Rescued By the Captain

by Laura A. Barnes

  Marcus could feel Ivy tightening around him, her body strung tight. He quickened his pace; Ivy was matching him thrust for thrust. Ivy screamed out his name, her body opening for him as he let out a roar thrusting into her deeply filling her with his love. He felt their bodies floating back down onto the bed in a sea of wonder.

  As Marcus pulled out of her he wrapped Ivy in his arms, with her head under his chin. He felt her place a soft kiss on his chest and whisper his name.

  “Oh, Marcus.” As she drifted off to sleep.

  Marcus held her tight listening to her soft snores as she slept against him. He tightened his arms around her and whispered, “I love you Ivy,” placing a kiss on the top of her head.

  He would let her sleep for now, but as soon as she was awake, he would get his answers. They were running out of time. This was the last thing that he should have done; he didn’t have time for this. When he opened the door, he had every intention of getting to the bottom of all his questions, but seeing her standing there naked cleaning her body, changed his intentions. Making love to her seemed to have worked itself up to being his number one priority. He smiled as he thought to himself that he did not regret it one bit at all. He tightened his hold and waited for Ivy to wake up.

  Chapter 8

  Ivy snuggled into the warmth of Marcus’s body as she awoke from the wonderful dream she was having. She dreamt that Marcus had made love to her. As she opened her eyes she saw that she was lying naked in Marcus’s arms. She raised her eyes and saw that Marcus was watching her. She felt herself blush all over.

  “It wasn’t a dream?” Ivy asked.

  Thorn laughed, “No it was most definitely not a dream.” He hugged her tight as he lowered his head and gently kissed her on her lips.

  “How do you feel my darling?”

  “I feel wonderful Marcus,” Ivy said as she stretched her body alongside his.

  “Wonderful enough to answer a few questions then?”

  Ivy looked away as she shook her head no.

  “Ivy, your time is up. I need the answers to my questions now. We won’t be getting up from this bed until you tell me what I need to know.”

  Ivy tried pulling herself out of Thorn’s arms, but Thorn only tightened his hold on her. He was not letting her run from him anymore. She was trapped and had nowhere to go. His hold was like iron bands wrapped around her. He wasn’t going to be swayed no more. But she at least had to try.

  “I need you to trust me Ivy, you trusted me enough with your body, know trust me with your heart.”

  “I can’t Thorn; I won’t ever give you that trust again.”

  “I know that I hurt you in the past. But the time wasn’t right for us.”

  “And I suppose now it is?” Ivy asked.

  “It’s complicated Ivy; we will work it all out. But now I must know how you came to be lost out in the sea? I know that is has to do with Charles.”

  “Charles and I will figure it all out Thorn. We don’t need you.”

  “Oh, but you do Ivy. You see there is a ship that is trailing us and if I am not mistaken; I think it is the ship that you came from. We will be crossing paths with them any time now.”

  Ivy went pale at this bit of news. Thorn wouldn’t give her over to them, but if she didn’t tell him something then he would let the ship meet up and it would be out of her control on what happened. She had to stall as long as she could to protect Charles. He was depending on her, wherever he was.

  “Should I help you out with this and make it a little easier for you?”

  “How would you be able to do that?”

  “Let’s see, this has something to do with Charles and a smuggling ring in Margate. Am I right?”

  “How do you know that information?”

  “Ivy, just because I haven’t been back to Margate in the last seven years, doesn’t mean that I do not know what is going on there or with you for that matter.” Thorn stated.

  “Why, would you care what was going on with me?”

  Thorn just shook his head, “You still don’t get it, do you?”

  “Get what Thorn, I got it loud and clear that day in your mother’s garden. Even if I didn’t you were plain as day, when you told me that you didn’t love me after I confessed my love for you.”

  “That was the hardest thing I ever had to do Ivy, but it was for your best interest.”

  “It devastated me Thorn. I was heartbroken for years. But that is in the past, I am over you. After I get out of this mess with Charles, I am going to move on. I’m going to find myself somebody who will love me and I am going to marry them and start a family.”

