“So I stayed, spying on behalf of the Queen but in my heart motivated by that promise to Cilla. Then I met you and grew to realize you didn’t need me after all. You could protect yourself well enough. So the promise became an excuse just to be with you. Not because you’re Cilla’s daughter, but because you’re you.”
“Oh,” she whispered. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome. Does this mean you might finally trust me?”
The wistfulness in his voice shook her—made her think of how he’d gone through all those years without fierce pirate aunts to warm him, scold him, or overprotect him, every time he was chilled by the memory of his mother’s death. “Maybe,” she said, smiling into his beautiful, shadowed eyes.
“I wouldn’t if I were you,” someone else replied.
They leaped apart, turning with weapons raised—
And Ned sighed.
“Damn it, O’Riley, what the hell are you doing here?”
Cecilia stared in bemusement at the man standing before them. With his dark, roughly cropped hair, unshaven jaw, and sardonic smile, he was the most piratic pirate she had ever seen. His tall, scarred boots alone were enough to make a law-abiding citizen tremble; they would have fainted dead away at the guns and knives half-hidden behind his long black coat. He swung his large sword with the laziness of someone who knows how to swing it with deadly accuracy when the time comes, and Cecilia sensed that, if she made one wrong move, he’d knock her down without thinking and refuse to apologize afterward.
She did not like him.
“I’m here because you’re an idiot, Lightbourne,” he said.
Well, perhaps she’d judged too hastily.
“A fool,” he continued. “A dunce, determined to get yourself in trouble.”
Actually, she’d been entirely mistaken: this was a fine fellow indeed.
Ned laughed curtly. “Go away, Alex.”
“I really don’t understand why you have a reputation for charm. I’m staying.”
“I suppose you want my thanks.”
“No.”
“In that case, you have them. How did you even find me?”
Alex shrugged. “I knew you were working with Morvath, and I read in the newspaper that his battlehouse had been sighted at Blackdown Hills. So I came here and asked around the locals. It didn’t take long to find the place.”
Ned and Cecilia looked at each other. “Asked the locals,” Ned said blankly.
“I’m not sure what astonishes me most,” Cecilia replied, “that we didn’t think of it, or that a man on his own actually asked for directions.”
“Ha,” Alex said dryly. He pointed his sword at Cecilia. “Is this her?”
Ned sighed again. “Miss Bassingthwaite, may I introduce my friend Captain Alexander O’Riley, an Irishman abroad. Alex has a particular interest in flying fast and aggravating the hell out of me. Alex, Miss Bassingthwaite.”
The pirate bowed. “Pleased to meet you, madam.”
Before Cecilia could reply, a hard, hot voice echoed from some nearby corridor, making them all jolt.
“Cecilia! Where are you?”
The pirates stared wide-eyed at one another. “Morvath,” Ned said unnecessarily.
“Cecilia!” the voice called again. “Come back before the tea gets cold. And, Ned, come back too. I have a special breakfast for you.”
The air seemed to crack as a gun was cocked.
