Harlequin Historical September 2014 - Bundle 2 of 2: Lord Havelock's List\Saved by the Viking Warrior\The Pirate Hunter (54 page)

‘That might be the only way,' Mia said hesitantly.

‘You've got another idea?'

‘You won't like it.'

He raised his eyebrows, waiting for her to continue.

‘We could check the weather report.'

Mia waited for a laugh or his quick disagreement.

‘I suppose we could check it,' he said eventually, ‘There might be something in there we could use.'

Well, that was unexpected.

Mia picked it up from where he'd dropped it on the desk the day before and began reading. After a minute she realised he was looking at her, his head cocked to one side.

‘What?' she asked.

‘How do you know how to read?' he asked her.

It was a fair enough question. Most daughters of a runaway slave and a sailor wouldn't be able to tell their a's from their b's.

‘My mother hated not being able to read. She paid a man to teach us when I was about six. Jorge could never see the point, but I loved how suddenly a jumble of lines became something intelligible.'

She pushed away the memory of her and her brother sitting on Señor Hermes's front porch, arguing over which book they were going to struggle through next.

‘Wind speed is picking up over the next few days, strong gusts, mainly east to west.'

Will didn't respond. Mia decided she would just push on.

‘No storms for the next few days. In fact, it looks like it's going to be pretty perfect weather.'

He looked dubious, ‘There were some clouds bubbling up this morning....'

Mia put down the weather report and turned to face him, ‘There's no point in continuing if you're not going to take it seriously.'

Will opened his mouth as if he were about to say something, but then a thought must have occurred to him because his face lit up.

‘Strong winds you said, east to west.'

Mia nodded.

‘Then if
The Dragon
is planning on sheltering in a quiet bay it would make sense to choose one on the west of the island, protected from the wind.'

He was right. Mia leaned forward so she could see the map of Tortola on the bed.

‘Here—' Will pointed ‘—there are three possibilities.' He pointed out three bays on the west coast of Tortola. ‘And it looks like one of them would be too shallow for a ship of
The Flaming Dragon
's size.'

‘So we're down to two,' Mia said, sensing Will's excitement.

She didn't feel excited, she felt dread. Dread that the closer they got to Tortola the sooner she would have to confront her brother and tell him she'd betrayed him. She wasn't having second thoughts, she knew she couldn't let him continue to rob and kill people and keep a clear conscience, but she most certainly wasn't looking forward to seeing him again.

Chapter Eight

‘S
o what's the plan?' Lieutenant Glass asked as he strolled up behind Will on the deck.

Will took a second to temper his reply before answering. He didn't like the Lieutenant. He wasn't sure exactly why. Certainly the man had an abrupt way about him and he looked down on everyone who wasn't his social equal, but that described about half the men of Will's acquaintance. No, there was something else Will didn't like about him that he just couldn't quite put his finger on.

‘The plan?' he asked.

‘Yes. What are we to do when we reach the first bay?'

He really didn't want to share his strategy with Glass. It wasn't a big secret; he'd talked it through with Mia the night before, but he felt as if he wanted to keep something up his sleeve when it came to the Lieutenant.

‘There's not much to it really,' Will said. ‘We'll approach the bay by hugging the coastline. If
The Flaming Dragon
is anchored there won't be much time for the pirates to come about and make a dash for it. We'll have them trapped.'

‘They do have superior firepower,' Glass said sceptically.

‘I'm not planning on giving them much chance to fire on us.'

‘We should call in the Navy.'

Will had feared this might be what Glass wanted. The Navy man was there to keep an eye on things and no doubt if he thought there was a chance they would actually come upon
The Flaming Dragon
he would call upon the full force of the Navy to swoop in and take some of the credit.

‘This is just a hunch,' Will stated slowly. ‘I wouldn't want to cry wolf. We're right at the very beginning of the hunt, and I'm not expecting to apprehend Del Torres in a couple of days. Yes, it'd be a bonus if we did, but I'm not expecting it.'

Glass seemed to accept that. He could hardly quibble; the Navy had been after Del Torres for nearly two years and had nothing to show for it.

Will saw movement out of the corner of his eye. Mia had emerged from below decks and had started to walk towards them before pausing. She hesitated a second before turning around and making her way to the back of the ship. He didn't blame her—if he could have avoided being cornered by Glass he would have. Nevertheless he wished she'd come over. He wanted to talk to her.

Things had been rather uncomfortable between them even after their talk yesterday. Her words just kept circling in his mind: she'd actually wanted him to kiss her. Yes, she'd followed that with some other thoughts on the matter, but the thing that stuck was that she'd wanted to be kissed.

