Only With Your Love (30 page)

“Now tell me about Aug,” Legare said softly.

Justin forced his gaze to Legare’s face. She has nothing to do with any of this. She’s my brother’s wife—”

“Ah, but Mr. Risk claims you’re quite fond of her.”

“Aye,” Risk spoke up. “Made him into a soft-headed cully, she has.”

Justin looked at him with murderous fury. “I’ll
kill you,” he snarled, his hands twisting violently in their shackles until his chains rattled. The pain of his ribs was forgotten. The cheering of the men in the cell approached a fever pitch, for in his growing rage Justin resembled a rabid wolf.

Legare took Celia’s chin in one hand and struck her soft cheek with the other. She reeled back against Risk, and stared at Legare with hatred.

Justin exploded, yanking at his chains in a frenzy. “Damn you! I’ll kill you…
I swear it!
”

“She’s just a woman,” Risk said coolly. “No different from a thousand others, Griffin.”

“Tell me about Aug,” Legare said, and produced a knife with a long, wicked blade. “Shall I carve your name across her pretty face?”

“
No!
” Justin breathed in ragged gulps. “Don’t touch her!”

Legare grinned, and with the flat of the knife traced an invisible V from Celia’s temples to her chin. It did not leave a mark, but the gesture demonstrated his intentions perfectly. “How did Aug bring the men here?” he asked.

“Don’t tell him, Justin,” Celia said unsteadily. “It will not make a difference, he will do it anyway.”

“Not necessarily,” Legare informed her. “If he is cooperative, I may allow you to live. I am acquainted with several merchants in Africa who could sell you at a handsome price on the slave market. Skin as fair as yours is highly prized there.” He glanced at Justin. “Well, Griffin?”

Justin’s gaze did not leave the knife, which weaved back and forth in front of Celia’s waxen face. “He smuggled them here in barrels. Your men thought it was a shipment of wine taken from a prize ship.”

Legare raised his reddish brows in surprise.
“Where have they been hiding? In the village? It couldn’t be the fort. We’ve searched every inch of it.”

“I don’t know.”

The knife hovered under Celia’s jaw. “Come now, Captain Griffin.”

“
Damn you, I don’t know!
”

Legare turned his back on Justin and caressed Celia’s taut throat. “We must convince him to be more talkative,
n’est-ce pas?
I believe I’ll allow my men to amuse themselves with you. Not all at once, of course—you might cause them to quarrel.” His low voice cut underneath Justin’s bellowing rage as he addressed two of the men. “Boles, Luc, take her to the next cell. My reward to both of you. And make certain there is something entertaining for Griffin to hear.”

Eagerly the pair tore Celia from Risk’s possession and dragged her from the room. She screamed shrilly, clawing and biting as if she were possessed.

Justin lifted his legs, and smashed his booted feet into Legare’s head. In spite of the men’s fear of Legare, they all shouted with laughter as they saw that he had been taken unaware and knocked to the floor. Astonished, Legare struggled up and regarded him with disbelieving fury. But in a part of his mind, Justin noticed something else—that he could no longer hear Celia’s screams. He was wondering what that meant when Legare raised his knife high and strode toward Justin purposefully.

As Celia was dragged down the corridor by Legare’s men, a dark figure leaped from nowhere. A gleaming knife slashed through the air. The brutal hands holding her became loose and
slipped away. Celia’s screams died abruptly. She was paralyzed. Suddenly Aug’s hawkish features and lustrous black eyes were before her, and he took her arm. She stared at him in bewilderment and let him pull her away from the two fallen bodies.

“Aug?” she managed to whisper, coming to her senses. “Aug, Justin is back there,
Justin
—” She tried to stop their forward progress, but he continued to pull her inexorably.

“Quickly, quickly, they will be coming,” he said.

“Yes, but Justin—”

“Do not worry about him.”

Just then a thunderous blast came from the direction of the cell, causing her to gasp and stumble. The floor and walls shook around them. “What was that?”

The moment Legare reached Justin, the wooden wall to Justin’s left exploded, sending splinters and burning ash flying everywhere. The force of the explosion sent the men closest to the wall flying backward. Dazed, Justin hung limply by the chains. There was a ringing in his ears that drowned out all other sound. Time passed with disjointed slowness.