  “It didn’t seem like you were over me a couple of hours ago.”

  Ivy laughed, “Oh that. That wasn’t love Thorn that was lust. Another thing that I learned from you. I don’t love you anymore.”

  If Ivy was speaking the truth those words would cut Thorn deep, but he knew that Ivy was lying to him again. He could tell by the look in her eyes. For now, he would let her keep her lies. He would break through her defenses later when she was safe. At this moment, he had to get his answers and try to keep her safe.

  Ivy waited for Thorn to argue with her. But he didn’t say anything. She tried to hurt him, like he hurt her, but she didn’t get a reaction at all from him. She wanted him to suffer like she had all those years go. Maybe then if he suffered like she did, Ivy could begin to heal.

  Thorn slid out of bed, pulled on his pants and walked over to his desk. He slid the drawer open and pulled out a letter. Ivy recognized the crest on the back of the envelope. It was the Mallory seal. Where did he get that from? Ivy wondered.

  Thorn slid the letter out of the envelope and began to read the letter aloud.

  Dear Thorn,

  The town of Margate needs your help. I can’t say much; in case this letter gets into the wrong hands. It is the matter we discussed when we saw each other last year, about some neighboring ports. The matter has moved itself to Margate, but on an escalated scale. The people of Margate are not safe. Also, I fear for the safety of Ivy. She is becoming curious on the ships near the coves and my involvement with them. She wanders too close to them. I beg of you to please return and see to her safety. The Captain has taken an interest in her. You know what dire consequences that will entail.

  Your friend for life,

  Charles Mallory

  Thorn looked up from the letter to see that Ivy had turned very pale. He wanted to comfort her and set her mind at ease, but time was not on their side anymore. He needed answers now, before the other ship caught up with them; which could be any moment.

  “When did you get that letter?” Ivy whispered.

  “Six months ago,” Thorn answered.

  “Where have you been then? Why didn’t you come to help sooner? We needed you and you weren’t even going to come, were you?”

  Thorn felt guilty as Ivy pelted him with question after question. He was guilty because she spoke the truth. He wasn’t going to come at first. The truth was he didn’t want to come anywhere near Margate or Ivy for that matter. He had his reasons for not returning to Margate, one of the reasons was that he was still angry at his father for keeping Ivy and him apart. But in the end, he knew that he couldn’t let Ivy come into any kind of danger. And the Captain that Charles spoke of was dangerous. Thorn decided to be honest with Ivy as much as he could. If he wanted her to trust him and be honest with him, then he had to repay her in kind.

  “No, I didn’t want to come back to Margate. I thought Charles could control the situation, he has done it before.” Marcus told Ivy.

  “What do you mean before?”

  “Ivy, Charles is an Intelligent Officer for the Crown. He has been in this situation before and he knows the procedures that must be followed. The only difference in this assignment was that he had a sister to keep his cover from. A sister, mind you that is too curious for her own good. A sister who put her brother’s cover and life in jeopardy with her curiousness.”

&nb
sp; “What was I supposed to do? There were times he came home dressed in rags and sporting shiners. When I questioned him, he told me to mind my own business that it was nothing to be concerned with.”

  “Then that is what you should have done. You should not have gone investigating on your own. Especially down by the coves, you know how dangerous it is there. Is that where you got captured?”

  Ivy didn’t answer him. Thorn watched as she tightened her lips and crossed her arms across her chest.

  “Answer me Ivy. I need to know what happened. Time has run out for you.”

  Ivy shook her head in denial. She couldn’t betray Charles. Thorn says that Charles works for the Crown, but how was Ivy supposed to believe him. None of this made any sense. Ivy started walking back and forth across the cabin floors, working this out in her mind. If Charles worked for the Crown, then wouldn’t he have been away all the time like Thorn was. Why was Charles always having secret meetings with that awful sea captain? Ivy ran into the captain in town once, he made her feel very uncomfortable. Then there was the night she was captured, Ivy saw Charles giving money to the captain at the local tavern. They were drinking and laughing together. Ivy confronted Charles outside the tavern, telling that her that she saw nothing and to go home. The captain had seen them talking and thought that he had been double crossed, he set his men on Charles, beating him. Ivy watched in horror and screamed at them to stop. The captain only laughed as he grabbed her, throwing her over his shoulders and carried her to his horse. He climbed his horse while holding on to Ivy and galloped away. Ivy watched the Captain’s men kick Charles in his side one last time before they jumped on their horses and followed.

