My Seaswept Heart (27 page)

But before she could take a step his hand
clamped about her arm. “Now what are ye going to say needs doing?”
His brow arched questioningly.

“Well there’s...” Anne began but stopped when
he began shaking his head.

“There’s plenty to eat. We’ve water to drink.
A shelter’s been built.”

“Of sorts.”

“Now, Annie, let’s don’t start denigrating me
work.”

“It isn’t large enough... or sturdy enough.”
Anne glanced toward the roof on stilts because it was less
disconcerting than staring into his sea-colored eyes.

Jamie studied the structure a moment, then
shrugged. “Perhaps I could expand it a bit.” He tightened his hold
when she tried to slip away. “But not today.” With one scooping
motion he had a wriggling Anne in his arms.

“Put me down, you brute. No! What do you
think you’re doing?”

What he was doing was slowly walking into the
surf. “Now, Annie,” he said with a chuckle. “I don’t believe ye
want me putting ye down here.”

He was right. Instinctively, as the water
swirled higher and higher around his legs, Anne clung more tightly
to his broad shoulders. “Take me back. Oh, please take me
back.”

“Now, Annie.” Jamie slowed his pace when he
stood waist-deep in the calm sea. “It seems to me that ye have an
unnatural fear of the water.”

“What’s unnatural is swimming about like a
fish.” His laugh rumbled through his chest, vibrating into her body
where she was pressed against him.

“I can see why ye might think so, but Annie,
I assure ye it isn’t true. Especially since, at least for a while
we’ll be living on this wee bit of land surrounded by water. Now
try not to dig your fingernails quite so deeply into my arms.”

“But you’re trying to put me into the
water.”

“Aye, that I am.” Jamie grimaced when her
nails clawed deeper. “But ye can stand here with no trouble. And I
won’t let ye go till you’re ready.”

Since he was pulling her away from him,
forcing her feet into the water, it didn’t appear Anne had any
choice in the matter. Still, she persisted. “Do you swear?”

“Me word as a gentleman,” he said with a
grin.

The water crept up Anne’s body. “You’re no
gentleman.”

He seemed to take the insult good-naturedly,
simply lifting a shoulder. “My word as a pirate then.”

Hardly reassuring as pirates were notorious
for not keeping their word, but it seemed the best Anne could do.
Her feet were planted on the sandy bottom while warm water lapped
at her breasts. The sensation was not unpleasant. Especially when
the tall, powerful captain was close, his hands resting lightly on
her shoulders.

They stood that way for so long with him
grinning down at her that Anne wondered why she’d fought this so.
That is until he suggested she dip her face into the water.

Her hands cupped, Anne decided to do the next
best thing. Liquid dripped down her chin.

“Nay. Down under, like this.” His hands
skimmed lower on her arms as he squatted, plunging his head below
the crystalline-green surface. He reemerged wet and blinking. Just
hold your breath and sink.”

“I’d rather not.”

“Now, Annie...”

Anne jerked her arms free. “I want no more of
this foolishness,” she said, taking a step toward shore.

“All right, ye don’t have to stick your face
under,” Jamie conceded.

Anne hesitated. “We can just stand here?”

“For a bit.” Jamie folded his arms. “Until ye
feel comfortable.”

“I’m perfectly comfortable.” Anne started to
cross her arms. “No, stop. What are you doing?” Again Anne was
lifted off her feet, this time to be lowered until she lay on the
water’s surface. At least she would be lying if not for the arms
that clung to the captain.

“I’m going to teach ye to float.” Jamie
unfastened her grip around his neck only to have her latch onto his
arms. “Now ye have to trust me, Annie.”

“But I don’t,” she insisted. “Put me
down.”

“Now, lass, you’ve hurt me feelings.”

“What are you talking about? Oh!” Anne
clutched his elbows tighter as he shifted, dipping her lower into
the water.

“Saying ye don’t trust me. After all we’ve
been through.” He actually did look as if his feelings were hurt.
At least it seemed that way to Anne. “Who rowed day after day?”

“Following a dolphin.”

“True enough. But it got us here, didn’t
it?”

“Yes,” she finally admitted.

“Then to my way of thinking your trust is
something I’ve already earned.”

Anne took a deep breath, hoping it wouldn’t
be her last before plunging beneath the water. “What do you want me
to do?”

