Kitabı oku: «Dark Pirate»

CHAPTER ONE

ROSE had never seen a man who looked quite so dangerous as the fisherman lounging at the table opposite her. At least, she presumed he was a fisherman because the snatches of conversation that drifted to her above the hubbub of the bar were all concerned with fishing. Yet he might just as well have been a Cornish smuggler right out of the past with that thick, glossy black hair, chocolate-brown eyes and brooding features. He must have been in his mid-thirties and he had the tough, lawless look of a smuggler. In this village where time stood still it was easy to imagine a man like that striding ashore by the fitful light of the moon with a brandy barrel slung carelessly over one powerful shoulder. Or leading a lusty brawl against the Excise men, striking out with his clenched fists and revelling in the danger and the excitement. It was also easy to imagine him in a darkened doorway, hauling a village girl into a fierce embrace and kissing her until she was dizzy with longing. There was something about the feral glint in his eyes and the lurking sensuality about the comers of his mouth that told Rose he knew a lot about women. Even his old clothes could not diminish his air of power and sensuality. He wore faded blue jeans and a red checked flannel shirt with the sleeves rolled up, revealing muscular arms covered in coarse, dark hair. Not de-signer elegance by any stretch of the imagination, yet the aura of confidence and vibrant animal magnetism that radiated out from him was almost indecent in its intensity.

I wonder if he’s married, thought Rose. Suddenly she became aware that his chocolate-brown eyes were fixed on her and that the sardonic smile on his lips was growing a little wider. Horrified at being caught staring so rudely, Rose dropped her gaze, but she could not restrain the tide of colour that flushed hotly into her cheeks. There was the scraping sound of a chair being pushed back, light, prowling footsteps approached and then he was standing beside her. So close that she could feel the warmth emanating from his body in waves, smell the clean, masculine scent of him, compounded of salt air and a soap that reminded her of leather, could see the thrust of his hard, muscular thighs against the fabric of his jeans.

‘Can I get you a drink, my love?’ he murmured and the voice was as devastating as the rest of him—a deep, soft, Cornish burr with that alarming intimacy that all Cornish speech seemed to hold, a slow, confiding cadence that made her feel as if even total strangers were welcoming her as their closest friend. ‘I’m just getting another beer for Charlie and me, so it’ll be no trouble if you’d like something.’

Was it an attempt to pick her up or merely a sociable gesture, natural in such a small village? Rose darted a swift glance of alarm at him, wishing the floor would open up and swallow her. Close up, he was even more disturbing with his even white teeth and those tiny pale lines around his eyes contrasting with his tan. She had seen men like that in Australia, men who spent long hours outdoors, screwing up their eyes in bright sunlight and gazing keenly through immense distances. He looked down at her with a mocking, unhurried manner as if he could read every thought in her head and was vastly amused by them. Then he transferred the second beer mug into his left hand and held out his other hand for her glass. Rose, who had been staring at him in a frozen way, suddenly came to life and clapped both her hands protectively over it.

‘No! Really. It’s all right. Thank you very much, it’s awfully kind of you, but I must be going soon. I’ll just finish this and then…’ Her voice trailed away.

‘Just as you like,’ he agreed amiably and turned away towards the bar.

Rose gazed after his broad back with the feeling that she had just made an appalling fool of herself. A small, unsteady sigh escaped her and she poured the last inch or so of sparkling apple cider into her glass and sipped it slowly in an attempt to calm her nerves. What was wrong with her? After all, she was twenty-seven years old, not some giggling teenager. And with several years’ experience as a highly paid and respected computer programmer, she was used to dealing with tough male executives, men who didn’t respect any woman unless she proved she could hold her own. And Rose could. Not only was she good at her job, but she had also learnt all the social skills that went with it: the cool, poised manner, the power dressing, the hairstyles that confined her long, unruly chestnut curls in a neat chignon or a smooth braid. Above all, she had learnt to feel as if she was in control of her life.

