Gilly hugged her bag to her chest, an instinctual reaction to protecting herself. ’Twas the first time she noticed the remaining rosettes felt solid clutched against the exposed flesh of her bosom. Strange how the softness of velvet and the hardness of diamonds contrasted definitively and yet complemented one another so perfectly.
Mercy me! The other rosettes! There are three more diamonds!
“I earn my arrogance,” Drake said.
“And yet I am more powerful,” Machete countered. “Oh, but wait. There is a significant difference between us.” Machete pocketed the gemstone. His lips coiled into a wicked taunt. “I still have my family.”
Drake sneered and took a menacing step forward. He stopped short as Machete snatched Gilly’s arm, tugging her from his crony. With the pistol no longer aimed at her head, Gilly’s fear loosened a tiny notch.
“Careful,
pirata.
My sword may slip and gut
su mujer.
You wouldn’t want the pretty little thing to become another casualty of your foolish irresponsibility, do you?”
Had Gilly not known better, she might have thought the guttural sound came from a stampede of bulls in the street rather than from Thayer. Never in her life had she witnessed a man’s rage harnessed so that the very air around him shifted. His fingers stretched and gripped, stretched and gripped, the hilt of his sword.
“I’m going to kill you, Machete. I won’t be merciful. You won’t die in your sleep like Governor Don Francisco de Barca.”
Machete’s smile faltered and his nostrils flared. “Perhaps. But not today. Not while I hold your woman.”
Gilly’s skin reddened where his fingers dug into her forearm. But she felt no pain. The villainous bastard sawed at the corded strings of her bag looped around her wrist.
No! Not my bag, not the other diamonds!
She grimaced as the blade caught on her tender flesh.
“You see what happens when you fight?” Machete said. “Now you’ve nicked yourself.”
She had more than a nick. Rivulets of blood spilled from the cut. Bright red droplets spattered on the white pristine floor.
“Give it back!” She swiped for the bag he held up at eye level, toying with her. Toying with everyone.
“Conduct yourself,
señorita,
should you want to avoid suffering more of my blade.”
“I’m not scared of you,” she spat. No, she was quaking in her shoes with terror, but he didn’t need to be aware of it.
“
Tu eres una muchacha tonta e imprudente.
No matter, you will learn.” He handed her a handkerchief. “To stop the blood,” he said.
She didn’t know what Machete said, but she had an idea by the pity in his grin.
“If we’re done negotiating,” Machete chuckled, apparently amused by something he had said, “I’ll wish you gentlemen a good day. Come,
mi pequeña.
We must prepare you for this evening’s performance.”
Gilly had long tired of being passed around from hand to hand like a whiskey bottle. No way was she leaving willingly. She risked the blade and shoved into Machete, grabbing for her bag. A rush of fetid air from his lungs fell upon her face and he staggered, brandishing it out of her reach.
Mather charged at Machete readying to run him through.
* * *
“No!” Drake lunged forward blocking Mather’s sword. Gilly was too close for the fool to strike Machete. The lass fought gallantly against the bastard. Holding the pouch and his knife in one hand and tugging her along with the other, Machete labored to dodge her open palm boxing his ear and slapping his face. Had the situation not been grave, Drake would have found humor in her actions. As it was, she was bound to get herself killed.
“Out of my way, pirate.”
“Machete is mine to kill, Mather.”
“I won’t let him leave with my diamond.” He swung his sword wide. Drake easily parried.
“You’re nothing but a bladder of air, and a wee babe can wield a sword better than you.”
“And yet, you have not defeated me.”
“Wasting words and feckless, you are.”
Caught off guard by Mather’s attempt on his boss, Machete’s man failed to notice Valeryn and Quint change positions.
“Ho! Clam brain!” Quint pitched a piece of broken statuary, thwacking the man between his deadlights. Valeryn followed up with a punch to his jaw, sending him into a dazed spin.
“Nice job, V.”
“We make a good team, you and I,” Valeryn said.
“Says you, ya arse.”
Drake commended Valeryn and Quint for their creativity, but damnation, they went on teasing one another while he engaged in the real fighting. Neither noticed Machete’s ruffian had raised his pistol at Valeryn. Drake could do nothing while fighting Mather except warn him.
“Mind your back!”
