The Pirate Takes A Bride (4 page)

“Sorry, sweetheart.” Nick nodded to Chante, who grasped Ashley around the waist, lifted her, and tossed her over his shoulder. She screeched, more from surprise than anything else, Nick surmised, and began pummeling Chante with her fists.

Nick winced. He was definitely going to owe Chante for this one.

But a moment later, she was Nick’s problem again. He climbed on one of the five horses tethered out front, but before he could grasp the reins, Chante tried to hand him a kicking and screaming Ashley.

Nick frowned at her. “Mr. Chante, could I possibly persuade you to—”

“No, Cap’n. Mrs. Cap’n belongs with you.”

“I am
not
Mrs. Captain!” Ashley bellowed.

With a sigh, Nick took her, settling her in front of him.

As thanks for his pains, she swiped at him with her nails and elbowed him in the jaw.

“Goddamn it,” he hissed. “Calm down.”

“Let me go!”

The horse shied at all the noise, and Nick, out of patience, pulled her against his chest, wrapping his arms about her waist and pinning her arms. He held her tight, so tight that she wouldn’t have enough breath to continue fighting for long.

“Ashley.” He bent his head and whispered in her ear. “If you don’t stop fighting, I’m going to have to bind you. Tempting as tying you up might be to me, I don’t think you’d enjoy it much.”

Whether because of the threat or the lack of air, she suddenly ceased moving. Nick could feel the pleasing weight of her breasts on his arms, and he could picture them in his mind.

Plump and full, sweetly curved, her skin pale and milky as moonlight. Unbidden, more images came to him: the fullness of her hip, the slope of her shoulder, the nip of her waist.

She wiggled against him again, and he felt himself grow hard. She must have felt it, too, because he heard her sharp intake of breath.

“Is that—?”

“Keep moving against me,” he answered, “and I’ll show you.”

“Try it,” she said, voice deceptively sweet, “and you may end up with nothing to show.”

“Play nice.”

She made a show of distancing herself from him—not easy or feasible when they were sharing a saddle—and he spurred the horse into motion. His men followed with Chante gradually taking the lead.

Nick settled in for a long night. As enjoyable a diversion as Ashley could be, he had far more serious concerns. Funny how the life of a pirate wasn’t near as blithe and carefree as he’d imagined it all those years ago as a young officer in the Navy. And still Nick wondered whether had he known, he could have chosen any differently. The Barbary corsair Yussef had been a hook in the Royal Navy’s cheek even then. Indeed, it was Yussef and Nick’s desire for revenge on the corsair that had necessitated Nick’s transformation from honorable Navy lieutenant to detestable pirate.

And here he was, ten years later, faced with another of Yussef’s evil deeds. But this one was personal. There was no doubt of that.

Isla de las Riquezas held nothing of interest for a mercenary like Yussef. The
Robin Hood
did occasionally store booty and stolen cargo there, but that was a pittance compared to the tributes Yussef exacted from the European countries as protection from him and his kind.

The men might not know what Yussef was capable of, but Nick did. No, Yussef hadn’t attacked the island for treasure. He’d attacked because he wanted revenge for Nick’s triumph over him a few months ago near Tripoli. The two ships had exchanged fire, and the
Robin Hood
had been the victor. Nick could have taken the Barbary corsair’s ship then, but it would have been at great cost of life. Now Nick swore and wished he’d sunk Yussef in Tripoli. If Yussef had done as Nick feared, he would never forgive himself for allowing the corsair to escape.

Obviously the loss at Tripoli had only left Yussef humiliated and aware his years of dominance over the sea were coming to an end. The Barbary corsair had plotted retribution against Nick and the
Robin Hood
.

And against the innocent woman and children of Isla de las Riquezas.

The women and children the men of the
Robin Hood
called lovers, wives, sons, and daughters.

Nick’s hands clenched on the horse’s reins. Chante had said the attack was only a rumor, but Nick hadn’t needed Chante to tell him what he already knew. Nick knew how Yussef operated.

The corsair was efficient and ruthless. He would have attacked the island under cover of darkness. The sleeping women and children would either have been enslaved or, more likely, have had their throats slit. The corsair would then have burned the cabins and huts, taken any treasure the crew could find, and left the island smoking in the rising sun.

Nick had seen the Barbary corsair’s handiwork before. And he’d lost a good friend because of it. But that loss would be nothing compared to this one.

Nick clenched his fists on the reins and bit back a volley of curses.

If Yussef had so much as touched her, Nick vowed he’d kill the man with his own hands.

A
shley snapped her eyes open and tried to keep them open this time. With all that had happened this night, she should be too anxious to sleep. But exhaustion had finally overcome anger and fear, and she’d dozed off.

The sky above was black and dotted with stars, but she thought she caught a few wisps of gray in the distance. She could smell the sand and salt of the sea. They’d been riding on a beach for what seemed like hours now, and the crash of the waves had become almost familiar.

Soothing.

Lulling...

Her eyelids began to droop again, and, with supreme effort, she forced them back up. It didn’t help her effort that she couldn’t remember the last time she hadn’t been running from an irate father or the furious Duke of Bleven and had snatched more than a few moments of sleep. It also didn’t help that the horse’s gait was so steady or that Nick was so deliciously warm and so solid to lean upon.

She would have liked to turn, put her arms about him, and curl up against his muscular chest. And she would have.

If she didn’t still hate him.

In fact, now she hated him more than ever.

Liar, thief...pirate captain.

Was nothing about him what she’d thought?

“You’re getting all stiff again.” Nick’s voice floated forward on the wind. “Thinking about me?”

“Not by choice.”

His arms were around her, holding the horse’s reins, and she saw one of his hands flex on the leather.

