Linna : Historical Romance (The Brocade Collection, Book 5) (19 page)

“I always take gold when I earn it. Say something else.”

She stiffened before he’d finished, the ache of her legs dulled by a newer pain that approached agony
. It burned in the area where her heart was supposed to be, and it was translating instantly to the area behind her eyes, gaining momentum at the same time.

Linna was afraid to look anywhere but at his face
. She was afraid of him and of herself. Tears filled and over-flowed her eyes. She ignored them.

It was better to be heartless
. Much better. She should have known.

“You took gold...to bed me,” she managed to whisper.

He swore and shoved from her, gathering the blanket about himself as he did. Linna was grateful for that. He was a lying, cheating wretch, with the face of an angel and the body of a Greek god. It was better if the physique was covered, but not much.

“Is that all you have...to say?” she asked.

“I’ll have plenty, when I know what you’re asking.”

Linna
pulled the chemise back into place and moved to a sitting position to face him. She hadn’t even felt her shoulder straps move, yet here they were, dangling from her elbows, making her look as wanton and eager as she’d felt. The man was good with his hands, she had to admit.  

“You know what I’m asking
. I want to know about the gold. I want to why Rex Fletcher paid you. Now. Right now,” she began, gaining momentum to her voice so that each word came out louder and higher-pitched.

“
Well. I took the gold to bed you. I would have done it for free though.”

“What?”  She screeched the word
. She couldn’t help it.

“This is an odd reaction
. You don’t have any reason for it either. You were the one that started it that night. You proposed to me. Remember?”

“I have every reason
! Rex Fletcher is a—a rake! A seducer of women! A scoundrel! He paid you to ravish me...and then he paid you to discard me!”

“A seducer of women
? Fletch? No way. Women don’t even look at him.”

“Why?”

“Because he’s old and mean.”

“Not that
! Why did you do it?”

“Oh
. Because I needed gold. And I wanted you.”

“Then why did you come back...and finish it
? Why? I didn’t deserve marriage to someone like you – and that wasn’t in the bargain…so why?”  She’d been mistaken earlier. She didn’t feel anything like love for him. She didn’t. She couldn’t.

His upper lip lifted
. “I was wondering when we’d get to this part.”

“What part?”

“Didn’t you read that far, sweetness?”

The loving word didn’t have anything sweet about it
. Linna was breathing hard and loud. “Read what?” she asked finally.

“
It’s in my papers. You did read my papers, didn’t you?”

“Papers?”

“The ones you scattered about my cabin. The ones that sent you running off to find the captain. The posters. The bank draft from Fletch. The marriage license. The papers with the embossed name running through them, assigning me without reason. The official-looking papers you found in my jacket when you went snooping around.”

“Papers?” 
Her voice was missing this time. So was her breathing.

“Aren’t you really asking what the official-looking ones mean?”

“I—” 

The room was getting darker
. Linna watched the corners blacken like they had when the storm had gathered, only it was much more rapid and confusing.

“They’re arrest orders
, love. They come from being on a pirate ship.”

“P-p-pirate?” she stammered
.

“
That’s what I said. That’s where I meant. I’m wanted for piracy. Just as Fletcher is and Simons, and a host of others you’ll never meet. All of us, love. All.”

“Piracy?” she whispered it.

“Piracy,” he said agreeably.

Linna knew then what shock felt like
. It felt like the deck of their room as she fell face first into it.

CHAPTER TWENTY

“That’s going to leave one hell of a shiner.”

Linna stiffened against the chest she was being held to, instinctively knowing she should struggle.

“Stop that and be a good girl
. And here I’m the one supposed to be ill and weak. Can you sit up and sip this?”

Linna opened her eyes
. The light hurt. She swallowed.

“You’re awake now
. Good. I’d hate to have to ask Simons for another bloody thing.”

“Put...some clothes on,” Linna whispered and shut her eyes again
. If he had to run around naked, she shouldn’t have to see it. She opened them again to his grin.

“You must be over the shock to think that way.” 

He ignored her request and simply burrowed beneath the quilt to her side. Linna regarded him for a moment.

“Shock?”

“You always faint on your face? It’s amazing you didn’t break your nose.”

“I don’t faint.”

“Right. You don’t desire me either. Care to try for another?”

He was on his side, facing her, his head resting on his crooked arm, and his other hand busily tracing along her arm
.

“I’ve never fainted before.”

“Better.”

He grinned wider
. Linna decided he had to have the whitest, straightest smile she’d ever seen. She turned her head aside.

“Take my advice
. Don’t nose-dive onto your face next time. It’s made your nose puff up and your eye is a sight. Trust me.”

