Lord of Devil Isle (23 page)

“I warned you once, Scott. I am a master of the blade.” Rathbun took his stance, balancing lightly on the balls of his feet.

Nick had dismissed the man’s claim at the time because of Rathbun’s foppishness. Now he realized Rathbun was like a scorpion fish, hiding his predatory nature behind a clever disguise.

“No doubt you cut a wide swath through your effeminate cronies in the London coffeehouses,” Nick said, trying to unsettle the man’s confident glare. “There’s no umpire. No rules here.”

“Just as I would have it.”

Nick saw the strike in the man’s eyes before his arm moved, but it still came faster than he expected. He met Rathbun’s blade with the edge of his own, but it was a near thing.

Rathbun smiled. It was not a pleasant expression. “No duel, then. No seconds needed.”

He flashed his blade to Nick’s left side, testing his defenses.

“A bit slow there,” the dandy said. “How about this?”

He feinted high and then made a low swipe. Nick leaped back, but the tip of Rathbun’s blade caught him across the chest, slicing through his white shirt. A faint red stain oozed through the fabric.

Eve gasped.

“Your wench is concerned for you already, Scott.”

Don’t look down. Don’t look away. You can’t even think
about her,
he ordered himself. He felt the sticky trickle on his skin, but there was no pain. That would come later. “It’s naught but a scratch.”

“I can’t wait to show you the color of your liver, Captain,” Rathbun said with a sneer.

“You’re more like to see the color of hell,” Nicholas returned and launched a blistering assault.

The world spiraled down to disjointed elements. The clash of blades. A shoulder-jarring blow deflected. The swirl of Rathbun’s frockcoat. Nick heard the roar of seamen shouting around them, but it was muffled and indistinct beneath the steady pounding of his own blood in his ears.

“Four to one on the fop!” shouted some enterprising bloke up on the forecastle.

The fight boiled around the main mast. The crowd scuffled to both stay out of the glittering arc of their blades and to secure the best vantage points. Nick crowded his opponent up to the poop deck and was forced to retreat back down.

Nick’s sword arm was tiring and he was nicked in a dozen places. Rathbun looked blown, but Nick hadn’t even pinked him once.

“Almost finished,” Rathbun said with a slight gasp. “It’ll be a relief to have it done with, won’t it? And you can’t deny I’m a better end for you than a traitor deserves.”

Nick didn’t waste breath with an answer, but the man was right. What he’d done at the magazine was an act of treason. And a clean death was better than hanging, drawing and quartering.

“Nick, don’t listen to him!” Eve’s voice pierced his ear.

Fresh wind filled Nick’s sails. He wasn’t ready for death yet, not of any sort.

“No,” he growled and married the word to a bone-crunching blow Rathbun was barely able to stop. “No, no, no!”

There was no finesse. No strategy. It was only rage and brute force and the determination to kill, not be killed, that propelled him forward. Nick drove the superior swordsman across the deck toward the gunwale. Then with a lucky glancing thrust, he knocked Rathbun’s sword from his hand. It pitched over the rail and turned end over end before slipping into the waves with hardly a splash. Nick planted the tip of his sword in the center of Rathbun’s chest. A tiny rosebud of red bloomed around the point of his blade.

A cheer rose from the crew clinging to the rail of the
Susan Bell,
which was keeping steady pace with the
Sea Wolf.

But Nick didn’t look anywhere but into the terrified eyes of the man whose life he held at his blade’s end.

“Go ahead,” Rathbun said, ripping his shirt’s buttons off to bear his chest. “But hear this, one and all. I die a loyal subject of the Crown and this man still lives a traitor.”

Damn the man, he was right.

“Bostock,” Nicholas shouted. “If I spare this man’s life, will you hold him till I return to the
Susan B
with Miss Upshall and Miss Smythe?”

“If that’s what you want, Nicholas,” Bostock said. “But I had a dog once with that same look in its eye and the damn thing near bit my hand off. I’d advise you to kill him.”

“The day I take your advice, Adam, is the day I turn up my toes.”

Eve drew a shuddering breath. Her heart was beginning to slow. It was over and Nick was safe.

“I won’t kill you, Rathbun. Not so long as I never see you again.” Nicholas pulled back his sword’s tip and turned to walk away from death and toward life with her.

Then suddenly, Eve watched in horror as Rathbun reached for his boot knife and launched himself at Nick’s unprotected back with a snarl.

She screamed his name.

Nick whipped around and plunged his sword into Rathbun’s gut till the hilt nearly disappeared. Rathbun’s mouth gaped and he blinked several times before his knees crumpled beneath him and he fell to the deck writhing.

Eve ran to Nicholas and threw her arms around him.

“Oh, Nick, I thought he had you.”

“A little faith, woman.” He kissed her hard. “You’re the only one who has me.”

“Guess you saw him again rather sooner than you expected, Nick. Take this man below,” Bostock ordered, pointing to Rathbun. “The surgeon can’t save a man with a belly wound like that, but at least he won’t bleed out on my deck.”

“We’ll be needing the use of your pinnace,” Nick said. “I can’t ask the ladies to transfer to the
Susan B
the same way I came aboard your vessel.”

“No indeed,” Bostock said. “Prepare to lower the boat.”

“Adam, I’m in your debt,” Nick said after he handed Penny and Eve into the small craft to be lowered over the
Sea Wolf
’s side. Eve watched as he extended his hand to his old enemy. “I’m glad I didn’t have to kill you today.”

