The Black Morass (Pirates of the Coast Book 1) (14 page)

“You must be joking.”  Logan laughed.  “It appears you married a woman every bit as strong-willed as mine, and I am not sure whether to congratulate or pity you.”  To Maddie, Ross said, “And you can stop writing to the Crown Court, the Ambassador, the Crown, and anyone else you were badgering, as your husband is liberated.”

“Thank you, so much, for helping us.”  She bit her bottom lip.  “And the accord remains in effect?”

“It does.”  Ross gathered his papers.

“How is Lady Elaine?” Jean Marc inquired.

“I am pleased to report she is with child.”  Ross rolled his eyes.  “And it was all I could do to depart London without her, but I wager she will meet you in the Atlantic, when the year is ended, as she is dying to meet your bride.”

“Will you give her our regards?”  Maddie sidled close to Jean Marc, and he wrapped his arm about her waist.  “And I am equally anxious to make her acquaintance.”

“I will do so.”  Ross slapped Jean Marc on the shoulder.  “Now, if you do not mind, I have a ship to catch, as I would return home with all due haste, as I am sure you can understand.”

“Indeed, I do, as there is something that requires my attention, and I aim to be about it.”  Slowly, he skimmed his palm to his wife’s hip, and she tensed.  Ah, she was just as hungry.  “Shall we depart for the
Morass
,
Mon Chou
?”

“Actually, I have taken a room in a hotel, as we cannot depart just yet.”  Grasping his wrist, she dragged him to her carriage.  “My father is to vacate the Fair Winds in a sennight, as he has exhausted all appeals, and the judge ordered Papa to return to England.  I would ensure neither he nor that wench he married take anything that is not theirs.  It is bad enough Lady Prudence stole Mama’s cameo, and I fear I shall never see it again.  Given my hasty departure, against my will, the last time I dinned there, I have no idea what became of my personal belongings, which remained in my room at plantation house.”

“You will get them back.”  He made a mental note to arrange a midnight raid, as he settled into the squabs.  “So what shall we do in the meantime?”

Maddie lowered the shades and perched in his lap.  Pressing her lips to his, she sighed.  “Perhaps I can inspire you.”

#

By the time they reached the room at the hotel, Maddie was ready to burst.  When Jean Marc engaged the lock, she kicked off her slippers, hiked her skirts and chemise, bared her bottom, and bent over the footboard of the large bed.

“I wore the hose with the little blue bows, just for you, my love.”  And then she waited.

Laughing, he gave her a playful smack.  “How I missed this sight,
Mon Chou
.”  Then, to her surprise, he pulled her upright and tugged at her laces.  “While you tempt me with your succulent arse, there is something else I prefer, just now.”  In minutes, he stripped her bare of any clothing, and he pulled the pins from her coif, letting her long brown hair spill about her shoulders.  “You have put on some weight, my dear, and I like it.”

“Well, I would not get used to it, as it is temporary.”  There was so much she wanted to share with him.  So much she needed to say, yet the right phrasing eluded her.

“What do you mean it is temporary?”  He snorted.  “Do you intend to reduce, as you are beautiful, Maddie?”

“Actually, I will increase before I lose anything.”  She swallowed hard.  “But the period is relatively short, in the grand scheme.”  She shrugged.  “You know, the usual nine months?”  He sobered and opened his mouth but quickly clamped it shut, and she wrenched his shirt.  “Tell me you are happy, as I desperately need to hear it.”

“
Mon Chou
, in truth, there are no words to adequately describe what I feel right now, so I suppose happy must do.”  He kissed her softly, inexpressibly sweet, as he framed her face.  “I love you, Maddie.”

In that instant, she collapsed in a fit of tears.  “Oh, Jean Marc, I am so sorry I put my family’s estate before you.  If we had departed Port Royal, as you wanted, none of this would have happened.  Your incarceration was all my fault, and I beg your forgiveness.”

“No, you are blameless.”  Setting her apart, he ripped off his clothes and boots and then drew her into his embrace.  “I committed those crimes long before I ever met you, and I, alone, must atone for them.”

“Then you are not vexed with me?”  She held her breath.

“No,
Mon Chou
.”  Again, he kissed her.  “Never could I be angry with you, when you saved me.”

Confused, she searched her mind but could not discern his meaning.  “But—how?”

“I would not have made it this far, had we not met.”  He led her to the bed and pushed onto her back.  In seconds he covered her.  Nose to nose, he teased her flesh.  “But you shared your dream, and somewhere on our journey to Port Royal, your fantasy became mine.  I want more, and I want it with you.”  With his legs, he spread wide her thighs.  “Enough talk, and I will ride your pretty arse tomorrow.  Right now, I want to make love to my wife.”

THE BLACK MORASS

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

In the wee
hours, Jean Marc kissed Maddie’s forehead and then withdrew from her arms.  Since adjourning to bed, it had taken three rounds of rigorous coitus to satisfy her and put her to sleep, so he could enact his hastily sketched plan.  Given the revelation of his impending fatherhood, he had to act on his wife and his unborn babe’s behalf.

