“Both,” he answered the lady.
“Regardless, I see I have no choice.”She released a sigh and stared at him, unflinching.
Pell was right about one thing.Cadan had consumed too much to drink.The lovely Lady Fox swayed in his vision.Or was that the ship moving?He couldn’t tell.
Blinking, he lumbered to the stern windows and stared out.The inky sea rose and fell in his vision while a sprinkling of stars winked at him from the night sky.The evening had not gone as expected.For some reason, his crew behaved even more barbarically than usual.Why, then, had he asked her to stay?He couldn’t remember, save that he found her company intriguing.She fascinated him.A highborn lady who did not swoon, nor even cower, in the presence of such vulgar behavior.A lady who drew the affection of both lizards and rabbits.A woman who, if she had been ravished, did not reveal any terror at finding herself alone with a pirate captain in his cabin.
Not like any woman he’d known.
Several minutes passed in which only the whistle of wind against windows and the splash of water against the stern could be heard.
“Seems you are in the business of rescuing misfits, Captain.To procure their loyalty perhaps?”Her sweet voice, so sharp with sarcasm, made him smile.Not that he would allow her to see it.
“Has it not worked, Lady Fox?”
“Aye, perhaps.All save for Smity.”
At this, he turned to face her, arms crossed over his chest.”Scads!Smity’s as loyal as any of them.”
“Is he?”She moved to the table and began picking up the bowls that had been overturned by Zada and Hellfire.“He bears no affection for you, Captain.The look in his one eye betrays him.”
Cadan rubbed the stubble on his chin.“He’s a mean cur, I’ll grant you, but he’s more than proven himself in the year he’s been sailing with me.”
She began stacking empty plates atop each other.Flickering candlelight sent shimmering waves over her golden hair pinned up behind her, though a few lustrous curls, released by Zada, dangled about her neck.Splotches of broth stained her gown, and once again shame struck him hard in the gut.What a disaster the night had been.
“How did he come by those scars on his face and his injured eye?”she asked.“Was it with Avery?”
“My men will clean up the mess, my lady.Sit.”
Eyes of ice sliced through him for but a moment before she returned to her task.
Groaning, Cadan grabbed a bottle of rum from the table and took a swig, then leaned back onto the stern seat, angry at her defiance, but too besotted to act upon it.“Nay, Smity suffered injuries from an incident aboard theResolute.”
At this, she looked up.“Indeed?”
Guilt knifed Cadan with a dozen wounds.He’d gone over the event a thousand times in his mind, wondering how he could have done things differently.Sipping the rum, he welcomed the numbing haze spreading across his mind and heart.“We were at battle with a French merchantman,” he began.“A tough, seaworthy captain who refused to give up.”Cadan shook his head, staring out over the sea.“We’d taken a couple of good blows to our mainmast, our head braces were shot away; the fore topmasts were gone.Men were injured.Everything was in chaos.Even though it wasn’t his job, I sent Smity down for more gunpowder.”He hesitated, trying to retrieve the memories of that day he’d attempted to bury, but they were as foggy as his mind at the moment.
“And?”He heard her say.
He shook his head.“A shot set the gunpowder ablaze.Smity caught fire.It took ten men to put out the flames.”All because Cadan had miscalculated the enemy’s range and skill.
“Ah, so he blames you?”
Cadan spun around to find her standing before the table, a plate in hand, a look of genuine concern on her pretty face.
“Nay.Could have happened to anyone, he told me.”
One of her beautiful eyebrows rose.“I wouldn’t be so sure, Captain.Was it not one of your own who shot you on the island?”
There was no censure in her gaze, no anger, no fear…to what purpose would she mention her suspicions of Smity?“You wish to cause division among my crew, Lady Fox,” he hissed.“You must take me for a fool.”
With a heavy sigh, she continued cleaning the table, stacking plates, picking up platters, wiping the mess with serviettes.
Rising, Cadan slammed down his bottle, circled the table—with difficulty he might add, for the cabin started to spin—and grabbed her wrist before she could retreat from him.
Her breath caught short.
“Be still, my lady,” he ordered a bit too sharply.“Cease this foolish cleaning.”
