The Raider (8 page)

For a moment everything seemed to stop moving. The tall Raider lithely swung across the ship, slipped down the rope and came to land in front of Jessica on the upper deck.

His eyes caught hers.

“You got the money,” she breathed, her eyes happy and alive.

He caught her to him with one strong arm and kissed her half-open mouth.

Jessica was too startled to be able to move away from him, but stood there while he kissed her. But when he pulled away from her as quickly as he'd come to her, she no longer thought of why they were there. She was aware only that this stranger had dared to kiss her. She drew back her hand to strike him, but he caught her wrist and boldly kissed her palm. “Good morning, Mistress Jessica,” he said, his lips smiling in a knowing way.

The next minute he was gone, heading toward the rope slung over the side of the ship.

But she had no precious time to waste on anger. She had to help the Raider escape. If the
Golden Hind
's sailors were dumbfounded, her captain was not. Jess could hear orders being shouted and above her was movement as four men prepared to board her ship.

She wasn't fool enough to try to stop His Majesty's sailors, but perhaps she could delay them. She grabbed a coil of rope at her feet, rope as big around as her arm, and tossed an end to George who'd reboarded at the first sound of excitement. The Raider disappeared over the side of the ship.

Four sailors came scurrying across the deck of Jessica's ship, close on the heels of the Raider.

George pulled his end of the rope, Jess half-hitched hers to the railing and all four sailors went sprawling just as they heard the sound of hoofbeats on the wharf.

“Take them!” she heard the captain shout from the ship above them and the next moment rough hands eagerly clutched her body. The men grinned when their hands brushed against her breasts and buttocks.

She was pulled off her ship, onto the wharf and across the gangplank of the
Golden Hind,
then shoved to her knees before the English captain, with George beside her.

The captain, a short, heavyset man in his fifties, looked down his nose at her. “So this is how the ladies dress in the Colonies?” he sneered. “Take them below.”

Jess was separated from George and thrown into a filthy little room in the hold of the ship. There were two inches of slimy water on the floor and she was sure the room had once been a repository for pig manure.

Within five minutes, she felt as if she had always been in this dank, dark place. She couldn't move without kicking up the sediment on the hold floor. There was no bench to sit on, no way to get out of the filth.

She stood there, the water quickly seeping through the leather of her boots, and waited. She didn't regret helping the Raider but now she thought of the consequences of her actions.

Hours later, when the door to the cell was opened, Jessica was prepared to meet a hangman.

Instead, standing on deck was Alexander, resplendent in yellow satin, the sunlight hitting his big belly and reflecting into her eyes. She put her hand up against the glare.

She couldn't see Alexander very well, but she could feel his anger all around her.

“Come!” was all he commanded, in a low, seething voice.

“I—” Jess began, but he shoved her shoulder and pushed her toward the gangplank.

Jess tried to keep her head up as she passed the crowd that had gathered on both sides of the wharf.

Alex climbed onto a wagon seat without so much as looking at Jessica. As she weakly climbed up beside him, he flicked the reins to the horses and they started down the street.

“What are you so mad about?” she shouted over the noise of the wagon, but he didn't answer her.

He drove her across a dirt road to the back of the forest, then up a hill. She knew there was a spring nearby.

“Get down,” he commanded when he'd stopped.

“Not until you tell me what's going on,” she answered.

Alex, fighting his way around his belly, walked to her side of the wagon. “I had to bribe your way out of a hangman's noose, that's what. You were playing with the English navy when you helped the Raider. That captain planned to use you and George as examples and hang you. He figured that'd stop the Raider.”

“Oh,” Jessica said, getting down. “I thought they might want to do that. Why are we here?”

Alex calmed his voice. “Eleanor sent you clean clothes and there's soap and towels. You smell worse than you did before you went into that cell.” He put his handkerchief to his nose. “And Eleanor thought you should stay out of sight for a few days.”

“Why didn't she come with you?” Jess picked up the bundle from the back of the wagon.

“It seems she had a little collision with a bucket of washwater. I think she told Nick something to the effect that he wasn't too good to do some washing. I believe Nick thought otherwise.”

