Renegade (3 page)

“Oh shhhh—”

CHAPTER TWO

“—iit!”

Purely by instinct, Mac caught the skinny body—the person?—when it fell practically on top of him. He felt a head bounce off his shoulder, and tightened his arms in response. But the muttering told him there was still life, so he loosened his embrace and let the person—the female?—slide to her feet and begin to rearrange her skirts.

He kept his hands on her shoulders as he glanced up at the tree branch above them both, and then back down at the crown of her pale head.

What the hell?

She took a step back, still not looking at him, still muttering under her breath and trying to straighten her skirt. He couldn’t think of anything to say other than, “Are you all right?”

She looked at him then, and his brows rose again in surprise. If someone had told him that a female would hide in a tree, he would have assumed that she was child. But this was most definitely a woman, and Mac felt his lips curve into a slow smile as he looked her over.

She had honey-colored hair and high cheekbones, one with a smear of mud. He figured she was Robert’s mysterious “someone,” and had hidden when she’d seen them coming. Although why she’d climb a tree was beyond him; and then to fall into his arms…? She was lucky he was there to catch her. Of course, seeing how adorably disheveled she looked, with her bun hanging over one ear, Mac was considering pulling her back into his embrace.

In fact, with the top two buttons on her thin cotton shirt undone, his eyes were drawn to the skin that peeked through whenever she took a breath. She looked like she’d just had an entirely different kind of tumble, and he remembered the brief feel of her weightless in his arms. He wondered if she was the type of woman who would be offended by a kiss from a stranger.

“Yes.”

He blinked. Had she read his mind, then? “Yes, what?”

“Yes, I’m all right. Thank you for asking.”

Mac’s smile turned rueful. Leave it to his cock to distract him from his original question. “Good.” He reached out to touch her elbow, and was surprised when she didn’t flinch away. “I was worried.” Once he was touching her, he pretended to brush away some dirt from her arm, aware of how inane he sounded.

She had big pale eyes, but he couldn’t tell the color in the twilight. She stared up at him without expression, and it bothered him that he couldn’t tell what she was thinking. Was she frightened? He could assume that, if she’d hidden—in a tree for God’s sakes!—when he and Robert had arrived. But she didn’t seem frightened now… just very serious.

And then she smiled, and everything about her softened. It wasn’t a bright smile, or a large one, but her expression turned sheepish as she rubbed her temple. “Well, I won’t say that it didn’t hurt a bit. But that’s what I get for being silly enough to fall out of a tree. Thank you for breaking my fall, by the way.”

He nodded distractedly, trying not to sound like he was agreeing with her being silly. “It was my pleasure.” Her brows dipped slightly in response to that word, so he immediately tried his most charming smile. “Might I ask why a lady like you—” There was no proof she was a lady, but his little brother had taught him to treat all women as ladies, until proven otherwise. “Was in a tree to begin with?”

She raised one brow. “I happen to like trees.”

She liked trees. How was he supposed to respond to that?
Why the hell were you climbing one?
might be a good start, followed up with
Who in their right mind coats themselves in mud and then falls out of tree?
But of course he couldn’t say either. In fact, judging from Robert’s impatient shifting behind him, he should probably just send her on her way. But now that they’d been seen here, they should probably scrap the drop and try again with the morning tide.

But he couldn’t seem to make himself turn away. He stood there, looking down into pale eyes, and realized that for the first time in a long while, he was completely captivated. He wanted to know everything about her.

“What’s your name?” He heard Robert sigh, but ignored him.

The mystery woman stared up at him for a long moment, and he figured that she was going to show some sense, and not tell him. But then she surprised him. “Becks.”
Becks
. A name as unusual as the woman herself. “I heard him call you Mac?”

He smiled again. “So you eavesdrop better than you climb trees?”

She bristled. “I’m a wonderful tree-climber, Mr. Mac.” But then, glancing down at herself, her rueful smile returned. “I just usually don’t do it with mud-caked feet.”

Not entirely against his will, his hand rose to her cheek to touch the patch of mud there. “Not just your feet.”

“Oh Lord!” Was she blushing? She stepped back from him and half-turned away as she rubbed at her cheek to remove the smear.

Robert cleared his throat. “You catch any crabs, miss?” Mac could tell from his barely-contained exasperation that his friend was ready to be gone, but was doing his best to be polite.

“Crabs?” Becks stopped rubbing her skin raw for a moment, and glanced behind Mac. He watched her smile sheepishly, and wondered if she’d forgotten Robert. “No. I mean, yes.”

“Yes?”

“Sorry.” Her smile grew, and Mac found himself suddenly jealous of his friend. “Perhaps I hit my head harder than I thought. Yes, we caught enough crabs for soup.”

Mac didn’t really care how many crabs she’d caught, but he latched on to the important word in her confession. “We?”

She blinked back up at him, and then sighed. “Pearl?”

He wondered if maybe she
was
addled. “I beg your pardon? Pearl what?”

But she wasn’t talking to him. “Pearl, you can probably come out now.”

“Why?” The disembodied voice floated from behind the trunk of the tree Becks had been climbing. “You were the fool who fell on top of the man. If they’re brigands, I’d rather they not know about me yet.”

Becks’ smile was impish as she called out to her hidden friend, “They know about you already, silly.”

“They wouldn’t if you’d just managed to keep your mouth shut.”

Becks blinked innocently up at him. “Mr. Mac, are you going to hurt us?”

