Pleasing the Pirate: A Loveswept Historical Romance (8 page)

He turned and slipped away, the crowd swallowing him up. Mairi called after him, her voice lost in the noise. She pushed through the tightly packed people, using her elbows to bully her way through, but the more she pushed the more it felt as if she were trying to run underwater. She wanted to tell him she wasn’t safe in Scotland, either. Not with MacGowan knocking at her door. She wanted to demand that he take her to her brother. She didn’t want her one connection to her home to just walk away from her.

Phin touched her shoulder. “Come, Mairi, sit down.”

She tried to peer through the crowd, but she saw nothing. Connor was gone. He’d left her.

Her shoulders drooped and woodenly she followed Phin back to their table and sat. There had been such hatred in Connor’s eyes. He once had been such a fun-loving lad, always up for a good jest and quick with a sunny smile. That boy was no longer there, and in his place was someone Mairi did not want to see.

She
hated
the English. Hated them for what they’d done, for their greed, for their need for power, for their quest to conquer everything. For the way they destroyed all that was good in the men she once knew. But the hatred Mairi felt and the hatred she saw burning in Connor’s eyes were two different things.

She looked around at the men on all sides of her, speaking in their hard, clipped English accents. Even their speech was rough, so different from the smooth rounded words of her native land.

It was Grant’s fault she was here. His fault that she would have to offer up her virginity to an Englishman in the hope that he would help her.

She blinked her dry eyes, too furious to cry. There were no more tears left. They’d all been shed.

She stood suddenly and Phin’s head jerked in her direction.

“I’m going upstairs.”

“Mairi, wait.”

But she didn’t wait. She was tired of waiting for men to help her.

“Mairi.” Phin grabbed her arm just as she entered their bedchamber.

She jerked out of his grasp. “Best leave me be right now, Captain.”

“Not until you tell me what happened down there.”

Wrapping her arms around her middle, she strode to the window because it was the farthest she could get from him and still be in the same room. She stared through the grimy glass. When had it started raining? The street was wet, puddles dotting here and there, but that didn’t stop the crush of humanity from wandering around in it. Even in the dark and the rain they were everywhere.

Through the reflection of the glass she saw Phin close the door and lean against it as if to keep her in. She pressed her forehead against the window. “Just leave. Please.”

“What happened, Mairi?”

“Nothing happened.”

“Who is Connor?”

“A clansman.” She paused. “And a friend of Grant’s.”

“Did he say something to upset you?”

She laughed. Oh, yes, he’d said everything to upset her, but why was she surprised? Why did she think this would be easy?

“We can go round and round with this conversation. I have all night if this is how you want to do it.”

“I’m weary, Captain. I haven’t slept well in days.”

“If Connor said something to offend you, then I’ll hear it.”

She jerked away from the window. “And what will you do? Chase after him and pierce him with your cutlass? Shoot him with your pistol? Please, I beg of you to find him for me because he is my only link to my brother.”

Captain Phin merely blinked, apparently unfazed by her outburst, which fueled her burning anger.

“Do you know what I find offensive? This dirty city. This filthy room. The fact that I’m
here instead of in Scotland. That I have to track my brother down because he knows not nor cares about his duty.”

“Are you offended or angry?”

“Furious.”
She slashed her hand through the air. “Furious at the English soldiers who took everything from me. My friends are dead, Captain. At the hands of the English soldiers. Women I knew were raped and murdered. The men slaughtered. And if they happened to survive, they’re not the same.” Like her brother and like Connor.

She spun away, feeling caged in and desperate to escape. But to where? The street outside, where all sorts of degenerates congregated? Back to Scotland, where everyone looked at her as if she were the savior who had the answers to everything? Where MacGowan eagerly awaited her so he could take everything away from her?
Go back to Scotland where you will be safe
.

What the hell had Connor meant when he said that? Safe? Nowhere was safe.

“I can’t do it anymore. I cannot hold everyone together and tell them all will be fine. I cannot lie and tell them we have food and that we are safe. I need to find Grant. I need to bring him home. I need him to step up and take his place as our laird.”

