16. Hector Hein #2
“I like having friends in high places,” Hein said nonchalantly.
“It’s much easier to make my life as I will it to be.
” He pointed to the house. “There are no breaks in guard rotations any longer, so everything is seen at all times. The guards inside are less of a hassle, but that’s only if you can get in.
Some thieves have tried it since your last escapade, and they’ve never made it within a stone’s throw of the house. ”
“We make it look too easy,” Frederick said, rubbing his hands together, and Greyson growled a laugh in reply.
“God,” Maria said. “Men.”
“Will we go with them?” Hester asked, moving closer to Maria. “To rob the house?”
“Yes,” Fay sighed, like it was all a wonderful dream. “It’s our favorite game. It’s how we all started getting along. The governor makes it harder every year, thinking we won’t outsmart him, but we always do.”
Cecily didn’t love the idea of robbing the governor’s mansion but would say nothing of it. Jack would undoubtedly skin her alive if she refused to go.
“Six summers and counting,” Maria said proudly.
“It all started after we were given to some violent disagreements one summer, and Jack made us rob the house because he was annoyed with the bickering and swore it would make us friends again. He nearly got us caught, so we all were friends and Jack was the ass, but we forgave him eventually. As breaking in got harder, we got smarter, and now it’s our favorite tradition. ”
Cecily scoffed. “Jack, a peacemaker?” For all his slights just now, she wondered how the friend they knew could be the same pirate she was stuck with.
Maria glanced at the men on the cliff across the clearing. Cecily followed her gaze to Jack, who peered at Cecily over his shoulder.
“I am many things other than the foolish pirate you think me to be,” he said while the others still discussed the governor’s house. “Though trying to keep peace with you has been bloody, insulting, and shockingly expensive.” He threw out a smile as though he meant it to be funny.
She scowled back, heat blooming across her cheeks, but he faced the house again.
Peacemaker indeed.
A few moments later, Frederick turned to the group at large and held up a hand for silence. “The governor leaves for the continent in three weeks,” he said. “We’ll go in then, but before we plan too far, shall we debate the rules?”
“Let’s,” Maria said.
“First!” he said, holding up a finger. “I propose we have four teams. We go in for one hour, all at once, and whoever comes out with the object of highest value…” he waved his hand toward the mansion with a flourish, “wins.”
“What’ll the prize be?” Greyson asked. “Glory? Like every year?”
“A chest full of diamonds,” Maria crowed.
Jack snorted. “And where, dear Maria, do you suppose we get a chest of diamonds?”
“Surely your father has one somewhere.”
“Surely he’d notice it missing,” Jack said. “But if he can get Robin’s treasure—”
“Bah!” said Frederick. “Won’t happen. Doesn’t exist. And don’t give me that look, Jack. Robin’s old and stupid, but he won’t do a damn thing to help your father.”
Jack shook his head, his expression tight. “Don’t let the captain hear that.”
“Don’t tell him I said it,” Frederick said with a shit-eating grin, “and he won’t have to know.”
“Glory then,” Killian said, steering the conversation back to the rules of their heist. “And how shall we split the teams?” He looked at Fay. “Couples? One man, one lady each.”
There were mutterings of assent. Cecily assumed that with three other couples, Jack was her only prospect for a partner.
She doubted they could spend ten minutes alone without throttling each other, let alone a whole hour.
And with three weeks until the heist, how much further could the two of them destroy themselves before then?
At the thought of how long their animosity might last and how deeply it would burn, a horribly fun idea began to form.
“Have you ever robbed the mansion with them?” Cecily asked Hein.
His eyes were already on her before the question had even begun to leave her lips. “I’ve never been invited.”
“Ah, Hector,” Maria said. “It’s nothing personal. You know we love you.”
Both nerves and anticipation wound through Cecily’s ribs and squeezed. She didn’t let it show as she asked, “Would you be my partner?”
“Oh hell,” Frederick said, brows high in surprise. The others looked at each other—and stole furtive glances at Jack.
She wouldn’t let herself be stuck with him, even if it put a snag in planning for the heist. She didn’t have to do the heist at all, in that case. In fact, Jack might be more agreeable to letting her stay back.
The officer’s smile widened. “I wouldn’t want to intrude.”
Cecily swung her attention to Frederick. “Would it be any trouble?” she asked. She could feel Jack’s stare practically tearing into her flesh. “I apologize if it’s not my place, but I only assumed when you said couples…”
She and Jack were not a couple, nor would she let their status default to that. Not when Jack had such a convenient and alluring rival.
