Karen Robards - Amanda Rose

“It took you a long while to respond,” Zeke replied mildly. The grin still played around the corners of his mouth. Matt glared at him, stalking across the deck until the two men stood eyeball to eyeball. Matt was some two inches taller than Zeke, and much broader and more muscular. Clad in a billowing white shirt and snug black breeches and boots, with his silvery eyes blazing murder and his mouth set in a hard, forbidding line, Matt looked capable of any violence. Standing slightly behind Zeke, ignored by Matt except for a single, searing glance, Amanda shivered. She was glad that all that fire and brimstone was not directed at herself.

“The only damned ship in port was being keelhauled,” Matt growled. “Or I would have been here much sooner, I assure you. Damn it, Zeke, I should thrash you for all the trouble you’ve put me to.”

“You didn’t have to come,” Zeke pointed out.

Matt snarled at him. “You knew damned well I would. Amanda is mine, and I don’t share. Not even with you, brother.”

One of Zeke’s sandy eyebrows lifted in a quizzical gesture so reminiscent of Matt’s that Amanda was struck again by the elusive resemblance. “Perhaps you should ask Amanda how she feels about that.”

“I don’t give a damn how Amanda feels. I’ve come to fetch her, and she’s coming back with me. That’s all there is to it.”

At that blatant display of male arrogance, Amanda gasped indignantly. Stepping in front of Zeke despite his restraining arm, she glared up at Matt. Her eyes shot purple sparks at him while every inch of her small body shouted defiance.

“You don’t own me, Matt. I’ll stay with Zeke if I please.”

“The hell you will.” The fury in Matt’s eyes blazed anew. Reaching out to grasp her roughly by the arm, he started to turn away, pulling the resisting Amanda behind him. She struggled, but her strength was as nothing compared to Matt’s. He would have dragged her with him, willy-nilly, if Zeke had not stopped him with a hard hand on his shoulder.

“Wait, brother. Amanda is going nowhere she doesn’t want to.” Zeke’s voice was calm, but something about the flat, even tone said that this time he was serious. Matt turned slowly back to look at him, not releasing his hold on Amanda’s arm. She stopped struggling, looking from one man to the other with wide, alarmed eyes. There was no brotherly affection evident between them now; they were two hard-eyed men on the brink of doing battle.

“Take your hand off me, brother, and get out of my way.” Matt spoke with a barely controlled menace.

“And if I do not?” To Amanda’s horror Zeke seemed to be deliberately trying to rile Matt. They were glaring at each other as if they would come to blows at any moment-and relish the fight. Amanda bit her lip. Zeke was nearly as tall as Matt, with a wiry, whipcord strength, but he lacked Matt’s power. In a fight between them, Amanda had little doubt about who would emerge the victor. And she knew that she couldn’t bear it if she were to cause a rift between these two men who loved each other dearly, and whom she had come to love, each in a different way.

“Zeke, I’ll go with him,” she said softly before Matt could reply. Both men looked down at her, Matt’s eyes as hard as the hand that still encircled her arm; Zeke was frowning.

“You don’t have to, Amanda. He can’t force you to.”

“Can’t I?” Matt’s silky tone contained a threat. Zeke looked from Amanda’s face to Matt’s, his hazel eyes acquiring a steely gleam similar to his brother’s.

“No,” Zeke said with soft assurance. “I am captain here, and in command. Take a look around you, brother.”

Matt glanced swiftly around, and so did Amanda. She was surprised to see the two men who had rowed Matt from the Rosimond planted squarely behind him while the entire thirty-man crew of the Eloise gathered around them in a loose circle. If the Eloise ’s men decided to take Zeke’s part, as he seemed to feel they would, Matt and his men would be easily overpowered. But she couldn’t let it come to that. Zeke was dependent on his brother for his livelihood, and, besides, the affection that had always flowed between the two of them had been heartwarming. She couldn’t destroy that, even if she wanted to stay with Zeke. Which she didn’t. Angry or not, she longed to be back in the shelter of Matt’s arms. If nothing else, her flight had taught her a hard-earned lesson: whether or not he loved her, she loved him. If his passion and his name were all she could have of him, she would take them and be grateful.

“Zeke, I will go with him. Please don’t cause any trouble.”

Zeke looked down at her. His mouth was still hard, but there was a gleam almost of laughter in the hazel eyes. She stared back at him, frowning. And then it occurred to her that the exchange between Zeke and Matt had been false from the start, at least on Zeke’s part. Why, only a few hours before, he had been bound and determined to return her to Matt whether she would or not. What had caused the sudden reversal? Her eyes narrowed suspiciously.

“If you truly want to go, I won’t stop you,” Zeke said to her, still sounding grim. “But if I were you, Amanda, I wouldn’t. At least not until I had the answers to a few questions. Why has he come high-tailing it after you, and why is he so angry that you left? He never cared before when a woman left him. In fact, he usually showed her the door.”

“Be quiet, Zeke,” Matt growled warningly. Amanda’s eyes searched his lean, handsome face, surprised to see a tinge of dark color appear in the high cheekbones. He still looked furious-but also strangely ill at ease. He met her gaze briefly, then his hand tightened around her arm. “Come, Amanda. We’re leaving.”

She resisted, pulling back against the hand that urged her forward. “No,” she said clearly. “Zeke is right. I won’t leave until you answer the question. Why did you come after me, Matt?” She looked up at him steadily, her head slightly tilted so that her hair spilled down her back in gleaming red waves. The setting sun caught the silky strands, gilding them so that her small face seemed to be surrounded by a fiery nimbus. Her violet eyes were wide and questioning as his gaze met them almost unwillingly. She looked very small and fragile in the full-skirted dress striped with the color of her eyes-and so beautiful that she took his breath.

“I told you-you’re mine.” The words were gruff. “You knew I’d never let you go. I had made that clear before you left. Which is why, I suppose, you sneaked off like a thief in the night.”

“But why won’t you let her go, brother?” Zeke prodded mockingly. “You often shared a woman. Why, I remember three that you passed on to me.”

Matt glared at him. “If you don’t keep your mouth shut, I’ll shut it for you with a great deal of pleasure. Especially if I find you’ve laid so much as a finger on Amanda. I haven’t forgotten that night you kissed her, and it will never happen again.”

“But what is so different about Amanda?” Zeke persisted. “You never minded sharing before-”

“Damn it, I love her,” Matt growled, dark red color washing into his cheeks and his eyes staring furiously at his brother. Amanda stood transfixed. She couldn’t believe what she had heard…

“Matt,” she said softly, wonderingly. His hand dropped away from her arm and he turned on his heel, casting a furious glance at the grinning circle of men as he stalked toward the ladder. As Amanda started after him Zeke caught her arm.

“You’d best gather your things,” he advised softly. “It’s a long way back to New Orleans.” Then he winked at her and grinned.