Lady Pirate (37 page)

She caught movement out of the corner of her eye, and turned back in time to see Á lvarez catch Helen by the arm and drag her against his chest.

“You are a pretty little thing. You can entertain me personally, sí?” Á lvarez told the girl, chuckling as she began to struggle against him.

“I do not think so,” Valoree answered pulling her cutlass out and sliding it against his throat. “Not right
now
.”

If the pirate captain was startled to suddenly find himself on the business end of a sword, he managed to hide it well; he even smiled as he regarded her.

“A woman with spunk,” he commented, apparently amused by the situation. He nodded back toward where
Daniel stood stiff and silent beside the unconscious Henry. “His wife?”

Valoree nodded silently.

“Well, you are too much woman for him. I will show you what a real man is like, yes?”

He released Helen then, and Valoree tensed to see what he would do next when explosions rang out nearly directly behind her. The cannons, of course. It seemed One-Eye had understood her emphasis on the word
now
. She had been so distracted, she hadn't heard or smelled the burning fuses. She saw shock suffuse the pirate captain's face, then understanding as he realized why the women had been standing where they had, and what they had been hiding with their many skirts. There was a second set of booms as the cannonballs found their target.

A horrible rending sound rang out, and everyone turned to see the main mast of the Spanish craft suddenly crash onto its deck. The screams of its sailors were drowned out, however, by the roar of Valoree's own crew. They began pouring out of every door and hole in the
Valor
and leaping from beneath canvases laid over apparent cargo. One fellow even rose straight up out of an empty barrel, its lid flying off as if under the impact of an explosion. The deck suddenly crawled with men, all releasing bloodcurdling screeches.

Valoree turned back to Ávarez, aware as she did that Daniel was approaching the man from behind. But the satisfied smile on her face died, replaced with shock as a movement twisted the kerchief at the pirate's throat, revealing the top of a scar. A buzzing suddenly filling her ears, she reached out to snatch the kerchief away. Her eyes glazed over with a combination of rage and horror as she saw the question mark-shaped scar at the base of the man's throat. She could hear Jeremy's raspy breath in her ear again, could see his bloody body she'd held in her young arms.

“A question-mark-shaped scar…throat. Spanish bastard…ohhh,” he had said in a gasp. She had thought he was calling the man a name, then gasping in pain. But, nay, he had been naming the ship. Dear Lord, all this time—

A second set of explosions shook her out of her shock in time to see Á lvarez raise a pistol toward her.

Her eyes widened at the sight of it and the man's other hand reaching for her, ignoring the cutlass at his throat, but before she could react, the pirate suddenly stiffened. Valoree never heard the shot; her ears were still ringing from the boom of the
Valor
's cannons. She just saw the way Álvarez's eyes dilated, pain and surprise flashing across his face; then a thin trickle of blood spilled from the corner of his mouth. He stumbled forward, falling against her. Valoree tried to step away, but her feet tangled up in her skirts in her hurry to avoid him. She stumbled, and would have fallen with the man if the other women hadn't caught her, but they did and held her up as he went down.

 

Daniel lowered the flintlock he had used to shoot Á lvarez. Dropping the spent weapon to the deck, he reached inside his now open waistcoat for the second pistol he had stowed in the top of his breeches and moved quickly forward, prepared to shoot the man again. But one glance at the pirate captain told him there was no need. The man was dead. Daniel's gaze slid to his wife then, and concern filled him at her pallor.

“Valoree?” he asked taking her in his arms and holding her stiff body close, “Are you all right?”

She nodded silently in response, but he could feel her tremble in his arms. He frowned as he held her close, his gaze shifting questioningly to the other women. Blank confusion and small shrugs were his only answer. None of them knew what was wrong.

“His throat!”

Daniel glanced around to see that Henry was up and walking about, assisted by Meg. The older man lowered the hand that had been rubbing the side of his head, then pointed to Alvarez. “The scar.”