“That’s a good lass.”

He smiled at her and Anne felt her toes curl
under.

“Just relax.” Jamie waited while she loosened
her grip to lower her until she was nearly flat in the water, his
arms cradling her body. She may have eased off her hold, but she
was a long way from relaxing. Her arms and body were as stiff as a
board. And each time the water lapped her shoulders she
flinched.

Jamie had to admit to a bit of trouble
relaxing himself. The water turned her shirt nearly transparent.
Beneath the threadbare fabric, her breasts were rose-tipped, the
nipples erect. His own body’s reaction to holding her was
intense.

But he’d asked her to trust him. And though
her response fell short of complete confidence he didn’t wish to
shatter her faith in him.

So Jamie ignored his own desires and
concentrated on her. “Pretend you’re resting on the softest of
feather beds.”

Her eyes snapped to his. “There’s but one
difference between a mattress and the sea. I won’t sink into a
bed.”

“The sea will hold ye up if ye let it.” Jamie
suppressed a moan as his gaze traveled down her body. “Now let
yourself go limp.” He waited a moment before complaining. “Do ye
call that limp?”

“No, actually I call this entire exercise
ridiculous.” Anne struggled to get upright, but the captain
countered her efforts.

“I’ve an idea,” he said when she was again
spread out on top the water, his arms supporting her. “Look up at
the clouds and tell me what ye see.”

She did as he said, her brows beetled in
concentration. “Why, I see clouds,” she finally said.

“Aye, they’re clouds.” Jamie tried to keep
the frustration from his voice. “But what are they shaped
like?”

“Clouds.” Anne tried again to push her feet
to the bottom, but with little success. The pirate seemed
determined that she should lie atop the swells. He seemed equally
determined that she find some mysterious shape in the clouds.

“Annie, haven’t ye ever stared up at the sky
and imagined ye saw a dragon, or a whale?”

“Of course not.” Anne’s lips thinned. “If
there are clouds, I wonder when it will rain, and how it will
affect the sugarcane. I haven’t time to pretend I see fish swimming
toward the sun.”

Jamie shook his head. “Poor Annie.”

Anne flapped her arms, annoyed with his
assessment of her. Annoyed period. “This is foolishness.”

“Nay, Annie, that’s where you’ve the wrong of
it. ’Tis never a waste of time to see the beauty in things.” Jamie
let his gaze drift upward. “Now do ye see that cloud over to the
east?” He waited for her eyes to obey. “It looks to me as if a
trim-lined frigate is sailing across the heavens. Do ye see it,
Annie? Do ye see the sails, unfurled and catching the breeze?”

“I see a cloud.”

“Ah, but Annie, you’re only looking with your
eyes. Open your mind to see what is really there.”

“May I go back to shore if I do?”

Jamie let his breath out slowly. “Aye,” he
finally said. “Spend some time really looking and I’ll take ye back
to shore.”

Anne didn’t bother to ask for his word. Not
that she didn’t trust it. That wasn’t the case at all. Actually to
her surprise she did believe him.

She also wanted to see the ship. To see the
cloud as he saw it. Anne tilted her head, letting the warm water
flow around her ears. And she studied the cloud. Its shape. The way
it drifted like a giant cotton ball across the sky. But she didn’t
see sails, nor a hull, or anything else that remotely resembled a
frigate.

Anne was just about to tell him so when
something caught her eye. Her body relaxed as she looked more
closely. “It isn’t a ship,” she announced. “It’s a cow.”

“A cow?”

“Yes, yes, look.” Anne lifted her hand and
droplets of water showered off her arm. “There’s the head, and the
body.” She traced the shape with one wet finger. “There are even
legs and a tail. Don’t you see it?”

Jamie grinned broadly, though when she turned
her head to look at him, his expression was sober and his attention
riveted to the cloud in question. “Well now, lass, I do believe I
can make out the shape you’re describing.”

“Of course you can.” Anne stretched out more
comfortably in his arms. “And over there,” she said as the gentle
swells soothed her body. “That’s an angel. See her wings?”

“Aye, a beautiful angel,” Jamie agreed,
though he never lifted his eyes to the sky.

