Daniel came from the shadows.
He didn't see her, of course, and that made him look so much better.
It was easy for her to fall in love with him again, with him so unaware of just how handsome and graceful he was, but Mariana could not let herself forget what he was.
He could have let her die on that operating table. She remembered it too vividly, yet her entire soul called out to him.
She remembered the way his chin fit in the curve of his neck while dancing with him hunched over her due to his tallness. She remembered how rough his hands had been against her tender skin, and how he had waited for her to be ready for him, and then the moment had passed and that day was never going to come.
She hardened her heart and looked for an opportunity to shoot him in the head, but she was too far away from him and she just couldn't risk revealing her location.
No, she had to take care to stay hidden, even though the stink of the swampy earth crept into her nostrils and something was creeping up her leg as well -
She had to shake herself, oh gods, it was a venomous spider! The critter fell into a puddle with a huge SPLASH.
Mariana froze.
Had he heard that?
If he had, Daniel had enough sense to keep quiet about it. His head did not turn, he didn't outwardly seek for the presence of his enemies.
Then he looked towards her and she had to pull back into the arms of the thick tree roots and its twisted trunk.
It felt like he saw right through her. She couldn't take a peek right now, not with him so alerted and aware of her, but it was as if they had made direct eye contact without actually looking at each other.
She remembered and experienced his gaze at the same time, so dignified yet so brutal, like a woman-eating tiger sniffing her skin to get an idea about the taste of blood, feeling out the steady pumping of life through her veins. To be under his scrutiny was to encounter something so absolutely male that she wondered how there even were women who had forgotten him. To her, his lingering, lustful eyes were a dangerous intoxicant.
That plain hunger she felt him directing at her, oh gods, oh gods it felt so good to have him want her so bad. She wanted to let him in her heart again, to let him bare her bones for her and show her what she was like, because she was just a lost lady on the high seas without a lover and without anyone to come back home to.
The feeling passed. It was as angering to her to give it up as it was angering to any addict to give up the high of the chase. Every time they had any interactions, she transformed, she became someone else and she could not just let him change her like that.
She didn't know what to do. She heard footsteps coming closer and closer. Hiding behind a particularly thick root, she pressed her hand against her chest in hopes of suffocating the sound of her heart beating, but again, it was like a witch drum, threatening to leap out of its constricting prison of bones.
Whoever it was, probably Daniel, was now very close to her, with his steps slowing down.
It seemed like he had found what he had been looking for.
Callow Charlie squeezed his gun, aiming a questioning look towards his captain.
No, that was what Mariana tried to say with her eyes, no, don't try to kill him. Daniel was better with a sword or a pistol than anyone, especially when compared to a standard level fighter like Charlie. Daniel would come out victorious and then Mariana would have no bodyguard.
Gods, she was so stupid, she should have taken half of her crew with her! But she could not risk anyone else killing her man, she had to have him.
Thump-thump, thu-thump, there was no use in trying to tell her heart to be quiet. A hypnotizing feeling of someone like Daniel getting very close to her tugged her body.
She could take no more. She jumped up with her sword in her hand, hoping that this would make her look less cowardly.
Daniel was there, looking at her like he had looked at her back when they had just met and everything was fresh and ripe like cherries in the beginning of the rainy season.
He had the witch with him.
These people never failed to surprise Mariana. She had imagined the man to be Karshaan, and clearly, that had been the only thing she got right. Instead of a disheveled prisoner of a heavy-duty mental illness, she was faced with a sharp-dressed man in a clean overcoat and white pants. The curious, dark eyes swept over her, entirely devoid of desire or compassion.
This fellow would be a hard one to control.
He lacked the knee-jerk response to fall over himself while apologizing for surprising and scaring a lady like her. What did that say about his capability to do her harm?
No, Mariana could not trust a man with a good head on his shoulders.
"I am here because I do apparently want to have business relations with the man you hold as your hostage, Daniel," she said, sourly, licking the inside of her cheek and trying to avoid looking the pirate king directly in those stunning eyes.
He mirrored her movements, making himself into a strong masculine reflection of her, and his voice was the dangerous snarl of a reptile when he spoke.
"I don't trust any word you say when all your flesh is dying to have me leap onto you," he said. "Why else would you chase me? Fine, proper Captain Adams…your actions betray you…"
She swallowed, trying to remain focused.
Callow Charlie looked at her, apparently seeking the strong and capable captain he had thought she was.