Fire and Ice

by Hart, Catherine

  Kathleen’s small hand disappeared into his large one. “I am the captain of the Emerald Enchantress, commonly known as Emerald.”

  “What brings you to these parts? The last we heard you were up around Florida, harassing Reed Taylor. That was really very nasty of you to cut up his side like that.”

  “He is a friend of yours?” Finley cut in.

  Dominique nodded. “A very good friend. He works for Jean Lafitte.”

  “Word travels fast in these waters,” Kathleen commented.

  “Yes, well, we ran into him on his way back to Grande Terre. He was quite upset with you. He’s out for your blood, you know.”

  “I don’t see why. It was a fair fight, and I was gracious enough to have my doctor sew him up and see to his wounded crewmen.”

  “My brother is none too happy either, cherie,” Pierre stated. “In fact, he told us if we were to run into you, we were to invite you back to Grande Terre.” He leered at her over his mug.

  “Invite or escort forcibly?” she inquired coolly.

  “Whichever way you prefer.”

  “Emerald, Jean would much rather have you join up with us than work against us. By raiding Reed, you are cutting into our profits,” Dominique explained.

  “I see.”

  “Then you will come willingly?”

  “I’ll think about it,” she lied.

  “Perhaps I can aid in convincing you. One night alone with me, and you would never want to leave my side again, my dove,” Pierre assured her with a smug look.

  “I doubt that,” she returned, her green eyes flashing over the rim of her whiskey glass.

  “I will prove it,” Pierre said as he reached for her over the table.

  Her hand automatically flew to the hilt of her rapier, only to find Dominique’s already there.

  “Easy does it,” he soothed. He pried her fingers loose from his as he looked her directly in the face. He had been speculating on her features since he had first sat down, trying to convince himself he was wrong. Now, as he held her hand in his, he turned it palm up and uncurled her fingers one by one. There on the tip of her index finger he found the small scar he sought.

  His dark eyes sought hers, his full of accusations and bewilderment, hers with guilt and pleading. “Cherie, you will walk with me outside, no?”

  She nodded, unable to speak.

  “Unfair!” Pierre objected hotly. “I saw her first!”

  Finley didn’t know what to do. “Captain, are you sure?”

  “It’s fine, Finley,” she assured him. “I’ll meet you all back at the ship soon.”

  This was not in their plans, as they were not to sail until dawn, so Finley figured he’d better round up his men discreetly and head back. Something was in the wind.

  Dominique led Kathleen outside. Wordlessly they walked down the road toward the shore. In a secluded spot, Dominique picked out a large rock. Finally removing his large hand from her upper arm, he pointed to the rock.

  “Sit,” he directed.

  “No, thank you,” she said politely enough, still wondering if he had truly seen through her, or was just guessing.

  “Sit, I said,” he commanded in a no-nonsense tone.

  Docilely, she complied.

  “All right, Kathleen, you can remove your mask now.” He stood shaking his head at her, much like a father correcting his truant child.

  She did so reluctantly, wondering just how angry he was with her. “What are you going to do?” She looked up at him questioningly with wide green eyes.

  “That depends on how good your explanations are, little sister. You can dispense with the wide-eyed innocent looks, too. They don’t suit that outrageous outfit you are wearing.”

  “I thought the disguise was quite appropriate to the role, myself,” she pouted. “If it were not for the scar on my finger, you would never have had any idea it was me, especially with my hair dyed black. I’ve clashed with Reed three times now face to face, and he hasn’t seen through me.”

  “You are lucky, and you are wrong. I had my suspicions about you since I first sat down next to you.”

  “How? Why?”

  “What really started it was your immediate dislike of Pierre, yet you seemed amiable enough toward me. We were supposedly both strangers and pirates. You should have been wary of me, too.”

  “Oh,” she said in a small voice.

  “I realize, of course, what you are doing. What I don’t know is why, or how you have managed it. Obviously you are the lady pirate who had been giving Reed all his problems. A personal revenge as I see it, but why? You are supposed to be with your aunt in Savannah. Where did you come by your ship?”