Valeryn spun, kicking the gun from his hand. Quint dove for the gun and fired it, felling the offal.
Machete grew wise and shoved Gilly aside. With her facing the other direction, Mather saw a chance. He veered away and charged at her.
“Gilly!”
She spun but fear stole her time to react. Drake had but one choice. He couldn’t draw his pistol with his lass in the line of fire. Instead, he threw his long dagger. End over end the knife flew, slicing through the air, landing its mark between Mather’s shoulder blades.
Mather skidded to a halt, groaned and fell to his knees. Gilly shuffled a step away, her pale eyes wide. The bastard reached behind with his left hand and grabbed the dagger’s handle. Gritting his teeth, he yanked it free. The knife clattered as it hit the floor. He tried to push himself up, his glare steady upon Gilly. But the blade penetrated deep and Mather struggled to lift his right arm.
Drake stood above him. Mather leered up at him, his tongue twitching in a furious spasm.
“As I said, threaten me and live not another good day.”
“Go to hell.”
“Ah, but I come from hell and I’ll see you there presently.” Without ceremony, Drake speared Mather’s chest with his sword. An awful gurgle caught in the bastard’s throat. His lids fought to stay open with every laborious breath. Drake withdrew and Mather crumbled without the support of Drake’s blade. Drake had nothing more for the dying man.
“Are you hurt?” He reached to take her fragile hand in his, but Gilly didn’t move. His heart ached under the weight of her glassy eyes, deep blue now from the dam of tears threatening to burst. “Gilly?”
She flung herself into him, wrapping her arms tightly around him, pressing her face against his chest. His brace of pistols pinched, but he didn’t care. Not as long as he had her in an embrace. He agonized over all she had been through, how her life had been so vulnerable, so near death, in part to his carelessness. He grieved over influencing her virtue and having to let her go. But for this moment, he simply would hold her, feel her silent sobs and stroke her blond hair. “Shh, you’re safe now, sweetheart.”
Valeryn clasped his shoulder. “Machete is getting away.”
Machete’s footfalls echoed down the chamber, each sound tugging Drake to give chase. His chance to rectify past mistakes shrunk with the distance Machete gained.
In due time. Keep your head, Drake, until then.
“Let him.”
“B—but, my bag, the diamonds.” Gilly’s tired expression shifted to one of confusion. “He has the diamonds.” She reminded him she had lied and had hidden her true motives. A spark of anger reignited.
“So he does.” Bitterness tinged his tone. He dropped his arms from their hug and faced his mate, refusing to look at her any longer. “We know where he’s going.”
“His palace is well fortified,” Quint said.
“Tell me, Captain Quint, why are you here?”
“’Twas the closest isle on which to disappear. There was a misunderstanding with the Royal Navy. They had us holed up in an archipelago. I had to destroy my ship as a diversion to keep from capture.”
“A pirate captain with no ship. A pity, for sure. But that’s not what I meant. What was your role in Machete’s affairs? Have you turned against the brethren and allied with an enemy?”
“A strong accusation, Drake. It is plain beyond disputing that you two flim-flammed
me.
We’re not so different, you and I. Once I heard that the lass belonged to you, I wanted repayment for my injustice. Eye for an eye.”
“I respect that,” Drake said. And he did. The brethren hardly ever broke ranks among their confederacy, but never underestimate a sea-wolf seeking fair justice, especially a female sea-wolf.
Gilly confronted the red-haired captain. “You used me to get back at them?”
“Nothing personal, dear,” Quint said.
“Forgive my incredulousness,” Gilly retorted.
Within her power, Quint would not have let Machete harm Gilly, oddly, this Drake knew. But they were wasting sand yapping about it.
“We need to get out of here before Machete sends his men back to finish us off. Valeryn, help Quint with Sancho. The brother deserves a respectful burial.” Drake remembered under whose roof he stood. “A seafaring-man’s burial,” he amended. “Grab Sam and meet us at the little inn on the south end of the docks. Be well armed. ’Tis time Havana is free from Machete’s tyranny.”
Chapter Seventeen
“So you see, Hyde never spoke of Mather. I had no idea who I was running from or for what reason.”