That had made it even harder to resist. He knew he'd acted quite strangely whilst they'd been looking at the maps, but he'd felt awkward. He tried so hard not to touch her, not to give himself any temptation, that it must have been obvious to Mia. Then when his arm had brushed her skin he'd reacted badly, as if he'd been burned.

Mia had looked hurt and he didn't blame her. If she'd acted as if touching him was that toxic, he'd be upset, too.

He wanted things to go back to how they were before he'd kissed her. Well, before he'd kissed her for the second time. Maybe without so many lustful thoughts on his part. He had a job to do and the delightful Mia Del Torres was proving to be a distraction. Will wasn't used to a woman getting under his skin like Mia was. He'd never been someone who had needed others to entertain him, often quite happy in his own company. This constant desire to know where Mia was and what she was doing was a new experience for him.

Will turned back to Glass. ‘Was there anything else?' he asked.

‘If you're sure about not involving the Navy...'

‘I'm sure.'

He pushed himself up from the rail and ambled towards the back of the ship.

‘Good morning,' he said as he came up behind Mia.

‘I didn't want to disturb your intimate chat with Lieutenant Glass,' Mia said with a smile.

Will was pleased she was looking more relaxed today, more her normal self.

‘How kind of you,' he said drily.

‘What did he want?'

‘He wanted to call in the Navy.'

Mia laughed. ‘Of course he did.'

‘I refused.'

‘Good.'

Will stood for a few seconds looking at the view. Tortola had been sighted at dawn. They were approaching from the west, but the Captain had turned slightly so they were heading to the southern tip of the island. From there they would head up the coast and check out the two bays they'd decided on the day before. If they didn't find
The Flaming Dragon
sheltered in one of those two bays, they would make a lap of the island, checking out all the other possible anchorages.

‘It's beautiful, isn't it?' Mia said quietly.

It was beautiful. The sloping lush green interior was a perfect contrast to the white sand of the beaches. There were a few houses dotted about on the hillsides, but all in all the island looked peaceful and idyllic. The finishing touch was the cloudless Caribbean sky.

‘I've never left Barbados before,' Mia said. ‘I've spent all my life so close to hundreds of beautiful islands and I've never seen any of them.'

‘Most people don't explore what's on their doorstep. Look at me, I've been all over Europe, the Caribbean, even parts of India, but I've never set foot in Cornwall. Or Wales.'

‘Wouldn't it be nice to spend a lifetime exploring these islands, sailing from one to another, spending each day discovering a new paradise?'

He loved how her eyes lit up as she talked about her dreams and felt a pang of sorrow that once he'd caught her brother he wouldn't be spending his days with her. She'd probably return to Barbados and he'd be expected to go back to England, his brother avenged, to run the family estate.

‘How long until we reach the first bay?' Mia asked.

‘A couple of hours, three at most.'

‘Are you nervous?'

Will wondered that himself. He'd been in lots of skirmishes. He'd risked his life time and time again and he'd never suffered too much with nerves. He had certainly experienced the surge of adrenaline as he'd charged into danger and on numerous occasions he'd known it was a fair chance he wouldn't escape with his life, but he'd never really been a nervous person.

So the faint sensation of a rat gnawing at his gut was unfamiliar to him. He wondered if it could be nerves—maybe he was losing his edge—but he wasn't sure. He always told himself there was no point in feeling nervous. Either he would live or die and no amount of apprehension would change that.

‘No,' he said, not sure if he was lying. ‘Are you?'

‘I'm petrified.'

He reached out to touch her. He wanted to caress her cheek, pull her body close to his and hold her tight, but he knew he couldn't. Instead he patted her firmly on the upper arm. The safe zone.

It felt so inadequate. He could tell she was hurting, terrified at the prospect of seeing her brother and him finding out she'd aided in his capture. A mere pat on the arm wasn't going to do anything to comfort her.

Mia looked at him sadly. She looked so vulnerable he just wanted to protect her from everything that was to come, but that was impossible. The next few days were going to be the hardest of her life and because he'd overstepped the line and kissed her he couldn't even comfort her as a true friend should.

‘How did you become a pirate hunter?' Mia asked him suddenly.

He wondered if she was just changing the subject because she felt awkward. Probably, but there was real curiosity in her eyes, as well.

He debated how to answer. Normally he wasn't one to confide in others. He nearly made some glib comment to avoid the question, but he realised Mia deserved more than that. It would take her mind off what was to come, even just for a few minutes, and that would be worth baring a little of his soul.

‘I've always been good at finding people,' he started, ‘even as a child. My brother, Richard, refused to play hide-and-seek with me after a while, said I must be cheating. I wasn't.'

Mia smiled as if she could imagine a younger version of him playing with his brother.

‘I just worked out how to read people and the trail they left.'

