldn’t if I were him.”

“Oh, Cap’n,” Ann wailed, “if the English take you, they’ll hang you!”

“The English haven’t caught me before this,” he said fiercely, “and I certainly won’t let them catch me this time.”

“But—”

“I’m going to England, and that’s the end of it, Ann. Tell the women that I’ll take anyone who wants to return with me. Or if they fear returning to England, I’ll take them to Santiago and pay their passage to wherever they wish.”

Ann’s face mirrored her astonishment. “There are some who would go, but I think most would prefer to stay.”

He softened his tone. “If any of them want to stay, we’ll be happy to have them, of course, whether they choose to marry or not. But I’m done with the business of finding wives for my men. From now on, they’ll have to find wives of their own…
willing
wives, if I have anything to say about it.”

Stepping nearer, Ann reached up and pressed a soft kiss to his cheek. “You’re a good man, Cap’n Horn. I know that Miss Willis would be here with you if she could.”

“She
will
be here with me. She’ll be here if I have to scour all of the confounded British Isles to find her.”

W
ith a crisp snap, the
Satyr
’s snowy sails caught the breeze, and the ship pulled away from Sao Nicolau. Standing at the helm, Gideon steered the ship toward England with building impatience. It had taken him nearly three weeks to get this far. The ship hadn’t been in any shape for a long journey, so they’d wasted valuable time in careening it and tarring the rigging before they could even leave Atlantis. Then once they’d reached Santiago, they’d had to lay in supplies and a cargo that would help them pass for a merchant ship when they sailed into English waters.

They’d also had to see to the needs of the eleven women, and their children, who’d chosen to leave Atlantis. Eight of the women had wished to take passage elsewhere from Santiago. He’d had to find them lodgings and arrange passage on other ships. All of that had taken time.

The other three were aboard the
Satyr
. They’d insisted
on returning to England despite the risk of being caught again. Among them were Molly, little Jane, and Molly’s newborn. He fully intended to see that Molly was reunited with her husband, no matter what it took. She wanted to bring her husband back to Atlantis, and he’d agreed to that, as long as the man wanted to come.

He was gratified that in the end, only eleven women had wanted to leave. Most had been content with the island, despite the bad beginning he’d given them. And of the ones who’d stayed, most had taken husbands.

Screening his eyes from the morning sun, he gauged the distance around the island’s peninsula and tacked into the wind. He hoped to make England in no more than two weeks, despite having to travel against the trade winds. The
Satyr
was traveling light, after all, with just a token cargo and a skeleton crew. He hadn’t wanted to risk any more of his men than necessary if he or the ship were captured in England. The few men who’d agreed to sail with him hadn’t minded the risk. They were men of daring who for one reason or another had wanted to see England. A couple even intended on finding wives to bring back to Atlantis.

“It feels good to be sailing again, doesn’t it?” Barnaby said at Gideon’s side. Gideon glanced at his first mate. Barnaby was one of those who’d come because he enjoyed danger. Sometimes Gideon doubted the man would ever really settle down.

“Yes, it does feel good,” Gideon replied, but only half meant it. Although he loved the sea as much as any sailor, he’d grown to love Atlantis more. Already he missed the grainy feel of sand beneath his bare feet, the chatter of the children playing in the stream, and the woodsy scent of the forest.

But perhaps he missed those things only because he’d shared them with Sara. And it was Sara he missed most of all.

“What do the men think of my changing the rules concerning the women?” Gideon asked. None of his
men had been courageous enough to broach the subject, especially during his foul mood after Sara had left.

Barnaby leaned against the rail with a thoughtful look on his face. “The men are as soft-hearted as you, apparently. They actually seem to approve. I guess they decided you were right—that a lifetime with an unwilling wife wasn’t a pleasant prospect.”

“I wish I’d realized it sooner.” Before he’d driven Sara beyond his reach. Before he’d fallen in love with a prickly reformer who’d probably rather have him thrashed for kidnapping the women than marry him.

No matter. He could endure a thrashing if he had to—as long as she married him afterward.

And if she didn’t? If she proved to be fickle after all? If she threw his proposal of marriage back in his face and announced that she thought herself well rid of him? What then?

The possibility had tortured him throughout the past three weeks. He’d continually plagued Petey and Ann with requests to recount what had transpired between Sara and her brother, yet despite their constant insistence that she’d been forced, he didn’t feel completely easy. Even though her brother had forced her to leave, a great deal could have happened in the two months since she’d been gone. Once away from the island and back among her social circle, she might have decided that her life on Atlantis had been a disturbing dream and nothing more. She might not want to see him at all.

