His to Hold (Regency Scoundrels Book 1) (17 page)

Well, this was definitely unexpected. Elizabeth stared between Rafe and Chastity. She didn’t know what to make of this latest revelation.

“Son?” Rafe asked hoarsely. He looked as shocked as she felt.

Elizabeth tried to push Rafe off of her, and after another stunned moment or so, he finally moved off of her, and extended a hand to help her to her feet. “Are you unharmed?” he asked quickly, darting his gaze between Elizabeth and the boy that was supposedly his son.

“Aye, but you have a more pressing matter to attend to.” She looked pointedly at the boy, hoping that Rafe would get the gist of the situation.

“I did not know,” he stammered. His beautiful blue eyes had darkened to that intense cobalt blue colour again. Emotion rolled off him in waves.

“Rafe, you must keep it together. I am not overly surprised. Many men have oodles of bastards running around. You will not be the first, nor do I suppose that you will be the last.”

“This is ludicrous. I should have known. I can’t imagine Chastity bearing a child, leastwise keeping the child.”

“Rafe, you must take responsibility for that boy. Look at him, he’s skin and bones.”

“He seems to be in the very image of his no good mother. I wouldn’t think that would put him in the greatest light for you.”

“Nonetheless, you must give him a chance. Look at him! He’s wearing little more than rags. He’s obviously not well taken care of. He needs a bath, he needs some hearty food, and he needs someone that will love and take care of him!”

“Oy, what is that you just said?” Chastity called out, dashing down to pull the child to her. “I do right by my little man, I’ll have you know.”

Elizabeth stared steadfastly back at her, not willing to allow the little scalawag to intimidate her.

“Chastity, I don’t believe you.” Rafe’s voice was cold, and filled with little noticeable emotion. Elizabeth looked around the ship, and noticed with relief that in the few moments of confusion, Rafe’s crew had somehow managed to take control of the ship.

Elizabeth’s heart ran a race against her ribcage. She would never be able to marry Rafe. There were too many secrets about him that he seemed undoubtedly unwilling to share. She didn’t know how they were going to get out of this one.

“Captain Morgan,” one of Rafe’s men called out, pointing back to the stern of the ship. But Rafe seemed unable to focus on anything else but staring at the boy that Chastity had introduced as his son.

Instead, Elizabeth looked to where the crewman pointed. Her eyes widened, and for a few bone-chilling moments, she lost the ability to speak. Then, when she did regain her composure, her voice came out as little more than a strangled croak.

“Rafe!” she muttered, gesturing wildly, while she pulled on his arm. “You might want to look smart, and give your attention over here.”

“Miss, can’t you see that I am trying to deal with something here?”

“Aye, I can, you silly man. But if you do not pay attention at once, all of our efforts will be for naught.”

At that moment, he turned around, and his jaw dropped ever so slightly. Folding her arms over her chest, she stared at him smugly. “There, you see?”

“Make ready. Clear for action!” he called out, as Ethan’s head pivoted around.

“Son of a bitch,” Ethan muttered, scrambling toward them.

“Take Chastity and her crew down below.”

“Oh, I think not. Now that I see my ride has finally arrived, I shall take my leave, of all of you.”

Elizabeth and Rafe turned around at the same time, and let out gasps of horror.

“Rafe,” she said clutching urgently at his arm. “You can’t allow her to slaughter that boy. She’s more of a bitch than I originally thought.”

Elizabeth had never seen such cold maliciousness. Chastity made her father like a saint when it came to his devotion to her. Chastity held the boy to her chest, and she had the blade of her dagger pressed against his throat. The boy was wide-eyed, and seemed genuinely scared witless. This didn’t seem to be in their plans.

Elizabeth, on the other hand, had suddenly forgotten how to breathe. She could not fathom such a horrible woman. To think that Chastity was willing to kill the child of her own body, just so she could elude imprisonment.

“I have no intentions of allowing her to kill the little brat. He might be a little hellion, but he’s still just a kid.”

“Rafe!” she chastised.

“Well, might I remind you that he did try to…”

“Aye, I know what he tried to do. But with Chastity as his mother, however would he know any different?”

“Duly noted,” Rafe muttered, moving forward toward Chastity and Charles.

“Chastity, hand him over here, and I’ll allow you and your crew safe passage.”