  “It’s a long story,” she evaded.

  “Then you had better start telling it right away.” He was firm.

  She gave a heavy sigh. “I didn’t tell you all of it on Grande Terre.”

  “Oh?” Dominique sat down on the ground in front of her.

  “Reed tricked me into marrying him. He made me believe he had stolen my virtue while I was in a stupor over Nanna’s death. In order to salvage my tattered reputation, or so I thought, I married him, though I didn’t really want to. Then I came to realize all he wanted was the Kat-Ann. I was just sort of a bonus. The Kat-Ann was mine, bequeathed to me by my father. I decided then and there that if the right opportunity ever arose, I would pay him back for his treachery.”

  Dominique nodded. “Go on.”

  “For a while I almost thought our marriage would work out. I tried, Dom. Really I did. But Reed is just impossible! I know deep down I love him, but I just can’t live with the oaf! We don’t get along at all. If arguing were a prerequisite for success in a marriage, we’d be the happiest couple alive.”

  “And?” he prompted.

  “Well, you know how it was when we left Grande Terre. I had told Reed that if he thought he was going to dump me with his mother like an old suit, he was crazy. I blackmailed him into taking me to my aunt’s and pretending I was still a single, virtuous maiden.”

  “How did you manage that?”

  She gave him an abashed look and hung her head. “I told him that if he dared to expose our marriage I would tell the world he was associated with pirates and watch him hang,” she said in a low voice.

  “Kathleen!” Dominique was astonished.

  “Oh, I’m sorry, Dom!” Her eyes filled with tears of remorse. “I know how it must sound. I would proudly tell the world I know you and Jean. I’m truly not ashamed of you. I adore you! I would not hurt you for the world! It’s just that Reed had me backed into a corner, and it was the only opening I could find that would work.”

  Dominique folded his long arm about her quaking shoulders. “It is all right, cherie. I understand. I believe you. But where did you get your ship?”

  She brightened at his words and continued. “It, too, belonged to my father’s shipping line, along with six others. You see, Reed knows I have an estate in Ireland, though he has not yet inquired about it much, and he knew the Kat-Ann belonged to me. He doesn’t realize my father had a shipping line with eight frigates, and I never volunteered the information. I thought I should keep that ace up my sleeve as long as I could. I felt bad enough about the Kat-Ann.”

  “You are sneakier than you look,” he complimented her. “Continue.”

  “When the Emerald Enchantress—she was the Starbright before we renamed and painted her—pulled into port in Savannah, I commandeered her. Every time Reed pulls out of port, I follow. I get away by saying I’m staying at my grandmother’s plantation for a while. She lives near Chimera. Reed knows we are friends, but he doesn’t know she is my Irish grandmother.”

  “You are confusing me, little one. What has this grandmother to do with anything?”

  “Well, you see, her name is O’Reilly. She’s my mother’s mother. The Bakers of Savannah are my father’s English relations. They don’t admit any family ties. Reed confides in Kate a lot. She knows all about his privateering for Jea
n. As long as he doesn’t know she is related to me, he keeps confiding in her. She passes along the information of where he’ll be and when. She’s my spy and my alibi when I’m gone.”

  “Holy catfish!” He was frankly admiring. “That explains the why and the how, but where is all this leading in the end?”

  “Well, I figured if I could successfully pirate Reed often enough, I could drive him to just enough financial ruin to force him to sell the Kat-Ann. Then I would have an agent from my own company buy it back for me. You know Reed’s family situation. He can never use the proceeds from the plantation to buy a ship. It is stipulated so in his father’s will.”

  “I know. So you don’t want him killed. You don’t want his head, just his ship.”

  “Precisely. If I can force him to give up the Kat-Ann, my revenge will be complete. However, I also find I am having the time of my life! I can take the Kat-Ann swiftly or slowly, and I choose to do it slowly and prolong Reed’s agony.”

  “He may still sail for Jean,” Dominique pointed out.

  “I know, but he won’t have my ship.”