So how could this flamboyant Cornish fisherman simply offer to buy her a drink and give her palpitations as if she were a silly schoolgirl? It must be because she was still upset about Martin’s betrayal and therefore acting totally out of character. Or perhaps it was just the atmosphere of Polperro itself—so quaint, so serene, so olde-worlde that it woke an impulsive, romantic part of her nature that had lain buried most of her life. After all, how else could she explain her decision only this morning to buy a wildly expensive cream knitted sweater hand-embroidered with tiny flowers and a swirling muslin skirt to match? A fairly amazing departure from her usual tailored suits like the one she was wearing now! But somehow the outfit had felt exactly right when she had tried it on. The pale blue forget-me-nots had matched the colour of her eyes and, moved by an odd instinct, she had unclipped the gold slide which had pinned her hair severely at the nape of her neck and let it spring free in wavy brown profusion around her shoulders. The unfamiliar image of herself as soft, wistful, feminine had been irresistible. She had put down a small deposit and asked the shopkeeper to hold the clothes until she could go to the bank and cash some traveller’s cheques to pay for them…That thought gave her a jolt. Oh, help! What time did the banks close? Rose forgot all about Cornish fishermen and glanced down at her watch in alarm. She would have to hurry!

Unzipping her bag, she reached into the compartment where she kept her red vinyl pocketbook containing her traveller’s cheques. Her fingers groped in vain. The first uneasy stirring began inside her and she glanced sharply down. There was no sign of her pocketbook, but it must be here, it must! Everything of importance was in it—her passport, her traveller’s cheques, her return airline ticket to Australia. Frantically she began to unzip the other navy leather compartments. A map of Cornwall, a roll of Polo mints, a neatly pressed white handkerchief, a pocket diary and pen, a comb, lipstick, the keys to Aunt Em’s cottage. But no pocketbook. Rose felt a sudden chill lurch of panic and dismay in the pit of her stomach as if she had stepped off the edge of a cliff. Her normally pink cheeks were suddenly drained of colour and she let out an involuntary gasp. The fisherman was looming beside her in an instant.

‘What’s the matter, my dear? You’ve gone quite pale. Are you ill?’

‘N-no,’ stammered Rose. ‘But I’ve lost my pocketbook. It’s got everything in it. My passport, my traveller’s cheques, my airline ticket…Oh, what am I going to do? I’ve lost everything except my little money purse and that’s only got fifty pence in it!’

‘Now don’t take on,’ said the man mildly. ‘Polperro’s a small village and folks here are very honest, unless one of those tourists has got their hands on it. Still, like as not, what’s happened is this: you’ve taken it out of your bag somewhere to pay for something and not fastened the bag properly, then it’s fallen out. It’s happened to me before today. Now you just try and think, my dear. When did you have it last?’

Rose tried to control the churning sensation in her stomach long enough to allow her to concentrate. She had arrived by bus from Looe at about eleven o’clock, then she had taken a horse-drawn carriage from the head of the gorge to the centre of the village. After that she had spent a couple of hours exploring all the quaint little alleyways with their tea-shops and art galleries and souvenirs. And there had been a small clothing shop near the harbour…It was there that she had fallen hope-lessly in love with the sweater and skirt and paid a deposit on them. The woman at the shop had not wanted to take traveller’s cheques, but had directed her to a bank where she could cash them. Not wanting too many parcels to carry, Rose had decided to postpone her visit to the bank until the afternoon. Several hours had been spent happily ambling around the old cottages and shops, some with whorls in their glass windows, others with patterns of shells set into their limewashed walls, spending most of her cash on postcards and souvenirs. She had also taken a walk up the cliff path and she seemed to remember seeing the red vinyl cover of the pocketbook poking up in her bag when she had put a handkerchief away…

‘On the cliff-top, I think,’ she said, frowning thoughtfully. ‘But I’ve walked all over the place since then. It could be anywhere.’

She explained haltingly about the clothes at the shop by the harbour, her intended visit to the bank, the way she had wandered about. Impatiently her companion cut her off.

‘Well, let’s begin by seeing if you’ve dropped it here,’ he suggested practically. ‘Come on, I’ll help you.’

Rose was too preoccupied to disagree, but she did find it rather surprising that the stranger had taken charge with such firmness and efficiency, even if his manner was a trifle curt. Why was he doing this? Was it simple kindness or some other motive? Oh, what did it matter? The important thing was to find her pocketbook.