“And I you.” Bostock signaled for the boat to be lowered. “Next time you raid a magazine, call on me for help. I’m sympathetic to the Americans’ cause.”

“I didn’t do it for the Americans,” Nick said as he shook his head. “I did it for Devil Isle.”

Once they reached the deck of the
Susan B,
Peregrine Higgs left the wheel to Mr. Tatem and ran to snatch Penny up in his arms.

“Penny, I thought I’d lost you.”

“Never,” she said.

He whirled her around a couple times before setting her down and covering her mouth with a kiss that had the crew laying odds on which of them would pass out from lack of air first.

Both Penny and Peregrine were still on their feet when Pere released her mouth, but they were listing on each other heavily.

“Captain, will you marry us?” It was as if Higgs feared Penny would disappear if he looked away from her.

“Don’t you think you ought to ask the lady first?” Nick asked with a laugh.

“No need, Captain,” Penny said. “Peregrine knows my heart already.”

“Aye, Higgs, I’ll marry the pair of you.”

“No, you won’t,” Eve said. “You won’t be marrying anybody until I see to your hurts. You’re bleeding from a dozen cuts and you’re dripping all over the—”

He silenced her with a kiss. “Aye, lass, I’ll be pleased to let you tend me.”

She led him back to his cabin amid sounds of rejoicing. The
Susan B
canted sharply and Eve knew she was coming about. Mr. Higgs was pointing her bowsprit toward home.

“Let me help you take that shirt off,” she said as soon as Nicholas closed the door behind her.

“Aye, wench, there’ll be time for that and you’ll get
your way as you always seem to, but not until I’ve had my say.”

Nick lowered himself to one knee.

“I love you, Eve,” he said simply.

Her hand shot to her heart.

“I tried hard not to. You deserve so much more.”

“No, I—”

“Can you not let me finish? I’ve planned the whole piece out, you see.”

She swallowed her smile. Her heart nearly leaped from her chest with love for this man. “Oh, and when did you have time to do that?”

“Last night, while I was chasing you across the sea,” he said. “But just hold a moment till I finish, then you can say what you will.”

“All right.”

He shot her a cock-browed look. “Where was I?”

“I think you were saying I deserve so much more.”

“Oh, right. You deserve so much more. I can’t promise I’ll always be on the right side of the law. And I can’t promise I won’t be at sea more than I’m home. And we both know I’ve no talent at being a husband at all.”

“You make it sound so inviting, how can a girl resist?” she said with a roll of her eyes.

“You’re not waiting.” He pulled her down to sit on his upraised knee and put a finger to her lips. “But I’ll always treat you like the lady you are. And I promise I will love you till the day I die. Marry me, Eve Upshall.”

She palmed his cheeks and kissed him, long and deep.

“Can I say something now?”

He nodded.

“Yes,” she said simply.

Eve kissed him deeply and then pulled back, searching his face.

“That’s all you have to say?” he asked.

“Were you hoping for a different answer?”

“No, but—”

She covered his lips with her fingertips. “Then hear me now. I love you, Nicholas Scott. And whatever the future may bring, I’ll never know a greater joy than being loved by you. My husband. My life. My Lord of Devil Isle.”

I’d like to acknowledge Emily Bryan for her invaluable help in writing this book. Without her assistance this book would not have been written.

VIKING WARRIOR

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A TASTE OF PARADISE

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A KNIGHT’S HONOR

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SEDUCED BY A ROGUE

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THE ROGUE AND THE HELLION

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THE LAIRD OF STONEHAVEN

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LIONHEART

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THE DRAGON LORD

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THE BLACK KNIGHT

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THE OUTLAWS: SAM

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THE OUTLAWS: RAFE

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GUNSLINGER

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Gunslinger
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BEYOND THE HORIZON

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BRAVE LAND, BRAVE LOVE

“An utter delight from first page to last—funny, tender, adventurous, and highly romantic!”

TEMPT THE DEVIL

A TOUCH SO WICKED

VIKING WARRIOR

THE PRICE OF PLEASURE

HIGHLAND WARRIOR

A TASTE OF PARADISE

A KNIGHT’S HONOR

GYPSY LOVER

THE PIRATE PRINCE

THE LAST ROGUE

THE LAIRD OF STONEHAVEN

TO LOVE A STRANGER

SEDUCED BY A ROGUE

TO TAME A RENEGADE

LIONHEART

A LOVE TO CHERISH

THE ROGUE AND THE HELLION

THE DRAGON LORD

THE OUTLAWS: SAM

THE OUTLAWS: JESS

THE OUTLAWS: RAFE

THE BLACK KNIGHT

GUNSLINGER

BEYOND THE HORIZON

PIRATE

BRAVE LAND, BRAVE LOVE

WILD LAND, WILD LOVE

BOLD LAND, BOLD LOVE

VIKING!

SURRENDER TO THE FURY

FOR HONOR’S SAKE

LORD OF THE NIGHT

PROMISE ME FOREVER

SHEIK

ICE & RAPTURE

LOVE ME WITH FURY

SHADOW WALKER

FLAME

TENDER FURY

DESERT ECSTASY

A PROMISE OF THUNDER

PURE TEMPTATION

WIND RIDER

TEARS LIKE RAIN

THE LION’S BRIDE

SIERRA

TREASURES OF THE HEART

CARESS & CONQUER

PROMISED SPLENDOR

WILD IS MY HEART

MY LADY VIXEN