  Ivy didn’t know how badly Charles was hurt. He never got up to chase them. They kept her on the boat two days before they set sail. During that entire time, Charles never attempted to rescue her. She overheard conversations about Charles while she was kept captive. Nobody had seen him. The Captain sent his men out to find him with orders to kill him for double crossing them. They tried to get her to talk about her connection to him. Where he might be hiding and who he was. Ivy refused to talk to them. They withheld food from her and kept her tied up in the captain’s cabin. She shuddered thinking about being stuck in that dirty, smelly cabin. The rats that ran across the floor, eating the scraps of food littered about. That wasn’t even the worst of it. The captain himself was a force to be reckoned with. Just the thought of seeing him again, made Ivy shake.

  Chapter 9

  Thorn saw Ivy began to shake and grow paler as the minutes ticked by. He went over to her and pulled her in his arms. He held her close as her body began to relax into his. She let out a huge sigh and she rested her head against his chest.

  “Talk to me Ivy, let me help you,” Thorn pleaded with her.

  “Oh Thorn, it was horrible. They attacked Charles and kidnapped me. I don’t even know if Charles is alive. I overhead them say that they don’t even know where he is. Don’t let them take me again.” Ivy begged Thorn looking up at him as she grabbed his arms. Her fingers were clenching around his hard biceps.

  “Start at the beginning Ivy,” Thorn urged.

  Ivy began to tell Thorn how the ships started coming into Margate, sneaking into the coves late at night. It would only be one ship at first, every couple of months. Then more ships starting showing up sometimes on a weekly basis. The villagers started to talk about smuggling going on. During this entire time Charles started acting differently. He would come and go at strange hours, during many times of the days he was unaccounted for. Whenever Ivy would question Charles, he would just tell her that he was working on something for father. So Ivy would question their father and he would tell her that it was nothing for a woman to be worried about and to busy herself with the house.

  One evening when Charles was sneaking out, Ivy decided to follow him. He was dressed as a dock worker. She followed him down to the coves, once he got there he would row out to one the ships. When he boarded the ship, he was carrying a bag. He was only on the ship for an hour and when he left, a couple of the crew loaded his small boat with a couple of crates. Ivy didn’t know what was in the crates. She would follow Charles a half dozen more times, with the same scene playing out. The last time she had followed Charles, he caught her spying on him. She had fallen asleep by the horses waiting for him to get off the boat. He was on the ship longer than the usual hour he had been in the past. He was furious with her, but didn’t make a scene because he knew that the Captain’s men were following him. He managed to hide Ivy in the bushes as he got rid of the men. Then he took Ivy home.

  When they reached home he took Ivy into their father’s study locking her in. He then went to wake their father and told him what happened. Both men came into the study and told her that she was to keep quiet on what she had seen. They also proceeded to inform her that she was to be leaving for London in the morning and she had no choice in the matter. Ivy begged and pleaded with them that she would not follow Charles anymore. Her father told her that it didn’t matter, they were worried for her safety and that she would be safer in London. That it was time she settled down, she was to find herself a groom this season. Arrangements would be made with Katherine, Thorn’s mother in the morning. They sent her to her room to go to bed and to be up early in the morning to pack. The carriage would be waiting to take her to London.

  Ivy then went to bed, furious with them for controlling her life and at them for hiding from her what was happening around Margate. She heard the rumors and whispers. They thought her family was involved. The worst part was that she was beginning to believe it. How was she to defend her family’s honor if she wasn’t certain if there were truth to the rumors?