They both fell to their knees and searched the floor under the table, but it was quite clear that there was nothing there. As she got to her feet Rose felt a humiliating rush of tears sting her eyes. After all the trauma of resigning from her job, leaving Martin, her mother’s sudden need for a hysterectomy as they were due to leave Australia and then the gruelling flight to England, this was the last thing that she needed! Swallowing hard, she made a blind movement as if to turn away.

‘Thank you for looking,’ she said unsteadily. ‘I suppose I’ll just have to report it to the police as missing and phone American Express. Oh, I wish this hadn’t happened!’ Her voice broke on the last words and the stranger gave an exasperated sigh, put his warm, muscular hands on her shoulders and steered her into a chair. The kindness of the action surprised her. He didn’t look like a man who would be kind. There was something too ruthless about the set of his chin, the narrowed eyes, the tough mouth. Yet here he was, calming her down, with only the slightest hint of impatience in his manner— a faint curl of his lips that made her feel she was making far too much fuss about a very trivial event…

‘Now, don’t you worry,’ he ordered sternly. ‘We’ll soon have this sorted out. Sit down there and I’ll get you another drink, and then we’ll decide what we’re going to do. What would you like?’

‘I haven’t got any money—’ began Rose, but found herself silenced by three strong brown fingers placed over her lips.

‘I don’t suppose I’ll go broke on the price of one drink,’ the man said sardonically. ‘Now, what will you have?’

Rose made a small, choking sound that was closer to a giggle than a sob, then blew her nose and straightened her shoulders.

‘A non-alcoholic cider, please,’ she said.

Her eyes followed him as he moved away to the bar. There was a negligent, animal grace about his movements that made him look totally appropriate in this setting. A wild, lawless Cornishman if ever there was one! And how different from Martin, whose aggression so often dwindled to mere bluster…Yet somehow there was a savage aura of controlled power about this Cornishman that made Martin seem boastful and florid in comparison. He must draw women to him as relentlessly as moths to a naked flame. Well, she wasn’t fool enough to be burnt a second time. All the same, an uneasy tingle of excitement sparked through Rose’s body as she watched the stranger striding back from the bar with her drink. He set it down in front of her and then stretched out his hand.

‘I’m Greg Trelawney,’ he announced. ‘One of the locals. And who are you?’

‘I’m Rose. Rose Ashley,’ she replied, feeling slightly unnerved by the warm, firm clasp of those fingers. It was as if a powerful electric current had surged through her at his touch. ‘I’m from Australia.’

‘Welcome to Polperro,’ he said, raising his glass. ‘Although I’m sorry your welcome has been such a poor one. Well, we’ll see what we can do to sort that out in a minute. Now have a drink and catch your breath. Cheers!’

‘Cheers!’ agreed Rose.

The sweet, sparkling cider with its strong taste of apples did help to revive Rose, but, even more than that, the presence of the man opposite her had the effect of distracting her from her immediate problems. How could she concentrate on a lost pocketbook when Greg Trelawney was gazing at her with that intent, brooding expression?

‘Now, tell me about this pocketbook of yours,’ he urged when at last she had emptied her glass. ‘You say you had it last on the cliff-top?’

‘Yes,’ agreed Rose.

He pushed away his empty glass and rose to his feet.

‘Well, we’d better go up on the cliffs and look for it,’ he announced briskly. ‘Chances are you’ve dropped it somewhere and it’ll soon be found. Folks here are very honest, you know. I reckon we’ll turn it up in the next hour or so.’

‘Oh, but you don’t have to help me,’ protested Rose. ‘I can’t possibly take up so much of your time.’

He gave a low growl of laughter at that. A laugh that reverberated in his chest and made his dark eyes glint.

‘I’m not busy. I’ve finished for the day and I’d be better off helping you than wasting my time and money in a pub. Eh, Jimmy?’

‘That’s right, Greg,’ agreed the barman. ‘You give the lass a hand and don’t you worry, my dear. If so be as you don’t find ‘un, you come back here and we’ll sort something out.’

Rose darted a stricken look from one man to the other. Of course she wanted to find the pocketbook and the sooner the better. But she wasn’t at all sure that she wanted to tramp around cliff paths with a man who made her feel like a lovelorn teenager. Still, what else could she do?

‘Thank you,’ she said at last in a strained voice. ‘I’ll do that.’

