The Wicked Ways of Alexander Kidd (The MacGregors: Highland Heirs) (12 page)

“Would ye?” She turned to look up at him and smiled.

“Aye, I don’t want yar savage kin comin’ after me.”

He didn’t give a rat’s arse about anyone coming after him. She laughed and nodded and turned to step into Mr. Pierce’s waiting hands.

“Hurry back,” the captain ordered his quartermaster. “I need ya to steer.”

On the way back to the cabin, Trina looked up at Mr. Pierce’s lightning-lit eyes and wondered where she stood with him. He did his best to keep her safe because the captain had ordered him to. He was as loyal as a well-loved dog… She blinked at him as a thought occurred to her. “D’ye have a brother in the Royal Army called David?”

“What?”

“Captain David Pierce?” she asked him, remembering the handsome captain who had helped her cousin Edmund
and Amelia, his love, escape the Duke of Queensberry. “He came to Camlochlin several months ago to take one of Grendel’s pups—”

“If I had a brother in the Royal anything”—the quartermaster curved the path of her thoughts—“I would cut his throat while he slept.”

Trina forced a smile even though he reminded her constantly that she didn’t like him. “My error. ’Twas silly of me to think that just because yer names were the same, ye were related. I am a result of a village, not a city.”

She was relieved to see his misgivings about her vanish on the gale.

Continuing on their way, she heard the men begin to scream war cries and death threats while flailing and banging weapons against the gunwales of the ship. Simon the musician began to play a fiddle. The air snapped with anticipation. She didn’t want to hide.

“Yar cousin awaits ya in the cabin,” Pierce said, opening the door for her. “Ya’re lucky I can’t lock ya both in from the outside. I wouldn’t see ya hurt.”

Aye, Trina was thankful for that. She hated being locked up anywhere.

He waited until she entered and then left her, hurrying off to do the captain’s bidding. Battle was the only time a captain had full authority, and every man on
Poseidon’s Adventure
wanted it that way.

She stepped into her cousin on her way in and then out of the cabin and back on deck. “We’re staying, Kyle.”

“Colors hoisted!” Alex’s voice boomed across the deck to his men. “Board with quarter!”

“Our faithers, Trina,” Kyle warned, “our kin will come after him.”

“’Tis only until Portugal,” she told him, knowing he
was right. “We’ll be home before our kin stock their boats fer their journey. Let us not think on it now.”

The merchant ship had surrendered. There would be no fighting. She was glad, and apparently the only one on the ship who was. The crew’s moans and groans were almost as loud as the canon fire. Their disappointment didn’t last long, though. If they couldn’t fight, at least they could loot.

She watched in awe while the crewmen swung through the air on rigging and leaped onto their prey’s deck. The merchant ship was close enough for Trina to see its crew. The men looked frightened. She looked for Alex but didn’t see him.

“Something’s not right.” Kyle moved away from her and squinted his eyes on the surrendering crew. “There’s something…” He thought about it for a moment, then said, “Off about their fear.”

Trina watched her cousin study what expressions he could make out on the crew. Kyle was a master at reading people, a skill taught to him and inherited from his father. She made a mental note to speak with him about Mr. Pierce.

“Och, hell,” he cursed quietly, coming to an obviously troubling conclusion. “Captain!” he suddenly shouted as the captain came into their view, rope in hand, ready to fly.

He stopped and waited while Kyle ran to him. They shared words. The captain’s expression grew darker and more menacing. What was Kyle telling him? Trina couldn’t take the curiosity and had to stop herself from running over there to hear.

Soon, though, her curiosity would be satisfied. She watched Kyle hurry back to her, and the captain launch
himself over the side, his foot wrapped securely enough around the rope to hold him up, using one hand while his other unleashed his cutlass. He cut through two men before any of the others realized what had happened.

The merchant ship had surrendered. Why was Alex killing their crew?

He shouted something to his men, but his voice blended with the wind—and Kyle’s as her cousin reached her.

“Get inside the cabin and lock yerself inside!” he ordered.