Daniel glanced down at the villain's throat, confused. Squinting at the scar at the base of the dead pirate's neck, he saw that it looked very much like a question mark. At that, he stiffened, his gaze shooting back to Valoree. “Your brother's murderer?” he asked incredulously.

Nodding silently, Valoree stared at the man, watching unmoving as his blood seeped out, staining the deck.

“Well,” Henry said after a moment. “When this bastard's ship was spotted, I figured that we might be having that same bad luck that we ran across in London. But it seems you were right after all, Captain.”

When Valoree tore her gaze from the pirate's corpse to give him a questioning look, the quartermaster shrugged slightly. He winced as the movement caused pain from his wounded head, but he explained. “'Tweren't bad luck at all. We won.” His mouth curved into a big grin as he spoke, then he added more solemnly, “And this here about closes the door on the past. Don't it? We vowed for life and vengeance, and Jeremy now's got it. He can rest easy.”

“Aye. That he can,” Valoree agreed, and Daniel could hear that she was fighting tears. He knew that she would never cry in front of her men, but also that this moment meant very much to her.

“Captain?” One-Eye's voice broke in.

“Aye?” Valoree answered at the same time as Daniel. He squeezed her arm, giving him her strength—if she wanted it.

“What do you want we should do with the pirates?” the first mate asked. Daniel stiffened as he waited for
Valoree's decision. These were the men who had murdered her brother. Would she resist avenging herself upon them?

His wife stared blankly at One-Eye for a moment, then glanced over the deck of the
Valor II,
taking in the fact that every last Spaniard was lying on the deck. Those foolish enough to fight had been killed or injured, and those who had surrendered at once had been ordered to lie on their stomachs on the deck. They were now guarded by several of her grim-faced men. Her gaze slid over toward the
Bastardo
. With satisfaction, she saw that it was sinking fast. “Is the dinghy still afloat?” she asked.

One-Eye raised an eyebrow. “Aye.”

“Then throw them over. Those still alive can swim to the dinghy. Those dead”—she shrugged with disinterest—“let the sea have.”

Daniel remained silent, only nodding in mute agreement. Then he swept Valoree into his arms.

“You are in charge, One-Eye,” Valoree announced as he headed for the cabins with her in his arms. “Clean the ship of this slop, then head us for Ainsley. Henry,” she added, catching his upset, “you're to let Meg tend to your head—and no argument about it.”

The older man made a face, but nodded.

Relieved it was over, Daniel started down the stairs with his wife in his arms. “Your plan worked,” he said with a combination of pride and love as he carried her through the open door of their cabin. Pausing inside, he kicked the door closed with one booted foot, then carried her over to the bed. There, he deposited her gently.

“As did yours,” she murmured back, sitting up on the bed and leaning against the wall. He began to disrobe. “What are you doing?”

“Getting out of these damn clothes. I feel like a dandy in them.”

Valoree grinned. “You don't
look
like a dandy in them. If anything, my lord, I think pink emphasizes your manliness.”

Daniel grunted as he stepped out of the awful knee breeches, leaving only the pink hose and white linen shirt. “Somehow I do not think Á lvarez agreed with you.”

“Á lvarez was not a woman,” she murmured, her face stiffening slightly at the name. The man would be a raw topic for quite a while.

“What did you mean, my plan worked? This was all
your
plan.”

“The getting me angry part was not part of
my
plan,” she answered dryly, reaching out to undo and help remove his hose. Daniel's body took interest in being disrobed.

“Oh, that.” He shrugged slightly as he stepped out of the stockings, then straightened, his linen shirt dropping down to cover his body's reaction.

“Aye,
that
,” Valoree said, tugging at his shirt, urging him down to her level. When he knelt accommodatingly before her, she captured his face in her hands and pressed a sweet kiss to his lips. “Aye,
that
, my lord husband,” she murmured, breaking the kiss before he could deepen it. “Thank you for recognizing my weakness and helping me to overcome it.”

“Fear is not weakness, Valoree,” he responded. “Only a fool does not feel fear.”

