The Wicked Ways of Alexander Kidd (The MacGregors: Highland Heirs) (29 page)

A
lex sat at one of the three tables the innkeeper had butted together in order to house some of his men and the Highlanders while they ate. He liked her family. Aye, he was aware of their more savage nature. He respected who they were and the battles they’d won. If the only way to gain their respect was to compete with them in some friendly rounds with a sword, he was perfectly willing to do it. He would do anything that would get Caitrina into his arms faster.

During the talk he had with her father, Alex did his best to reassure him that he would always do what was best for Caitrina. Soon, he would be rich and providing a good life for her would not be a concern. He would do his best to keep her safe until she decided to live a quieter life and start a family with him in Camlochlin. Aye, he’d promised Connor Grant that one of their homes would be in Camlochlin.

Alex couldn’t wait to get started.

His eyes found his love now across the length of the tables. He still feared he might be dreaming. He’d never
expected her to come. But why hadn’t he? Hadn’t she come for him before? How the hell had she convinced her father to bring her back to him? Was there nothing his Highland lass couldn’t do? He smiled at her when their eyes met. He couldn’t wait to touch her. To kiss her full, pink, saucy mouth. Hell, if this woman had set out all along to win him and get his map, she’d succeeded. He’d give her the map and the world if she wanted it. Wherever she wanted to go, he would take her. Whatever she wanted to do, he would do it with her. He wanted to begin his new adventure with her and he couldn’t do that with her kin guarding her.

Risa barreling into the inn first and bounding for him alerted him to David Pierce’s approach. Damn it, he liked this dog. He greeted her with a rub behind the ears and a kiss to her head.

“Well, that isn’t a good sign.”

Alex looked up from his chair at the tall, golden-haired, only living English Highlander known in Scotland, Edmund MacGregor. At his side stood Gaza, Risa’s mother.

“What’s not a good sign?”

“Risa’s reaction to ye, since she’s his dog.” He hooked his thumb over his shoulder and pointed it at Pierce. “I’ve seen it happen with both Risa’s sire and her dam. Fickleness runs in her blood. Grendel, who was mine, became loyal to my wife. Gaza, who belonged to my wife, became loyal to me, and Goliath, the only male pup, which I wanted fer myself, chose my cousin.”

Alex followed Pierce’s descent into his chair and ran his palm down Risa’s head and throat. “Will she switch her loyalty back to Captain Pierce?”

“It isn’t likely.”

Only a hint of amusement passed across Alex’s eyes when the English captain met his gaze. “Then ya would agree that the dog belongs with me?”

Pierce laughed and Alex wondered if they would ever meet again after Madagascar. He hoped they would.

“Your attempts to relieve me of my dog remain feeble,” Pierce said and waved to his brother, who was entering the hut with Malcolm. “Risa has four more sisters at Camlochlin. Perhaps MacGregor here will sell you one.”

Alex looked at Edmund. “Do ya think ya can persuade Captain Pierce to part with Risa fer another dog? I would purchase it fer him. Whatever ya ask in coin, I will give ya.”

Edmund shook his head. “I would not rob ye by asking fer more than a dog is worth.”

“I never had one,” Alex confessed. “But how do ya measure a good friend’s worth? What was Grendel worth to ya?”

Edmund’s cup paused at his lips. He smiled at the red liquid inside. “Caitrina told ye of him then.” He drank, then put the cup down and grinned, remembering his faithful friend. “Grendel was unrivaled by anything on this earth.”

Alex nodded and put his hand on Risa’s head. “Something tells me she has her father’s potential.”

Edmund was quiet for a moment or two while Alex turned his attention to Caitrina. His heart burned for her across the chasm when he found her already looking at him. His blood felt ablaze in his veins, coursing through him. He wanted to speak to her, hear her voice, touch her—

“Ye understand the value in a friend,” Edmund cut through his thoughts. “But what is my cousin worth to ye?”

Alex didn’t hesitate in telling him. He knew the tale of Edmund and the Duke of Queensberry’s niece. Edmund would agree there was no shame in speaking the words of your heart. “What I once considered priceless fades and dims in the light of the rarest jewel. She’s worth me life.”

Edmund smiled at him and patted him on the back. “All the dogs in Camlochlin are spoken fer, but I’ll see what I can do about Risa.”

Alex and his crew laughed and shared their supper and some good drink with the Highlanders of Camlochlin until the sun began to set. It was time for Trina’s kin to leave. If the wind was good, they would sail up the North Atlantic and reach the area closest to where any naval ships lurked at about the same time tomorrow night.

