"I'm not going off the ship without my wife," he shouted back and dropped more than walked down the remainder of the stairs to the main deck.
There were more English soldiers here than on the quarterdeck, and the numbers of them alone took care of what little resistance there was still left in the paid mercenaries and the weary French sailors. The noise of battle grew louder than the sound of the sea around them, and Alec welcomed its confusion. He needed to find Sarah, and he needed to find her quickly. If not for her own safety, then for his own peace of mind. It had been too long since he had seen his wife. Any number of things could have happened to her, and he had imagined just about all of them.
He rounded the bottom of the stairs to look back along the ship for any signs of a hatch when a hand descended on his shoulder.
"Get off the ship."
Alec looked at his brother the pirate.
"I need to find Sarah," he said, turning back to scan the stern of the ship on this level.
Nathan spun him around.
"You get off the ship. We'll find Sarah. It's too dangerous for you to stay on board."
Alec pulled his shoulder away.
"I'm not leaving without her."
Nathan pulled off his elaborate hat with the excessive peacock feather dangling from one side to scratch violently at his scalp.
"Why people wear these infernal things, I cannot fathom."
He jammed the hat back on his head.
"Now listen, little brother. I did not race across the blinking English countryside to play dress up like a little girl to have you get yourself killed because of your stupid pride-"
"It's not pride, Nathan," he said, cutting off his lecture. He knew when Nathan referred to him as little brother that the rest of the speech would not be decent in the least, and he did not have time for it. "I love her, and I'm not leaving her."
Nathan stilled even as the ship rocked.
"You said that out loud, you know."
Alec nodded.
"And I said it out loud to Sarah as well."
"No, you did not," Nathan returned instantly.
Alec raised an eyebrow.
"I most certainly did. And I'll say it again just as soon as I find her to do so."
"You told your wife that you love her?" Nathan asked.
Alec felt his frustration growing. Both at being prevented from finding Sarah as well his brother being unable to believe him when he said he had told his wife that he loved her.
"Yes, I told her that I loved her."
"And?" Nathan prompted.
Alec sighed.
"And I think she's beginning to believe me."
Nathan tilted his head, adjusting the way he looked at Alec. Alec raised his chin a little higher.
"Did they hit you on the head with something?"
Alec only blinked and turned away to go back to his search for Sarah.
"Hang on there. Hang on there just a minute," Nathan said even as he spun Alec back around with a hand to his shoulder.
Although they were nearly the same size, there was something about Nathan having always been the big brother that made Alec succumb to his prodding. He wished he would not do so now, but it was a hard habit to break. Especially when he was counting on that brother to save them.
"You said she's beginning to believe you," Nathan said.
Alec nodded.
"Yes, I believe that to be true."
Alec looked over Nathan's shoulder at the battle being raged behind them. Although most of the mercenaries had fled to the bowels of the ship, there were still a few dozen sailors doing their best against the highly skilled English pirates. This was not the most opportune moment to have this conversation, but it appeared it would continue.
"Perhaps she didn't understand that statement."
Alec looked back at his brother.
"Didn't understand the statement? What the bloody hell does that mean? What is there not to understand about I love you?"
"I love you, too, little brother," Nathan grinned at him.
Alec rolled his eyes again.
"Will you please just let me go find my wife now?"
Nathan grabbed his arm again, dragging him in the direction of one of the grappling lines. Alec fought back with everything he had, fueled by an instinct so natural and strong, he doubted anything could break it. He wrenched free, shouting at Nathan.
"I told you. I am not leaving this ship without my wife."
He had never yelled at Nathan before, and it stopped his brother mid-step.
"I'm sorry, Alec. I cannot let you do that," Nathan said, stepping forward, arms raised as if to get Alec in a hold to bodily carry him off the ship.
Alec raised his fists ready to fight back when Sarah suddenly stepped between them.
"Well, aren't you two just a fine example of British intelligence," she said, and Alec dropped his fists, the air rushing from his lungs.
She was all right. She was fine actually. Standing perfectly erect, no sign of injury or duress. Absolutely beautiful in the weak light of the moon.
"Would you mind continuing this wrestling match later?" she asked, "I, for one, would very much like to get off this ship."
~
She stared at her husband
At first she did not believe what she had heard.
And then she thought it likely her husband had gone mad.
Perhaps they had tortured him incessantly in the time they had been separated, and it had done something to his mind. Perhaps he had snapped just to cope with the physical agony. That could be the only explanation.
She stood on the deck of the ship that had been their prison, in the middle of a full battle that appeared to be occurring between French sailors and pirates in the middle of the English Channel, and she just stood there, letting the wind whip at her hair and tear at the ragged remains of her dress. She stood there and stared at her husband, not knowing what to think.
"You didn't leave," she said, and despite the noise about them, she whispered the words, afraid to speak too loudly lest the moment vanish and her hopes vanish with it.