He said the last as she began to sit up, intent on the sliver of glass above his wash stand that went for a mirror.

“It’ll go down. Probably by tonight. I’ve seen worse. Given worse, too.”

“You’ve given puffy noses and black eyes?”

“Only when it was required,” he answered.

Linna frowned, then she remembered
. He’d been on a pirate ship. He wasn’t a pirate or a murderer though. He just couldn’t be.

“What were you doing there?
” she asked.

“Where?”

  “On the ship?”

“
Oh. Working.”  

If he’d cease drawing never-ending circles on her arm and to her shoulder, she could think
. As it was, her mind was concentrating where it shouldn’t be.
Working
? She repeated to herself and felt the relief at the word.
Working. He’d been working. He hadn’t been killing anyone.

“Breakfast
! Is he awake yet?”

The voice was followed by Simons’ face as he pulled the door open enough to look in
. Linna watched him take in the scene at a glance, then his face fell.

“Awake and starved
. You better have brought enough for six.”

Cord sat as if he’d never been ill a day in his life
. Linna rolled onto her front into the indentation he’d made. It was more to shield herself, since the chemise had slid down to the tips of her breasts. Cord’s ability to undress her without her awareness was truly amazing.

“Looks good
.
Merci
. Now go. Get more.” 

She looked over her shoulder and met the look Simons gave her
. She was tempted to return it, but changed her mind.

“Come along, Linna
. Join me. He’s brought toast, eggs, bacon. Lovely. How long was I ill? Feels like I haven’t eaten for a month.”

Linna watched him stuff everything from the tray into his mouth before answering
. “What would I eat if I join you,
mon cher
?”

“
Mon cher
? I think I could grow used to that. I could. He’ll be back with more.”

“How do you know?”

“He doesn’t like to anger me.”

Linna drew a finger along the stitching of the quilt behind him
. She directed her question to it, rather than to him. “What’s he to you anyway?”

“Who
? Simons? He’s an incredibly gifted man, capable of finding anything, and I do mean anything. I don’t ask how he gets it either.”

“And...that means what?”

“He’s useful. When he quits being useful, he’s out. He knows that.”

“Out of what?” she continued asking.

He shrugged. Linna watched the motion of his back, and couldn’t repress her sigh. She reached out and traced a jagged scar just below his ribcage, amazed to feel the tingle clear to her wrist at the contact.

“What’s this from?”

“Knife,” he answered.

“Knife?” she echoed with more inflection than he’d given it
. She lifted her fingers. “Someone put a knife into you?’

“Yes.”

“From behind?”

“If they’d come from the front, I’d have given worse
. I don’t have any scars there. See?”

He swiveled, catching her unaware and giving her a very good look at the flesh she’d bathed, climbed atop, and sighed over
. It was still exactly as masculine and easily as stirring. A light stripe of hair sprouted from below his belt line and ran up him before disappearing somewhere at the center of his chest. Linna put a finger to it and traced it down, stopping when she reached his belly button. His groan was audible and she smiled.

“Vixen,” he said.

“I have the right to touch, remember? In fact, I think you asked me to. Maybe it was more along the line of begging.”

“You sure you still want to?”

Linna kept her fingers on him as she lifted her eyes to his. She’d been afraid of this, and here it was. She hadn’t a prayer of halting what she felt when the gray-green of his gaze darkened to a smoky brown. She’d been naive. She’d been unawakened. She’d been tormented with all sorts of emotions, but the real one.

It really was love
. It had to be. It shocked, frightened, and mortified her. It was still the truth. And it was horrible. She swallowed. “Why...wouldn’t I?” she asked, sliding her fingers around his waist, and feeling the thick ropes of muscle twitch beneath her touch.

“I was on a pirate ship
. I’m a wanted man.”

Linna slid onto her haunches, bending to fit her knees into the archway he’d made with his arm beneath his head
. She liked being above him and looking along the length of him. It was a heady feeling. She also liked knowing he wouldn’t touch her, no matter how much he wanted to.

That was even headier.

“I’m not surprised you’re wanted,” she told him, running her hand up his side, and watched as shivers flew from her fingers to tighten his nipples. “I hear you’re very good with the rigging.”

“Rigging...and anything else I’ve a mind to try
. You’re pushing this, lady.”

“So?”  Linna slid her head sideways, feeling the swish of her hair as it moved to curtain them, as well as the movement of her strap as it slid down her arm
. She watched him look at it. Then up again at her.

“You’re not angry?” he asked.

The little crease was in his brow again and Linna moved her fingers to follow it. “How old are you, Cord?”

“In years or experience?”

“Both.”