They all walked to the docks together, preparing their farewells. Kyle was staying as well. He would be an asset for as long as he wished to stay, as he proved presently when he elbowed Alex and motioned toward the docks.

“Who is that?”

Alex studied the ship docked close to
Poseidon’s Adventure
. It hadn’t been there this morning. It was not a naval man-o’-war, which was a good thing, since it would have been difficult for David Pierce to explain what he was doing, docked and trying to escape the Pepper Coast with pirates and MacGregors.

A shot rang out and everyone scattered for cover. There was still enough light to see the smoky cloud from the pistol. Enough light to see the Highlanders go into action immediately. A signal from the chief sent Malcolm and Edmund around a row of trader’s stalls to capture the shooter unawares, but they would be too late. Colin MacGregor appeared from the shadows and drew his flintlock pistol, aimed with one eye, cocked it, and fired. He
waited, standing in the open until the shooter fell out into the open, clutching his chest.

Kyle raced past his father, and then waited for him behind stacks of hay, carefully concealed with Alex, Caitrina, and some of the others.

“How did they find us so quickly?” Sam asked, “Did Charlie tell them?”

“No. Never.” He looked over Sam’s shoulder at Caitrina’s father. “I heard Captain Pierce askin’ what became of Hendrik Andersen.”

Colin looked toward the ships and cursed under his breath. “I knew we shoulda’ killed him.”

Alex was glad they hadn’t. He wanted to take care of the man who had betrayed his father personally. “He must have overheard where ya were headed and bought a ride when the ship arrived.”

“Who does he sail with?” her father asked. “Navy?”

“Privateers, licensed by law to pillage and plunder. They are sometimes as skilled as soldiers, and they always sail with more men aboard then the navy.”

“So we’ll likely have a descent fight at least.”

Alex smiled at Trina’s uncle Colin. He would have made a fearsome pirate. But he’d likely want to be captain.

“I don’t like hiding,” her father said.

“Nor do I,” her uncle replied.

Before both men left the cover of the haystacks, Connor turned to his daughter. “Stay here.”

Alex almost smiled at the reaction painting her cheeks scarlet. He didn’t smile though. She didn’t like orders and sometimes she was going to need to obey them.

“I beg ya,” he said to her when she swore under her breath, “obey him. And if not him, then me, yar captain. Stay here.”

He didn’t wait for her reply but drew his pistol and disappeared with Kyle behind a small stage set up to show slaves.

“Well?” Trina looked at Sam, the only man who hadn’t run off on her yet. “What are ye waiting fer? I’m not a child who needs someone to sit with me.”

Sam smiled at her. She wasn’t sure if he ever had before. She was certain she would have remembered if he had. He was quite striking when he smiled, when he let his guard down, like he was doing now.

“I stay behind because I want ya to know something.”

She didn’t know what it was or if she wanted to hear it. He gave her no choice when he began speaking.

“Alex is me closest friend. I’ve spent more time with him than me own brother. I would give me life for him, and never would I betray him.”

Trina nodded. She knew he spoke the truth. “I no longer believe that ye would, Mr. Pierce. I was mistaken and I sincerely apologize.”

“There’s no need fer that. I just wanted to make certain ya knew. ’Tis important to me.”

“Why?”

“Because when we leave Madagascar, I’m goin’ back to the navy with me brother. Alex won’t understand me decision.”

Nae, he wouldn’t. He would be devastated. Why would Sam do this to him?

“But ya will understand.”

She quirked her brow. “I will?”

He nodded and inhaled a breath that expanded his chest. “I will never betray him, and bein’ around ya tempts me to do that.”

She blinked, too stunned to say a word for a few moments. He cared for her. That was why he’d saved her so many times. She was thankful to him and saddened that she was the cause of Alex’s losing his best friend. When she looked away, his voice grew softer.

“I tell ya this because when I go, I don’t want ya to think poorly of me.”

How could she think poorly of a man who would give up his lifestyle and the friend he loved rather than hurt that friend? She looked up to tell him, but he was gone.

She fully intended to obey her captain and her father, this one last time. She would stay where she was and wait it out, even if it killed her. But then someone called her name, softly, as if they were in pain. It was a man’s voice. Alex? Kyle? Her father? She left her hiding place and ran straight into the arms of Hendrik Andersen.

