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Back The Darkest Shore Save as PDF
Chapters (76)
  1. Cover
  2. About the Author
  3. Also by Karen Brooks
  4. Title Page
  5. Dedication
  6. EXPLANATORY NOTE
  7. PART ONE
  8. One
  9. Two
  10. Three
  11. Four
  12. Five
  13. Six
  14. Seven
  15. Eight
  16. Nine
  17. Ten
  18. Eleven
  19. Twelve
  20. Thirteen
  21. Fourteen
  22. Fifteen
  23. Sixteen
  24. Seventeen
  25. Eighteen
  26. Nineteen
  27. Twenty
  28. Twenty-One
  29. Twenty-Two
  30. Twenty-Three
  31. Twenty-Four
  32. Twenty-Five
  33. Twenty-Six
  34. Twenty-Seven
  35. Twenty-Eight
  36. PART TWO
  37. Twenty-Nine
  38. Thirty
  39. Thirty-One
  40. Thirty-Two
  41. Thirty-Three
  42. Thirty-Four
  43. Thirty-Five
  44. PART THREE
  45. Thirty-Six
  46. Thirty-Seven
  47. Thirty-Eight
  48. Thirty-Nine
  49. Forty
  50. Forty-One
  51. Forty-Two
  52. Forty-Three
  53. Forty-Four
  54. Forty-Five
  55. Forty-Six
  56. Forty-Seven
  57. Forty-Eight
  58. Forty-Nine
  59. Fifty
  60. Fifty-One
  61. Fifty-Two
  62. PART FOUR
  63. Fifty-Three
  64. Fifty-Four
  65. Fifty-Five
  66. Fifty-Six
  67. Fifty-Seven
  68. Fifty-Eight
  69. Fifty-Nine
  70. Sixty
  71. Sixty-One
  72. Epilogue: Autumn 1706
  73. AUTHOR’S NOTE
  74. GLOSSARY
  75. LIST OF CHARACTERS
  76. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Taking Sorcha’s hand, the captain picked up her stockings and boots and led her away from the rock pool. Understanding they were going to pass his hiding place, Peter ducked back and retraced his steps as quietly as he could, grateful for the sounds of the waves and wind disguising any noise he made. Squeezed between the rocks, he stood still, praying he wouldn’t be seen in the shadows. Water lapped at his boots.

They stopped almost in front of him. The captain kissed Sorcha again, deeply. Her fingers reached up and twined themselves in his long, heavy hair. Peter could hear their breathing, they were so close. He could smell them; their excitement, their evident passion. It excited him, too; excited him into wanting to do something rash…

‘Will I see you tonight?’ asked the captain, resting his forehead against hers.

‘I’m counting on it,’ said Sorcha, a little breathless, then, with a laugh she kissed the captain once more. She took her stockings and boots from him, ran across the rocks and disappeared around the headland.

The captain waited a while, his eyes fixed on where she’d gone. Only when he saw her reappear on the sands did he turn.

Peter didn’t dare move.

Pausing a moment, the captain looked in his direction. Could he see him? He shut his eyes only to find when he opened them, the man had vanished. Where to, he couldn’t tell.

Peter waited a few more moments before emerging from his hiding place, his boots thoroughly soaked, and began the climb back up towards the braes. His mind sizzled and whirred. He couldn’t wipe away the image of the two kissing, touching. It sickened him. It filled him with yearning. It made him furious.

He wondered what the reverend would make of it, Sorcha McIntyre and Captain Ross. What did it signify?

What it told Peter was that the reverend was right all along. Sorcha was a brazen besom who played with men’s feelings and led them on with only one purpose — to enact mischief.

Sending a prayer of thanks to the good Lord that he was saved from bewitchment this time, he began to wonder what Sorcha intended to do with the captain. More importantly, what tasks had he already performed on her behalf? There were the letters he’d written that had caused no end of strife… but what else had he done? What else was he being primed to do?

With renewed purpose, the shame of Edinburgh and desire for Sorcha burning in his heart, Peter set out to find the man with all the answers: Reverend Patrick Cowper.

Thirty-Three

THIRTY-THREE

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I never let dab.

(I told no one.)