Page 85 of The Pirate Lord
“Why not?”
She wrung her hands, searching for a way to tell him. “Because I won’t let you. I can’t let you hurt Gideon.”
“Gideon?” he echoed, his eyes glinting hard as oak in the dim sunlight that filtered through the trees. “You aren’t by any chance speaking of Captain Horn, are you? The Pirate Lord? A man who has plagued English seas for the past decade? A ruthless criminal with?—”
“He’s not ruthless!” she protested. “And he’s not a criminal. Not anymore.”
“You mean, because he claims to be settling on this island? Petey told me all about the man, whom he absurdly seems to admire. But I’m not blinded by romantic legends of piracy, Sara. I see the man for what he is.”
“But he’s not what you think! He’s not this . . . this terrible creature they’ve made him out to be in the papers. He’s intelligent and kind and?—”
“And he kidnaps women for sport.”
She swallowed. That one was hard to justify. “Not for sport. But yes, he did kidnap us. It was a foolish thing to do, and if you give me enough time with him, I can persuade him to release those women who wish to leave the island.”
“Give you enough time?” He grabbed her by the shoulders. “Sara, this isn’t one of those puling old men on the Navy Boardwhom you can sweet-talk into doing what you wish! This is a war-hardened criminal!”
“You don’t know him!”
“And you do?” His eyes narrowed as he scanned her form, taking in her casual attire and bare feet. “Exactly how well do you know this pirate?”
Fighting down a blush, she averted her face from her brother. “Well enough. I love him, Jordan. He’s asked me to marry him, and I’ve accepted. We’re to be married day after tomorrow.”
“Over my dead body!” he exploded. “If you think for one minute that I’ll stand by and let you make a mistake like this?—”
Her gaze snapped back to his. “It’s not a mistake! I know perfectly well what I’m doing!”
“Yes, just as you knew what you were doing when you set your sights on that deuced Colonel Taylor!”
She jerked back from him. “Why you . . . you—” She broke off, dragging in great gulps of the air in an attempt to control her temper. “How dare you compare them? Colonel Taylor wanted my fortune. Gideon wants nothing from me but my affections.”
Jordan rubbed the back of his fisted hand, looking as if he wanted to plant it in someone’s face. Probably Gideon’s. “Listen to yourself. You’re defending a man who’s hated the English nobility from the day he first set sail. Do you have any idea how many Englishmen that pirate has stolen from? How many women he has ravished, how many?—”
“He would never ravish a woman—not unless she begged it of him,” she blurted out. Then furious color stained her cheeks, making her look away. Bother it all, she shouldn’t have said that, not to Jordan, of all people. “I-I mean?—”
“You mean, he has seduced you,” he said, his voice thunderous. He stuck his hand in his breast pocket and pulled out a pistol. “Now I’ll have to kill him.”
She threw herself at him, holding on to his rigid arm with all her might. “If you hurt one hair of his head, I’ll never forgive you!”
“I can live with that,” he growled as he tried to thrust her away. ‘Now where is the bastard?—”
“Don’t you dare! I’ll . . . I’ll betray you to the pirates before you can leave this island! I swear I will!” Gideon’s men wouldn’t harm Jordan without her say. They’d come to trust her, and perhaps even respect her.
Gideon, however, she wasn’t so sure of. If Gideon thought for one minute that Jordan had come to take her back, Gideon would throw him in irons. She must do whatever she could to keep the two men apart.
Jordan stared at her with mouth agape. “Turn me over to the pirates? You would do that?”
“I can’t let you hurt him, don’t you see? I can’t let you bring your men in here and destroy Atlantis. We’ve worked too hard for it. Can’t you understand? This is a town now, a place where people live and work and have families. You can’t just bring your . . . your cannons in here and level the place. I won’t let you!”
“It means that much to you, does it?”
“This place means everything to me,” she said quietly, and meant it.
His gaze dropped from hers as he replaced his pistol in his breast pocket. “Very well. I’ll do as you wish.”
She stared at him suspiciously. “What do you mean, ‘as I wish’?”
“I won’t bring my cannons in here. I’ll sail away without ever letting the pirates know I was here.” His gaze bore into hers. “But only on one condition.”
