by Marie Caron
Next, he turned her over and urged her onto her knees. In one quick motion he slid back inside her slick passage, plowing her hard and fast, as he reached under her to massage her already engorged clitoris, making her come two more times.
Even though it was her first time, Jack was not gentle with Katherine. But he gave her the most satisfaction possible before finally succumbing to his own need, emptying his life force into her and then collapsing beside her on the blanket. Before he fell asleep, he had just one thought—at long last Katherine was his.
Chapter 9
They took shelter in the cave for two more nights, until the storm had run its course. When lookouts, posted on the highest point of the island, reported no sightings of the navy ship, they all went back aboard the Lady Elizabeth. Katherine was relieved to finally be out of the cave and on their way to Jack’s home in Turtle Bay on the island of Oahu.
However, they hadn’t gone far when all hell broke loose. The British ship had been laying in wait for them, and when they reached the island’s southwestern tip, the big man-of-war approached them from the north side of the island. Two shots were fired across the Lady Elizabeth’s bow, and though no damage was done, the message was clear—surrender or die.
“I’ve no wish to go back to jail. I intend to fight. I’ll understand if any of you want to surrender,” Jack told his men.
Without hesitation, every one of his men responded, “We’re with ye, Captain!” Several ran to man the guns, while others stood by the rail, awaiting the approaching vessel.
The very next volley tore a hole in the Elizabeth’s main deck, and two men were wounded by flying debris. Jack’s men returned fire with all the guns they had at their disposal, but they were no match for those of the navy. The mizzenmast was hit and the sails caught fire. Katherine cried as the men worked to douse the flames with buckets of water, before going back to their posts.
“You must surrender, Jack, or you will surely be killed!” Katherine sobbed. He wasn’t a hardened criminal. He was still the same good person she’d known as a child. She felt it in her bones. She also knew she still loved him, though not as a child loves an older brother. Now she loved him as a woman loves a man.
Grabbing the front of his shirt she pleaded with him. “The theft can be cleared up, I’m certain of it. And I’ll say there was no abduction and that I went with you willingly. With the proper representation you’ll be a free man in no time,” Katherine added, hoping to reason with him.
But her cries fell on deaf ears, and it wasn’t long before more rounds were fired on both sides. Jack pried her hands from his shirt and gave her a shove. “Get below!”
“No, I won’t leave you, Jack.” She had to see what was happening.
From her position in the bow at Jack’s elbow, Katherine watched as the navy ship continued to approach the Lady Elizabeth. Finally it was close enough for her to be boarded.
After one quick kiss and a plea that she get below, Jack left Katherine crouching in the companionway, shouting orders as he ran toward the bow. “Arm yourselves, men, and have at them!”
She heard his words, but they gave her little comfort. She knew that most of his men didn’t normally carry weapons—they were laborers and not soldiers after all—and now they had to scramble to find something with which to defend themselves. As she looked on from her hiding place, the cook ran on deck carrying a large knife he’d obviously gotten from the galley. Jim was armed with a wooden mallet. Though they were not experienced in the ways of war, every one of his men prepared himself to do battle, as the soldiers began making their way onto the Lady Elizabeth.
Katherine wept, her right hand clinched tightly over her heart. She felt responsible. This might not be happening if it weren’t for her.
Jack’s entire crew was called upon to defend the proud Lady and her captain, and they did their best. But even Katherine could see that they were outmanned and outgunned. And when the fighting finally ended, several of Jack’s men lay dead or dying, and the rest were in chains.
Jack, the entire front of his shirt stained red with his blood, had obviously suffered a wound to his chest. He was prostrate on his back on the deck and bleeding profusely, if the puddle of blood beneath him was any indication. His face was as white as a sheet.
Katherine ran to him, pushing her way through the soldiers, before falling to her knees next to his still body. “I’ll always love you, Jack,” she sobbed, her heart breaking.
As hands grabbed her arms and lifted her away from her beloved, he didn’t stir or utter a sound. That Jack could be dead was unthinkable to her, and as she looked back at the deck of the Lady Elizabeth and saw him lying in a pool of his own blood, she fainted rather than face the cruel reality.
* * * *
Sometime later she revived, still too disoriented to realize where she was and what was happening.
“Captain Anthony Spencer, at your service, My Lady.”
She barely heard the captain, as he bid her welcome aboard his ship. Supine on a bunk on board the navy vessel, Katherine tried to focus on her surroundings, but her mind didn’t want to acknowledge how she’d come to be there. It was just too horrible.
“You have been through quite an ordeal, and I will try to make the voyage home as comfortable for you as possible. Your stepfather will be pleased that I was able to rescue you,” he told her, sounding somewhat smug.
Katherine didn’t like his attitude, but all she could bring herself to say was, “I would rather you had not.” Then she began to sob.
Katherine wanted to protest vehemently, to say that she had gone with Jack willingly, that she had not been in any danger—at least not from Jack—but she couldn’t form the words. She couldn’t form any words. Her mind and body were numb.