  Ivy went to London the next day and was met by Katherine. She told Katherine her fears; Katherine was evasive and tried to calm Ivy. She distracted her by taking her shopping and to balls. But it was at a ball, that Ivy’s doubts and fears were intensified. She was hot from the overcrowded ballroom, so she took a stroll out along the balcony. She sat down on a bench in the shadows and then that is when she overheard Margate and Charles being discussed. They were discussing a terror plot with Charles being in the center of it. Ivy needed to get back to Charles and warn him. After the men left the balcony, Ivy sneaked back into the ballroom and found Katherine. She told her of having a headache and that she wanted to go home. When she got home, Ivy packed a small bag and left it hidden in the wardrobe. The next morning when Katherine came in her room to check on her, Ivy pleaded with her to stay home to rest. Katherine agreed and then went out for the day. Ivy sneaked out of the house with her bag and managed to catch a carriage to take her to the mail coach. She got onto the mail coach that was heading to Margate.

  After she reached Margate she waited in the village for Charles to show up. She saw him go into the tavern and she waited for him to come out. When he did, she ran to him and told him of the terror plot against him. She was pleading with him, when the Captain and his men came out of the tavern. They saw Charles holding her by the arms and began to get suspicious of him. He ordered his men to attack Charles. As Charles was being attacked the captain grabbed Ivy and left to his boat. Ivy watched helplessly as Charles was being beaten. Crying for his mercy, she tried to fight the hold of the Captain’s, but he was too strong.

  Once they got to the boat the Captain locked Ivy into his cabin. She described how the Captain kept her captive there. How she was questioned over and over on her association with Charles. They didn’t believe her that she didn’t know anything. She told Thorn about the cabin and the rats. Ivy described after a couple of days they wouldn’t give her anything to eat or drink. They thought that if they starved her, that she would talk. She told Thorn how shocked she was when the Captain knew her name and where she lived. How he knew all about her life, the Captain had his men follow her when she was in the village, because she had caught his eye. Ivy also told Thorn about Tommy the cabin boy, how he would bring her scraps of food. But during that whole
ordeal she never told them anything, she would never betray Charles.

  “How did you get out to sea in that lifeboat Ivy?”

  “I only remember bits and pieces Thorn.”

  She continued to tell Thorn the last thing she remembers is how the captain tried to touch her, but she fought him. Then the captain laughed and told her that in time she would beg for his touch. When he tried to kiss her, Ivy bit him. That enraged him and he slapped her across the face sending her falling across the floor. She remembers hitting her head against the door. After that she only remembers bits and pieces. She woke once when somebody had her lifted and was carrying her across his shoulders like a sack of potatoes. She remembers being thrown into the lifeboat and hearing the captain laughing about dropping the boat into the sea, that she was a problem that they didn’t have to worry about anymore. She cried out, but her cries were swallowed by the thunder drumming through the clouds. She looked up and saw Tommy shaking his head at her to be quiet. She then heard the captain laugh, slapping the cabin boy on the back and told him that it was time for him to take care of the ship’s stowaway. The crew laughed at this jest. The cabin boy moved to the lifeboat and whispered to Ivy how sorry he was, but this was probably better for her, compared to what he has seen the Captain do to pretty ladies before. He lowered the boat in the sea. Ivy remembers the lifeboat landing on top of the waves with a force that knocked her backwards, hitting her head again, against the seat. The last thing that she remembers is lying her head on the seat as rain started to pelt against her, sliding her eyes close.

  “Then when I opened my eyes again I saw you.”

  Thorn pulled Ivy back into his arms again, hugging her body close to his. His arms began to tighten around her harder. Ivy let out a moan and Thorn relaxed his arms. He slid his hands up to Ivy’s face and cupped her cheeks. He lowered his mouth and devoured her lips. Kissing her with anger, then with relief, then with a softness that made Ivy cry. She could tell from his kiss the different emotions that he was going through. Ivy returned his kiss matching his emotions kiss by kiss. Thorn felt the tears sliding down Ivy’s cheeks, running down his fingers straight to his heart. He wiped the tears from her face then rested his forehead against hers.