The Wedding Ransom (39 page)

Rafe put his boot down on top of the ruby that had caught Hill’s notice. “Boy, are you stupid. You aren’t marrying Maggie, Hill. You are leaving Hotel Bliss. For good. Before supper.”

Hill’s head came up slowly. “Leave Bliss? After everything I went through to get it? Leave my house? Leave my wife!”

“She’s not gonna be your damned wife!” Rafe gave the ruby a kick and sent it banging off Hill’s knee.

“Malone, watch your language around the lady,” Lucky warned.

“No!” Hill shoved to his feet. “I won’t give up my house. I made so many plans. Why, I’ve invited the creme de la creme of Texas society to attend the Hotel Bliss reopening. We are going to have a secret wedding like Lord Bellingham and Lady Millicent. It’ll be the talk of Texas for decades!”

Gus rolled his eyes at Lucky. “What the sardine is he sputtering about?”

Snake drew his cutlass and took a step forward. “Listen up, you rice rat. I’d like nothing more than to have an excuse to take off your head. It doesn’t even have to be a good excuse. But my sweet granddaughter doesn’t want you killed, so I’m going to try to avoid it. I suggest you admit legal defeat here and now, gather up your loot, and go. Otherwise, I might be persuaded to listen to what my own heart is telling me to do.” With a quick twist of his wrist, he used the tip of the cutlass to flick a sapphire toward the door. “Fetch, boy.”

“Your greed has been rewarded, Hill,” Lucky added. “So, sign our contract, take the jewels, and hightail it outta here. We have the law on our side this time.”

Hill scrambled to gather up each and every gem, leaving them in a small pile on the floor. Reaching for the last one, he paused. “Wait a minute. You do not have the law on your side.” He pointed toward the contract Ben continued to hold. “That calls for dollars, not diamonds. You haven’t met the terms. You can’t take away my Bliss.”

“For crying out loud!” Nick Callahan exclaimed. “He’s going to quibble over a petty point like that when you’re giving him twice the value? Go ahead and stick him, Snake.”

“Wait!” Panic swelled in Hill’s eyes. “You’re wearing a Texas Ranger’s badge. You’re a lawman. You can’t tell him to kill me. That’s a crime!”

“Well, so is being stupid!”

Lucky looked at Nick. “It is?”

“Well, if it’s not,” Maggie observed, “it should be. Barlow, didn’t you tell me when you first proposed marriage that you’d like to relocate to New York if you had the funds?” She pointed toward the gems. “There they are.”

“But Maggie, I like it here now,” Hill protested. “I want you for my wife. I want you in my bed.”

“Well, shuck an oyster,” Rafe muttered. “I’m done messing around.” He grabbed the pen from Lucky and shoved it into Hill’s right hand. He held out his hand to Ben for the contract, then laid it carefully on the floor. Turning to Hill, he said, “You know, Barlow, there’s jewels—” Rafe’s hand darted out and grabbed him by the scrotum. “—And then there’s jewels.”

Hill squealed as Rafe yanked him to his knees. “If you value either kind, I suggest you scratch your John Hancock across that page right this second. Otherwise, you’ll be regretting the loss of your…treasure…the rest of your life.”

Barlow Hill took the hint. Seconds later, Rafe folded the contract and handed it to Maggie as Hill made a beeline for the door to a chorus of comments from the pirates.

“Have a speedy trip, bark beetle.”

“Don’t show your face around here again, boll weevil.”

“Don’t be spreading any tales about us, buffalo bug.”

“Now might be a good time to relocate out of Texas, apple maggot.”

“Good-bye and good riddance, jigger flea.”

Rafe couldn’t hold back his laughter at the look on his brother’s face.

The pirates and their Maggie descended the front steps of the house, their conversation happy and filled with excitement. Noting his brother had lagged behind on the veranda, Nick paused and asked, “Rafe, you coming?”

Rafe pivoted and reentered the house. He took in the graceful arch of the staircase and the spaciousness of the rooms. He could almost hear the giggles of children sliding down the polished oak banister.

“Rafe?” Nick repeated, having followed him inside.

“In a minute,” he told his brother. A slow grin spread across his face and he added, “In fact, why don’t you wait here with me a minute. I have an idea for a job, and I could use an extra hand.”

“A job?” Nick asked.

