No Choice but Seduction (38 page)

B
OYD HAD DRUNK
too much wine himself last night during the dinner he’d shared with Katey. Sober, he would have come to his senses and never pulled such a stunt. But he’d acted on the idea as soon as it had come to him. There hadn’t been enough time to think it through.

Looking at Katey’s stiff back in front of him in the boat as he rowed them out to the ship, he reprimanded himself. Whom was he kidding? Desperation had brought him to this, and desperation would have to see it through.

But he
hadn’t
planned to make love to her. He’d never dreamed that would have been a result of his day on the beach with her. He’d just wanted some time where they could get to know each other better, without her maid nearby as had been the case on their outing in Cartagena. And he’d needed it to be on solid ground. Spending most of his time in his cabin on this trip was getting him nowhere. And when he did steal a few minutes with her on the ship, his desire for her kept him making a fool of himself.

The Malory brothers had given him good advice, but he wasn’t like them. He was a sailor. He’d never been in one port for long. He’d never had time to be subtle with a woman, so it wasn’t something he’d attempted before. And his feelings kept getting in the way with Katey. Wanting her so damn much, he couldn’t even be himself with her. Until today. Briefly. Too briefly. He should have killed those damn pirates for interrupting what had been the sweetest day of his life.

Katey’s silence was killing him. She hadn’t answered his question, but that was an answer in itself. Of course, now she wished today hadn’t happened. But before she’d found out how he’d arranged for them to be alone on the beach, she’d seemed to have no regrets. But she still wouldn’t marry him. Stubborn woman. But, my God, she did ask him if he’d wait for her! Now, he’d be lucky if she didn’t spend the rest of the voyage in
her
cabin. Actually, he’d be lucky if she didn’t leave
The Oceanus
altogether at the next port.

Reaching the ship, she climbed the ladder rather hastily, so he was surprised she was still standing there when he came over the side behind her. Tyrus was there, too, looking utterly ashamed, which was probably why she hadn’t walked away. She wasn’t going to let him escape her anger.

“There she is, Cap’n,” a crewman shouted from the quarterdeck. “We didn’t lose her.”

The crewman wasn’t talking about Katey, of course. He’d just lowered his spyglass, but he wasn’t facing in the direction of the pirate ship.

“What ship is he talking about?” Boyd asked Tyrus.

“Theirs,” Tyrus said, nodding behind him. “By taking the same northern Mediterranean course and checking they found us a few hours ago and came aboard. Their ship was following us, but we lost sight of her when we came around the isle.”

Boyd turned abruptly to see whom Tyrus was talking about and then went perfectly still. Leaning against the railing, both of them looking as inscrutable as ever, stood Anthony and James Malory. James looked no different from the way he had the last time he’d boarded
The Oceanus
—and stolen her cargo!—all those years ago when he’d amused himself by living the life of a gentleman pirate in the Caribbean. His white shirt was loosely tucked into tight breeches, his blond hair was windblown, and a gold earring flashed in his ear. Anthony wasn’t looking quite as immaculate as usual, either, with the sleeves of his white shirt rolled up because of the heat. Boyd was incredulous. He hadn’t even noticed them there when he’d climbed aboard. He couldn’t think of a single reason why they would be there. And then he did, and he blanched.

“Georgina?”

“She’s got a pretty big bone to pick with you, but otherwise she’s fine,” James said.

“My brothers?”

“No idea,” James replied. “But they’re probably as well as the last time you saw them.”

The color came back to his checks with his immediate relief, but a frown quickly followed. “Then what are
you
doing here?”

This question hadn’t been directed at one of them in particular, but Anthony answered, “I came to collect Katey and kill you.”

Since he spoke without any change in expression whatsoever, Boyd assumed Anthony was just being annoying as usual. But Katey latched on to his remark.

“That sounds like a splendid plan to me on both counts,” she said to the Malorys. “But you might want to wait to kill him until he’s back on dry land. Here on the ship, he’ll no doubt gain your sympathy with his seasickness. It will probably start up any moment now,” she added as the ship dipped low in the water. “Hard to kill a man if he’s puking all over you.”

Boyd groaned inwardly. “Thanks, Katey. Just the two I would have preferred didn’t know about that.”

“You are quite welcome,” she snapped at him. “And as long as I’m talking to you for the moment, I’ll say good-bye now. If I ever see you again, Boyd Anderson, please pretend you don’t know me. You’re as good at pretenses as I am, so I’m sure you can manage it just fine.”

She stomped off in the direction of her cabin, all four men watching her go. James actually waited until she was out of sight before he doubled over with laughter. Boyd steeled himself for a good deal of humor—at his expense. He didn’t have to wait long for it.

“His entire family in shipping and he can’t ‘stomach’ the sea,” James said with another round of laughter. “Priceless. And I guarantee his family doesn’t know. I suppose we should keep it to ourselves,” he said to his brother.

