Master of Seduction

by Kinley MacGregor

  And so the afternoon went until the storm started and the women went to change into trousers and shirts. Lorelei even left off her corset, since Mavis had advised her not to use one. In the event she had to swim, she would need all the breath she could get.

  Lorelei didn’t like that thought one tiny bit. However, an afternoon without her tight laces was beginning to appeal to her.

  By evening, the ship was being buffeted unmercifully. All Lorelei wanted was to see Jack and have him alleviate the fear gnawing at her, but he and Tarik stayed topside, hoping to guide the ship through the storm while she and Kesi sat in Kesi’s cabin trying to keep their minds off of their men.

  There was no real light except when lightning would flash and illuminate the room. They both sat on the bunk, holding onto grab rails cut into the side of the wall.

  “How long do you think it’ll last?” she asked Kesi.

  “Not long, I hope. I hate these things.”

  “So do I.” Lorelei searched her mind for a game or song that could possibly take her concentration off of morbid thoughts. She had to do something or she was going to go mad from it!

  “How long have you known Jack?” she asked, hoping for a long story from Kesi.

  Kesi fell silent as if debating the answer. “For quite a while now. Eight, nine years it seems like.”

  Just her luck Kesi wasn’t in a chatty mood.

  Lorelei tried again. “And has he ever told you anything of his parents?”

  Kesi shrugged. “Only what his mother did. To my knowledge, he knows nothing of his father.”

  Could the woman answer anything with more than a sentence or two? Lorelei bit her lip and tried to think of something else that might yield a longer answer.

  “And what of Morgan?” she asked as she thought about the ship that was still trailing them. “What is he to the captain?”

  More lightning flashed and a loud clap of thunder shook the room.

  Kesi waited for it to die down before she spoke. “Ya want the truth, or do ya want to hear what the two of them tell people?”

  “Both,” Lorelei squeaked, needing Kesi’s conversation now more than ever.

  Kesi shifted slightly. “Well, child, if ya were to ask one of them, they would tell ya Jack captured Morgan’s ship and was about to kill the boy when Morgan refused to flinch as Jack positioned his sword for the kill. Then they’d tell ya Jack so admired Morgan that he spared his life and let him sail with his crew.”

  “And the truth?” she asked to prevent Kesi from pausing in her telling of the story.

  “Morgan had jumped ship to escape the British Navy. One of the officers recognized Morgan, and he and several others were in pursuit of him. Morgan dodged into an alley at the same time Jack was leaving a tavern. They collided and Jack pulled his sword on him, until he saw the English. Deciding they were a better target for his anger, Jack went for them. They fought the officers off, and afterwards Jack asked Morgan if he’d like to sail with us.”

  Now that was the last thing she’d expected to hear. “Morgan wanted to be a pirate?”

  “Not really,” Kesi admitted. “He wasn’t happy with Jack once he found out who Jack was, but Jack has a way of getting what he wants out of people.”

  “I’ve noticed.”

  Kesi laughed. “Well, child, ya can’t fault a flower for attracting bees. Jack is just charming and charismatic by nature.”

  He certainly was that.

  “Kesi, I want the truth from you. Is Jack as bloodthirsty as his legend says?”

  Kesi gave a pregnant pause before she spoke. “Aye, Jack has been bloodthirsty, I won’t lie and say otherwise, but then a cornered fox can seldom escape the hounds without bloodshed. When given a choice, he shows mercy. When cornered, he draws blood.”

  Another flash of lightning streaked through the night, followed by a deafening roll of thunder. The ship shook mightily and it felt as if it might capsize. Lorelei gripped her grab rail as tightly as she could and prayed for deliverance.

  For several seconds they sat quietly until frantic voices intruded.

  “The ship’s afire!”

  14

  Oripping wet and furious, Jack watched as fire consumed the main sail. Grinding his teeth, he cursed his luck. There was no way to put it out; not as fast as it traveled.