For a few seconds he blacked out, and then he was vaguely aware of men scrambling, fleeing, falling to the floor. “Celia,” he mumbled. He began to stir, raising his head groggily. A few familiar faces swam before him…He was lifted from the hook, and burly arms supported him as he staggered a few steps, the chains dragging on the floor.

The world steadied itself, and a small crowd of his own crew poured through the demolished
wall. Among them, the faces of Sans-Nez and Duffy appeared directly in front of him.

“The woman—” Justin said.

“She’s all right, Aug’s got her.”

His gaze darted around the room. Legare had disappeared. Once released, Justin limped to the prone bodies on the floor and crouched by one of them, ignoring the ache of his bad leg.
“Jack…”
It was Risk. He had been caught in the blast. His green eye was open and staring, and the patch had been dislodged from the ruined one. Justin searched for a pulse, and realized that Risk was dead.

Justin was surprised that after the worst of betrayals he could still feel such grief. He wanted to howl in denial and outrage and sadness. Gently he pulled the patch over the disfigured eye socket and closed Risk’s good eye. He stood up and stared at the lax features in a kind of trance. He understood why Risk had turned against him. After all they had been through together, Risk had felt as if Justin had deserted him. He had felt there was no other choice than to follow Legare.

Justin would have stayed there longer, but he was aware that the others were watching him. He turned back to them and held out his wrists. “Get these off me,” he said. “Legare will organize his men quickly—we don’t have much time.” Busily they set to work on the shackles with iron implements, smashing the bolts that had held the manacles around his arms. “You blew a hole through the wall…” Justin shook his head to clear his brain. “Dammit, how did you know I wasn’t strung up against that wall?”

They grinned. “We hoped you warn’t,” Sans-Nez said.

The irons dropped from his bruised wrists. “You’re certain Aug has the woman?” he asked.

“Aye.”

They were all looking at him expectantly. Justin assumed command automatically, snapping out instructions to the men. As he spoke, his mind raced with options. Risk was dead, Celia was in danger, and Aug was doing God knew what. The plans Justin had made would have to be carried out, but with a few alterations. Before he did anything else, he had to find Celia and make certain she was safe.

“A naval squadron of eight or more ships will be approaching,” he said rapidly. “Get to the cannon on the two main batteries of the fort and fire on any pirate vessels in the harbor that aren’t dismantled. Legare’s men will be trying to assume battle stations. Don’t turn the guns on anything flying an American flag. Set fire to the tavern and the munitions warehouses.” He paused before adding gruffly, “I’ll find Legare.”

“Look sharp, Griffin,” Duffy advised him. “We set the spring guns in the places ye wanted, and aimed ’em high. Trip over one of them wires and ye’ll be shot in the belly.”

Justin glanced down at his already battered body and the cigar burn on his chest. “I’m not sure I’d notice,” he muttered, and gestured for them to split up. Duffy handed him a knife and a rapier. Justin sheathed the knife in his boot and examined the sword. It was a simple and well-balanced weapon, the hilt constructed of a short grip and a guard that was little more than a rimmed saucer of steel.

Justin moved toward the corridor, and they all scattered to their tasks. He was aware that Duffy lingered behind, watching him. Justin swiveled to
face him. His limp, nearly undetectable most of the time, was sharply pronounced. “What is it?” he growled.

“I’ll go after Legare with ye, Griffin.”

Justin stared at him with penetrating blue eyes, half his face lit in torchlight, the other half in shadow. “Nay, I’ll do it alone. The devil himself couldn’t stop me.”

Duffy turned away, evidently satisfied with what he saw in Justin’s face.

Requiring no urging to keep pace with Aug, Celia scampered after him down a dim, sloping passageway. He stopped, causing her to slam into him with a muffled sound. With exaggerated care he pointed out a strange contraption mounted in the center of the floor. It looked like part of a gun. Glinting wires were stretched outward from the wooden casing, blocking off the passageway. Aug stepped over the wire and beckoned for her to do the same. Hitching up her skirts to her knees, she followed suit.

The passage went ever deeper into the ground, and ended in a honeycomb of caves. As Aug led her into one of them, it took a minute or so for her eyes to adjust to the semi-darkness. The cave was filled with empty crates and barrel staves. There was a gaping hole in the floor, about two feet wide. Aug pushed her toward it. “Down there,” he said. “It leads away from the fort. Go to the end, and hurry.”

