The Pirate's Heart

by Bethany M. Sefchick

  Swiftly, Jack maneuvered behind the other man, careful to make as little noise as possible since the clank and clang of weapons elsewhere was dying down. Then, when he was certain he was in position, he hoisted up the dagger that he had taken from the man Katherine had killed and rammed it into her attacker’s back – right where he knew it would do the most damage.

  Except that the man obviously had thicker skin than Jack had anticipated for instead of immediately dropping to the deck, he howled in pain and spun around, eyes wide. In the process, he released Katherine and she stumbled backward, though she did manage to catch herself on the ship’s railing.

  “You’ll die for that,” the other man growled, Jack’s dagger still sticking out of the man’s lower back.

  Why in God’s name was this man not dead? Jack had no idea but he didn’t have time to ponder the question either for, though obviously wounded, the man still had enough strength to draw his sword before Jack could even blink and began slashing at Jack viciously.

  The man was either in pain and thus, his accuracy dulled or he wasn’t a very good swordsman to begin with, for when the man slashed at Jack, he missed each time. Eventually, his eyes were drawn by the sight of blood on Jack’s upper arm and the man swung again before Jack could draw his own cutlass.

  That time, the other pirate hit his mark and Jack hissed in fresh pain. Again, the wound wasn’t deep, but it was deeper than the first and hurt even worse.

  “I mean it. Boucher wants you dead. The longer you live, the longer it will take him to collect the bounty on her pretty head. Wilds is offering top coin for her, you know, and Boucher intends to claim the prize.” The other man was toying with Jack now and they both knew it.

  Was that why the other man was so chatty? For really, there was no other reason. Save for being an idiot, of course.

  “Boucher can go straight to the devil!” Actually, Jack was fairly certain they were both going there. Though he would prefer to wait a bit longer before he met his maker.

  Another swipe with the man’s sword, this one across Jack’s stomach and coming near his old scar. A scratch, really, but it still bloody hurt and Jack was forced to grip the injured flesh, protecting himself from another strike, which left him little chance to draw his own weapon and defend himself.

  “Opinion is the medium between knowledge and ignorance.” The other man cocked his head as he twisted his sword, almost as if he was debating how to attack Jack next.

  Plato? This rag-tag pirate was quoting Plato to him? How the devil did he know of such things? Unless, of course, like Jack, this had once been an educated man and not the idiot Jack assumed he was.

  “Ignorance, the root and stem of all evil.” Jack was no slouch in the brainbox either. “And you are indeed ignorant, my friend, if you think that Boucher will allow you to keep her even for a night.”

  “He may. For a time. But you? You took what didn’t belong to you,” the pirate replied far too pleasantly, and Jack heard traces of a faint English accent beneath the hard words. So. A fellow countryman then, obviously well-educated and likely from a good family. A pity really, as they might have been friends in another life, for they both seemed to have a liking for the ancient Greeks. And under different circumstances, of course.

  “I took nothing more than what already belonged to me,” Jack growled, staggering backward but still unable to draw his cutlass. “What has always belonged to me.”

  That made the other man laugh, his sword cutting the air with a swish as he taunted Jack. “Then unless you’re a ghost, this lady doesn’t belong to you. She belongs to a dead man and everyone knows it. Or so says the dandy.”

  By this time, Jack was pressed back against a stack of heavy creates that had yet to become dislodged as the ship continued to pitch and roll in the waves, still off course after Boucher’s attack. The other pirate might not be accurate with his sword, but he was quick. Too quick for Jack to draw his own cutlass and fight back.

  Jack was also bleeding. Not enough to bleed to death but enough that his wounds were painful and that, if left untended, might well lead to some sort of other infection that would kill him in short order. The pain from his wounds had also dulled his senses a bit so that he could not think clearly. Could not plan. Under the best of circumstances, Jack might have been able to come up with something, a plan of some kind that would, if not spare his life, then would at least save Katherine’s.

  God, where was Katherine? Jack prayed that she had sense enough to run, that she hadn’t remained behind to see if she could help. She needed to remain safe, but if he was gone, would she be? Unlikely. And that thought hurt more than all of his physical wounds combined.

  Another slash of the other man’s sword, this one across Jack’s chest.

  For the first time since he had become a pirate, Jack wondered if he truly might die today. There had been close calls before, but none like this. Still, if this was the end, Katherine, at least, was still free – for the moment, anyway. Without him to protect her, she likely wouldn’t remain that way for long, but for now? She was safe. He would have to hope that Ramsey or someone else saw that she remained safe for as long as possible and perhaps even reach the safety of England, even though Jack knew such an outcome was unlikely.

  Bracing for what was to come next, Jack raised his chin and looked the other man in the eye. “She is mine. She has always been mine and will always be mine. Another might own her body but I will always own her heart and her soul. Be sure to relay my words to your captain. And tell him that I will see him in hell.” Then Jack braced himself.

  Only the final blow never came. Instead, there was a familiar whooshing noise and Jack ducked, knowing what was coming next. The other man didn’t. Instead, like a fool, he turned toward the sound.

