The Pirate Hunter Page 5

  Weston looked at her strangely as if she was asking an obvious question.

  ‘He’s a pirate,’ he said simply.

  Mia felt the blood drain from her head and clutched at the table to steady herself. She had known her brother had been branded a pirate and deep down she knew he must do all the atrocious things pirates did, but a part of her had clung to the hope that he’d been nobler than the rest.

  She felt Will move closer and he took her hand in his own under the table. He gave it a reassuring squeeze. Mia wanted to allow her body to sink into his, to feel his protective arms around her, shielding her from the world.

  ‘If you want to see what Del Torres can do, why don’t you take a trip to Savanna-la-Mar?’ Weston suggested. ‘Then you can see first-hand what destruction a pirate raid wreaks.’

  Mia swallowed convulsively.

  ‘Del Torres and his crew raided the town four days ago,’ Weston explained. ‘Think they killed about twenty people, but there’re plenty of survivors to give you the gory details.’

  ‘Tell me about where the ship anchors,’ Will asked quickly, diverting Weston’s attention from Mia and her ashen face.

  ‘Del Torres avoids highly populated areas, especially after an attack. There are some quiet bays on Tortola and Dominica. When the ship needs more provisions or repairs he normally takes it to one of the small harbours on St Vincent or St Lucia.’

  ‘Surely the authorities are on the lookout for The Flaming Dragon even in the small harbours.’

  Weston shook his head and smiled ruefully. ‘Del Torres is a clever man. He pays the right people to look the other way and he never misses a payment.’

  He paused and took another gulp of ale, once again eyeing Mia.

  ‘You look very familiar,’ he repeated again.

  ‘Can you tell me anything more about these bays?’ Will asked, determined to get more information from the former pirate.

  Weston shrugged, ‘I was only a lowly seaman, not privy to any of the plans. They were sheltered, we rode out a few storms in some of the coves. Apart from that I don’t know what else I can tell you. I was only on the ship for a couple of months.’

  ‘Why?’ Mia asked, trying not to glance at the scars on his neck, ‘What happened?’

  Weston grimaced, ‘I got greedy and I got caught.’

  ‘And they let you live?’

  ‘That was a mistake. Del Torres had one of the crew slit my throat, but they did an awful job. Threw me into the sea bleeding like hell, but in no way dead. I managed to make it back to land and someone patched me up. I was at death’s door for a good few weeks.’

  Mia didn’t feel any sympathy for him. He’d been a pirate, happy to kill innocent people. If he couldn’t even stick by the self-imposed rules of piracy, he didn’t deserve her pity.

  ‘Se cosecha lo sembrado,’ Mia murmured.

  Weston stood suddenly, the colour draining from his face.

  ‘What did you say?’ he asked, his voice choking in his throat.

  Mia hesitated, then said again, ‘Se cosecha lo sembrado.’

  ‘Who are you? Are you working for him?’

  People were beginning to stare.

  ‘Are you working for Del Torres?’

  ‘Sit down, Weston,’ Will commanded. ‘You’re drawing attention to us.’

  Weston ignored him.

  ‘Are you working for Del Torres?’ he asked again.

  Mia shook her head, but seemingly the reassurance was not enough for the ex-pirate. He backed away from the table, then, when he had reached the door, he turned and ran.

  Mia and Will looked at each other in amazement.

  ‘What does it mean?’ Will asked her eventually.

  ‘You reap what you sow. My mother used to say it.’

  Chapter Five

  They began the walk back through Port Royal in silence. Will was trying to process all the information Weston had given them. On the surface it wasn’t much. The man had named a few islands with secluded bays and a couple of others with friendly ports. He really needed to sit down with a map and a compass and work out which bays were the most likely.

  ‘I’m sorry,’ Mia said quietly after a few minutes.

  ‘What for?’

  ‘I spooked him. I didn’t mean to.’

  ‘You weren’t to know he connected your mother’s proverb with your brother.’

