Within a Captain's Hold (28 page)

A high-pitched shriek filled the opening of the cave. Wolfsan turned his head toward the inhuman sound just before a blast of gunfire shattered the air. The thunderous report was deafening in the small space. Wolfsan’s body spun with the force of the shot that tore through his back. His knife skidded across the floor.

With the blast still ringing in his ears, Jaxon pulled the ropes from his feet and ripped the gag from his mouth. He was at Anna’s side before the smoke cleared. Using Wolfsan’s knife, he cut her free and caught her when she collapsed into his arms. Jaxon ripped the shirt from his back and wrapped it around a stunned Annalise. He covered her with his body, shielding her.

Wolfsan clutched his shoulder. The bullet passed straight through. Blood poured from the wound. Jaxon peered through the smoke. Was it one of his men? No. It was a woman. The smoke from the gun swirled about her. She was filthy and dripping wet. It looked like she’d dragged herself from the bottom of the sea.

Wolfsan screamed at her. “Who are you?” His eyes went wide. “No. It can’t be.” He shook his head wildly. “You’re dead. Sheffield killed you. I ordered him to kill you.
You’re dead.”
Wolfsan fell to his knees. Crimson pulsed between his fingers.

The woman dropped the smoldering pistol and pulled Jaxon’s cutlass from its scabbard. Her face filled with rage as she rushed toward Wolfsan with the sword held high over her head.

She swung the blade down with a strength Jaxon didn’t expect from a woman, burying it between Wolfsan’s neck and shoulder. The force nearly separated the duke’s head from his shoulders. His blood-soaked body dropped to the ground. A horrified look of surprise locked on his face and reflected in the darkened glass of a small broken mirror.

All at once, the cave filled and chaos ensued as Jaxon’s men piled in, pistols and swords drawn and leveled. Quinn and Robbins led the charge. But it was over. They’d arrived too late.

“Alice?” Annalise gripped Jaxon’s arm as she struggled to stand.

“You’re Alice?” He took in the woman who just ended Wolfsan’s miserable life. She was tall and dark with wide green eyes. Dirt marred her features and a swath of Wolfsan’s blood sprayed her from shoulder to hip like some gruesome sash.

The two women came together and sobbed in each other’s arms. “You’re alive. You’re alive.” Annalise clutched at her.

“Thank God, so are you.”

Jaxon tried to make sense of what was happening. This was Annalise’s maid, Alice Tupper? She didn’t shoot like any maid he’d ever met. But he was grateful, none the less. She’d killed the rabid wolf.

Quinn striped off his cloak and handed it to Jaxon. He wrapped it around Annalise. Robbins and the rest of the men were examining the corpse. “Nice job, Capt’n.” “Bloke’s nearly lost his head.” “That’s what he gets fer offin’ Cookie.” “Never seen me a duke up close before.” “Should we be curtsyin’ to his lordship?” “I’d like to be pissin’ on his sorry arse.”

Quinn approved. “Well done.”

Jaxon shook his head. “It was my pistol and cutlass, but this woman did the deed.”

Alice looked at the crew warily.

They all spoke at once. “A lass did this?” “Nicely done.” “Should give Robbins, here, lessons in swingin’ a cutlass.” “Yer first kill?” “Ye should be a pirate.” “A lady pirate? Ye’re daft.” “A lady who does killin’ like that ken be anythin’ she damn well wants te be.”

Jaxon stroked Annalise’s back. His ribs burned and the skin had been ripped from his wrists, but it was nothing compared to losing her to that raving madman. He owed this woman his life. “Alice, I’m forever in your debt.”

Alice glanced over at the body of Duke Wolfsan and shook her head. “You were free. I saw your hand spring loose. You would have stopped him. I just reached the pistol first.” She took in the blood on her front. “I should have acted sooner, but,” she touched Anna’s face, “when he hit you, my hands started to shake. Tears blinded me for a moment.” She stared back at the body. “The pistol just exploded in my hands. I almost dropped it. Then the smoke. Everything seemed to move so slowly. But he wasn’t dead. I--” Alice covered her mouth and looked back at them. “He had to die.”

Jaxon reached out and held tight to her arm. The reality of the kill seemed to be just hitting her. “Yes, he did.”

She stared at him. “Yes. I did what I had to do.”

Was she trying to convince him? He didn’t need any justification. The sick bastard got what he deserved. Died a bit too quick for Jaxon’s liking, but he wasn’t going to let this woman feel any remorse over her actions.

“You’ve saved my wife, and I--”

“Wife?” She shot Annalise a look.