“About seventy-two.”

Linna traced down to his nose, sliding her fingernail along the skin. There wasn’t one wrinkle to mar the perfection of him. “Seventy-two,” she echoed.

The door swung open and both looked that direction.

“Here’s another breakfast for six. Eat up.”  Simons’ voice was clipped and angry as he set a tray down and picked up the other one. “Feeling better?”

“I’ll survive.”  Cord stretched as he said it
. Linna had the best vantage point as she watched every inch of him harden  then relax. She didn’t have to see Simons’ reaction. She heard it in his words.

“Lucky us
. The mast-thing didn’t fare well in the storm. We’ve lost valuable time. They could use your help with the sails and such, I’m sure. There’s few as handy with the rigging.”

“Perhaps you should take it up in my absence
. They might not even notice the difference.”

Simons stood
. “I’ll keep with my cooking.”

“Lucky...as I just said,” Cord parodied
. “Shut the door on your way out.”

“Want me to bolt it, too?” Simons asked snidely.

“No. We’ll secure it from this side. Won’t we, Linna love?”  He turned back to her as he said it. Linna watched Simons’ expression freeze in place as he watched. The man looked positively evil.

She ignored Cord and kept her gaze on Simons until he
left, shutting the door behind him.     

“You did that on purpose,” she accused
Cord.

“Did what?”  He sat to do the food justice and patted the bedding beside him
.

“Enticed him.”  She stood instead and went to the door
. She slipped the hemp strap over the knob. It wouldn’t be as effective as a bolt on the other side though.

“What is this room, Cord?”

He shrugged and shoved another bite of eggs into his mouth. She waited while he finished and swallowed before answering. “My berth.”  He shoved another bite in. At the rate he was eating, he was going to have it all inhaled before she joined him, but Linna wasn’t thinking of that. There was something about being in a room that could be bolted from the outside that was bothersome. It should have occurred to her before.

“Why does it bolt on the outside then?”

He scrunched one side of his face as he thought that over. Then he shrugged again. “Don’t know. Don’t care. Come. Your eggs are getting cold.”

“They can lock us in, and we couldn’t get out.”

Cord choked on his food. Linna almost went to his aid before he slammed a fist to his chest to gasp for breath. Then she knew why. He was laughing. He was laughing at her. The sound brought a smile to her own lips before she stilled it.

She put her hands on her hips and faced him.

“What’s so amusing?” she asked, when he finished and wiped at his eyes with the quilt.

“You,” he replied.

“Me?”

“
Bebe
, those men haven’t a prayer of keeping me in. That door is only so much kindling if they try.”

The endearment he’d used was undoing her and tying her stomach in knots
. She looked at him puzzled.

“I’d go right through it
. Easily. I have a certain reputation, love. It was earned.” 

He shoved an entire piece of toast into his mouth, although he had to fold it in fourths to do so
. The breakfast for six was rapidly disappearing in front of her eyes. Linna shook her head at it. She’d ordered the meals for the slaves at home and knew there wasn’t one who could keep up with Cord. It was going to be extremely expensive to feed him and manage his household.

If he had one.

“A reputation for what?”

He patted the bedding beside him
again. “Eat something first. You’re carrying my son, remember? He needs fed, too.”

“I’m not carrying your son
. I’m carrying my daughter.”

He stopped chewing and stared at her as if the idea hadn’t even occurred to him
. Then he smiled, making her knees weak and her heart skip without the slightest bit of effort. His words added to it. “Fair enough. Feed our daughter then.”

She went to her knees
. “I hope you’re a good provider because at the rate you eat, we’re going to need a large food storage.”

“Don’t have to be
. Simons does all the procuring and such for me.”

Linna nearly spit out the egg in her mouth at the thought
. Simons lives with us? She wasn’t going to allow it! Not the way he fawned over Cord and detested her every breath. She wouldn’t be able to relax a moment.

“Calm down,
cherie
. He’s not worth it.”

“What?”

“You’re shaking.”

“I won’t have that
—that...
man
near me. Don’t you see how he is?” 

“Of course I know how he is
. Everyone does. It doesn’t bother me. It shouldn’t bother you. The man’s harmless.”

“No he isn’t, Cord
. He’s anything but. He...he’s obsessed with you.”

“So?”

He stopped chewing long enough to ask it. Linna’s eyes widened.

“So?” she repeated.

“So...he wants me. He can’t have me. So what?”

Linna pulled her knees to her chin and munched on the corner of a piece of toast
. She’d already watched Cord ingest an entire loaf, unless she missed her guess. He’d put away about two dozen eggs, too, and was still shoveling in more. It was astounding.