Jessica gaped at him. “So that overgrown boy tossed dirty water on my sister?”

“I believe so, yes.”

“I'll give him a piece of my mind,” she said, getting back on the wagon.

Alex caught her arm. “Eleanor has already told him what she thought of him and I'm sure he need not hear anymore. The problem now is you. You badly need a bath.”

Reluctantly, Jessica followed him up the hill to the spring and its little pool.

Alex seated himself, his back to Jessica, while she began to disrobe. She couldn't see the way the sweat began trickling down his neck or how clammy his palms grew. “Tell me what happened,” he said, managing to make his voice sound somewhat normal.

As unemotionally as she could, Jessica began to tell how she'd spent yesterday shrimping and watching for the
Golden Hind.
Only part of her mind was on her story, the other part was wondering why Eleanor had sent this man with instructions to take her to bathe. In other circumstances it would have been unthinkable to remove her clothing with a man nearby—but to her, Alexander Montgomery was so far removed from being a man that it seemed quite natural. Now, if instead that awful Raider were here…

“Go on,” Alex prompted, wiping his palms on a relatively dry patch of grass. “What happened after the Raider appeared?”

Jessica soaped her toes. “I
hate
that man! I hate him! There I was, risking my neck to save his and once again he makes a fool of me.”

“I heard that he kissed you.”

“If you can call it that. He tried to anyway. And after what I'd done for him. My arms are sore from hauling shrimp nets and he treats me like that. I ought to have snatched the mask from his face and shown everyone who he was. He deserved that.”

“But you didn't,” Alex said quietly. “Instead, you threw a rope and stopped the pursuit of the king's men. He wouldn't have escaped if it hadn't been for you.”

“And look how he repays me. I didn't do it for him, I can assure you. I did it for Josiah Greene.”

“Did you hear that the Raider gave the money to Josiah? And Josiah left town immediately.”

“With George?”

“No.” Alex hesitated. “Tomorrow George is to be given twenty lashes with a lead-tipped cat-o'-nine-tails.”

Jess didn't breathe for a moment. “That could kill him,” she whispered. Quickly, she began to rinse the soap from her hair. “Alex, we have to do something to help him.”

“No, ‘we' don't and especially not you. You already have a black mark against you after today. Whatever you do, Jess, you can't help the Raider again.”

“Don't worry, the only help he'll get from me is to lead him up the hangman's steps.”

“Really angry at him, are you? Did you ever think that maybe he thought his kiss was a way to say ‘thank you'?”

“No,” Jess said, moving to stand before him, tying the front of her dress. It was a faded, worn, green cotton and the ties were fragile with age. The dress had belonged to her mother, then to Eleanor before Jess acquired it. “I think he believes himself to be what every woman wants.”

She sat down in front of him and began to use a wooden comb Alex had brought to pull the tangles from her hair.

“And he's not what you want? Here, turn around and let me do that. You won't have any hair left in a minute.” Alex began to gently comb her long hair.

“Most certainly not.” She leaned her head back, enjoying the feel of his combing.

“Wouldn't you like to have a home and kids of your own, Jess?”

“And who'll marry a Taggert? All the men are afraid they'll have to raise Nathaniel. You know what this town needs?” She turned to look at him. “Adam. Or Kit. Yes, Kit could do it.”

“My brothers?” Alex asked, aghast. “What exactly do you think my brothers could do?”

“Save us. I mean, save the town. They wouldn't allow Pitman to run the Montgomery house. They'd throw him out on his ear.”

“And risk the wrath of the king?” Alex was incredulous.

“They'd find a way around it. Somehow they'd manage to save Warbrooke, free your sister and get rid of Pitman. There are other customs officers, you know.”

Alex leaned back against the grass, picked a daisy and held it to his nose. “So, you think my brothers could do all that?” He used the flower to conceal the way his mouth was tightening.

“Adam or Kit could, I'm sure. When I was a little girl, I used to…”

“What?” Alex asked lazily.

