The Pirate and the Pagan (38 page)

She began to worry about her brother, even though she told herself repeatedly he could not go to London and back in under ten days. When her mind strayed to thoughts of her husband and his safety, it made her angrier than ever. It was absolutely no skin off her bottom if the King had sent him into danger. What in the name of hellfire did she care? He was going to rid himself of her and she would no longer be Lady Helford. But if he made her a widow, she would be Lady Helford forever. A solitary tear rolled down her cheek at the thought of harm coming to him and she dashed it away angrily with muddy fingers, leaving her face streaked and woebegone looking.

She climbed down the cliff to the beach, stripped, and swam out about three hundred yards. How nice it would be to relax and just let herself drift away, then all her problems would be solved. Suddenly she was slapped in the face by a small wave. She swallowed a great gulp of salt water and gasped and spluttered for a few frantic minutes. A bit of a squall had come up suddenly and she had to stroke out strongly for shore. As she swam her determination hardened. She would survive her money troubles and her marital troubles. A woman’s lot in this world was by nature much harder
than a man’s. She would use any means to beat them at their own game.

The Helfords had certainly taken what they wanted from her, so she would do the same with an untroubled conscience, and if by chance she couldn’t get what she needed from the Helfords, why then there was always the King, a pushover for a pretty smile and a pretty pair of legs.

B
efore Summer got into bed she slipped to her knees and prayed to St. Jude, the patron saint of hopeless causes. She was not in the habit of bothering God and His apostles over everyday problems but she felt desperate. She feared that Black Jack Flash and her jewels were forever out of her reach, and if she listened carefully, the sound of his laughter could be heard mocking her gullibility.

She sighed hopelessly and climbed into her lonely bed, hoping she would not have to again don the highwayman’s costume and take to the road. No sooner was she asleep than she dreamed of Ruark. He came to her as a supplicant, begging her forgiveness. He told her how very proud he had been of her efforts to entertain the King and the court. He confessed how he really felt about her, how much he had longed for her and missed her. He told her how deeply he loved her and how he could not live without her.

She was in an agony of remorse. She was covered with guilt over his brother Rory and longed to confess all to her husband Ruark and be forgiven. But she knew exactly what would happen if she confided in him. His temper would flare out of control. He would do and say the most horrendous things to her and probably beat her to a jelly. She knew she loved Ruark and wanted him more than anything in the world, so she decided to keep her guilty secret.
She suddenly felt him slip into bed with her and take her into his arms. She knew she had awakened from her dreams because this was better than any dream could ever be. His lips were against her ear, whispering, “Did you miss me?”

“Oh, yes, I was afraid something terrible might happen to you.” Her arms twined about his neck and she lifted her mouth for his kisses. She clung to him possessively, her hands feeling the splendid muscles in his shoulders. “I was dreaming about you. I dreamed you came back to me and like magic you did.”

His hands were sure on her breasts, her whole body, knowing all the secret places she longed to be touched, and she knew that no feeling on earth compared to his touch. He was so very tall that she could not kiss him and capture his shaft between her legs at the same time. She moved down his body until her cheek rested against the dark pelt of his chest and her tongue flicked out to taste his hard nipples. She arched her mons against him and immediately he nudged her thighs apart and thrust into her until she was filled with his hot, hard shaft.

Her hands caressed his broad back then slipped down to his buttocks. He rolled with her from their sides until his hard length was on top of her and she felt the muscles of his body grow taut as he gathered the power of his body to fulfill its purpose. “Ruark, I love you so much,” she moaned against his chest.

“Cat, sweetheart, it’s Rory,” he said in a low, intense voice.

Her body contracted upon his so violently at his words that he cried out in a convulsive explosion and without any control over her own body she exploded the moment she felt his hot seed start. In the darkness her fingers trembled as they touched his face; she sought confirmation of his identity by running her fingers through his hair to search for the scar. The fine jagged line was barely perceptible, hidden beneath his long hair, but it confirmed her worst fears. “Rory, my God, what have you done?” she cried.

“Fallen in love,” he murmured hoarsely, gathering her to him possessively. She hit out at him and struggled to light the candles.

She stared at him unbelievingly as he sat naked in the bed. “I thought I’d never see you again.”

His laughing eyes caressed her face. “You knew the other night I hadn’t finished what I’d begun. I’m not nearly finished with you.” His gaze dropped to her breasts and he rolled his eyes heavenward as if giving thanks to the gods for such perfect wonders. He was the world’s most outrageous man and she longed to laugh with him.
Amazingly she discovered she could not hate this man. He was a totally unscrupulous rogue, but every woman should be loved by a rogue at least once in her lifetime. All her anger was directed toward her husband, Ruark. Why hadn’t he come to her? Why wasn’t it he who had crept into her bed to make such passionate love to her? She threw on her bed gown and handed him his breeches. “You have just seduced me and you’re not even sorry for what you have done!”

“Sorry? For making you purr, for making your body sing? I thought we agreed to be honest with each other … go on, tell me honestly that you are sorry.”

“I’m sorry I ever met you … I’m sorry I ever met anyone named Helford!”

He drew on his pants with great amusement. “Are you? Shall I keep the ten thousand pounds I brought you?”

“Surely the jewels aren’t worth that much?” she asked.

“Sweetheart, that’s not the point. You need ten thousand. If you asked me for fifty thousand, I’d get it for you,” he said simply.