Friends the two men may be, but there was a preexisting competition between them, thriving just under the surface of their friendship.
Frederick glanced at the others. When no one objected, he shook his head. “No trouble if you want to join us, Hein.” A slow grin spread. “It might make things more interesting with you along.”
Hein faced Jack. “You don’t mind, do you, Jack? I’d assumed she’d be your partner.”
The first mate’s expression was far too neutral. Though he watched Hein with enough intensity to make her uneasy, the officer didn’t seem bothered in the slightest.
Jack hesitated for only a breath, then asked casually, “Why would I mind?” A wicked grin appeared, but it didn’t reach his eyes. “It’ll be more fun this way. And I’ll still out-steal every one of you.”
Jack didn’t speak to her again until that night.
After leaving the outcropping at dusk, Cecily made her way down the hill next to Hein, who lightly held her elbow or placed his fingers on the small of her back as she navigated the uneven ground.
She didn’t mind the touches, answering his harmless questions and snickering at the stories he told to entertain her.
It was fully night by the time they all returned the inn. With a kiss to her hand, Hein left for the city while the others split off, heading for the cove and leaving Jack and Cecily.
Alone. Together. Yet again.
Jack had the decency to let her climb to the second floor of the inn in silence, but as Cecily shoved her key into the lock of her door, his shadow fell over her.
He extended a coin between them. “Five minutes,” he said, his smooth voice close and quiet.
She eyed the gold. She’d rather not speak to him at all, but she also wondered what he could possibly have to say to her. “Three minutes,” she said.
“Four.”
She risked meeting his gaze, her expression stony. “Two.”
He grimaced. “Fine.” He spoke quickly as she pocketed the gold. “Greyson said Hester’s worried about Hein.”
Cecily leaned against her door. She hadn’t been ignorant to her friend’s disapproving looks all evening. After all Hester had said about her first husband’s flattery and quiet cruelties, she wasn’t surprised that Hein hadn’t won any favor with her.
“Consider me warned,” Cecily said, speaking slowly to spend the seconds of their truce.
“I’m not warning you,” he said plainly. “I’m telling you what to expect. He’ll entertain you if you let him, but he cares more for his ambition than anything else. He’ll take you to bed, but he won’t keep you there, so if you desire anything more than that, don’t expect it from him.”
She ripped her gaze from his, mumbling, “Dear God, Jack,” as heat raced up her neck. She glanced down the hall behind him for anyone who might have overheard.
He didn’t bear even a hint of chagrin. “Forgive my bluntness, but you only gave me two minutes.”
“I’m not bedding him. I’ve only known him for a single afternoon. Fay said he’s a friend to you all.”
“He’s a friend as long as he likes you, but people don’t mean much to him. He’ll be a hell of a captain someday, and he won’t have to work very hard to get there.”
“I’m so glad to hear it,” she replied, letting impatience leak into the words. “You have one minute. Anything else?”
His gaze lowered, taking in her hair, her face, her chest, her skirt. His nostrils flared—he was close enough to smell her perfume, and when he lifted his gaze back to hers, his eyes had darkened. “Where’s the knife?”
“I won’t give it to you, truce or not.” She shifted her weight, pressing the knife in her skirt against the door. “I really got it for your sake, so I’m not so damn difficult.”
His eyes narrowed into slits. “I still have time on this truce.”
“Barely. I didn’t mean it as an insult anyway. I thought it would be a kindness.” Her heart pounded, but she didn’t feel overwhelmed as she had the day before—a credit to the money she’d spent and the beauty she’d reclaimed. “I’m no trouble at all when I feel safe. Isn’t that how you put it?”
It took a moment for understanding to dawn on him—and then his expression shuttered altogether. “Eavesdropping?” he asked, his tone biting. The time had run out, and their truce was over.
“It’s not eavesdropping when you leave the door open,” she countered. “I only came to return the sword, though I had half a mind to give it to your father and tell him you forgot.”
“Am I supposed to thank you?”
“Why don’t you try it? It might make me friendly. Manageable.” She pushed away from the door to lean close, her eyes going to the scar on his cheek. “Fun.”
His jaw tightened. “Is this why you were upset the other night? Because you overheard a conversation you had no context for?”
“And if I’d had context, would it have changed the truth of what you said?”
“Which part are you most angry about?” he asked, pivoting the conversation.
She laughed harshly. “Do you plan to apologize? Why? So that I might follow you into your room instead of Hector’s?”
A shadow fell over his face. “Stop it.”