*
Anthony looked down at her beautiful face, all scrunched up in despair though it was, and smiled to himself. He’d had an epiphany, and now he knew what he must do. She would be the prize that would save him. A woman of her caliber and in her circumstance would have no choice but to accept his proposal, and then he’d be able to hold on to his family’s home. He’d never intended to marry or retire this young, but his elder brother’s untimely death had changed things. He either took his place as rightful heir, or the title and the attached lands would revert back to the crown. No, he wouldn’t let that happen. But in order to pay his late brother’s debts, he would need money, and unless he was mistaken, Katherine Conlon, his poor unfortunate passenger, could be the solution to his problem. How fortuitous. With that thought foremost in his mind, he left the room.
* * * *
A young boy brought tea and biscuits. Katherine could smell the fragrant Oolong tea leaves and the cinnamon in the baked goods, but the familiar smells did nothing to improve the way she felt. In fact, they made her queasy. The boy left just as an older man came in. He was immaculately dressed in a dark suit, and his hair was snowy white.
“My lady, I am the ship’s physician, Doctor Randall. Captain Spencer sent me to examine you.” When she didn’t respond, he reached for her wrist. “I’ll just take your pulse, if you don’t mind,” he told her, gingerly lifting her wrist between his finger and thumb. “Hmmmm, a bit rapid, but that’s to be expected. You need rest, but first do have some tea and a bite to eat. You must keep up your strength,” he said, nodding toward the tray the boy had set beside the bed.
After removing her shoes and covering her with a blanket, he left the cabin, and finally she was left in peace. But even though the ship was quiet and night had fallen, Katherine could not sleep. After a while she rose up on one elbow and looked at her surroundings, lit dimly as they were by a single candle in a brass candlestick. The bed was small, and the cabin neat and clean. She suspected it belonged to one of the ship’s officers, though not the captain. Still unable to believe what had occurred, how Jack and many of the crew of the Lady Elizabeth had been brutally killed right in front of her eyes, she lay there, staring into the dark corners of the litt
le room, wishing it was all a bad dream. But finally the reality of what had occurred proved impossible to ignore, and she sobbed until her chest ached and she could cry no more.
Chapter 10
“You’ll be right as rain once you begin socializing again. You’ll see,” her stepfather assured her, as he sat across from her at the dinner table in their home in Colombo some months later.
She had come down to dinner because he had asked her to, but now she wished she hadn’t. It was always the same; it was not that he craved her company. All he wanted to do was preach to her, to tell her how lucky she was to be alive, to be safe and sound and back home in Ceylon.
“That man was a pariah, someone you would be better off forgetting. No decent man would have taken a woman from her home without her father’s consent.” He watched her as she picked at the multi-layered confection the cook had made to tempt her palate. Then he made a face. “Harrumph! What you need is a husband, Katherine. It is too bad that Viscount Richelieu is now affianced to Lady Marlowe,” he said, patting his mouth with a white linen napkin.
Katherine wanted to scream at him that what she needed was her captain, that her stepfather hadn’t really known Jack O'Bannon, hadn’t given him a fair chance. He had no idea what sort of man Jack had been…but she knew, and in the end she had loved Jack like she would love no other.
But she also knew that nothing she could say would convince the judge he was wrong about Jack, so she remained silent. Judge Houghton was a man, and she was merely a woman…a young, unmarried woman at that, and as such she must bend to his wishes.
She might to a point, but at least no one could change what was in her heart; she would love Jack until the day she died.
*
John Houghton studied his stepdaughter as she left the table. She was more than comely, and she was still fairly young. Perhaps he could make her a match with some other prosperous landowner here in Ceylon? Or better yet, maybe he could find a husband for her amongst the many landed gentry in England? Yes, that might be the wiser course of action. If he set the stage for her return, no one in England need know of the debauchery she had suffered at the hands of that pirate.
He felt certain that her maidenhood had been stolen by that dastardly man, Jack O’Bannon, but it would do no good to dwell on the matter. Quite the contrary; the fewer people who knew, the better. That was why he had refrained from having his doctor examine her upon her return. If it was true that she was no longer a virgin, then it was a truth best kept secret. With a little luck he would be able to interest an older gentleman in marrying her…perhaps a widower, a man who was in ill health and unable to consummate the marriage. Then no one would be the wiser. Yes, that was the answer! And once she got over feeling sorry for herself—for that was all this moping about could possibly be—he was certain she would want to retake her place in society.
This reminded him that he wanted to write a letter of thanks to Captain Spencer, the commander of the Royal Navy ship who had rescued her. John also wanted to inquire about the body of the pirate. The story he’d been told was that a few of the outlaw’s cohorts had survived and had somehow spirited the body away before the ship was blown to Kingdom come. It was a bit of a mystery, but one he could put aside. What was important was that Katherine was safe and sound, and now it was his duty to see her make a respectable marriage, as soon as possible.
It was, therefore, very good news when his manservant announced that Sir Anthony Spencer, 5th Earl of Lisle, had arrived and wanted to speak to him privately.
Chapter 11
In a large house on the north side of the island of Oahu, Jack lay in bed, his nut-brown chest bare except for a white bandage. He sat up when his old friend limped into the room carrying a tray containing a steaming bowl of soup and thick slices of bread.