“Miss Grant, lovely to see you again.” He took her by the arm and yanked her closer, pointing the tip of his dagger to her throat. “Give a shout to your father, will you? Tell him to gather his men and return to their ship else I will slice your pretty throat.”

“Rot in hell.”

He returned his dagger to his belt and pulled out a pistol in its stead. “Do it,” he said, lifting the barrel to her temple, “or die. My fight is not with them. I merely want the map.”

“The instant either one of us alerts my kin to yer position,” she snarled at him and reached for his dagger, “they will slaughter ye. Look what they are doing to the men ye arrived with. Ye dinna’ have a chance, traitor. Even if ye kill me, ye canna’ fight them all. Are ye a fool?”

“I want that map.”

“More than yer life?” It was Sam. He met Trina’s gaze
for a moment, a cutlass in one hand and a dagger in the other. “If ya shoot her, I’ll kill ya before ya draw yar next breath.”

Andersen laughed, a cold sound that chilled Trina’s bones. “Then perhaps I should kill you first.” He turned the pistol on Sam and fired. Trina screamed and tried to break free of him, but he held fast to her wrist. She swiped his dagger across his face, cutting his cheek, and for an instant he let her go. She watched Sam go down. No! No! He couldn’t die! Her cries didn’t end even when Andersen tossed his used pistol aside and produced another one from his cloak.

“Call your chief now, or I’ll blow off your head.” He cocked the lock again and Trina closed her eyes.

A shot rang out and she waited to feel something. Pain. Blackness. The end. But nothing came. She opened her eyes to find Andersen clutching a smoking hole in his chest, looking quite stunned before he fell to a heap on the ground.

She looked across his body at Alex standing there, looking like he just saw the end of his own life. He’d saved her. Again. She had much to thank him for. But it would wait. Now she just needed to be in his arms.

T
he Highlanders gathered around Caitrina and Alex for their final farewells, and for the first time Alex felt a bit intimidated next to them. But it was only because they were trusting him with a treasure more precious than gold and he felt the weight of what it was costing her father.

“Take care of her.”

“I will,” Alex promised him.

Captain Grant turned to his daughter. “Don’t ferget us” was all he seemed to be able to say.

“Papa, I willna’ ferget ye.” Caitrina flung her arms around his neck and wept softly. “I… We will visit soon, and one day, when I am ready to be a mother, we will come home fer good.”

“If I’m not there,” Connor Grant said with a lighter tone in his voice, which made Alex feel better and Caitrina, as well, when she looked up at him, “’tis because yer mother has killed me fer not bringing ye home straightaway.”

Stepping back enough to look him straight in the eyes, Caitrina curled one side of her lips, making her left dimple flash without the right. “Mother willna’ kill ye when
ye tell her that her favored brother, Uncle Colin, told me all aboot the both of ye in England when James was the king, before Malcolm was born. I know she was a spy fer the militia, that she raided the homes of Presbyterians, and that she made an enemy of her future king, William. I know she followed her own path and didna’ let anyone stop her, woman or not. Tell her that her blood flows in the veins of her only daughter. I want to follow my own path, wherever it my lead. I’ve decided it, and I’m determined to see it through.”

Hell, Alex thought, hearing her, she was his. This wondrously strong woman was his. He was proud of her for standing up for what was important to her. So many men he knew wouldn’t. He couldn’t wait to start his life with her at his side.

After more brief farewells, the MacGregors and the Grants left the West African coast and
Poseidon’s Adventure
set sail for Madagascar.

Andersen was finally dead, along with almost all the men he had arrived with. Alex disliked privateers almost as much as he disliked the navy, excluding David Pierce and his soldiers, of course.

Sam had sustained a minor wound to his shoulder from Andersen’s pistol and would live to see many other days. Alex was glad for it. He and his friend still had many adventures left. He was eager to get started.

Alex and Caitrina stood together on the poop deck and watched the light of
Stirling’s Pride
grow smaller and dimmer in the distance. Alex closed his arms around her from his place behind her and smiled into her neck. “I want to take ya to me bed and stay there with ya until we drop anchor in Madagascar.”

She slipped around in his embrace and faced him, her breasts pressed against him. “Alas, it canna’ be so.”

He leaned down and bit her bottom lip softly. “Why can’t it?”

“We have nae herb to prevent a child between us just yet.”

Just yet? She wanted his children then. He imagined her heavy with his babe and it made him hard and ready to begin. He prayed he could father them.

