The Captain's Lady Page 6

  The sky and water blended into a singular blue line on the horizon. Alexis stared straight ahead and made the promise that would guide her future.

  Chapter 3

  The meeting had been over for less than an hour. As Cloud built a fire in the hearth of his kitchen he cursed himself for ever telling them so much. He should have known from the beginning there was no way to make them alter their plans to meet Alex.

  “She made two promises that day,” he had told them quietly. “Only one of them affects what you are proposing.” The other affected him, its nature intensely personal. “She promised she would find Travers and kill him. She vowed she would live on the sea until she had him at her mercy.”

  He had paused then, to allow them to consider what he had said. When he continued his voice became progressively harder. “Alex Danty is on a personal mission. She will never join us. She is after only one man and if she finds him she will stop. She doesn’t kill or plunder. She offers men liberty from impressment because she happens to find them before Travers. It was never her purpose to do it, and freeing them is not what sustains her. If she joined us she would be losing time from her pursuit. Our goal is not hers.”

  Although they had listened, they had not accepted it. They continued to talk as if they would be able to persuade her to join them. When Cloud questioned their ability to do so, Howe played his ace.

  “She may not be an American citizen,” he said. “But she is a pirate. We can hang her for that. We’ll offer her a pardon in exchange for her assistance.”

  “You have no grounds. She’s not a pirate. She has never so much as threatened an American ship.”

  “But she’s been attacking British vessels without the sanction of our government. The British could interpret that as instigating war.”

  “But she is British.”

  “They don’t know that, Captain. We didn’t know it ourselves until today. And reports have it that three of those ships she sank went down within the territorial limits of the United States. It puts our government in a rather awkward position.”

  “Awkward,” Cloud repeated quietly. “If you try getting her to cooperate with those charges as leverage, she’ll laugh in your face.”

  “Actually, Captain, the matter has already been decided. The President wants to meet Alex Danty and he chose us to arrange a meeting. We’ve chosen you. We had no idea you knew the captain, but you’ve convinced me that you do. Your knowledge will help you bring her to us even sooner than we anticipated—perhaps before war is declared. The President needs support and if the public discovers Alex Danty is on our side the issue won’t be so unpopular.”

  That was when Bennet pulled out the order. “Here it is, Captain. You’re to leave within the week. Mr. Madison considers it vital that you return as soon as possible. No one else, other than your superiors, knows about the decision to find Alex Danty.”

  Cloud reflected on their fevered approach to the imminent war. It did not seem consistent with any of Madison’s policies to order him to go after Alex; yet, that was what he was expected to do. He pulled out the orders and examined them. Signed by the President and his superior, Commodore Craig. Sighing, he put them away.

  Perhaps, if he had never mentioned Alexis’s connection with Jean Lafitte, they would not have persisted with the idea of meeting her. He had never intended to tell them he was aware Alexis had met the notorious pirate shortly before she’d begun her hunt for Travers. At some point it had slipped out—probably when Bennet, in a rare moment of insight, had guessed he was in love with Alex Danty, and had accused him of forgetting his loyalty to his country. He had wanted to slap the man’s insipid grin right off his face. He loved Alex Danty, but he would never let her stand in the way of what was required of him. Just as she had not let him stand in the way of her goal. And he had tried. Oh God, he thought, how he had tried.

  As soon as Lafitte’s name was out, Alexis’s fate was sealed. He had tried to avoid being given the assignment, but they would have none of it. His men would think he had betrayed her, just as Alexis would.

  He never wanted to see Alex Danty again until she had had her vengeance, until she had put to rest the thing that drove her. But now their goals clashed. He was going to be at war and her personal war could not block his way. He only hoped she did not kill him before he had a chance to reason with her.

  Cloud stared at the fire. He sat down in a high-backed chair, tilted it, and propped his legs on the table. So much he had told them, he thought, and so much still remained. The things he omitted were never far from his consciousness, just as Alex was never out of reach as long as he was willing to retrieve the memory.

  He ran his fingers through his copper hair as he recalled the sight of Alexis on the very edge of the cliff. On the very edge of her sanity, he had thought at the time. Her face was smeared with blood; her golden hair, more crimson than gold. He never knew how she found the strength to speak, let alone raise her fierce countenance skyward. But she had, and Landis and he had never heard anything more chilling. There was a moment on the cliff when he thought she had ceased to be human, a moment when she took on an appearance that was almost ethereal. He had heard Landis tell someone later that she was like an angel, an avenging angel; and Cloud, having been there, was forced to agree with that assessment. Alexis Quinton had died on the crow’s nest that day, and Alex Danty had been brought back to life.

  At first he fought against her continuous presence in his mind. There had been other women since Alex but they only made him want her back. There was no other woman for him, and he could never have her completely until she had finished with Travers.

  And then there was the matter of her second vow, the vow that only Landis and he heard that day—a vow they had never shared with anyone. It was the one Cloud knew he would have to fight against. He loved Alex Danty, and with the last of her strength she had sworn she would never love anyone again.

  A crimson spark leaped free of the crackling fire. The red glow of the burning embers was all his tired mind needed to vividly recall the events of that day and the weeks thereafter….

