Passion's Tide (43 page)

She walked along the garden path until she came across a round marble fountain, and smoothing her skirts she sat down. The sound of splashing water was relaxing, especially after being trapped for so long
.
The party had been pleasant enough, nothing she hadn’t prepared herself for
.
And she was grateful to her family for taking her in
.
And yet,
she couldn’t help
feel
ing
that she did not belong.

She knew that on the outside she appeared to fit in, but after so long at sea, being in polite society was dull
.
She missed the ocean
.
She itched at her side, where her corset was digging into her skin
.
She missed the freedom of dressing comforta
bly, saying what was on her mind, doing as she pleased
.
And more than anything, she missed the company of her unruly band of pirates.

She had been almost certain that she had seen Eli in
the crowd, but as she thought about it now, it was impossible
.
Eli
was gone, along with Pax, Johnny, and everyone else she cared about. Along with Logan
.
Her hand moved to the necklace hidden beneath her dress, her fingers sliding along the
gold
chain,
warmed
by her skin
.
Her other hand trailed
in the water
, making small circles
as she watched the ripples play out.

A sound behind her made her start, and acting on instinct she
reached
for the knife strapped to her leg, fumbling when she felt only the silk of her stockings
.
She jumped t
o her feet and spun around to see a dark figure hidden in the shadow of a tree.

“You should know better than to come to one of these parties unarmed,” said Logan sardonically as he
walked forward into the moonlight.

“You!” she gasped, her heart leaping into her throat as Logan reached her
.
Her knees buckled and then she found herself collapsing against him as his arms wrapped around to support her
.
Hot tears began streaming down her face.

“Oh sweetheart, please don’t cry,” he begged, pulling back to look down at her
.
“It’ll be all right.”  She shook her head, unable to form words
.
He sat her down on the edge of the fountain and knelt before her, taking her face in his hands
.
“Look at me, Amber, please.”

She brought her face up to meet his, and another sob escaped her
.
“I’m so sorry Logan, it was my fault
.
I left you there to die. I wanted to go back for you but I knew if I did they would kill you, and…” he shushed her, as if she were a child, and tugged her shaking body against him again.

“It was not your fault Amber
.
I knew the risks going into it, which is why I had wanted to keep you on the boat.”

“And if I
had stayed on the boat then you never would have gotten caught!”

“And our mission would have failed.”

“Our mission
did
fail, Mendoza captured you and—” she stopped as realization struck her
.
“Where is Mendoza, Logan?”

His eyes were dark
.
“Dead.”

“Ho
w?”

“By his own arrogance
.
He left me with only one guard, and it was simple enough to knock h
im out and disarm him. Then I
stole
into Mendoza’s room and slit his throat.”

“His crew?”

“Swore their allegiance to me and provided me with a ship.” She finally allowed herself
t
o relax, and a wave of relief washed over her
.
Some of the tension sh
e had been carrying around for weeks left her body, and she felt as though the weight on top of her had been lifted
.
He was alive!

And then she heard her name being called from the balcony
.
It was the young Baron Middleton, whom she had deserted to seek
some solitude, and alongside him stood Olivia
.
They both gazed into the darkness of the garden, scanning the faces of the few people strolling down the paths
.
Amber held her breath as they called her again, releasing it when the Baron led Olivia inside,
probably to look for her among the guests.

The heavy weight of despair settled back down upon her shoulders
.
Her body was drawn to Logan like a magnet, and she longed for nothing more than to throw herself into his arms
.
But she had to be realistic
.
She
had come all this way to meet the requirements of her father’s will, and now that she was close to reaching her goal, she couldn’t give it up to be with him
.
No matter how much she loved him, or how much it hurt.

“Logan, I…” she paused as she sought the right words to say, “I’m glad you’re alive.”  She got to her feet and forced indifference into her voice
.
“But if you’ll excuse me, I have to return to the party
.
My friends are looking for me.”

He stood also, looking puzzled
.
“You’re going inside?”

“Yes,” she said dismissively
.
“Why, would you like to come too? I’m sure there are plenty of eager young women who would hang on your every word.” She noticed for the first time that he was not wearing his normal sailing attire, but instead was dressed f
ormally
.

She felt her palms become damp as she took in the impressive sight of Logan in dress clothes
.
His hunter-green, silk waistcoat was cut short above his tight black breeches, and his green coat was so dark that she almost didn’t notice the intric
ate embroidery. His beard was gone again and his hair, usually left unbound, was pulled back at the nape of his neck with a black
ribbon
.
He wore no wig, as was fashionable at the time, but had replaced his boots with a pair
of shiny black buckle shoes
.
He
was
striking
.
Even stranger, he looked comfortable
dressed this way
.