“I can’t guarantee that your brother will return to Scotland.”

“I never asked for a guarantee. Just that you help me find him.”

He looked down at the toes of his boots and frowned. “I don’t have the answers for you, Mairi.”

“I don’t expect you to.” Her anger was spent and left a wake of exhaustion that she feared no amount of sleep would conquer. She hadn’t slept well in months. More like years, probably.

“Grant’s a wanted man. His life is in danger, and if he does happen to return to Scotland, the lives of everyone close to him will be in danger as well.”

That was her fear, had been her fear since Phin told her Grant was wanted for treason. And yet she couldn’t give up because she had no other choice. She had nowhere to turn and no one else to turn to.

“I’m tired, Captain. I’m sure in the morning everything will seem better.”

Three heartbeats of silence passed while the men below caroused. Finally Phin pushed away from the door. “I’ll leave you to sleep, then. I’ll post a man at the door.”

“Do you fear I’ll escape?”

He paused as he reached for the door handle. “You’re not my prisoner, lass.”

Ashamed, she looked away. “My apologies for being a shrew.”

“Not a shrew. Desperate and tired but not a shrew. He’s posted outside the door to keep you safe, that’s all. If you need anything, tell him to come for me.”

He slid through the door and quietly closed it behind him, leaving Mairi with her shame and desperation as he so eloquently called it.

* * *

Phin dropped into the chair next to Sebastian and grabbed his tankard of ale. But just as fast as he’d grabbed it he pushed it away. He’d lied to her. Hell, he’d lied to her from the beginning, so why was this latest lie sitting ill upon his shoulders?

He’d posted his man outside the door for exactly the reason Mairi said. So she could not escape. Because she was the only thing that stood between him and the hangman.

Sebastian watched him silently, but Phin had no interest in striking up a conversation, especially the conversation Sebastian would want to have.

Hell and damnation. Mairi truly was desperate and truly did think Grant would help her.

“Everything well?” Sebastian asked.

“She’s tired and overwhelmed.”

He could well imagine the weight that rested on those slim shoulders because an equal, if not heavier, weight rested on his. Damn but he was in a predicament.

“Do you think Grant will get the message?” Sebastian asked.

Phin ran a hand down his face and sat back, fiddling with his tankard but not drinking out of it. “That Connor fellow was his friend. I have no doubt he’s now running to Grant with the news that Mairi is here.”

“Good.” Sebastian took another swallow and looked with jaded eyes and a twist of his lips around the room.

“What will happen when this is finished?” Phin asked.

“What do you mean?”

He pushed his tankard one way, then the other, watching the water droplets roll off it. “We’re using Mairi to flush out Grant. Once we catch him what happens to her?”

“I suppose it depends on what role she has played in all of this.”

“You believe she’s aiding her brother?”

“We would be fools not to consider the possibility.”

Sebastian was right, of course, but no matter how Phin thought about it he couldn’t see Mairi being involved in any of this.

“It’s true she hates the English,” he said. “But I saw her reaction when I told her Grant was wanted for treason.”

“And?”

“And one would have to be an excellent actress to fake such shock. She knew nothing of his activities.”

Sebastian’s jaw muscles worked as if he were chewing on this latest information. “The man who sent her to you is my man. He’s been living on her land and working for her for months now.”

Phin had suspected as much. “And what has he reported to you?” He was surprised at how tense he’d become and how much he didn’t want to hear that Sebastian’s source had labeled Mairi a conspirator to her brother.

“Just that she works tirelessly for her people. That they rely on her entirely too much. I think the man is enamored of her.”

Phin didn’t like his reaction to that piece of news. His stomach clenched and his fingers folded into fists. He had to consciously relax his body, but it had been enough of a reaction for Sebastian to notice.

“I hope the same is not happening to you.”

“Of course not.” He took a drink of ale in part to hide his eyes from Sebastian and in part because his mouth was suddenly dry. He was
not
enamored of the lass.

“You mustn’t forget that her brother is a traitor.”

“I can hardly forget when I’m in danger of losing my life if I don’t bring him in.”