“What? Why?” Even as she spoke, her eyes moved to the scene over Kyle’s shoulder, a short distance away. Their victims multiplied by at least fifty men, each wielding swords, some loading pistols. Those were the ones Alex cut down first.

“’Tis a trap, Trina. Get inside!” Kyle pointed to the captain’s quarters one last time, then he turned and ran, ready to lend his sword.

Her foot moved to follow him. She wanted to lend her skill as well. There were too many against the pirates. She searched the merchant ship’s deck for Alex. She didn’t see him again. If he was killed, who were these men who’d set a trap to catch him? What would they do to a woman?

She wasn’t going to sit around waiting to find out. Her bow was in the captain’s cabin. She kicked off her boots and ran to find it.

F
or at least a quarter of an hour the fight between ships wore on. Most of it, to Trina’s relief, took place on the other ship. A few times, though, men from the opposing side came aboard.

Kyle wielded his sword alongside Mr. Pierce and some of the other men. Trina knew that while he practiced daily, Kyle had never actually killed anyone before. He was killing them now, though. He had no choice if he wanted to live. She had no time to retch or panic at the carnage and the danger around her. These men, privateers hired by the Royal Army as Robbie had called them, wouldn’t kill her if they won. Her fate would be worse than a quick death. Suddenly the full impact of what was happening truly hit her. This was what it felt like to have to fight and pray for your life. Though it turned her blood cold in her veins, she had an arrow with bows and she knew how to use them. She took out a few, fearing she would be hanged for killing the queen’s men, but when the next opportunity presented itself, she let her arrow fly. She didn’t miss. She never did.

In between shots she searched the decks for the captain. As the number fell, she spotted him on the other ship and smiled, pleased that he still lived.

She didn’t see the four men creeping up behind her but the instant arms came around her, she reacted and drove her heel into her attacker’s foot. It wasn’t enough to stop him or the rest from grabbing at her hair, her wrists, her skirts. She gouged at the closest captor’s eyes and kneed another hard in the groin. One of them, a man with pale yellow hair and ice-colored eyes, hauled back his arm and backhanded her in the face.

Everything faded to black for a moment, and then another. Trina shook her head to hold on to consciousness. She wasn’t going to let this lowborn son of a tavern whore knock her around.

He pushed her back against the rail and bent her over it, wedging himself between her legs. He groped for her skirts. Was this madman going to attempt to rape her here and now? Her heart pumped furiously in her chest. She fought a battle to keep from letting terror have its way.

She felt the hard hilt of his dagger digging into her hip and slipped her hand beneath his belt to set it free. He realized what she’d done and closed his fingers around her throat. She rammed the dagger deep into his belly. Stepping away from him as his hand and everything else went limp, she gave him room to double over, then grabbed a handful of his flaxen hair.

Lifting his head, she swiped his dagger across his throat and let him drop to the floor. She turned to the next man closest to her and came face-to-face with the barrel of his pistol.

Her family in Camlochlin raided her thoughts. She hoped they knew she loved them. She hoped Kyle lived
through this day… and Alex. Nae, damn it, she didn’t want to die. But… at least she died in an adventure. She also wouldn’t close her eyes. If death was coming to her, she wouldn’t be a coward about it.

Because her eyes were open, she saw Alex coming on the air like an angel of death, poised to kill with his rapier ready. If she had closed her eyes, she would have missed the single driven purpose in his course. He came at her from behind the gun-toting thug and swung, severing the man’s head cleanly from his shoulders. Now Trina did look away, unprepared for such brutality directly in front of her.

Landing both boots on deck, the captain released his rope and brought a swift end to the two men remaining before they had time to do anything. He saved her in seconds. Gustaaf was correct. She doubted anyone could ever beat Alex in a fight.

When it was over and the four men lay scattered around her, she shook from the violence of the day. He came near her, his hands reaching for her as if to take her in his arms. His eye caught the blond head of the man who struck her and he turned to the man’s fallen body instead. He muttered something that sounded like “Ya lily-livered scabby-arsed cockroach. Ya’re not fit fer Fiddlers Green.” He bent down and hoisted the dead man over his shoulder and then without another word walked to the rail and flung the body overboard. When he returned to her, she thought he might admonish her for disobeying him yet again, but he closed her in his arms and said softly against her ear while she shook, “We have their captain. The fight is over. Sam will do the rest now. Ya’re safe now. Ya’re safe. Come, let’s retire to me cabin.” He smiled and Trina nodded, then followed.

