Free Pleasing the Pirate: A Loveswept Historical Romance by Sharon Cullen Page A

from Sebastian and in part because his mouth was suddenly dry. He was
not
enamored of the lass.
    “You mustn’t forget that her brother is a traitor.”
    “I can hardly forget when I’m in danger of losing my life if I don’t bring him in.”
    Sebastian studied him thoughtfully again. “There’s a neighbor who has offered for her hand in marriage. I’m positive the lass will land on her feet after this is finished.” Sebastian stood and stretched. “I’m off to home and to my wife. Send for me if anything drastic happens.”
    He disappeared into the crowd, leaving Phin stunned and inordinately angry. She was
betrothed
? What the hell? Why hadn’t he known this? Why hadn’t she said anything? And whythe hell wasn’t her
betrothed
helping her find Grant instead of Phin?
    * * *
    Mairi awoke with a start when a hand clamped over her mouth. She screamed, but the sound was muffled. She bucked against the weight draped over her legs.
    “Shhh, Mairi. It’s Grant.”
    She froze.
    Slowly his hand came away and she surged off the bed, ripping the bedsheets from her. She’d slept in her breeches, too tired and morose to change into her stiff-from-the-saltwater chemise.
    “Grant?” she whispered.
    The shadow before her coalesced into a tall stranger. Nay, not a stranger but her brother in a different form. Taller, thinner, his cheeks gaunt, his beautiful auburn hair long and shaggy.
    She squeezed the tight muscle in his arm. “You’re here,” she breathed, barely able to believe it.
    “Aye. I’m here.”
    With a strangled cry she threw her arms around him, noting the thin shoulders roped with muscle. At first he stood with his arms dangling at his sides, his body stiff. After a few moments he patted her awkwardly until she pulled away and wiped the tears from her cheeks.
    “Ah, but it’s good to see you.” She looked him up and down. He was a man now. No more gangly arms and legs and a good four inches taller so that she had to look up to him.
    “What are you doing here?”
    She frowned at his curt tone. “Phin said this would be the best place to look for you—”
    He sliced his hand through the air, cutting her off. “Not here as in the Coxswain but here as in England.”
    “I—I came for you.”
    “Why?”
    “Why?
Why?
Because the clan needs you.”
    “There is no more clan. It’s been abolished.”
    What was it with these men? Did he and Connor think that their people could go abouttheir merry way with a jaunty wave goodbye? That just because the English
said
there were no more clans meant it was so? “There’s nowhere for them to go. Most of the men have left to find work, leaving the women behind.”
    “And what am I to do about it?”
    She put her hands on her hips. “Take up the mantle of leadership that you were born to. Return to Scotland. Help us with the crops and with the security of our land.”
    “I
am
helping our clan by fighting against the English.”
    “By committing treason? By siding with the French in a daft scheme to bring England to its knees?”
    He stilled. His jaw muscle worked. “I see you’ve been talking to your pirate friend.”
    “My pirate friend is helping me find you.”
    “You cannot trust an Englishman.
Any
Englishman. Connor said you were surrounded by them tonight.”
    “Of course I was. I’m in England, you bloody bampot. I paid Captain Phin to find you.”
    “Don’t trust him.”
    “I trust no Englishman.”
    “That’s my girl.” He smiled slightly, but it didn’t reach his cold, hard eyes.
    “I need you to come home with me, Grant. We need your help.”
    “What I’m doing here will benefit all of Scotland, not just Clan McFadden.”
    “So that’s it? You’ll leave me at home while you go about—”
    “Shhh.” He grabbed her arm and shook her slightly, enough to cause her to squeak in surprise. “Someone’s coming,” he whispered, his body taut, quivering, every sense on alert.
    Mairi listened to the steady footfall of boots making