Soot shouted with glee.“Thank ye, Miss!”For a moment Cadan thought he’d kiss the woman.“I been lookin’ fer ’er everywhere.”
The rising sun glistened over her skin, transforming it to gold silk.A forest of black lashes surrounded sharp blue eyes filled with kindness as they looked at the master gunner.“She hopped into my bed sometime during the night.I’m sorry to cause you alarm.”
But Cadan’s eyes were on her lips, pink and plump and moist, and he suddenly wished he’d been the one who had hopped into her bed.
Scads!He shook away the thought.Still, why was she being so kind to a pirate?A feminine trick, no doubt.
“Begone, Soot.Back to your post!”He gestured to Soot as Moses and Omphile halted before him.
“Moses,” Cadan ordered.“Settle Omphile on the ship and remain on board at the ready.
“Aye, Cap’n.”Moses started forward, ushering both women toward the cockboat.
Cadan grabbed Lady Fox’s arm.“Not her.”
Hesitating, Moses glanced between Cadan and the woman.
“It’ll be dangerous here, Captain.”Omphile’s concerned gaze landed on Gabrielle.
“Exactly.”Cadan gestured with his head for them to leave.“Now do as I say!”He was growing tired of his orders being questioned.
Lady Fox raised her chin, her chest rising and falling.“Where would you like your bait to stand, Captain?”
Wind danced among her long pearly hair, waving it about like silk, and he longed to run his fingers through it.She winced slightly and placed a hand on her belly.Was she in pain?No doubt ’twas no easy task to carry a child.
“You may sit there.”He gestured toward a crate perched on the sand before a mound of other crates and barrels.To the left, three of his pirates sat playing Spades in the sand.
The lady swept out her skirts and sat with difficulty on the crate.“Now what, Captain?”
“We wait.”
“In the hot sun?”
“For now.”
Cadan moved several yards away from the wench, but still within sight of anyone approaching the cove.She brought nothing but fluster and confusion and a physical reaction he’d not experienced in years.Best to keep his distance.If this trap worked and Allard was dead by nightfall, he’d release the woman at a port of her choosing.
An hour passed.And another.He brought the woman a flagon of water and a bowl of remaining fish from last night’s repast.Thankfully, she said naught, but merely gobbled up the food as if it were her last meal.It might be.
After another hour, Cadan tore off his shirt and took to pacing the shore, dipping his bare feet in the surf.The foaming water cooled his toes, but not his temper, nor his fear that setting this trap had been for naught.
“’Tis possible Damien will not come today, Captain,” the woman’s voice pummeled his back.“It takes more than one day to careen a ship.”
Cadan frowned and stared out over the turquoise water.Finally, he spun to face her.“Perhaps.But he has no way of knowing how long we’ve been here, and he would not wish to miss the opportunity.”
Nodding, she brushed damp strands of hair from her forehead, clearly suffering from the sun’s heat.
Guilt swelled in his gut, and he cursed himself for his weakness.He strode toward her, intending to move the lady to the shade when a shout ran out from the treetops.
“A sail!A sail!”
???
The man was no gentleman, leaving a woman with child in the sweltering heat and sun for hours.Those were the thoughts which flooded Gabrielle’s mind as the captain swerved to face her.And she fully intended to voice those opinions when the shout ofa sailbounced over the water of the bay.
The cloud of gloom which had enveloped the captain all day instantly blew away, replaced by a look she well knew—the determined look of a man about to go to battle.
Yet he did naught.Merely stood his ground, occasionally glancing out to sea, waiting, pacing, musing.The muscles of his bronze chest bulged in anticipation, the scars on his back cried out in pain…or was it revenge?