  Alexis finished her oath and let her head drop forward. Trembling, she raised herself to her feet and took a step away from the edge of the cliff. Her mind was swimming and the rhythm of the tide was the same as the throbbing in her brain. She knew she was about to faint; she thought how absurd her promises would seem to the two men behind her if she slipped over the hillside.

  Cloud stepped forward, gathering her in his arms before she fell to the ground. He carried her into the house and laid her on the sofa in the drawing room. It was when he went in search of cloths and water for her back that he saw Francine’s body lying beneath the window in the dining room. He fought another wave of nausea and tried to remember when her death could have occurred. He was suddenly very grateful to the limey who had rendered him unconscious.

  Cloud returned to Alexis with a basin of water and bandages and began to clean the blood from her back so he could examine the extent of her wounds.

  Landis watched, shaking his head so his graying hair fell across his forehead in places. “Travers wasn’t easy on her. The man has to be insane to go after a girl that way. He cut her deep. What are we going to do with her?”

  “Do with her?” Cloud asked, surprise surfacing in his voice. “We’re taking her with us, of course. There’s nothing for her here. The British will have made a shambles of her father’s business. Her husband’s dead—”

  “Her husband? You mean the man she almost got herself killed for was her husband?”

  “I believe so. When I talked to Quinton’s secretary, he informed me that George’s daughter had an anniversary today. This is obviously the daughter and that was her husband. Her mother is in the other room. Did you see what happened to her?”

  “I didn’t see it when it happened, if that’s what you mean. Here, let me do that,” Landis said, as he watched his captain try to clean Alexis’s wounds. “You may be my command
er, but you’re making a mess. Take some of the cloths and dip them in water and clean yourself up. You’ve got a nasty gash on the side of your head. How did it happen?”

  Cloud moved aside and made room for his first officer. He had forgotten about his head until Landis mentioned it. He wet a few cloths and did as Landis suggested.

  “Slug creased me,” he explained, walking to the far side of the room, where he sat down again, facing a window. He could not watch Landis working on her, remembering too well what it had felt like when Landis had worked on his back. He was glad she was still unconscious and he hoped she remained that way until most of it was over.

  “You were lucky,” Landis observed. He worked gently on Alexis’s raw flesh. If she survived these wounds, he thought, he would not want to be in Travers’s place for anything in the world. He did not doubt the sincerity of her promises for one minute.

  “Luck, nothing. She saved me. That sailor had me dead and buried. She pushed him just as he fired. If she had been a second earlier I wouldn’t have been hit at all.”

  “Or a second later and I’d be burying you.”

  “What about Allen and Briggs?”

  “Dead.”

  “Damn,” he said softly.

  Landis winced as he cleaned the last of the blood from Alexis’s back. “I don’t know if she’s going to live, Tanner. She’s just a bit of a thing. Come and look. He did a hell of a job and she’s lost a lot of blood.”

  Cloud forced himself to get to his feet and walk over to the sofa. The marks were indeed deep and she would always carry the scars—if she lived.

  “At least you’ve stopped most of the bleeding. Do the best you can for now. I’m going to get some of her things so we can take them to the ship along with her. I’ll bring the bodies in here and leave it to someone in town to bury them. We just can’t take the time now.”

  Cloud quickly searched the bedrooms until he found Alexis’s; then he took the things he wanted. He placed dresses, undergarments, shoes, and jewelry into a satchel, then took it to the front entrance. Afterward he dragged the bodies into the house, placing George’s and Francine’s together, with Pauley’s nearby. Next he brought in the man he had killed and the one Travers had murdered. He found Allen and Briggs out back and he pulled them through the servants’ entrance. He did not have time to consider what had happened to the Quintons’ servants. He only knew their absence had saved their lives. When he finished he went back to Landis and told him it was time to leave.

  “Just a few more minutes, Tanner. I’ve got to get these bandages around her and it is damned hard since I can’t turn her over.”

  “I’ll help.” Cloud sat down on the edge of the sofa and together they lifted Alexis’s unconscious form to a sitting position. Cloud stripped away the remainder of the shift that covered her shoulders and breasts. He forced himself not to recall how lovely she was beneath her matted hair and bloodstained face. As Landis wound the strips of cloth around her, her breasts brushed against his chest and Cloud caught himself thinking that if none of this had ever happened today he would still have found a way to take her from her husband and would never have let her return to the island. He would have made love to her until neither of them could go on or would want to. When he looked up Landis was staring at him.

  “She is beautiful, isn’t she?” he asked as he completed the wrapping.

  “Yes. Very.”

  “Can an old man give his captain some advice?”

  “When the old man is you, he can.”

  “You’re not going to like it, and I don’t expect you to take it, but here it is anyway.” He stood up and washed his hands in the basin. Drying them off on his trousers, he said, “Don’t bring her with us. You heard what she said on the cliff before she fainted. If she lives she will want to be here, not aboard Hamilton.”

  “You really think she’ll go through with it?”

