"I think the witch and I understand each other," Lock observed as he walked through the village, instructing slaves and freewomen alike. He turned to Sparrow. "Our wagon is still intact. Take one of the horses and bring it here."

Before she left, she stood on tiptoe and kissed him. "I think you're wonderful."

He scowled, but his eyes reflected his pleasure. "Enough of that. There's work to do, girl."

As Sparrow hurried to her horse, she glanced over her shoulder at Lock. He stood, so tall and strong, his kinky two-tone hair snapping in the autumn wind, as he shouted orders. Sparrow glimpsed the powerful ship's Captain he must have been. Again she wondered if he'd be happy living a simple life with her.

Sparrow paused in sawing wood and used her hand to shield her eyes from the sun as she stared at Lock who helped raise the walls of a new cottage. Several of the slaves as well as the blacksmith were helping, yet no matter who Lock stood with, he was noticeable. His height, his build, his hair, everything about him exuded pure masculine beauty.

Sparrow resumed sawing then loaded the wood into a wagon which Shea-Ann drove across the square.

It had only been three days since the storm, but already the village had improved, with most of the results due to Lock. He was a natural leader, and the people followed him, slave band on his arm and all. His knowledge about building as well as his dedication greatly impressed Sparrow, and his diligence inspired a group of people who, days ago, had nearly succ.u.mbed to hopelessness.

At dusk, Sparrow stood by the well in the center of town and rolled her aching shoulders. She felt a hand on the back of her neck and glanced at Lock. She smiled, relaxing as his fingers ma.s.saged her sore back.

"I think everything is going well," she remarked.

He glanced around the darkening village, at the random fires with people lounging around them, tired after another day of hard work. "Not a bad crew. I'd have most of them on any vessel of mine."

She laughed. "We're not at sea, Captain."

"It'll be a while before anyone will call me that again."

She looked at him and took his hand. She noticed a long cut running from the back of his wrist between his two middle fingers. Wetting her sleeve, she cleaned off the blood, then raised his hand to her lips and kissed it.

He took her face in his hands, her thumbs caressing her soft cheeks, and whispered, "You've done something to me, girl."

"I haven't done anything."

"Before you, I never cared about anything. I never thought I could."

"You weren't given the chance. Your own mother-"

"I don't want to talk about her. She doesn't exist anymore."

"Why don't we go to sleep? You must be tired. I don't think you've slept at all since the storm."

"There's too much to do."

Sparrow took his hand and tugged him to one of the fires where Shea-Ann and several women slept. Sparrow spread a blanket on the ground. She lay with her head on Lock's chest, one hand entangled in his hair.

"Lock?" she whispered. When he didn't reply, she shifted her face to look at him and smiled. He was already asleep. She kissed him lightly, so as not to wake him and said, "I love you."

About a week after the storm, Sparrow and Shea-Ann were feeding the chickens behind their newly-built barn while Lock chopped firewood nearby. Sparrow cast longing glances at his bare, dirt-streaked chest, perspiration gleaming beneath the mat of curling dark hair.

"I can't believe the village is almost back to normal," Shea-Ann said. "The Yak did well."

"You weren't bad yourself, witch," Lock called, splitting a log and tossing the pieces into a nearby pile.

"If it weren't for you, I'm not sure what we'd have done," Sparrow told him.

"You'd have managed. You did well before I got here, and would do just as well without me."

"True," Sparrow tossed him a coquettish look, "but I'd miss you none the less."

"So when you take her away, what are your intentions, boy?" Shea-Ann demanded.

Lock stopped his ax in mid-swing and approached the women. "How's that your business?"

"I think of Sparrow as a daughter. She is my business. She's expressed her love for you, but I've yet to hear you admit the same."

Lock gave a humorless laugh and turned back to the chopping block.

"Walking away again, are you?" Shea-Ann taunted.

"Shea-Ann, what's between me and Lock is our concern, no one else's," Sparrow said, not wanting to exclude her old nanny, but feeling she must defend Lock. She understood his hesitation to admit love for anyone or anything.

"I know I should keep my place, Sparrow, but before you make a mistake, I want you to think carefully. Does he want to use you until the novelty wears off? What will he do about any offspring? What sort of future will you have?"

"Do you think I'd dump her off without a care?" Lock's pale eyes gleamed with fury as he stalked back to the nanny, his hands gripping the ax a bit too tightly for Sparrow's taste.

Shea-Ann must have felt the same, for she stepped back several paces, but kept her gaze fixed on the pirate as she said, "All I know is Sparrow saved your skin and has fallen in love with you. She's given up everything for you, and you haven't even mentioned standing by her except to drag her with you when you go."

Lock's gaze darted from Shea-Ann to Sparrow, his expression torn between anger and desperation. "I can't very well leave her here. You know what the sentence will be if the law in Begonia discovers I've gone."

"So at least you can feel guilt!" the old healer snapped.

"Shea-Ann!" Sparrow said. "Keep silent!"

"I don't feel guilt!"

Sparrow held his eyes. "You don't?"

"No."

"Then what do you feel?" Shea-Ann asked in a softer tone.

"I'm taking her because I want her with me."

"So you don't care a bit for her, only for yourself." Shea-Ann shook her head. "Typical man. Not even a mention of marrying her."

"I don't need you to suggest marriage to Sparrow, hag! You think I haven't wanted to marry her for months?"

Sparrow's eyes widened, and she felt her own anger rising. "Then why haven't you asked?"

"Because he doesn't think he's good enough for you," Shea-Ann murmured. "That's it, isn't it?"

"Will you be quiet?" Sparrow and Lock shouted at the healer in unison.

Sparrow looked at him, her heart pounding. "Is that true?"

He took so long to speak that Sparrow thought he was going to ignore her question completely. Finally he said, "Isn't it?"

