Wolfsan rolled up his lace-trimmed sleeves, brushed a bit of dirt from his breeches, and threw a splash of wine into Jaxon’s face. “At least it’s good for something.”
* * * *
Jaxon sputtered and woke. Wine burned his eyes. His head pounded. Where was he? Ropes chafed at his wrists, and his feet were tied. Wolfsan.
“So nice of you to join us, Captain Steele. I’m thrilled. Annalise and I welcome you most heartily. We are going to have such fun, aren’t we, darling?” He kissed Anna’s cheek.
Jaxon shook his head to clear his vision.
“Of course, for you the fun shall end rather abruptly, but I’ll see your wife has a fine show. One she’ll never forget.”
“You’re a murdering bastard, Wolfsan. I’ll save the Crown the cost of the rope and kill you with my bare hands.”
“You’re very amusing, but I have already grown tired of hearing you.” He picked up the gag he’d used on Annalise and shoved it into Jaxon’s mouth, strangling his shower of insults. “Much better.”
Beyond Wolfsan, Jaxon locked gazes with Annalise.
She shook her head. Tears welled in her eyes. She mouthed the words, I love you.
Jaxon nodded with the tiniest movement of his head.
Wolfsan missed the exchange. He was busy taking a long pull from a bottle of wine. “Ghastly.” He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. “So, Captain Steele, shall I tell you my plans for your soon-to-be widow?”
Jaxon did his best to sit up. How long had he been out? Had he been unconscious ten minutes or an hour? Were Robbins and Quinn heading up the trail? Jaxon rolled to his back and rose, bracing his back against the rocks there. It seemed the bindings on his wrists were connected to his feet. Shifting allowed them some give.
“That’s fine,” purred the duke. “Make yourself comfortable. I want you to have a good view while I ravish your wife.” He drank more.
Wolfsan put down the bottle and stood in front of Annalise. “It is most unfortunate you’ve violated her. She was mine. I went to all the trouble of getting rid of that foolish oaf Herbert to have her.”
Annalise let out a breath as if she’d been punched.
“Lord Gatherone. He was laughable, the simple oaf. He was an easy kill and then she was mine. Mine. I wanted her first. By rights, the privilege of taking her purity belonged to me.” He stopped to purse his lips and run a finger up Annalise’s thigh. “There is something so arousing about drawing virginal blood. Don’t you agree?” He shouted at Jaxon, “You stole that from me.”
He gave him an icy smile. “But no matter, when I take her, I shall make sure I draw a bit of blood somehow, if not for my amusement, then for yours. You’ll be a witness to our consummation.” Wolfsan stroked his chin. “Perhaps I should mark her as my own. I had considered branding her like a fine horse, but I don’t have the proper irons. I could just carve my monogram into her lovely flesh.”
He turned back to Annalise. “I started to do that very thing to that uppity maid of yours. Not the simpering girl in the garden.” Wolfsan put his hand to his forehead. “Oh, there are almost too many to keep track of. No, the one in London. Green-eyed witch. But I made her pay, too,” he bobbed his head, “an adequate sentence for stealing your gown and locket.” He frowned. “You never did thank me for returning it to you.”
Annalise shut her eyes and choked.
Wolfsan’s finger tipped her chin, forcing her to look at him. “I said, you should say ‘thank you.’ It is only proper.”
When she remained silent and simply glared at him, he struck her.
Jaxon reacted like a snared beast, bucking and fighting against his restraints. Wolfsan only laughed at him. He grabbed a fistful of hair, pulled Annalise’s head back, and moved to kiss her. She spit at him and he struck her again, then put his hands to the linen shirt she wore and ripped it from neckline to hem.
Jaxon howled his fury as he watched Wolfsan place his hands upon her breasts. He wrenched his wrists as the rope cut into his skin. Anna tried to fight him, but he stopped her with one hand about her throat. Pure terror crossed her face as Wolfsan’s grip began to rob her of air.
He released the hold on her throat and leaned over to lay a kiss upon the rounded flesh of her breast. As she gasped for air, he bit through her skin. Annalise screamed. An anguished cry erupted from Jaxon as he furiously struggled to free himself.