Anna nodded. “There’s much I need to tell you.” She clutched at Alice’s sleeve. “I can’t believe you’re here. I thought you were dead. He left the locket caked with blood. I was sure I’d lost you, too. But, my God, here you are.” A sob caught in her throat. “Here you are.”

Anna trembled. From cold? From shock? It didn’t matter. He needed to get her out of there and back to the manor. “Mr. Quinn, I think we should get the women away from here.”

“Aye, Captain, the cart waits below, and the mule is still tethered, wet and ornery, to a tree as is your horse. I’ll send the men ahead to hitch the mule, and I’d be happy to see the lady down safely.”

“Thank you, Mr. Quinn.”

“Yes,” Annalise repeated, pulling his cloak tight around her. “Thank you, Mr. Quinn.”

“What we be doin’ with the good duke, here?” Robbins pushed at the body with his toe.

Jaxon moved both women toward the cave’s opening. “See he gives me back my cutlass, and then I say we leave him to the gulls.”

“Fer what he did to Cookie, maybe we should serve him up on a bloody platter as chum,” piped one man. “Bring ’is lordship back te London by draggin’ his carcass behind the ship.” “We could use his head to decorate the beach.” “Run ‘is innards up the mizzen.”

* * * *

The rain stopped but heavy clouds still blocked the sun.

Annalise held tight to Jaxon’s arm as they made their way back down the path. “I’m sorry about Cookie. I don’t know what happened. I woke up to Wolfsan holding a pistol on me.”

“The bastard made sure I knew he’d killed him. Just like he made sure you knew about your uncle and how he tried to tell us about Alice.”

The image of Cookie’s peg in that box would stay with him forever. “He was a good man and a fine crewmate.”

“He was more than that,” Anna said gently.

“Aye, he was. He died serving me.”

“He’d have walked into hell for you. He loved you as if you were his own son.” She wiped at tears. “We have to tell Sarah.”

“Aye. I want to be the one to bring her the news.”

“I’ll come with you. She’ll be devastated.” She looked backup the path “And Alice. I must find out how all this happened?”

“We’ll get the whole story in time, but you’ve just been dragged through hell, Annalise. You’re still shaking.”

“I’m shaking because I almost lost you…like Sarah lost her Samuel.”

* * * *

When they arrived at Sarah’s hut, she waited out front. She shook her head at them. “Ye no need to say. Sam-u-el already come te tell me.”

Anna hugged her. “Sarah, I’m so sorry. Is there anything we can do?”

Sarah laid hands on Annalise’s cheeks, smoothing over the shadowed bruises on her face and neck. “De devil try to put out de flame, but ye was too strong.”

Annalise kissed Sarah’s hands and began to cry.

“Don’t cha be cryin’ none, sweetin’. Sam-u-el says no crying.”

Sarah turned her warm dark eyes to Alice. “It was you. Ye be the one te stop de devil. Sam-u-el thanks ye fer that.”

Alice looked at Jaxon in question.

“Sarah is a mystic,” he explained. “Cookie used to talk about it. I don’t know if he ever believed it.”

Sarah laughed. “He be believin’ it now. He’s got himself two strong legs to run wit. But only one boot.” She smiled, wiping Annalise’s tears. “Don’t ye cry.” She turned to Jaxon. “You come wit me. I be needin’ te bind those ribs of yers. Ye got two that be broken.”

Annalise looked at him in surprise. He shook his head at Sarah. “I should know better than to hide anything from you.”

Sarah attended to his broken ribs. She striped off his shirt and passed her hands over his side. “Two, almost be three.”

“Leave it to you to see clear through me.”

Annalise spoke to her. “Maybe you should stay with us for a few days.”

“Don’t be worrin’ none.” She finished binding Jaxon’ ribs. She spread a pungent salve on the torn flesh of his wrists and bound those as well. “Ye both need to go and rest yer wounds.”

“As Cookie’s wife, you’ll want for nothing. He died in service. We take care of our own. Whatever you need.”

“I don’t need nothin’. Got everything I can want.”

“But if you ever do.”

“Nay.” She patted his cheek with her plump hand. “Go. Take yer wife te bed and hold her. Ye ‘bout lost her, ye know.”

Sarah moved to Alice and placed a hand on her shoulder. “Have no salve for you. What burns in ye lies too deep.” She moved her hand and placed it over Alice’s heart. “Sam-u-el says ye put up one hell of a good fight, woman. Ye need te keep de fight in ye. Ye be needin’ it still.”