Good. She hoped he was furious. She wanted no sweet, whispered words from him. She focused her gaze on the landscape around them. The sky was definitely lightening, and she could make out sandstone cliffs in the distance. The white sand beach was leading them into the shelter of a rather dramatic bluff.

“And I assure you that seeing you again, marrying you, and taking you to the
Robin Hood
was not
my
choice,” he said in clipped tones.

“How kind of you to remind me. Perhaps we should call ourselves fortunate that the priest accidentally married you to me and not Maddie. She would have swooned from heart palpitations by now. Though, with you being a thief and a pirate, you really have no business marrying anyone at all.”

She felt him stiffen.

“I’m not a thief. I occasionally liberate cargo—”

She knew what he was going to say. “Yes, yes. You steal cargo from His Majesty’s Royal Navy.”

“No. I have, on the rare occasion, liberated cargo from enemies of the navy, from other pirates. And when I sell said items, the proceeds go to the poor and needy.”

Of course he did. And she was the Queen of England. “The poor and needy?” She gestured to the men riding beside them. “Like your crew.”

“They have to eat too.”

She rolled her eyes. “So you’re not actually a thief, but a hero.”

“Some might call me that.”

She could almost hear the pleasure in his voice. She didn’t like it. “Hmm. Interesting. The owners never miss these items, you say? Is that why the Duke of Bleven attacked us on the road to Gretna Green? Because he didn’t miss whatever it was you liberated from him?”

He hissed in a breath. “I didn’t…the whole affair was a minor miscalculation.” His teeth sounded clenched tightly together.

“Would you say that you make many of those, my lord?” Her voice sounded sweet and innocent, but she knew he felt the barb.

“Not near as many as you, Lady Nicholas.”

Now it was her turn to stiffen. His use of her new name brought all her anger back to the surface.

“For example,” he continued, “if you recall, it was you and my brother who wanted me to marry Lady Madeleine. I tried to refuse.”

He had, and Ashley wished she could have listened, but refusal wasn’t an option. She said, “What else could we have done? After spending all those days and nights on the road to Gretna Green, Maddie couldn’t return to London unmarried. She would have been ruined.”

“And marrying a pirate captain wouldn’t have ruined her? I had reasons for my rejection.”

If only she’d known that then...

“Considering those reasons,” she said, “what made you change your mind?”

She heard him sigh and turned to gauge the look on his face. His expression was strained and tense. “I’m not completely without honor.” Before she could laugh, he added, “And my brother made the request. He asked, and I owe him.”

“But surely he doesn’t know that you’re a—”

“He has his suspicions.” Nick shook his head. “But no one knows.”

“
I
know.”

“An unfortunate occurrence.”

“What are you going to do now? Make me walk the plank?” She’d expected him to at least chuckle. Even at the most stressful times, like when Maddie’s father had been chasing them to Gretna Green and shooting at them, Nick hadn’t lost his sense of humor.

But something about him had changed tonight. Instead of teasing her—he wouldn’t really make her walk the plank...would he?—Nick’s fingers clenched angrily on the reins again.

“I don’t know what I’m going to do with you yet. Hell’s teeth!”

Ashley flinched from his sudden outburst.

“This is the last bloody thing I need right now.
You
are the last thing I need.”

She huffed and pushed at the prison of his arms. “Then by all means, let me go.”

He shook his head and tightened his arms about her. “I wish it were that easy, but I made a vow to you. I’m obligated to protect you.”

“Obligated! Damn—I mean, drivel! That’s drivel, Nicholas. I won’t be anyone’s obligation.” This time she managed to free one hand and was in the process of throwing her leg over the saddle before Nick got hold of her again. He crushed her against him so hard that her breath whooshed out.

“Stop fighting me.” His voice was raw and angry. “You’re mine now. I won’t fail you, like—” He broke off.

Ashley’s heart lurched with sympathy. There had been pain in his voice, real anguish underneath the anger. She opened her mouth to offer words of comfort, and then she remembered her own anguish. She remembered her own pain the night he’d betrayed her.

Her sympathy dried up, and she pushed the tender feeling aside. No, she wouldn’t feel sorry for him. She wouldn’t forgive him.

She took a shaky breath. “Sweet as that sentiment is, Lord Nicholas,” she began, keeping her voice brisk as the ocean breeze. “I’m afraid I must—for the last time—refuse offer of passage on your pirate ship. That type of thing is much better suited to my friend Josie. In fact, if you take me back to London, I know Josie would be more than willing to accompany you—”

“Even if you were not being ridiculous, it’s too late for that,” Nick said. “We’re here.”

Ashley looked around her. They were in a U-shaped area, craggy rocks rising from the seashore on both sides and the inky ocean spreading out before them. The cove looked innocuous enough to her—no hulking pirate ship flying the Jolly Roger and casting a shadow over the beach.

And yet Nick’s men were quickly dismounting from their horses and heading deeper into the cove.

“What do you mean we’re here?”

Nick dismounted and reached up to help her down. She swatted his hands away and jumped down—albeit ungracefully—on her own.

“Where exactly is here?”

“We’ve reached my ship,” Nick said, leading the horse deeper into the cove, after his men.

“Ship? What ship?”

But as she watched, the four men hauled a battered rowboat out of the shadows, lugging it toward the water slapping on the sand.

Ashley turned sharply and stared into the black water behind her. It was impossibly dark and somewhat foggy, and there was no sound, no sign of a pirate ship lurking in those gloomy mists.

And then the clouds that had sheltered the moon cleared, and the moonlight penetrated the mist, glinting off a flickering white sail.

Ashley gasped. The vessel was huge, rising out of the black water like one of Poseidon’s minions. The masts, most still bare of their sails, rose like burnt spires into the star-streaked sky. Ashley could make out small figures moving here and there, ants scurrying to attend to this task or that.