The Pirate Bride (5 page)

He didn’t believe in divorce, but then, his marriages were hardly legal anyway. He was generous and kind with his women, though, and preferred a simple disappearing act to anything more fatal.

“I heard that you chased Blair Colm,” she said flatly.

He stared back at her and sighed. “Aye, I saw the man.”

She leaned closer. “The ship—or the man himself?”

He leaned in, as well. His beard, in which he took great pride, lay upon the table, with strings tied here and there through it. He liked to light hempen fuses when he went into battle, where he would appear to smoke and nearly burn, an image that filled the hearts of his opponents with terror.

“I saw the man clearly with my spyglass. He has a fine ship. A frigate. He’s modified her, but she still can’t handle the shallows as a good sloop can. I might have been outgunned, so I did not draw so great a vessel against me. And perhaps he has heard that my reputation is beginning to equal that of any wretch upon the seas, for he had no taste for battle, either. He caught the wind with his mighty sails, and he was gone. He knew he’d find no mercy from me.”

“A frigate,” Red said. She loved her sloop, but a frigate…was huge. It could carry tons of powder, shot and guns. It could not give chase into the shallows or maneuver narrow channels. But it the open, it was deadly.

“You need to be staying away from him,” Teach said.

“You know why I cannot.” She met his eyes and asked, “Where did you see him?”

“He was heading north along the coast. I daresay he will hover near the towns and cities where he is honored by the British. Word is that he is looking for you, too. He believes that you stole one of his most valuable possessions.”

“How can anyone honor such a man? I do not believe the people can possibly know what a heinous murderer he is.”

He caught her hand. “One man kills, and he is a hero. Another kills, and he is a monster. It depends on which side of the battle line one is standing. You are a monster to some. When a man doesn’t see something with his own eyes, he doesn’t know what is truth, so he believes what becomes legend. Ah, come, girl. The average man wants only to live in peace, so he prays that conflict will not come his way. He is willing to accept the truth of what he is told is the rightful law rather than fight for anything that might disturb his world. Your monster is considered a great military commander by those with whom he does his business in England and the colonies. All anyone there knows is that he helped win the day for King William of Orange and the great empire. Had the war been lost, he would have gone down in history as an ogre. But the English crown was triumphant, and therefore, he is an honored man. Such is history, poppet. It’s the deceit I loathe. I don’t set out to kill a man. I do so because he is in my way and won’t get out of it. My reputation is far worse than my deeds. I prefer scaring a man into surrender. Sadly, there are good men out there ready to die for honor. I don’t relish killing them. And unlike Blair Colm, I do not butcher women and children.”

“As far as the women go, you just marry them,” Red reminded him with a grin.

“Why waste a lovely lass?” he inquired.

“Most of the children turn to piracy.”

“I ransom what children I can.”

Red looked down, smiling. She wondered what Edward Teach might have become, had he not wound up sailing the high seas. He did have a personal code of ethics.

“Of course.”

“And when no one wants them…I do them no harm. And I’ll have you know, they’re still hanging children all nice and legal in some ports for offenses not much worse than stealing bread. I’m not a cruel man at all, when you look at the world around me, and see what is done in the name of law and justice.”

“I’ve never said that you were a cruel man. You are a fine captain and swordsman, and you’re a wicked shot with a pistol,” she said in a tone of genuine compliment. He grunted his pleasure as she continued. “But you are a performer, with that black beard spewing flame and smoke.”

He wagged a finger at her. “
You
are the performer.” He shook his head. “And to think, if what I heard is true, that a little bit like you killed Black Luke.”

She shrugged. “Have you ever seen a tiny insect bite grow infected? Before you know it, a giant roaring fellow is down and dying of fever. Size is not always the deciding factor in a fight.”

“Well, I’ll take your treasure. I’m quite fond of a number of the trinkets, and I happen to be decently flush with pieces of eight at the moment.”

“And what of joining me?” she asked softly.

“That is another matter.”

“Oh?”

“You’re out for vengeance. I’m out for profit. And how did you come by this treasure, pray tell?”

“I came upon a merchant ship that didn’t have a prayer against me.”

“So you took the ship?”

She shook her head. “No.”

“You sank it?” he asked incredulously.