  Defeat weighed heavy on his shoulders.

  His ship was lost.

  “You’d think in this gale it wouldn’t burn,” Tarik shouted as they pulled the tarps from the rowboats in preparation for the crew to flee.

  His men were quick and fairly orderly as they launched the boats over the side, then climbed down to take their places inside them. It was strangely quiet. No one was shouting or screaming. The whole scene played out like some strange dream.

  Jack turned to Tarik. “It’ll take down the whole ship.”

  And it would. Jack knew it as well as he knew the sea.

  At least Morgan would be able to see the fire and he would know what had happened. The Roseanna should be able to pick up their survivors. It would be a tight fit on Morgan’s ship, but they weren’t that far from the island.

  “Captain!”

  Jack turned to see Kit running toward him. Without thinking, Kit threw his arms around him and almost knocked Jack off his feet as the boy’s full weight hit him square in the chest. Jack hugged him close for only a minute before he pulled Kit away, threw the boy over his shoulder, and carried him over the side to the ship’s main boat where Alice and Billy were waiting with various members of the crew.

  “You three stay together,” Jack ordered.

  “What about you?” Kit asked.

  “I have to make sure everyone gets off the ship.”

  Before Kit could argue, Billy and the other men took the oars in their hands and started rowing the boat into the swirling black water.

  Clinging to the climbing rope on the side of the ship, Jack watched them until the next boat came crashing down almost on top of his head.

  Quickly, he climbed up the side of the ship as more of his crew climbed down to the boat.

  Once on deck, he patted Tarik on the shoulder. “You and Kesi take this one and I’ll get in the third.”

  Tarik didn’t argue.

  Lorelei stood on deck next to Kesi, her face ashen.

  “It’ll be all right,” Jack told her. “We have three boats and only sixty-five crew members. The squeeze will be tight, but there’s room for everyone.”

  She nodded. He tried several times to urge her into the boat with Kesi, but each time she met him with a firm refusal.

  “Not until you come with me,” she insisted.

  Her answer angered him more each time she used it.

  Once the deck cleared, Jack and Lorelei made their way to the last boat. As she stepped into the boat, Jack looked back at his beloved ship while flames spread through the rigging and across the deck.

  “Whew,” Merrimen, one of his boatswains, breathed as he picked up a set of oars. “That was as close to hell as I ever want to come.”

  Peter, one of his carpenters, looked up as Jack jumped to the boat. “Did anyone make sure Ernie was told?”

  Jack froze. “Where was Ernie?”

  “Passed out on his bunk,” Merrimen said.

  “In this storm?” he shouted, angered that one of his men would act so foolishly.

  “We didn’t think nothing of it, Captain,” Merrimen explained.

  Suddenly, Jack heard Ernie screaming from the deck. He looked up to see his boatswain engulfed by fire an instant before Ernie jumped into the water.

  Without thinking, Jack dove over the side and went to help his crewman.

  “Jack!” Lorelei screamed as she realized what he was doing. He paid her no heed.

  Rising to her feet, she tried to see him in the water.

  “Sit down!” Peter snapped at her. “You’ll tip us over.”

  Her heart pounded against her breastbone as she desperately searched the waves for some
sign of the men. “We have to go back for them.”

  “Not bloody likely,” Peter snapped as he and the others continued to row. “That ship’s got stores of gun-powder on her. She’ll be exploding before long and the further we’re from her the better off we’ll all be.”

  “But what about Jack?” she asked, stunned that his men could leave him behind so easily.

  “The captain knows how to swim and he knows how survive,” Merrimen snapped. “Now sit down or I’ll throw you overboard meself.”

  He didn’t have to. Lorelei jumped into the water to follow after Jack.

  Waves crashed all around her in the storm as she swam. Lorelei struggled to keep her head above water, but each wave seemed larger than the last until she was certain she was drowning. She lost all sense of direction and could no longer see anything that gave her a clue as to where she was or where any other boat or person might be.