“Then thank you for being my strength today, for helping me to do what had to be done.” she said softly. Her fingers slipped from his face to fall to his shoulders, and Daniel clasped her face in his much larger hands.

“Today and always, Valoree. Whether dead or alive. I love you.”

Her eyes filled with tears at his gentle proclamation, and she tried to turn her face away.

“Nay, do not try to hide from me,” he murmured, holding her face firmly in his hands and catching the first tear that slid from one eye with the tip of his thumb. “Please. Never hide your feelings from me. Not your fear, not your pain, and not your love.”

She went still at the last word, and he sighed and lowered his own head. “You give me your passion, Valoree, and it is beautiful. Your anger, your laughter. Your lovemaking is freer and more impassioned than that of any woman I have known, but I want more. I love you.”

Valoree felt guilt swamp her at those words. She had known for some time that she loved Daniel, but the opportunity to say so had never really come.

Ah, who was she kidding? The truth was that she had been afraid to say those words. Some part of her had feared that if she admitted her feelings she might lose this man as she had lost her mother, her father and her brother. Until today, she had never feared dying or being injured; she had feared living. She had feared caring and losing those she cared for. It was time to stop being a coward, time to give Daniel what he so freely gave her. Love.

She opened her mouth to do just that, then paused to bite her lip in pain. Her stomach had suddenly cramped. It was not the first spasm she had suffered through today, but it did seem a lot more violent than those that had been tightening her stomach since the
Bastardo
had been spotted. Of course, that distraction might have made those earlier contractions seem less severe…. She forgot the pain briefly as Daniel raised his head and caught the expression on her face. She knew at once he was misinterpreting her reaction. He probably thought she was unsettled by the thought of voicing her love for him.

When he started to pull away, she caught at his shirt, determined to tell him what he needed to hear. His
expression turned hopeful as she opened her mouth, but all Valoree managed to get out was a garbled, “I-ugh-oh,” as she was struck by another cramp. She could feel her blood draining from her face, and she bit her lip viciously to keep from crying out with the pain.

“Well, good Lord,” Daniel said snippily. “There's no need to look so pained at the idea.” He tried to pull away. “I am going to change and go back on deck, make sure everything is all right.”

“Nay,” Valoree gasped, refusing to let him go. Seeing his building impatience, she felt her own snap. Suddenly she was furious at him, both for the pain she was suffering thanks to
his
child, and at the fact that he somehow hadn't yet grasped the situation. “I—
oh!
”

“Do not trouble yourself over my feelings. I shall be fine,” he said icily, trying to disengage her from his shirt.

That only managed to make Valoree more furious. “Daniel!” she snapped as the labor pain finally eased.

“What?” he snapped back, though they were nose to nose.

Valoree glared at him briefly, then snarled, “Oh, for heaven's sake! I love you. All right? I love you! Are you happy?”

He stopped trying to remove her hands. “What?”

“What?” she repeated with a shriek as another spasm came. “Are you deaf now as well? You wanted me to say it, and I said it! Now—” She paused on an in-drawn breath as another contraction struck. Groaning, she sank back down onto the bed. Rolling into a fetal position away from him, she faced the wall in misery, her concentration taken up by the pain.

Her husband immediately crawled onto the small bed behind her, molding himself to her spoon-style and wrapping his arms about her. He pressed a kiss to her neck. “I am satisfied. And I am sure someday you may
even say that without sounding so angry about it. But for now, an angry admission will do.” He whispered that by her ear, then nibbled gently at the lobe. Nudging himself against her, he said, “I cannot wait until this babe is born and we can make love again. It feels like forever since I have felt your warmth wrapped around me.”

“Aye? Well, it won't be
much
too long,” she said archly and felt him stiffen.

“Do you not miss my lovemaking?” he asked with a bit of pique.

“My lord, at this moment, I loathe your lovemaking.”

He stiffened at that, his mouth dropping open. “You what?”

Reaching back, she grabbed his hand and pulled it around, pressing it flat to her stomach. Daniel went stiff as he felt her stomach shift and tighten.

“What is that? What—”