The Smuggler’s Rest was only a few steps away from the precipitous path which led up over the rocks to the cliff-top. Greg bounded up the steep slope like a mountain goat, so that Rose had to hurry to keep him in sight. It was a stiff climb, with jagged brown rocks jutting out into the path and pink erigeron daisies spilling out from cottage gardens. As they neared the top of the path, the dry-stone walls which marked the boundaries of neatly tended gardens gave way to a wild landscape of breathtaking beauty. Only the distant line of the horizon marked out the division between the vivid dark blue of the sea and the paler blue of the sky. Overhead the sun shone with an almost Mediterranean heat, gilding the wings of an occasional gliding seagull and warming the rocks that flanked the path. Down below waves smashed noisily against the cliff face and fell back in a seething white turbulence of foam.

Shading her eyes against the brilliance of the sun, Rose gazed down at the Net Loft—a dry-stone building on the cliff at the west side of the harbour entrance, its walls fashioned from mellow grey stone smudged with yellow-green lichen. For a moment she stood still, hot and breathless from the climb and momentarily distracted from her worries by the beauty of the scene. Seagulls wheeled and shrieked overhead and the air was charged with enticing scents—brown earth as rich as chocolate fudge and with the same sweet, heavy smell, gorse bushes in full flower and the bracing salt tang of the sea. What an amazing place this was! But Greg seemed oblivious to the setting and was clearly impatient of her delay.

‘Right, where did you go when you were up here?’ he demanded.

‘I sat on the bench over there for a while,’ she said, wrinkling her forehead thoughtfully. ‘And then I went for a walk further up the cliff.’

A search of the tussocky green grass beaded with raindrops in the area around the bench revealed nothing, so Greg set off further up the cliff path. Here the manicured cottage gardens gave way to wire netting tangled with blackberries, ivy, dock and thick stands of stinging nettles. As they reached the gorse bushes on the headland a cloud of orange and brown butterflies rose at their approach, but there was no sign of a pocketbook on the ground where Rose had stood earlier to admire the view. Greg searched thoroughly, but at last came back to her, shaking his head.

‘Well, that’s it, then,’ she said heavily. ‘I don’t suppose I’ll ever see it again.’

In spite of her good intentions she could not keep a faint tremor out of her voice. What was wrong with her? After all, she wasn’t dead or injured. The events of the last two months must have been more of a strain than she realised. To her surprise, Greg suddenly caught one of her tendrils of long brown hair that was fluttering in the breeze and wound it round the end of his finger. Rose stiffened at his touch, although it was undoubtedly friendly rather than threatening. All the same, she darted him a swift, nervous glance as he tidied the errant strand back over her shoulder.

‘Well, it’s not the end of the world,’ he said with a touch of his earlier impatience. ‘Just come back to the pub with me and we’ll report it missing. After that we can see about getting you back to your hotel.’

‘Hotel!’ wailed Rose, as the realisation of a fresh disaster suddenly struck her. ‘What’s the time?’

‘Four thirty-five.’

‘Oh, no! I’ve missed’the bus!’

‘Bus?’ queried Greg. ‘Where were you going to?’

‘Pisky Bay,’ replied Rose.

‘Pisky Bay?’ he demanded, his brows meeting in a thoughtful frown. ‘Are you sure? There’s nothing there but three or four cottages.’

‘I know,’ agreed Rose. ‘Actually, I’m the new owner of one of them. My great-aunt Em died recently and left it to me.’

A look of dawning comprehension spread over his craggy features.

‘Oh, then you’ll be Emily Pendennis’s great-niece,’ he said. ‘Yes, I heard she’d left her cottage to a lass from foreign parts. But wasn’t there talk of your mother coming here as well?’

Rose gave a wry smile at the efficiency with which the bush telegraph seemed to be operating. After the vast, impersonal sprawl of Brisbane, she found it strangely warming to find a community so intimate that everyone knew each other’s business. Far from being annoyed by it, she was oddly moved.

‘That’s right,’ she admitted. ‘My mother was supposed to come with me, but unfortunately she was taken ill just before we were due to leave Brisbane. Nothing really serious, but she had to have an operation and my insurance policy wouldn’t allow me to cancel my airline ticket. In any case, my mother urged me to come and she’ll be joining me in a few weeks, as soon as she’s well enough to travel. We’re hoping to open a bed-and-breakfast place in Aunt Em’s old cottage.’