“We fergot to procure some on Parrot Cay.”

“Nay, we didn’t ferget, me love.” He pulled a small pouch from his sashes and held it up. “I obtained it before ya refused to come with me.”

“Well then, Captain Kidd.” She looped her arms more tightly about his neck. “What are we waiting fer?”

They endured one more interruption before they made it to Alex’s cabin. This time though, Alex didn’t mind.

The sound of a dog barking was what had stopped him on his way to the quarterdeck. Pierce had left the ship. Sam was seeing him off, even now. They would sail together up the coast and meet again at their journey’s end.

Why was Risa still here?

He turned, hearing her, and looked at Sam behind her as she cantered toward him, tail wagging.

“She travelin’ with us, then?” he asked his friend, hoping she was.

“’Twould seem so,” Sam told him, alive and well save for his bandaged shoulder. “She wouldn’t leave the ship when David called to her. He tried, too, trust me.”

Alex laughed and called Risa to follow him and Caitrina, but a moment after closing the cabin door, it opened again and Alex pushed Risa out.

Trina opened her eyes again, as the need to look at him overwhelmed her yet again. Alexander Kidd was the most beautiful man she’d ever encountered. Poised above her, he smiled when she looked. He was looking, too. She ran her fingers through his hair, clearing the sun-beaten locks from his eyes. She loved staring into his eyes while he made love to her. It made her feel a bit more wild inside. Like now, the way she groaned and closed her legs around him even higher. Looking at him made her want to run her palms down his strong shoulders and corded belly. He was so hard and tight everywhere.

She arched her back, trembling at the flame scorching her core. Alex held her with one arm and ran his rough palms over her breasts while he kissed her and thrust into her as deep as she would take him.

She watched his release and almost wept at the intimacy of it. She almost wished his seed had a purpose. She took him close and held him while he tossed back his head and clenched his jaw.

When he collapsed beside her, she didn’t mind waiting. She loved lying with him and talking with him afterward. She would take him again later and show him little mercy. But now, she wanted to talk to him.

“What did ye think of my kin?”

He smiled, looking into her eyes. “Yar father loves ya, so fer that alone, I like him. Colin MacGregor seems a bit harder around the edges. Kyle told me he was a general, aye?”

Trina nodded and played with his hair. “He’s the fiercest of my uncles fer certain, but not with us, not with his kin, and never with his wife and bairns. With them, he is a verra’ different man.”

“I like him.”

Trina smiled and leaned up to kiss his chin. She loved his chin; strong, tapering into a shadowed square, darker in the center from his cleft. Mercy, how she loved him.

“Wait until ye meet the women.”

He gazed into her eyes, filling himself with her, her with him. “I’ve met whom they’ve reared, Caitrina. I already know they are extraordinary.”

“Ye know,” she told him, running her hands over the tight, hard planes of his chest and belly, “if ye continue to sweep my heart up in hands with yer pretty words, ye’ll leave me nothing but my body, raw and ready to take what I want from ye.”

His eyes grew darker on her. “Ya want to take from me, then?”

She nodded and bit one end of her smile. “Aye, I want every inch.”

He licked his lips, wanting to give them to her, growing hard and powerful before her. She went after it, lifting herself up and straddling him between her thighs.

“I want to impale myself upon yer sleek lance and have my gyrations guided by my arse in yer hands.”

He obliged by cupping her buns and leading her over his tip, then down, upon him. She smiled at his deep groanings and his trembling hands, wanting to push her down hard on all of him, but resisting. Driving him a bit more mad—at least, that was her intention—she leaned down, covering him with her hair, and ran her tongue along his jaw.

“I want to show ye…”—she closed her eyes and buried her face in his neck as she slid down his length, resisting as he grew wider toward the base; he was big and hard and he might always hurt, but she loved it—“that ye’ve
been wasting all yer gifts…”—she bore down, tossing back her head—“wasting all yer gifts on the unworthy. I am what ye truly want and all ye’ll ever need.”

She rode him like she meant to possess him, like an untamed creature, wild with desire. He held her by her hips, rolling her over him, up and down until he could no longer stop himself from letting go and leaning up to snatch her nipple into his mouth.

With one hand on her arse and the other on the small of her back, he guided her over his length with long, languid strokes until her flame burst into colors she’d never seen before. She thought she was dying. Still, he moved into her, out of her, over and over, stoking the fire, making her scream out in ecstasy while she found sweet, exhilarating, blissful release.