The Pirate Bride

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Authors: Shannon Drake
goal. But now…
    Now she suddenly knew how badly she wanted to live. Not for vengeance. She wanted to see the sun again, taste the rain, know the feel of the waves beneath her, plunge into a warm sea, read more books…
    Feel a human touch that was gentle and tender…
    Change that look of contempt upon Logan Haggerty’s face.
    She gritted her teeth and willed the shaking to stop. She had not come so far to be diminished by the look of a man who had unjustly condemned her as a fool.
    “Find someone living in this scramble,” she commanded sharply.
    As her men moved about the alley, checking the downed men for signs of life, the shutters above them began to open. Lamplight flickered again, making the mist in the air shimmer mysteriously.
    “Dead,” Hagar announced, rolling over a body.
    “This one, too,” Peg-leg said.
    “Not this one,” Logan announced, dragging a man to his feet.
    The survivor was skinny, and wore only a shirt, breeches, worn boots and a sword belt that barely clung around his narrow hips. His sword was still sheathed. There wasn’t a mark on him.
    “Please,” he whimpered. “I caused no injury to any of you. I was…I was caught. I was tangled in the sheets.”
    “You played dead, you mean,” Logan said bluntly.
    “I…I…”
    “Who sent you?” Red demanded.
    “I, um…that fellow. The bald man over there. He paid us all. He found us back at Ha’penny Hattie’s, and he paid us to follow him down the alley. That’s all.” He slipped to his knees, looking up beseechingly, his hands folded in desperate prayer. “I was just drinking me rotgut there, I swear it, and the money…as you can see, I’m not a prosperous man.”
    Red was about to turn away in disgust.
    “But you are a lying one,” Logan said, catching the fellow by his shirt collar and dragging him relentlessly to his feet. “Who paid the bald man?”
    “I don’t know!” the skinny man screeched.
    “You do,” Logan said flatly.
    “He’ll kill me!” their captive implored.
    “He’s dead,” Brendan pointed out.
    “No, no, not the bald man…”
    “It’s all right,” Red said. “I know who sent him.”
    Their captive’s eyes were all but bulged out of their skeletal sockets. “I didn’t tell you. I didn’t tell you!”
    “He may kill you. I definitely will,” Logan threatened softly.
    Red shook her head. “Don’t bother. It was Blair Colm.”
    Logan stared at her sharply, and she had no idea what was going on in his mind as he watched her. It seemed for a moment as if time had stopped.
    “Oh, God!” the skinny man screamed, going limp.
    “Is he here? Is he somewhere near here?” Red demanded.
    The man slumped down again, but Logan dragged him back up. “Answer the captain,” he said.
    The fellow just shook his head, moaning.
    “Answer,” Logan persisted menacingly.
    “I—I…no. He’s headed north. He’s heading up to the Carolinas.” He looked up at them at last. “He’s…he’s no pirate, you know. They welcome him at fancy tables. He’s free to sail wherever he chooses and…kill and loot at will. Because he does so for the governors and the Crown, and he’s somehow…” He shook his head. He was no longer hoping to hide anything from them. Maybe he wasn’t even hoping to survive anymore. “I have never known another man so utterly ruthless and brutal. He’s invincible, and you might as well kill me now, and I can only pray you will do so mercifully.”
    “How will he know you were hired by the bald man?” Red asked.
    “He’ll know,” the terrified man whispered. “There is talk. There is always talk. Tomorrow they will be talking about the fight tonight.”
    “How did he hire you? Was he here recently?” Brendan demanded.
    “No…months ago, he paid the bald man. One-eyed Joe. That’s what I heard. And he promised a great reward. That’s all I know. I swear it.”
    “Fight?” Hagar snorted. “Intended execution, more like.”
    “No one thought Red Robert would

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