Mac was sure his expression showed how appalled he was by the question. It wasn’t until after his initial reaction that he realized that it was a perfectly valid question for her to ask two men who’d rowed ashore at twilight. After all, Charleston’d had its share of pirates during the last century. “Ma’am, neither of us will lift a finger to harm you.”

Her smile had faded as he’d considered his words, and now that he’d responded, she watched him with her head cocked to one side. Not worried, not confused… just watching. Then she nodded, as if she’d come to a decision. “See, Pearl?” She kept her gaze locked on his, and he found he couldn’t look away. “They’re not going to hurt us.”

“Oh, Lordy. You’d trust a cottonmouth if he told you he wouldn’t bite.” But then Mac heard a great sigh, and the hidden woman said “All right, I’m coming.”

A figure stepped from behind the tree to move out of the deepest shadows, and Robert made a sound like he’d swallowed his tongue. Mac glanced in her direction, and then felt his gaze dragged back for a second look. She was the most beautiful Negro woman he’d ever seen. No, belay that; she was one of the most beautiful women he’d ever seen,
period
. And she was dressed like a real lady, unlike her companion, with a high-button jacket and sheath skirt and everything.

His tree-climbing mystery woman sighed. “Yes, she’s lovely, isn’t she?”

Mac pretended he hadn’t been caught staring, and smiled slightly at the disheveled figure in front of him. “You sound resigned, ma’am.”

“No lady likes to be outshone by her sister, Mr. Mac.” Her sister? Well, her father wouldn’t be the only gentleman to sire a child on the wrong side of the blanket. “And it’s ‘miss,’ if you don’t mind. Mr. Robert had it right.”

Mr. Robert
. If he knew nothing else about her, that honorific would have endeared her to him. In the years since the War, few Southerners were able to look past Robert’s pitch-black skin to see the man underneath. She’d called him “mister,” the same honorific she’d given Mac.

She really
was
unusual.

“Very well,
Miss
Becks.” He dipped his chin in concession, and she smiled.

“Thank you. I shall forgive you your lapse in manners—” He smothered his smile at that.
He
wasn’t the one caught climbing trees, covered in mud—“and introduce you to my sister. You’re not a pirate, are you?”

He blinked, caught off guard by the question. He answered without thinking. “No.”

And her smile was… dazzling. Not the sheepish grin from earlier, but a real smile that crinkled her eyes and seemed to impart her approval. “Oh, good. You look like one, you see? We were concerned.”

He didn’t have anything to say to that, other than “I’m not. We’re not.” How had this conversation gotten away from him so quickly? He felt like he was at sea during a storm; the best he could do was hold on and hope that she’d lead him somewhere he recognized. He smiled suddenly at that analogy, because if there was one thing Mac loved, it was an adventure.

Becks would be an adventure.

And where had
that
thought come from? Mac’s brows drew in as he reminded himself of his purpose here at Beckett. It sure wasn’t to be distracted by some woman, no matter how intriguing she might be.

But Becks turned her head slightly to call over her shoulder to her sister, “Pearl, this is Mr. Mac and his friend, Mr. Robert. They’re not pirates.”

Mac couldn’t acknowledge Pearl. He couldn’t do much besides stare. When Becks had half-turned, he’d gotten a good look at her neck and couldn’t tear his gaze away. Specifically, that spot where her neck met her shoulder, exposed by the way her old shirt hung open. It was his absolute favorite place on a woman’s body, and he could feel himself reacting to the sight. He’d expect any woman who stood barefoot in the mud and climbed trees and joked about pirates to be tough and tanned, but what he could see of her skin was smooth and creamy and oh-so-touchable. His hand was already reaching to stroke that spot when he caught himself.

She might not be the most beautiful women he’d ever seen, but she certainly was interesting. And alluring. She aroused his adventurous side, and he wanted to know more about her. Why she climbed trees. If she liked sailing. Where she lived. What she tasted like.

He might have found out the answer to that last question then, had Robert not interrupted. Mac had already taken a step towards Becks when his friend offered a low warning. “Company.”

The word dragged Mac from whatever spell that creamy skin had cast, and he whipped his gaze towards the far tree line. Sure enough, there was a glow coming from the direction of the drive. It soon resolved itself into the silhouette of a horseman carrying a lantern. He glanced at Robert, but the black man’s expression was impossible to discern in the twilight.

Damn
. He had no way of knowing who was coming their way, and here they stood with a dinghy full of illegal cargo. Robert’s instincts were right; they should have scrapped the drop as soon as they’d realized there was someone else here. But Mac had been too intrigued by that mysterious someone to let his friend lead. And now the horseman was halfway across the cotton field, and there was no way he and Robert would be able to sneak away. They’d been seen, and the only thing to do now would be to bluff their way out of here.

Mac grinned. “Oh, good. An adventure.” 

His smile grew at Robert’s groaned, “God
dammit
, Mac,” and he glanced at the women. Pearl had stepped closer to her sister, but was looking at Robert. Mac wondered what she saw there, but when she noticed his gaze, she sniffed and turned back to the horseman.

The unknown rider pulled his beast to a stop in front of the little group under the moss-hung oak. The lantern light showed a man in an Army uniform, but Mac didn’t let his grin waver. There was nothing to say that this officer was here for him and Robert. There was nothing to say that he had any reason to suspect them of smuggling.

So Mac stepped in front of Becks to block her from view, and affected a relaxed tone he didn’t quite feel. “Good evening.”