Leticia jumped back and Skye realized that the men were almost upon her. She tore on down the beach, her lungs afire, her heart thundering, her calves cramping mercilessly. She could hear the sound of the waves rushing up on the beach, beckoning to her. Their dark invitation called to her.
The sea! she thought.
The night was frightening, the darkness unimaginable, but it might well be her only hope. If she could strike out and shed the cape, she could swim. She didn’t know if her strength would hold out against the currents, but she had no other choice. She had only to pass the shadows of twin palms and plunge into the waves to find freedom.
Suddenly a figure stepped out from the palms. She could not stop running, her momentum was so great.
She collided with Logan. She screamed; his arms came around and they fell hard into the sand together. They rolled and she kicked and fought desperately.
“Logan!”
The thunder of the Hawk’s voice interrupted their wild fight. Logan looked up, and Skye tried to dislodge him again. He was wiry and strong. He had his hook, and he carried a sharp and lethal knife. He caught her about the waist with his arm, dragging her to her feet. He stared back toward the fires of the night.
Skye, sobbing for breath, tossed back her hair. He was there, the Hawk was there, feet wide apart, his hands on his hips, defying Logan. A sword dangled now from his scabbard. There was a lineup of men behind him, Blackbeard among them.
“Let her go!” Roc demanded.
Logan laughed. With his good hand he pulled open her cape, placed the blade squarely against her heart, upon her bared flesh.
“I’ve warned you, Hawk. Back off, or she will die!”
“Let her go!” Roc demanded again. “This fight is between us. It is between men! Don’t drag the girl in!”
“Ah, because she’s a part of you, eh, Hawk? Like my hand was a part of my body? Severed now! Back off, Hawk, and I mean it! My knife shivers with the beat of her heart. I’ll slice it out for you, Hawk, so help me God! You want her back so badly? I’ll slice her heart from her body, and hand to you, sir, still beating.”
“What the bloody hell is this?” Blackbeard demanded.“Now, Logan, you were with me, we were all agreed upon the details! I got the girl, and you took the Hawk.”
“You’re a slimy, scurvy backstabber, Edward Teach, and that’s what you are!” Logan called out.
“Now, sir, I take offense at that!” Blackbeard bellowed.
“Take all the offense that you want. I’m leaving in me boat with the girl. If one of you makes a move, it’s her heart, and that’s a fact. Are we understood?”
No one moved. Least of all Skye. The razor-sharp edge of his blade just scratched her flesh and she felt faint. He meant it. Logan would carve out her heart without a moment’s thought.
“You move now!” he ordered her harshly. He jerked her, dragging her toward the water’s edge. She heard the sound of oars and knew that Logan’s longboats awaited them.
“I’ll be on me deck!” Logan called out to the Hawk. “You want her alive, you row out alone. I’ll be waiting to see you, Hawk. I’ll be waiting right on the deck, and she’ll be with me. She’ll be right in my arms. You come, and she lives!”
Seawater, cold with the night, rose over Skye’s ankles. They backed against Logan’s longboat. His men were in it, she saw from the corner of her eye. The two who had come after her, and another two, who had probably remained with the boat, ready and awaiting his command. Logan was no fool; neither did he know the slightest thing about mercy.
“Hawk! Don’t come! He’ll kill us both!” Skye cried. Then she gasped, for the steel came hard and cold and deadly against her.
Logan spoke against her ear. “Get in! And not another word, and not a move. I’ll cut you yet, my pretty!”
Stumbling, Skye stepped into the longboat with Logan still behind her. He dragged her down before him with the blade of the knife still tight against her breast.
“Shove off!” Logan commanded, and the longboat shot into the dark.
For several seconds, Skye could still see the Hawk. He stood on shore, tall and formidable, his legs arrogantly apart, his feet firm upon his sand, his fingers knotted upon his sword.
He could not come for her! They would both die. She was certain of it.
Good-bye, my love, she thought. And you are my love, in every way.
Suddenly she wished that she could go back, just for a few hours. Just long enough to tell him that she did love him, that she didn’t care about the past, that the future was what needed forging. No matter what he had been, she would hold her silence unto the grave, and she would live with him and love him in his Tidewater paradise forever, for as long as they both should live. He was everything to her, everything in life.
“There she is, the ship!” Logan cried. His arm tightened around Skye. “No diving, my love, no swimming this night! No tricks, no fun, and I am in no mood for games! Climb aboard now, and know that my knife urges you upward.”
