The Pirate Lord (16 page)

As Queenie plastered herself to his right side, he glared at Sara’s back. The little witch. She had no right to be angry. He’d done nothing to be ashamed of, and even if he had, it was all her fault for making him ache for her.

He started to thrust Queenie away, then stopped himself. Why should he? If Sara was jealous, let her have a taste of what he’d suffered yesterday when he’d seen her fussing over Hargraves like a frigging mother hen. Maybe then she’d admit that she didn’t want that ugly sailor.

And if it wasn’t jealousy that had roused her temper, at least he’d have the pleasure of rubbing her nose in his “lechery.”

The other women had disappeared, helped off the ship by his men so they could explore the island. Only Sara remained at the rail. He grinned. Draping his arm casually about Queenie’s shoulders, he said smoothly, “Good morning, Miss Willis. And what do
you
think of our island?”

She faced him, paling when she saw him with Queenie. But she quickly recovered herself. “It’s lovely.” Her voice lowered in acid condescension. “It’s the perfect place for you and your lecherous companions to sport with your unwilling concubines.”

A slow smile touched his lips. “You mean, ‘sport with our prospective
wives
,’ don’t you? And I assure you, not all of them are unwilling.” He cast a glance down at Queenie’s ample bosom. “Some of them are more than happy to be here.”

The look on Sara’s face was priceless. He would wager his ship that she was jealous, though she’d never admit it, even to herself.

Then she tilted up that stubborn chin of hers and said in a lofty voice, “Some of them have no self-respect. I’m
not talking about them. They have their own consciences to deal with.”

Queenie bristled. “Why, you haughty little bi—”

“That’s enough, Queenie.” He dropped his arm from around her shoulder. “Why don’t you join the other women? I have some things to say to Miss Willis.”

For a second he thought Queenie would refuse, but apparently she decided it wasn’t a battle worth fighting, because she shrugged and released her hold on his waist. “If you say so, guv’nor. I’d like to see if the beds are as comfy on land as they are on sea.” And with a last come-hither look in his direction, she strolled off down the deck, her hips swaying provocatively.

Gideon returned his gaze to Sara only to find her watching Queenie’s retreat with a murderous look. He chuckled. “You don’t like her, do you?”

Smoothing her hair back with one hand, she turned to walk away. “I have no feelings about her whatsoever. Now, if you’ll excuse me, Captain Horn…”

Her words died off as he caught her arm. Easily matching her stride, he goaded, “Aren’t you just a bit curious, Sara? Haven’t you the least interest in hearing how I found Queenie’s performance last night?”

“Absolutely not!” A flood of crimson spread over her cheeks. “Let me go!”

He slid one arm about her waist and bent to whisper, “Don’t you want to know what we did together? Whether I kissed her as I did you? Whether I fondled her breasts and the secret place between her legs—”

“Stop it.” Her body trembled against his. “Stop saying these things!”

There was such misery on her face he couldn’t bear to torture her anymore. “I didn’t touch her, you know.” The admission left his lips before he could prevent it. “I sent her to Barnaby without so much as a kiss.”

She went very still. “I…I don’t care what you did with her. It’s nothing to me.” But he could tell from the relief in her voice that she was lying.

“It was you I wanted,” he went on. “And it’s you I’m going to have, no matter what I must do to get you.”

It was true. Last night had taught him one thing: he couldn’t stomach another woman in his bed when he wanted only Sara. He had to make love to her at least once, if just to get her out of his thoughts.

“You can’t…have me,” she said haltingly. “I’m promised to another.”

“It doesn’t matter.” During the long hours of aching for her last night, that was one thing he’d decided—that somehow he’d seduce her away from Hargraves. “You’re meant for me, not him. And one day soon, I’ll make you admit it. You can be sure of that.”

I
t took Sara only two hours of wandering the beaches of Atlantis Island to admit, albeit grudgingly, that Gideon’s love of the place was justified. With every step she took, her slippers sank into sands white and fine as marble dust. The air smelled fragrant and rich, like the air in that London greenhouse she’d once entered during a dinner party.

