Cursing, the pirate pressed a hand to the bloody wound, a desperate realization crowding his features.He charged Captain Hayes, blade aloft in one last attempt to defeat him.
Muscles rolled and bunched on the captain’s bare chest as he raised his cutlass and brought it down upon the man in one final swoop.
Behind them more of Allard’s men approached, at least ten by her count.The captain was skilled to be sure, but he could not be victorious over so many.Gabrielle scanned the shore.To her left, the jungle was only yards away.If no one paid her any mind, she could easily make a run for it—or a waddle—and find shelter there.No matter who won this battle, perhaps she could seek out a hiding place and eventually the pirates would give up their search.
Lud.The pirate who’d guarded her yesterday stood to her right as still as a statue watching the battle.He didn’t blink, didn’t move, didn’t engage the enemy.Gabrielle had no time to consider the oddity as musket shot pummeled the air.Shouts and a cacophony of chiming swords caused her to once again peek over the barrels.Captain Hayes’ pirates had finally arrived and were parrying with Allard’s men.
One glance at the captain told her he had dispatched his opponent and was taking on two more with ease.
Perfect.Keeping an eye on the pirate guard, she pushed from the sand, rose, grabbed her skirts, and moved as fast as she could to the brush, shoving aside vines and branches as she entered.One glance over her shoulder told her the guard pirate had not moved.Warm moisture kissed her face, and she proceeded, drawing in a deep breath of air that smelled like tropical flowers, life, and earthy loam.Beneath her feet, twigs and dead leaves crunched as she made her way deeper into the greenery, hoping to put as much distance between her and the madness on the beach.
Spears of sunlight stabbed the thick canopy above, casting a magical aura onto the trees, vines, and bushes.Her feet ached already, but there was naught to be done for it.Better to risk dying alone on this island with her babe in her arms than die at the hand of cruel pirates.
Birds chirped, insects buzzed.Perspiration slid down her back.Coming upon a large boulder, she sat to catch her breath and dabbed her forehead and neck with her sleeve, laughing at how unladylike that was.Her mother hailed from nobility.Her father was an earl.She’d been raised to behave with composure and dignity, though she had to admit her sister Reena had not learned those lessons.She smiled.She missed her sister, her parents, her strong brother, Alex.Her smile faded.What they must think of her now.No doubt they had given up searching for such an embarrassment to the family.
So engrossed in her thoughts, she didn’t hear bootsteps approaching.Didn’t smell the lavender musk cologne, not until a blade cut into the skin at her throat.
“Together again at last,ma douce.”
???
Cadan drew his bloody blade from his opponent and scanned the shore for another.But all Allard’s men were engaged with his pirates, and from the looks of things, his men were winning.He spotted Smity, Soot, and Moses battling their opponents without difficulty.
Good time to check on the woman.
She wasn’t there.
Cursing, he glanced at the jungle.
Half-witted lady.Did she really think she’d escape him on an island?
After one glance at the battle to ensure he wasn’t needed, he dove into the foliage.She couldn’t have gotten too far in her condition.In truth, ’twas quite easy to find her trail of flattened leaves and broken branches.
Voices filtered his way.A male voice, afamiliarvoice that caused every ounce of Cadan to tighten in fury.He halted, breathing deeply of the humid jungle air, listening, seething, hating.He pulled the knife from his belt, clutched it tightly in one hand and inched forward.
There.The snake had a knife to the woman’s throat and was whispering in her ear.
The snake he hadn’t seen since their sword fight seven years ago.A palpable pain seared his missing earlobe, and he touched it absently.
The snake who had ruined his marriage and his life.
The snake who would pay with his own.
Allard must have heard him for he looked up, scanned the brush, and drew the knife closer to Lady Fox’s throat.
Cadan, blade drawn, stepped into the clearing.
An insolent grin lifted the cur’s lips.Ever the popinjay, he wore a purple doublet, slashed and paned, with great sleeves slit to show stitched linen beneath.The red cashmere sash about his waist matched the ostrich plume in his cocked hat, and the ruby drop earbob dangling from his ear.“Ah, Cadan.Or should I sayCaptainHayes,” he said in a slight French accent.He snapped back a strand of his long hair and grinned.“Captain of a ship?Who would have guessed such an achievement from someone so baseborn.Alas, I heard you were on this island.But you look different somehow.”He cocked his head, a petulant look on his sharp features.
Terror streaked across the lady’s eyes.
“I am not the naive boy you dared attack all those years ago,” Cadan hissed.
“Attack?”Allard chortled.“’Twas you who attacked me.Without provocation, I might add.”
Rage ignited every inch of Cadan, prompting him to silence the snake once and for all.But he could not risk harming the lady.He must get her out of the way, so he couldthensqueeze every drop of blood from Allard’s wretched body.
“I told you I’d leave your wife’s bed.All you had do was ask.”