“Now over there’s a ship. It looks something
like the
Lost Cause
, don’t you think?” Anne shifted slightly
when the captain didn’t answer and was surprised to see him
standing nearly a rod away from her his arms folded across his
chest. Panic swept over her and she jerked and would have sunk if
the pirate hadn’t grabbed her. As it was water splashed over her
face and she swallowed enough to send her into a coughing
spasm.

“You said you’d hold onto me,” Anne said when
she could. “Are you trying to drown me?”

“Aye,” Jamie agreed, standing her on her
feet. “’Tis my goal for all of this. I drown ye in four feet of
water and then feast on your carcass. A steady diet of fish can be
so boring.”

Anne merely narrowed her eyes at his sarcasm.
“You let go of me and I sank.”

“You’d been floating on your own since ye
started describing the cow.”

“I...” Anne started to take issue with his
statement, but stopped. There was something about the way she’d
felt, free and unrestrained, that changed her mind. Instead she
tilted her head to the side, staring up at him, her eyes open wide.
“How did you do that?”

“’Twasn’t me. Ye did it yourself.” Jamie’s
brow lifted. “I told ye ’twas just a matter of relaxing.”

“Yes, I know what you said, but...” A smile
played with the corners of Anne’s mouth. “Show me how to do it
again.”

After a few tries Anne was able to simply
lower her head, let herself go and her feet drifted to the surface,
her toes peeking out into the sunlight.

She made such a delectable picture, with her
hair floating out around her face and the expression of contentment
on her sweet face that Jamie could barely stand the temptation.
Deciding he was better off staring at the clouds than frustrating
himself, he lay back. Soon they were both floating on their backs,
comparing different cloud formations.

“I don’t understand how you can think that’s
a lamb,” Anne said. “Where’s the head? And what about a tail?”

“He’s lost his head.”

“What?”

“Aye, that’s it. The poor lamb lost his head.
That’s why he’s racing across the sky, trying to find it.”

Anne giggled. “How did he lose it? A head is
attached.”

“Ah, but this one was removed by a wizard who
cast a savage spell on the poor mite of a lamb, turning him into a
headless beast.”

“You’re the beast to make up such gruesome
tales.” Anne laughed. But she listened avidly as he spun the tale,
thinking that she could almost distinguish the wizard and headless
lamb drift across the sky.

It was a hungry rumbling in her stomach that
finally made Anne push her feet to the bottom and stand, breaking
the spell. “My goodness, how long have we been floating about?”

Jamie twisted and dove beneath the water.
When he surfaced he glanced toward the sun. “Most of the morning, I
imagine.”

“That’s what I feared.” Anne began trudging
back toward shore. “We’ve wasted so much time.”

“We’ve plenty of it,” Jamie mumbled, not sure
she even heard him until she stopped and turned about.

“That’s true, isn’t it? We’ll never leave
this island so we have every day for the rest of our lives.”

“Now that’s not what I was meaning.” Jamie
lifted her chin with a wet thumb.

“But it’s true, isn’t it? I’ll never see my
uncle again, or anyone else for that matter.” He didn’t answer, but
then Anne didn’t expect one. She didn’t know what she wanted until
the space between them seemed to evaporate. Anne wasn’t sure how
she ended up in his embrace, his strong arms wrapped around her.
And she didn’t really care.

His strength was what she needed. What she
craved. When his mouth touched hers, she met it eagerly.

The cloud fantasy had offered some release
from reality, but this, this exquisite madness, was so much more
consuming. Anne snuggled closer, wrapping her arms about the strong
pillar of his neck. Water lapped around their thighs, a sensual
tease. And still the kiss deepened. His tongue mated with hers.
Hot, wet, tempting beyond reason.

She wanted him. Wanted the oblivion. And what
was stopping her? It wasn’t as if they’d ever leave this
island.

“Please.” Anne twisted her head, separating
their lips. At the same time she pushed at his shoulders. “Please
stop,” she managed, and out of obedience or surprise, his arms
dropped away from her body.

“This isn’t what I want,” she insisted, and
wondered if he knew how much she lied. But he didn’t say anything,
just stood there as Anne splashed to shore.

~ ~ ~

That evening dinner was quiet... and
uncomfortable. Anne had built the fire and gathered coconuts while
Jamie fished. When he returned she took the path to fill the shells
they’d found with water. They’d both stayed busy avoiding each
other as best they could on the small island. But now they sat with
the flames flickering between them and the soft tropical night
closing in.