Smity had returned to the boat and was rowing away.With Matthew in the box.
???
God must really hate her.There was no other explanation Gabrielle could come up with for finding herself back on this ship from Hades, back in the devil’s cabin, back as a slave, where memories rose to terrorize her.
Her only consolation was Omphile, who sat in the chair beside her, gripping her hand and doing her best to reassure her God was still with them.
Perhaps He was, but that didn’t mean He didn’t hate her.Aye, He does hate you.Accept it.
Shaking away the slippery voice, she still could not deny the single ray of hope shining through this dark nightmare.Matthew was safe with Cadan.A fearful chuckle rose in her throat at the thought.When had she considered anything or anyone safe with the man who had kidnapped her, caused all this pain?Still, against every ounce of sense within her, she hoped he would take proper care of her babe.Tears burned her eyes once again, for she had no idea what he would do with her child.Who would care for him?Who would feed him?Watch over him?The captain had made his loathing for the babe quite plain.
Even now, her breasts were near bursting with milk, longing to feed him.Would she ever see him again?
Footsteps pounded above, along with shouts and commands, and the ship heaved slightly to starboard as sails thundered in the wind.Allard had set sail.
“Now cease your crying, Child.It’ll be all right.You’ll see.”Omphile’s large dark eyes glistened with hope as she offered Gabrielle a slight smile.
Either the woman had gone utterly mad, or she had no idea the monster under whose thumb they now found themselves.
“I’m so sorry you got mixed up in this, Omphile.”Gabrielle’s whimper stuck in her throat.
“Not your fault, Miss.God has a plan.”
“I want my babe,” Gabrielle cried, tears pouring down her cheeks.
“I know, Child.I knows.But he’s safe.Rest in dat.You’ll see him again.”
Gabrielle batted her tears away.“At least Damien will not have him.”
“Aye.You did a brave thing.Never saw the likes of it!You saved your child.”She squeezed her hand.
In truth, ’twas all Gabrielle could think to do.She’d assessed the situation and knew Cadan had been defeated.She took a chance, awildchance, that he would save her child.She’d spent enough time with him to know that he possessed a speck of kindness within his darkened heart.She gambled that ’twas enough to not watch an innocent babe drown.
She’d been right.
Bootsteps thundered down the companionway, and Gabrielle’s heart seized.Quickly, she dried her eyes and swung back her shoulders, not wanting to satisfy Allard’s lust for power and control.
The door swung open and the monster himself strode in, halted, and stared at them.
Gabrielle drew a breath and raised her chin.“Damien, there is no need to keep this woman here.I insist you send her back to theResoluteat once.”
He chuckled and sauntered to the round mahogany table where he kept his maps and instruments.“You insist, do you?”
Moving past the desk, he approached a bookcase, opened the glass case, and grabbed a bottle of French Brandy.
“I do,” Gabrielle said, hoping he could not hear the tremor in her voice.
Damien carefully poured the liquor into a glass, then sat upon the stern window ledge and studied them with eyes full of avarice and deceit.
And to think she’d once seen love in his gaze.Once, she’d found him to be extraordinarily handsome and charming.With his light hair pulled back cavalier style, his strong chin and jaw, his aquiline nose and piercing blue eyes, what woman wouldn’t be lured into his snare?In addition, he was well built along strong muscular lines, always impeccably dressed in silver and lace, and always with a single ruby drop earring in one ear.
In truth, his cabin was immaculate, everything in its place, from the teakwood trunk to the bookcases filled with tomes ranging from mathematics to novels, the mahogany sideboard, the silver tea set and candlesticks, the elegant tapestries lining the wall, and the heavy dark-blue brocade curtains that hung down each side of the stern lights.It seemed more the room of a king, not the cabin of a pirate.
The opposite of Cadan.Gabrielle couldn’t help but smile.
“Something amuses you,ma douce?”
“Just that you haven’t changed a bit.”
