Her Wicked Proposal: The League of Rogues, Book 3 (27 page)

Her captor’s lips twitched, amused. “And what sort is that?”

“A man who no doubt has already freed himself from your prison and is taking out the ship’s crew one by one.” She struggled to stand, still holding her dress together as she faced him boldly.

“Your blind husband? Stumbling around the ship, pawing at the doors because he can’t find the handle? That does not frighten me.” Samir started toward her, one hand raised. She struck a defiant pose only an English lady could muster.

“It should frighten you to the bone, because my husband is never alone. At this moment there are five others coming. And they have ships and men of their own. They will do anything to save us. Track us across the world if they must. You can run home and hide in the deepest hole you can find, but you will
not
escape the League.” She was surprised at the bravado she’d managed to show, even knowing it wasn’t true. They had stood a chance while still in England, but at sea there was no hope of rescue.

Samir threw his head back and laughed. “Oh, you do amuse me, Lady Sheridan. You jest, of course. They won’t find you, and by the time I’m through with you and that filth you call a husband, you will be begging me for a death that I shall not grant.” He raised his hand for another blow.

So this is to be my end. Defending Cedric’s honor and the League.
There were worse things in life than dying to protect those she loved, she supposed.

Samir was stopped short by a shout from outside.

“Ship off the port bow!” The cry was echoed a few more times, each shout coming closer to the cabin where Anne and Samir stood. A scruffy crewman burst in through the cabin door, sliding to a halt.

“What is happening outside?”

The sailor squinted and apologized. “A ship, sir. Captain says it’s bearing down on us and you are to stay in the cabin in case we come under fire.”

A ship? Anne was too afraid to hope. It wasn’t possible that Ashton had been able to catch up with them, let alone find them. Samir grabbed her and thrust her into the sailor’s hands.

“Tie her to the bed,” Samir ordered before he stormed from the room.

The man turned Anne around, meaning to force her down onto the bed as ordered, but Anne dropped her ripped gown to the floor and lifted her petticoats high enough to knee the man in the bollocks.

The man crumpled to the floor with a piteous moan.

Anne gave him a second blow while he was down, then leapt over his prone form and into the narrow passageway of the ship. Sailors were scrambling to man positions, others shouted out orders about prepping the cannons. No one paid her any attention as she dodged the chaos on the deck. In the distance a ship was quickly gaining and would soon be upon them.

Was it someone who would help them? How could she find Cedric and escape?

Cedric, where are you?
Fear sliced through her as she dashed back toward the lower decks. She had to find him.

Chapter Twenty-Four

Cedric leaned against a large wooden barrel bound by copper hoops. His nose picked up the fine acrid aroma of black powder—sulfur, saltpeter and finely ground charcoal. A deadly combination when stuffed into a ship’s cannon.

“Jonathan, I have an idea.”

“What?”

“This barrel is full of black powder.” Cedric rapped his knuckles on the wood.

“Is this plan of yours going to get us killed?”

Cedric hesitated before answering. “There’s always a chance.”

Jonathan snorted. “Let us try to find the route off this ship that leaves us all breathing. Now, what’s your plan?”

“There should be a light room close by. We prepare a charge, set it alight at the right moment and escape.” Cedric knew the plan was risky, but escape was not enough. They had to destroy this ship. But first they needed to find Anne.

“Let us be clear, you want to set fire to the powder room?” Jonathan moved closer, his booted steps echoing on the floor. Above them the sailors were scrambling to their battle stations.

“Yes. We wouldn’t have much time after we set fire to the room. We need to find Anne and a way off this ship, but it’s all for naught if this ship is still afloat.”

Jonathan laughed, but it bore a nervous, edgy sound. “Are all your plans this insane?”

Cedric rolled his eyes. “Do you have a better one?”

“Very well.” Jonathan sighed. “Stay here whilst I find the light room.”

Cedric stumbled about, searching for a tool to open the barrel of powder. His hands came across a tool, something that felt a bit like a poker. He returned to the powder barrel and pried open the lid. The wood creaked in protest, but finally gave in.

Footsteps were Cedric’s only warning that he’d been found out. He dodged to the right as something slashed his chest. It stung like the devil, but didn’t feel deep.

“Cheating again?” Samir hissed. “You simply cannot accept when you are beaten.” Cedric dodged again, Samir’s words proving to be an invaluable warning to his actions. But he couldn’t dodge the man forever. He needed to get hold of Samir’s hands. Then he would stand a fighting chance.

“You need a sword to take me down? What, you don’t have enough faith in your fighting skills to take on a blind man?” It was a small chance the man would be manipulated to do that, but it was worth it.

Samir snarled. “You don’t think I can kill you with my bare hands?”

“You’re the one in a hurry to run me through with a blade, Al Zahrani. Don’t you want the satisfaction of strangling the life out of me? What sense of justice will you get with a sword?” Cedric held up his hands, fists loosely clenched in case he needed to grab his opponent rather than throw a punch.

Samir snorted. “You’re right. I want to choke you slowly, make you feel every agonizing minute of your death. A slow death for a man who cheats,” Samir replied smugly. The sound of a blade clattering to the ground echoed a few feet away.

