“Are we not in danger of being caught in the Americas as well? Public hangings of pirates are well-known…”
He nodded. “We are indeed. I know of a port in the south, at San Luis, that is still safe for us. We should reach it in a sennight.”
She watched the muscles play under his greying black shirt as he wrote in the journal and plotted the course on the map. Heat built in her belly, and she pressed a hand against the spot in an attempt to quell the inopportune feeling.
“While it’s not ideal—due to our time constraints—I daresay it is our best option,” she returned, turning her attention back to her sewing.
A sennight on board a pirate ship offered ample opportunity for these bloodthirsty men to try their hands at mutiny…or another sort of attack altogether. A shiver raced down her spine,and in that moment, she reminded herself to keep her dirk always at the ready.
She eyed Percy consideringly. “What might our course of action be should we come across another ship along the journey?”
Percy’s lips twisted in thought. “While it will undoubtedly prove a challenge, I’ll not have the men murder as Butcher did. Theywillmutiny, however, if I don’t permit them to plunder. Devil knows how we would find our way home then.” His hands tightened to fists on the table. “Indeed. If we encounter another ship, wemustengage them.”
CHAPTER 13
Aloud grumble of complaint pulled Percy from his increasingly wicked musings. He glanced up at Heather as she tied off the thread in her sewing and smiled at her work.
They’d sorted their intentions for their journey, and while he’d written in Butcher’s journal, Heather had been sewing her replacement shirt, all while her sodding nipples were visible above her stays. Then she’d gone to work on those ludicrous stockings.
And with every passing moment, he grew more…heated. Blast it, this wasn’t what he’d intended. He’d not meant for them to be in such close quarters.But for the next sennight, would it be so wrong to engage in some carnality?
Heather slid one of the stockings up her calf and tied the ribbon at its top.
Percy forced his gaze away and willed his body to calm.
She hummed, as though in thought, and donned the other stocking, the extra material bunching along the back of her calves. With that, she turned to rummage among Butcher’s things, searching a chest and the chest of drawers. Her newlyadjusted shirt billowed with her sudden movement, but it was decidedly more modest than the white had been.
She huffed a breath in exasperation.
“Is something amiss?” he asked, a smirk pulling at his lips.
Placing her hands on her hips, she sighed. “I haven’t any boots. I’d hoped to hide my stitching, but I might have to wear my damaged slippers.”
Percy stood and came toward her. “I’m certain Butcher must have had a spare pair. If not, there are undoubtedly boots somewhere else on the ship that would fit you.”
He joined in her search, peering into several cabinets before settling in front of a large trunk. Heather hummed absently as she moved items in the last cabinet along the wall, and Percy’s pulse tripped. It dawned on him, there in the captain’s cabin of a pirate ship, that he’d never before experienced a moment like this. He’d been aboard ships and been with women, butthis… This was decidedly domestic.
This sort of experience was something he’d neither imagined himself having nor thought he desired. And yet, as he knelt before a trunk full of Butcher’s shite, his heart told him otherwise.
“Nothing here,” Heather murmured, breaking through his thoughts. “You?”
Willing his erratic pulse to calm, Percy cleared his throat and opened the trunk with a loud creak. Sitting on top was a pair of well-worn boots. “As it happens, I’ve found a pair.” He held them out to her. “Try them on?”
With a pleased gasp, she accepted them and sat on one of the table’s chairs, bending to put them on. His pulse speeding now, Percy dug deeper among the fascinating items in the trunk.
A large, velvet pouch caught his eye, and he opened it to peer inside.Fuck. It was filled with unused condoms. His gut dipped,and his body erupted with nerves and desire, his cock giving one eager throb.
Setting the pouch aside, he continued to dig through the items.
“They’re a mite big,” Heather announced, stepping toward him. “They’ll do for now, but I shall need a replacement soon.”
“And so you shall have.” Percy nodded, then returned to his search.
“Ah!” he called triumphantly. “I’ve found what we require!” He turned to Heather with his hand held aloft. “A sheath for your dirk. It mightn’t fit perfectly, but it will do for the moment.”
With a sodding adorable bounce on her toes and a happy grin, she retrieved her dirk and brought it to him. The sheath appeared to be made for a thin, curved knife, but the length was right. It was a snug fit, but the sheath covered the blade, with the tip poking at the curve in the leather at the bottom.
He retrieved a belt from the trunk and attached the sheath before leaning close to aid Heather in fastening it about her hips—for easy access. But the scent of soap and freshly cleaned skin, and the gentle hitch in her breath, made him freeze.Hell’s tits.
