The pirates ate, slept, drank, gambled, fought, joked, and told stories. Gabrielle slept in a tiny room at the back of the main building, and she was allowed access to the main room each day, so she couldn’t complain that her time there was boring. Nerve-wracking, but not boring. Margery was brought in to visit her for a couple of hours each day, and Gabrielle was relieved to see that her former housekeeper was weathering her captivity well, although she complained incessantly about the thin straw mattress she was forced to sleep on and the poor quality of the meals.
On the sixth day of Gabrielle’s captivity two more ships arrived and the main room actually got crowded with the new crews. And much more disturbing. There was nothing friendly about the newcomers. Several actually chilled her with a glance. And one of the two new captains stared at her so long, and so intently, she didn’t doubt he meant her harm.
Tall and muscular, he was likely in his late thirties or early forties, though it was hard to tell with his full black beard that was so matted, she doubted a comb had ever passed through it. She heard people call him Pierre Lacross, though he probably wasn’t really French. So many of the pirates pretended to be something they weren’t, and none of them used their real names. But then she found out he was the exception to that rule. He really was French. He had a strong accent that he couldn’t turn on and off like the others could. He wasn’t ugly, but the cruel glint in his blue eyes marred what might have been a handsome visage.
There was something evil about this man, and she wasn’t the only one to recognize it. The other men moved out of his way and avoided catching his eye. But his icy blue eyes kept coming back to Gabrielle, until she was nearly trembling with the fear he managed to inspire.
Gabrielle had left England quite innocent of men’s desires. Her mother had never explained what she could expect when she married one. She probably would have done so before Gabrielle had had her Season in London, but Carla had been caught up in her romance with Albert, and then consumed with her own misery at the end when he’d betrayed her. But Gabrielle had learned a tremendous amount about men from the pirates.
They didn’t curb their language when she was within hearing distance, and they loved to boast about their sexual conquests. So she had no trouble understanding the motives of the evil captain Pierre Lacross when he leaned over her the day after he’d arrived and said, “I’m going to buy you from my friend. Then it will be my choice what to do with you.”
She wished she hadn’t understood what he was implying, but she did. Would Captain Brillaird care where the money for her came from as long as he was paid? Did she dare to promise him more than Pierre could possibly pay? That was the only way she could see to avoid being “owned.”
There was nowhere to run even if she could manage to sneak out of the building, no way off the island except with the pirates. Captain Brillaird was still her only help and yet she knew he wouldn’t help her out of the goodness of his heart. What goodness? He was a pirate! Money was his only concern.
But she knew instinctively that she would come to serious harm if Pierre had his way with her, which was why he terrified her so much. And she was unfortunate enough to witness his cruelty when he disciplined one of his own men. He whipped the man right there in the hall, and not with just any whip. A cat-o’-nine-tails it was called, and it shredded skin as easily as a knife. The look in Pierre’s eyes as he wielded it left no doubt in her mind that he was enjoying it.
Pierre grew impatient, waiting for her captain to show up so he could make the transaction. He sat next to her at her table and taunted her with what he planned to do to her.
“Why do you not look at me,chérie? You ladies, you are filled with too much pride. You will have none left when I am done with you. Look at me!”
She didn’t. She’d avoided his gaze since that first day. “Go away, please.”
He laughed. “So refined you are. So polite. I wonder how long that will last after I make you my pet. Will you be an obedient pet,chérie,or will I have to punish you often?” He heard the gasp she couldn’t hold back and added, “You saw what I am capable of, but do not worry for your sweet, aristocratic skin. I would never mar your beauty. There are other ways to train a pet…”
He taunted, but he never touched her. He was careful not to do that with so many witnesses in the room. But it was obvious he wanted to. Dora told her the forced restraint was causing him such considerable frustration that he got so drunk each night he would stumble outside to pass out somewhere, and not return until the following afternoon.
It was an incredible piece of luck for Gabrielle that Captain Brillaird’s wife kept him occupied until the last of the five captains sailed into the harbor. The fifth captain arrived on the island. He entered the building with Captain Brillaird one morning, both of them laughing heartily over something one of them had said. He noticed Gabrielle immediately. He paused and stared at her, then he put his arm around Brillaird’s shoulder and offered to buy her. Pierre wasn’t there to cry foul, that he’d thought of it first. She was sure he would have, and that there might even have been a fight. But he was still sleeping off his overindulgence of the night before. And Captain Brillaird didn’t seem to care one way or the other, just as she’d guessed he wouldn’t. She saw him shrug before the two men shook hands and the fifth captain tossed a purse of coins to him.
Gabrielle was in shock. It all happened so quickly. She found out later that the new captain was a middleman. It wasn’t the first time he’d bought up hostages on the isle and returned them to their families for a tidy profit. It worked agreeably for all concerned, allowing the other captains to get right back to the business of capturing more ships, instead of dealing with the business side of their trade. He was good at the business side, and disguises. She almost didn’t recognize him…
“What in the blazes are you doing here, Gabby, and where is your mother?”
He’d taken her out of the settlement immediately and was pulling her down the well-worn path to the bay. Most of his crew were still anchoring his ship, but a couple of his men whom they passed on the trail were ordered back to the ship without an explanation. When Gabrielle dug in her heels and explained that her housekeeper needed to be rescued, too, one was sent to collect Margery.
She had a thousand questions for him, but they were all forgotten with the reminder of her loss. “She died, Papa. That’s why I left England. I was coming to find you, to live with you,” she cried. “But not on this island, if it’s all the same to you,” she added primly.
Chapter 3
GABRIELLE’S FATHER WAS EXTREMELY EMBARRASSEDthe day he rescued her. All these years and she and her mother had never known, never suspected, that he’d been living such an adventurous life. Nathan Brooks the pirate. That took quite a bit of getting used to.
He looked so different now. It really had been difficult to recognize him. Whenever he had come to England to visit her, he’d cleaned himself up, shaved his beard, cut the long hair he was sporting now. That was the only man she’d ever known, and she’d thought she’d taken after him, at least in terms of her coloring. His hair was just as black as hers, his eyes the same pale blue. She hadn’t inherited his height, though, which was fortunate, because he was a tall man, a bit over six feet, while her size was the same as her mother’s at five feet, four inches. But this man looked nothing like the father she knew and loved. He was actually as flamboyant in his dress and looks as all the other pirates she’d met. He even wore a small golden earring in one ear!
He quickly removed the earring. That’s how embarrassed he seemed to be that she’d found out about his secret life.
A couple of hours after they sailed out of the harbor, Gabrielle realized her father’s ship had slowed down. She went up on deck to see what was happening and walked right into Pierre Lacross! His ship had pulled abreast of her father’s ship. Pierre had followed them from the pirate base!
She hadn’t yet mentioned him to Nathan. There hadn’t been much time for them to talk yet, and besides, she was still trying to deal with her shock over finding out her own father was a member of that pirate confederacy. But she’d at least felt safe after her father had rescued her and had been so certain she’d never see the likes of Pierre again.
But now here he was on the deck ofThe Crusty Jewel,standing next to Nathan and talking to him as if they were old friends. It dawned on her that they must be old acquaintances at least, since each of them was one of the five captains who shared that base.
Pierre’s cold, avid gaze latched onto her immediately, pinning her to the warm deck boards. Her fear rushed back to her. She must have turned pale, because her father moved to her side and put his arm around her protectively.
“You sailed off with her too quickly,mon ami,” Pierre said, making no pretense about his reason for being there. “I was going to buy her for myself.”
“She’s not for sale,” Nathan said.
“Of course she is. You paid for her, I will pay you more. You will make your profit, we will both be happy.”