  “I do. Do you remember that Travers threatened to punish her earlier if her father and her husband didn’t lay down their weapons?” Cloud nodded. “Then remember what she told them. She screamed she would hate them if they did as Travers ordered. And they held their pistols.”

  “They were fools.”

  “I don’t think so,” Landis answered. “The girl was willing to make a sacrifice for the people she loved most in the world. In her mind her act had ceased to be a sacrifice and she would have despised them for not accepting what was hers alone to offer.”

  “What are you getting at?”

  “Only this. If you take her on board and stop her from leaving when she decides she has to go, she’ll hate you also.”

  “Christ, John, you talk as if I am going to keep her on the ship forever. We’re going to take her to Washington, where she can make some kind of new life for herself. Maybe Boston. My sister would care for her. She can’t stay here.”

  “And I’m saying that is not a decision you can make for her.”

  Alexis moaned softly and her head fell limply against Cloud’s shoulder.

  “This girl’s not in any condition to make decisions for herself. You’re right; I am not going to take your advice.”

  Landis shrugged and ran his fingers through his short silver beard.

  “Come on. Let’s get her out of here before she wakes up,” Cloud urged.

  Landis helped him get Alexis to her feet then he let his captain sling her over his shoulder. “Easy, Tanner. She’s not baggage.”

  Cloud nodded. “I know, but she’s not as light as she appears either. I’ll start toward the ship while you get her things. Meet me on the beach.”

  Landis watched Cloud leave with the girl securely in his arms. She intrigued him too. He could understand his captain’s fascination with her. If he were thirty years younger he would do what Tanner was doing now. Thirty years ago he would have had the strength to put up with the demands a woman such as she would place on him. She had not made her vows lightly. She had a powerful rage burning inside her. He did not think that kind of rage could be dismissed by taking her away from Tortola. As he followed with the girl’s belongings, he wondered if his friend had given any thought to her second oath. He should have. If she lived Tanner was going to find himself a victim of it.

  On board Hamilton Cloud gave the order to sail, ignoring his crew’s curious stares as he took his unconscious burden to his cabin.

  He unwrapped the bandages around Alexis, pulling at them gently to prevent any more bleeding. When that was finished he washed the rest of her, discarding her ruined clothing. He made new bandages, and after he applied an ointment to her cuts, he put them on her. He pulled a sheet over her nakedness; then washed the dried blood from her hair. Afterwards he used his fingers to untangle the knotted mass of gold and brushed it all to one side to keep it from wrapping around her throat while she slept. When he was satisfied he could do no more for her, he left her alone and went on deck to make sure everything was proceeding smoothly.

  It wasn’t. Landis was trying his best to explain the events that had just taken place, and he was not doing it very well. The crew was outraged at the loss of two of their mates and even more so by the inhuman treatment of the girl. Some of his men had had the distinct misfortune to have sailed with Travers and they counted themselves lucky to have escaped impressment.

  “Captain Cloud?” asked Harry Young, who was familiar with Travers’s discipline. “The girl? Is she going to live?” His usual lopsided grin had vanished in response to the concern and anger he was feeling. He pulled nervously at the dark brown hair curling at his ear, thinking about his years on Travers’s ship. His face aged drastically, just remembering Travers’s cold, black eyes.

  “I don’t know, Harry,” Cloud said quietly. He understood what the man was going through. Hadn’t he felt the same way when he saw the ship? “She’s strong. She might pull through.”

  “Yeah,” Tom Daniels added. “Mr. Landis has been telling us how she stood up to Travers. She’s got to be strong.” His Georgia drawl w
as as soothing to hear as his words.

  “Or crazy,” a voice broke in.

  Cloud searched out the speaker and glared at him. Mike Garrison shrunk back under the penetrating stare. Mike, as rugged and bawdy as any man on the Hamilton, was not immune to his young captain’s commanding presence. In his forty years he had never met a man who could set him in his place like Cloud. He liked it. It was better than serving a man who was afraid of his brawn and went out of his way to avoid provoking his teeth-grinding anger.

  “She’s not crazy, Mike,” Cloud said sharply. “You’ll find that out soon enough if she recovers.” Mike murmured an apology for being out of line, and Cloud laughed shortly. “Don’t apologize to me, Mike. You can apologize to her. She’s the one who is going to prove you wrong.”

  “Then I’ll look forward to her recovery,” he answered firmly.

  Cloud explained the situation more fully to his men and when he was done he ordered them back to work. When he was not needed any longer, he returned to his cabin to check on Alexis. She did not seem to need him either. She was still unconscious, oblivious to the pain that would overtake her once she awoke.

  “Come in,” he answered impatiently to the knock at his door.

  Landis strode into the room and walked over to the bed. “You did a fair job here, Tanner,” he said as he inspected the wrapping.

  “You didn’t come here to tell me I should have gone to medical school. What do you want?”

  “It’s the men. They have something to ask you. It’s not my place to give them an answer. I’ll stay with her until you get back.”

  Cloud left his cabin. It had not taken them long to gather the courage to confront him. He knew what they wanted to know. He had been asking himself the same question since he’d returned to the ship. But he also knew the only answer it was possible to give them. And the answer was no.