Linna : Historical Romance (The Brocade Collection, Book 5) (27 page)

He tossed his head
. “I’ll tell you everything, if you’ll just hurry! Please!”

“I’m not going anywhere, Vince.”

“Drew. Vince is no more. My name is Drew.”

“Not legally,” she answered.

“Yes, legally. Irrevocably and completely. I’ll explain everything, only hurry! Christ! You’re the most stubborn, pig-headed—”

“Don’t forget obstinate,” she added.

He lowered his head and glared at her. Linna nearly laughed but caught it. Her brother had never been anything except superficial and nonsensical and light-hearted. It was amusing to watch him try to be threatening. And then he added to it. “Are you going to come easily, or am I going to have to resort to force?”

“Force
? You wouldn’t dare, and even if you did, you wouldn’t get far. It’s a small island, and my husband’s hard to dissuade from something like his wife missing. Trust me.”

“To get you away from him, I’d dare
. Now, hurry!”

“Tell me something to sway me.”  

He blew a sigh that ruffled his hair. “All right. Where should I start? The man’s not good enough for you. He probably wasn’t even schooled in anything except brawling.”

“That’s not true
. He’s educated. I know. He reads and writes. He signed the marriage register. Try again.”

“All right, but you’re not going to like it
. The man’s a mixed-breed of some God-forsaken savage! Which also means he’s a bastard on top of that.”

“He’s a breed?”  Linna asked in astonishment and what she recognized as shock
. “You lie!”

“Do I?” he answered in a smug tone.

“He doesn’t look a bit like a Creole. Well...maybe.”

“What makes you think it’s one of ours
? Damn it, Linna, grow some sense. Lots of tribes are known for their beauty. In fact, a lot of them are. I know. I’ve seen them.”

“You’ve seen them
? How?”

“I’ve sailed the seas
. I’ve seen them. I may have a few half-breeds myself.” 

“And you recognize it in him
? How?”

“He has the look about him
. Dark skin tone. He doesn’t grow much body hair.”  He looked sheepish before continuing. “All right. I confess. I was told as much from someone who does know.”

“Oh, my God.”  She was stunned
. It was inn her voice.

“We haven’t got much time
. Is this yours?” 

He
picked up her trunk and hefted her portmanteau. As the only two elegant, matching pieces of luggage, it wasn’t difficult to guess they belonged to her. Linna’s lips thinned.

“I’m not going anywhere, Vince.”

“It’s Drew, but we’ll discuss it later.”

“My place is beside my husband.”

“I said we’ll discuss it later. Get a cloak on.”

“I’m not leaving
. You can put my things down.”

“Linna, you are - beyond a doubt - the most stubborn woman I’ve ever met
. When we get to my house, you’re staying in your room. I’ll make certain it’s the furthest from me, too.”

“Sounds pleasant
. I’m still not going.”

“I’m
taking you to my house. You’re going to like it, and you’re not going to say another arguing word about it.”

“Or...what?” she asked.

“Do you want me to have him fired? I’ll do it. Push me and see.”

Linna gasped
. “You’d do that to him?”

“I have to
! You’re not staying another moment with him. I won’t allow it. Father would agree!”

“I can’t just leave him though
. You don’t understand!”

“Say something to make me, then!”

Linna sighed and pushed her hair off her forehead. “I love him,” she said softly.

“Jesus and bloody hell
. How could you?” 

He dropped the trunk first, then the carpetbag
. Linna didn’t dare face him. She didn’t dare face anyone. She’d admitted it aloud, but instead of feeling wonderful, she felt miserable.

“Was he your first?”

Linna stiffened as he whispered it. She’d been as close to Vincent as a little sister could be to a much-older, big brother, who she’d only seen only once since she was little, but he was asking too much. She stepped back without answering.

“You’ll get over him then, Linna
. Trust me. The first is always special. Always.”

“Vince
—” she said, in a warning tone.

“It doesn’t mean its love,” he interrupted
. “It’s only because it’s special. Honest. You don’t love him! You can’t!”

“Why not?” she whispered.

He gripped her shoulders. “Because he’s too unworthy, that’s why! I’d rather see you wed to a—to a...Christ! Words are failing me. There’s nothing lower. A poor field hand, an ex-buccaneer, and a bastard breed of indeterminate origins? You’ve out-done every category, Linna. Every, single, blasted one!”   

“If you’re quite finished
…I’d suggest…you leave,” Linna said, although it wasn’t easy with the way he was shaking her.

“I’m not leaving without you
! Get your things, and that’s an order. Now. Get moving.” 

Linna had never seen him look so fierce
. She couldn’t think of one reason why she’d have wanted to. Her eyes were wide and her mouth open, and then Cord’s low voice stopped everything.

“If you don’t get your hands off my wife, I’m ripping them off.”