“No.”

“Oh?”

“We parleyed. I now have the captain with me, as my prisoner. He is a Lord Haggerty. Ever hear of the man?” Red asked.

Blackbeard leaned back, grinning. “Aye. I know the fellow. I’ve met with him in this very tavern.”

“But he isn’t a pirate.”

“No. Neither is he military. He sails a merchant ship.”

“Still, he is no outlaw. What was he doing here?” Red demanded.

“Business.”

“Treasure?”

Blackbeard laughed. “Nay, poppet. He came to sell what makes a life fine. The finest feather pillows. Silk sheets. Porcelain from China. Tea. Coffee. Apples.”

“And he wasn’t simply killed in the streets here?” Red asked, amazed.

“I had the opportunity to watch the first time he came. He strode in with his crew, right bold, and when he was challenged, he demanded that he be met man to man. After he bested three of the doughtiest fellows on the isle, I considered challenging him. But, I confess, I was intrigued by his brashness in dropping anchor in the bay, and then stepping foot on land. He was well aware, however, that no quarter would be given to him on the seas if he traveled with merchandise and was caught.”

“I didn’t give him quarter,” Red snapped.

“So he took you in through eloquence as well?” Blackbeard teased.

“He is my prisoner,” she said.

“Of course.”

She decided to change the subject. “So, I seek revenge, I admit it. And you seek plunder. If we were to go after Blair Colm together—”

“Poppet, give it up.”

Red groaned. “Good God, not you, too.”

He lifted her chin with his massive forefinger. “I will die on deck. I will die at the point of a sword, or by an enemy volley. That is how it must be. Until then, I will terrorize the sea, I will have a dozen more wives, and I will drink and challenge every man I meet, and mayhap even God. But you…that shouldn’t be your life.”

“Why not? I would rather die at sea than scrub another floor or be forced to bed some pox-ridden old man or die myself of his venereal disease,” she said, deadly serious.

“Ah, but don’t you dream of something better?” he queried.

“My dreams are of corpses on a battlefield, the blood of children slain,” she said.

He sighed and leaned back. “Sorry, poppet. I’m not suicidal. I won’t join my forces to yours, but I will give you gold and buy you rum, eh?”

“Cap’n Blackbeard,” she said, determined not to sound disappointed, “I will be honored to lift a glass with you.”

He shook his head. “Ah, and you speak like a lady, lass.”

“Maybe I was a lady. Once. Past memory, past caring. God knows, I was so young when the troops came. I remember…”

“Aye?”

“My mother,” she said, blushing slightly. “Aye, she was a lady. So softly spoken, so regal…but she is gone, dead and gone, and so is the life I was born to. There is nothing to return to of the life I lived then. But…I have not lost faith in all humanity. There was Lygia.”

“Lygia?” he repeated.

“The daughter of the witch who bought my indenture papers from the officer who decided I was worth more alive than dead,” she said. “She was ugly as sin, but as sweet and kind as her mother was cold and cruel. We’ll drink to her! I imagine she is rich now, with her mother’s passing. May she find happiness at last.”

“To Lygia. Bless the lass!” he said. “Rich, you say. How ugly was she?”

Red laughed, lifting her glass high. “Quite. But who knows? With enough darkness and enough rum, the ugliest lass may become the fairest. Especially if she is rich. Or so I’ve heard men say.”

He looked at her strangely as he drank his rum.

“Curious…”

“What?”

“That it is
you
who came upon Laird Haggerty.”

“Why is that?”

“Ah, poppet. I keep your secrets, but I keep his, as well.”

“He has secrets?”

“He has…an agenda.”

“And?”

“I just said, I keep a man’s secrets.”

“Edward…”

“Don’t you go wheedling me, girl. I have said all I shall upon that topic. Men come to this tavern for amusement. For whores and for drink. And to listen.”

“Listen to what?”

“I’ve said all I will say.”

“But you keep giving me clues!”

“I shall say no more. Drink up.”

She tried, but he had made up his mind, and he would say no more. So they drank. She would have her promised gold, and there it would end.

