“’E looks an awful lot like the other one now,” the dark-haired pirate said, eyeing Roc up and down.
“What other one?” Logan demanded.
Roc tensed; Skye felt it as his arms tightened around her.
“’E looks like the high-and-mighty lord, like his kinsman, Cameron.”
“You’ve seen Cameron?” Logan said sharply.
“At a distance, aboard his ship.” The dark-haired fellow grinned. “Eh, Logan! ’E’s trying to look like her husband; he’s trying to be a gentleman.”
Logan cackled, bending over. Roc’s fingers tightened on Skye’s arm. “Not a word!” he warned her. “Not a word!”
“I should let him skewer you!” she hissed.
“Then think, milady, of what he will do to you!” Roc warned softly. Icy trails sped along her back. He was right. Whatever her anger, he was right.
“And don’t he look pretty, minus the whiskers!” Logan said at last. “Didn’t work, though, eh, Captain? Not from what I heard. The lady ain’t too pleasured to be with you!”
“She’s pleasured enough.”
“Then come on,” Logan said, his eyes riveted on the both of them suspiciously. “We go to Teach, and we sign our agreements. Don’t you go against me, not a hair, Hawk. I’ll shoot her down where she stands if you betray me, and that will be a fact.”
“I won’t betray you, not on this.”
“Then walk!” Logan commanded.
Roc turned, seeing the direction that Logan indicated. Skye pulled back.
“Where’s my father?” she demanded of Logan. “Is he alive? Have you harmed him?”
“He’s alive, and his dignity is ruffled, and perhaps he has a bruise or two. That’s it, milady. Now, if you will please? There’s a feast going on behind those dunes, and we’ll be a part of it this night. Move, Hawk.”
“I’m not going anywhere,” Skye insisted.
“What?” the Hawk demanded.
“Bring me my father. I’m going to sit right here until you prove to me that he’s alive.”
Logan looked to Roc. “Get her moving, Hawk. Or we’ll end it here and now.”
“If you kill my father,” Skye cried, “then I will not care.”
“Move her!” Logan ordered.
Roc dipped low, striking her in the midriff with his shoulder and tossing her over. “Stop it!” she railed, beating against his back. “Stop it, put me down, don’t you see that he’ll kill you anyway! We have to—”
“We have to shut up!” Roc roared to her. He spun around, searching out Logan. “Lead the way, damn you, will you, please!”
Logan, cackling, stepped forward. He started out walking and Roc followed. Skye continued to protest, rising against him, until he slammed down hard on her rump portion. The action did not hurt her so much, but it reminded her that she was very poorly clad, and that her position was very precarious.
Lifehad become precarious.
But she didn’t trust Logan, and she was certain that Roc had gone mad. He didn’t intend to hand her over to Logan, but he did intend to hand her over to Teach, to Blackbeard, while he went off to get killed by Logan himself. It was insanity.
She fell silent as they walked along the dunes. It seemed that they walked forever and ever. The water, though, was always at their side. Pirates needed water, she thought. The land was death; the water was their salvation, their escape.
What was Roc planning…?
