Page 97 of The Pirate Lord
Ann started to leave.
“Ann?” he called out.
“Yes, cap’n?”
“I want you to tell me exactly what happened the day Sara left.”
She dropped her gaze to the floor. “I . . . I already did.”
“You didn’t tell me everything, did you? You kept something back.”
She drew a circle on the floor with her slippered foot. “It don’t matter what happened that day, cap’n. Miss Willis will come back soon as she can. I know she will.”
“I can’t wait for that.” He drew in a breath, and thought of how close Molly had come to losing her child and her life. “I’m going to England and taking any women who wish to return. I won’t have the blood of any more women on my hands.” He paused, feeling more at peace than he had in weeks. “And I’ll find Sara, and make her see that her place is here. I have to find her. I must tell her I need her. . . I love her.”
Her gaze flew up to his, fraught with worry and fear. “Oh, but cap’n, you can’t! You mustn’t! If you go after her, what she did will all be for naught! She’d never forgive me if I let you go! Never!”
He went still. “What do you mean?”
Clapping a hand over her mouth, she stared at him.
“Ann, tell me the truth. Why wouldn’t she forgive you? Does she . . . does she hate me?”
“Oh, no, cap’n! How could she ever hate you?” Ann twisted her hands in her apron, as if debating something. Then she sighed. “Her brother—the earl, that is—he told her he’d raze the island if she didn’t go back with him to England. She feared he’d do it, too. He’d brought plenty of men and guns to do it and was sore determined. He only relented when she agreed to leave with him.”
So Sara hadn’t betrayed him. Sara had done what she always did—sacrificed everything for the ones she loved. Anger filled him, anger at Sara’s brother, anger at Ann and Petey for lying to him . . . and most of all, anger at himself for believing that Sara would ever willingly abandon him.
“Why did you let me think shewantedto leave?” he said in a voice raw with pain as he took a step toward her. “Why would you do that, knowing how I felt about her?”
Guilt shadowed Ann’s face. “I didn’t want to do it. I had to. She made me promise not to tell you the truth, because she was afraid of the very thing you’re speakin’ of. That you’d go to England after her and get yourself hanged. She feared for your life too much to risk it.”
“As if I have any kind of a life without her,” he bit out. “Now Imustgo. I can’t leave her with her beast of a brother.”
“No, you can’t go after her! It would break her heart if you were caught! She said she’d do whatever she could to return, and I know that she?—”
“Do you really think he’ll let her come back here? A man who’d threaten to destroy everything she loves to get her to return with him?” He clenched his fists, wishing he could use them on Sara’s brother. “He won’t let her go.Iwouldn’t if I were him.”
“Oh, cap’n,” Ann wailed, “if the English take you, they’ll hang you!”
“The English haven’t caught me before this,” he said fiercely, “and I certainly won’t let them catch me this time.”
“But—”
“I’m going to England, and that’s the end of it, Ann. Tell the women I’ll take anyone who wants to return with me. Or if they fear returning to England, I’ll take them to Santiago and pay their passage to wherever they wish.”
Ann’s face mirrored her astonishment. “There are some who would go, but I think most would prefer to stay.”
He softened his tone. “If any of them want to stay, we’ll be happy to have them, of course, whether they choose to marry or not. But I’m done with the business of finding wives for my men. From now on, they’ll have to find wives of their own . . .willingwives, if I have anything to say about it.”
Stepping nearer, Ann reached up and pressed a soft kiss to his cheek. “You’re a good man, Cap’n Horn. I know that Miss Willis would be here with you if she could.”
“Shewillbe here with me. She’ll be here if I have to scour all of the confounded British Isles to find her.”
Chapter Twenty-Six
Thy love unto me now is dearer than life,
And happie am I since thou wilt be my wife,