‘You’ll be staying on here, then?’ asked Greg, and for an instant something disturbingly sensual lurked in his eyes.

Rose might be alarmed by that momentary spark of warmth but she couldn’t help feeling flattered by it. In all the three years she had spent with Martin, he had only seemed to make her aware of her deficiencies, that her nose was too snub, her hips too rounded, her legs too short, her skin too pale. Now, with this rugged fisherman darting her a swift sideways glance from under half-closed lids, Rose suddenly felt that she was a de-sirable woman. The thought sent a flood of colour rushing into her cheeks and made her step back a pace from him.

‘Yes,’ she muttered. ‘At least for a while.’

‘Well, that’s good news,’ he said mildly. ‘If there’s anything I can do to help you out, just say the word. This is only a simple fishing community and we’re all good neighbours hereabouts.’

If he had asked her to go out with him, Rose would have retreated in alarm and refused immediately. As it was, his manner was so casual that she began to think that she had imagined that brief flare of attraction between them. What an idiot she was! Obviously Greg was only trying to be kind…

‘Oh, I’m sure you are,’ she agreed with a rush of enthusiasm. ‘This village seems absolutely enchanting and I’m thrilled to think that my roots here go back for centuries. You see, I’ve always hated big cities and wished I could live somewhere small and quaint. Well, I’d say Polperro is the kind of place that time has passed by, where people still enjoy old-fashioned pleasures. Going fishing, gardening, spending time with their friends, having a quiet drink in the pub. I can almost imagine that I’m still in the eighteenth century here. Actually, when I first saw you I thought you looked exactly like—’ She broke off and flushed with embarrassment, aware that his eyes were on her with a frankly amazed expression.

‘Like what?’ he prompted in his husky Cornish voice.

‘Like a smuggler,’ she admitted.

Suddenly he threw back his head and laughed, an incredulous, pitying laugh that made her feel a complete fool.

‘I’m sorry,’ she said in confusion. ‘I suppose it sounds silly really.’

An expression mid-way between contempt and amusement flitted across his face.

‘You’re not far out, in a way,’ he replied. ‘Just between you and me, in my youth there was the odd bottle of brandy I brought back on my fishing boat from France that never paid duty in any Customs office.’

‘You’re a fisherman, then!’ she exclaimed with interest. ‘I thought you must be. You looked like one, somehow. Exactly the way I imagined a Cornish fisherman.’

‘Ah, well, my dear,’ he said. ‘It’s clear you’re a ro-mantic at heart and I’ve always liked the romantic, myself.’ Was it her imagination or did his Cornish accent suddenly seem stronger than it had before? ‘But tell me, now, how are you going to get home to your aunt Em’s cottage, seeing you’ve missed the bus?’

Rose hesitated and then took the plunge.

‘W-well,’ she stammered. ‘I hate to ask you this when you’ve already done so much for me, but could you possibly loan me some money for a taxi? I’ll pay you back tom——’

But Greg was sorrowfully shaking his head.

‘I’m sorry, my love,’ he muttered. ‘I don’t think I can do that. A simple fisherman like me doesn’t carry much money on him.’ He reached into his back pocket, drew out a shabby wallet and looked at the three one-pound coins that lay forlornly in it. ‘I’ll tell you what, though. I could sail you home. How about that, now? I’ll drop you off all right and tight in the cove at Pisky Bay.’

Rose hesitated, torn between delight and apprehension. To sail home through the sunset and catch her first glimpse of her cottage from out in those dazzling, sapphire seas! It would be perfect, absolutely perfect…And yet was it wise to trust herself to Greg Trelawney? Not that he was likely to abduct her, but there were other kinds of danger that could be more subtly threatening. Like the danger of contracting an absurd, adolescent crush on a man who was quite likely to see her day in and day out in such a small community. She didn’t want the pain or the humiliation of that. Really, it would be more sensible to refuse. Sensible! something inside her shrieked in outrage. Where has being sensible ever got you? You were being sensible waiting for Martin to propose, weren’t you? Well? In that instant Rose flung caution to the winds and decided to live dangerously.