Wolfsan stepped back, wiping the blood from his mouth. “Why did you make us hurt you?” he snapped. “We have marred your perfect skin, but you left us no choice.” He picked up his knife and flicked the edges of her shirt out of the way with its tip.
Jaxon fought to keep his blind rage in check. His outbursts only seemed to spur on the actions of this sick bastard. He was terrified Wolfsan would cut her if he cried out again. He’s a dead man, he’s a dead man, he’s a dead man. Jaxon reined his fury. He needed to remain still enough to loosen his bonds. With Wolfsan’s full attention on Anna, it was his only chance.
He strained against the ropes. The coarse hemp shredded his skin as he wrestled to free his hands. Just a bit more, then Wolfsan’s dead. He twisted his wrist forward. Almost there.
Instead of cutting Annalise’s skin with the knife, Wolfsan bent and slit the sides of the pants she wore. “I loathe these breeches.” He ripped them from her, running his hands boldly down the naked front of her.
She stood eerily still. Her face chalk white. She stared at Wolfsan with empty eyes.
“What’s this?” he taunted. “No struggle? No shrieking?” He continued to claw at her.
She spoke through tight, pale lips. “Do what you wish to me. I’ll not fight you. That would please your twisted, rotted brain. Instead, I will lie cold and dead and you can do what you want with my body. But you will never have me. I’ll shut off my thoughts and take myself to a place within my mind where you can’t reach me. And when I am able, I will take your knife to my wrists and leave you a great pool of my blood in your bed.”
Wolfsan’s head snapped up. His mouth opened and closed like a dying fish. He jerked his hands away from her as if she’d scalded him, spun away, and pulled something golden from his pocket. A mirror?
“No, no, no. She wouldn’t. Calm yourself. She won’t. Not again. We couldn’t see that again.” He rubbed furiously at his eyes as sweat ran down his waxen face. He began pacing. “So much blood. So much blood. A great pool. She said a great pool of blood. Did you hear her? How does she know?” He started to pant. “Father? Father,” his bellowing echoed off the cave walls. “What have you done, you stupid, stupid fool?” Wolfsan’s body hunched over as if struck. He made a whined, keening sound. “Mother.” Veins stood out along his throat. “Mother? Mother?” Crazed eyes peered at Annalise. “How can you just stand there? Why don’t you do something? You’re smiling? She’s smiling into her mirror? Why doesn’t she scream? He’s dead. He killed himself because of you.” He gripped his ears and curled into himself. Again, he railed against her. “You should be screaming. There needs to be screaming.”
He rushed at Jaxon and gave him a swift kick in his side. The air whooshed from his lungs. He fought to find his breath again. Wolfsan pointed at him with his knife. “Scream.”
Silent tears rolled down Anna’s face.
He kicked Jaxon again, yelling at her, “Damn you, Bitch. I’ll strip his hide while you watch and cut out his heart. Scream.”
Jaxon roared against the gag in his mouth, pulling on his restraints with all his might. The ropes tore his skin. One hand jerked free.
A high-pitched shriek filled the opening of the cave. Wolfsan turned his head toward the inhuman sound just before a blast of gunfire shattered the air. The thunderous report was deafening in the small space. Wolfsan’s body spun with the force of the shot that tore through his back. His knife skidded across the floor.
With the blast still ringing in his ears, Jaxon pulled the ropes from his feet and ripped the gag from his mouth. He wa
s at Anna’s side before the smoke cleared. Using Wolfsan’s knife, he cut her free and caught her when she collapsed into his arms. Jaxon ripped the shirt from his back and wrapped it around a stunned Annalise. He covered her with his body, shielding her.
Wolfsan clutched his shoulder. The bullet passed straight through. Blood poured from the wound. Jaxon peered through the smoke. Was it one of his men? No. It was a woman. The smoke from the gun swirled about her. She was filthy and dripping wet. It looked like she’d dragged herself from the bottom of the sea.
Wolfsan screamed at her. “Who are you?” His eyes went wide. “No. It can’t be.” He shook his head wildly. “You’re dead. Sheffield killed you. I ordered him to kill you. You’re dead.” Wolfsan fell to his knees. Crimson pulsed between his fingers.
