Keeper of My Dreams (St. John Series Book 4) Read Online Free

as stars entered her vision. Shaking the hallucination from her sight and the noise from her hearing, she scurried to the outer wall and pressed her back against it. She held her breath waiting for another volley of cannon fire, but none came. She let out her breath and surveyed her location. She spied a woman lying under a large wooden beam. Reanna crawled over to the woman. As she looked down at the woman, she realized she was too late—her injuries were too grave.
    Voices and footsteps could be heard above. More screams resonated through the ship. Several gunshots rang out followed by loud thuds and angry voices from above. Reanna sat frozen in place as fear gripped her. A voice from the damaged hallway drew her attention. She turned and saw a man walk cautiously down the hall and enter her quarters. He emerged several minutes later, placing her valuables in his shoulder bag. He proceeded to the room across the hall from hers. She could hear the man who booked passage for that room, Mr. Moore, argue with the stranger. There were several shouts and the sound of something breaking. Scuffling and angry grunts could be heard. Reanna jumped when she heard a gunshot. She peered from around the fallen beam and watched the man exit the room with Mr. Moore’s belongings.
    As Reanna studied the thief, she could not help but notice a familiarity to him. He was of average height and build. His dirty long red hair was allowed to flow free around his shoulders and his face was covered with a thick curly beard.
    Another man soon joined him. “Hurry up, Snowdon. Capt’n said ta make it fast.”
    Reanna’s eyes grew wide. Snowdon! Oh, surely not? Surely her David was not part of this murderous rubbish? She adjusted her position to get a better view of the pirates. As the redheaded pirate turned to face her, she sucked in her breath with recognition. “No,” she whispered as she recognized her fiancé. She covered her mouth with her hands to hold in the screams of anger and frustration. As she did so, her arm bumped a loose board and it fell.
    The man with David nodded his head in her direction. Reanna looked frantically around. She had no weapons to defend herself with, nothing to cover up with, no place to hide. If she played dead, would they leave her? Yes . Once they were gone, she could assist the others. She looked down at the woman beside her. Reanna rubbed her hands in the woman’s large abdominal wound, covering her hands in the warm blood. She rubbed the crimson fluid on her face and chest. She slouched over in an uncomfortable position on one of the fallen beams and closed her eyes.
    David made his way in Reanna’s direction. He stepped onto the fallen beam and looked down. Shock crossed his face as he saw her. “Reanna,” he whispered as he bent over her body.
    Lay perfectly still , a voice in Reanna’s head told her. She held her breath and waited. His booted feet stepped on broken glass. She strained her ears to listen, but the only thing she heard was the pounding of her heart. It was beating so loudly in her ears that she was certain that David could hear it as well.
    David gently touched her cheek. What in God’s name was Reanna doing in the Caribbean? He studied her. She was covered in blood. He placed his hand on her chest to see if she was breathing. He attentively pulled his hand back and stroked her cheek again.
    It took every ounce of restraint she had to keep from biting the fingers of her fiancé. Or should she say former fiancé. The feel of his touch made her skin crawl as if covered in insects. She could feel tears sting her eyes. Please don’t cry. Please not now.
    “David!” the other pirate yelled to her relief.
    “Coming, Harold,” David replied. He gently stroked Reanna’s cheek with the back of his finger as if saying good-bye and turned away.
    “Anything over there?” Harold asked.
    “No. Just a couple of dead women.”
    “Dead, huh?”
    “Afraid so, mate,” David replied.
    “Too