The moment the afternoon breeze cooled the sweat on Drake’s brow outside the church, Gilly had been chattering nonstop. Her words tumbled out as quick as their pace. And ’Twas an effort for her to keep up, her two steps for every one of his. He said nothing, but listened to her story. A stout drink was in order when they arrived at the inn, and he’d be sure to have a bottle or two sent to their room.
“After I heard the gunshot, I peered into the lock. I had to know. What I saw I’ll never forget. Hyde fell to his knees covered in blood. Mather said they must find me. Hyde tried to speak, choking, shaking his head. I panicked and ran. I ran with no place to go. A thoughtless move, I know, bribing Abel, playing on his admirations as I did, just so I could board the ship. I had no other recourse. Hyde was dead.”
Her voice wavered. She couldn’t hide her feelings for this man. Drake was sorry for her loss and yet, quite annoyed by the way she spoke his name.
“I had to board the
Rowena.
How was I to know she would shipwreck? How was I to know you’d come along? If it weren’t for you…Well, by and by, it wasn’t until Mather captured me that I found out Hyde had stolen from him.”
She continued on about Henri’s courageous, and in Drake’s mind verily stupid, attempt to rescue her, Mather’s schemes to part her with his money, and Lynch’s unwanted advances. She didn’t stop until he closed the door of their room. Gilly grabbed fistfuls of his jacket when he turned from engaging the lock.
“I swear, Thayer, I didn’t know about the diamonds. You must believe me.”
He wanted to believe her. It would be easier if he didn’t. At the moment, he didn’t know what to believe. He wished the innkeeper made haste with his liquor.
Drake dislodged her death grip and stepped around her. “You’ve lied to me from the beginning.”
“No, I only manipulated the truth to protect myself.” She followed behind much too close. “Men have a way of benefiting themselves, do they not? If I had been completely forthcoming, can you honestly tell me you wouldn’t have tried to collect a reward for my return as you threaten you would? Well, Thayer? Wouldn’t you?”
Gilly was right. At the time, if he had been sure she was in no real danger, he would have collected a tidy reward on a runaway bride. Perish and rot, he didn’t doubt it. Drake raked his hands through his hair and turned to face her. “Yes, I would have collected a reward.” She flinched under his affirmation, as if he’d done nothing less than slapped her.
She looked to the squared tips of her shoes. “I see.”
Anger broiled deep within him. What the hell did she expect of him? He proved time and again he was a worthless cad. He never claimed to be anything else. Wasn’t his whore-mongering behavior enough? All told, she was responsible for his ribald actions.
Quietly, she sniffled and sought refuge by the window. Creamy lavender tickled his nose in her wake. Sunlight softened her sedate reflection as she looked to the street below. Beads of her blue gown glittered and her hair glowed with the halo of light streaming through the pane. The glass reflection captured a tear rolling down her cheek. Even in sadness, Gilly’s beauty shattered him. Not just the beauty mirrored in the pane, but the pure heart she struggled to hide from him.
Her shoulders straightened and she wheeled around. “Thank you for coming to my rescue again, Captain Drake. I am terribly sorry for the troubles I have caused you and your crew. Please accept my humblest apologies and gratitude, as that is all I can offer. I will forever be indebted to you.” She made a go for the door. “I really must find an apothecary, now.”
“You’ve no money and you don’t need that poison.”
“And you are hardly one to give advice.”
“Perhaps.”
“I need to get more laudanum. I don’t expect you to understand.”
“But I do,” he said. “I understand all too well how obsession can ravage the mind. I understand there is no satiety, that you must continually feed the monster within you, so that it doesn’t peel away your sanity layer by layer. You see, I understand most perfectly.”
He swept a strand of hair from her quivering lip. “Enlightened me, if you will. How were you introduced to opium? ’Twas this Hyde fellow, wasn’t it?”
“If you must know, yes. He bought me the laudanum.”
Her chin jutted outward and her exhausted, smoky eyes challenged him to speak ill of her dead lover.
“I was with child,” she continued. “Bouts of severe nausea kept me from the stage. I’d become tired, weak. Hyde couldn’t stand to see me suffer. He insisted I drink as much as I could so that I might feel better. He knew how much I loved to sing. Allowing me to continue to sing would ensure that we had plenty of money. Money to lavish the babe with fine clothing and trinkets envious of the king’s own children. We’d be a happy family. He’d see to it. He was thoughtful that way.” Gilly focused on her toes again. “But I lost our child. I had let him down.”