“Do you think I’m that foolish? You might decide to have a sudden change of heart once I hand the little brat over. You know, sometimes I wish that you had never swelled my belly with him, for he is a troublesome little brat. He’s as stubborn as you, and then some.”

“Chastity, please. You can see Antonio’s ship swiftly approaching on our portside. Allow the child to come over here unharmed.”

“I should keep him, you know. It would be something to take back to England with me, and show your family. I would be sure they would be quite surprised to have their hero son found out to have sired a whore’s bastard.”

“Chastity, I do not have the time for this.”

“Take him, then. You both deserve each other.” She shoved Charles toward him, and the young boy, went toppling forward. Rafe moved to catch him, just as Chastity pulled her pistol.

Seeing that she was about to shoot either Rafe or Charles, Elizabeth rushed into action. Without thinking, she charged the larger woman, and knocked her off of her feet. With the force of their collision, the unreliable firearm went off. Elizabeth swore as something resembling that of a bee sting pelted into her arm.

“Bloody hell,” she muttered. Chastity pushed her off her, and she went rolling across the deck. Her head was pounding, and darkness loomed in front of her eyes.

“Elizabeth!” Rafe’s frightened voice carried through her pain induced haze. She reached up to wrap her hand around her left arm, and felt hot blood rushing against her hand.

“Just what I needed,” she muttered, groaning aloud. Now they were going have to do battle with Antonio’s men as well. She strained to hear what was going on around her. Little hands touched her forehead, and she looked up at the grimy face of Rafe’s son. More cannon fire cracked out around them, and she grit her teeth together to fight off the pain.

“You’ll be all right, miss. I’ve seen much worse,” Charles muttered, staring earnestly down at her. “Me ma’s bite is much worse than her bark.”

“Are we winning?” She tried to sit up, but the small boy pushed her back down again.

“You got to keep your head down, miss. It makes a right fine target it does.” He flashed her a cheeky grin, and she wondered why Charles had tried to hurt Rafe.

“Me ma won’t stick around for long. She knows that she’s fighting a losing battle. But I fear that she’ll be back someday.”

“I hope that day never comes. I’m glad to be rid of her.”

The clanging of steel crashing against steel, still rang out around them, and the loud noise of pistols, and cannons discharging, nearly split her head in two. She felt as if she were dying. This couldn’t be how it was all going to end. She’d never know what might have happened between Rafe and her. Was Charles really his son, or was it just some fanciful story that Chastity had created?

She could hear a man’s shout of pain, and Rafe dropped to his knees in front of her. “You nearly got skewered, my love,” he murmured good-naturedly. Reaching toward her, he pulled her against him. He inspected her wound, and breathed a sigh of relief. “Ah, it’s just a graze. You shall recover.”

But she didn’t believe him. She felt horrible. “Where is Chastity?”

“She’s running with Antonio. Ronald’s men came to assist us, and not to worry, we’ve proven to be more than a formidable match for them. But I don’t think it’s the last of them that we shall see, I am afraid.”

She tried to smile for him, but just couldn’t seem to muster up the energy.

“Sort of like a bad dream,” she muttered, coughing.

“Aye. You could say that.”

“Being with you is dangerous to my health.” He smiled down at her, and his eyes filled with regret.

“I did not think that any of this was going to happen. I would go through hellfire to keep you from harm.”

“I do believe that I may just believe that.” She smiled and then looked toward Charles. “You never told me that you had a child.”

“As I already stated, I had no idea. It would seem that Chastity was keeping him as a pawn to work into her little plan for me.”

“He is but a child. What have you planned for him?”

“I shall find him a home.”

“Why not just take him home with you?”

“That, my dear, is out of the question. My home is not a place for him.”

She could feel her world slipping away from her. But before she succumbed to whatever pulled at her, she needed to get an answer to one question.

“Who are you, Rafe?”

“I am your fairy prince.” The very bottom of her world slipped away from her, as a rolling sensation welled inside of her.

“No, you cannot be!”

“Oh, aye, I am.” His eyes sparkled, and her stomach continued plummeting.

“Son of a bitch,” she muttered, just as her eyes closed, and she was pulled into another world.

“No, my sweet. I am the son of a duchess,” he said. He sighed heavily. She wouldn’t have heard his confession, for she’d already fallen prey to another fainting fit.

The battle was over. Antonio’s ship had headed away on an alternate course. For the life of him, Mallory could not figure out why Antonio hadn’t stayed and fought until the bitter end.

