Passion's Tide (16 page)

“Fair enough,” Logan said with a shrug
.
Then he lashed out in a blur of movement that Amber’s untrained eyes had trouble discerning. What she saw next was
Ken
crumpled on the ground with a blade in his side, blood pooling around his motionless body
.
Amber fought back the bile that rose in her throat.

The man who was still holding her reached for his knife, but before he could pull it out, Logan had his pistol cocked and aimed
.
“Drop it.” The dagger fell to the ground
.
“Now let her go, and get the hell out of here
.
If I ever see you again you’ll wind up like your friend, you got that?” With a hasty nod, the man pushed Amber from his grasp and ran from the alley
.

Caught off guard, her momentum
carried her forward and before she knew it she was in Logan’s arms
.
She never imagined that she would find comfort in the embrace of a pirate, but as his hands began to stroke her back reassuringly, she felt her body begin to relax. Logan held her tight against him until he felt her shaking subside.

“Are you all right?” She responded with a small nod, one he felt rather than saw, as her head was pressed against his chest
.
“Are you sure?” She pulled back long enough to wipe a tear from her eye and give him a weak smile
.

“No, but I’ll recover
.
Thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” he said
.
“Now, what the hell are you doing here?” The smile left her face in response to the icy chill in his words, and she took a step backwards
.

“I…I’m s-s-sorry, I was…” she fa
ltered as his eyes turned a darker shade of grey and bore into hers
.
“I only thought—”

He cut her off
.
“No, you weren’t thinking
.
What other possible explanation can there be for your bloody naiveté?” He continued to walk towards her, each forward step of his met with a step backward from her
.
“Did you really expect that I wouldn’t notice you had left? And if I had, did you assume I would just let you go?”

Amber gasped as the back of her legs hit something, her face paling as she realized it was the body of her attacker
.
Still trying to put as much space between Logan and herself, she tried to step over the corpse, but slipped on the blood.

Logan’s hand was there around her waist to steady her, and as he pulled her to her feet, he saw the hurt in her eyes as she clutched her ripped chemise to her chest
.
With a sigh, he shrugged out of his jacket and wordlessly threw it over her shoulders, then ran his hand through his hair and moved to peer into the street.

“You’re bleeding again.”

“What?” He turned back to her, and then glanced quickly at his left arm, where the fabric of his shirt had been ripped and was now mottled with the crimson stain of his blood
.
“Oh, that
.
It’s nothing.” Even as he said it, however, it began throbbing
.
He held back a grimace
.

“What happened?”

“Nothing.” He held up a hand to silence her as a group of drunken sailors stumbled past the dark alley, beckoning her forward when their voices grew quiet again
.
Giving the dead body one last spiteful glance, she picked up her skirts and slid beside him
.

“What are we doing?” she asked, but was met by silence
.
“Where are going?” she tried again.

Logan rolled his eyes and whispered back, “
T
o the White Margate
I
nn
.
Come on.” After readjusting his cutlass and pistol in the leather baldric that he wore over his right shoulder, he stepped into the street. He glanced into the night, flinching when he felt a small hand slide into his
.
Looking down, he saw Amber giving him a weak smile that did little to hide her anxiety
.
The icy grip around his heart melted a bit and he tried to return her smile, giving her hand a quick squeeze before leading her in the direction of the marina
.

His legs were longer than hers, and soon she felt herself struggling to keep up with his long strides while maintain
ing
some semblance of modesty, by clutching what little cloth
ing
she had left
on
her shivering body
.
But she was determined not to complain or
burden him further
, and so she stayed silent and tried not to lag behind.

On they went, keeping to the shadows as much as possible and avoiding attention
.
The streets this far from the harbor were deserted except for the occasional prostitute or drunken sailor
.
The houses that lined the street were dark and dilapidated
.
Amber took them all to be empty until she saw the glow of a candle glittering behind the dirty glass of a window
.
The eyes of a small child stared back out at her, then retreated into the blackness
.
The light flickered out.

“Where is everyone?” she whispered to Logan as he stopped to peer around a corner
.

He glanced back at her
.
“The few villagers that haven’t left the island remain inland during the night
.
Behind closed doors, trying to remain as inconspicuous as possible.”

“Well, why?”

“It’s not safe
for them to wander the streets while the rogues roam about, looking for trouble.”

“Rogues roam, I like that
.
Are you a roaming rogue?”

He returned her
smile
.
“The worst kind
.
Now hush, we’re approaching the harbor, and I want to get to the inn unscathed
.
So to speak,” he added, brushing his finger across the welt on her cheek
.
“Ready?”

Her face burned where his hand rested, though his touch was light
.
She swallowed heavily
.
“Yes.”

He untied a black scarf from around his waist.
“Cover your hair,” he instructed, handing her the strip of cloth and waiting until she had tucked her braid into it and tied it around her head. “Keep your head down, don’t look at anyone, and stay by my side
.
If anyone talks to you, don’t respond.”

Amber crossed her arms over her chest
and dropped her gaze to the ground, allowing herself to be steered by the gentle hand on her back
.
She could see the dark forms of men lining the street, emerging from taverns and brothels
.
Several called out to her, others shouted obscenities.

“Ignore
them and keep walking,” Logan whispered as his arm wrapped around her more protectively
.
“It’s not much further,” he promised as he turned and led her down a side street
.
She said nothing, but breathed a sigh of relief that now there were fewer people loitering about
.
She was starting to believe that they would reach the inn safely, when Logan held up his hand for her to stop
.
She looked up at him in confusion, but he only stood there, listening
.

She strained her ears for the source of his distraction, and finally made out the sound of two male voices coming from a shadowy house across the street. They appeared to be laughing, and Amber saw a large figure cross in front of the open window
.

She stifled a gasp as Logan grabbed her and pulled her into a darkened doorway, then pressed her body against the frame
.
Curious to see who was coming out of the house, she attempted to see over his broad shoulders, but he effectively blocked her view and hid her from the men who now stood in the street, talking
.
Resigned, she turned her attention back to Logan, whose hard body was aligned with hers, his face only inches away
.
His eyes were focused on her, but she knew that he was listening to every word the men were saying
.

Their conversation was banal, and coming to a close
.
The men were about to go their separate ways, when one of them spoke. “I forgot to tell you, Miguel, one of my men swears that he saw the
Imperial Shadow
today just outside of the harbor.” There was silence from Miguel, and the speaker let out a nervous laugh
.
“Of course, I told him he must be mistaken, for there is no way that
e
l Tigre would dare show his ugly face on your island again after last time.” Amber’s pulse picked up upon hearing the name of Logan’s ship, and she had lifted her gaze from his chest to look at him
.
He remained stoic as usual, but his eyes had darkened considerably, the tight expression on his face evidence enough that he was listening as well, and was bothered by what he had heard.

“What man of yours saw the ship?” asked Miguel in a thick Spanish accent
.

“Ignacio
.
He was repairing a tear in the topsail when he saw it in the distance
.
By the time he had gotten my attention, it had gone.”

“You will take me to this Ignacio
.
I will speak to him
.
And I will send my men out to look for
e
l Tigre’s ship.”

“And if you find it?”

Miguel’s voice was cold when he spoke again
.
“Then I will make good on the promise I made to him when I gave him that scar on his back.”

Amber wasn’t sure what promise Miguel had made Logan, but she was confident that it wouldn’t fare well for
either of them should the Spanish pirate stumble upon them
.
The footsteps were drawing closer now, and she turned to Logan again in uncertainty, hoping he had a good plan.

He responded by pressing his lips against hers.