His to Hold (Regency Scoundrels Book 1) (10 page)

She was on a bed of the softest downiest feathers. Her eyelids felt as if they were glued shut, and she was tempted to drift back into the dreamland beckoned to her. She rolled over onto her back, and then onto her right side. The sensation of being watched overcame her, and she opened her eyes to stare into the sparkling eyes of an angelic looking woman leaning toward her with a cool cloth to press to her forehead.

“Ah, it is a relief to my heart to see you awake and well.” The woman smiled, and a warm cheery glint entered her sky blue eyes. Her skin was pale and spotted with freckles. “My Ronald will be very happy to know that you are awake. He says that the two of you know each other from your childhood.”

The woman had a thick Scottish accent, and her hair was a bright red. “He also said that it was a blessing of fate that made our ship blow considerably off course during the last storm. Had we not been blown off course, we would never have come to rescue you. It had to be divine intervention. You have many guardian angels, my dear.” The woman reached for her hand that rested over the bedclothes, and grasped it tightly. “Are you cold?” she asked worriedly, soothingly rubbing her hand. “My name is Mary, and my dear Ronald is always telling me that I have an insatiable penchant for chatting.” Mary winked at her, and Elizabeth tried to speak but found that for the moment she was far too weary. Instead, she shook her head in answer to Mary’s question.

“Ah, splendid. I was afraid that you’d be cold, considering the ordeal you’ve been through. I’ve stripped your wet clothes off of you, as you can tell and I’ve given you one of my warmest nightgowns. You are safe now. We shall take you onward to England. Do you remember Ronald?”

Elizabeth nodded her agreement, and managed to rasp out a weak “Aye.”

“Of course, it was a silly question. I do not know a woman that would not remember my Ronald.” Mary smiled, and then stood up when the cabin door opened. “She’s awake, my lord,” Mary murmured, as an expression of purely adoring love crossed her porcelain features. Why she called Ronald a lord was beyond her. He had no title.

“Upon my soul, that gladdens my heart.” A deep voice said, as it resonated around the cabin. “But then I could hardly expect otherwise from the indomitable Miss Elizabeth.”

“Ron…” Elizabeth murmured, stopping suddenly, as he came into view. Her breath hitched in her throat.

He had changed a good deal since they had last seen each other. He had without further elaboration grown into a man, and a striking one at that. And the most heartbreaking aspect of it all, was that he keenly reminded her of Rafe.

Tears welled in her eyes, and pain exploded in her heart. She was mourning a man that had kidnapped her, and yet, she did not see it as a revolting thing. She quite simply missed Rafe. He had tried to save her from Captain Blood’s lecherous clutches, and he had died a nobly heroic death. For a man that had had hardly any honour or position in life, she knew that in death, his place was assuredly secured in heaven.

“Miss Elizabeth, you are a sight for sore eyes. What troubles you, Bess?” he asked sitting down in the chair that Mary had recently vacated.

“Nothing,” she murmured, deliberately avoiding his question.

Ronald was American born, and they had indeed spent their early childhood together as friends, as his father owned the plantation house that neighboured
Her Ladyship’s Kindness.
He had been like the older brother she never had, and he and his younger brother and sisters had filled her days with joy.

In the last few years they had seen each other a scant amount of times, and indeed, Elizabeth had not even been aware that he had married, but it wasn’t a surprise, as he was five years her senior.

But Ron still knew her well, for she could tell he knew she was not telling him the truth. His eyes narrowed, and he was biting his lip. He glanced toward Mary, and his worried visage immediately melted.

“All will soon be right with your world, Bess. Soon you will be up on your feet, and Mary will take grand care of you. She’s quite the woman, my Mary. A loving mother and wife, a man could not ask for more.” He winked at her, and then leaned toward her. “I had to cure her of her haughty ways when first we met.”

“Ronald!” Mary gasped, walking toward the bed, balancing a baby on her hip. “You did no such thing. It was I that had to pull you, off your high horse.”

“Now, now, my lady, do not grow angry with me.”

“I am not angry,” Mary said, gliding toward the side of the bed.

“Can you believe, Bess, that I married myself a title?”

Elizabeth shook her head and wanly smiled. “Aye, indeed it is true. To the sheer delight of my Mama and Papa. Mary is my little countess.”

“Oh, behave, my lord,” Mary said, her eyes dancing with twinkling stars.

Elizabeth’s heart ached as she was basked in the glory of their true love. Ronald had been a scamp when he had been younger, and yet, if Elizabeth didn’t know better, she would swear that Mary had tamed his wild ways.

She would die a shriveled up old maid, now that Rafe was gone, for she would never again meet a man that would stir her the way that he had.