He shook his head, and stood up to stretch his legs. Mary had been gracious enough to come over to
The Valiant
to attend to Elizabeth’s wound. He could have had his doctor look at her, but he had crewmen with more serious injuries that needed their doctor’s attention.

He frowned, and sighed. In this little adventure of theirs, Elizabeth kept receiving the wrong end of the stick. He wished to God that he could take back everything that had happened to her. He rubbed his hand over his growing beard, and turned away from the window to stare back at Elizabeth. He had told her that he was her fairy prince, but she was the one that resembled a fairy.

Her long raven locks flowed over the pillow, and her face froze in a most entrancing expression. He walked toward her, and reached his hand out to take a hold of hers. He did not know what to say to her, about the boy named Charles. He suspected that Charles was indeed his son, for under all of the dirt that was smeared across his face, he closely resembled the St. Martin side of the family.

He had told her that he was her fairy prince, but there was still so much that she didn’t know about him. What would she think when he told her that though he had many influential and rich friends in England, he was too proud to accept money from any of them?

Instead, he was willing to kidnap an innocent woman so that he could take her money away from her?

He was a coward, and a wretch, and he suddenly despised what he’d become. He stood back up, and walked to the window. He was restless, and he didn’t know what to do to calm his nerves.

“So that was why you wouldn’t kiss me.” A soft voice said from the bed. He whirled around, and riveted his eyes on her. Elizabeth stirred emotions within him that he had never known possible. Even now, he wanted to submerge himself in the bed, and take her and make her, his own. “If you had kissed me, your charade would have been revealed.”

“Aye.” He didn’t know what else to say, for at the moment the emotions he was feeling could not be expressed in words.

“I understand now. Though I daresay, I should have recognized you from the beginning. I should have remembered you. My heart carries the memory of you, and yet I did not see you for who you were. Forgive me.” She averted his gaze, and she blushed.

“It is I that should be begging for your forgiveness. I shouldn’t have taken you hostage. I was a bloody pillock, and I shall never be able to make it up to you.”

“Do you know how long I have longed for the love that we shared that night? It might have only been two years, and yet it felt like an eternity for me.”

“Aye, I felt the same way.”

“The skeptics say that love at first sight is not possible, but I say pooh to that. I knew that I was in love with you from the very first moment I laid eyes on you.”

Her voice dropped off, as she turned her head away from him on the pillow. She heaved out a great sigh, and then looked back toward him.

“I shall be your servant, forever,” he said, raising her hand to his lips.

“Rafe, we cannot pretend that things have not changed. Those two years have change me in ways you can’t imagine. I am older, and much wiser.”

He laughed, and her eyes silently chastised him. “It is true. I was but a young girl, then. I had no idea of the ways of the world. I had just a shy debutante. And you, you were so happy that night. You still seemed troubled, and yet, there was a levity about you that you do not possess now. Now, there is a cloud about you that never seems to lift no matter how happy you are. It troubles me, Rafe.”

“You should not allow my life to trouble you. I will not have it.”

“Why did you become a pirate?”

“It suited me.” He shrugged his shoulders, and turned away from her. “You do not know the life that I was born into.”

“It must have been very hard for you.”

A dry laugh escaped him, and he turned back to her, with one eyebrow raised. “Oh, aye, it was a difficult cross to bear.” He turned away, and rolled his eyes. If she found out the truth, she would be horrified that she had ever felt sorry for him. He had been a veritable spoiled prince when he had been young. His mother and father had showered their children with endless love, and all of the wonders that their wealthy position could afford.

“My arm feels as if it has been bandaged,” she mused, clearly seeking to change the subject. Oh, aye, she would make him a good wife, for not only was she quick to pick up on things, but she was always ready to invent another subject.

“I asked Mary to come and attend to you. Fortunately, for me, she was a dear, and complied immediately. My doctor was busy with more serious cases.”

“And Charles?” she asked softly, searching his face for any sign of trouble. Her wide brown eyes gleamed with worry, and he wanted to lean down and kiss away all of her troubles.

“The boy is fine,” Mallory sighed, and raked his hand through his hair. In truth, the boy was far from fine. She was right. He was naught but skin and bones, and his appetite had surprised all of them. But Seamus had a right proper time lavishing the lad with food.

“I am glad to hear of that.” She smiled and then sat up cautiously.