The moment the blade was abandoned, Samir tackled him. They hit the open barrel behind him. Cedric hissed out in pain as Samir punched his lower stomach repeatedly.

Roaring, Cedric pulled his head back and thrust it forward. The crack of his skull against Samir’s momentarily stunned them both, but Samir recovered quickly enough to stagger to his feet. Cedric got up and slammed into Samir, knocking them both to the ground. Pain shot through his head and for a second he thought he saw the hazy shadow of the man lying close to him.

Cedric didn’t hesitate and hit Samir square in the jaw. A lucky blow if there ever was one. It was the advantage he needed. Scrambling off, he searched for the sword. When the blade nicked his hand, he cursed before he was able to grab the grip.

He heard scraping noises behind him as Samir struggled to get up.

“You English pig!” Samir shouted.

Cedric fell flat on his back, sword raised just as Samir landed on top of him. The blade met some resistance as it plunged into Samir’s ribs. The man grunted and sagged on top of Cedric.

“You…cheated…” Samir panted angrily.

“That I did.” He shoved Samir’s body off him. “Just like that night playing whist. I don’t play fair with slavers.”

Cedric leaned against one of the barrels. His chest burned and his head ached. The gray fog about his eyes seemed to waver with black and white tendrils of color, like fleeting shadows, like the ghost of what he used to see.

Samir coughed, the sound a sickly gurgle now. “You…cheating…bastard.”

“I prefer
rogue
,” Cedric said. The rattling breath of his enemy finally ceased.

Just then, like a phantom’s voice amongst the noise of the crew, Anne’s voice echoed up the hall.

“Cedric?”

He moved in the direction of the sound. “Anne? Where are you?”

“Cedric! Thank God.”

The sound of her slippered feet was music to his ears. He opened his arms and she wrapped herself around him.

Anne gasped. “You’re bleeding!”

“Reminds me of the day you proposed,” he said with a happy chuckle.

“Oh! Cedric!” She tensed in his arms. “Is Al Zahrani…?”

“Dead. Yes. I’ll explain later, but we must go. Now.” He held her in his arms, but let her guide him into the narrow corridor.

“Jonathan!” he shouted.

“I’m here! Stand back,” Jonathan warned.

Heat blossomed close to Cedric’s chest and he instinctively curled himself around Anne as they moved back. He thought for a moment he could see a filmy curtain of light, like glimpsing a fire through heavy woods. Flickers, shadows, but nothing more. Was he seeing the glow from a lantern? He was too afraid to hope.

“Jonathan, what are you doing?” Anne asked, her body tense in Cedric’s arms.

“Well, my heart, we are going to blow up the ship.”

“
What?
”

“There’s no other way for us to escape alive,” Cedric said. “These men will fire on that ship, and they will be forced to fire back. We don’t want to be on board when the cannonballs start flying through the walls around us. You have to trust me on this.”

“Yes, I trust you.” Despite the touch of panic in Anne’s voice, it was nevertheless resolute.

“Jonathan will set the fire, then we will run for the deck. If we can reach a longboat, we’ll take that, but there may not be time. If I say jump, jump over the side. Do you understand?”

She grasped one of Cedric’s hands in hers. “Promise to stay with me.”

“I will,” he vowed, holding her hand tight.

Jonathan interjected. “Right. I’m ready to light this. You two go ahead, I’ll catch up with you on deck.”

Cedric steeled himself. “Be careful, Jonathan. Audrey will never forgive me if she learns I let you blow yourself up.” He meant to tease the younger man, but also knew Jonathan would understand all the things he didn’t have the time, or words, to say.

“I’ll find you when it’s done,” Jonathan replied.

Cedric turned back to Anne. “Lead me to the deck, lady wife. It’s time to make our escape.”

Anne and Cedric hurried up the flight of stairs and burst out onto the main deck. He whipped his head about as though listening to the crew around him.

“What’s happening, Anne? Be my eyes.”

Men raced to positions and men shouted orders and reports.

“She’s a large sloop, sir. We’ll never outrun her!”

“No flag signals ordering us to stand down,” yelled another. “Gun ports are open!”

Anne heard who she presumed was the captain bark, “Bring her to port! Load cannons! Load chain shot! Target her masts!”

It was chaos.

“How close is the other ship?” Cedric tugged her to the railing and they carefully, but quickly, worked their way across the maze of ropes and ship equipment on deck.

“Half a mile away. There might be another chasing behind it.” She squinted in the bright light, trying to assess the distance between them and the ship. Thankfully none of the crew did more than glance at them with irritation as they rushed past.

“We don’t have enough chain shot, sir!”

“Load the remaining cannons with grape shot!” the captain ordered.

“Aim for the decks!” a midshipman added.

“Belay that! Aim for the sails! We have to slow her down!”

She was terrified she and Cedric would be hauled back down into the hull of the ship by someone, but they were far more worried about the approaching sloop. When she focused on the ships in the distance she saw two flags. The Union Jack flapped against the wind of both vessels. The larger and closer vessel also carried the flag of the Royal Navy at the rear. The ship just behind it was closing the gap, and she saw more clearly that ship’s flag.