The woman dropped the smoldering pistol and pulled Jaxon’s cutlass from its scabbard. Her face filled with rage as she rushed toward Wolfsan with the sword held high over her head.
She swung the blade down with a strength Jaxon didn’t expect from a woman, burying it between Wolfsan’s neck and shoulder. The force nearly separated the duke’s head from his shoulders. His blood-soaked body dropped to the ground. A horrified look of surprise locked on his face and reflected in the darkened glass of a small broken mirror.
All at once, the cave filled and chaos ensued as Jaxon’s men piled in, pistols and swords drawn and leveled. Quinn and Robbins led the charge. But it was over. They’d arrived too late.
CHAPTER 34
“Alice?” Annalise gripped Jaxon’s arm as she struggled to stand.
“You’re Alice?” He took in the woman who just ended Wolfsan’s miserable life. She was tall and dark with wide green eyes. Dirt marred her features and a swath of Wolfsan’s blood sprayed her from shoulder to hip like some gruesome sash.
The two women came together and sobbed in each other’s arms. “You’re alive. You’re alive.” Annalise clutched at her.
“Thank God, so are you.”
Jaxon tried to make sense of what was happening. This was Annalise’s maid, Alice Tupper? She didn’t shoot like any maid he’d ever met. But he was grateful, none the less. She’d killed the rabid wolf.
Quinn striped off his cloak and handed it to Jaxon. He wrapped it around Annalise. Robbins and the rest of the men were examining the corpse. “Nice job, Capt’n.” “Bloke’s nearly lost his head.” “That’s what he gets fer offin’ Cookie.” “Never seen me a duke up close before.” “Should we be curtsyin’ to his lordship?” “I’d like to be pissin’ on his sorry arse.”
Quinn approved. “Well done.”
Jaxon shook his head. “It was my pistol and cutlass, but this woman did the deed.”
Alice looked at the crew warily.
They all spoke at once. “A lass did this?” “Nicely done.” “Should give Robbins, here, lessons in swingin’ a cutlass.” “Yer first kill?” “Ye should be a pirate.” “A lady pirate? Ye’re daft.” “A lady who does killin’ like that ken be anythin’ she damn well wants te be.”
Jaxon stroked Annalise’s back. His ribs burned and the skin had been ripped from his wrists, but it was nothing compared to losing her to that raving madman. He owed this woman his life. “Alice, I’m forever in your debt.”
Alice glanced over at the body of Duke Wolfsan and shook her head. “You were free. I saw your hand spring loose. You would have stopped him. I just reached the pistol first.” She took in the blood on her front. “I should have acted sooner, but,” she touched Anna’s face, “when he hit you, my hands started to shake. Tears blinded me for a moment.” She stared back at the body. “The pistol just exploded in my hands. I almost dropped it. Then the smoke. Everything seemed to move so slowly. But he wasn’t dead. I--” Alice covered her mouth and looked back at them. “He had to die.”
Jaxon reached out and held tight to her arm. The reality of the kill seemed to be just hitting her. “Yes, he did.”
She stared at him. “Yes. I did what I had to do.”
Was she trying to convince him? He didn’t need any justification. The sick bastard got what he deserved. Died a bit too quick for Jaxon’s liking, but he wasn’t going to let this woman feel any remorse over her actions.
“You’ve saved my wife, and I--”
“Wife?” She shot Annalise a look.
Anna nodded. “There’s much I need to tell you.” She clutched at Alice’s sleeve. “I can’t believe you’re here. I thought you were dead. He left the locket caked with blood. I was sure I’d lost you, too. But, my God, here you are.” A sob caught in her throat. “Here you are.”
Anna trembled. From cold? From shock? It didn’t matter. He needed to get her out of there and back to the manor. “Mr. Quinn, I think we should get the women away from here.”
“Aye, Captain, the cart waits below, and the mule is still tethered, wet and ornery, to a tree as is your horse. I’ll send the men ahead to hitch the mule, and I’d be happy to see the lady down safely.”
“Thank you, Mr. Quinn.”
“Yes,” Annalise repeated, pulling his cloak tight around her. “Thank you, Mr. Quinn.”
“What we be doin’ with the good duke, here?” Robbins pushed at the body with his toe.
