Linna : Historical Romance (The Brocade Collection, Book 5) (34 page)

Fear didn’t help him move
. He had to traverse the deck somehow, keeping the railing in his hands and using his shoulders as much as his legs. It had gone past dusk as he moved. Then it went to full nightfall. He blinked the sheen of moisture from his eyes and cursed that weakness as well.

T
hat’s when he knew for certain that he wasn’t invincible, he wasn’t soulless, and he wasn’t hard and hate-filled. He was worried, and alone, and helpless. And then he was blinded as Birdie jumped on the deck beside him in a flare of lantern light.

“There you are
! Master Fletch has been calling for you. Yep. He has. I’m to see you there! Come along then!”

The fellow moved out of light range,  then had to come back and slow his pace
. Cord wasn’t used to getting assistance, but he sure as hell appreciated it now. He was learning to count his blessings as Birdie gave him a shoulder to lean on so he could keep his legs moving.

Fletch had one foot on an upturned chair, his sword on the deck for balance, and looked exactly like a pirate captain that had just taken a ship was
supposed to look, and he wasn’t being very quiet with his words toward his son.

“You weren’t to see any action
! Good Lord, your mother will have my head. I should make you swab this deck for a year—no. Wait. I think I’ll make you repair it first. What’s the damage? Aside from the ship? How many dead? Wounded? One? Just one? Good work, lads. Excellent.”

“Linna?”  Cord croaked it as he moved into the light.

Fletch looked over toward him. “Well! There you are. What took you so long? Blight! Fetch the Marquis
de
Larroquette a seat, before he finds one on his ass.”

“You found Lin...na?” Cord asked, again.

“Just have a seat, son.”

“Is she...hurt?”

A bucket was brought for him and upturned. Cord sank onto it. His knees were trembling. He wondered if willpower was going to be enough to help him stand back up.

“Lord no
. She’s fine. Or will be shortly.”  He looked toward the forecastle, where the fancy cabins were,  then returned his gaze to Cord. Then he grinned. “Very shortly.”

“Mar...celle?” he asked.

“Your cousin can’t swim. He didn’t tell us.”

“And that means
—”

“Well, he picked a powerfully strange time to try and learn
. I tell you, I thought the man had more cunning than that. Jumping overboard like that just to escape a little bleeding.”

“Where is he?”

“Under the waves. Exactly where he placed himself. Didn’t even give me the pleasure of running my blade through him first. Tried to. But he dove off before I got the chance. And velvet isn’t buoyant. Sucks a man right down with the weight of his own fancy coat. He shouldn’t have picked tonight to learn swimming. Coward. To the end.”

“He’s dead?” Cord ask.

“I’d be betting for it. And it’s much better this way.”

“It is?” Cord asked.

“I didn’t kill him. You didn’t kill him. He’s still dead. Much better all around.”

“And Linna?”

Fletch looked toward the fo’c’s’le again, broke into a grin, and nodded. Then he looked at Cord again. “Looks like she’ll be up to visitors soon, lad. Real soon. We got other problems at the moment.”

“Like what
? You saying something’s more important than my wife?”  His teeth were paining him when he finished, but he didn’t care.

“I’m saying your wife had a little business to finish
. Business that doesn’t need men to it. And in the meanwhile, we got a problem. You see, I had paying passengers on this here ship of mine.”

“So?” Cord was getting angry
. It helped over-ride everything else. Again.

“Well...my paying passengers are huddled in the fancy parlor, thinking they’re doomed
. The poor folks think we’re real pirates.”  Rex grinned at the end of his words, and several of the men chuckled. “I was about to pick me an emissary to put their minds to rest. We only want one thing from this ship, and we’ll be gaining it momentarily.” 

“I’m finished with talk
! I want to see Linna!”  The force of words through his teeth hurt, and he had to force his thighs to make the move as he stood. Then he had to lock his knees to remain standing. Little dots were dancing about the edge of the light, too. That was odd.

Fletch ignored him
. “I think Drew makes a far better emissary than anyone else. Drew? Take Birdie and go visit the passengers. Let them know we’ve got what we want. They’ll be free of us within the hour. And son?”

Drew halted, swiveled his head
, and waited.

“Don’t go flirting with the ladies
. Too much, anyway. There’s not a beaut’ in the bunch...worth the effort.”

Drew grimaced and left.

“Can I see Linna now?” Cord asked from between clenched teeth. That had two benefits: made him sound angered and kept the pain to a minimum.

“We’re having a stretcher fashioned for her, lad
. It’s not all that difficult and won’t take much time. There’s ripped sailcloth all about. You really should sit down. You’re looking a bit peaked there.”

“A stretcher?”  His voice didn’t sound right
. And everything was starting to rotate slowly and unevenly in his vision. Cord blinked slowly twice, but everything still waved and wobbled before him. “Why can’t...she walk? Is she hurt?” 

“’Course not
. We just don’t want anything to happen to her...or that new-birthed son of yours,” Fletch answered.

Cord’s mouth opened
. Nothing came out. And then, for the first time in his life, Cord fainted.

EPILOGUE

His child hadn’t been born at the plantation and it hadn’t been a daughter
. Cord hadn’t got one bit of that wish, he’d gotten a lot more.

He stood at the balcony of the master bedroom of Plantation Larroquette, looking out over dusk-kissed fields, where flecks dusted the haze,
and knew what complete and total happiness felt like. The emotion seemed to originate at his heart and lance through his entire body until he couldn’t focus through the wash of moisture in his eyes.

His namesake, Cordean Rochelle
Larroquette, slept in his bassinet beside the master bed, exactly as his mother, the reigning marquise, wished it. Linna wasn’t letting the seven-month-old babe from her sight.

It was a good thing
.

The tot was so active now that he’d learned to crawl
, it was a constant battle keeping up with him and keeping him safe. Little Cordean didn’t want safety, he wanted everything he saw. And when he got it he put it in his mouth.

It took all their eyes to keep that one safe from himself: Cord’s mother and sisters; Linna’s brother, Drew; her parents, Rex and Elizabeth
. Linna hadn’t accepted Rex at first. No one had pushed it. And then one day it happened. She’d called him father, and it had been as natural as any other word.

Cord had to look away at the older man’s reaction as he’d fought back tears
. One thing was certain, Rex Fletcher was a changed man. They all were. He doted on his grandson, too, and he was always telling the tot tales of pirates, complete with rampaging, pillaging, and plundering.

Cord wasn’t going to stop him
. Rex looked too happy, and it kept little Cordean occupied. Linna was going to need the tot occupied. She was just starting to show the swell of where their new baby was growing. Cord’s hand unerringly went there, every moment it could. She didn’t stop it. She seemed to know how much he needed and loved it. Already.

Cord shuddered in a breath and wondered at such rampant emotion
. One thing was certain, he had a heart. It was bursting with pride, joy and contentment. There was nothing better. And then he felt her arms about him from behind, encircling his waist. He grinned.

“I love you,” she said.

“I love you more,” he returned, swiveling neatly in her arms.

“I love you most,” she countered, tipping her head to look up at him through her eyelashes
. She was putting her lips into the most kissable pout, too.

Cord’s eyebrows raised
, and he grinned. “Well...I’ll just have to try harder then,” he answered, and swooped her up into his arms.  

Copyright © 2014 by
Jackie Ivie

ISBN
978-1-939820-43-3

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