Snarling and cursing, both men charged Caleb.
He braced, quickly shifting his thoughts, will, and emotions into a state of battle, a state of survival.
Claude swung his cudgel.The beast thrust his knife toward Caleb.
Spinning, he leapt out of the way of both, but the heavy cudgel struck his shoulder.Burning pain seared down his side.He brought his blade up in a quick slash that caught Claude’s thigh, carving a line of blood across his breeches.
Howling, he stumbled back.“Kill him, Armand!”
But Armand didn’t need any encouragement.With teeth bared and knife raised, he barreled toward Caleb.
“I’m sorry you lost family!”Caleb shouted as he met the man’s blade with his own and shoved him, sending him reeling backward.“’Twas not my intention.”Yet somehow deep inside, he didn’t blame them for their fury.A fleeting thought crossed his mind.You should allow them their revenge.You deserve to die.But one quick glance at Desi stiffened his resolve.If either brute reached her again.Nay!He would not let it happen.“Go!Get to safety!”he shouted, but she stood there, shaking her head in defiance, both anger and fear burning in her gaze.
Claude limped toward him, cudgel in hand.Armand joined him, long knife pointed at Caleb’s heart.Though the men’s lumbering size worked against them, hatred coupled with revenge formed an overpowering force.
The cudgel hammered down toward Caleb.He ducked, slashing upward, steel meeting flesh.Armand roared and lunged again, driving Caleb back toward the beach.
♥
Desi knew she should listen to Caleb and run to safety.But she could no more leave him than tear out her heart.Both men looked more like Sumo wrestlers than French villagers, tall, brawny, angry.Yet Caleb moved with such speed and skill, it stunned her.He’d managed to injure one of them and shove the other to the ground, and she got the impression he made every attempt not to hurt them.But the men were persistent.They would not give up until Caleb was dead.
Armand swiped his knife this way and that, inches from Caleb’s chest.And all the while Caleb’s cutlass flashed in the sunlight, every stroke precise, every defensive move flawless.His blade sliced Armand’s arm, and the man shouted a thundering curse and barreled after him.
Parrying with precision, Caleb blocked each of Armand’s attacks, all while dipping and spinning out of the way of Claude’s cudgel.If she wasn’t so frightened, she might be enamored by his skill and courage.
Claude shoved his cudgel toward the side of Caleb’s head.Leaping out of the way, Caleb slammed the hilt of his blade against the man’s temple.He dropped to the ground, unconscious.Before Caleb could recover, Armand drove his long knife into Caleb’s shoulder.
“No!”The cry ripped from Desi’s throat.
Staggering, Caleb gripped the wound, an advancing army of blood saturating his white shirt.Still, he managed to bring his cutlass to bear on Armand’s next attack.
“No!”Desi cried again and reaching down, grabbed a handful of sand and hurled it into the man’s eyes.
He cursed, reeling backward, clawing at his face.Caleb kicked him in the belly, and he fell, struck his head on a boulder and crumpled on the spot.
For a moment, all Desi heard were the waves slapping the shore, retreating, and then rushing in again, as though the sea itself marked the end of the duel.
Darting to his side, she pressed her hands over his wound, heart thundering.The cut was deep, blood soaking his shirt.She fought back tears.“Hold still, please.You’ll bleed out.”
“’Tis nothing.”He grunted.“I’ve known worse.”
Of that she had no doubt.But her modern instincts screamed to call 9-1-1, get him to the hospital for stitching up and antibiotics.But this was 1718.
“I’m merely glad you are safe.”His voice was low and husky as his eyes found hers.
Ignoring the sensations running through her, she tore a strip of fabric from her skirt and pressed it over his wound.
He neither flinched nor moaned.“You should have run.”
She blew out a sigh.“No way.”
“No way?”He quirked a brow.
“Never mind.”She smiled.“Besides, you needed me.”
He chuckled.“Indeed.So it would seem.”
Tearing off another strip of cloth, Desi leaned closer, tying it around his shoulder as best she could.She needed to get him back to the ship, to Dr.Brandt as soon as possible.But his nearness, the salty musk of him, the heat of his body, tangled her heart in knots.Finishing her work, she looked up at him and found his stormy eyes steady upon her.