Jaxon moved both women toward the cave’s opening. “See he gives me back my cutlass, and then I say we leave him to the gulls.”
“Fer what he did to Cookie, maybe we should serve him up on a bloody platter as chum,” piped one man. “Bring ’is lordship back te London by draggin’ his carcass behind the ship.” “We could use his head to decorate the beach.” “Run ‘is innards up the mizzen.”
* * * *
The rain stopped but heavy clouds still blocked the sun.
Annalise held tight to Jaxon’s arm as they made their way back down the path. “I’m sorry about Cookie. I don’t know what happened. I woke up to Wolfsan holding a pistol on me.”
“The bastard made sure I knew he’d killed him. Just like he made sure you knew about your uncle and how he tried to tell us about Alice.”
The image of Cookie’s peg in that box would stay with him forever. “He was a good man and a fine crewmate.”
“He was more than that,” Anna said gently.
“Aye, he was. He died serving me.”
“He’d have walked into hell for you. He loved you as if you were his own son.” She wiped at tears. “We have to tell Sarah.”
“Aye. I want to be the one to bring her the news.”
“I’ll come with you. She’ll be devastated.” She looked backup the path “And Alice. I must find out how all this happened?”
“We’ll get the whole story in time, but you’ve just been dragged through hell, Annalise. You’re still shaking.”
“I’m shaking because I almost lost you…like Sarah lost her Samuel.”
* * * *
When they arrived at Sarah’s hut, she waited out front. She shook her head at them. “Ye no need to say. Sam-u-el already come te tell me.”
Anna hugged her. “Sarah, I’m so sorry. Is there anything we can do?”
Sarah laid hands on Annalise’s cheeks, smoothing over the shadowed bruises on her face and neck. “De devil try to put out de flame, but ye was too strong.”
Annalise kissed Sarah’s hands and began to cry.
“Don’t cha be cryin’ none, sweetin’. Sam-u-el says no crying.”
Sarah turned her warm dark eyes to Alice. “It was you. Ye be the one te stop de devil. Sam-u-el thanks ye fer that.”
Alice looked at Jaxon in question.
“Sarah is a mystic,” he explained. “Cookie used to talk about it. I don’t know if he ever believed it.”
Sarah laughed. “He be believin’ it now. He’s got himself two strong legs to run wit. But only one boot.” She smiled, wiping Annalise’s tears. “Don’t ye cry.” She turned to Jaxon. “You come wit me. I be needin’ te bind those ribs of yers. Ye got two that be broken.”
Annal
ise looked at him in surprise. He shook his head at Sarah. “I should know better than to hide anything from you.”
Sarah attended to his broken ribs. She striped off his shirt and passed her hands over his side. “Two, almost be three.”
“Leave it to you to see clear through me.”
Annalise spoke to her. “Maybe you should stay with us for a few days.”
“Don’t be worrin’ none.” She finished binding Jaxon’ ribs. She spread a pungent salve on the torn flesh of his wrists and bound those as well. “Ye both need to go and rest yer wounds.”
“As Cookie’s wife, you’ll want for nothing. He died in service. We take care of our own. Whatever you need.”
“I don’t need nothin’. Got everything I can want.”
“But if you ever do.”
“Nay.” She patted his cheek with her plump hand. “Go. Take yer wife te bed and hold her. Ye ‘bout lost her, ye know.”
Sarah moved to Alice and placed a hand on her shoulder. “Have no salve for you. What burns in ye lies too deep.” She moved her hand and placed it over Alice’s heart. “Sam-u-el says ye put up one hell of a good fight, woman. Ye need te keep de fight in ye. Ye be needin’ it still.”
Turning, she embraced Annalise again. “Ye come an’ see me before ye leave.”
“Of course, I’ll come, but…”
“Good. Go.” Sarah fussed and scooted them, like errant chicks to their horse and carriage, then waved good-bye before disappearing inside.
“Did we comfort her, or was it the other way around?” Annalise peered back at Sarah’s mystical hut as they rode off.
CHAPTER 35
The manor was quiet with its household shocked into a stunned silence. Annalise stood on the balcony overlooking the garden. The night air held a decided chill.
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