"Be careful."
"Watch your step."
"Take your time."
"Do you need to rest?"
Their concern and attentiveness was touching, but worrisome. She didn't want Lucian to learn of the baby. Not yet, not until the matter between her father and him was settle.
The full moon played tricks against the light fog that blanketed the cove, making it difficult to see the shoreline and anyone standing along it.
Catherine grew fearful as she walked closer to the sea. The dampness seeped beneath her cape and chilled her skin to gooseflesh. She took several more steps, the sand soggy under her feet.
A gust of wind rushed in from the sea across the shore, whipping her cape around her and sending her silver hair flying about her face. As the wind settled, a tall figure stepped out of the darkness and advanced on her.
"Catherine."
She halted where she stood, his strong voice sending her legs to trembling. And when he walked fully out of the shadows he stood before her as Captain Lucifer, the legendary pirate.
A single braid ran down the side of his blood red hair, he wore tight black breeches and black boots. A white shirt lay open to the black sash that encircled his waist. He looked dangerous, a force to consider, and certainly not an equal opponent for a pregnant woman who was madly in love with him.
"Lucian," she managed to say without the quiver that ran through her reaching her voice.
"I have attempted repeatedly to see you." He walked closer to her, standing only a few feet away. "I had been told you were ill."
"I'm feeling better."
"Good, then the voyage will be pleasant for you."
"What voyage?" she asked tensely.
"I'm taking you home."
"I am home."
He shook his head. "No, you're not."
She felt her heartbeat quicken and her pulse race. "Yes, I am, Lucian."
"No, Catherine. There is much to settle between us."
She took a step back. "Settle matters with my father first."
His features hardened in anger. "Your father and I have nothing to discuss. It is you and I that concern me."
She inched back away from him with another step. "I have nothing to say to you. Speak with my father."
"To bloody hell with your father. It is you I wish to talk with."
Bones and Jolly hurried around the captain.
Bones attempted to speak. "Captain, there's something that —"
"Prepare the longboat and be quick about it," Lucian snapped.
"But, Captain, you should know —"
"Not now, Bones."
Jolly tried to grab the captain's attention. "Captain, it's important —"
He turned on the two of them, his look as cold as ice. "Do as you're ordered, now!"
Catherine sighed with relief, aware that the men were attempting to warn him of her condition.
"Say your piece and be on your way, Lucian," Catherine said bravely even though her legs still trembled.
"The hell I will," he said. "You'll come back with me to Heaven and we will settle this torturing matter once and for all."
"I will not return with you. I am staying here with my father," she insisted, wishing she could convince him to meet with her father and learn the truth.
"Not likely, Catherine." His hand sprang forward like a snake striking its victim.
Her wrist locked in his powerful grip. "Let me go, Lucian."
"No."
His simple refusal frightened her. It was issued with a deadly calmness that warned of his determination. "Let me go," she said again and yanked fiercely to free herself.
"You're coming with me," he said, her wrist firmly clenched in his hand, her efforts useless.
Panic seized her. If he succeeded he would learn of the baby. Then what? "You can't force me," she cried.
He laughed in a low rumble. "So soon you forget you were my captive once before. You think me incapable of capturing you again?"
"Don't do this, Lucian," she pleaded.
"You leave me no choice, Catherine." He pulled her to walk alongside him.
She ripped at his fingers holding her wrists. "Let me go. Please, you don't understand."
"No, I don't," he said, dragging her along with him. "I haven't understood anything since the day I met you. You have bewildered and bewitched me."
She raced to keep up with his long strides, her back and legs aching. "Lucian," she cried, but he ignored her and pulled her to the shore where the longboat sat waiting.
Bones and Jolly exchanged worried glances when they saw the struggling couple approach.
Lucian swung her carelessly up and into the boat. Catherine settled her cape more closely around her and hugged the side of the seat he had deposited her on. What was she to do now?