  “And what then?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “After you get your revenge what do you do? Do you continue on as a Savannah belle? Do you agree to live as Reed’s wife then? Do you go back to Ireland? What?”

  “I hadn’t really thought that far ahead,” she admitted. “He’s constantly trying to get me to admit our marriage publicly. I just don’t know what I’ll do yet.”

  “What if you are caught? I’m not just talking about Reed, either. You are playing a game of chance with the shore patrol too. After all, you are running their blockade.”

  “Then the fat will be in the fire, won’t it?” For the first time since they sat down, the twinkle was back in her dark-fringed eyes. “You won’t tell on me, will you?” she cajoled.

  “You finagling female!” he laughed. “You know I won’t, even though you are cutting into Jean’s profits. He’s not too happy about that.”

  “No doubt! I wish you could explain to him—but we daren’t. Anyway, my booty is going into a warehouse in Savannah. When this is all over, I’ll send it all to Jean to make up for now.”

  “You amaze me! You’ve thought of almost everything.”

  “I hope so, but I hadn’t planned on Jean insisting on seeing me at Grande Terre. I can’t show up there, Dom.”

  “Obviously,” he agreed dryly.

  “Then you’ll help me get away tonight?”

  “Better than that. I think from now on I’ll sail as gunner for Reed. He can’t turn down an offer like that. I’m the best there is.” Dominique grinned at her devilishly. “That way I can keep an eye on you both, in case you get caught.”

  Kathleen threw her arms about his neck and kissed him on his rough cheek. “Oh, Dom! You’re the best brother a girl could have! I’ll feel better knowing you are there,” she added sheepishly.

  “You really do cover yourself well. You make quite a pirate after all!” He hugged her affectionately. “Come. Let’s get you aboard your ship and away before Pierre realizes you are gone.”

  “So you think I cover myself well, eh?” she teased with a toss of her head. “It is obvious to me that you are blind in one eye and can’t see from the other then, my big friend.” She danced around in front of him, pivoting about, letting him see all sides of her.

  “You minx! You had just better watch yourself! You are quite a tempting dish as it is, without displaying yourself like that. You are safe with me, yes, but what of all the others?”

  “The outfit comes complete with rapier, pistol, and knife,” she mimicked as though modeling the latest Paris fashion. “Besides,” she said, pulling a face at him, “can you see me captaining a frigate in all those skirts? I’d be climbing the rigging! Talk about revealing! That would certainly give the sailors an eyeful!”

  “You could wear long trousers and a shirt!” he argued with a frown.

  “Now, Dom. If I’m to play a pirate, I’ll do it all the way. I’ve yet to meet one who is prim, proper, and prissy!”

  He laughed and shook his head in mock dismay. “Oh, Kathleen,” he sighed. “You are one in a million. Reed certainly has his work cut out for him, and I’m not sure I envy him. You may turn out to be more woman than any man can handle.”

  “I agree,” she concurred, tossing her head arrogantly. She walked tall and proud beside him to her ship.

  They had no trouble leaving the darkened harbor, and no one followed in pursuit. Kathleen chuckled to herself as she imagined Dominique getting Pierre roaring drunk and fobbing one of those horse-faced tarts off on him for the evening. To herself she admitted what a close call she had had, and determined not to indulge herself in such idiotic ventures again. She would stay away from Matanzas and other such places. Her men would have to content themselves in Savannah from now on, and she would have to keep a firm hold on her avid curiosity.

  They were quite a way up the Florida coastline when Kathleen noticed a change in the air. Dan noticed it too.

  “We’re in for a blow, Cap’n,” he announced in his casual way.

  “Aye, Dan, and it’s going to be a good one. Look at the murky color of the sea, and there is an odd color to the sky and an eerie stillness in the air. Unless I miss my guess, we’re in for a hurricane once this cuts loose.” Excitement tinged her voice.

  “How soon ye figure?”

  “Sometime early tomorrow is my guess.”

  “If we put her to full sail we might make home port,” he calculated.

  “What, and miss all the fun?” she teased with a pretty pout.

  “Are ye daft, lass?” he demanded.