“Is there any word?” Jack asked, as Jim set the tray on the bed.
“Aye. She’s at home now, where she belongs. Ye and ’er were never meant to be. Let ’er go, lad,” the gray-haired man advised him in a fatherly tone.
Jack smirked at the man’s audacity, knowing he meant well. “Have you ever been in love, Jim?” He could still picture Katherine’s smiling face, her look of awe when he showed her the huge cavern, and when he’d first taught her what it was to be a woman. That second night on the island he had poured his heart and soul into her, and she had responded with equal passion, just as he’d known she would.
“A’course I ’ave, lad, and it was most painful. Ye be better off without ’er, Jack. Women are all the same; they whine ’n cry when they don’t get their way. And when ye give in to ’em, they take everything ye ’ave an’ run off with some other bloke,” he said, shaking his head.
Obviously he was thinking back to his own experience, and Jack wasn’t having any of it. “No, Jim, Katherine is not like that. She’s good and true.”
“Ye may think what ye like,” Jim said agreeably. He had waited until Jack began to eat, and now he turned to go. Jack saw Jim hesitate in the doorway and suspected he had more to say.
“Eh…I hate to mention it, but the men want to know when they’ll be gettin’ their share of the payroll. Will ye be going back for it soon?”
They had been at their hideout for several weeks while Jack recovered from his injury, and the men were getting anxious. Jack wasn’t surprised, as they hadn’t been paid in months. Though they had shelter and food, it wasn’t the same as having money in their pockets, and Jack knew it.
“Tell one of the men to saddle my horse.” He had money hidden on the island. He would pay the men out of his personal stash. Riding to get it might prove painful, but anything was better than sitting here thinking about Katherine and what could never be.
“The sawbones said ye wuz to stay abed for another week, Jack.”
“The sawbones is a charlatan,” Jack responded, as he gobbled the rest of his meal. He hadn’t felt hungry, but he figured he needed his strength if he was to repay his men—and not just for the wages they had been denied. They had saved his life, and he would see them paid handsomely for it…even though he felt his life wasn’t worth a farthing now that Katherine was no longer a part of it.
“Aye, Captain,” Jim said, hanging his head as he acknowledged that Jack was the boss, and therefore would do whatever he wanted to do.
Jack got dressed, adding his well-worn great coat over his leather jerkin. The snug-fitting tunic would help protect his chest, and the coat would keep the water off him. The ride would be a long and dismal one, over a road that was little more than a footpath in good weather. Now, due to the seasonal rains, it was a nearly impassable bog. Such a journey in this steady drizzle would do nothing to lift Jack’s spirits, but his men deserved to be paid now, not in a month when he might be able to retrieve the money from the cave.
As he saddled his big roan, he considered what Jim had told him. Deep down inside Jack knew that the old salt was right; he and Katherine were never meant to be together—now even less than before. He wasn’t just a thief. Now he was an abductor of women, and he would have to remain dead to the world, or risk being hanged without benefit of a trial. His future as a fugitive from the law was not the sort of life she deserved. What Katherine deserved was fine clothes, a fine house, and healthy children. He could, he was certain, give her children—he might already have, if the fates were truly cruel—but, that aside, she deserved a husband who could hold his head up in society, not one who had to hide his face in disgrace. She deserved the best life had to offer, and she could have that now that she was away from him. Once again Jim’s words echoed in his ear, and Jack’s heart felt like it was being pulled from his chest.
Kicking his horse into a gallop, he forced himself to admit defeat where his lady love was concerned, but that didn’t keep him from thinking about her and wishing things could be different. Katherine might be exactly where she belonged, but his love for her would never die.
Chapter 12
Time seemed to go by in the blink of an ey
e; one day her stepfather was telling her she must think of her future, and the next he was introducing her to the man who would be her husband…whether she liked it or not.
Katherine had been stunned at first, wanting to protest the unfair arrangement on the one hand, yet knowing she had no real choice in the matter on the other. It would do no good to mention the fact that she had no desire to marry…ever. Remaining unmarried at her age was totally unacceptable as far as the judge was concerned. So what else was she to do?
Judge Houghton had the answer. Living as they did, in a close-knit society, in the resplendent luxury of a far-off British colony, her chances of meeting someone acceptable to her were highly unlikely, thus her only alternative was to marry the first man who asked. That man was none other than Captain Anthony Spencer, the man who had rescued her from the villain, Jack O’Bannon. When her stepfather informed her at dinner one evening of the deal he had struck, he was obviously very pleased with himself.
“The captain is now an earl with a grand estate in Bedfordshire, my dear. Yet he is willing to overlook your…ah…situation and give you his good name. Eh…I think you should thank him,” he cajoled, giving Anthony an apologetic smile and shrug when she didn’t immediately speak.
Katherine was at once shocked and then appalled that she was being given no choice in the matter. “No!” she cried, shooting up from her dining chair so rapidly that it fell over, clattering onto its back on the marble floor.
One of the servants rushed to her side to right the fallen chair, and once it was set straight, the judge told the footman to leave the room. Providing the servants with gossip was not something either of them wanted to do.
