The Pirate Takes A Bride (23 page)

N
ick finally released her, and she would have crumpled to the ground if he hadn’t held her. Slowly, they sank to the soft sandy beach together. Nick immediately turned her. She complied, though she didn’t understand what he was doing, at first.

“Your back,” he said. “God, I’m an arse.”

Her back did feel slightly tender. “What’s wrong?”

“It’s scraped. I was too rough and hurt you.” He moved to stand, and she grabbed his hand.

“I’m not so polite, remember? Perhaps I like being taken against a tree.” She saw the apology in his eyes, and it was enough to ease any discomfort a few scratches on her back produced. “Let’s wash off. Next time we’ll find a rock or a wall.”

“Next time I have other ideas for what I’ll do to you—and how.”

It was a lie, she knew. Not a malicious lie, but a carefully woven illusion. He would leave her before there could be a next time. At least, he would try. She led him into the water, where they spent another quarter hour floating and talking. And when he kissed her again, when he pulled her against him, taking her slowly and gently this time, she wanted to cry when she came. He’d been so gentle, so loving. She almost felt as though he loved her.

“How do you feel?” he asked as he held her afterward, the water lapping around them. She knew he asked because he was concerned he’d hurt her, and she intended to tell him she felt fine. She could do it again. She meant to say,
I loved it
. Instead she said, “I love you.”

Instantly, he stiffened and pulled back from her. She saw a look of panic cross his face before he carefully controlled the expression. How completely pathetic she felt. She didn’t even know why she had made such a ridiculous statement.

“Ashley, I…” he began, clearly choosing his words carefully.

“Oh, do not bother,” she said, pushing out of his arms and trudging out of the water. She pulled her shift down from the tree branch, tugged it over her nakedness, and walked to where her damp blouse and skirt hung. They were almost dry. Another hour perhaps. From the corner of her eye, she saw he’d followed her out of the water. She could not stop her gaze from tracking him. He was so beautiful. So perfect, with his long lean legs, his slim hips, his broad shoulders. His wet hair flowed down his shoulders and rivulets of water cascaded down his chest. She wanted to lick one of those little drops of water.

Either that or smack him hard in the center of the forehead. She held up a hand to stop his progress. “Do not apologize to me. Do not explain. No trite words are necessary. I don’t even know why I said…what I said. I didn’t mean it. I must have been overcome with feminine emotion.”

She could see in the way he quirked his lips that he didn’t believe her. She hardly believed herself. Because when he had kissed her ruined flesh, when he had touched her leg and told her she was beautiful, she had felt something very much like love.

But now she hated him all over again. Why hadn’t he just kissed her or laughed when she’d said it? Why did he have to panic as though she were some debutante trying to snare him? She’d already snared him—they’d snared each other! And now they were stuck. She knew he didn’t love her. She knew what he loved—his ship and his damned revenge. So let him have it.

“Ashley…” he began again. She turned away.

“Don’t you have preparations to make? Aren’t you sailing away soon? The hour grows late.” She made a shooing motion with her hand. “You had better run along.”

She waited until he’d dressed and walked back the way he’d come before she sat on the log and put her face in her hands. She didn’t cry, though. She wanted to cry when she thought of him as that little boy who’d lost his mother. She wanted to weep with sorrow for him because he was still that little boy, still trying to save them all by playing the shining knight. He could better save them by putting down his sword and shield for good.

Rissa found her still sitting near the pond a half hour later. Ashley had dressed in her now dry clothing and was attempting to free the snarls from her hair with a borrowed comb. It was late afternoon and rather warm and sticky. The monkeys had been hooting and screeching all afternoon, and she was sick of hearing them. She was almost glad for Rissa’s appearance as the little girl would chatter so much it would drown out the apes. Rissa’s cheeks were rosy pink from running in the heat.

“They are leaving on the tide in the morning,” she stated without even a hello.

Ashley nodded. She had suspected as much. “Then we have to figure out a way to get on the ship before morning. They’ll be ferrying supplies back and forth all night. We sneak on one of the longboats, hide under a canvas, and then—”

Rissa was shaking her head. “They will find us.”

Ashley gave her a skeptical look, and Rissa explained, “I tried that when I was four.”

Ashley frowned. So the girl thought her idea only worthy of a four-year-old. But it was all she had. “I don’t have any other ideas,” Ashley admitted.

“I do. Follow me.” And the girl started through the jungle without even looking to see if Ashley followed.

“Where are we going?” Ashley finally asked after she’d been scratched on the arm and the cheek by tree limbs. Rissa, being short, had an easier time avoiding the tree branches and spiky leaves. Ashley just knew the monkeys were watching them and waiting for an opportunity to throw rotten food or something worse.

“To the cave where we hid. It's just up here.”

Ashley had a sense of the island’s layout now, a rough map of it in her mind. She knew the cave where the women and children had hidden was just past the village, up high, so it overlooked the beach below. It was hidden from view by dense shrubbery. One of the pirates had pointed it out to her, and she had stared at the spot for a long time before she had been able to see the opening to a cave. She realized Rissa must have taken the long way around to avoid the village. They would have reached the cave much more quickly if they’d gone through the village.

The sailors on the beach, including Nick, might have also seen them too has they taken the village route. The advantage of this path was that they came upon the cave from the back of the hill and could enter unobserved.

Once inside, Ashley paused. She’d never been in a cave before, and the sudden darkness and silence surprised her. She wanted light. “We don’t have a torch.”

“I know the way,” Rissa said, her high voice echoing. “There’s an opening in the rock here, and you can see. Come on.”