Vince’s hands dropped. Linna stepped back, although there wasn’t much room between her and the wall.

“Cord, I
—” she began.

“Don’t say
a word, Linnette. Not one.”

He pierced her with his moss-green glance
. Linna found room beside the wall, after all, as she backed into it.

“Now, Cord, don’t get all het up about a little thing like
—.”

“It would be a pleasure at the moment to separate every limb you have
from your body, Mister Fletcher. Don’t make me show you. Now, get out.” 

Cord’s size was impressive, his emotion palpable, his stance frightening
. Linna watched as he made a semi-circle about the room, coming to a stop directly in front of her. Vincent had been doing the same motion, only his steps had taken him to the doorway.

“I’m leaving,” he said, finally.

“I know you are,” Cord answered.

“I wouldn’t take kindly to having anything happen to the lady over this.”

“I never harm ladies,” Cord answered again.

“She has remnants of a shiner and a bruise on her chin.”

Cord glanced back at her, over his shoulder. Linna shook her head, wishing she could keep her eyes from widening. He turned back to where Vincent hesitated.

“If my wife wasn’t watching, you’d not be standing there unharmed and asking questions a man has no right to ask another.”

“Promise me that you won’t harm her,” Vincent said.

Cord looked over his shoulder at her again
. Linna’s breath caught at the hard edge to those green eyes. She’d never seen anything so chillingly lifeless. He turned back to her brother, releasing her to sag against the wall.

“If she claims I harmed her, she lied,” Cord said.

“She didn’t say a word. I assumed. You’re validating it. I’m not leaving without your promise. Now give it.”

Cord took a step toward Vince
. The smaller man backed out the door a step. Linna couldn’t see Cord’s face. She didn’t have to. She could see her brother’s, and she was watching abject fear.

“I already did
. Now leave. Don’t presume more, Fletcher. I’ve hurt men for less. Go and ask your father, if you don’t believe me. He’s in town. Docked with us yesterday. Give him my regards. Now get out. Now.”

“His...father?”
Linna’s voice shook, but that was only the beginning. Her entire body was next.
His father?
Her legs gave. The floor was hard, it was earthen, and the rugs barely shielded her knees as she scraped them.

Then Cord was
there, lifting her to his chest, and the look on his face held nothing but gentleness and concern.

“You all right,
bebe
?” he whispered.

How can a man change so swiftly
?

“Cord
? I—”

“You hurt yourself again
. And he’s gone. Here. Let me.”  He touched the skin beside a knee and Linna winced.

“His...father?” she managed to whisper.

“He’s Rex’s kid. Lost to him for years.”

“Rex...,” she gulped
. “Fletcher?” 
God no
! She moaned it to herself. It couldn’t be, but it explained so much.  

“He’s lucky he is Fletcher’s, too.”

“Lucky?” she repeated. She recognized the tingling sensation about her nose, because she’d experienced it often enough since meeting Cord Larket.

“If I’d given in to my inclination to take the hide off him for touching you, I’d have looked over my shoulder for the rest of my life
. Rex doesn’t play fair. In fact, he won’t play at all unless he’s already guaranteed the win.”

“Play?” she asked.

“You’ve got that strange look about you again, Linna love. You’re not about to swoon, are you?”

“Swoon?” she repeated.

“You know, I was planning a swim. I’ll just take you with me. Cold water does things for a person. Some of them good.”

“Cold...water?” she asked.

“It was hot today. I worked. Sweated. I need a dip. It saves on laundering. You need a restorative. Cold water should work for both of us. Come along.”

He was already carrying her out the door, so he wouldn’t have heeded Linna’s reply if she’d given one
. She didn’t. She was seeing the black fog again. Everything was unclear. Her brother called himself Drew Fletcher? And Rex Fletcher was claiming him as his son?
Was it true?
It could be. The more she thought about it, the more sense it made. Her mother...and Rex Fletcher? They’d been lovers even before she was born?

It was too much
! The certainty was in the pit of her stomach, making her shake worse. Ryan Daniels had to know it, too. That even explained why he never showed remorse when Vince had run away.      

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

The
black fog was almost enveloping her, granting her blessed unconsciousness, but iciness grabbed at her ankles, calves, buttocks. Linna cried aloud in shock. Then the cold was everywhere, as Cord just tossed her. She barely had time to suck in another gulp of air before water covered her head.

“I...I can’t swim!” 
She screamed it the second time she bobbed up, moving every limb against the water. Her under-garments were soaked, her lungs stung, and her heart was hammering loudly enough to hear it.

Cord was standing waist-deep and laughing at her
. Linna’s opened her mouth to yell again and then it hit her.
He was standing
. Her feet found bottom, and she thrashed herself upright. There was a lot of satisfaction in it. Linna waited for his laughter to die out, and kept herself upright by rowing her arms backward and forward against the water. She blinked the last of it out of her eyes to glare at him.