Jess smiled dreamily. “I used to imagine being married to Adam. He was always such a handsome man, so proud, so intelligent—and he had eyes like an eagle's. You don't know where he is now, do you?”

“Hell,” he said, then added quickly, “I'm sorry, I pricked my finger. The last I heard, Adam was on his way to Cathay and Kit was fighting in a war somewhere.”

“I don't guess Marianna's letters requesting help will reach them then.”

“No, I'm the only one who's coming.”

“Oh,” Jess said, suddenly realizing how she must be making Alex feel. He didn't seem able to help the way he was. “Alex, have you ever thought of getting some exercise? Maybe if you helped me haul shrimp for a few days, maybe you'd lose some weight.”

Alexander shuddered delicately. “No, thank you. Are you ready to leave? It's getting chilly here.”

“We haven't talked about what we're going to do about George.”

“There's nothing we can do. George will heal. I had to put some money in that captain's hands to keep him from hanging George. Better to lose a little skin from his back than to lose his life. Tomorrow you're to remain home during the flogging.” He gave her a sideways look. “Maybe the Raider will save George.”

She snorted. “And who will save the Raider? He's incompetent at best. His arrogance is going to get someone killed.”

Maybe me, Alex thought.

A
LEXANDER
looked about him cautiously. It had been difficult rescuing George Greene from under the whip. Nicholas had helped by setting up his servants at the back of the crowd and, just as Alex, dressed as the Raider, was ready to ride from his hiding place, Nick gave the order to fire. In the ensuing confusion, Alex was able to gallop through the people, pull George into the saddle behind him and escape unharmed. It'd taken him a lot longer to escape the English soldiers, but they didn't know the area and it had been a child's game of hide-and-seek to evade them.

Josiah Greene was waiting at the edge of the forest with horses and passage on a ship traveling south. “I knew you'd come,” Josiah said. “I knew you'd not let my boy be whipped for saving you.”

Alex was a little disconcerted that Josiah had so easily predicted the Raider's actions and where he would enter the forest, because if Josiah guessed, perhaps next time an army would be waiting for him. Without speaking, the Raider released George and disappeared into the trees.

It was amazing how soon he'd become a symbol of hope to these people, Alex thought. Already, they were depending on the Raider to save them from any injustices. All except Jessica Taggert, that is.

Adam could save the town, Alex thought, remembering Jessica's words. Or Kit could. Have you ever thought of losing weight, Alex? He'd like to show her just exactly how much he weighed. Eleanor sent him out with clean clothes for Jessica and orders to see that she bathed. Neither of those women seemed to have any idea he was a man. Jessica disrobed when he was standing but a few feet away from her. And that time he had held her by the legs so she could reach that rotten old net of hers! That time he hadn't thought he was going to live through it.

He adjusted the mask on his face, making sure it was tight. There were times when he wanted to grab Jessica, grab her and show her he was a man.

“Ooohhh.”

He heard a cry that was half swoon, half plea and instantly realized he'd been so involved in thinking about what he'd to do to Mistress Jessica that he hadn't been keeping watch.

He reined his horse in, stood still and listened as someone came thrashing toward him. He drew his sword and waited.

Mistress Abigail Wentworth, her pretty face flushed from the exertion, came bursting through the trees. She took one look at the Raider atop the black stallion, put her hand to her breast and began to sink to the ground.

Alex was off his horse in seconds and caught her before she hit the floor of the forest.

“Will you use that on me?” she gasped, lying in his arms and rolling her eyes toward his sword. “Will you slice the clothing from my body before you have your way with me?”

“Why no, I…” He wasn't sure what to answer her but the sight of her heaving bosom so exposed to his view—she'd removed her scarf so a great deal of young, pink flesh was showing—made him think about her offer. “Are you all right?”

She threw her arms about his neck, pressing her bosom to his chest. “I am your slave, your captive. Do with me what you will.”

Alex raised his eyebrows, but never a man to question extreme good luck, the next minute he was kissing her. She returned his kiss with such passion that before he knew what he was doing, he was halfway to the ground with her.

She was eager, warm, willing—and the daughter of one of his father's oldest friends.