‘Thank you,’ she said firmly before she could change her mind. ‘That would be wonderful. But are you sure it’s not too much trouble?’

‘No trouble at all, my dear. There be my boat just down there, see? Lying at anchor on the mooring.’

Rose followed his pointing finger down to the spot where a stately old ketch, with a black hull and red sails furled along its boom, lay tranquilly bobbing next to a pink buoy. By now the tide was turning and the water rippled as green as glass around the graceful vessel, making it shift and move as if it longed to be off.

‘Come on,’ ordered Greg. ‘We’ll just go down to the phone at the pub and report your belongings missing. Then we’ll be off.’

Ten minutes later their mission was accomplished and they stood outside on the whitewashed steps in front of the Smuggler’s Rest.

‘What about your luggage?’ asked Greg, struck by a sudden difficulty.

‘I sent it on ahead on this morning’s bus,’ replied Rose. ‘One of Aunt Em’s old neighbours has been keeping an eye on the cottage and she promised to take delivery of it for me. Oh, there’s one other thing, though. I must call into the clothes shop and tell the woman I can’t take that sweater and skirt after all.’

‘Don’t you worry about that,’ said Greg. ‘I’ll take care of it. I have to go round to the far side of the stream in any case to get my dinghy. Now, you walk down to the stone pier over there and wait for me. I’ll bring the ketch to the foot of that iron ladder and pick you up. Can’t say fairer than that!’

Rose firmly dismissed her last lingering doubts. ‘All right, thank you,’ she agreed.

Twenty minutes later they were heading out to sea with the sails flaring bright red in the slanting gold light of the sun. There was no sound but the slap of water against the hull, the singing of the wind in the rigging and the occasional noisy squabbling of a flock of seagulls. Rose found the slow dip and rise of the vessel immensely soothing and she heaved a deep sigh of pleasure. A brief smile flickered over Greg’s face but he said nothing, apparently content to enjoy the scene around them without any need for words. He was standing at the yacht’s wheel, his long, muscular legs braced apart and his sensitive fingers handling its blunt wooden spokes as tenderly as if they were alive. With his eyes narrowed against the blaze of the sinking sun and his hair blown into wild disorder by the wind, he looked like some primitive, timeless sailor, totally in harmony with the rugged coastline that had produced him. An aching, primeval need stabbed through Rose’s entire body at the sight of him standing there so virile, so confident, so untamed. I could really fall for him in a big way, she thought and then gave a soft gasp of dismay at her own unruly in- stincts. Living dangerously was one thing; going right off her trolley was quite another.

‘Everything all right?’ he asked, looking over his shoulder at her.

‘Yes, fine, thank you,’ she agreed, grateful that he could not read her thoughts. Yet perhaps he could, for his eyes narrowed even further and he looked at her with that strange, assessing warmth that she had found so disconcerting on the cliff-top. Once again a tingling current of raw physical attraction seemed to pass be-tween them.

‘Why don’t you come and take a turn at the wheel?’ invited Greg, and his baritone voice was so husky, so caressing that the invitation seemed vaguely indecent.

Rose opened her mouth to refuse and then paused. She was being foolish, incredibly foolish. All this belief in nameless, animal passions lurking just below the surface might be only a product of her own fevered imagination. Greg would probably think she was crazy if she started acting like some skittish, wild creature and refusing a perfectly harmless invitation.

‘All right, thanks,’ she agreed, forcing herself to rise and clamber nervously across the sloping deck to join him. ‘What do I do?’

‘Just put your hands here on the wheel at ten to two. Then take a look straight down the centre of the ship and line up the prow with that headland over there. If she begins to fall away, turn the wheel a little to bring her back on course. Yes, that’s fine.’

As he had spoken he had positioned himself behind her, putting his arms around her and gripping her hands so that he could guide them. Harmless invitation! thought Rose despairingly. I didn’t know he was going to do that! Her senses reeled at his overpowering nearness and her heart begun to beat in a frantic, suffocating rhythm. She was intensely conscious of his towering height, the power of the whipcord muscles in those strong tanned arms that were wrapped around her, the salty masculine smell that came off in waves from his warm body. For one insane moment she wondered what he would do if she suddenly leaned back against him. The mere thought made her go rigid with panic.