And that was how it had all started. Throughout school he'd been a bit of a loner. He'd always had friends, people to talk to when he wanted, but he had chosen to spend a lot of time alone.

‘A boy went missing whilst I was at school. The masters all tried to find him, even called in the authorities. He was missing for five days. We had a free afternoon on a Saturday—I found him within two hours.'

‘How?'

Will shrugged. It was difficult to explain. It was just a talent he had.

‘I'd watched him in the weeks before he disappeared. I watched everyone. He was unhappy. A couple of the boys in the older years were bullying him. That's why he left.'

‘And that knowledge helped you find him?'

‘There was more. I sneaked into his room one night and checked what he had taken with him.'

‘What had he taken?' Mia was engrossed in his story. His plan to distract her had definitely worked.

‘Hardly anything. So it had been a spur-of-the-moment decision. Which meant he couldn't have got far. Not without warm clothes and hardly any money.'

‘But how did that lead you to where he was actually hiding?'

He shrugged. He wasn't quite sure how to explain it. He had a natural instinct for these things—sometimes he could look at situations and just know where people had gone.

‘There weren't really many options. My theory was he was hiding nearby until the commotion died down and he could sneak back in and get some of his things and, more important, some money. Then he would go and throw himself on the mercy of some relative or other who would have been sufficiently worried by his disappearance they wouldn't send him back to school straight away.'

‘So where was he?'

‘In the games shed at the end of one of the fields.'

‘Hadn't the schoolmasters searched them?'

‘They searched a few of the buildings close to the school, but everyone assumed he'd run away and therefore wouldn't be hanging around close by.'

‘Everyone but you.'

Will nodded.

‘So you took him back to school?'

Will laughed, ‘No. That would have been cruel. I sneaked him out some warm clothes and gave him some money so he could get on his way.'

Mia nodded as if she approved.

‘So how did you go from finding missing schoolboys to hunting pirates?'

It was a question Will often asked himself.

‘Up until two years ago I was living in London and I spent most of my time hunting for missing people. Sometimes the authorities would come to me for help, more often it would be the families. But normally I wouldn't return the person to their family...not if they were the reason they'd run away.'

‘You're a real-life hero, aren't you?'

Will looked at her to see if she was joking. Her face remained completely serious.

‘No,' he said slowly, ‘I just think people shouldn't have to live their lives in fear.'

‘That's the description of a good man,' Mia persisted. ‘But you still haven't told me what led you here.'

‘My brother, Richard, was the eldest. He was the heir to our father's estate. And when our father died he became a fantastic Lord of the Manor.' Will paused, taking a few seconds to remember his brother, the man he'd looked up to. ‘He owned land out in the Caribbean and he'd heard rumours that slaves working on the estate were being mistreated. Richard set sail for Jamaica two years ago.'

He remembered waving his brother off, thinking nothing of his trip across the globe, knowing Richard would be absent for a year but expecting his brother to return home in the not-too-distant future. Will had spent a bit of time travelling himself so thought nothing of a sea voyage and a foray into unknown lands.

‘His ship was attacked by pirates. They took Richard captive—I think they recognised he was a man of some means.' Will paused, feeling his voice catching in his throat. ‘He died before a ransom demand could be made.'

He looked down at the wooden rail and tried to compose himself. Even after all this time he found it upsetting talking about how his brother had met his end.

‘How did he die?' Mia asked gently.

‘Fever. Richard never had the most robust health.'

Will closed his eyes. He felt Mia moving closer to him, hovering as if she couldn't decide whether to reach out and touch him. She placed a soft hand on his bare arm.

‘You loved him,' Mia said quietly.

Will nodded.

‘And that's why you're here?'

He nodded again, not trusting himself to speak.

She moved even closer, her hand still resting on his arm. He could feel the heat of her body as it brushed against his and for a second he just wanted to lose himself in her arms.

‘Was it Jorge?' she asked eventually.

He didn't know how to answer. The truth was going to hurt her, make her realise the sort of man her brother had become.

‘I believe so.' He saw her face fall and felt the need to explain further. ‘
The Flaming Dragon
was sighted in the area where my brother's ship was attacked.'

‘It could have been a coincidence.'

‘And his body was delivered to our Jamaican estate with a note.'

Mia shook her head in disbelief. ‘Why would they do that?'

‘It was a taunt, a warning. A warning to all the nobility in the Caribbean that the waters weren't safe for the rich or the poor.'

She withdrew her hand from his arm and hugged her own body.

‘I'm so sorry,' she whispered, ‘I had no idea.'

‘Mia...' Will started to say.

‘No. Please.' Her voice broke. ‘I can't make excuses for my brother any longer. For years I've buried my head in the sand and tried to remain ignorant of what he's doing. I'm so sorry. I wish I could bring your brother back.'