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

their way up the stairs. She would know the sound of those boots anywhere.
    “ ’Tis Phin. He’s helping me find you.”
    “Don’t be daft, sister. He no more wants to help you than the king wants to return Scotland to Bonnie Prince Charlie.”
    “Mairi?” Phin’s voice came softly through the door.
    Grant released her arm and stepped toward the window. “I must leave, but I will need your help.” He flung one leg over the windowsill. “I will contact you shortly.”
    “Wait.” She lunged for him. “Don’t leave me, Grant. Take me with you.”
    “Not yet. You’re better off here. Trust me, Mairi.”
    And then he was gone and Phin was opening the door.
    He looked at the open window, at the bedsheets strewn across the floor, then at her.
    Mairi stared out the window, but Grant was gone, leaving her feeling bereft, desperate and angry. How dare he leave her behind? She wanted to climb after him, race after him and force him back to Scotland.
    “I thought I heard voices,” Phin said.
    She shut the window, searching the street below for Grant but the rain made it impossible to see far. She rubbed the goose bumps on her arm. “I was feeling ill and thought fresh air would help so I opened the window.” She knew she sounded odd, but she couldn’t help herself. She was so
shocked
by Grant’s attitude that forming a coherent sentence escaped her at the moment.
    What had he meant when he said she was better off here? What had he meant when he said he needed her help? If he thought for one moment she would aid him in this mad plan then he was entirely wrong.
    Phin closed the door behind him. “It’s freezing in here. Do you care if I build up the fire?”
    She hugged her arms, shivering, managing only to nod.
    Crouched on his heels, Phin folded his hands between his knees and stared into the flames. “He was here, wasn’t he?”
    “Yes.” There was no reason to deny it.
    “What did he say?”
    “I believe he does not like you overmuch. He wasn’t pleased that I’d hired you to look for him.”
    “I would think not.” Phin rose and turned to her. “What else did he say?”
    “He was surprised I was in England.”
    “Did you tell him why you needed him to return to Scotland?”
    She’d been so certain that his commitment to the clan would be enough to get him home. “Yes,” she whispered softly.
    “And?”
    And how could she tell him that her brother deliberately left her in his care? That he had no intention of returning to Scotland? And that he assumed Mairi would help him in whatever heneeded.
    She couldn’t tell him for that would put her in far more danger than being alone with this pirate.

Chapter Ten
    “Come, lass, we’ve a few errands to run.”
    Mairi turned away from the window she was morosely looking out. “Errands?”
    Phin had been in and out all day but not without leaving a guard at the door. For her protection, he’d said, but she wondered. Grant’s words raced around her mind all morning.
    He no more wants to help you than the king wants to return Scotland to Bonnie Prince Charlie
. She had to remember that Phin and Grant were enemies and Grant would not want her with Phin, but what did he mean when he said Phin didn’t want to help her?
    And the guard bothered her. She hadn’t had a guard on the
Wanderer
. Then again, the
Wanderer
was probably far safer than the Coxswain.
    “You need new clothes, lass. Can’t have you traipsing around London in your breeches, can we?”
    She looked down at the breeches. “I like them. They’re comfortable and I can move much easier. Besides, I’ll not be traipsing around London.” Because she’d been holed up in this room, unable to leave without Phin. For her protection, he’d said.
    Phin’s smile was strained. “All the same, a woman in men’s breeches will not do.”
    She stood, stretching the kinks out of her shoulders and back. “I have no coin to be wasting on garments.”
    “We’ll not worry about the cost right