The Unbinding of Mary Reade by Miriam McNamara

Author:Miriam McNamara
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781510727113
Publisher: Sky Pony Press
Published: 2018-06-11T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

ISLA DE COTORRAS—1719

“I’LL NOT LEAVE YOU WITH HIM,” SAID PADDY.

“You’re no use to me—just go!” Mary’s eyes never left Nat’s.

Paddy was silent. Then a groan, a shuffling. The scrape of a musket being lifted.

Nat’s nostrils flared, his lips tightening. But he lay still beneath her. She wasn’t sure how long she could hold him if he did try to throw her off.

“Go, Paddy—now!”

She heard him stumble off, crashing into the brush.

The sound faded. She and Nat were alone—the pirates all fled to the woods, their attackers looting the beach camp. A bird called overhead, tentatively, but otherwise the air was so still around them. The shouts of the raiders seemed very far off.

He looked different than the Nat in her mind, though his lashes were as thick as ever. His hair curled long over his collar, and he had a bit of stubble on his cheeks and chin. His skin had tanned quite dark. She was keenly aware of his gaze; of the empty space between her shirt and her chest, where her binding had always been; of her hair sticking to her forehead with sweat; of the soot streaking her skin, and the soil of her britches and shirt. Did she still look like the scrawny mate he’d left behind, or had she changed as well?

This was the first time they’d seen each other since he’d found out she was a girl, and it didn’t appear that this exchange would go any better than the first. She was so angry that they’d met like this. She had so much to tell him, so much she wanted to say. She wanted to throw her arms around him—she wanted to smack him in the face—she wanted to cry—

“Tell me you was pressed into this,” Nat growled.

Anger took over. “I wasn’t,” she said. “Joined of me own free will, I did.” She took the bayonet from his throat and set it aside. “Not every pirate’s like your da, Nat,” she said, stabbing his shoulder with a finger. “There’s plenty of good reasons men find honest life impossible. I’d think you’d know that, growing up how you did.”

His clenched jaw softened. “A dishonest life ain’t easier, is it?”

Her eyes narrowed. “Aye, no thanks to the likes of you,” she snapped. But her anger was subsiding. His eyes looked more concerned than angry.

Paddy needed her, and if Nat’s crew caught up to them her life would be over, but she felt sick at the thought of fleeing. Her eyes flicked to the beach, where their attackers were piling booty into jolly boats and burning the rest. A handful of pirates had been rounded up and sat, shackled, in one of the boats. From this distance, Mary couldn’t tell who they were. The Ranger was slipping out of sight around the curve of the island, surely under Bill’s direction.

When she turned back Nat was frowning at her, as if searching for some missing detail. “I can’t believe I thought you was a lad, all those years.

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