Run Wild

by Shelly Thacker

  “Servant. I can only afford one. My housekeeper manages to do the work of ten women. And yes, I sent her on holiday.” She cast a glower over her shoulder. “Since my third floor has been converted into an inn for outlaws.”

  They went past the second floor and up to the third. At the top of the stairs, she turned a corner and stepped aside.

  And there sat Masud, in the hallway, asleep in front of a door.

  Nicholas looked down at him in bewilderment. Clarice woke him unceremoniously with the toe of her slipper. “Wake up, Masud. The prodigal pirate has returned.”

  Startled from his sleep, Masud rubbed at his eyes and stood up. “Cap’n. Glad to see you at last. We were getting worried.”

  “You were getting worried,” Clarice corrected. She shoved the candelabra into Nicholas’s hands. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve had enough of the good old days for one day. I’ll leave you lads to hash this out.” Turning, she headed back down the stairs.

  “Hash what out?” Nicholas glanced from Clarice’s retreating figure to Masud. “What’s going on? Are you all right?”

  “Fine, fine.” Masud rubbed at his temples as if he had a headache.

  Nicholas waited a moment. “So?” he prodded impatiently, when his friend didn’t say anything more. “What happened? Did you take care of the blackmailer?”

  “Aye, Cap’n.” His voice sounded odd, as if he were either exhausted or drunk. “That I did. Just follow me.” Masud led the way down the corridor to another room.

  Inside, he picked up a package from the table beside the door.

  Nicholas breathed a long, slow sigh of relief as Masud placed it in his hands. It was the package he had sent from America, addressed in his own hand, with South Carolina tax stamps on it.

  And one side was soaked with blood.

  He closed his eyes, shook his head in disbelief. It was over. It was finally over. “You killed him, then.”

  When Masud didn’t reply, Nicholas’s eyes snapped open.

  His friend stood there in silence, his expression uncomfortable.

  A sense of foreboding spread through Nicholas. “Don’t tell me you disobeyed orders again.”

  Masud blew out a breath. “Aye,” he admitted at last.

  “Damn it, Masud, you swore—”

  “Let me explain, Cap’n—”

  “Explain what?” Nicholas demanded angrily. “Why the devil didn’t you kill him? If he’s still alive, where—”

  “You’ll understand in a moment, Cap’n. I... uh, wanted to try and explain things first, but...” He muttered a curse. “Maybe it’s best if you just see for yourself.”

  “See what?”

  Masud led him out the door, down the hallway, and back to the room he had been sitting in front of. “Brace yourself, Cap’n. This may come as a shock.”

  He opened the door.

  Nicholas felt the package slip from his hands but never heard it hit the floor. Shock didn’t begin to describe the feelings that slammed into him, the deafening roar of his pulse in his ears.

  Sitting on the bed on the far side of the room, Samantha glared back at him.

  Samantha.

  Samantha Delafield.

  It took a moment for his brain to resume working, for the fact that she was here to stop crashing into the fact that she didn’t belong here. In this situation. In this house.

  Because she was, in fact, here. Wearing a charming gray riding habit. Her hands bound in front of her, a gag knotted at the back of her head—her golden eyes ablaze with fury.

  And in the middle of all the shock and confusion pouring through him was another feeling.

  Absolute, undeniable pleasure. Something frighteningly close to joy. His heart was beating too hard. He couldn’t catch his breath. He hadn’t even realized how badly losing her had torn him up.

  But he felt it now. Now that he saw her again. He had to press one hand against the door jamb to steady himself.

  When he finally could speak, his voice sounded dry and strained even to his own ears. “What the hell is she doing here?”

  “She’s the one who picked up the package.”

  Nicholas looked from his friend to Samantha sitting on the bed and back again, feeling as if he were in a dream. Some kind of hallucination. He shook his head, uncomprehending. “That’s impossible. It’s insane. She was in Merseyside. She couldn’t have anything to do with—”

  “She was the one, Cap’n. I was about to do what you ordered, but she turned around just as I was coming up from behind her. And when I saw her face...” He shrugged helplessly. “She looked exactly like the description of the lady in the newspapers, the lady you’re in... uh, that is, the lady you were with.”