  Dear Lord, what had she done?

  No one could survive this.

  Not even Jack.

  Panic consumed her, and just as she reconciled herself to the inevitable, a hand grabbed her arm.

  “What are you doing here?” Jack yelled.

  She wanted to laugh in relief. “Looking for you.”

  Without a word, he wrapped his arm around her chest and pulled her back against him as he swam through the water. Lorelei surrendered herself to his power, too grateful and relieved to protest.

  More waves crashed over them, but Jack didn’t seem to notice as he pulled her toward the boat she’d left.

  A loud explosion rent the air.

  “Take a deep breath,” Jack shouted.

  She barely had time to comply before he dragged the two of them down, far below the waves.

  Lorelei panicked.

  What was he trying to do, drown them?

  She wanted to fight him, but the way he held her she couldn’t. She opened her eyes and all she could see was black all around her. Feel the water creeping in through her body. It was stifling. Terrifying. Her lungs burned and she desperately fought her panic, which urged her to open her mouth and scream.

  Just when she thought she could stand no more, they started to rise. Pain pounded through her throat and sides as she struggled not to take a breath to ease the burning sensation of her lungs.

  Then suddenly they broke the surface.

  Lorelei gulped the saturated air into her starving lungs.

  Pieces of burning wood and ship remains were scattered all around them.

  Just as Peter had predicted, the ship had exploded. Jack grabbed a piece of passing wood and released her to it. “Hold on to this for a second.”

  He disappeared.

  “Jack!” she called, terrified of losing him after all they’d been through.

  He didn’t answer.

  Lorelei felt like a twig being tossed about by an insane wind as she searched the rains and water for a glimpse of one of the boats or of Jack.

  Nothing.

  Panicked tears choked her. What would she do without him? How could she ever survive this storm?

  Just as her terror was about to overtake her, Jack returned. He had a larger piece of wood that appeared to be a portion of one of the decks. “Climb up,” he said, then helped her up on top of the wood.

  As soon as she was in place, he lifted himself out of the water and joined her on their makeshift raft.

  The waves continued to toss them about and threatened several times to overturn them.

  “You didn’t find Ernie?” she asked as Jack tightened his grip on her.

  “No,” he said. “I thought you were him when I found you.”

  “I’m sorry, Jack.”

  He pulled her into his arms and held on to her. “It’s all right, Lorelei.”

  He gave her a tight squeeze. “Someone is bound to find us in the morning.”

  For some reason, she believed that when he said it, though her logic argued otherwise.

  Sometime in the middle of the night, the storm abated. The sky was still too dark to see anything, but the waves settled down, and for a time Lorelei slept.

  By morning, the sun had returned and with it came no sign of the boats or of Morgan’s ship.

  Lorelei didn’t bother to ask Jack what it meant. She already knew. Without food or water, they wouldn’t last long.

  As if reading her thoughts, Jack offered her an encouraging smile. “They’ll be looking for us.”

  “I know, but the question is, will they find us.”

  He took a deep breath as he toyed with the edge of his boot. “Kind of makes you wish for a smaller ocean.”

  “Or a bigger raft.”

  He laughed.

  Lorelei licked her parched lips as she scanned the horizon for the millionth time seeking some sign of rescue. “Have you ever been caught out like this before?”

  “No,” Jack said as he, too, scanned the ocean around them. “This is definitely a new experience. You know, being a pirate, I usually have a ship.”

  In spite of herself, she smiled at his misplaced humor. “I’m sorry it sank.”

  “You’ll be even sorrier in three days if we’re not found.” Her face must have shown her horror at his words, for he quickly added, “I didn’t mean to say that. It was uncalled for.”

  “But ’tis true,” she said, her chest growing tight from the fear that assailed her.

  He pulled her against him and they lay down on the raft, watching the blue, perfect sky above them while their raft traveled of its own accord across the waves.

