The Red Drifter of the Sea (Pirates of the Isles #3) - Celeste Barclay Page 0,91
if she kept her voice low. She looked back and forth at the men who stood before her, then craned her neck to see the other crew members slinking out of the shadows. She glared at Tomas and Snake Eye as she waited for a response. Their hesitation made her panic. She looked around, then faced the docks. She strained to see into the distance, but there was no sign of a head with russet waves. She turned back to Kyle’s first mate, tears welling in her eyes.
“Moira, he's not dead. He’s been arrested,” Tomas explained.
“And you haven’t gotten him out?” Moira hissed. “I can’t stay here. There are too many of my clansmen in the tavern. Dónal was snoring in that chamber when I climbed out.”
“And you need clothes,” Snake Eye pointed out before he lunged backward, Moira’s blade under his chin.
“I don’t give a damn about what I’m wearing, and you know that. Prove to me he’s alive, then I’ll care,” Moira warned. “You didn’t answer me. Why haven’t you gotten him out? Is Keith with him?”
“Yes. We didn’t break him out because we knew he would rather us stand watch over you than leave you unprotected,” Tomas responded.
“So no one is watching Kyle or Keith?” Moira asked around the lump in her throat. Her voice cracked as she asked, “Where is he?”
“Men from the Lady Grace just arrived. They grew concerned when no one returned to the Lady Charity, so they sent a party to find us. They’ve gone to the gaol where the captains are held,” Snake Eye answered.
Moira nodded as she continued to fight the tears that burned her eyes. Falling apart and sobbing, no matter how tempting, would serve her no good. She needed to see Kyle. She looked between Tomas and Snake Eye, and with a resigned sigh, she said, “I need clothes.”
Twenty-Eight
The last thing Kyle recalled was men from the Lady Grace rushing toward them before everything went black from the pounding his head took from the guard’s club. He and Keith sat side by side, once more in the cell where they’d spent the night. This time, their wrists were manacled behind them, and their ankles sported matching shackles. Leaning their shoulders and heads against one another, they kept their voices to whispers. They each strained to hear and knew no one outside their cell could catch what they discussed.
“Did you see your men?” Kyle asked.
“Aye. Did you see any of yours?” Keith mumbled.
“No. They must be wherever Moira is. That’s the only reason they wouldn’t come, unless they were caught too.”
“I doubt that. We would have heard them arrive, or guards would have taunted us,” Keith reasoned. “I think my men knew they couldn’t get to us and will look for yours. I agree that they’re with Moira.”
“God, I hope so. If Dónal has her, who knows how he’s treating her. He may be her brother, but I will kill him if I find another bruise on her,” Kyle pledged.
“What is it that’s between you two? Why does she matter when no other woman has? You fight most of the time.”
“I don’t know. I’m not sure how to say it. You and I share the same tastes in how we enjoy women. We learned the same things in the same places as Rowan and Ruairí. We were taught how to be dominant, and it appealed to each of us after so many years of being forced into submission by one captain after another. It gave us power we hadn’t had before. The women who taught us were prostitutes and did what brought them coin, but all four of us knew what type of whorehouses we frequented in Naples and the Greek Isles,” Kyle reminded Keith.
“And Moira?” Keith prompted.
“She’s the opposite of us. She’s been controlled and dominated by Dónal, even Lizzie, for so long that she is exhausted from having to guard herself. She’d shouldered the duties of chatelaine since she was barely more than a girl. But all she’s received in return for her service is her siblings’ condemnation. I can’t imagine how that feels. We’ve never been anything but best friends.” Kyle paused as he remembered Moira the first time he spanked her, and the connection neither of them understood. “She’s happy to relinquish control to me. She knows I will never intentionally harm her, even when there’s pain involved. She knows I’ll protect her—though I’ve done a shite job of it.”