“The hell I will,” Anthony replied. “I’ll be shouting it from the rooftops until every member of Skylark and his family hears it.”

“That implies he’ll be breathing to suffer the shame,” James said, still obviously amused. “So you aren’t going to kill him now?”

“Only a little.” Anthony slammed his fist into Boyd’s face.

Boyd was caught completely off guard. He really wasn’t expecting that. But Anthony was fast. He would probably have got in that punch even if Boyd was anticipating it.

Picking himself up off the deck, Boyd snarled, “
Why
are you two here?”

“That was already answered,” James put in, leaning against the rail again with his arms crossed.

James’s making himself comfortable to watch the entertainment should have given Boyd warning, but damned if Anthony didn’t get in another punch. This one didn’t knock Boyd down, but his cheek exploded with pain. He ignored it and raised his fists. He wasn’t going to be caught off guard a third time.

He even smiled slightly as he told Anthony, “You know, I’ve waited years for this, an opportunity to test my skills against a master, which I’ve always considered you to be.”

“Should have said so, Yank. I would have been glad to accommodate you.”

“
But
I’d like to know why you’re granting my fondest wish.” Then Boyd added politely, “If you don’t mind?”

“If Katey wasn’t furious with you, which implies you didn’t manage to seduce her after all, I wouldn’t be holding m’self back,” Anthony informed him.

Boyd rubbed his cheek gently. “You call this holding yourself back?”

Anthony ignored that question. “Since you didn’t succeed, I don’t have to kill you. However, I do need to make it very clear that seducing my daughter is to be removed from your list of choices. In fact, where—”

“Your
what
?”

Anthony didn’t pause at that interruption. “—she’s concerned, you don’t get any choices. She’d have to be so in love with you that it makes her literally sick before I’d ever consider letting yet another Anderson into the immediate family. And since that obviously isn’t the case, you, dear boy, will bloody well stay away from her.”

Incredulous, Boyd looked to James for answers. “He’s delusional, right?”

“’Fraid not, Yank.”

“But she’s as American as I am! How can she be his daughter?”

“In the usual way it’s done, I would imagine,” James said drily.

“You know what I meant,” Boyd replied, his frustration mounting.

James shrugged. “It’s a long story. Suffice it to say, she
is
a Malory. Which is too bad for you, ain’t it?”

That “too bad” held a lot of meaning, and some of it came to him immediately. For the third time, Boyd was caught off guard and knocked to the deck. But this time he came up swinging.

Chapter Forty-Two

W
HEN ARE YOU GOING TO TELL HER?”
James quietly asked his brother.

They stood at the rail of James’s ship, watching
The Oceanus
in the distance trying to catch up to them. It wasn’t going to happen unless he allowed it.

The Maiden George
, as he’d rechristened his ship when he bought her a few months ago to take Georgina to Connecticut, had been named for his wife, but also in fond memory of
The Maiden Anne
, the ship he’d lived on for so many years. This ship was faster, but only because he’d removed all of her cannon before they set out to find
The Oceanus
. He could do nothing but run if attacked, but if attacked, he could run damn fast.

Sailing unarmed had made the voyage a bit dangerous, considering the rampant pirate activity in the Mediterranean, but speed had been preferable with Anthony climbing the walls with his impatience. And with good reason. They
had
instructed Boyd on how to go about seducing the chit. So it
was
imperative they find him and Katey before that happened.

James had let
The Oceanus
catch up to them once, deliberately. But that had just turned into a shouting match that had infuriated Anthony, because he couldn’t reach the Yank to pound on him some more. Katey, who was now on board
The Maiden George
, hadn’t come up on deck to hear it, which was a good thing. Women tended to get all sympathetic when they witnessed the battered face of someone they knew, and Boyd’s face definitely fit into that category. Which was possibly what Boyd had been hoping would happen, since he’d shouted for them to stop so he could talk to her.

Katey hadn’t seen his condition when she’d returned to the deck of
The Oceanus
with her servants and baggage, ready to change ships, because Boyd had already been carried off to his cabin by then, quite unconscious.

“Well?” James prodded his brother.

“I’d prefer to wait until I no longer look like a panda,” Anthony mumbled.

James chuckled. “It’s only one black eye he gave you, not two. But I’ll allow he did give a good accounting of himself. Surprising, that. Don’t think you were expecting it either, were you?”

“I’ve never had him in the ring. From the sound of it, he’d been hoping for an invitation. I wish he’d mentioned that before today. I would have much preferred to know ahead of time that that fight was going to last so bloody long.”

“I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised, come to think of it,” James said. “The puppy spent more time admiring my pugilist skill in Connecticut than he did trying to trounce me with his brothers. But they were all pretty handy with their fists, those Yanks. The third worst beating of my life, as a matter of fact.”