  ‘I’m still sorry. You might have found out more from him.’

  ‘I doubt it. Men like Weston are not privy to the inner workings of a Captain’s mind. And he was probably rolling drunk half the time and paralytic the rest.’

  ‘Those scars on his neck were horrible.’

  Will looked at Mia’s troubled face and realised the meeting had affected her more than he’d anticipated. She’d had to hear first-hand what terrible things her brother had been doing.

  They’d reached the harbour, but Will felt Mia wasn’t quite ready to set sail just yet. He took her by the arm and steered her in the opposite direction, away from their ship.

  ‘Where are we going?’ Mia asked, looking back over her shoulder.

  ‘Just for a walk. We need to talk and I’d rather do it without the whole crew listening.’

  They walked in silence for a few more minutes whilst Will tried to find the best way to approach the subject. It didn’t help that every time he glanced at her he felt a rush of desire pulse through him.

  ‘That must have been hard for you,’ he said eventually.

  Mia nodded slowly.

  ‘Hearing all of those things about your brother.’

  ‘I’ve known he was a pirate for a few years, but I never really understood.’

  Will could hear the strain in her voice as she tried to keep it from cracking.

  ‘I thought...’ she paused and corrected herself ‘...I hoped he wasn’t like the pirates you hear about. I tried to convince myself he was nobler.’

  Will stayed silent, trying to allow her to vent her pain.

  ‘I knew he stole from merchant ships, and I know that’s wrong, but it’s not as bad as attacking civilians. I can’t believe my big brother could give the orders to raid a port, allow his men to slaughter innocent men and rape innocent women. That’s not the Jorge I know.’

  The tears started streaming down her cheeks and Will gently rested a hand on her arm. He wanted to show her everything was going to be all right.

  ‘Sometimes people change,’ Will said slowly. ‘Circumstance and the crowd they mix in can change someone beyond recognition.’

  ‘But he’s my brother,’ Mia said, ‘and I feel disgusted by him.’

  Will reached up and gently brushed a tear from her cheek as it rolled over the velvety soft skin. He let his hand linger for a second, before dropping it back to his side. Mia turned her face up towards him and looked beseechingly into his eyes.

  ‘I’m scared,’ she said. ‘If Jorge can turn into that kind of monster, that means I could, too.’

  ‘Never.’

  ‘We have the same blood running through our veins, the same childhood, the same parents.’

  ‘Never,’ Will repeated, his voice sharp. ‘You are nothing like your brother. You have a good heart, a kind heart.’

  He wanted to kiss her, to bend his head and devour her lips with his own. He wanted to feel her body mould to his and writhe beneath him. He wanted to touch every inch of her body, then kiss every place his fingers brushed.

  Mia dropped her chin to her chest and broke the moment.

  Will stopped himself from reaching out and tilting her lips back towards him. No matter how much he wanted her it would be inappropriate. She was a prisoner under his care. He would be taking advantage of her situation and of her pain. He knew that, but it didn’t make it any easier to resist.

  He’d been drawn to her from that first moment on the beach when they’d lain there exhausted, legs intertwined. He’d been unable to move and barely able to think, but his awareness of the woman beside him had been heightened. It had been an unfamiliar sensation for Will. Of course he’d been involved with women in the past, normally satisfying himself with short dalliances, but at heart he was a loner, a man who had never wanted to rely on anybody but himself. Now he seemed to be thinking of Mia every waking minute, wondering what it would be like to pull her into his arms and lose himself in her embrace.

  Will was a focused man. He always gave everything he had to the mission in front of him, but Mia was making him lose that focus. He found himself thinking about her when he should be concentrating on catching her brother.

  Kissing her wouldn’t be right or fair to her and it most certainly wouldn’t be right for him.

  But he wanted to so badly.

  ‘I’ll help you,’ Mia said quietly.

  Will looked at her quizzically.