It was a rare thing to care for someone, to know that Maddie’s happiness depended on Jean Marc’s ability to keep the smile on her beautiful face.  In his lifetime, he had confronted every manner of evil, yet nothing scared him more than the powerful but delicate bonds of love and the chance that he might fail her.  The commitment he made, the most important of his existence, defined him in ways he could not have foreseen, and a consuming desire to protect Maddie drove him into the throes of an unquenchable thirst for violence.  To his amazement, he struggled with an insatiable bloodlust.  In order to guarantee his wife’s future, he had to delve into his brutal past.

As he tugged on his breeches and boots, she shifted and sniffed, and he held still until she quieted.  In the dark, he fumbled for his weapons, collected his pistols and dagger, and pulled on his shirt.  After searching his trunk, in the dark, he located the item his wife found so offensive, because she claimed it gave him an air of menace—and that suited his purpose.

Stretching upright, he donned the familiar black patch behind which Maddie argued he hid his true persona, and she could not have been more correct in her assertion, as only his highborn wife glimpsed the side he concealed from the public.  But that night he required the ill repute of the meanest, most villainous pirate to sail the seas.

When his lady mumbled, he grabbed an extra blanket from the footboard, draped the swath of wool over her form, and tucked the cover beneath her chin, to keep her warm until he returned.  Responsibility for another offered a new and unsettling experience he did not quite savor, as husbandly duty brought with it a palpable fear when he pondered Madalene’s fate should he disappoint her—but he would not founder.  After a final check to ensure her comfort, he stole another kiss and slipped from their room.

Posted in the hall, two of his men remained on watch.

“Cap’n.”  Boyle came alert.  “We did not expect to see you until morning.”

“Or afternoon.”  Riggs elbowed the tar, and they laughed.

“Wake Tyne, and summon the six best riders in the crew.”  To Boyle, Jean Marc said, “Guard Maddie with your life, and no one is permitted to disturb her.  If I am not back by dawn, take her to the
Morass
and set sail for Boston.”

“Aye, sir.”  The sailor nodded.

Downstairs, he gathered his band of buccaneers for one last raid.

“My friends, my wife is with child, and her sire presents a very real threat to her safety, which I cannot ignore.”  As the sea dogs offered congratulations, Jean Marc paused to collect his thoughts.  “What I ask of you is dangerous.”

“What is new about that?”  Tyne snickered.  “And I knew of your good news, given I fetched the doctor, but your delicate bride vowed in a not-so-delicate manner to cut off my Jolly Roger if I told you.”

The men guffawed.

“All right.”  Jean Marc silenced his men with a sweep of his hand.  “Given her condition, I cannot let Lord Livingston’s attempts to kill Maddie go unanswered.”

“Cap’n is right.”  Tyne chucked Jean Marc’s shoulder.  “Lady Madalene is one of us, and Livingston’s attack demands a response.”

“Let us pay a visit to the plantation.”  Randall smacked a fist to a palm.  “We will teach that arrogant English bastard a lesson he will not soon forget.”

“Then we ride.”  Jean Marc waved a pistol, and the sailors cheered.

Outside, they gained their mounts and set a course for the outskirts of Port Royal.  The journey, an endless torture comprised of hideous visions of Maddie in her father’s charge, plagued Jean Marc, and he was grateful when the sun-washed gate of The Fair Winds came into view.

In the trees that lined the grand drive, they secured their horses and skulked to the main house.  As the cool breeze drifted from the ocean, most of the windows had been shut and latched, but he made entry via an unlocked terrace door.

The floorboards creaked beneath his feet, as he inched into the residence.  In the dark, he reached with outstretched hands and skimmed the wall with his fingers.  A hallway led to the rear of the home, and based on Maddie’s description, he sought the chamber she briefly occupied and collected her bag of keepsakes, which remained where she left them.

At the end of the passage, he turned the knob of the double-door portal and signaled his crew.  On the count of three, which he whispered, they rushed their prey.  Surrounding the sleeping couple, the men grabbed Livingston and his young bride.

“Make no sound, Lord Livingston.”  Jean Marc lit a bedside taper and then stretched across the foot of the mattress.  “If you scream, you die.”  To Randall, Jean Marc commanded, “Gag and bind the lady, as I have no patience for her.”

When Livingston moaned in protest, Tyne slapped the nobleman on the side of the head.  “Shut up, as you are lucky that is all we will do to her.”

And then silence fell on the master suite.

“That was a cunning maneuver you devised, hiring a pirate to kill your daughter, making her appear a hapless victim of high seas treachery, so you could inherit the fortune bequeathed to her, by a family you considered beneath your estimable English heritage.”  Jean Marc drew his dagger from the waistband of his breeches and toyed with the blade.  “How many casualties did you deem acceptable to accomplish your goal, so you could line your pockets with money you neither earned nor deserved?”  He arched a brow.  “Fifty or sixty innocents?”

Tyne snickered.  “And they call us callous blackguards.”

The pampered scoundrel shook his head.

“I should kill you,” Jean Marc declared, in a low tone.

Wide-eyed, Livingston groaned.

“But Maddie would not like that, so I shall spare you.”  With the knife, Jean Marc pointed for emphasis.  “However, your fate is predicated on Madalene’s survival.  Should she slip and fall on her tea, should she drown in her bath, should she suffer mortal injuries from an accidental collision with a runaway carriage, or should she meet some strange and unexplainable misfortune,
you will die
.”