T
HERE WERE MANY MEN
in the shanty tavern so drunk they wouldn’t have noticed an earthquake. Some lay on tables in the puddles of their own ale. Whores sat atop the laps of others, mindless of the drunkards snoring nearby. Bodices slipped, hands ran up under skirts and ribald shouting and jokes filled the air, along with the stench of old meat, stale tobacco and unwashed bodies.

Logan turned to Brendan. “Nice place,” he commented dryly.

“Aye, and obviously you know it well,” Brendan said, his tone equally dry.

Logan shrugged. “You and the captain don’t look the type to…appreciate such an establishment,” Logan said.

“Nor do you.”

“I come for business, then leave.”

“There’s no legitimate business done here.”

Logan had to laugh. “Actually, there is. I certainly didn’t intend to run into a pirate vessel on the high seas, but dealing with pirates on land can be quite profitable.”

“And very bad business, as well,” Brendan commented, eying Logan carefully. “You do know something about the art of negotiation, my friend. But there are those who don’t wish to negotiate. I’ve met many a fellow who cares nothing for human life. Expediency is what rules. Many a pirate captain would gladly have slit the throat of every man on your crew—or saved steel and bullets and simply tossed them all overboard.”

“But not without great loss of life and limb, even if I would have gone down fighting,” Logan informed him.

“True enough. So…” Brendan stared at him still. “A man of honor, are you?”

“And your captain’s a pirate of honor,” Logan returned.

“We’ll drink to he—him,” Brendan said, lifting his glass.

“What business has the captain with Blackbeard?” Logan asked.

Brendan looked back at him, weighing the risks of sharing information with a captive. “The captain wishes to join forces with Teach.”

“With Teach?” Logan was startled. He knew himself that Teach was crafty, but not nearly so cruel as his carefully crafted reputation would have others believe. Teach didn’t hesitate to kill when necessary, but he was far more prone to let a man live when possible. He never relished killing the innocent, as did some fellows on the sea.

Knowing what he knew, Logan couldn’t but feel that Captain Red Robert…should not be partnering with the notorious Edward Teach.

His honor urged him to leap up, stride into the private room where the two were meeting and demand Teach unhand the
woman
known as Red Robert. But the impulse was pure insanity, he knew. He had battled Red. She could hold her own. She didn’t need nor want his protection.

And, should he attempt to give it, he would no doubt find himself skewered through the heart or the liver, perhaps even castrated, but certainly, in whatever manner, left dead or dying.

Still, it was hard to remain sitting upon the raw wooden stool where he was perched, and warning himself not to be an idiot wasn’t much help. Yet surely, if there were something to fear, Brendan would not be sitting beside him so calmly, sipping his ale.

Hagar came up to the bar just then. “Brendan,” he said, offering a nod to Logan. “Ye’ll be needing to talk to the cap’n. Ship’s carpenter has warned, we’ve got to careen her. Soon.”

Brendan frowned, as if warning Hagar to speak softly on such a matter.

Since pirates couldn’t simply take their ships into a port and have them dry-docked, it was necessary to take them to a secluded place where they could be “careened,” hauled ashore and rolled to each side, so that the hull could be scraped of barnacles and tarred against woodworm. It was a dangerous procedure, for it left both the ship and her crew vulnerable. Most pirates, Logan knew, did only one side of a ship at a time. It was too easy for others to discover that a ship was lying vulnerable, and even if other privateers left her alone, there was always the law to fear. The governors of the various colonies were always pleased to increase their popularity by sending out their naval officers to bring down a pirate, and a hanging was a full day’s entertainment for most.

“Aye,” Brendan said, and Hagar nodded, aware that it wasn’t something Brendan wanted to discuss in their present circumstance.

When Hagar moved on to answer the taunting call of a bare-breasted woman, Logan commented casually, “I take it the fellow has not long been a pirate?”

Brendan ran a finger up and down the heavy glass that held his ale. “You’re a decent fellow, Lord Haggerty. If you want to live long and prosper, you shouldn’t ask so many questions.”

“I’ve given my word. I won’t be trying to escape.”

A dry smile curled Brendan’s lips. “Aye, but you see, we intend not only to let you live, but to see to it that you are returned to your people, whether there be a fine ransom paid or no. Too much information is not good for a man who will return to the world where the king’s law holds sway.”