Alec stood in front of her, the wind pulling at the lapels of his soggy jacket. He was fine. He looked fine. Not hurt, not tortured, not-
Something far worse for which she had no name. He was just Alec. And he was all right, and he was not leaving.
He was not leaving her.
It was as if something weighty and solid slid into place in her head and more importantly, her heart. It was as if something that had been not quite right for so long, something repressed and denied was suddenly let free, let free to move around on its own. Free to be as it was.
And what it was was love.
She knew that now.
Standing there on the deck of a French ship, if not in absolute peril at least close enough to it to not be simply standing there. But she could not move. She could only stand there and stare at her husband, listening to the echo of his words in her head.
I am not leaving this ship without my wife.
"Alec, I-"
"I'm not leaving you, Sarah," he said, suddenly springing forward to grab her hands in his.
His hands were icy and rough, but she did not flinch from his touch. She looked at the tangle of their hands and felt an incredible warmth spread through her, seeping slowly and certainly into her core.
"I should have listened to you. In the park. When you threw my watch in the water. I should have listened to you then, but I didn't, and I'm sorry. I promise I will listen to you from now on. If you just give me a chance."
Her mind had been in a completely different spot than their fight in the park, and she had to stop to catch up to him. She blinked in the wind and the drizzle of rain and tried to see her husband more clearly in the muted dark of the night.
"All right," she said, because the things he had said were the things she had been trying to tell him, but just then, she could not say more. She would say more later when they were on land and
safe and not likely to be killed, by pirates or otherwise. "I know what laugh means," she said, her voice just as breathy as when she first started speaking, having gained no further confidence from Alec's words, still stunned by his words as she had pulled herself through the hatch in the deck.
But Alec's face folded into confusion, and she realized that what she had said was not a real sentence. She shook her head, trying to find herself deep within her own confusion.
"I'm sorry, Alec. I'm not saying this right. I know it was you, Alec," she said, looking back up at him. "It was you that night in the gardens. You were trying to make me feel better by making me laugh only I-"
She stopped, raising her fingers to his face, realizing she was shaking even as she did so.
Alec smiled, raising his own hand to take her shaking one back into the cocoon of his.
"You walloped me a good one, love," he had stepped closer, his head bent. "I hope you will not do that again if I tell you I love you."
"I love you, too," she whispered even though that was not quite what he had said.
Someone cleared his throat.
"As much as I appreciate this show of affection after four bloody years of watching you two tear each other apart, this is not our ship, and it would be best if we were to leave."
Sarah turned to look at Nathan.
"That's not really your color," she said, pointing to his pirate garb.
Nathan only raised his eyebrows at her.
"Are you all right, Sarah?" Alec said, and she turned to look back at him.
"Quite. How are we going to go about getting off this ship?"
Alec looked up at the grappling lines even as she looked down at her tattered skirts.
"I suppose propriety is no longer a concern, is it?" she said, looking up at him.
"Afraid not, love," he said, and she watched the wicked glint return to his green eyes.
"Would you be so kind as to help me with my skirts, my lord?" she said, turning her back towards him.
"It would be my pleasure, my lady."
He quickly bent over and once more pulled the back of her skirt through the front of her dress, capturing the ruined fabric in a sack.
"As lovely as that scarf is, dear brother, would you mind lending it toward a worthy cause?"
Alec pointed toward the elaborately tied scarf of magnificent crimson around Nathan's neck.
"It will ruin my pirate outfit," he said but obligingly took it off.
Alec wrapped it about her waist, capturing the folds of cloth until she was free to move without the encumbrance of skirts.
"Did you climb trees as a lass?" he asked.
She shook her head.
"No, but I did catch rides on hackneys unseen."
Alec raised an eyebrow.
"How you were able to do that is something I wish to know more of. Perhaps, it is a topic for later discussion?"
"Perhaps."
This time Nathan audibly groaned.
"Could we please get off the ship today?" he asked, gesturing toward the grappling lines.
Alec grabbed her about the waist.
"Are you ready, love? I'll be right behind you."
Sarah nodded and reached for the line.
She had seen the way the men had moved their hands along the rope, one after the other, using one foot to hold the rope as the other close over top to push the body along. She took a moment to allow her breath to settle, her mind to focus, to concentrate on the swing of the rope as the ship rocked. And then she reached with one hand as her feet slid along the rope. When the deck fell away behind her, she kept her eyes riveted to the ship across the span of water, noticed the darkness of the wood.
"Almost there, love."
Alec's voice was closer than she had expected, and the sound of it sent a jolt of courage through her. She looked to her side and saw him hanging just as she was on the grappling line next to hers.
"Alec, can you promise me something?" she called back.
"Anything."
"I would very much like a bath after this."
She heard Alec's chuckle across the wind.
"Of course, my lady. You may have a bath."
When the ship came into view beneath her, she felt a slight giving of the fear that had gripped her in silence since she had grabbed the grappling line. Hands reached for her and helped her down from the line. As soon as her feet touched the deck, she spun back to the railing, watching as other men helped Alec off of his line.
