her eyes.
“’Tis plunder, lass,” her father explained. “Cap’n Tait likes to keep a sampling of every plunder.”
“I see.” And she did. The man depended on things in an attempt to chase the loneliness out of his heart.
She’d seen him hanging in the shadows with such mournful looks she wanted to hug him. He needed her. He just didn’t know it. The workhouse had tried to make her feel the same. But memories of Mama’s unfailing love had kept her whole and given her strength. Things might sometimes be easily gained, but they were also easily lost. Loved ones filled your heart forever. As she forged deeper into the clutter, she looked all around the room. “Where is he?”
A grumbling snore from the vicinity of the window overlooking the bay answered.
“Sounds like over there. Most likely on the floor.” Hobbs led the way through a trio of overstuffed couches and peeped over the back of the one in front of the window. “Here he be.”
Ellie rounded the furniture and smiled. The tall, hulking figure of Captain Tait Mackenzie, Demon Mackenzie to his enemies, lay stretched out on his back with his hands folded across his stomach. If not for the healthy coloring to his cheeks, she’d think him dead. Her heart fluttered, and every last bit of her flushed with a delightfully uncomfortable warmth. He was such a handsome man. Long hair, darker than sin, some of it braided and strung with beads. A gold earring in one ear. Dressed all in black, he looked as though he captained the fleets of the Earl of Hell himself.
Aye, he did appear fearsome and evil, but she knew him for the big-hearted man that he was. She’d spied him playing with the harlots’ children—allowing the wee lads to capture him with their wooden swords. She’d also come upon him in the stables, sitting on the ground in one of the stalls, playing with a litter of pups. The man had a good heart. He just didn’t know it.
Tait shifted with a snorting mumble, then crossed his legs at the ankles. Without opening his eyes, he smacked his lips and grimaced. “Damnation, me mouth tastes like someone shite in it.”
“Help me get him to his bed, aye?” Now that the man was semi-awake, the two of them might be able to move him. Ellie grabbed hold of one arm while her father grabbed the other. “Come now, Captain, up and to the bed with ye.”
One green eye slowly opened. “Am I dead?” he asked, then hiccupped as he opened the other eye the barest slit and looked to be having some difficulty focusing on her.
“Of course not.” She pulled harder, nodding for Da to do the same. If they could get him on his feet, they had a fair chance of making it the short distance to his bed. “Ye’re just drunk as can be. Help us now. We’ll get ye in the bed to sleep it off, then tomorrow, ye’ll join us for a lovely Christmas dinner.”
After several attempts, they got him to his feet and draped his arms around their shoulders. Tait staggered forward several steps, then came to a halt, scowling at his surroundings. “I wouldha thought heaven a damn sight cleaner than this.” He swiveled his attention back to her and smiled. “But I must say, ye are a verra lovely angel. Ye look just like Ellie.”
“I told ye, ye’re nay dead, and I am Ellie.” She nudged to get him moving again, more than a little pleased at the compliment. He thought her lovely. That was a good start.
“And why in the world would ye ever think ye’d land in heaven?” her father dryly asked.
Tait seemed not to have heard him. Instead, he kept his bleary-eyed focus locked on her. “Ellie’s a fine girl, ye know. Ye’d like her. She’ll be an angel someday when she finishes her earthly walk.” He gave a hard nod and nearly lost his footing. “Her father, good old Hobbs, God bless his foolish arse, promised to find her the verra best of husbands. Ye know I’ll have to kill any bastard if he treats her ill? The husband—not Hobbs. He’d never treat her ill. Loves her more than life itself.” He hiccupped again, staggered forward a few more steps, then fell face-first onto the bed. “Wish I had someone to love,” he mumbled into the bedclothes. He rolled over, closed his eyes, and smiled. “Hobbs’ll find her a good husband, though. Ye’ll see.”