Page 9 of High Seas

“Need, or want?” he posed, waiting for an answer.

“Need. I need to see where he goes.”

“He didn’t seem like much of a friend, if you ask me,” the pirate complained.

“Well, he is.”

“This is ridiculous,” Edward huffed. But he crouched down next to me just as the back door swung open and light, smoke, and Abram spilled out.

Abram looked over his shoulder after the door slammed as if he was making sure no one followed, then scanned the area and headed north at a quick pace. I waited a few beats and then took off after him, trying to keep the fabric of my dress from swishing too loudly. Edward’s belt buckle was a problem. One of his pistols clanked against it with each step.

I waved at him and pointed at his buckle. He gave me an exasperated look, but put his hand over the metal to muffle the sound. “Must we run?” he grumped, his voice walking a thin line between whisper and yell.

“What? Is the good captain out of shape?”

He cursed me under his breath, making me smile.

Abram never stopped. If he knew we were trailing him, he didn’t give any indication. He zig-zagged a path through the sandy streets until he left the heart of the small city where the homes were quiet, but occupied. Most were white-washed and well-kept. He made for a two story, quickly climbing a rose-entwined trellis to a second story window that was half open. A woman met him a moment later. Hanging out her window, she met him with a kiss.

“I’ve been wondering if you’d come tonight,” she sighed against his lips.

My mouth hung open as the moon lit her features. She looked like me.

And when I say she looked like me, I mean that the woman and I could pass as sisters, if not twins. I shook my head. “It can’t be.”

Abram tilted his head as my doppelganger wrapped her arms around his neck and captured his mouth in another sensuous kiss. When they parted, he let out a relieved breath and then climbed the rest of the way into the lookalike’s room.

The wind turned cold. My teeth began to chatter and my skin pebbled with gooseflesh. I hugged my body, trying to stay warm.

“What’s the matter?” Edward asked carefully.

“I’m suddenly freezing.”

He ticked his head back. “It’s warm yet, lass. Are you ill?”

My skin stung, like I’d just stepped out of a scorching bath and placed my bare toes onto an icy floor, alternating between burning and freezing at the same time. “I don’t know what’s wrong,” I mumbled.

The earth tilted.

I collapsed.

There was a swarm of wasps in my ears, but just beyond their frantic buzzing, I could hear the whisper of Edward’s stern voice saying something. My name. “Eve, can you hear me?”

Of course I could hear him.

Something slapped my cheek hard, leaving a warm, stinging sensation in its wake.

“Open your eyes.”

I blinked to see his hand raised and ready to deliver another swat. “Don’t. Hit. Me. Again,” I growled.

He eased his hand down. “I was only trying to rouse you.”

“Try another way next time, asshole.”

My head lay on the ground, and the back of it hurt. I raised my head and pushed my fingers against it, finding a nice sized goose egg. “You didn’t catch me?”

“It happened so fast,” he deadpanned.

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