He raked his eyes over her. She touched her hair self-consciously, and he smiled at the sweet gesture. “Well, I’m sure that you won’t want to spend all night in my cabin.”

“Oh, I can’t think of anything better to do,” he whispered, leaning forward. Her eyes were shining, and instead of seeing hatred or any other sort of negative emotion, he just saw the woman that he had first fallen in love with.

She was a vulnerable woman, and her generous heart was definitely one that he would never break. Why, she was the sort of a woman that could finally cure him of his wicked ways. He was going in for the kiss, and had nearly claimed her ripe for the taking lips, when he heard something that made his blood still.

“Oh gross, can’t you two wait to do that?”

Mallory turned around to set his eyes on the eight-year-old boy that had his head stuck through the secret passageway. The boy was really too much. In fact, he reminded him of himself. That could be a good thing, or a bad thing. Wincing, he jumped up from the bed and made to lunge for Charles. The boy squealed, and shut the door in his face.

“That isn’t any way to treat your son, now is it?” Her voice held a hard edge to it, and he turned back to her, completely at a loss for words.

“What would you have me do? That boy has been running wild for far too long.”

“Well, you know, he probably can’t help himself.”

“Yes, well, when I’m through with him, he will behave like a lad his age.”

“Rafe, you can’t be considering hurting the poor dear.”

“Poor dear?” he scoffed, and then snorted. “That poor dear is right handy with wielding a belaying pin, I’ll have you know. And furthermore, if we don’t take his naughty behavior in hand, he will grow up to be a right proper monster.”

“Rafe, please, allow me to talk to him.”

He cringed, as she yet again employed the moniker that he detested so much. He was truly tempted to tell her his real name, but he knew that if he did that, he would be testing his luck.

“You are too tired.”

“No, actually, I think I could do with a bit of a stroll.”

“A stroll? I shall have to get you bloody body armour to go and deal with that brat.”

“Rafe, really. You should stop calling him such names! Why, you even admitted yourself that there is the possibility that he is your own child.”

“A slight possibility,” he grumbled.

“Well, if he is your son, don’t you want to get to know him?”

“Not particularly. If he’s my son, and Chastity is his mother, he can no doubt be up to no good, and I’m better off without him.”

“Rafe!”

That was it! He was going to lose his temper. “Woman, if you call me by that name again, I shall be forced to jump onto that bed and make sweet love to you. After, that is, I secure that infernal door.” He slanted a sideways grin at her, and felt his breath hitch in his throat at the defiant stare that she served him with.

“Rafe,” she said, dropping her voice so that it became sultry. His loins tightened, and his grip on reality began slipping.

He moved to the secret passageway, and blocked it with his writing desk. He turned back to her, and raising one eyebrow, he strode toward her.

“One last chance, my little miss.”

“Oh, but I do like to play games that involve chance. As you already know, I am a very lucky lady indeed,” she said, her eyes twinkling.

“Perhaps we should finally finish what we started that night two years ago,” he mused, eyeing her as if she were a delicious pudding.

“Well, it does take you a horrid amount of time to get anything done, doesn’t it?” she teased, grinning from ear to ear. He jumped onto the bed, and grinned foolishly, when she emitted a squeal of delight.

“Just remember, miss, that you were the one that asked for my attention.” He loomed down toward her, and advanced to her puckered up lips.

“You must remind me to talk to Charles, in the morning.”

“‘Course I will,” he mumbled. Her lips were close, so very close.

He was just about to claim her petal like lips when a loud explosion rocked the very foundations of the ship.

“Damnation. I grow weary of these inopportune interruptions. I believe we’re going to have be back on firm ground before I can make sweet love to you.”

“Perhaps, the interruptions are a divined sign. Maybe we aren’t meant to be together.” He would have thought that she was deadly serious, save for the twinkle that sparkled in her eyes.

“I’ll be right back.”

“I am coming with you,” she insisted, reaching for his dressing gown that was draped across the bottom of the bed.

“Dear lady, this time, I do not think I shall even argue with you, for you are a woman that could slay a dragon.”

“Well, I conquered you, didn’t I? I think I’ve reached the status of dragon slayer.”

Wincing, he gave her a roguish smile, and then opened the door.

“After you, Miss Elizabeth.”

“Why thank you, Captain Morgan.” She curtsied to him, and then swept through the doorway.