She let Hyde down? It pained Drake to hear such nonsense. This fellow manipulated her blind faith in him. Had she not known what the opiate would do to her, to her unborn child? Gilly’s tragedy tore at his heart like a hook through open flesh. “Losing your child was not your fault. It was the laudanum Hyde provided you.”
Slowly, she nodded. “I know.” She rubbed her hand up her arm, warding off an invisible chill. And yet she kept her eyes down, away from his. “Hyde confessed he didn’t know our child would be harmed. He only wanted to stop my misery.”
Bah! Could Gilly not see the truth? Hyde used her love to his advantage. No doubt a child would have interfered in the money she provided him. Drake was beginning to wish Hyde was still alive. He’d like to give the worthless sack of entrails a lesson in pirate torture for what he put Gilly through.
“You’ve no need to carry on with this guilt. Or the laudanum.”
“Well, we all have our weaknesses, don’t we?” Shame clouded her satirical smile. “Now, if you please, I bid you good day.”
“You’re not leaving.” His words came out much harsher than he intended.
She peered down to his grasp around her arm. He hadn’t realized he’d grabbed her. “’Tis for the best,” she said.
“For whom?”
He matched her quizzical look, not entirely sure why he proposed the question. Seeking to deflect any answer she might give, he changed course. “Tell me about the purse.” Yes, that was a good question. He wanted answers, wanted to force her to explain the mimicry of her life.
“I didn’t know about the diamonds. Won’t you believe me?”
“I asked about the bag, not the gems.”
She cast a glance to where he still held her. Quickly, he let go. The poor lass had been jostled enough without him adding to her bruises.
“’Twas a gift from Hyde. He had never given me a gift I could keep. Dresses, shoes, jewelry, it was all on loan, at a price, of course. I never understood with all the money we made why these things were loans. But I never questioned him. He knew what was best for us.”
“Forgive me for saying as much, but it strikes me as if he did what was best for him, not for you both.”
“Oh no, that’s not true. It was Hyde who whisked me away from the bottom of society’s heels. The ladies looked down their noses at me as if I were rubbish. The men, hardly noticing their wives chattering over my songs, regarded me no different than an overdressed slave. I was for their entertainment and they offered me no respect. It was difficult at times. Hyde showed me I could make money where people enjoyed listening to me sing. It made me happy to look out into a smiling, attentive audience. He collected the money and I lived in a nice room.”
“Alone?”
“Well, yes. It wouldn’t be proper otherwise.”
Drake snorted at that. “Performing in taverns isn’t exactly proper, or safe.”
“Hyde protected me.”
Drake grew weary of hearing about this muckrake. “Sounds to me like he used you and fed you poison to keep you dependent.” He raised his hand before she began a protest on the man’s character. “The bag, please.”
“Yes, well, I had never seen such a beautiful bag. Coming from him, it meant so very much. I thought perhaps he’d finally…”
She looked away then, and thorns of jealousy sprouted within him.
“He’d given it to me not long before he told me we were leaving St. Augustine, heading for Atlanta, just hours before he died.”
“And he didn’t tell you he hid diamonds inside.”
“No.”
“Why do you think that is? Didn’t he trust you, Gilly? Didn’t he consider the danger he placed on you? Perhaps he never meant for you to find out. I get the impression he was quite selfish.” Drake was the one being selfish, spouting hurtful accusations against this man Gilly obviously adored. A ghost provoked his begrudging tongue.
“Is it not enough that I anger and disappoint you? Must you continue to assail me for my foolhardiness in believing in someone?”
“My apologies, Gilly. But a man’s heart is not pure. If he loved you half as much as you loved him, he would not have been irresponsible with you.”
“Irresponsible? What do you call the way you have treated me? Scrupulous?”
He deserved her venom and had no right passing judgment on Hyde. “I claim to be nothing more than what I am. There is no worth in tampering with a man whose blackened heart died years ago. Wretched, I am. Never forget that.”
“Scandalous, a little wicked even, but not wretched. Wretched, ruthless men do not have the respect and friendship of other men. Valeryn, Henri, Sam, Willie, I’ve seen how they look to you.”
