Chapter Twenty-Seven
Talon had been in Nassau for over two months. He’d questioned someone from every ship that came in about his missing crew, but had yet to turn up a single lead. It was as though his men had vanished off the face of the earth.
He sat with his back to the wall in a shady, seafront dive, drowning his troubles in the bottom of a bottle. It was hard to remain hopeful in the face of repeated failure.
He’d thought of writing his father and demanding his crew’s whereabouts. After all, he’d more than likely fulfilled his part of the bargain. Sutcliffe owed him.
But each time he tried to put pen to paper, something stopped him. The last vestiges of his pride, he supposed. Or maybe it was fear. He was afraid to receive confirmation that Kate had been pregnant when he left her.
Perhaps he was even more frightened by the possibility that she wasn’t. Was Sutcliffe searching for him, expecting him to finish the job?
“Talon Montgomery?”
The sound of his given name in a place where he’d taken pains to remain anonymous jarred him out of his anguished reverie.
“Who’s asking?” Talon warily regarded the stranger who’d come up behind him, wishing he hadn’t imbibed so much. He was in no shape for a fight.
“Jonathan Scott, sir. Your brother hired me. He asked me to give you this letter.” The young man grinned. “You’re a hard man to find.”
Talon stared at the letter as though it were a poisonous viper. “This is from Daniel?”
Jonathan Scott nodded and extended the envelope. “He said it was most urgent, sir.”
Talon accepted the letter and then sent the man away. He returned to his drink, staring pensively at his name scrawled in Daniel’s neat handwriting.
What the hell did Daniel want from him now? Hadn’t he already taken everything that mattered?
After a long while, he finished the bottle then stood and took the letter back to the barren hotel room where he’d been staying. He sat down on the edge of his narrow, filthy bed and opened it with trembling fingers, praying nothing had happened to Kate.
Talon,
Kate is wasting away for love of you. I thought in time she’d forget you or at least realize she must move on. But that hasn’t happened, and I know in my heart it never will.
My dreams of a family of my own are slipping away, but why should that surprise me? It wasn’t my family I’ve been dreaming of. It was yours.
All my life I’ve wanted to be half the man you are.
You accused me of never having loved anyone, never having sacrificed anything I wanted for the sake of someone else. You’re right, of course. If our situations were reversed, if I’d had to choose between Philip and the lives of seventy men, I’m sure I’d have chosen Philip with little regret.
Well, no more. For once I am going to do the right thing and sacrifice something I want for the sake of someone I love.
I give you Kate. And not only that, I give her to you with a clear conscience because our father has never had anything to threaten you with.
Your men are dead. They have been from the start.
Father admitted as much when I returned to London. After further investigation, I’ve discovered his crimes against you do not stop there. He was the one who sent the British Navy after you. If it weren’t for him, you never wouldhave been imprisoned in the first place.
I hate the part I played in this unspeakable deception. I hope someday you can forgive me.
Come back for Kate and your child. Don’t let your hatred for Sutcliffe blind you to the fact that they need you.
Your brother, Daniel
Talon crumpled the letter into a ball and hurled it across the hotel room, watching as it settled in the dust against the wall. Then he sank to his knees, burying his face in his hands.
His men were dead. They’d been dead all along.
Big, gruff Smitty and young, trusting Garrett. Bones, O’Neal, Scott... The list went on and on, their faces marching in a relentless, accusing line through his mind. He realized he was crying, not just for their loss, but because of everything it meant.
