The Pirate Bride. Shannon Drake

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СКАЧАТЬ hat. There was a knife set in the flap in each boot, and a low-riding leather belt carried a blunderbuss and a double-barreled pistol. A sword in a leather sheath hung from the same belt.

      Red Robert was prepared.

      “Are you ready for New Providence, Laird Haggerty?” Red Robert asked.

      “I know New Providence,” Logan reminded the pirate captain.

      “But it changes, you see,” the pirate said. “It changes literally with the wind, for the mood of the town follows that of whichever king of thieves is in port.” Red Robert nodded at Brendan.

      “My laird,” Brendan said to Logan, offering a sweeping bow and gesturing him to precede them into the tender.

      Logan nimbly crawled over the rail and onto the rope ladder that led down to the small boat, where Silent Sam was already waiting at the oars. Logan jumped the last few feet, feeling the tender rock beneath him, and easily took a seat. He watched as the others followed.

      “So, you’ll sell my cargo here?” he asked Red and Brendan when they’d taken their seats.

      “Every man out there will know I have it soon enough. Better to rid myself of dangerous riches. Pieces of eight are easier to manage,” Red said with a shrug.

      “I could have gotten you much more for it elsewhere,” Logan said.

      “Pity. That’s the way it goes,” the pirate captain replied.

      Logan tried a different tactic. “This is quite a dangerous place to conduct business.”

      “And have you, despite your current state, come ashore for business?” Red asked.

      “I have. But I’m not…” His voice trailed off, and he turned to face the wharf.

      “You’re not what?” He was startled as Red’s gloved hand fell on his knee. The wary anger in the deep blue eyes that met his was disturbing.

      “I’m not a pirate.”

      “The hell you’re not,” Red said, settling back.

      “Well, he’s not,” Brendan commented.

      “Oh, really? He is at least a thief, for was this treasure not already stolen before it came to us?”

      Logan stared back at Red but said nothing.

      “You do not protest?” Red asked.

      “No. Point taken.”

      The tender drew up to an extension of the wooden dock. Hagar and several of the others were there, waiting.

      “Is he here?” Red asked.

      Hagar nodded. “Awaiting you at the Cock’s Crow.”

      “Fine. And the cargo?”

      “Already at the tavern, Cap’n,” Hagar said. “All know you’re the rightful owner, all are considering their bids, should he decide not to buy.”

      “Fine. Skeleton crew is holding the ship, you know your orders.” Red started down the wharf with Brendan. Curious, Logan followed.

      Chickens skittered across the dirt road, flapping and clucking as they walked. “Gardez l’eau!” someone called out, and they stepped aside in time to miss the contents of a chamber pot. Red strode on with confidence, and Logan noticed men calling out in greeting, all with respectful tips of the hat or touches to the forehead. Red never did more than nod in return.

      “Amazing,” Logan said to Brendan.

      “What’s that?”

      “I’ve never seen a group of such derelicts show such respect to another man…even Blackbeard,” Logan muttered.

      “Red took down the devil, you see,” Brendan said quietly.

      Logan realized that the other didn’t intend for his words to be overheard and answered equally softly.

      “The devil?”

      “Ever hear of Black Luke?”

      Logan frowned. The man had been the terror of the seas, feared and loathed even by other pirates.

      Usually a pirate’s intent was not to sink a ship or to kill the crew. Ships were valuable. They were usually taken and added to a pirate’s fleet. Men were killed only when they refused to surrender, for the captured ships needed crews.

      Black Luke had sunk more ships than most men saw in a lifetime. He had never allowed a captured man to live. He had tortured his captives. His men had not voted, as was the pirate way, nor received their fair share of any treasure. There would have been a mutiny, had they not been so terrified for their lives. It had been said that he had eyes in the back of his head. One of his men had once tried to kill him when he had been sleeping. Black Luke had arisen to grab him by the neck and throw him into the sea.

      “Red killed Black Luke?” Logan asked incredulously.

      “Yes.”

      “How?”

      “Talent. And a hell of a lot of luck,” Brendan said.

      “Were you there?”

      Brendan’s jaw was as tight as a hangman’s noose. “Yes,” he said after a moment.

      “I can’t believe it.”

      “Believe it.”

      “I’d heard a rumor that Black Luke was dead, but no one ever seemed to know if it was true, or, if so, how he died,” Logan said.

      Brendan was staring straight ahead, clearly unwilling to explain.

      A door burst open, and a man came flying out of an establishment with peeling white paint and shuttered windows that were open to the day. He was followed by a woman with a mass of wild black hair, bare feet, a low cotton bodice and a multicolored skirt with the hem of a dirty petticoat peeking out from beneath it. “Take yer filthy paws elsewhere, y’ varmint!” she shouted. “My girls are not cheap!”

      “Your girls are whores!” the fellow yelled in return.

      “But they’re not cheap whores, and they’ll not be taking on the likes of you for nowt. Get away with ye.” She paused, a smile splitting her face as she saw Red. “Captain Robert,” she said, her tone delighted.

      “Aye, Sonya, we’re in port. Is Edward about?” Red asked.

      “He said ye’d be here. He’s a room ready fer yer negotiating in the back. Brendan, poppet,” she crooned. “And…what have we here?” she asked with a wink, her gaze moving admiringly over Logan.

      She walked up to him quickly with a sway in her steps but stopped short of touching him.

      “Why, it’s Laird Haggerty,” she said with another smile.

      That СКАЧАТЬ