  Dazed, Nicholas could barely make out what his friend was saying. He felt as if the roof had just come crashing down on his head. Was she in league with his enemy? Had she been from the beginning? Had it been no accident that she’d been placed in the cell next to his that dark night in gaol?

  No, he thought furiously, staring at her. God, no.

  “I asked her name and she refused to tell me,” Masud continued, “and then she started making a fuss—and I thought it best to get her out of there. I didn’t know whether she was the blackmailer herself or somehow working with the blackmailer, so I figured it was best to just... hang onto her. At least until you got here and could decide what to do with her.”

  What to do with her? That was one of a dozen questions Nicholas couldn’t begin to answer.

  “She fought like a hellion,” Masud noted ruefully, pulling up his sleeve to reveal a bandage around his arm. “Afraid the blood on the package is mine. I ended up getting cut with my own knife, so I finally knocked her out, loaded her into a hackney coach... and brought her here.”

  “And what was her explanation for all this?” Nicholas choked out.

  “She wasn’t very forthcoming with any information, Cap’n. But I think she knows more than she’s let on.” Masud fell silent a moment, shifting uncomfortably. “So what are your orders?”

  Nicholas couldn’t answer for a full minute, could barely see her anymore, his vision blurred by a haze of confusion and hurt and betrayal.

  Then he held out his hand, jaw clenched. “Give me your knife.” As soon as Masud slapped it into his palm, he headed for the bed, gripping the hilt in his fingertips. “And leave us alone.”

  Chapter 25

  Captain.

  Sam stared at him with her heart in her throat as he strode toward her. Her entire body had gone cold, as if she had been drenched in ice.

  Captain, the African had called him.

  She’s the one who picked up the package.

  The pain and horror twisting through her were unbearable. Until the moment he stepped into this room, she had been able to deny, to doubt, to hope. Until she heard those words, she had refused to believe that Nick James had any connection to that tavern in York, to Joseph Foster and his package and all the bitter, angry claims he had made.

  But everything Foster had told her was true.

  The man she had fallen in love with wasn’t a navy captain or a merchant captain. And he wasn’t a peaceful planter from the Colonies.

  He was Captain Nicholas Brogan.

  No. God, no! She shut her eyes as he came to stand beside the bed. Feeling the cold touch of the blade against her cheek, she thought it would almost be less agonizing if he would simply cut her throat.

  Instead, he cut off the gag.

  She coughed, gasping against the misery that squeezed all the air from her lungs. When she was finally able to force herself to open her eyes and look up at him, the last few pieces snapped into place. In the tavern, when the African had accosted her, she hadn’t had the most distant idea who he might be or what was going on.

  But he was a member of Captain Brogan’s crew.

  A fellow pirate.

  She clenched both fists when Nick reached for her hands—and he hesitated, then apparently changed his mind. He did
not cut her free.

  Instead, he slid the knife into his boot, the gesture so familiar from the time they had spent together.

  And suddenly memories tumbled through her, one after another. Every day, every night, every moment they had spent together. Their gazes met and held, and she saw it in his eyes—that he was remembering, too.

  “Nick,” she choked out. “Tell me it’s all some horrible mistake. Nicholas Brogan died years ago. You can’t be—”

  “Stop it.” His voice was rough. “Damn it, there’s no use pretending anymore.”

  His admission tore through her. “No,” she whispered, hot tears welling in her eyes. “No, it can’t be.”

  God help her, she wanted him to lie to her. She would believe him. She would believe anything. Anything but this.

  He turned his back, raking a hand through his hair, stalking across the room.

  “I-I thought you were a... a planter.” She was trembling. “Or—”

  “Some kind of naval hero?” he asked bitterly. “Sorry to disappoint you, angel.” He stopped in front of the window.