Sebastian studied him thoughtfully again. “There’s a neighbor who has offered for her hand in marriage. I’m positive the lass will land on her feet after this is finished.” Sebastian stood and stretched. “I’m off to home and to my wife. Send for me if anything drastic happens.”

He disappeared into the crowd, leaving Phin stunned and inordinately angry. She was
betrothed
? What the hell? Why hadn’t he known this? Why hadn’t she said anything? And why
the hell wasn’t her
betrothed
helping her find Grant instead of Phin?

* * *

Mairi awoke with a start when a hand clamped over her mouth. She screamed, but the sound was muffled. She bucked against the weight draped over her legs.

“Shhh, Mairi. It’s Grant.”

She froze.

Slowly his hand came away and she surged off the bed, ripping the bedsheets from her. She’d slept in her breeches, too tired and morose to change into her stiff-from-the-saltwater chemise.

“Grant?” she whispered.

The shadow before her coalesced into a tall stranger. Nay, not a stranger but her brother in a different form. Taller, thinner, his cheeks gaunt, his beautiful auburn hair long and shaggy.

She squeezed the tight muscle in his arm. “You’re here,” she breathed, barely able to believe it.

“Aye. I’m here.”

With a strangled cry she threw her arms around him, noting the thin shoulders roped with muscle. At first he stood with his arms dangling at his sides, his body stiff. After a few moments he patted her awkwardly until she pulled away and wiped the tears from her cheeks.

“Ah, but it’s good to see you.” She looked him up and down. He was a man now. No more gangly arms and legs and a good four inches taller so that she had to look up to him.

“What are you doing here?”

She frowned at his curt tone. “Phin said this would be the best place to look for you—”

He sliced his hand through the air, cutting her off. “Not here as in the Coxswain but here as in England.”

“I—I came for you.”

“Why?”

“Why?
Why?
Because the clan needs you.”

“There is no more clan. It’s been abolished.”

What was it with these men? Did he and Connor think that their people could go about
their merry way with a jaunty wave goodbye? That just because the English
said
there were no more clans meant it was so? “There’s nowhere for them to go. Most of the men have left to find work, leaving the women behind.”

“And what am I to do about it?”

She put her hands on her hips. “Take up the mantle of leadership that you were born to. Return to Scotland. Help us with the crops and with the security of our land.”

“I
am
helping our clan by fighting against the English.”

“By committing treason? By siding with the French in a daft scheme to bring England to its knees?”

He stilled. His jaw muscle worked. “I see you’ve been talking to your pirate friend.”

“My pirate friend is helping me find you.”

“You cannot trust an Englishman.
Any
Englishman. Connor said you were surrounded by them tonight.”

“Of course I was. I’m in England, you bloody bampot. I paid Captain Phin to find you.”

“Don’t trust him.”

“I trust no Englishman.”

“That’s my girl.” He smiled slightly, but it didn’t reach his cold, hard eyes.

“I need you to come home with me, Grant. We need your help.”

“What I’m doing here will benefit all of Scotland, not just Clan McFadden.”

“So that’s it? You’ll leave me at home while you go about—”

“Shhh.” He grabbed her arm and shook her slightly, enough to cause her to squeak in surprise. “Someone’s coming,” he whispered, his body taut, quivering, every sense on alert.

Mairi listened to the steady footfall of boots making their way up the stairs. She would know the sound of those boots anywhere.

“ ’Tis Phin. He’s helping me find you.”

“Don’t be daft, sister. He no more wants to help you than the king wants to return Scotland to Bonnie Prince Charlie.”

“Mairi?” Phin’s voice came softly through the door.

Grant released her arm and stepped toward the window. “I must leave, but I will need your help.” He flung one leg over the windowsill. “I will contact you shortly.”

“Wait.” She lunged for him. “Don’t leave me, Grant. Take me with you.”

“Not yet. You’re better off here. Trust me, Mairi.”

And then he was gone and Phin was opening the door.

He looked at the open window, at the bedsheets strewn across the floor, then at her.