“Yeah. A job.” Rafe laughed softly. “Gentleman Rafe Malone has to work tonight. I’m gonna make the most valuable heist of my illustrious career. You wanna help?”

~~~~~~~~~~

Maggie had a difficult time falling to sleep that night. The events of the day replayed themselves over and over in her mind and kept her heart pumping. Supper that evening had been nothing short of a celebration. Snake had outdone himself with the food, Gus and Lucky had broken out their fiddle and guitar, and she and Luella had danced until her feet hurt. The older woman had been beside herself with joy at her relatively pain-free movement and refreshed herself between dances by alternating sips of Bliss water and Papa Ben’s finest bourbon. The pirates, including her father, had reminisced at length about old victories and defeats, as had Rafe, his brother, and Luke Prescott.

Finally, when first Nick Callahan and then Luella and the papas declared themselves off to bed, Maggie had waited for an expected invitation to join Rafe for a celebration of a more private type.

But the invitation never came. He merely kissed her on the cheek—on the cheek—and sent her up to bed saying he’d see her in the morning.

She’d fumed about that a good hour. She and Rafe had matters to discuss, important matters such as where they went from here. She hoped somewhere. People didn’t declare their love for one another, then simply walk away.

In an effort to distract her mind from her maddening lover, she’d taken out her father’s letters and reread them. That took her thoughts in an entirely new direction. She and her father still had much to talk about, so many hurts to overcome. But they’d made a good start today. She could feel good about that.

She heard the clock in the entry hall chime midnight before she finally gave in to slumber. She was enjoying a deliciously sensual dream when the touch of something soft at her neck tugged her from sleep.

Maggie opened her eyes. Light from a bedside lamp illuminated the room in a soft yellow glow. A figure came into focus. Good Lord. Maggie blinked hard, then looked again.

There was a pirate in her bedroom holding a feather against her neck. Dressed in tight black breeches and a flowing white silk shirt, the young, handsome, irresistible pirate wore an earring clamped on one ear and a wicked gleam in his emerald eyes. Maggie stretched sensuously and said, “I do very much hope you are here to ravish me, sir.”

“Aye, wench,” he replied, his slow Texian drawl putting a unique twist to sailor’s speech. He drew the feather slowly across her sensitive skin. “I fully intend to shiver your timbers and swab your deck. But first, me beauty, I’ve a question to ask.”

“Hurry up about it, then. My timbers are anxious to shiver.” Maggie’s gaze locked on his mouth as he loomed above her. She tilted her head back to receive his kiss, but instead, his sweet seductive breath caressed her face.

“Tell me, Miss St. John, do you consider yourself an adventurous woman?” he asked.

“An adventurous woman? Oh, yes. Definitely yes.”

“Would you be interested in a…holiday of adventure?”

“Holiday of adventure? And just what would this holiday of adventure entail, Captain Pirate, sir?”

“Could be some fighting.”

“Fighting?”

“Maybe some fussing.”

“Fussing!”

“Definitely some fu—”

“Captain!”

“—Un. Fun, Miss St. John.”

“Fun. Well, yes, fun is good.”

“I’m glad you think so. And then, of course, what pirate adventure would be complete without lashes?”

“Lashes?”

“Hundreds of them.” He gave her neck a long, slow lick.

“Lashes,” she repeated on a sigh.

“So, Miss St. John, what’s your answer? Care to come adventuring with me?”

“When do we leave?”

“Immediately.”

“Don’t forget your feather, Captain.”

“Never.” Slipping his hands beneath her, he lifted her from the bed. But instead of lowering her to the floor, he slung her over his shoulder.

“Rafe!” Maggie protested in a whisper. “What are you doing? Put me down.”

He gave her a quick slap on the behind. “See, I told you there would be fussing. Now hush, me beauty. Let me pirate you away to paradise without alerting the watch.”

“Paradise? We’re leaving Bliss? Aren’t you going to let me get dressed.”

“Ah, Maggie my love, there is Bliss, but then there is bliss. That’s part of the adventure. And you wearing naught but your nightclothes is part of my bliss.”

“You are good for my vanity, Rafe Malone. Bad for my stomach, slung over your shoulder like this, but good for my feminine pride.”

“I’m glad. Now, quiet. This is the delicate part of the plan.” He carried her through the hotel and out the front door. Once out on the lawn, he repositioned her so that he carried her in his arms. Maggie liked that much better. With her arms looped around his neck, she was able to nibble at his earlobe.