  “But Nicholas Brogan was a vicious murderer! They said that he killed heedlessly, wantonly. That he would sink any ship in his lust for riches.”

  He stared out into the fading twilight, his back stiff. “I don’t suppose it would help to point out that ‘they’ are not always accurate. Or that the navy spread a great many lurid, exaggerated tales about my exploits.” He dropped his gaze to the sill. “The admiralty wasn’t overly fond of me—”

  “Are you saying it was all lies?”

  There was a long pause.

  “No.”

  A chill rippled through her. Followed by a shock of hurt, betrayal. Fury. “How many people have you killed, Captain?”

  His voice was hoarse. “Do you think I kept count?”

  “An estimate will do. A handful, a hundred, a thousand?”

  His hand came up to grip the velvet curtain that hung beside him. Even from where she sat, she could see that he was shaking. When he finally answered, he spoke so softly she could barely hear him.

  “It doesn’t matter now, does it?”

  “It does matter! How could you... how could I...” She shook her head, unable to continue, wanting only to curl up on the pillows and sob out all the pain in her heart.

  She had believed in him. Trusted him. She had revealed everything to him—all her secrets, all the hurt and loss of her past, offered him her heart, her body, her soul. She had loved him.

  Loved a ruthless, bloodthirsty, infamous pirate.

  “I hate you,” she blurted, unable to hold back the anger and hurt. “I hate you for what you’ve done!”

  His whole body jerked as if she’d struck him. His fingers dug into the curtain.

  She buried her face in her hands. It was as if Nick James, the good, decent man she had known, the tender lover who had won her heart, had vanished. As if he’d never existed, been nothing but a dream. A romantic fantasy who had come to life only briefly, in the imagination of a foolish, naive, innocent girl.

  And yet...

  And yet something didn’t fit.

  She lifted her head, fighting to keep her voice steady. “Your friend Masud told me that you were in Merseyside. That’s why you weren’t in that pub in York.” She swallowed hard. “You were trying to save me, weren’t you?”

  He wouldn’t reply.

  “You risked your life, risked everything, to save me.”

  “I told you once before, I’m not in the business of rescuing damsels in distress.”

  “Then what were you doing in Merseyside?”

  “I thought...” He hesitated a moment, and his voice became brusque when he continued. “I thought I owed you a warning. Honor among thieves and all that. And it was a mistake. Look where it’s gotten me. If I had been in that blasted pub...” Letting go of the curtain, he pivoted on his heel and strode back toward her. “You, Miss Delafield, have caused me nothing but trouble from the moment we met.”

  “Our acquaintance hasn’t been particularly enjoyable for me, either,” she replied, concealing her hurt beneath glacial formality.

  “And never mind where I was,” he snapped. “Let’s discuss where you were. What the hell were you doing in that pub in York? How are you involved in this blackmail scheme?”

  “I’m not involved. I don’t know anything about a blackmail scheme!”

  “Then what were you doing collecting that package?”

  “It’s a very long story, Captain Brogan.”

  “I appear to have time, Miss Delafield.” He sat on the edge of the bed. And still made no move to untie her.

  He didn’t trust her.

  But then, he never had.

  She glared at him, hating the way her heartbeat quickened at having him so near. “When I got to my room in Merseyside, I found that it had been ransacked. My uncle was there. He... he said he was going to take me with him to London. Lock me up in some place where he would...” She couldn’t continue.

  A muscle flexed in Nicholas’s bearded cheek, his voice taut. “Did he hurt you?”

  She lowered her lashes. It almost sounded like concern behind his words.

  No. No, she had to stop dreaming like a naïve fool.

  “He didn’t have the chance,” she rushed on, her tone as sharp as the pain inside her. “The blackmailer came in right behind him. He said he had seen the stories in the papers—”

  “What’s his name?”