Yet he had to risk it, even if it meant ending up like his father—tormented by memories of lost love every waking hour.

Barnaby suddenly let out a low whistle at Gideon’s side, jarring him from his dark thoughts. “Look there, Captain. ’Tis a shame that we aren’t roving anymore. Now there’s the perfect prize. An English merchantman.”

Gideon followed Barnaby’s gaze. A large ship was sailing into the Cape Verde Islands under an English
flag. Sitting low in the water, she looked sweet and plump, ready for the picking to anyone interested in chasing her down. “Aye, a pretty prize indeed. But not pretty enough to tempt me. I’m done with piracy, Barnaby. For good.”

“Are you?” Barnaby’s eyes narrowed. “This ship may change your mind.”

“Nothing will change my mind,” Gideon said dismissively as he turned back to the helm.

“Don’t be so hasty. Look at the ship’s name, and then tell me you don’t want to board this particular ship.”

With impatience, Gideon scanned the side of the ship. There, in plain gold letters, was written the name
Defiant
. He straightened at once and reached for the spyglass.

“Wasn’t that the name of the Earl of Blackmore’s ship,” Barnaby muttered, “the one that took Miss Willis away?”

Gideon nodded as he scanned the ship’s hull, then swept the glass over the decks. He saw nothing to indicate it, but he couldn’t suppress the hope that it bore Sara. Could she already be—

No, not so soon, he realized. Not with a brother like hers. “I doubt there are two
Defiants
that have reason to sail in these waters. It’s got to be his. I’ll wager that bastard Englishman has come back to finish where he left off the last time he was at Atlantis. Since Sara wouldn’t let him level the island then, he probably left her in England and came back to do it without her.” A grim smile touched his lips. “He’s in for a surprise, isn’t he? I’ll take his ship before I let him go within a mile of Atlantis.”

“Take his ship? With what? We scarcely have any crew to speak of.”

“When have desperate odds ever stopped us?” Gideon surveyed the other ship’s crew through the spyglass, wondering why there were so few of them. “We have plenty of cannon, and his ship doesn’t look that
well manned. We can take him in a sea battle, I’ll wager. If he refuses to come to and let us board him, I swear I’ll blow fifty holes in his hull until I flush the coward out of hiding. If he’s aboard, I’ll make him tell me where she is. If he’s not, I’ll hold the ship for ransom until he gives her to me. Either way, I
will
take his ship.”

“You’re quite mad, you know,” Barnaby said, most sincerely. Then he shrugged. “All the same, I must say I miss a good fight at sea.”

Catching sight of the
Defiant
’s English flag, Gideon muttered, “It’s a shame we destroyed our old Jolly Roger.”

There was a long silence before Barnaby stammered, “Um…we didn’t exactly…that is…”

Gideon held the spyglass aside as he stared at his first mate. “I thought I ordered it destroyed at the end of our last voyage.”

“You did. But…well…I thought you might change your mind, so I kept it. It’s in my cabin.”

Gideon suppressed a smile. “I ought to sentence you to sanding the decks for a week for disobeying orders, Mr. Kent. But I suppose I can overlook your transgression this time.” He returned to observing the
Defiant
through the spyglass. “Tell me, have we ever taken one of Blackmore’s ships that you know of?”

Barnaby grinned. “I don’t recall ever hearing that name spoken by any of the crews we’ve…er…entertained.”

“Then it’s high time we took one, don’t you think?”

“Aye, aye, Captain. Mustn’t let the good earl get too cocky about his prowess at sea.”

“Indeed.” Gideon set down the spyglass with a determined smile. “This earl definitely needs taking down a peg or two. And you and I are just the men to do it.”

Sara sat at breakfast in the saloon of the
Defiant
with Lord and Lady Dryden and Jordan. She picked absently at her food, too excited to eat. They were nearing the
Cape Verde Islands, only two days’ sail from Atlantis. She could hardly believe Jordan had finally agreed to transport her to the island. But he’d had little choice, once the marquess and his wife had brought pressure to bear on him. If he hadn’t agreed, the marquess would have chartered a ship himself to go to the island, taking Sara with him. And Jordan never liked relinquishing control of a situation.

Sara had come to like Lady Dryden a great deal on this trip. And her husband, too. Although the man was obviously several years older than his wife, Lord Dryden had none of the pretensions that men of his rank and age often possessed. Indeed, his regal bearing, aristocratic features, and warm smile reminded Sara very much of her late stepfather.

So here they were, the four of them, traveling to Atlantis. The other three were conversing on some subject that might have been of interest to her if her mind hadn’t been preoccupied with thoughts of Gideon. He was almost within her grasp. She had so much to tell him, so much to say that she could hardly contain it all.