“Better?” he asked
.

“Than what?” she answered stiffly.

Cord grinned. He was watching her while he unbuttoned  then pulled off his soaked shirt. Linna couldn’t hold his gaze. It had something different to it. She wasn’t certain what it was. She also couldn’t stand chest-deep in cold water and watch her husband disrobe. It was doing things to her that the water wasn’t deep enough to hide every time it lapped away.

She
looked aside when he moved to the fastening of his trousers. They were in some sort of pond, surrounded by trees. She could hear the gurgling sound of what was probably a brook, feeding the water. A large boulder overhung the opposite shore. It was awash in sunlight, shadowing the space beneath it. The boulder looked like a perfect spot for sunning dry. She wondered if Cord used it for that and how he would look. She blushed and looked aside. The water no longer felt cold.  

There were several rectangular stones on the opposite bank
. She guessed they were used for washing laundry. She could see Cord’s shirt lapping there with small waves. His panted joined it. She heard him moving, but didn’t look. Her husband was difficult to withstand the worst of times. If he was right in front of her, water running off that body, following the little line of hair that he had carving his stomach, he’d be impossible to endure.

She heard splashing
. She stiffened.   

“It’s easier to bathe if you forego your clothing, Linna,” he said, from way too close
.

Linna caught her breath
. “In public?” she asked.

“No one here at the moment,” he answered
. “Here. I brought soap.”

“What for?” she demanded.

He chuckled. “Bathing. That’s what we’re here for. I don’t have to haul water to the house. This is much easier. Much quicker and much less work. Here. Wash my back.”

“I...”
  Her voice stopped. She couldn’t touch him.  

To her surprise, he laughed
. She heard more splashing. Linna saw him, in her mind’s eye...shiny with a soap and water mixture and slick with heat.

The suspense was tortuous
, and she had to peek. Cord had his back to her, fanning himself out into a cobra-like shape as he went about his ministrations. Linna closed her eyes and let the rampant emotion in, sucking at, and then exhaling, breath after breath. He was beautiful, naked, and within arms-length of her. He could peel the chemise from her, run those strong hands all over her, send her passions spiraling out of control. He could make her forget time, space and reality.

Everything
.

That male part of him could be stiff and
large beneath the water right now. He could take her and no one would see. Her body wanted it. Linna shook in place.
In broad daylight, with any number of interested parties watching
? she wondered, appalled.

“Linna?” the vision in her mind whispered.

“Hmm?” she answered, swaying a bit toward where he stood.

“I heard you say you love me.” 

Linna’s eyes snapped open and her mouth followed, ruining every bit of her fantasy. He wasn’t an arms-length away. He was directly in front of her, bending a bit toward her and blinding her with all that water-enhanced, naked strength.

He’d heard that
?
Oh, God.
Her heart stopped. Delayed several moments. Then decided it really would continue beating.

“No
. I—.”

“
I heard it. From your lips. You saying it’s a lie now?”

She thought of every flippant reply in the world and lost them in the moss green pools of his eyes
. She closed her mouth and shook her head.

“Are you sure?”

For some insane reason, her eyes started prickling with the onslaught of tears. She was mortified. She’d rather not have a heart. It was easier. She nodded.

He moved closer, making a slight water wave crash against her bosom
,  then slide away as he filled the space. Linna craned her neck to see him, but it wasn’t easy. The orb of a sun was right behind his head, darkening everything except those eyes. “Then...I don’t understand.”

“What
? That I could love you?” 

“I don’t understand the hate
. You told me that on the ship. Two days ago. It changed so soon?”

“I never
…hated you,” Linna whispered. “Never.”

“Then why did you say so?”

She gulped. If he wasn’t looking so closely at her she might have been able to lie. “To...hurt you,” she whispered.

The frown disappeared
. She got a shocked look instead. “To hurt me?”

“Just as much as you hurt me!”

“Oh. I think I understand. You were getting even. For the first time...and what I did.”

Linna shook her head
. “That night was...magical. Wondrous. I had nothing to get even for. Ever.”

“Then why?” 

He lifted an arm, dripping with water and held it above her shoulder. Linna felt each drop as it landed, before they slid down her arm to her elbow. Each one caused a riot of shudders down her frame.

“
Because I love you. I do. I didn’t want to. I tried to stop it. I would have done anything to stop it.”

“Even telling me you hated me?”

She nodded.

“How does it feel?”

“How does what feel?”

He shrugged
. “Love.”

Linna took a deep breath
. “It isn’t pleasant.” 

He snorted.

“It feels bad...but sometimes it’s wondrous. It’s not controllable. Nothing works. It sounds like water running through my ears. If I look into your eyes, it’s like everything else fades. But if I close my eyes…it’s worse. It feels like I’ve been replaced with someone I don’t know or even like. It’s horrible! That’s what it feels like!”  She lost her voice mid-way through.