And the colors! Vivid pinks and brilliant yellows dotted the forest of willows and aging oaks. Barnaby had explained to her that although the island was located in the tropics, the south trade winds and cold currents of the North Atlantic kept the temperature moderate, thus enabling orange and lemon groves to thrive alongside date palms and bamboo. According to Barnaby, winters were nearly nonexistent and the summers mild.

That explained the lush flora, but what about the varied fauna? So far, she’d seen wild goats and rabbits roaming the higher promontories. Huge sea turtles waddled along the shores, and wherever she walked, she startled grouse and pheasants out of the brush and into
the air. Were they all native to the island, she wondered, or brought here long ago by some other hopeful colonists who’d since given up the ghost? What had made this small bit of the world a paradise from end to end?

Well, not quite end to end. There was the other part of the island—the dry, brown expanse they’d seen when they’d first approached. When she’d asked Barnaby about it, he’d explained that it was the result of a strange weather phenomenon. The same trade winds that made the island mild in climate also dried out the side of the island they blew constantly over. Since the unattractive side faced the trade route, it wasn’t surprising no one had bothered to settle there. When ships had been blown off course far enough to find Atlantis, they’d eyed it as an unlikely source of provisions and had sailed on by.

It was like some ancient Garden of Eden hidden away where no one could find it. No one but Gideon, that is. Trust him to be the one to stumble across it.

She glanced furtively down the beach to where he stood, wearing only his buff trousers and his belt with the saber slung from it. Stretching his arms up, he caught hold of a rounded cluster of yellow fruit hanging from what appeared to be an odd sort of palm tree with flat, waxy green leaves. A banana tree, they called it. She watched as he drew out his saber, then used it to sever the cluster from the tree in one lethal swipe.

As he twisted at the waist to lay the cut fruit in a cart already heaped high with the strange yellow crescents, his muscles flexed and worked, a fine sheen of sweat glistening off the black hair of his chest. At just that moment, he glanced her way and his gaze caught hers. For a moment his eyes were rich and unfathomable, and she felt the force of his gaze like a sensuous whisper, across her brow…her cheeks…her lips. A sudden, all too painfully familiar heat flashed over her, flaming into a blush. Mortified to be caught staring, she pivoted
away from him, but not before catching a glimpse of the slow, knowing grin that curved his mouth.

Good heavens, the man was a danger to all woman-kind! She, of all people, should be immune to him, having known her share of criminals in the course of her reform work. Yet she was far from immune. Of all the people on God’s green earth, why must it be a notorious pirate captain who made her blush and feel weak at the knees like some starry-eyed young girl at her coming out? She’d always been too sensible for such infatuations, with the exception of Colonel Taylor, and even with him she hadn’t lost all common sense the way she had with Gideon.

Although she hurried down the beach away from him, she couldn’t ignore the warmth spreading from the most intimate parts of her body. Oh, yes, Gideon belonged in this Garden of Eden. He was as temptingly made as the first Adam must have been. God hadn’t shirked his duties when creating Gideon Horn. No, indeed. In fact, she wondered if God hadn’t put just a jot too much effort into it. He should have given the man something more useful than good looks and a treacherous charm. Humility, for example.

She tried to imagine a humble Gideon, but it was impossible. Such a creature would be beyond even the Almighty’s powers of imagination.

Spotting Louisa, who sat on a fallen log a few feet from where the beach ended and the brush began, Sara hurried to her side.

“What are you smiling about?” Louisa grumbled. “Don’t tell me, you’re already being seduced into liking this island.”

“Seduced” was a good word for it, Sara thought. “You must admit it’s not what you expected.”

“It’s exactly what I expected. Have you seen those huts yet? They’re the crudest buildings imaginable! No window shutters…plank floors…roofs of thatch. The only thing in their favor is the featherbeds, which do
look comfortable, I’ll admit. But what else can you expect of pirates? Of course they would pay attention to their beds. That’s all they care about. Men! I swear, the communal kitchen that Silas has been using is as primitive as—”

“Silas? You seem to be on awfully familiar terms with Mr. Drummond all of a sudden.”

With a snort, Louisa ducked her head. “Not at all. Silas…I mean…Mr. Drummond and I have just learned to…tolerate each other’s company. He finally realized he needed my help, that’s all.”

