Free A Captain's Destiny by Marie Caron Page B

a mirror.
    Her heart was racing in her chest, and for a minute Katherine thought she might faint. She had taken a knock on the head. That was it. She must be suffering from a head injury. She blinked and widened her eyes, hoping to clear away the ghostly image she was seeing. It simply could not be! Jack O’Bannon was dead; she’d seen his lifeless body on the burning ship, his life’s blood a crimson pool all around him. Her head must be seriously injured for her to be seeing things that were not there. He seemed so real.
    “Good, you’re awake,” the vision said with seeming approval, as it stepped closer to her.
    Her heart almost stopped, and she fell back to the bed.
    The older man laid a damp cloth on her forehead, clucking like a mother hen. “Twill be all right, missy, yu’ll see,” he soothed.
    The ghost, or whatever it was, indicated with a tip of his head that the old man should leave. Without another word, he shuffled out of the cabin.
    Katherine closed her eyes for just a moment, hoping beyond hope that her vision would clear. But when she opened her eyes, the specter in black leather britches and white, billowy linen shirt was still standing over her.
    It took a minute for her to recover her poise, and when she did, her voice was louder, if not steady. “Am…am I awake, or is this…a dream?” she asked, feeling at once overjoyed and betrayed. If Jack was alive, why hadn’t he sent word, come for her, done something to let her know?
    Suddenly the specter spoke. “I’m sorry if I shocked you. I assure you I’m not a spirit or figment of your imagination. I’m very much alive.”
    “What of my husband?” Could Anthony really be gone?
    “I regret to inform you that it appears everyone else on the cargo ship has perished,” he told her in a brisk, emotionless tone of voice. “My men searched the entire shoreline, but they found no one else…nothing to tell of the ship’s violent end. You are very lucky to be alive.” He bowed from the waist as he backed toward the door. “Now, Madam, I’ll leave you to rest…and mourn your husband,” he finished with a noticeable growl.
    “Wait! Wait, please! We need to talk. My marriage…it was not what you think. My stepfather arranged it; I had no choice.”
    “Your life is no business of mine. It never was.”
    He turned to exit the cabin, and Katherine sprang up and threw her legs over the side of the narrow bed. He wasn’t going to get away from her before she got an explanation from him. So he was angry that she’d gotten married, so what? He had let her believe he was dead, and that was much worse. She was barefooted and dressed in only a thin cotton nightdress. It wasn’t hers, but she couldn’t waste time wondering where it had come from or how she came to be wearing it. All that mattered was that she speak with Jack.
    Hearing her rise up behind him, Jack stopped, his hand on the door latch as he stared over his shoulder at her.
    “I never would have married him, if I had known you were alive, Jack,” she said plaintively.
    “What would you have done? Vowed your love to a pirate? Aligned yourself with a man who is wanted by the most powerful empire on Earth? I think not. Your reputation would have been ruined. We both know our relationship was doomed from the start.” He took another step as if to leave, and then turned back to her, a look of grim resolution on his handsome face. “As soon as the storm is over and I have what I’ve come for, you will be put ashore at the nearest British colony. Since I’m a wanted man, I’m sure you’ll understand if I don’t accompany you there myself. Don’t worry; one of my men will see to it that you arrive safely,” he told her, his eyes cold and emotionless. And then he stepped over the threshold and into the corridor, closing the cabin door behind him.
    “No! Wait!” she yelled, hurrying to the door as quickly as she could, considering the floor kept tipping this way and that. Out in