  “Foster. Joseph Foster. He blames you for making him a ‘cripple,’ as he calls it. His right arm was missing.” She looked up. “He said you and he were old acquaintances.”

  Nicholas was silent a moment, his brow furrowed. “I don’t remember anyone like that. And I don’t know anyone by that name.”

  “Well, he seems to know a great deal about you. He said he’s been hunting you for years. He wanted to question me about some business arrangement you had made with him, because he was suspicious that you were trying to change the agreement. He ended up fighting with my uncle.” She shut her eyes. “And he killed him. And then he... he told me who you really are.”

  Sam lifted her lashes and met Nicholas’s gaze again, her throat dry and tight. “And I didn’t believe him,” she choked out, unable to bear her own foolishness. “I kept trying to convince him that it must be a case of mistaken identity.”

  He looked away. “You still haven’t explained—”

  “Let me finish. Foster took all my money, and he took...” Her eyes suddenly swam with tears. “He took the ruby you gave me.” She blinked quickly, desperate to keep her tears from falling, refusing to raise her bound hands to wipe at her eyes.

  Nicholas whispered a curse and suddenly rose from the bed, pacing back to the window.

  She wished it weren’t so easy for him to walk away from her.

  Almost wished they were still shackled together.

  “Why?” she asked, struggling to keep her voice calm. “Why did you give that jewel to me, when it meant so much to you?”

  He stared out at the dark city. “I wanted you out of England,” he said coolly. “You know too much about me.” His broad shoulders rose in a careless shrug. “I was protecting myself. Always been good at that.”

  Sam dug her nails into her palms. She meant nothing to him. Nothing at all.

  “So Foster robbed me blind,” she continued quickly, desperate to finish her story, to tell him what he wanted to know so she could get out of here. “And he ordered me to pick up the package for him. He suspected he was walking into a trap.”

  “So you were simply to act as his courier? He was just going to trust you?”

  “No. Of course not. He was there, in the pub. He was right there with a gun pointed at me.”

  Nicholas jerked around to face her. “He was there and you didn’t tell Masud?”

  “I didn’t know the African had anything to do with you. He was just some stranger accosting me. I certainly wasn’t going to tell him who
I was. As soon as he grabbed me, I could see Foster coming across the pub toward us, but then Masud was dragging me outside, and he knocked me out... and I woke up in a coach on the way to London.”

  Nicholas’s voice dissolved in a string of particularly vivid oaths. “And what did this Foster look like? Besides the missing arm?”

  “He was about my age, maybe a little younger. With brown hair and blue eyes. Rather ordinary, really.”

  “In other words, he could be anyone.”

  “Any one of the many people who want revenge against you? One of the forgotten multitudes you hurt during your career as a pirate?”

  He glowered at her. “Did he say anything else that might prove helpful?”

  She tried to remember. “He mentioned something about... about you robbing him of what should have been a brilliant naval career.”

  “Which doesn’t narrow it down at all.” Dropping into a wing chair in the corner, Nicholas ran his hands over his face. “Damn it, I thought this blasted mess was finished. I should have known better. What the hell made me think I could sail out of London and leave it all behind?” He rested his forehead on his palm, his elbow propped on the armrest.

  He looked so worn down and vulnerable in that moment, Sam felt a sudden impulse to cross the room and reach out to him, to smooth the hair back from his forehead, to ease the lines of tension around his eyes, his mouth.

  But of course, that would be difficult with her hands tied.

  And it destroyed her to realize that she still had feelings for him. That she still cared for him, even knowing who he was and what he had done.

  Even knowing that he felt nothing for her in return.

  “Are you going to untie me?” she demanded, fighting the emotions that had her heart pounding. “I’ve told you all I know. I’m of no further use to you. Let me go.”

  He raised his head and looked at her. “Tell me one thing,” he asked wearily. “Since you suspected my real identity, why did you walk into that pub at all? Why didn’t you just go to the local authorities and try to claim the ten thousand pound bounty on my head for yourself?”