He chuckled. “Naiveté blinds you, love. ’Tis the way of the
Rissa
boys, is all.”
“No, they admire you.”
“Not if they knew the truth about me. Do you think they’d admire me knowing it is the lantern hanging from my window in my cabin that lures ships to the reefs at night?” He waited for that bit of information to sink into her pretty little head. “That’s right, Gilly. I may have very well been responsible for the
Rowena
’s unfortunate end.”
There it was, the shocked, angry, confused emotions playing across her ethereal face. “I…I could have died that night.”
Yes. Let her see him for the monster he had become. Aye, he was selfish. He needed to admit to her his heinous ways. In some strange way, he felt better for it.
Gilly put her fingers to her mouth, addled and, no doubt, deciding what she should do. Drake expected her next move and beat her to the door.
“I’m a bastard, but I’m not letting you leave now.”
“What makes you so cruel that you would condemn the innocent?”
“They’re not innocent. No one is. Not even you. And I don’t condemn anyone who is not deserving. Crews and passengers are saved from wrecks first and foremost.”
“
I
could have died.”
“From diving into the raging sea after a purse. Nearly took me to a watery grave with you.” He smiled, but Gilly turned away.
“Why do you do it?” She walked back to the window. “Why do you steal their cargoes?”
Her tone was born of curiosity, not denunciation. She was trying to figure him out and he felt compelled to explain further.
“Wrecking is a prosperous venture. The reefs and shoals are hard to navigate even for skilled pilots, and the sands shift often. Ships run aground regularly. Conches are at the ready to work wrecks. They’re like damned cockroaches. I can’t waste time drifting along coastlines waiting for a ship to get into trouble. I’m not eager to split profits with overzealous salvagers, either. There is much labor that goes into salvaging.”
She faced him pointedly. “But you are the cause.”
“Not directly. I don’t drive the captains to run aground. They know the dangers of the Straits. But when they do wreck, I offer help. For a price, of course.”
“It’s wrong. You play with people’s livelihoods.”
“Your Hyde cheated at cards. Emptied out many savings, I’m sure. Do you mean to tell me he didn’t have a hand in destroying a few lives himself? You’re a bit of a hypocrite.”
Anger spouted from her lips. “You’re wrong about him.”
His own anger rushed forth. “You really don’t see it, do you?”
“See what?”
“When did Hyde give you the bag?”
“I really don’t see how that—”
Like a stormy surge of seawater breaching a ship’s hull, he couldn’t staunch the flow of his harsh words. “When did he give it to you? It was after your miscarriage, wasn’t it?”
“I don’t understand—”
“Wasn’t it?”
Confusion marred her brow. “Yes.”
“After you lost the babe, did you stop taking the laudanum?”
She shook her head. “Please, why are you doing this?”
“Answer me, Gilly. Did you stop?”
“I wanted to stop. I wanted to.”
“But Hyde insisted you continue taking it, didn’t he? Didn’t he!” She jumped as he shouted his accusation.
“You must understand. I became ill again.” Torment wreathed her pleading eyes. More tears welled up. “My stomach churned, my back stiffened and ached. Every breath I took was like trying to breathe through a wet blanket. My skin itched, a thousand spiders crawling over every inch of my body. Going mad, I was going mad.”
“And so he rescued you. He had all the answers, your Hyde. He’d protect you by feeding you more poison.” Drake should have shown her more pity. She didn’t deserve his corrosive sarcasm. But, damn it, he couldn’t control his vicious tongue for the man who inflicted such hell upon her. Blast! And she loved him.
“How dare you condemn him! You didn’t know him. He couldn’t stand to watch me suffer. He loved me. He gave me the laudanum to—”
“To feed your addiction.”
“No!”
“He needed you to remain dependent upon him. He needed you to carry his diamonds.”
“Stop!”
“He gave you the bag, told you to keep the laudanum inside. Do so, and you’d never suffer again.”
“Stop!” She slammed her fists into his chest. “Lies! All of it, lies!”
Drake grabbed her wrists. “You waste your guilt on yourself just as your love on that bastard. He used you. He needed you to amass wealth to fuel his lust for the gaming tables. A child would complicate his life, stand in the way of his greed. First, he poisoned the babe to be rid of it. Then he poisoned you, to keep you under thumb. He never loved you.”