“What are you doing here?” his voice cut into her thoughts.

“What am
I
doing here? I think the better question is what are
you
doing here?”

His
arms were crossed in front of him and a scowl appeared on his face
.
“I said I would find you,” he replied, sending a shiver down her spine
.
“Now answer me.”

“I was
invited by the Whitmore family.”

She gasped as her arm was captured in his tight grip
.
“Who
m
have you met?” he demanded, ignoring her attempts to free herself.

“Let me go!”

“Who
m
have
you
met, Amber?”

“Only the Countess and her daughter,” she answered, wrenching her arm free and taking a step back
.
For a fraction of a s
econd she thought he looked pained, but she blinked and it was gone
.
“My cousin Dominic said he was going to keep the older brothers away from me, that he didn’t trust a Whitmore as far as he could throw him.” Her lip curled in a cruel smile
.
“The irony
is that Dom thinks I can’t take care of myself, when in fact, I’ve learned from the master.”

“Right, irony,” h
e mumbled
.
“Now enough with these games, we have to go now.”

“Go?”

“Yes,” he said, glancing around him, “we must leave before someone sees us.”

“I’m not going anywhere with you, Logan,” she stated with a defiant lift of her chin, her traitorous body aching to follow him like a lost puppy
.
“I’m staying here.”

His face swiveled around to meet her hard gaze
.
“I thought you’d be happier to s
ee me.”

“I’m pleased to see you’re not dead, of course
.
However…trivial our relationship was, it would upset me to hear you had been killed.” His grey eyes blazed with anger, but she steeled herself and continued
.
“Be that as it may, this is my life now
.
I enjoyed the adventure while it lasted, but now that it’s over, I must say I’m relieved
.
I’m where I’ve always wanted to be
.
This is where I belong.”

“You belong with me.”

“With you?” she said with a bark of laughter
.
“I apologize if I’ve led you
to believe there was something more to our relationship than a casual dalliance
.
You were a welcome distraction from my boredom at sea
.
But
you must face
the fact
that I have returned to my rightful position in society, and am soon to be courted by the handsome Baron Middleton,” she lied, her heart breaking
.
She could see that she was wounding him with her words; she just had to twist the knife once more and then he would leave her forever
.
Anguish filled her at the thought of losing him again, but she
saw no other choice.

“That is the kind of man I belong with
.
Not some
pirate
,” s
he said with a sneer.

Logan recoiled as if he’d been struck
.
And then, as she watched, he transformed into the cold pirate Captain, his face stripped of emotion
.
“Of
course, how silly of me to assume otherwise,” he said in a callous voice
.
“Please accept my apologies for interrupting you
.
I hope I didn’t ruin your perfect evening.”

Amber blinked back the tears that sprang to her eyes
.
Afraid that if she opened he
r mouth the truth would come pouring out, she gave him a jerky nod and turned.
Do not cry
, she commanded herself as she quickened her pace, desperate to escape. She was almost to the edge of the garden path when his voice stopped her.

“Amber,
since
I
went
through all the trouble of escaping and stealing this back from Mendoza, I wonder if you might take it off my hands for me.” She swiveled around to see him pull a sparkling diamond necklace from his coat. “May I?”

He took her stunned silence as a yes, and she watched, frozen, as he approached her with the necklace
.
When he was no more than a foot away he reached up and untied the strand of pearls already around her throat, letting
them
fall into his hand
.
“These are nice,” he said wit
h disinterest, “but you’ll draw more attention wearing this.”

She c
ould hardly breathe with him so close, his familiar scent causing her to bite the inside of her lip to keep it from trembling
.
He handed her the pearls and stepped around her, his body b
rushing hers in the process
.
Amber shut her eyes
.
She could feel the warmth of his hand as he moved aside a tendril of hair, and then the cold, heavy weight of the necklace was around her throat
.
Though it wasn’t tight, she felt her airway constrict as
though he
were
chaining her into an iron neck shackle instead of a priceless piece of jewelry
.
Then with a final flick, the clasp was shut.

“See?  I knew if you could stand being in my presence for just a tad longer, you’d be rewarded,” he told her bitingly, the sting of his words causing her to shut her eye
s even tighter
.
“When people ask where you got it, feel free to tell them it’s another token from a meaningless tryst
.
And don’t worry about me showing up on your doorstep or accosting you at ano
ther ball to get it back, I…” his voice stopped
.
“What’s this?  You’re wearing not one, but two necklaces?  Gotten greedier since you’ve returned, haven’t you?”