Her help? Louisa’s “help” had consisted of taking over the poor man’s kitchen and ignoring every attempt he made to regain power. If he’d learned to tolerate that, he was a better man than she’d thought. “Well, I must admit the meals have been quite edible since you offered your ‘help.’ And I’m sure that with a little work we can make the huts presentable.”

“That’s the only reason they brought us here, you know. To clean and cook and sew for them.”

“Oh, no, they want much more than that,” Sara said acidly, remembering Gideon’s knowing, seductive look.

Louisa stiffened. “You’re right, of course. They want our bodies, too. And I’ll be damned if I let any of them have mine. They’ll have to tie me down first.”

“Don’t say that too loudly. You might give them ideas.” Sara glanced around at some of the women who’d already chosen mates. “Unfortunately, you and I may be outnumbered in our desire to remain unmarried.”

Louisa shot her a long, curious glance. “You and I? You’ve chosen a husband, too, remember?”

With a groan, Sara cursed her slip of the tongue.

“Or have you changed your mind and decided to leave Petey to Ann, after all?”

A surge of guilt hit Sara all at once. Poor Ann. “Where is she, anyway?” Sara asked, ignoring Louisa’s question as she scanned the clusters of men and women around
them. She’d meant to look for the young woman earlier, to see if she couldn’t patch things up between them, but in exploring the island she’d forgotten about her good intentions.

Louisa jerked her head toward the stream not far from them. “I saw her wander up there a little while ago. I think she wanted to be alone.”

“Oh, of course.” Sara cast a concerned glance up along the sides of the stream and felt a little shiver of worry when she didn’t see the Welshwoman. “Perhaps I’ll just go look for her. She shouldn’t wander so far away from everyone when the island is still unfamiliar to us. She might get hurt.”

“Do as you wish. But if you don’t mind, I’m returning to the dirty little hovel they call a kitchen. We’ll be eating dinner soon. The pirates have killed the fatted calf in our honor—actually, a fatted wild pig—and if I leave the final cooking of it to Silas, he’ll torture it into the toughest, most inedible dish imaginable.”

With that, the young woman strolled back in the direction they’d just come, leaving Sara to climb the slippery banks of the stream alone. The moment she began her ascent, she realized that her half-boots, adequate for treading the well-polished decks of the
Satyr
, were not at all useful for scrambling over the slick rocks bordering the stream. It took some work to keep her balance while holding her skirts above her ankles, and she was so intent upon not falling that she didn’t hear the soft voices of a young couple talking in the woods until she was nearly upon them.

Then she halted, straining to hear more. In moments she picked out Ann’s dulcet voice, answered by a deeper male one. Good heavens, was one of those dreadful men even now taking advantage of Ann’s wounded heart? Sara wouldn’t stand for that. Ann had been through enough already.

Pushing determinedly through the thick growth along the edge of the stream, she stumbled suddenly into a
clearing. The couple before her, locked in a passionate embrace, sprang apart at once. And to her surprise, Petey was the “dreadful man” holding Ann.

Her mouth gaped open. “Oh…I’m…I’m so sorry…. I thought…I was worried—” She turned, her face several shades of red. “Never mind. I’ll just go back to the beach—”

“Wait!” Peter called out as she started off. She heard his boots crunching through the brush after her. “Please, Miss Willis—I can explain.”

Sara shook her head as she pushed doggedly on. “You don’t need to explain anything.” But by that time he’d reached her side and caught her by the arm, forcing her to halt.

“Listen, please.” When Sara lifted her eyes to him, he added, “I told Ann everythin’—about why I’m marryin’ you and who you are. I told her I work for your brother. I had to.”

“Please don’t blame him,” Ann burst out. When Sara looked at the young woman, she was pained to see how red Ann’s eyes and nose were.

She went on haltingly. “I-I came up here to be alone…because…well…”

“She was cryin’,” Petey interjected. “I seen her come up here alone, and I was worried she might hurt herself, so I followed her and found her sittin’ all by herself on that tree there and sobbin’.” He cast Ann a tender look. “She thought you and me was in love. I couldn’t let her go on thinkin’ it, not when it hurts her so.” His voice lowered. “Especially since it ain’t true.”