“Abby,” he said, trying to disentangle himself from her arms. Her hair had come loose and it was soft against his cheek. “Abby.” Her name came out like a groan.

“I love to hear you say my name. My own Raider. My own true love.” She moved her hips against his, trying to kiss him again, but he pulled away.

“Go home to your mother,” he said and found his voice a little shaky. Why did he have to be the Raider in his own hometown? Anywhere else and he'd take this eager young filly without a thought. “Go home, Abby. Please go home.”

She flung herself against a tree, her face flushed, her breasts about to come out of the tight dress. “How noble you are,” she whispered.

“Or how stupid,” Alex mumbled, looking at her. If he didn't get out of here soon, he'd lose his resolve. With half of his mind calling him a fool, he jumped into the saddle of his horse. “Goodbye, Mistress Abigail,” he whispered as he urged his horse forward.

“Damn all women!” he cursed. Jessica thought he wasn't a man at all and Abigail thought he was more man than a herd of stallions. He shifted in the saddle, feeling like only half the man Abby thought him to be. Now all he had to do was make it to Ghost Island—and he prayed he would encounter no more women.

*   *   *

Jessica looked at the big basket full of blackberries and grimaced. She owned her own ship, had sailed, by herself, as far south as New Sussex, yet today she'd been relegated to picking blackberries like a naughty child.

And it was all the Raider's fault!

When it had been announced that George Greene was to be whipped, everyone had said the Raider was going to save him. They had said the Raider
had
to save the boy, as if it were a matter of honor.

As if they knew anything about the Raider's sense of honor or anything else for that matter, she thought. Everyone in town seemed to have endowed this Raider with magical skills, talents that no human had ever possessed. They expected this masked man to right all wrongs, to single-handedly fight the British laws.

But not everyone had believed the Raider to be perfectly good. Jess had delivered twenty pounds of haddock to the Montgomery house and had been told Sayer wanted to see her. She hadn't seen him since the evening the Raider had thrown her in the washwater and she'd cried in his arms. She had been smiling when she entered Sayer's room but not when she left.

Sayer had demanded that she stay away from town the next day. It had been on the tip of her tongue to ask him what gave him the right to make such a demand, but she hadn't said what she thought. The Montgomery family had been good to hers over the years and, besides, she couldn't very well be disrespectful to an old and crippled man who was only concerned for her well-being. Reluctantly, she had agreed to stay in the forest for the entire day. Sayer hadn't even wanted her on the wharf or near her own ship.

So now, here she was, doing children's work, all because of that man who called himself the Raider.

Near the blackberry patch, under some trees, was a bed of moss that looked very inviting. It might do Eleanor some good to have her sister come back very late and give her a little something to worry about. Smiling somewhat smugly, she stretched out on the moss and was asleep in minutes. Unfortunately, she began to dream about the masked man who was upsetting her life so badly. She was reliving the time he had humiliated her and the time he had kissed her when she'd been helping him to escape.

“Jessica! Jessica, are you all right?”

Jess awoke with difficulty, clutching at the strong arms that held her. “I was dreaming,” she said. “He—” She stopped because the person holding her was the man who was causing all her problems: the Raider.

“You!” she gasped. “You!” Without another thought, she drew back her fist and hit him on the jaw.

“Why you little brat!” he seethed at her, grabbing her shoulders and pushing her to the ground. The worn-out fabric of her dress front split open, exposing a thin line of soft, white fabric from neck to waist. The pink of her skin showed beneath the fabric.

Jessica felt the dress split, then saw the look in the eyes behind the black mask. “If you touch me, I'll—”

“Feel rewarded,” he said angrily, keeping her pinned to the ground while his lips came down on hers.

Jessica felt his lips for the second time and began to fight. She'd die before she let this man force himself on her. She kicked out at him, catching him once on the shins. She felt him suck his stomach in at the pain, but he kept his lips glued to hers.

He threw his leg over hers to keep it still. Jess tried to wiggle out from under him. She flung her head sharply to one side, away from his torturous kiss.

The Raider pinned both her hands above her head with one of his, then took her chin in his other hand and forced her mouth back under his. To keep her hips still, he put his full body weight on her.