  Jack should have warned him. He should have told the other man to duck as well. Or at the very least, he should have offered him a half-hearted warning. That would have been the moral thing to do. Provided, of course, that Jack was still a moral man, and he was no longer certain he was.

  In the end, Jack did none of those things.

  Instead, he allowed the other man to turn his head, his neck now directly in the path of one of Katherine’s arrows.

  Blood began to pour from the wound as the other man made one last gasp for air. The scent of copper was heavy in the air as the dying pirate reached out toward the woman who had only moments ago been his captive. In her hands, the bow and arrow hung loosely at her sides, the quiver of arrows now strapped to her back to give her the balance that Jack knew she needed to make certain her aim was straight and true.

  The pirate went down with a gurgling noise, Katherine’s arrow inflicting the fatal blow that Jack’s dagger had been unable to deliver.

  As Boucher’s man crumpled at their feet, Jack looked up, his eyes seeking out Katherine’s. Her sea-green gaze was now locked on his own toffee-hued one. He watched as the emotions raced across her face. Fear and disbelief at what she’d done. The sickening horror when she realized she had taken that man’s life. Relief that Jack still lived. And beneath it all? Recognition of the man standing in front of her.

  Jack was bleeding and his arm throbbed like the devil. But he forgot all about his physical pain when he saw the raw, emotional pain in Katherine’s eyes.

  Pain because she knew he had lied. For six long years, he had lied. And he wondered, then, if she could ever forgive him for his deception.

  “Daniel.”

  His name, his true name, on her lips was the most welcome sound he had heard in those same six long, lonely years.

  “Katherine.” He wouldn’t deny the truth of her single word. Not that he could.

  She took a step toward him, the bow still clutched tight in her hands. Then she looked at the crumpled body of the man that lay between them. And she did the one thing that Daniel – not Midnight Jack but Daniel Montgomery – had been expecting her to do since she fired her arrow straight into the now dead man’s throat.


  Katherine made a low, moaning sound as she crumpled to the deck in a swoon.

  Daniel was only thankful that, despite his injuries, he was quick enough to catch her.

  But that was his way.

  He loved this woman. He always had. And he would always catch her when she fell.

  Provided that she allowed him to do so after his betrayal, of course.

  Chapter Eleven

  Katherine’s head was pounding fiercely when she awoke, and it took her several moments to remember where she was – and what had just happened.

  She quickly discovered that if she kept her eyes closed, everything slowly came back into focus, the memories fresh and vivid in her mind. She remembered the way The Darkness had pitched violently. The hooks. The cannonballs. The bow and arrows. Jack with blood on his shirt. Killing a man.

  She remembered the clothes she had worn. Jack’s clothes. Clothes she apparently still wore if the warm, tropical air on her bare breasts were any indication. She remembered the way Jack had stared at her with hungry eyes, the way he had demanded that she cover up her nakedness. The way a lover might. The way the necklace she still wore seemed to draw his eye.

  But most of all, she remembered seeing Jack without his headscarf. Jack who wasn’t Jack at all. Jack who was really Daniel.

  And if the scent surrounding her was any indication, a man who was still very much alive and very much in the same room right now.

  Opening one eye, Katherine looked around, unsurprised to see Jack – no Daniel – dozing in his usual chair in the corner. He wore no shirt, instead his torso covered by thick bandages where the man on the deck had sliced him open. There was also another, far thicker bandage around his upper arm. That was where she had seen most of the blood earlier, indicating a deeper wound.

  And, as always, even before she knew his true identity, he drew her eye.

  God, he was handsome. Just as he had always been. And it shamed her to admit that she still wanted him as much as she always had. Then again, she had always been weak when it came to Daniel Montgomery. She wasn’t surprised in the least to discover that was still the case.

  She also wasn’t surprised to discover that she was bound to the bed again, though looser this time. Apparently, her captor wasn’t convinced she would remain where he put her.

  A valid fear, she supposed, for if there were any place aboard this cursed ship to hide where he would not find her, she would have already left this cabin by now. Better to hide than to remain with a liar.

  Taking in the cabin through new, or at least newly opened, eyes, Katherine wondered why she had not noticed the small touches strewn about that hinted that Midnight Jack was really Daniel before all of this.

  On a table beside the bed was a copy of The Epic of Gilgamesh, well worn and obviously well loved. Hanging the wall was a tapestry depicting the ancient sport of bull jumping. On the dressing table that doubled as a desk, those same two pairs of glasses – a pair and a spare. The oddly-balanced cutlass that could be wielded by either the left or right hand now propped against a chair. Even the necklace she still wore – for she could feel the heavy stones at her throat once again – consisted of diamonds and rubies. Daniel’s favorite precious gems, but only because they had been her favorites, too.

  To the untrained eye, these things were simply the spoils of war. But for someone who had once known Lord Daniel Montgomery in every way but the physical, they should have been clues. Clues that the man long thought dead was actually very much alive and living under a different name. Living life as a pirate.

  “Ah, Duchess. You are awake.”

  “Don’t call me that.” Katherine shot what she hoped was a murderous glare in his direction. “I told you before, I am no man’s duchess.”