The look that passed between Ann and Petey then was so sweet that a lump swelled in Sara’s throat. Suddenly she wished it was she and Gideon sharing that look.

As soon as she thought it, she groaned. Gideon, indeed! The man knew nothing of affection or sweetness. All he wanted was to own her body, and he wanted that only because she wouldn’t give it to him. He was
like a little boy coveting his playmate’s toys.

Ann’s gaze was on Sara now. “Since Petey’s explained it all to me, Miss Willis, I understand what he has to do. Truly I do.” It sounded as if she were trying to convince herself more than Sara. Dropping her gaze, Ann smoothed her skirts with her plump, soft hands. “There’s no other way out of it. Petey must marry you to keep you safe from the pirates. I see that now.”

To keep you safe from the pirates
. Ann said not a word about her own sacrifice, about being kept safe from the pirates herself. She just accepted the notion that Sara was somehow more important, that Sara deserved more protection than she did.

Never had Sara felt so loathsome—or been so aware of the unfairness of England’s class system. Here was a woman whose every chance for happiness had been snatched from her, a woman whose only crime had been in stealing to buy medicine for her mother. She’d lost her freedom and her mother before she’d even been old enough to find a husband or have children. At last she’d found a man she cared for, one who obviously cared for her. And he too was to be snatched from her for the most frivolous of reasons—so Sara wouldn’t face a scandal if by some slim chance she were rescued from Gideon and his men.

It wasn’t right. Despite her talk of fairness and equality, Sara had tacitly accepted Petey’s sacrifice as if it were her due, without even stopping to ask if it was what he truly wanted.

Well, not anymore. “Peter isn’t going to marry me.” Sara’s voice was firm. “If I’d guessed how you two felt about each other, I wouldn’t have agreed to this arrangement. Now that I know, I certainly can’t go through with it.”

“But miss—” Petey began.

“That’s my final word, Petey. We don’t know what the future will hold, and I won’t let you marry me when you love another.” When he opened his mouth to pro
test again, she cut him off. “We might be here for years. You never know. It’s foolish to behave as if this might end any day.”

A hopeful look passed over Ann’s face, but Petey crossed his arms stubbornly over his chest. “And what about the Pirate Lord? He’s got his eye on you, y’know. If he thinks y’re free—”

“I’ll deal with that in my own way,” Sara said, hoping she sounded more brave than she felt.

“I don’t like it,” Petey grumbled, then noticed how the hope faded from Ann’s face. He moved swiftly to her side and slid his arm around her waist. “It’s not that I don’t want to marry you, love. It’s just that I got a duty to Miss Willis.”

Sara sighed. Petey would never relent as long as he thought she needed protecting. And certainly from the way Gideon had spoken to her that morning, he intended to pursue her no matter what.

She went very still. Actually, that could work in her favor. “I know what we can do. We can use Gideon’s stubbornness against him. After all, he said he would do whatever he must to have me.”

“When did he—” Petey began.

“Never mind that,” she said quickly. “The point is, as long as I insist on choosing you, he can’t force me to choose him.” Her words came out more quickly as her idea took shape. “Indeed, the more I resist, the more likely he is to put off making the women choose until I’m free to choose him. And since that day will never come, we can stall him endlessly.”

“Endlessly?” Petey’s voice held extreme skepticism. “Beggin’ your pardon, miss, but I can’t see the Pirate Lord waitin’ on your leisure forever. He’s bloomin’ stubborn.”

Truer words were never spoken, she thought. “Still, all we need is time to think of a plan, a way to get us all freed.” She cast the couple a fond glance. “In any case, it’s better than forcing the two of you into a mis
erable situation.” She faced Ann. “What do you think? Can you two pretend to be strangers when you’re around the others?”

Ann bobbed her head. Clearly she’d do anything to hold on to Petey.

“Good. That’s what we’ll do then.”

Petey tightened his grip on Ann. “And if the pirate surprises us? If he grows tired of workin’ on you and turns to some other lass? If he abides by his promise to make the women choose husbands in a week? What then?”