“Kyle.” She stopped and looked up at him. She needed to make sure her cousin was all right, and that he stayed that way.

The captain sighed but thankfully he indulged her and called out over his shoulder, “Kyle! Come with us.”

Trina turned to see her cousin approaching and smiled at him, proud to see him alive and looking so well after his first real battle. When he reached them, she looked him over for any injuries, then grinned at him. “Ye’re well.”

Kyle nodded and took her hand. “Never better. And ye? Were ye hurt?” After she shook her head and smiled at him, he turned to Alex. “Thank ye. I’m in yer debt fer saving her.”

The captain flicked a light smile to Trina and made her light-headed. “’Tis bad luck fer a woman to die on a ship.”

He couldn’t rile her. Not now. She liked to think that she was strong and well skilled, able to take care of herself. The MacGregors and the Grants did not raise cowards. And yet she couldn’t save herself from a steal ball to the head. He’d saved her and she wasn’t too proud to admit it, and to want to thank him for it. She didn’t care
why
he did it. Only that he did. She was in his debt.

She wasn’t pleased about it, but if not for him, she’d be dead.

They entered the cabin and sat around the captain’s table while he explained to them who the men were and what he intended to do with them. They were privateers, seamen who are authorized by the government to plunder enemy ships.

“What’s the difference between pirates and privateers?” Trina asked him.

“Privateers turn over their booty to the governments who license them, while pirates keep what they’ve taken.”

“Like mercenaries.”

“Aye.” He nodded and smiled at her. “I’m guessin’ the purpose of these men was to find me and follow me to me father’s treasure. The governors and investors in Boston and New York want the
Quedagh Merchant
. They hanged me father fer it.”

“But how do they already know ye have the map?” Kyle put to him. “We havena’ stopped anywhere. These privateers must have been following ye before Scotland.”

Alex nodded. “They don’t know about the map. They’ve been followin’ me fer seven years on and off, believin’ me father told me where the ship was before they killed him. But they’ve never tried a ruse like this before. If not fer ya,” he told Kyle, “we would likely be dead right now. How did ya know ’twas a trap?”

She liked that although he did most of the killing and then saved her life, he thanked Kyle for saving them.

“They were counting moments until they could fight,” Kyle told him. “I could see it in their eyes. I suspected something but when one of them lifted his hand to scratch his head, I spotted his pistol in his belt, an English flintlock. A man who carries a pistol usually uses it. Why hadn’t he?”

Alex shrugged.

“Because he was waiting fer his orders.”

The captain grinned at him and tossed his arm over the back of his chair. “Ya figured all that out just by lookin’ at them?”

“Not looking,” Kyle corrected. “Watching. And if ye dinna’ mind, I would like to be present while Mr. Pierce questions the prisoners.”

“We don’t usually take prisoners, MacGregor. Particularly not sneaky ones.”

“With respect, Captain”—her cousin’s tone proved his sentiment true—“prisoners should always be questioned.”

Alex nodded. “Go. Interrogate, but ya’ll find that here at sea, a man will sell his soul for a scrap of gold, nothing else.”

Kyle stood up and thanked him, then kissed the top of Trina’s head and left the cabin.

The quarters suddenly felt small and stifling with just her and the captain in it. Trina refused his offer of ale. She already felt muddleheaded. She didn’t need help getting there. She looked around to avoid looking at him. Her eyes settled on the bed. How long was their journey? How long would he keep away from his bed?

“Captain, ye must find a room fer me to sleep in that is safe and away from ye.”

“We’re alone.” He pointed out the torturously obvious. “Call me Alex and tell me why ya want to be away from me in particular.”

“Ye know perfectly well why, Captain. ’Tis only a matter of time before ye can no longer control yer hungry appetite.”

And I willingly succumb.