  ‘I’ll help you to catch my brother and his men. I have to or I’m as bad as them. My mother used to say those who knew of bad deeds but did nothing were as bad as the perpetrators themselves’

  ‘Thank you. She sounds like a sensible woman’

  Mia nodded and turned away from him. She took a few steps along the path and turned to look out at the sea. Will stayed where he was, sensing she was going to need a few minutes to herself.

  He watched her as the wind whipped at her hair, pulling strands loose from the pins at the back of her head. The first time he’d seen her standing up on the cliff her hair had been loose, flying in the wind. He liked it. It seemed to suit her personality more than the demure bun she’d worn the past couple of days. He wanted to reach out and pull at the pins, allowing the dark locks to cascade over her shoulders.

  Maybe it’s best if she keeps it up, he thought as once again he felt a rush of attraction. In fact, maybe it would be a good idea to buy her a hat.

  ‘What now?’ Mia asked, turning back to face him.

  ‘We get to work.’

  ‘That old crook Weston barely told us anything.’

  On one level Will had to agree. He’d given them a few vague descriptions and the names of a couple of islands. Del Torres and his crew could be hiding in any one of the thousands of secluded bays dotted around the Caribbean. Equally they might be anchored in plain sight, having paid off a crooked harbourmaster.

  ‘But he did tell us something.’

  Mia wrinkled her nose and frowned, as if trying to pick something useful out of the information Weston had given them.

  ‘He told us your brother will anchor in secluded bays, and he gave us the names of a couple of his favourite islands.’

  Mia didn’t look convinced.

  ‘That could be hundreds of different locations. How are we going to work out where he is right now or where he’ll be in a week’s time?’

  ‘With a map and a weather forecast and a big dollop of luck.’

  ‘Hmmm.’

  ‘Not convinced?’

  Mia shook her head, but Will was glad to see the traces of a smile on her lips.

  ‘Okay, a very big dollop of luck.’

  ‘It would have to be a massive dollop of luck.’

  ‘You forget I’m a very lucky man. I survived a shipwreck and met you the very same day.’

  Will was pleased to see the very beginnings of a blush creep into her cheeks.

  ‘That was a very lucky day for you,’ Mia agreed, smiling properly now. ‘But maybe you used up all your luck.’

  ‘Then I’ll just have to be clever instead.’

  Will offered her his arm and together they walked back towards the harbour area. He enjoyed how she leaned on him when the ground became a little uneven and how her fingers gripped his arm a little tighter.

  ‘So you have plenty of maps and you claim to have the luck, but how on earth are you going to get an accurate weather forecast?’ Mia asked.

  It was the question that was bothering him. He could study the maps all he liked, but if he didn’t know which way the wind was coming from or if they were due a storm he had no way of narrowing down Del Torres’ whereabouts.

  ‘I’m not sure,’ Will said. ‘The Captain seems quite knowledgeable, but all he can do is give me his best guess based on what normally happens at this time of year.’

  ‘Well, if you think his best guess is good enough...’ Mia said lightly.

  ‘You’ve got a better idea?’ Will asked.

  ‘You could ask someone who can actually predict the moods of the sea and the changes in the weather.’

  Will knew his face was a picture of scepticism.

  ‘It’s only a suggestion.’

  ‘A fortune teller?’

  ‘No. A wise woman.’

  ‘A charlatan who will tell us what we want to hear.’

  ‘As I said, it’s only a suggestion.’

  ‘And what do they base their predictions on? Whispers from God?’

  ‘Actually it’s quite scientific.’ Mia paused and laughed when she saw Will’s face. ‘They have a lot of equipment that measures wind speed and air temperature and cloud movements.’

  ‘These are the same women who make love potions and claim they can talk to the dead.’

  Mia shook her head. ‘There are some who just look at the weather. Call themselves meteorologists.’

  He wasn’t convinced.

  ‘What’s the harm?’ Mia said. ‘We could see one of these meteorologist women and then compare what she says to the Captain’s predictions. Surely the more information we get the better.’