Her only fear was that he wouldn’t give her the chance to speak. Oh, if he refused to see her, to hear her out, she would never be able to bear it. Never.

The door to the saloon swung open, and the first mate rushed in. “My lord, there’s a ship to starboard, gaining on us fast! And she’s flying the Jolly Roger!”

As Jordan let out a curse, Sara leapt up from her chair so quickly she knocked it over. She ran into her cabin. The others came in behind her as she gazed out the porthole, straining to catch a glimpse of the ship that was well on their heels. Then she saw the figurehead. It was the
Satyr
. There was no mistaking it.

“Gideon,” she breathed, her heart pounding faster.

Lord and Lady Dryden started murmuring behind her as Jordan came to her side. “I thought you said the Pirate Lord had given up piracy.”

“He has.” She faced them all. Lord and Lady Dryden
looked concerned and Jordan looked positively livid. She crossed her arms over her chest stubbornly. “He has,” she repeated more firmly. “Of course he has.”

“Then why is he here,” her brother asked, “chasing after us and flying the Jolly Roger?”

“I don’t know.” She tilted her chin up. “But he must have a good reason for it.”

“We’ll find out soon enough, won’t we?” Whirling away, Jordan strode past Lord and Lady Dryden out of the cabin and into the saloon.

Sara rushed after him as her other companions followed. “What are you going to do, Jordan?”

“I’m going to determine just how ‘honest’ and ‘kind’ your pirate captain really is.”

“What do you mean? What—”

She broke off as the captain entered the saloon, his face mottled with fury. “It’s the Pirate Lord, or so one of my sailors tells me. They’ve ordered us to ‘heave to.’ With your permission, my lord, I’d like to fight. I think we can win, even though we’ve not as many men as I’d like.”

“No!” cried three voices at once.

When the captain stared at her and her companions in astonishment, Jordan grimaced. “I’m afraid fighting is out of the question, captain. You see, my sister intends to marry the Pirate Lord, and Lord and Lady Dryden are here to make sure it happens. Much as I’d like to order you to blow the
Satyr
out of the water, I can’t. If I do, one of them is liable to murder me in my sleep, and then you’ll have no one to pay your wages, will you?”

The captain cast his employer an incredulous look. “So you want us to heave to?”

“Yes.” Jordan’s voice held an edge. “But have your men armed and at the ready, hidden from the pirates. If anything goes wrong, we should be prepared.”

With a curt nod, the captain left. Jordan turned to
Sara. “I want you to stay here until I’ve spoken with him.”

“No!” she protested. “You’ll shoot him, Jordan, and I won’t have that!”

“Sara, I’ve agreed to all of your terms until now. The least you owe me is the chance to determine if your pirate captain’s intentions are honorable. This attack on my ship doesn’t give me confidence in his supposed willingness to ‘retire.’ And I’m not going to simply hand you over to him unless I’m sure he’ll treat you well.”

“But Jordan—”

“He’s right,” Lord Dryden interrupted. “I think we should all stay below until we’re sure there’s no danger.”

Sara might like Lord Dryden, but she certainly didn’t appreciate his interference just now.

Apparently, neither did his wife. “That is my
son
out there, Marcus, and I shan’t sit in here twiddling my thumbs when I finally have the chance to hold him in my arms again!”

“I share your feelings completely, my dear. But no matter what we feel, we don’t yet know this man. He’s unpredictable, and according to Miss Willis, very bitter. I think it’s best to test the waters, so to speak, before we reveal ourselves.”

“Then we’re in agreement,” Jordan told the marquess. “You’ll stay here with the ladies? Look out for them if anything goes wrong?”

“Nothing will go wrong unless you
make
it go wrong!” Sara protested, but both Jordan and Lord Dryden ignored her words. When Lord Dryden gave his agreement, Jordan walked out the door.

“Jordan!” she shouted after him. “Don’t you dare hurt him!”

Coming up beside her, Lord Dryden patted her shoulder. “There now, Miss Willis, it will be all right. Your brother may be hot-tempered, but he does care about you.”

“If he lays one hand on Gideon, I’ll strangle him,” she said fervently.

“Don’t worry,” his lordship interrupted with a faint smile. “If he lays one hand on Gideon, my wife and I will hold your brother down while you do.”

Gideon stepped aboard the
Defiant
with several of his men, uneasiness in the pit of his stomach. This had been too simple. They’d ordered the ship to heave to, and it had complied without a murmur of protest. He motioned to Barnaby, who boarded the ship out of sight of its captain, accompanied by fifteen more of Gideon’s best men.