“Oh, Rory.” She bit her lip, wondering why she wanted to cry. “You can use the cellars at Roseland for cargo any time you have to,” she offered.

“That’s most generous of you, Cat.” He sat down in a comfortable chair by the open window and stretched out his long legs. “Did you know the Dutch port of Stasia takes in a million pounds a year for warehouse space? The cargoes in these trading ports are beyond your wildest dreams,” he told her.

“You sail into Dutch ports?” she asked doubtfully.

He grinned. “I don’t fly the Union Jack, darling. My crew are all foreign, they come from every country in the world. The
Phantom
slips in and out virtually unnoticed, wherever she can make a profit.”

“What kind of cargo do you carry?” she asked curiously.

He laughed. “Not always what you might expect. Sometimes my cargo is human.”

She puzzled on his words for a moment, then realized he smuggled spies. The question was, did he smuggle people in and out of Holland or in and out of England? She dared not ask.

Suddenly he stood up and took her hands. “Come with me, Cat. Sail with me across to the continent. I’ll show you exotic places you never dreamed possible … warehouses piled with treasures
from the East Indies … sun-drenched coasts with miles of white, surgary sand where we could swim naked.”

For one breathtaking moment she was tempted. “It’s not possible, Rory.” She hesitated a moment. “There’s something I haven’t told you … Ruark said he was going to have our marriage annulled.”

He threw back his head and laughed. His neck columns stood out strong and brown and his white teeth flashed in his face. “If he is mad enough to release you, you’re mine,” he claimed with authority. Then his head dipped and his mouth claimed hers in a demanding, sensual kiss that showed her exactly how susceptible she was to him. His lips traced a fiery path to her ear. “You will sail with me; it’s inevitable. You’ll love me, too,” he added with amusement. “In fact, I think you already do,” he added outrageously.

“My windows and doors will be locked from now on,” she warned him.

“It’s your heart you had better lock.” He winked and then he was gone, over her balcony.

What in the name of God was the matter with her? She had just committed one of the most unpardonable sins a woman could ever commit. The guilt washed over her in waves. The trouble was that while Rory was close, she was under his spell, then when he left, she came to her senses and the realization of their sinful intimacy overwhelmed her. She prayed for forgiveness and swore an oath that she would never be intimate with him again. If her husband had their marriage annulled, then it would be another matter and she might someday consider accepting Rory’s love, but for the present she had to make him understand that nothing further must happen between them. She couldn’t change the past, but she must take responsibility for the future.

At dawn she rode Ebony along the Helford River but there was no sign that any ship had ever been moored there. She spent long hours riding the beach each day and it was there she heard Spider call to her from the cliffs of Roseland. She had never been so glad to see anyone in her life. Her happiness was extremely short-lived, however, as her brother imparted his news. “I’m sorry, Cat, I was too late. When Auntie Lil took me to see Solomon Storm, he told me he had already sold the mortgage on Roseland. He wouldn’t take the money, of course—he explained it would be up to the new owner whether he would redeem it for the twenty thousand owed
or whether he would choose to keep Roseland. He warned me that the man would be a fool if he didn’t keep the estate. He gave me this sealed letter for you. I didn’t open it, though I was tempted.”

She took the letter and swore a blue streak. “Damn, blast, and set fire to it all!”

“Cat, it’s no good venting your spleen on me. We missed the due date on the loan. Solomon Storm showed me the papers Father signed and the ones you signed for the extra two thousand. He was within his legal rights to do so and I’m pretty sure we have no recourse.”

“Damn, damn, damn,” she cried. “I was absolutely counting on us owning Roseland, then I could tell his high-and-mightiness where he could stick Helford Hall! Oh, Spider, I have so much to tell you. I met Black Jack Flash … you’re never going to believe this, he’s Lord Helford’s younger brother.”

“The magistrate’s brother is a pirate?” he asked in disbelief.

“Yes, it’s true, honest to God. He’s absolutely nothing whatsoever like Ruark. He’s so easygoing, I swear he never stops laughing. He lives life exactly as he chooses and thumbs his nose at the entire world. You’ll just love him,” she promised.

Spider looked at her shrewdly. “Well, it sounds like you do, at any rate!”

Summer blushed uncontrollably. “Wait until you see him. His hair is streaked with a zigzag of silvery white at the temple. That’s where the name Black Jack Flash came from. He’s larger than life, he only wears dramatic black or white and his bed is hung with red silk panels …” Her voice trailed off as Spider’s eyebrows went up.

“You’ve already shared his bed, haven’t you, Cat?”

She ignored the question as they went in through the front door of Roseland. The scent of the climbing flowers above the entrance and the pearl gray doves perched cooing softly on the slanted roof brought a lump into her throat. She sat down on a faded sofa and broke the wax seals.

As she read the name Helford her face drained of color. She tore open the note from her husband and read the following:

“That bastard!” she screamed.

“Who, Storm?” asked Spider.

“No! Lord bloody-rotten Helford. That’s who bought the mortgage. My God, he couldn’t get to London fast enough … he left here July sixth and paid off the mortgage on July seventh.” She almost choked. “Read that! He will
allow
me to stay at Helford Hall until the annulment.
Allow
me! The whoreson will then
allow
us both to live at Roseland. Over my dead body will he
allow
me to do anything. I’ll get Rory to help us.”

There was a sharp rapping upon the front door that made her jump out of her skin. She opened the door angrily and looked straight into the face of the hated Sergeant Oswald. A militiaman stood respectfully behind him.