The Raider Read online

  “Yes,” was all she could murmur as he moved on top of her.

  His hands caressed the inside of her thighs, then the outside, until she was impatient for him. “Alex,” she whispered and he entered her as smoothly as water lapping at a ship’s bottom.

  He made love to her slowly, gently, until the passion began to rise in both of them. Eagerly, Jess pushed him onto his back and climbed on top. She opened her eyes for a moment, then smiled at her sense of confusion. The only man who’d ever made love to her before wore a mask, and the only way she’d seen an adult Alexander was as a fat invalid.

  But she thought no more as Alex pulled her to him and caressed her buttocks as she moved up and down.

  At the last, when they could no longer stand their torment, Alex pushed her beneath him, Jessica’s legs locked about his waist, and finished.

  Jess clung to him for a long moment, not wanting to release him, afraid he’d disappear again.

  He seemed to understand what she was feeling and pulled away from her to smile. “Who do I become now? The Raider or Alexander?”

  She was suddenly serious. “You have to continue to be Alexander in public. People will guess you’re the Raider if you change now.”

  “You mind if I’m the Raider at night?” he asked, nuzzling her neck.

  “Feel free to raid whatever you find in your bed.”

  “Oh?” Alex said, laughing. “Think you’ll sleep with me now?”

  “I’ve always wanted to sleep with you,” she protested, then laughed. “Oh, Alex, so that’s why you didn’t want me in your bed. You knew I’d know if you—”

  He kissed her. “I thought you might guess. And you learned after I kissed you at my father’s request, didn’t you?”

  “Mmmm, maybe,” she said.

  He began to tickle her. “ ‘Why, I’d hate you, Alexander,’ ” he mocked in a falsetto voice. “What did you call me? Lying, sneaky, deceitful? You could have written the book. And my hair!”

  “It is a little thin, Alex.”

  He rubbed his hair and his face on her bare breasts. “You have a lot to answer for.”

  “Maybe it will take me a lifetime.”

  “At least,” he said, his eyes glowing. “Let’s get back. I have to become Alex again for dinner, then I can raid you tonight.”

  Jessica giggled.

  One minute they were laughing and the next all hell broke loose. They had been so enraptured with each other that they hadn’t heard the six men sneaking into the cove, their lanterns covered with black cloth.

  At a command from someone, the cloths were removed, the lantern doors opened and Jess and Alex were lying in a pool of light, surrounded by six leering men.

  Alex used his body to cover Jess as best he could while grabbing her dress and draping it about her. Before them stood the admiral, Pitman behind him.

  “I arrest you, Alexander Montgomery, in the name of the king,” the admiral’s voice boomed, “for treason.”

  Pitman rushed forward, grabbed Alex’s Raider mask carelessly tossed onto the rocky beach and looked at Alex. “This’ll teach you to play with me. Did you think I wouldn’t know about those pearls?”

  “But Alex—” Jess began but Alex stopped her.

  “Take your lanterns away and let her dress,” Alex said. “I’ll go with you.”

  “Alex, no!” Jess cried.

  The admiral motioned the lanterns away as Alex stood, as proud nude as at any other time.

  She dressed in the darkness as she watched Alex, in the circle of light, pull on his clothes. The black silk, the way he stood, his broad shoulders, his flat stomach no longer concealed by padding, proclaimed who he was.

  He never looked back as he walked away with the soldiers.

  “I found him and lost him all in one night,” Jess said, then began running.

  Chapter Twenty-three

  ALEX has been arrested,” Jessica said, slamming the door to the dining room of the Montgomery house behind her.

  “Oh my God!” Eleanor began to cry, her body shaking.

  “Whatever for?” Marianna said. “Did his clothes frighten the sun away?”

  Jessica gave vent to her anger and fear. “For being the Raider,” she screamed. “And your husband betrayed him.”

  Nicholas entered the room before Marianna could speak. Immediately, he went to Eleanor and pulled her into his arms. “Alex?”

  Eleanor nodded against his shoulder.

  “This is ridiculous,” Marianna said. “Alexander is as likely as I am to be the Raider. He’d starve to death if Jessica didn’t cut his food for him. They’ll release him when they see the size of his belly.”

  There were hot tears beginning to roll down Jess’s face. “He doesn’t have a fat belly. He doesn’t have anything wrong with him. He’s perfect, he’s…” She was crying too hard to finish.

  “Perfect?” Marianna said. “Alexander? But he’s fat and—” She halted, then her eyes widened. “You mean Alex is the Raider?”

  No one bothered to answer her.

  “I have to tell his father,” Jess said, trying to control herself. She ran down the hall and burst into Sayer’s room.

  His face changed when he saw her. “Alex,” he gasped.

  Jess did what she often did when she was upset and ran into his arms. “Pitman told. He found out about the pearls and was angry. It would be easy to spy in this house. The admiral took Alex.”

  Sayer stroked her back and let her cry for a while, then pushed her away from him and said, “We have to make a plan.”

  “They’re going to hang him. My Alex.”

  “Stop that!” Sayer commanded. “Nobody hangs Montgomerys. We get shot or die of sword wounds or get crushed under barrels, but we don’t get hanged. You understand me? Now stop that sniveling and let’s figure out what to do. First, get Eleanor and Alex’s Russian in here, then that Italian woman and young Nathaniel. Give Marianna a glass of whiskey and tell her to go to bed. We’ll try to make some plans tonight.”

  It was Sophy who was able to think most rationally. Eleanor, Jessica and Nathaniel were every minute on the verge of tears, while Sayer and Nicholas were enraged.

  “What proof do they have that Alex is the Raider?” Sophy asked.

  “He’s my son,” Sayer bellowed. “Of course my son would—”

  Sophy kissed the old man’s forehead and winked at Jess. She tried again. “It’s my guess that we have time. I don’t think the admiral will hang Alex tomorrow.” She put up her hand to stop the protests. “I think the admiral will want to gloat. He’ll send for more Englishmen to come observe him. At least, I think he’s a man of vanity.”

  “Mrs. Wentworth had to give him her pier glass so he could see himself in his uniform,” Eleanor said.

  “Yes, I thought so,” Sophy said. “I wish we had someone else to play the Raider. If more raids were made while Alex was in prison…” She looked at Nicholas.

  “He’s taller than Alex. People would see at a glance he wasn’t the Raider,” Jess said.

  “That didn’t matter when I was the Raider,” Eleanor snapped.

  Everyone turned to her until she fidgeted in her chair. “I found the message Jess had taken from the admiral. It had fallen to the floor and been blown under a cabinet. So I knew the English were planning to search the Poinciana when most of the crew was gone. Alex and Jess were gone, so I borrowed Alex’s Raider clothes and led the soldiers away from the ship.”

  “And almost got yourself killed,” Jess yelled. “If I hadn’t seen you from the top of the hill, you’d have been trapped. Alex saved your neck.”

  “Yes, but if you—”

  Sophy stepped between the two quarreling sisters. “I think I have a plan. First of all, we need to find out what’s going on. Jess, do you think your Wentworth ladies would help Alex?”

  Jess was solemn. “This town would die to save him. He has done much to help them.”

  “I think I have an idea.”

  * * *