And then she was in his arms, and he held her with such strength and gentleness that she feared she would cry from the simple joy of it.
"Thank you for not leaving me," she said, a distinct catch in her voice.
"I could never leave you," he said, and his words sent a shiver through her that no touch ever could.
"Promise," she said.
"I promise."
"When did this happen?"
Sarah's head snapped up, and she looked over her shoulder.
"Nora?"
She blinked, not believing that the infallible Miss Quinton could be standing before her. Nora turned toward her as she had asked the question of Nathan, who appeared to have just come on board himself
"Yes, my lady?" Nora said, bowing to her.
It was then that Sarah saw that Nora was dressed as a sailor in trousers and jacket.
"Nora!" Sarah said, the shock sounding in her voice. "Are those comfortable?"
Nora grinned.
"Extremely. I would advise you to try it sometime."
"Do not get any ideas, Lady Stryden," Alec said from over her head.
"Perhaps just once."
"Perhaps never," he said, moving slightly to bow to Nora.
"Miss Quinton, it's a pleasure to see you again."
"Ah, that's Mrs. Black, actually," Nathan said, looking down at Nora.
Alec stopped mid-bow, and Sarah felt her eyebrows shoot up to her hairline.
"Mrs. Black?" Sarah asked and turned to her half-bent husband. "When did this happen?"
Alec straightened and shook his head.
"How would I know? I've been with you the whole time."
"Would you two mind going below decks now? It is you these Frenchies are after."
Reginald Davis appeared between them as he made his way toward the quarterdeck and the wheel.
"Prepare to shove off," he called, and Sarah looked up to see sailors high in the riggings, moving like spiders across a web.
"A bath," she said as Alec led her below.
"A bath," he said, "But first we need to make it to shore."
~
Alec could finally move again.
When he had realized they were being rescued, something in him had frozen, stuck on a single idea, a single thought that would not jar loose in his mind.
He just needed to get to Sarah.
And now that she was here, standing in his arms, he could finally function like the trained spy he was. Keeping his arm about Sarah's shoulders, he moved to the staircase leading up to the quarterdeck. He followed in Davis's path to the bridge, bringing Sarah inside with him. The wind still brewed even though the storm seemed to have blown itself out, and he wanted Sarah to be protected at least for a bit from the elements. Once inside the bridge, he helped Sarah remove the make shift belt and return her skirts to their proper place along her legs. He could admit that he had taken slightly longer than necessary to get the nearly destroyed fabric back into place if only to give him a few more minutes of admiring his wife's shapely legs. There would be plenty of time to admire them later, and right now, he had to do whatever Davis told him to do to get them safely back to shore and into the protection of a crowd.
Davis barked orders to his sailors on the bridge. Some scurried below decks while others ran out to the quarterdeck to relay orders to the men in the rigs. Alec watched as the grappling lines were released, the ropes falling away, and the ship that had been their prison drifting into the darkness.
"We didn'
t get to say goodbye to the captain," Sarah whispered, but he heard the derisive note in her voice.
"Perhaps we'll call on him at some point in the future. When our countries are not at war. What say you?"
Sarah laughed.
It was soft and non-committal, but it was a natural laugh. One pulled out without much thought as to what she was doing.
Everything inside Alec stopped moving, arrested by the sound of that small, weak laugh. He couldn't breath. He knew he had known how only moments before, but right then, he couldn't have drawn breath if it were the one thing that could get them back to shore.
Sarah finally turned to look at him, and she must have seen something in his face, because a concerned expression spread over her features, and she lifted a hand to cup his cheek.
"You do make me laugh, Alec Black. I've just never let you hear it."
Her words were still whispered, but she could have been shouting for that was how loudly he heard them.
He made his wife laugh.
He had heard it with his own ears, and it was a sound unlike anything he had heard previously. It was magical and light. It was beauty and miracles. It was exactly what he had been waiting to hear for four long years.
"Thank you," he said, although he wasn't sure why he was thanking her. She couldn't possibly understand what her laughter meant to him. And indeed, she frowned.
"I don't know why it's so important to you that I laugh, Alec. Do you think we could talk about that later?"
Alec felt the numbing sensation spread through his body once more. Sarah never spoke about things, at least not to him, and suddenly, it sounded like the most important thing in the world to do just then.
"Perhaps after a bath, my lady," he said, feeling the smile move across his face, watching her returning smile as she gazed up at him.
In the weak lantern light of the bridge on the ship that was meant to save them from the damned French, in the middle of the English Channel with the rocky seas threatening to overturn them at any moment, Alec fell in love with Sarah all over again. And it was the second best moment of his life. Second only, of course, to the first time he had fallen in love with her, in a duke's garden under the light of a midnight moon.
"My lord, are you implying that I am in current need of bathing? How dare you make such an implication to a lady?"
He admired her attempt to sound high brow when she was covered from head to tattered slippers in salt water and muck. Alec stepped back and gave a gracious bow.
For Love of the Earl Page 16