He raised his brows and smiled. “Me hungry appetite?”

“Aye,” she said. She refused to think about all the ways he could devour her. She would not allow the memory of his kiss to addle her good senses. She could have had plenty of men. Many had offered. She’d refused them all, seeking freedom to discover what she truly wanted in life and needing clarity of thought not to let anything stop her.

“And what will happen when I can no longer control meself?”

She sighed and rolled her eyes heavenward. She didn’t
want to play this game of coy blushes and feigned propriety. If they were going to sail the seas together, he needed to know that she wouldn’t lie to him or pretend to be someone she wasn’t. “Ye will have yer way with me. Force me to lie with ye and…” She paused and swallowed, sorry for opening her mouth when images, perverse and scintillating, overwhelmed her. Images of him pushing her down onto his bed, his hard, lithe body poised over hers…

“And?” he asked on a sorcerer’s whisper.

As if the sight of him sitting there spread out over his chair like a lazy prince wasn’t bad enough, visions of him fighting and flying toward her on a rope to rescue her invaded her thoughts and formed knots in her belly. And? he’d asked. And, she wanted to tell him, kiss every inch of his body.

She blinked at him. His smile deepened as if he were reading the thoughts that made her blush. She severed their gaze and rose to her feet. He followed.

“Caitrina.” The sound of her name on his lips drew her to look at him. “I’m havin’ fun with ya. I would never force meself on any woman, not even one as exquisite and entertainin’ as ya.”

Did he mock her? She couldn’t tell. Och, why the hell did Kyle leave? He would know.

“But,” he continued, his sable eyes growing even darker beneath his brows while wicked intentions passed through his thoughts, “ya’re correct about me hungry appetite, fer I’d love to sample yar delectable fruit and discover if ’tis as sweet as yar mouth.”

She should slap him. Shouldn’t she? She might if she could breathe. Tiny beads of sweat formed on her forehead, her temples, and her upper lip. No man had ever dared speak to her in such a manner, so wickedly, not with
her kin around. But they weren’t around now. And she didn’t want to slap him. She wanted to kiss him. Saints, what had come over her?

“But alas, we come from two different worlds,” he was saying. “Ya have nothing to fear from me, Caitrina. I prefer my women less… innocent.”

How did he manage to make her feel like he was denying what she ached for? Bastard. Why did she want to declare that she wasn’t as innocent as he thought? She should have slapped him. Of course she wasn’t innocent. She knew what men and women did in beds. She grew up hearing tales about sexual pursuits and satisfying victories from men who mastered the art of seduction. Her brother Malcolm and her cousin Adam never woke with the same woman twice. She knew plenty, but she didn’t have to prove it to Captain Kidd.

She offered him a cheeky smile. “That’s good to know. Now where can I sleep besides yer bed?”

He laughed, looking more intoxicating than a dozen ships all bound for lands unknown.

“I’ll speak to Sam and Mr. Bonnet about finding ya someplace private. Hungry?”

“What?”

“Are ya hungry, Miss Grant?”

For an instant she feared that he’d stripped her of her thoughts and read them. Then she remembered she hadn’t eaten. “Aye. I am.”

“Do ya think ’tis safe to share a meal with me?” he asked on his way to the door. “Or might me hungry appetite take control and ravish ya?” He turned away from her and to the door. Opening it, he called out to someone to have Robbie bring them food, then shut the door again and turned back to her.

“If it does,” she told him, following where they had left off, “let me assure ye, Captain, before ye’re done, ye’ll be dead.”

He grinned, wide and inviting, sincerely amused. “How would ya do it?” he asked, offering her back her seat at the table. “Do ya think I would succumb as quickly as the man ya killed on deck?”

She had the urge to fan herself but she didn’t want to let on that he had any effect on her. He was enjoying this as much as he believed she was. He was right.

“Quickly or not,” she promised, unyielding in her pride, refusing to lose to him, “ye would eventually lose to me.”

He leaned back in his chair and swung one leg over the arm. “I think ya would find me difficult to kill.”

She shrugged her shoulders and offered him a slight, indulgent smile. “Think what ye will.”