For a moment, Jessica was still. There were emotions shooting through her that she'd never felt before. Was this what the newly married women giggled about? Was this the emotion that made engaged girls starry-eyed?

The Raider pulled away from her lips, but kept his face close to hers. It was evening and the starlight made his face darker, his eyes more brilliant than ever.

“Jessica,” he said, and there was some wonder in his voice.

She blinked at him a couple of times, then in one violent motion pushed him off her and stood.

The Raider, that finely chiseled mouth of his smiling, looked up at her. “Well, Jessica, for all your men's airs, you are a woman after all.”

Jess grabbed a handful of blackberries from her basket and prepared to throw them at him.

Like a big cat, he leapt to his feet and grabbed her hand. He closed his hand over her little one and squeezed until the berries oozed out between her fingers. Looking into her eyes, he began to lick the juice from between her fingers. For some reason, the sight of his tongue made Jessica's heart beat a little faster.

He easily pulled her hand behind her back and moved so his body was touching hers. “I believe I missed a few berries,” he whispered, then bent and pressed his face to her chest and began kissing the top of her heaving breast.

He looked back at her.

Jessica was staring at him in wide-eyed astonishment, not understanding at all what she was feeling. She couldn't move but just stood there stupidly, allowing this man to touch her.

“Good-bye, my sweet Jessica. I'm sure we'll meet again.”

As he mounted his horse, Jessica just stood there, hands to her side, crushed blackberries running down her skirt, and watched.

He raised his fingertips to his lips.

It was his smile, that knowing, smug smile, that made Jessica come out of her stupor. She grabbed another handful of berries and sent them flying at his head. But he was already gone and all that was left was the sound of his laughter echoing through the trees.

“I hate him! I hate him! I hate him!” she said, stamping her foot and snatching the two baskets of berries she'd picked. “I really, truly, honestly, absolutely hate him.” She started down the path toward town, but on impulse looked back at the bed of moss where she'd lain with the Raider. Without thinking about what she was doing, she plucked a little yellow flower from the edge of the moss and tucked it into the torn bodice of her dress.

“Have to fix that,” she murmured as she ran her hand along the edge of her dress.

“I hate him, I really do,” she repeated, as if she hadn't really believed herself the first time, then started home.

*   *   *

“Punishing the horse again?” Nicholas asked as he walked up behind Alexander. “That could only be caused by your lady Jessica.”

Alex kept brushing the horse with vigor, making the stallion's black coat shine. Absently, he swatted at mosquitoes as they sought his sweaty, bare skin. “The last I heard, you weren't faring too well yourself. Did you wash the kitchen floor?”

Nick grunted in response as he eased his big body onto the driest spot of ground he could find on the marshy island. “That woman will find herself being used as a mop.”

“I know what you mean. Jessica is going to be the death of me. One minute she's as cold as winter; she has frost on her lashes. The next minute I'm getting sunburned.”

“Eleanor wanted me to clean the fireplace. I told her I put things in the fireplace but I take nothing out.”

“Of course Jess did risk her life to help the Raider. He would have been caught if it hadn't been for her. And then for the Raider to treat her with so little respect! It wasn't right.”

Nick rubbed his hand on his jaw. “I've always been told that I have the bearing of royalty. Many women have told me that they would know that I was the czar's cousin even if I were wearing nothing. Or perhaps especially then. So why does this Eleanor Taggert not know that I'm Russian royalty? How can she dare treat me as…as a scullery maid?”

Alex began to comb the coarse mane of his horse. “She's really very courageous. Did you know that everyone in town was laughing at her for getting herself thrown in the hold? George Greene was a hero, the Raider was a hero, but Jessica Taggert was a foolish girl.”

“Eleanor must be blind. She has the bluest, clearest eyes ever made by God but they are useless.”

“They laugh at her for her clothes, and for that old boat of hers, and for all those kids, but she's doing the best she can. Little Molly told me Jess has the trousers she wears and that single ugly old green dress.” He stopped brushing. “And the Raider tore that.”