Turning, she embraced Annalise again. “Ye come an’ see me before ye leave.”

“Of course, I’ll come, but…”

“Good. Go.” Sarah fussed and scooted them, like errant chicks to their horse and carriage, then waved good-bye before disappearing inside.

“Did we comfort her, or was it the other way around?” Annalise peered back at Sarah’s mystical hut as they rode off.

The manor was quiet with its household shocked into a stunned silence. Annalise stood on the balcony overlooking the garden. The night air held a decided chill.

Jaxon left shortly after they returned. Things remained strained between them. Wolfsan’s abduction and Cookie’s death lay heavy on everyone. None more than he. Was it weak of her to want to curl into the strength of his arms and have him hold her until her fears were gone? Was it foolish to want to hear him tell her he loved her? That their angry words to one another were forgiven and forgotten?

At times, she thought she saw him look at her with caring and compassion, but his mood since they returned from Sarah’s remained shuttered. The night’s breeze only brought silence as she waited for him to return.

Another silence plagued her. Alice had barely spoken since the horrific scene at the cave. Annalise had been sensitive to her friend’s shock, but it wasn’t right for her to deal with it alone. There were too many questions still unanswered.

After padding down the stairs on bare feet, Annalise gave a light knock upon Alice’s door before peeking in. Moonlight shined bright through the open windows across an empty bed. The food tray she’d left on the nightstand earlier remained untouched. A gentle wind from the open patio doors crept through her thin sleeping gown and made her shiver. “Alice?”

Alice sat on the stone steps of the patio staring out into the gardens, wearing only her borrowed nightgown. Her hair was loose and hung straight and shining down her back. Anna sat beside her and wrapped a soft blanket around them.

“I had a moment just now standing in your rooms when I was sure this had been a dream. That you weren’t truly here, and I continued to be trapped in this bizarre nightmare.”

“I’m here.” Alice laced her fingers though Anna’s.

“I’m still in shock. Am I truly sitting holding your hand whispering in the dark like we were children again.”

“We aren’t children anymore.”

“No. We aren’t. Can you tell me what happened?”

Alice shook her head and swept the night air with her hand as if wiping an image away. “What’s done is done.”

“Please, I must know what happened after I left. We were foolish to think our simple plan would ever work. Things went wrong for me from the start. I’d been sick with worry about you, too, and then the locket…” Anna covered her mouth with her fingertips. She would never forget the horror of that moment as long as she lived.

Alice tucked the blanket tighter. “It could have been the end for both of us. We were saved beyond any hope or reason. There’s a true miracle in all of it. I’ve been sitting here trying to remind myself of just that.”

“Tell me what happened.”

“After you left London, I stayed near the docks, waiting on a ship to take me to Port St. Maria, just as we planned. I was worried about you, as well, and nervous wearing your gown. Trying to pass as gentry. Getting used to wearing your fussy gloves. Then I met Liam walking along the docks. You remember Liam?”

“The Harbor Master’s lad.”

“Yes. He didn’t recognize me at first, but he believed the lies we’d spread to lead Wolfsan on a merry chase. He told me how fortunate you’d gone north instead of boarding the
Scarlet Night
. That the
Scarlet Night
was sailing into the very gates of pirate hell, Port Royal. I couldn’t breathe, Anna. He spoke of all the unspeakable horrors he’d heard of from this lawless, brutal place. And you were heading straight into dangers greater than a thousand Wolfsans. I was sick with the thought of you at the mercy of those vicious barbarians. I was on my way to seek transport when Wolfsan’s men found me.”

“Oh, Alice.”

“We were both done for. You at the hands of fierce pirates, and me at the hands of evil himself. I refused to tell him where you’d gone. He must have learned from someone else, because the next thing I can recall, was bargaining for my life with his hired man, Sheffield.”

“The very thing we feared most. How did you ever get away?”

“Seems Sheffield could clean up after Wolfsan’s wickedness, but he couldn’t do the deed himself. It took me hours to convince him if Wolfsan came back and found me alive I wouldn’t be the only one to feel his wrath.”

Annalise wiped at her tears.

“I wonder if he’ll be relieved to hear Wolfsan’s wickedness is over?” Alice straightened her shoulders and looked out into the garden. “If only I could have reached Port Royal before him.” The breeze lifted her hair. She drew a shaky breath before letting out a pained sigh. “Dear Lord, I killed a man. And not just any man--a blasted duke.” She dropped her face into her hands and struggled for control. A muffled sob escaped her. Alice looked back at Annalise, her eyes awash with tears. “I’m a murderer.”