“And winter is never too cold, because of the river.”
“The grass is green and blue and rich.”
“And the fields are verdant.”
He kissed her forehead. “There’s an old oak there, down by the river, secluded by other trees and the gardens. The water rushes by almost silently. The leaves are shields against too much sunlight. There are pines there, too, and the earth is moist and soft and giving. It is, I think, Eden, here on earth.”
“Is it?” Skye murmured.
“It is. My father used to take my mother there. He told me once. When she died, he told me how she had loved to come there, and how she had laughed. And what great difficulty he’d had convincing her that none could see her if she shed her clothes. And she said then that they were like Adam and Eve in the garden, and he promised her that there were no serpents in his Eden.”
“Only wickedly seductive Camerons!” Skye murmured.
His arms tightened about her, then he suddenly bolted up.
“What is it?” Skye demanded.
He didn’t answer her, but drew the blanket around her. He reached for his breeches just as a quick knock sounded, and was still stepping into them even as the door opened. Leticia slipped quietly into the room.
Skye held the blanket close to her breast, watching as Leticia drew a finger to her lips, beckoning for Roc to come with her. Skye thought that the woman looked at her curiously where she lay silent upon the straw, but she could not tell. Shadows filled the room.
“I’ll be back!” Roc promised her softly. Skye watched him go to the woman and whisper something to her. He glanced Skye’s way. “She’ll come back to light the candle.”
Skye smiled, catching her lower lip between her teeth as she fell back against the straw. She watched them leave, then she closed her eyes, shivering.
It had not been a frightening place when he had been with her.
It had, for a time, been created a paradise.
But he was gone now, and it had become a shanty, chilled by sea breezes, covered in sand, barren and stark.
Skye rolled upon her stomach and rested her head upon her arm, exhausted and yet keenly aware that she couldn’t be so, that she needed desperately to think. This was a world of madness. She could be safe from it, but Roc would sail away to certain death, and she could not let him. And Logan still held her father. It was the worst nightmare she might have ever imagined.
Skye was dimly aware that the door opened again. She wasn’t worried. Leticia was coming back to light the candle. Skye was so deeply enmeshed in her worries that little could have moved her then, for she knew that she could not leave Roc, not ever; she hadn’t known that she had taken vows when she did, but there was but one thing that could part them, and that was death.
Her father! Where did Logan have him? If Blackbeard decided to help them, Logan would still have her father.…
She frowned suddenly, aware that no candle was being lit, that Leticia was murmuring no words to her, mocking or other. She started to spin around but halted as something cold and steel touched upon her bare back.
“Be very still, my dear.”
Skye froze instantly. It was Logan. He spoke softly in the night, but the evil and menace in his tone was unmistakable.
The cold steel skimmed along her naked back from her nape to the small of her spine. Logan chuckled softly. “Once I had fingers, milady, and now you feel what is there, a hook for a hand, fashioned of metal. There is ice where once there was warmth. And still, it is an interesting caress, is it not? Feel my touch, lady. Brood upon it, if you will.”
She bit down on the flesh inside her jaw, trying hard not to scream as she felt the hook skim over her again. He touched her with the curve of the hook until he came to the end of her spine, then he teased her flesh with the rough edge of the hook, a touch that hinted of drawn blood any second.
He did not want her blood, she realized. He wanted the Hawk’s blood. He only wanted her because she was the Hawk’s.
“Have you enjoyed your evening, my dear? Your last night with Captain Hawk. It’s a pity that he cannot be trusted. He did try to buy your freedom, but I’m afraid that I can’t let that be. If Blackbeard takes you, then I’ve nothing left to use against him. Blackbeard is a greedy man. And this time, he cannot have it all. Turn around. Look at me.”
“No!”
He caught her arm with his good hand and wrenched her over. She would have fought him in a frenzy, but his hook landed instantly against her throat and she went still, staring at him with hate and venom afire in her eyes.
Then she realized that he was not alone. Two of his men stood silently, just inside the door. How many of them were behind it? Would Roc come back and stumble into a trap? She needed to scream, she needed to warn him, she needed to call help. She didn’t know Logan’s intentions, but she had to warn Roc that he was here.
Logan chuckled huskily, drawing her attention back to his face. She met his eyes once again, and drew breath to scream.