“You feel these things...
even knowing my past?”

She nodded
. She felt absolutely drained. Vulnerable. Defenseless.  

“And...what I am?”

She nodded again.

“Does this mean you’ll release me from our stupid bargain
? I may touch you any time I wish? Even here? Right now?”

Linna blushed
. She couldn’t help it. She cleared her throat. “I already released you. At Dominique’s.”

“I want it to be of your free will though
. Is it?”

She nodded.

“I’d like to hear it, please,” he replied.

She sighed
. “Very well, Cordean Raoul Larket. I release you from our bargain. You have all the rights of a wedded man with his wife. You may touch me when you want. Any place you want. Right here. Right now, if you like.”

Linna waited, her entire being tuned to him, but he didn’t make a move to touch her
. After asking for and receiving what he had, he didn’t want her?

“Thank you,” he finally said, with that quiet whisper of his.

Linna turned to scoop up water, tossed in on her face,  then she rubbed at her eyes.    

“
And thank you for setting my mind to rest. I’ve worried about my child’s acceptance. I’m content now that I know.”

“Of course I accept my baby
! How could anyone think otherwise? It’s mine, isn’t it?”

“It’s part of me, too
. I gave it to you. I never did that before.”

“Never?”

He shook his head.

“And...that means?”

There! She’d asked it. She watched him stiffen in the silence that just kept growing.

“I don’t know what
you want to know.”  He truly didn’t if the confusion in his eyes was any indication.

“How do you feel, Cord?”

It was out. In the open. How vulnerable she felt. Linna held her breath.

“About what?” he asked.

“About me!”

“You?”  He was stunned
. It was evident as he pulled back and stared down at her.

“Yes, me
. What do you feel about me?”

The crease in his forehead was out in full force
. Linna would rather be anywhere than standing before him, watching those expressive eyes.

“You want to know if I return your
love emotion. Is that it?”

She didn’t even nod
. Her heart was still pumping, so she still lived and breathed, but she didn’t feel capable of uttering a sound.

“I don’t know, Linna
. I don’t think so.”

Linna caught the cry and looked away
. Anything was better than watching the honest answer on his face and in his eyes. The unyielding boulder looked softer. She knew for a certainty that she loved him, because hearing it wasn’t returned was like a blow. She was surprised she remained standing, her jaw locked. She could still see and hear him though. She wondered how such a thing was possible.

He
reached for her. She watched his shadow on the water. Linna flinched away.

“Why...did you return...for me
? Why?” 
I’d have rather endured life as Luthor’s wife! At least my heart would be intact
!

She felt his shrug of nonchalance
. It increased the agony enveloping her. She steeled herself for his answer.

“I...enjoyed you
. That’s a good word for it, I guess. You were very satisfying. Very much a woman. I wanted more. I still do. Come here.”

She couldn’t answer
. She was using every ounce of resolve to remain upright. Any longer in his presence, and she’d be on her knees in the water, crying her eyes out. Despite her vow, she was just barely holding off a wave of tears that would put any of Rhea’s to shame.

“I want to hold you, Linna
. Please?”

“Why
? So you can torment me more?”  Now her nose was running. She sniffed loudly. She was beyond caring.

“I just want to hold you.”

“Don’t touch me! Don’t you ever touch me again!” 

The last word was sobbed
. She was shamed to the depths of her being, and he was making it worse. Didn’t he know? Was he that cruel?

He caught her
to him. Lifted her to his chest. She struggled but he held her tightly. She didn’t want to do anything except hold to him and sob her eyes out, anyway.

“Stop it, Linna
! Stop!”

“Don’t hold me, Cord
. Please? Don’t do this. I’m begging you. Please?”

He lowered his
head. Agony pierced her heart, blurred down her spine, settled into the small of her back. It was acute. Harsh. Fiery.  

“You’ll just have to forgive me
. All right? I
want
to touch you. I
want
to hold you. I
want
to possess every part of you. If that’s a feeling, I have it. If ever I knew love, I’ve forgotten. You don’t know what I’ve been through. No one does. A man with feelings gets hurt. He looks weak. He gets killed. It was better to kill the feelings. I don’t know if I’m capable of love, Linna. How can I? I don’t know what it is anymore.”

He was shuddering with whatever emotion he claimed not to have
. Linna felt his tremors through her entire body. The pain at her back cooled. Weakened. Released. And that’s when she arched up, pressing her mouth to his. She didn’t think. She only felt. His lips were warm, soft, and wet. She couldn’t hold the kiss, though. She couldn’t gain any breath without clearing her nose.

For some reason, that thought made her
laugh. She pulled her head back to gain breath. Sanity. Cord’s confusion was evident. Visual. It was also endearing.
So, he doesn’t know what love is, and doesn’t feel it
?