“I would like to sleep,” Elizabeth murmured, finding that she could contain her sorrow no longer. She was safe now, and that was all that mattered.

Mary leaned toward her, and smiled. Elizabeth could see understanding in her eyes.

“My lord, I am afraid that you are exciting her too much. You shall just have to go back up to the deck and busy yourself with matters pertaining to the ship. After all, you are its Captain.”

“Of course. I’ll leave you two lovely ladies alone, and my little lord shall need his sleep soon,” Ronald said, kissing the downy crown of his son’s head. He walked out the door and shut it quietly behind him.

“Now, my dear,” Mary said leaning forward, as the baby reached out toward Elizabeth. “You may cry for your lost love.”

Elizabeth was lost for words. She merely stared up at her dumbly.

“My dear,” Mary started. “An astute woman knows these things, and a woman blessed with the second sight, truly knows these things. So, let those tears that you have been valiantly holding fly free, and take comfort in one true thing. I do not believe that you have seen the last of your love. But then, I may be mistaken. Although I doubt it.” A secret smile played at the corners of her mouth. “I shall sit here until you fall back asleep.”

“Thank you,” Elizabeth murmured, doubting the woman’s statement about the second sight. She simply did not believe in such fustian nonsense, but she was happy nonetheless that Mary had tried to ease her torment.

The tears slipped down her cheeks, as she buried her head in the soft pillow, and gave into the exhaustion that pulled at her every fiber. She fell asleep, and dreamed of a paradise the likes of which she could never imagine. And the prince of this paradise was her guardian angel, Captain Rafe Morgan.

“Captain, sir, I can see a ship on the horizon!” Robbie Smith exclaimed, pointing, as he balanced precariously at the top of the mast that he had climbed.

Mallory reached for his spyglass, and held it up to his right eye. Robbie was right. There was a ship on the horizon, though they would have to change their course slightly in order to intercept them.

“Change our course for interception,” Mallory called out, as shouts rang through the ship. He would pray to God that somehow it would turn out to be Antonio’s ship.

Mallory held hope in his heart, for it had been the only thing that had sustained him through these last hellish two days. He didn’t want to imagine the sorts of vile things that Antonio could be doing to Elizabeth.

It made him want to scream with frustration, and only made him want to do bodily harm to someone. He hadn’t slept at all, since his blissful night with Elizabeth, and he was beginning to think that his tiredness was making him half mad.

He brushed at the stubble that had grown on his cheeks. He hadn’t taken the care to shave, and he didn’t know if he ever would. He grew a beard whenever he was in emotional upheaval, and right now, he knew that Elizabeth’s violent abduction constituted as that. He clasped the spyglass tightly in his hands, and kept checking to see if he could gain a clearer image of the ship.

“Penny for your thoughts,” Ethan murmured, coming up quietly behind him. Mallory turned to glance at him, and sighed.

“Do you know that sometimes I yearn for West Sussex, when pitted up against the tediousness of the sea?”

“Aye, sea voyage can be tedious, but we are on a hot pursuit right now. I would have thought that you would be filled with excitement.”

“And what shall I do to console Elizabeth once I rescue her? I shudder to imagine the misery she has been put through, and it has been all on my account.”

“Rafe, you cannot put the burden of Elizabeth’s abduction at your door. It is not your fault that she was taken. You did everything in your power to keep her safe. Hells Bells, you were even willing to die for her.”

“Yes, but it does nothing to ease this clenching in my gut.”

“And I’d suspect in your heart as well. Face it, Rafe, you have fallen head-over-heels in love with this young woman, and why wouldn’t you? She’s as beautiful as her mother was. And when you are in love, you are strong, and weak all at the same time. You are strong, because the euphoria of your love fills you with passion, and weak because the worry of losing your love to something dire, pulls at you every day. If Elizabeth favours her mother’s side of the family, then I’ll guarantee you that she’ll have survived, with her mind and soul intact.”

“I’ve definitely discovered that there is more than meets the eye, when it comes to Miss Elizabeth.”

“Ah, so you’ve discovered that your simple plan of marrying her and using her fortune is more complicated than you would have thought?” There was unmistakable amusement in Ethan’s voice.

Mallory slanted his mouth in a grin and sighed. “Simple is definitely not a word that should be used when describing Miss Elizabeth. Do you know that I would marry her now, even if she weren’t an heiress? Aye, I believed that I was in love with her before, but now there is a burning in my heart that will never be extinguished.”

“Doesn’t it concern you that she cannot remember you? Two years isn’t such a long time to forget someone.”

Mallory considered Ethan’s question for a good length of time. “My kiss will remind her of everything.”

“Really? Think that much of yourself, do you?” Ethan chuckled.

