The Last Broken Promise by Grace Walton

Author:Grace Walton [Walton, Grace]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Amazon: B018A2PI5Q
Publisher: CleanHeart Publishing
Published: 2015-11-23T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 8

“How is she?” asked the tall man in the shadows of the doorway.

Finn had spent a very trying night interrogating his crew. None of them claimed any knowledge of the attack on Jess. And, unfortunately, he had no way to prove any of them a liar. But one thought troubled him. None of his sailors had ever lied to him. It was a prerequisite to gain a berth on his ship. Lying was never tolerated. He was a hard man. And a harder captain. But McLeod was known to be fair and just.

Dorcas sat in the cabin’s chair, sewing by the light of a single candle. She’d been keeping a vigil all night by her niece’s side. The girl had barely stirred. The old woman was beginning to feel an uneasiness.

Jess should be awake. She should be complaining about being kept abed. She should be insisting on having something to eat and drink. She should at least be asking for the chamber pot. But she was doing none of those things. She lay in the bed with the rich covers heaped up to her chin. She slept like the dead, her breathing deep and easy.

“I’m worried, that I am,” said Dorcas. The quaver in her voice and the thick Irish accent showed her anxiety.

“Jess wilI be fine. I’ve seen people with worse abuse and suffer no ill effects. Go take a turn around the deck. Then ask the cook for a plate of food to break your fast,” Finn said. “Fresh air and getting something to eat will settle your fears.”

“Aye, lad, maybe you’ve the right of it.” Dorcas stood. “I would not leave her alone with you… but since you are betrothed there can be no harm in it.”

He understood that she was reminding him of his agreement to pose as the girl’s fiancé. And that he should act as a gentleman. Not as the pirate he’d been styled for the last fifteen years. He had no need of the warning. Though Finn was drawn to the still young woman in his bed. In a way both exhilarating and alarming. He had no intention of doing anything that would transform their false exchange of vows into anything real or permanent. He liked Jess too much to saddle her with the stigma of being attached to him, in any way.

“Aye, there can be no harm. I am no threat to her,” he replied.

Seeing the honesty in his odd-colored eyes, Dorcas nodded and made her way out of the cabin. “I’ll be but a moment,” she told him as she disappeared through the door.

Finn stood in the middle of his cabin for several long seconds. He watched Jess. The rhythm of her breathing was comforting. For even though he’d tried to calm her aunt’s fears, the big man had a few misgivings of his own. If she’d not been raped, and she swore she’d not suffered that tragedy, she should have wakened.

A part of him wanted to ease down onto that bed and fold her into his arms.

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