At first, she didn’t pay attention to where he carried her. But once the walk had lasted a good fifteen minutes, she became curious, lifted her head, and looked around. “Hill’s house? You are taking me to Hill’s house?”

“This isn’t that idiot’s house. This is my pirate’s lair.”

“Oh,” she said, gazing up at the dark facade of the half-completed mansion. “It’s not much like the pirates’ lairs I’m familiar with.”

“I’m not like any pirate you’ve ever known before.” With that, he swept her inside the mansion and set her bare feet down upon the cool tile floor.

“You are a cocky man, Rafe Malone.”

He wiggled his eyebrows salaciously. “In more ways than one.”

Maggie laughed and threw her arms around him. “Oh, Rafe, I love you.”

And with those words, the atmosphere of gaming and playfulness altered. The air grew thick and heavy with anticipation. He leaned forward to kiss her, barely brushing her lips before he abruptly pulled away. “No. Not here. I wouldn’t be able to stop. Nick and I didn’t go to all this trouble for me to jump the gun and never get you there.”

“Nick? What does Nick have to do with it?”

Rafe grabbed her hand and pulled her toward the stairs. “He helped me with my plans.”

“He did?” She wasn’t certain how she liked that. Some things were meant to be kept private, after all.

He stopped to give her one short, fierce kiss, then led her to a room at the far end of the second-floor hallway. “Wait here. Let me light the lamps.” He disappeared into the room, shutting the door behind him.

Maggie couldn’t quit smiling as she hugged herself. Mrs. Rafe Malone. Maggie Malone. Mary Malone. “Yum,” she said softly. Being Mary Malone sounded downright delicious.

The door cracked open. “Shut your eyes, love.”

Smiling, she did as he requested and walked blindly into the room. She heard the door shut behind her, then the click of a lock being turned. “Now?” she asked.

“Yeah, now.”

Maggie opened her eyes to an explosion of color. What must have been thirty bouquets of wildflowers lay scattered across the room. Fabric from at least a dozen bolts of cloth hung draped across the walls and floor. Candles burned in containers of a variety of shapes and kind. He’d even propped one in a sand—filled shoe. A quilt lay spread across the floor beside a basket piled high with fruit and cheeses and bread. She spied a bottle of wine and a pair of the hotel’s best goblets. He’d obviously raided the hotel of every pillow he could find, because they lay spread across the floor all over the room. And the bed.
Oh, my, the bed
. Pink rose petals covered the entire surface of the mattress lying on the floor against one wall. Papa Ben would have a fit when he next caught sight of his garden. Maggie laughed delightedly. “Goodness, Rafe. This isn’t a pirate’s lair. It’s a pasha’s harem.”

“Pirate, pasha, what’s the difference.” He swept her into his arms and lifted her off the floor, twirling her slowly around and around. “Tell me again.”

“Tell you what?” she teased, knowing exactly what he wanted.

“Maggie,” he warned. He let her slide down his body until her feet touched the floor.

“I love you, Rafe Malone.”

He breathed a soft heartfelt sigh. Slowly, he drew back from her, gazed deep into her eyes, and gently traced a finger down her cheek. “As long as I can remember, I have been searching, and I’ve never been sure just what I was searching for. I thought it was love, so I looked for love. I thought it was family, so I looked for family. I looked for an occupation and a passion and a reason for existing. Nothing that I acquired or came into my life filled whatever was missing inside me. Then I met you. You are what’s missing in my life. You are my heart, the very air I breathe. You are my soul.”

He grasped her hands, lifted them to his mouth, and pressed a kiss against her knuckles. “You are my adventure, Maggie. I need no other. I desire no other. I love you. Will you stay with me? Will you be my wife?”

Emotion filled Maggie’s heart. Tears glistened in her eyes. “I love you, too, Rafe Malone. Yes, I’ll be your wife. Something tells me it will be the adventure of our lives.”

He stood beside the bed and held out his hand toward her. “Come, Mary, lie with me. Make love with me.”

She went to him with joy in her heart and peace in her soul. And amidst the petals strewn on the bed, they repeated their pledge to one another with words and body and the joining of their hearts. Tears filled Maggie’s eyes with the beauty of their loving, and when exhaustion finally claimed them, she fell asleep with a smile on her face.

The chatter of a mockingbird outside the window woke her the next morning. For just a moment, she didn’t remember where she was, but then the memories of the previous night came flooding back. She stretched like a cat and smiled, turning her head to offer Rafe a good-morning kiss.