What a Pirate Desires
Page 25
His grip pulled tight enough to hurt her ribs, and his rancid breath prowled over her cheek.
“You see, Samantha, I have a very long memory. I remembered you doing the same to me and figured it had to be you. Since I hadn’t had any luck finding you, I decided to follow Bradley instead.”
Grant straightened. “You, my friend, are much easier to track than she is. I’m in your debt.”
Luke’s upper lip curled back. Sam could only stand stunned as she assimilated it all. Grant had been looking for her all those years? While she’d been concentrating her efforts on finding Dervish, he’d been trying to find her? The thought sickened her.
“Now,” Grant said, “I think I’ve waited long enough. And you, Captain Bradley, are in my way.”
Sam felt the gun slip from her temple and saw it point at Luke. Luke stood tall, his body alert and aware. His eye never left the barrel of the gun. The hammer cocked.
Sam didn’t hesitate. She jabbed her right elbow deep into the softness of her captor’s belly. He let out an oof and his gun wavered. Sam rushed for Luke. He grabbed her and tossed her to the side. He reached for his pistol but wasn’t fast enough.
Grant’s gun exploded, and Luke fell. Oliver smiled in satisfaction. Sam didn’t question what needed to be done. She’d been haunted before by thoughts of having killed him, but she had no qualms now. He wouldn’t stop. He’d keep trying, as he had been for the last four years, and Sam wasn’t going to have any part of that. It was ending today.
She didn’t spare a glance for Luke, who lay still on the floor. She took the other pistol he’d dropped and spun to Grant, who was in the process of reloading.
“Drop it,” she warned.
He ignored her. Her hand wavered, and she needed to bring up her other to steady the pistol. “I said drop it.”
Grant was wheezing now and sweat poured down his face. He wiped it with a sleeve and finished reloading. He aimed at her.
“I haven’t come this far to fail now,” he said through gasps. Saliva had gathered at the corners of his mouth.
“Yes, you have. I won’t let you ruin the rest of my life.”
“You should have thought of that,” he said as he staggered slightly, “before you stole my ship.”
He cocked the weapon, and though his hand shook, she knew he wouldn’t miss. Luke moaned, drawing Grant’s attention. Sam pulled the trigger.
The shot was true, and Grant staggered back. Blood spurted from his shoulder. He dropped the blunderbuss and stared in shock from the wound to Sam. Then his face twisted with fury and he ran toward her. She took a step back, despite the arsenal that remained at her feet, but Grant never reached her. Midstride he jolted back, clutched his chest. His eyes widened in pain or shock, Sam wasn’t sure which. Then he fell to the floor.
Silence hung heavily.
Luke rose, staggered across the floor, and pressed his fingers to Grant’s throat. “He’s dead.”
Sam dropped the pistol. “I killed him,” she muttered.
“Not with a shoulder wound, luv. My guess is his heart stopped.”
Sam couldn’t look at Grant. She turned and sat on the bed. “He’s been looking for me for years. He hunted me like an animal. Just like I did with Dervish. Oh, God, Luke, I’m as bad as he was.”
He winced as he knelt before her. “No you’re not, luv. You turned away from the man who shattered your life. It’s not in you to be mean. Not a damn thing wrong with that.”
Sam wiped away the tears that spilled down her cheeks and looked at the man who’d saved her in every way that mattered. “I’m sorry, Luke. I’m sorry I called you a bastard. I was hurting inside, but it was wrong to throw those words in your face. I was just so lost. To have come so far, only to turn my back, was inconceivable. Why couldn’t I have seen the futility of it before then?”
Afraid he’d reject her touch, Sam wrapped her arms around her middle. “When I heard the shot, my first thought was that you were killed. But when I turned and saw you’d fired the shot, nothing made sense. But I was wrong, Luke, so desperately wrong to accuse you without ever letting you explain. My only excuse is that I haven’t had much reason to trust pirates.”
This time she did reach for him because she needed to touch him, needed to feel him and know, for now, that he was with her. “I know I can trust you, Luke. I do trust you. And I’m sorry that I was the one who proved to be untrustworthy. I told you I loved you, and yet at the first sign of trouble, I abandoned that love.”
Her voice cracked. “Please tell me I’m not too late, that I haven’t lost you.”
Luke’s gaze bored into hers. “When you turned from Dervish, I knew in that moment that I loved you. You think that was your weakest moment, but I believe it was your strongest. It made me want to be a better man, to be worthy of being in your life.”
Sam sobbed, and her hands clasped Luke’s. “I don’t care how you came into this world, Luke. Your parentage is of no consequence.”
He inhaled deeply and sat next to her. “Bloody hell, that hurts!” he cursed. He leaned back, then, since that didn’t seem to help, rolled onto his stomach.
That’s when Sam saw the blood. “You’re hurt!”
He looked over his shoulder, then back at her. “So it seems.”
“Don’t move. I’ll get a rag and some water. The shot must still be in you.”
Luke grabbed her hand and tugged her down next to him.
“It’s just grazed. At any rate, there’s some things that need finishing before I let you out of my sight again.”
Despite being wounded, his gaze was strong and his voice deep. Both touched her very soul. His hand reached out and held her hip firmly. “I’ll not have my children go through what I did. If you’re sure you can tolerate me, we’ll need to be married.”
Sam’s heart soared, but her voice trembled. “I think that can be arranged.”
He almost looked surprised. “I swear I’ll see to it you’re happy.”
“Just don’t leave me, Luke, ever. That’s all I ask.”
“That, luv, I can guarantee.”
His kiss wasn’t soft. It plundered the way a pirate kiss was meant to. He pressed her into the mattress, his hands curling in her hair. His tongue sought and conquered. She gave back all the love that swelled in her chest. Pirate or not, he was hers.
When he drew back, his gaze was heavy with need. For her. She smiled.
“How do you feel about building ships?” he asked suddenly.
“Building them?”
Funny, how the picture came so easily to her mind and made perfect sense. Who better to create a work of precision and passion than two of the best pirates the Caribbean had ever seen?
“I can’t think of anything more perfect,” she said.
“I love you, Samantha.”
“I love you, Luke, with all my heart. Just as you are.”
He grinned wickedly. She’d never felt so at home as she did in that moment, with the man who’d captured her heart.
“About my wound,” he began.
He was up to no good. She knew it. She loved it.
“Yes?”
He leaned closer, his breath caressing her face, his lips hovering over hers. “I think it can wait a moment longer.”
Don’t miss the next swashbuckling romance
in Michelle Beattie’s pirate series
Romancing the Pirate
Available October 2009
from Berkley Sensation!