1670, Caribbean Sea. She's the daughter of a legendary pirate. He's a Spanish captain. Their countries are at war. Their fathers killed each other. And they were destined to follow on their steps.
But sometimes destiny isn't written in stone: it's w...
Nobody could stop Morris when he got back to the pleasure house, and he stormed up the stairs and into Marina's room. To halt right past the doorway, his eyes widening in shock.
The women had hung lanterns from the bed posts and two of them leaned over her legs with tweezers, struggling to remove every last splinter still stuck in her flesh. An elderly man did the same to her hands. They'd been able to make her drink laudanum after Castillano left, so his absence wouldn't upset her, and she lay flat on the bed, her forehead and eyes covered with a wet cloth, still but for the slight shivering of her fever.
"I won't let you close to her filthy as you are," Dolores said, final. "So go get rid of those chains, wash yourself and then come back."
"What about my friends?" Morris asked.
"You'll meet again when it's safe."
He was back soon. It was hard for the women to find clean clothes to fit his height and his broad shoulders, but they were able to give him a shirt and trousers that didn't look about to burst. By then, the doctor and the women were done tending to Marina's wounds and had lay her under the covers. She seemed to sleep, her hands wrapped in bandages resting on her belly and the wet cloth still covering her eyes.
Morris shook his head, grimacing in anger and sorrow, and sat at the edge of the bed.
"We owe her life to Captain Castillano," Dolores said, keeping her voice down.
Morris nodded with a sad smile, his eyes on the girl's face. "And that's an irony only a few can fully appreciate, ma'am."
"I must go. Dawn cannot find me away from my house."
He stood up, turning to her. "Will you come back?"
"No. My maid will keep us in touch."
Morris rested a hand on her shoulder, meeting her green eyes. "If you hear the bells beating to alarm over the next days, leave it all behind and hurry over here."
"What do you mean?"
"Only what I said."
She nodded, lowering her eyes to her waist, and took a jingling purse from her pocket. She put it in Morris' hand. "In case you need it."
She looked up when he didn't answer, and his little smile made her blush.
"I'm flattered, ma'am. No woman had ever paid me before. I hope I'll have a chance to pay you back in kind." Dolores tried to take offense, but Morris' smile turned warm. "Thank you, ma'am. We'll be forever in your debt."
When Dolores left, Morris lay down on the bed by Marina. He sank his elbow in the pillow to rest his head, his eyes clouded by sadness as they moved over her ruined hair and her face, pale and bruised after that hell of a week. He rested his hand on hers and closed his eyes.
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