His hands clasped with hers as they slowly came together, his lips whispered against her, his body caressed hers, then he pulled her to him as if he would pull her inside him and never let her go. "Beautiful Lys," he told her as they lay together afterward. Mine, he thought. Always and forever.
"What will happen when Jerrold finds us?" she asked through the shadows of the cabin, as he held her against him.
"It will be settled once and for all, the way it should have been."
"And what if...?" The words wouldn't come but they were there—what if he didn't come back to her.
Zach held her tight against him. "You're mine. Nothing can ever change that."
Hands stroking, breathless, urgent sounds, then the sounds of dreamless sleep as the cocoon of the ship wrapped around them. They didn't speak of it again.
They had left the Bass Strait behind the day before. Sydney lay just ahead.
Elyse stood in the middle of the cabin she'd shared with him these last weeks. It was strange how she'd become accustomed to the movement of the ship. Now, the balmy weather and the slow, rolling motion of theRevengewas the same as it had been at Lisbon and she knew they were near Sydney Harbor.
Zach had told her that she was to go ashore. Tris would take her, then take her on to Resolute. He would wait for Jerrold.
She knew what he was doing, preparing for. She didn't want to go. But she also knew that this needed to end, for both of them. She also knew that he would never allow her to stay.
"No," he had said gently the past night as they lay together, in a way that she knew she couldn't change his mind.
"But what if...?" He had silenced her fears with his fingers against her lips and then made love to her. Now she packed the few clothes she had in a carpet bag, including the skirts and blouses he'd purchased for her in Lisbon. Then, she watched him on the deck of theRevengeas Tris took her ashore in the landing boat. Tobias chose to remain with him, his care still needed for Zach's wound.
She looked for him again and found him still there as Tris made arrangements for the driver who would take them the long way to Melbourne, still silent as the driver pulled away the following day from the inn where they stayed the night and turned south toward Resolute Station. But the fear was there, that she would lose him all over again.
Twenty-Two
Zach checked the night watch, nodding to his man as he passed by. All lights aboard theRevengehad been extinguished. They couldn't afford to give themselves away, even though there had been no sign yet of Barrington.
Fraser Island was actually a small cluster of islands separated by shallow inlets that popped up at a moment's notice. The waters throughout the chain could be treacherous if a navigator didn't know his way through them. Zach knew these waters well. And it was for just that reason he'd chosen to anchor theRevengeat Fraser when he wasn't in port.
Over the years, the islands had provided an excellent hideaway when he wasn't raiding. All ships leaving Sydney Harbor were forced to turn into the wind, directly in the path of the islands. But Zach knew as few others did, that the sea breezes around the islands could be traitorous. They blew contrary to most winds, causing more than one captain inexperienced in these waters to founder on the rocky shoals that crisscrossed through the chain, or to run up on the deadly reef just a little to the south when the wind suddenly died, leaving sails slack.
Zach had first ventured to these islands with the old man, a Scot, who taught him to sail.He'd learned to sail by stars, the currents, and the wind. Sailing had become second nature to him. Now, as he watched the last light of day on the western horizon, he thought of Elyse.
He felt it again, that vague prickling of warning, an uneasiness he couldn't quite name. The ship lay quietly at anchor, water lapping gently at her hull, and the men had prepared and quietly took their turns at the watch.
Somewhere below,Sebastiansquawked and was then silent, probably with a piece of bread rather than the dull blade he deserved. Two of his men nodded as he passed them by. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Still, he couldn't rid himself of that feeling.
Over and over again, he told himself this confrontation with Barrington was unfinished business and, after it was settled, he'd go home to her. If, that was not to be... He couldn't forget the look in her eyes when she'd begged him not to go.
He couldn't think about it now. There would be time enough later to try to understand it all. For now, he could only think of Barrington. He'd waited a long time for this.
The English commander stood at the bow of the heavily gunned frigate, his feet planted firmly on the gently rolling deck as the vessel slipped through the night.
He hoped to hell Barrington was right about all of this. If not, they'd come a long way on a fool's errand. And earlier that day he'd begun to believe it was just that.
He was risking a great deal slipping out of Sydney Harbor without orders and then turning south toward Fraser Island, off the coast of Melbourne. Barrington had received word that the man known as the Raven was there. He looked at Jerrold Barrington now, at the bow beside him.
"You had better be right about this. I don't mind telling you the admiralty is gravely concerned about our inability to bring the Raven to justice."
"Have no fear, Commander," Jerrold assured him with confidence. "The man was well paid for the information."
Word had it that Tennant's ship had been seen in Sydney Harbor only days earlier. And according to the information he'd paid handsomely for, there was one place where the man known as the Raven would be waiting for them, hoping to take advantage of the element of surprise. But surprise would be on their side. And this time there would be no escape.
The blood red dawn washed the decks of theRevenge,mist slowly rising from the water.
Moments before, the guard had changed, when a signal light was seen from the small island just north of Fraser Island, a dot of an island at the mouth of the inlet to the other islands.