  ‘As long as it’s correct information.’

  ‘Or we could ask the Captain to guess.’

  Will contemplated for a few seconds.

  ‘I only suggest it because I know Jorge used to be fascinated with the weather. He used to pride himself on knowing when a storm was coming.’

  * * *

  They stopped at the bottom of the hill and looked up at the brightly painted wooden cottage perched on the edge of the cliff.

  ‘I’m still not sure,’ Will said reluctantly.

  Mia silently rolled her eyes and started up the hill. He’d half-heartedly agreed to come and Mia was convinced any moment he was going to dig his heels in and refuse to go any further. She wouldn’t mind that much, but the man they’d asked for directions had described Amber Honey as a ‘wild woman’ and Mia was rather intrigued.

  She glanced behind her and saw Will hadn’t moved. Retracing her last few steps, she reached out and took his hand. His palm was a little rough against her softer skin and she enjoyed the sensation of holding his hand in hers. She pulled on his arm and Will obligingly followed her up the hill. After a few steps he pulled his hand free, leaving Mia feeling strangely bereft, then he tucked her fingers into the crook of his arm and in the process drew her even closer to him.

  Mia enjoyed walking side by side with him. She could imagine for just a few minutes they were equals, a man and woman of the same social class, the same background, just enjoying a stroll together on a balmy Caribbean afternoon.

  They reached the wooden gate to the property and Will grimaced again. It was painted a lovely bright yellow colour, clashing with the purple-pink hues of the house.

  ‘Be nice,’ Mia warned.

  ‘I’m always nice’, he said, the charming grin he flashed at her making Mia’s knees wobble. She looked down at the offending joints and silently told them to behave.

  ‘Good afternoon,’ a voice called out from somewhere amongst the overgrown plants beside the house.

  ‘We’re looking for a Miss Amber Honey,’ Mia called out.

  ‘You’ve found her.’

  A tall, graceful woman emerged from the greenery and opened the gate for them.

  ‘What can I do for you two kind souls today?’

  ‘We were hoping you might be able to give us a weather prediction,’ Mia said.

  ‘You’ve come to the right place,’ Amber Honey said, ‘I love anything and everything to do with the weather.’

  ‘We don’t want to take up too much of your time, Miss Honey,’ Will said quickly.

  Amber looked at him searchingly for a few seconds then nodded slowly. ‘A sceptic,’ she said. ‘You think it’s all guesswork.’

  Mia started to protest on Will’s behalf, but he beat her to it.

  ‘I’m willing to be convinced,’ he said.

  ‘Come into the garden, have a seat.’ Amber Honey led the way into the verdant garden. ‘Maybe I can show you some of my equipment, let you decide for yourself how much is guesswork.’

  Mia followed Will into the overgrown tropical garden. There were flashes of bright colour amongst the greenery and there didn’t seem to be much order to anything. She rather thought Amber just picked the flowers and plants she liked and placed them in a haphazard fashion throughout the garden. There was a certain charm in the disorder and Mia paused for a few seconds to take it all in.

  They reached a table with four chairs set out around it and Amber motioned for them to sit whilst she disappeared into the small wooden house.

  ‘What do you think?’ Mia asked quietly.

  ‘She’s not what I expected.’

  ‘In a good way?’

  Will shrugged, ‘Let’s see what she comes up with, then I’ll make up my mind.’

  From such a sceptic it was the most she could expect.

  Will closed his eyes and turned his face up towards the sun, basking in the warm rays. For an Englishman he did seem to enjoy the Caribbean weather more than most. Mia had seen the soldiers at the fort dripping with sweat at ten in the morning or cursing when the tropical rains soaked them to the skin within seconds. Will seemed to take it all in his stride.

  His natural skin colour was beginning to darken even after just a couple of days in the tropical sunshine. His hair was lightening, too. The blond locks that she had been so fascinated with during their first meeting were already a shade lighter.