"So you'd rather take me with you as a mistress than propose? You want me to possibly bear your children but not your name?" Sparrow wasn't sure which was more powerful, her anger or her pain.

"Marriage is a great commitment. I'll stand by any children we have. If we marry, what if you suddenly realize you've chosen the wrong man? I'm not meant for marriage. Look at me, Sparrow. I'm a pirate."

"Were a pirate."

"There's nothing I haven't seen and little I haven't done. Is that what you want to be shackled to?"

"I love you," Sparrow said. "To me, that's all that matters. Do you love me, Lock?"

He drew a deep breath and opened his free hand helplessly. "I don't know."

"You don't..." Sparrow couldn't finish speaking. Her heart ripped.

"I've never loved anything or anybody. What if I can't?"

"When you escaped all those months ago," Shea-Ann asked, "why did you come back?"

"You started this, witch!" Lock hissed through clenched teeth and pointed the ax at Shea-Ann.

"Why did you come back?" Sparrow asked. "Is it because you thought I might have more of my mother's jewels left? Is it because you wanted to bed me? Why?"

He laughed. "Jewels. If money was what I wanted, all I had to do was find a way back to the Archipelago. I have more money buried there than you can imagine, even when you were a princess. As for the bedding, I wanted you, but it's not why I came back. I came back because I couldn't stand the thought of you being punished for my crimes. I couldn't bear the sight of those thieves pawing you. I came back because I didn't want to imagine living the rest of my life without seeing you again. Is that enough?"

"It's enough for me." Shea-Ann's face flushed and she touched a hand to her breast. "And you say you're not sure you can love?"

Sparrow stepped close to Lock and splayed her hands across his chest as she looked into his eyes. She felt his heart pounding beneath her palms and noted his wild expression. He dropped the ax, grasped her upper arms and demanded, "If I asked for your hand, what would you say?"

"Ask and find out."

"Will you be my wife?"

"Yes."

He searched her face before kissing her deeply. Sparrow felt her knees weaken as his tongue traced the shape of her mouth and his arms pressed her so close that her b.r.e.a.s.t.s flattened against his chest.

"I'll be going to the square for a few hours," Shea-Ann said from behind them. "I've done enough damage here."

Lock broke the kiss and spoke to the healer without taking his eyes from Sparrow. "You'd better stay late."

Shea-Ann's voice rippled with humor. "I'll gather my things and stay the night."

"Good idea," Lock said. Sparrow shrieked with delight as he swept her into his arms and carried her to the house.

Playfully, Lock flung her on the bed. He tugged off his trousers and kicked them aside before pouring water from a pitcher into a bowl and taking a cloth. He began washing.

Sparrow undressed slowly, and Lock's gaze riveted to her. He paused in washing as she slid off her boots and trousers, then tugged her shirt over her head. Unwinding her hair from its braid, she used her fingers to comb it over her shoulder as she stared at him with seductive eyes.

She stood and approached him, taking the damp cloth from his hand and dipping it into the water, her gaze never leaving his. She ran the cloth over his sweaty, dirt-stained chest and down his muscled abdomen.

Standing on tiptoe, she tilted her face up to his and whispered against his lips, "Raise your arms."

A grin tugged at his lips as he did what she asked. Sparrow wet the cloth again and ran it over first one, beautifully shaped, hair-dusted armpit, then the other. She cleaned a bleeding scratch on his left bicep and washed his other arm.

With infinite tenderness, Sparrow began washing his c.o.c.k that was already hard from antic.i.p.ation. When she was finished, she tossed the cloth aside and sank to her knees, cupping as much of his b.a.l.l.s as she could fit into one hand. She licked every inch of his c.o.c.k then took the head into her mouth and teased it with the tip of her tongue. One hand squeezed his sac while her other held the base of his c.o.c.k.

"Sparrow," he sighed, his hands threading through her hair and caressing her shoulders.

She felt the tension in his big body and nearly smiled. He was so strong, so gorgeous, and he was all hers!

Suddenly he picked her up and brought her to the bed. Parting her thighs, he used both hands to raise her b.u.t.tocks high. "Put your legs around my neck."

She did as he asked, moaning with pleasure as he licked her c.l.i.t, swirled his tongue in her p.u.s.s.y, and tickled the flesh nearest her bottom hole. Sparrow's legs tightened around him and somewhere in the midst of pa.s.sion, she hoped she wasn't choking him.

Lock's hands gripped her b.u.t.tocks tightly. One of his fingers prodded her sphincter as his tongue fastened on her c.l.i.t, licking and sucking until she cried out and convulsed in o.r.g.a.s.m.

He continued with his ministrations until the last delightful contraction rippled through her. Releasing her slowly, he rolled her onto her stomach and entered her from behind. His hands gripped her wrists, pinning them above her head as he thrust. Sparrow groaned, her pa.s.sion rekindling.

Lock licked the back of her neck and nipped her earlobe as his body surged into hers. The first pulsations of her o.r.g.a.s.m seemed to undo his control, and he lunged into her hard and fast, joining her in bliss.

Sparrow lay beneath him, her heart pounding. "Lock," she murmured, "you're crushing me."

He moved instantly, dragging her to his chest and murmuring a lethargic apology.

"That was so d.a.m.n good, girl," he said after a moment.

"Seems to get better every time." She gazed at him and smiled.

He kissed her brow. "I like keeping you happy."

There was no doubt about it. Sparrow was happier than she'd ever been in her life.

Chapter Fourteen.

"I can hardly wait to marry you." Sparrow kissed Lock's chest. They lay entwined in her bed, gazing at the fire in the hearth across the room. "I only wish there was some way we could marry right here. It would be such a nice place to live. We're right on the coast, so you could have a ship for fishing and trade, and I could keep the farm."