Mallory put the spyglass back up to his eye and felt his breath hitch in his throat. He could see the ship’s flag. “Prepare the cannons,” he ordered, cutting their conversation short, as they readied to board the ship they quickly approached.

*****

Elizabeth stirred in her deep slumber as she felt the ship lurch. She opened her eyes and caught the guarded expression of Mary. She had just shut and locked the cabin door, and was quickly moving to the other side of the bed to check on her son.

“Mary?” Elizabeth asked sleepily. Mary whirled about and put on a brave smile for her. She now held her sleeping son, to her breast, and the sight was enough to touch Elizabeth’s heart. “What is happening?”

“Never you mind, dear,” she soothed, walking to sit on the side of the bed. “All will soon be well.”

Elizabeth arched her eyebrow as the ear-splitting sound of cannon fire broke through the tension in the cabin. “I don’t think that can be ignored, do you?”

“We are under attack,” Mary said softly in a controlled voice, so as to not scare her son. He had already woken up, and had begun to cry out in fear.

Elizabeth’s heart stopped. No, this could not be happening! She would not, could not allow Antonio to board this ship. Not after all that Ronald and Mary had done for her. She would be damned if she allowed that bastard to hurt Mary, or even worse, the innocent babe that she held in her arms. She had done this. She had led Antonio to them. Oh, God, she would never forgive herself!

“Do you know who is attacking the ship?” her voice broke and wavered, though Elizabeth managed to just barely maintain her calm.

“Pirates, of all things. Why I didn’t think they existed anymore,” Mary answered shuddering. “They are onboard a smaller vessel, but my Ronald seemed very worried. Here you must hold Alistair,” Mary insisted, thrusting the baby toward Elizabeth. She accepted the precious burden as her mind reeled. There had to be something she could do.

She watched mesmerized, as Mary moved over to the nearest chest, and opened it. She withdrew a long blade from a scabbard that resembled a Scottish broadsword. She clasped her hand around the gold basket hilt, and smiled at Elizabeth.

“What are you doing?”

“I am preparing to protect what is mine,” Mary said, smiling encouragingly at her.

“And you know how to wield that sword?”

“Of course I know how to fight. After all, my dear, I am known in Scotland as the Lady Warrior. In time, as I tell you about myself you will know why I have been given that name. But for now, there are other things that we must attend to. Like making sure that these immoral men do not harm, Alistair.”

“Then you do not think that Ronald will be able to stand against them?”

“I have a great amount of faith in Ronald, and I trust him with our son’s life, and my own. But I glimpsed terror in my husband’s eyes. He is worried, that something dreadful shall befall us this day.”

“I thought that you had the gift of the second sight?”

“Whatever approaches is veiled in the mists for some reason. I do not know why, and it is a mystery that makes my heart ache.” Mary turned her head at the sound of another warning shot. “They dare not damage our ship too much, unless absolutely necessary. If they did, they would not be able to use it for further purposes.”

“I cannot allow you to take on this fight when it can be avoided.” Elizabeth’s resolve strengthened, as she stared down at the sweet child that was cuddled into her.

She stood up carefully, and made her way toward Mary. “Take your son,” she said, as Mary accepted him with one arm. “I know who these pirates are. They are the men that I escaped from. They are merciless killers. You will not be able to stand against them. Ronald was like a brother to me once. I won’t let him sacrifice himself and his family for me.” She bolted to the door, and had it opened before Mary could make any protest.

“Elizabeth, no!” Mary’s voice called after.

She winced, as her bare feet slapped against the deck. It was then she finally realized that she had fled the cabin in nothing but her nightgown. But it was too late to turn back.

She ran up the steps to the main deck, ignoring the raised eyebrows the sailors gave her. In her haste, she slammed into Ronald, and was propelled backwards, before she righted her footing.

“Bess, what the hell do you think you are doing?” Ronald questioned angrily. She ignored him, and tried darting around him, so that she could see the ship’s flag.

“Is it the Red Jolly Roger?” she mumbled. Her heart stopped, and her mind whirled, as she fell against Ronald. “This can’t be happening!” She struggled to control her rapid breathing, as her world once again turned upside down.

The setting sun glistened upon the man that stood ready to swing across and board the ship. It was a miracle, for she had no other explanation. Tears trickled down her face, and her knees became wobbly. She knew that she was about ready to collapse. The excitement had finally taken its toll on her. With the light of the sun glowing around him, he looked like a divine angel, instead of the marauding pirate that he was.

“Rafe?” she whispered, before she succumbed to the darkness that was drawing near to her. And for the second time in her nearly twenty-one years, Miss Elizabeth Woodward fainted dead away.