Celia stared at him blankly. He wanted her to crawl into that dark hole in the ground? “I can’t do that,” she said.

“It is safe. Quickly, now.”

Her stomach twisted sickly. “There must be another
way, somewhere I could hide until…” She fell silent as Aug reached his hand to her.

“Take hold.”

Miserably she clasped his proffered hand, dangled her feet over the edge of the opening, and allowed him to lower her down. Her feet encountered smooth stones and a steeply graded incline. She stared up at the dim outline of Aug’s head. “Take care of Justin,” she said desperately.

“Yes.”

Then he disappeared. Surrounded by darkness, Celia sat on the slope and gave a few hysterical sobs. The thought occurred to her that if Risk had betrayed Justin, perhaps Aug had also. Perhaps Aug was not on their side. She reached up toward the opening, but her body only began to slide deeper into the pit, stones and sand cascading all around her.

Screaming, she tried to stop the downward plunge, and finally came to the bottom. She stood up clumsily and explored her surroundings. The sound of her breathing created a hollow echo.

Somewhere ahead, a few thin shafts of daylight broke through the ceiling, dimly illuminating her surroundings. She was in a cool, dank cave that was more than large enough for her to stand in. The floor was covered with an inch of seawater. Walking forward with outstretched arms, she encountered a wall and tested the rough surface with her fingertips.

She was still, listening to the muffled clamor from up above. Perhaps she should stay here and wait. The noise of another explosion rumbled through the walls, causing her to flinch. Pebbles scattered around her. She could not wait alone in the darkness or she would go mad. Biting her lip in concentration, she walked alongside the wall,
trailing the flat of her hand against it. She was terrified, but she was even more frightened for Justin.

Remembering the sight of him hanging from the chains, she began to cry. How badly had they hurt him? And the explosion—had he been caught in it? She clung to a thread of hope. Justin was strong and tenacious, he had survived much danger. But she was afraid that even if he had been rescued from the cell, his worry for her would distract him from watching out for his own safety. Step by step she splashed forward through the tunnel.

Justin knew that Legare would be quick to gather his own men and devise a strategy for dealing with the small battery of vandals wreaking havoc within the fort. But he anticipated that many of Legare’s own men would seize the opportunity to loot and pillage the storerooms and supplies, contributing to the chaos. With luck, Commander Matthews’ force would attack soon, which would force Legare to confront the threat from the harbor as well as the one from within.

Justin began to hear explosions and cannon blasts from the direction of the harbor, rolling like an irregular drumbeat. Hoarse cries and shouts reverberated through the passageways, and alarm erupted over the island. A haze of smoke began to drift in from somewhere. Calculating various places Aug might have taken Celia, Justin made his way toward the stone steps that led to the main level of the fort. Before he reached the first step, someone leaped out at him with a harsh shout, knocking him to the floor. Justin gripped the rapier hilt and rolled, coming to his feet quickly.

“Ned!” the assailant cried loudly, calling for help, and Justin found himself faced with two pirates, both smaller than he was but eager for battle. They were armed with short, heavy cutlasses, weapons usually carried by those who’d never been tutored by a fencing master. Such men found their limited skills enhanced by fighting at close range. They rushed at him together.

Leaping to the side, Justin parried and thrust at one of them, the rapier finding its mark easily. The man collapsed to the ground with a spreading patch of blood on his midriff. The other pirate swung at him in wide, arcing slashes. Justin had to compensate for his bad leg as he fought. He backstepped and lunged, then dove aside to avoid a downward swing that he couldn’t have parried without snapping his rapier.

Groaning at the pain in his ribs, Justin forced himself to roll to his feet once more. Before the man could raise a defense, Justin lunged and sank the sword into the man’s bulky shoulder. Dropping the cutlass, the pirate clutched at the wound and staggered back against the wall, sliding to the floor. He regarded Justin through slitted eyes, looking like an animal in a trap. Although the wound was not fatal, he had every expectation that Justin would finish him off. Not long ago Justin would have, without a second thought. Now he couldn’t find it in himself. God, what had happened to him?