Cedric curled an arm around Anne’s waist, keeping her close as they moved. “Do you recognize any of the flags?”

“There’s a British flag and a navy flag on the first. The second has a dark blue flag with a white flower on it.” It was hard to make out the shape in the distance with all the wind.

Cedric laughed. “Good God, he found us!” And then he whooped loudly and kissed Anne on the lips.

“Who found us?” She had no idea what he was talking about.

“Ash! That’s his company flag. Must be one of his ships! He’s brought the bloody navy with him, the sly dog!”

Before Anne could say anything she saw Jonathan run up on deck, shouting, “Jump! We don’t have time!”

Jonathan sprinted across the deck, leaping over a pair of sailors bent over a cannon they were preparing to load.

“Fire in the powder room!” he bellowed.

That single cry and the ominous coiling of black smoke from below the deck sent sailors scattering like rats.

“What about a longboat?” Anne asked.

“No time!” Cedric glanced around, cursed under his breath. He thought he could make out some shadows, but even if it was more than just wishful thinking it wasn’t enough to navigate by. “Is there a part of the deck without a railing?”

Anne glanced around. “Yes.”

“Do we have a clear shot to run to it?”

“Yes. It’s about fifteen feet.” She swallowed hard. “We’re really going to jump?” It looked like another twenty feet to the ocean.

Cedric cupped her face with his free hand. “Yes. Jump away from the ship as far as you can. Kick for the surface once you’re in the water and get as far away as you can. Don’t let go of my hand…if we become separated, I may not be able to find the surface.” The desperate look on his face tore at her already battered heart.

“I won’t let go,” she vowed.

“Then run!” He propelled her forward and she guided him as they dashed across the deck. Jonathan met them halfway and shouted as he leapt over the railing and into the air.

Anne screamed, unable to contain the panic as her stomach jumped into her throat as she and Cedric fell. The dark water rose up to meet them, and in a hard smack she struck the surface, then sank below. Icy water swallowed her up. The shock of the cold water nearly made her scream. Her grip on Cedric’s hand was tenuous, but she kicked away her petticoats weighing her down.

A heavy vibration rocked the world around her. Looking up through the water, blurred streaks of red and orange consumed the skies above. She kicked herself upward until she at last surfaced. White smoke cloaked the area just above the water, and fiery hunks of the ship’s hull splashed around her. Cedric broke through the surface with a painful gasp a moment later. She reached out for him and grabbed his hand.

“Cedric!”

“Anne! What—” Cedric’s cry was silenced by a mighty crash.

Burning wood singed her as part of the ship’s wreckage fell on her husband. She cried out, and then her hand, the one tightly locked with Cedric’s, started to drop as Cedric’s head slipped beneath the waves. The weight of his body sinking was too much for her to hold on to.

“Cedric! No!”

She dove under the water, her eyes stinging as she searched for him. The water was thick with debris. She swam until her lungs burned and forced her back to the surface.

A piece of wood large enough to hold on to floated within her reach. Kicking and paddling over to it, she grabbed it and rested a few moments before diving back down to look for Cedric again.

I won’t let go…I can’t let go…

But he wasn’t there. She couldn’t see him. When she broke the surface a third time, her body had become stiff with cold and she didn’t have enough strength to go back. The body of a sailor floated past, and when it touched Anne, she flinched. She could barely see anything through the white cloud from the powder explosion.

Every part of her body hurt. She clung to that bit of wood, her cheek pressed to the roughened surface, blinking back tears. It was no use. She wept in silent grief.

The only two men she’d ever loved, she’d lost. Her father and now her husband. Too stunned to move, she allowed the sea to swallow her heart within its depths. Wherever Cedric was now, so went her heart and soul.

A longboat cut through the smoke, and the distant shouts hailed her. The navy sloop loomed out of the smoke, and only a short distance away, Ashton’s vessel drifted closer. Men shouted at each other from the decks, pointing in her direction and preparing a longboat.

Anne couldn’t breathe, let alone answer them. Her mind had shut down, unable to process what she was seeing. Faces, marked with blackened streaks of soot, peered down at her when the longboat drifted up.

“She’s alive!” someone shouted.

Hands reached down, pried her viselike grip off the driftwood, and she was hauled into the boat.

“Anne, look at me,” a gentle but stern voice commanded. She opened her eyes and saw a golden-haired man sighing with visible relief. Charles. The name came slowly through the pain. Another face, one just as wet as hers, Jonathan, leaned in by Charles.

“Where’s Cedric?”

Lips trembling, she looked back to the wreckage. Her throat felt as if she was swallowing glass shards. Every protective barrier she’d ever built had been obliterated in the wake of that explosion. She could no longer contain her pain, the rage at her loss. The only man who’d loved her for the woman she was, was gone.

Everything was gone now. She’d been rendered blind, not in her eyes, but her heart. She’d lost Cedric forever. Charles slipped his coat off and wrapped it around her shoulders, but she barely noticed.