I am not afraid
, Ashley told herself as she moved inward, bending over to avoid hitting her head, but she was glad when she spotted a shaft of light ahead and could make out Rissa’s little form moving toward it. Ashley stood under the shaft of light and looked up. Above was the blue sky of the island. Earlier in the day, the sun might have been directly overhead. Looking down, she could see evidence of inhabitation. There were signs of a cooking fire and rocks and old logs had been brought in as seating. A tattered piece of canvas had been left, forgotten

“Is this where you hid?”

The little girl nodded and looked down. “They couldn’t find us here.”

Ashley could see the tears in the little girl’s eyes. The poor child had lost her mother, countless friends, everything she had known. What did one say to soothe a pain like that? What did one say to comfort a child? Ashley didn’t know the words, so she pulled the little girl into an awkward embrace. “You are safe now.”

“I don’t want to stay here,” the little girl said against her shoulder. Her small arms were wrapped around Ashley’s neck, and the child’s embrace was not quite as terrifying as Ashley had imagined. She could feel the little girl’s fear in her rigid form and the way she trembled. How could Ashley ease her fear? Yussef could come back. The little girl had a right to be afraid.

“You won’t stay here. We’ll find a way to get on board,” she finally said.

“Look at this!” The little girl moved out of Ashley’s arms and pulled at the old piece of canvas. Beneath it, she revealed a chest like the ones Ashley had seen in the great cabin on board the
Robin Hood.
The little girl struggled to open the chest, and Ashley caught the latch and helped her lift the heavy lid. Inside was a blue coat. Ashley pulled it out, recognizing it as the sort naval officers wore. On the sleeve were two gold stripes, and one had a loop. She did not know much about rank in the navy. Two of her older brothers had joined the Hussars, but none of the five seemed interested in a position in the navy. They could talk about horses until her ears bled, but ships and shipboard officers were a less common topic of conversation.

She pulled out several other articles of clothing, and beneath them, she found a sheaf of papers tied with a thin cord. She lifted it and spotted several medals below. Why would medals such as those be left in an old trunk in a forgotten cave? She scanned the documents she held, feeling her jaw drop open.

“Can you read?” the little girl asked.

“Yes.” Yes, she could read very well. She turned to another paper, and her eyes widened further. “I don’t believe it.” She turned to another paper. “No!”

“What’s wrong?” the little girl asked.

Ashley allowed the papers to drop into her lap. “Your father was a commissioned officer in the royal navy. He was a lieutenant.” She had known he’d been part of the navy but not his rank. She lifted one of the medals. “And he was decorated for bravery.”

“That’s very bad!”

Ashley smiled at the little girl. “No. It’s not bad at all. It’s very good, but it surprised me.”

The little girl took one of the medals and held it to her hair as though it were some sort of ribbon or hair ornament. Ashley laughed. “Did you know this was your father’s?”

“Yes. He doesn’t like to talk about it.”

“I imagine he doesn’t.”

“I can hide in it.” The little girl scrambled inside the trunk. There was plenty of room for her. “And you can take it on the ship.”

Ashley nodded. It was a crude plan, but it might work. She could tell one of the men Nick had asked her to see the trunk delivered to his great cabin personally. He’d say his farewells tonight and sleep on board in order to be ready to depart on the tide. The men would assume Nick wanted her as his companion for the night. Once on board, she could hide, and Rissa would be taken to the great cabin in the trunk, which would probably be overlooked during the preparations. If they both managed to stay hidden until the ship was well away from the island, Nick would have to take both of them with him.

While Rissa practiced getting in and out of the trunk—and in and out again—Ashley perused the documents in her hand. The medal for bravery had apparently been in a battle against Yussef. Nick’s ship had suffered heavy losses against the pirate and his small fleet of ships, but Nick had fought bravely.

Was that when his hatred of Yussef began? Was he angry Yussef had escaped? A letter fell free, and Ashley opened it.

Dear Lord Nicholas,

Thank you for our kind letter of condolence. We are bearing the news of Ralph as well as can be expected. You need not apologize for not saving him. You were a good friend to him. He wrote of you often…

“That’s it,” she murmured to herself. Rissa was climbing out of the trunk yet again. “That’s where this desire for revenge started.” Nick had distinguished himself in the battle against Yussef, but the Barbary pirate had managed to escape. The blow stung even more because Nick’s friend had been killed during the battle, and he blamed himself.

Quite suddenly, Ashley understood why and how Nick had become a pirate. He’d wanted vengeance against Yussef, but the royal navy would never have allowed Nick the freedom to pursue the pirate as he wished. So he’d left to avenge his friend, and in the process became a pirate himself. She stood and moved back through the blackness to the cave’s opening. She peered out at the small group of survivors on the beach. Just below she could see patches of the burned ground where the village had once been. Now Nick had more than simply his friend Ralph to avenge.

“Rissa,” she called as she made her way back into the cave. She replaced the medals and papers and arranged the coat so Rissa might pull it over herself once inside. “We’d better go down before we’re missed. I’ll ask Mr. Fellowes to carry this trunk down to the beach. After we say our farewells to your father, you hide inside, and I’ll make sure we are taken aboard.”

Rissa smiled. “I’m so happy you are my new mother! You are much braver than any other woman I know.”

Ashley nodded. Was she brave? Sneaking onto a vessel intent upon attack and a sea battle to the death? Her mother had always said what the Brittany children called bravery was but a mere shade from foolishness.

N
ick had expected more tears when he said farewell to Rissa and Ashley. He hadn’t expected them from Ashley, but certainly Rissa need not stand with eyes so dry. Perhaps she truly believed him when he said he would come back for her, when he said no harm would come to her. He lifted her and gave her a hug, but she barely returned the embrace. “Goodbye!” she said with a wave and ran off to play with some of the other children.