  “Probably,” she concluded. “Still,” she said dreamily, “I’d like to ride her out. I want to feel the wind and rain in my face. I want to face the waves head on and meet the challenge of the sea.”

  “Ye’re young and foolish, and crazy as a loon,” he intoned under his breath, “but ye’re the captain.”

  A few hours later the lookout called down. “Ship ahoy!”

  “Where away?” she yelled up at him.

  “Two points off the port bow,” came the answer.

  “Can you identify her?”

  “Maybe if I had the glass!”

  Kathleen turned the helm over to Finley and climbed up the rigging with the glass. Perched in the topmost yard, clinging to the mast with both legs and one arm, she raised the glass in the direction the lookout indicated.

  “Well, blow me down, if it isn’t the Kat-Ann!” A smile found its way across her face. “Here, Timmy. Take a look and see if I am right.” She handed the glass to the youth.

  “Yep! That’s her all right!”

  “Talk about the luck o’ the Irish!” she said to herself as she climbed nimbly down.

  She took the wheel from Finley. “It’s the Kat-Ann,” she informed him. “I want full sail. We’re going after her.”

  Slowly, little by little, because of the swells, they crept up on the Kat-Ann. Finally, when they were within hailing distance, Kathleen picked up the horn.

  “Ahoy, the Kat-Ann!” she called.

  She watched as Reed reached for his own horn. “I haven’t time for your silly games now, you daftie!” he shouted back. “There’s a storm brewing in case you haven’t noticed!”

  “I know! Where are you heading, Taylor?”

  “Savannah port! You’d better head for shelter of your own! ’Tis brewing into one helluva blow!”

  “Not just a blow, you novice!” she called in return. “A hurricane! Can’t you see the signs?”

  “You’re probably right. Catch me when I’m not in such a hurry, sugar,” he shot back.

  “Why all the rush? Come play a while!” she baited, her laughter ringing more clearly in his ears than her words.

  “Your brains have turned to seaweed!” he exclaimed.

  She shook her head negatively, and her raven locks broke free of their restraining ribbon and tumble
d about her shoulders, blowing wildly in the wind. Now more than ever, she resembled a sea temptress, the enchantress of some old sea tale.

  “Come ride out the hurricane with me!” she shouted. “Let your men take your ship into port if you fear for them, and come ride with me on the Emerald Enchantress.”

  “You can’t mean to stay out in this!” he retorted.

  “I do indeed. Are you afraid of me or the storm? Which is it?” she taunted. “I promise no harm will come to you. I’ll deliver you safe and sound on Georgian soil as soon as the storm is over. You have my word on it.”

  “The word of a pirate!” he spat out.

  “My word as a lady, then.”

  His laughter grated on her.

  “If you have guts enough to accept my challenge and meet it well, you shall have a reward!” she yelled over the rising wind.

  “What might that be?”

  “If you can weather this storm as well as I, if you survive and keep your stomach, you shall ride more than wind and waves this day.” She threw the final challenge. “You shall ride me as well. What say you, brave, strong Captain Taylor?” She was close enough to see the surprise register on his face.

  “And what do you get, fair lady?” he shot back.

  “Why, you, of course!” Her tinkling laughter rang out again. “One evening with the captain of your choice! Say you yea or nay? This is a one-time offer!”

  “I hope the sheets are clean. I’m allergic to bedbugs! Hold fast while I issue orders to my crew, you sea witch!”

  He swung himself aboard with a self-satisfied smile. “I’ll hold you to your bargain, you know.”

  “My word is as good as your gold.” She couldn’t resist the dig. “I’ll handle the helm. You help out with the rigging. You’re not here just for the ride, my friend,” she said.

  He saluted smartly. Over his shoulder he said, “I’ll see you later, sugar.”

  The storm worsened gradually throughout the evening. Kathleen figured the brunt of it would hit in the wee hours of the morning. By midnight the swells were gigantic, washing over the decks with such force that Kathleen ordered her sails reefed and tied down securely. She lashed herself to the wheel and ordered her crew below decks. The wind buffeted the frigate about like a toy ship on a lake.