  Slowly, Jack – no, Daniel, and she had to start thinking of him that way again – unfolded himself from the chair. His movements were slow and almost languid and once more, Katherine was struck by the same heated desire at her core as she had been the first time she had met this man.

  She was also struck by the same certainty that he was still somewhat of a stranger to her. For this was a man and not a boy, a different version of Daniel than she had ever known. Did Daniel Montgomery even still exist? Or was there now only Midnight Jack in his place? Could she ever truly know him again or had too much changed between them?

  Apparently, however, her body disagreed with her mind’s confusion and knew exactly who this man was and what she desired from him. The growing dampness between her legs argued that her body had always known what her mind stubbornly refused to see.

  Daniel crossed the room slowly and once more, Katherine was reminded of a jungle cat. Suddenly, a room that had only moments ago seemed enormous for a ship was now far too small to be comfortable.

  “You should have been my duchess.” He sank onto the bed beside her and she made no move to back away. “You still can be.”

  Katherine shook her head. “Daniel, I…”

  She watched, entranced, as he brought his finger to her lips. “I like hearing my name, my real name, on your lips again. You have no idea how long I have desired that.”

  “You should have told me the truth from the first!” she snapped, unable to keep her temper, though she was a bit saddened when he stood up abruptly and moved away from the bed, likely afraid that she would lash out at him physically. Which she well might considering how angry she was. “Out of all of the people in this world, I am the one who should have been the first to know you still lived!”

  “I would have informed you had I been able and had it been wise. I did not for reasons that you will eventually learn.” Daniel was staring out one of the cabin’s two small windows, his back to her. And yet, Katherine would have known that silken, soothing voice anywhere. She should have known from the first. Her heart and her body had. She had simply chosen not to listen to those parts of her. Because it had hurt too much. It still did. “But in the days after the attack, well, there was a great deal of confusion. I wasn’t even certain I would live. Or be allowed to live, I should say.”

  “So there was a pirate attack on your ship?” Discovering he was still alive had left her with doubts about that. Which was natural, was it not, because what pirate left survivors who roamed free? The revelation had also left her with a great deal of anger, which was fading far more quickly than she would have liked. She would have liked to have wallowed in it for a few hours at the very least.

  Daniel nodded as he turned to face her again. “There was. You know that six years ago, I was on my way back to England. What you do not know is why, for I was sworn to secrecy.” He moved back to the bed, his steady gaze on hers. “Six years ago, after a curricle race back in England, I was no longer the third son of the duke, but the first.”

  Struck dumb for a moment, Katherine had no idea what to say. “Then your brothers…”

  “Andrew and Marcus? Both dead by their own foolish hands, yes. With a bit of help from some easily spooked horses, of course.” Daniel ran a hand through his hair. “Suddenly, the black sheep of the family was now the heir and I was being summoned home.”

  “You should have told me. Me, of all people! I would have gone with you! You know that!” Some of her earlier anger returning again, Katherine would have crossed her arms over her chest just then, had she been able.

  As if sensing her need to move, Daniel unbound her wrist, but a flick of his eyes toward the cabin door was a silent warning to her not to run. “I wanted to. You have no idea how much! I wanted to tell you everything. I wanted to ask you to marry me, to return to England with me the very day that letter arrived. I was going to be a duke someday, Katherine, and more than anything, I wanted you to be my duchess.” He snorted angrily. “But your uncle refused to release you to me and, as you were still under his control, I could not take you without consequences. Not even as a duke’s heir.”

  “My uncle wanted you for Lizzy.” It did not take a great deal of intelligence to figure out her uncle’s
plan.

  “Something like that,” Daniel agreed as he gestured for her to sit on the bed. “But in the end, I am glad you were not with me, for if you had been, I might have died trying to defend you from the pirates that attacked us, and you would have been alone.”

  Alone. With pirates. No, that would not have been a pleasant situation, she supposed. She didn’t care to think much more about that possibility.

  Katherine was quiet for a long moment. “Was it awful? As awful as they say?” She suspected it was.

  “More than you can know,” he confirmed, “and one day, I shall tell you the tale. For now, suffice it to say, I was considered more valuable alive than dead. Yet I could not return to England, either, for the situation there was…complicated. So I did what was necessary to survive. I changed and adapted to the path laid out before me since there was no way for me to go back. I am what I have become and that is a pirate. At least for now. The rest does not matter.”

  “It doesn’t matter?” Katherine was incredulous. “How so? You are now a duke’s heir! Not an island youth meant to work himself to death any longer! Should you not be learning estate management and all of that rather than sailing about the West Indies where you might die?” She was aware that her voice was becoming louder and louder, so she did her best to lower it. No need for the rest of the crew to know Daniel’s secret, as something instinctively told her they were unaware of his true identity. They would not fear him as they so obviously did if they knew the truth.

  “My father knows where I am. He knows all about my life as Midnight Jack, actually, and he is one of the few.” Daniel leaned up against the door, as if suspecting that Katherine might try to run again because she did not like what she was hearing. She wouldn’t. Or at least she didn’t think she would. Right now, she could not say what she might do in the next few moments.