  “I’m scared, Jack,” she confided, needing him to soothe her nightmare. “I don’t want to die, especially not like this.”

  He leaned up on one elbow and stared down into her face while he stroked her cheek. “There’s really nothing to worry about, Lorelei. I swear to you that we are not going to die out here.”

  “How do you know?”

  His hesitation showed in his eyes while he grappled with his explanation. When he spoke, she was completely unprepared for his disclosure. “I know where I’m meant to die and it’s not out at sea.”

  She frowned at him. “How do you know?” she repeated.

  He looked away. “Years ago, when I was only a few years older than Kit, I visited a small island. There was this one spot not far from the lagoon and when I walked over it, I knew instinctively that it was the exact spot where Jack Rhys would die.”

  Her frown deepened. It was so uncharacteristic of him to think of such a thing. Surely Jack Rhys, a man who made his own destiny, was not superstitious?

  “And you honestly believe that?” she asked.

  He traced the line of her frown until she relaxed her face. “I know it sounds ridiculous. But Thadeus always told me you can’t defy fate or destiny and I know deep in my soul that my destiny is to die on that spot.”

  “And where is this place?”

  “Isla de Los Almas Perdidos.”

  “Is that where we’re headed?”

  He nodded. “It seemed the perfect place for a confrontation.”

  She sat up, angered at him and terrified that there might be some truth to his words. “I can’t believe you! What you’re telling me is that you were going to commit suicide?”

  “No,” Jack said as he folded an arm under his head and continued to stare up at the sky above him. “I was fulfilling a prophecy. I have no intention of allowing Wallingford to win. I assure you, I will fight for my life.”

  There was something in his eyes that betrayed his words. “But you don’t believe you’ll win.”

  He shifted his gaze to hers and she could see the conviction deep inside him. “I don’t care if I win so long as I bury my sword in Wallingford’s gut.”

  She closed her eyes in frustration. What had the admiral done to him that would make Jack so willing to sacrifice his own life for the sake of vengeance?

  “I don’t understand why you hate him so.”

  Jack let out a long sigh. “In truth, I don’t want you t
o understand. This is my fight with him, not yours.”

  “And this fight is worth your life?”

  “Obviously.”

  She growled in her throat, aching from the need to strangle some sense into the man. “I would sell my soul to get off this raft so I could stomp away from you, Jack. You are the most frustrating human being I’ve ever had the misfortune of…of…”

  “Being marooned with?”

  She glared at him.

  Light danced in his eyes. He was laughing at her! By the very heavens, the man’s audacity had no limits.

  “How can you be so lackadaisical when it comes to your life? I for one would hate to see you die. And what would happen to poor Kit?”

  He rubbed his hand over his chin. “Morgan would take him. We’ve already discussed it.”

  “You would trust your son to him?”

  “I would have to.”

  She released an aggravated breath and folded her arms across her chest. There was no talking to him. Like all the men she’d ever known, Jack had set his course and wouldn’t be swayed, no matter the soundness of her logic or arguments.

  Did all men have to be so stubborn over stupid matters?

  Lying back down, she allowed Jack to encircle her with his arms. Oddly enough she felt safe, even though they were facing almost certain death.

  Oh Jack, she thought, why can’t I make you see all the wonderful things I see when I look at you?

  How she wished they could plan a future together like she’d hoped to do with Justin.

  Closing her eyes, she could well imagine a pleasant home with children running around her feet while Jack read to them. She could see herself in his study painting him in a chair with a little boy and girl sitting in his lap.

  But that wasn’t Jack. He was a pirate and a man as untamable as the sea.

  Don’t give up hope, Lorelei. He’s worth the fight.

  After all, how many people had told her Justin would never come up to scratch?

  Get your head out of the clouds and see reality, Amanda had said to her. Why on earth would a Wallingford marry the daughter of a by-blow?

  She’d wanted to punch Amanda in the nose for that. But Amanda had been right. Justin had always been concerned with prestige and titles.