“I thought so.” He extended his elbow.
She pushed past him, heading toward the companionway, surprised at her boldness while also nervous that it might very well cause her demise.
Back in his cabin, the captain all but ignored her as two of his crew busied themselves setting up a long table, complete with silverware, pewter plates and cups, candles, and lanterns. The young lad she’d seen above deck entered with bowls of fruit he placed on the table.
“Good evening t’ you,señorita,” he said in a Spanish accent, dragging off his floppy hat.
Captain Keene spun from where he’d been holding the Ring and staring out the stern windows. “Miss Hyde, this is Pedro, cabin boy, powder monkey, and pirate in training.”
The boy grinned at the last statement and dipped his head before her.
“A pleasure,” Emeline said. “And just how old are you, Pedro?”
“I’ll be thirteen next month,señorita. Old enough to be a pirate.” Streaks of coal lined his youthful face where barely a whisker grew, but there was a spark of innocence in his blue eyes that drew her in.
“There are far better things than pirating, Pedro. Far morehonorablethings.”
“Wha’ could be better than bein’ a buccaneer?” The pirate with the gray bandana strode into the cabin, casting her a disparaging glance before tussling the lad’s tuft of red hair and popping his pipe back into his mouth.
Pedro grinned.
“Finnegan Wix, my quartermaster, Miss Hyde.” Captain Keene crossed arms over his chest.
“Mr. Wix,” she said.
“Ah, call me Finn, Miss. Everyone does.”
The monkey scampered in after him and leapt on the table, grabbed a banana from the bowl, and began peeling it. Scaring him away with a brush of his hand, Finn took a seat. “Filthy beast,” he growled.
Emeline nearly smiled at the irony, for she wondered when the man had last bathed.
“Ah,mademoiselle.” The slick voice drew her gaze back to the door where the Frenchman strolled in. Removing his plumed blue hat, he dipped his head. “Claude Maston, at your service.”
Without her offering, he took her hand and raised it to his lips for a kiss.
“Maston is my bosun.” The captain snorted as he grabbed a bottle and poured a glass of rum. “And you’ve met One-Armed Rummy, my helmsman.” He gestured to the tall man who ducked as he entered the room. His dark eyes scoured over her before they landed on the bottle the captain was holding. Licking his lips, he made his way over to pour a glass.
Thankfully, none of them, save the Frenchmen, seemed overly interested in her. Especially the older pirate who wandered in next, the ship’s surgeon who’d attended the captain’s wound earlier. His glance took in the cabin with a frown before he wandered to the stern to stare out the windows.
Behind him, two pirates entered with steaming platters and bowls, which they slammed onto the table, filling the cabin with scents of boiled fish and fresh biscuits that teased Emeline’s empty belly.
“Out with you.” The captain waved them away.
The Frenchman pulled out a chair and smiled her way. “Mademoiselle?”He was not a tall man and rather slender, but he might be considered handsome with his wavy black hair and deep-set eyes were it not for the dirt that encrusted his skin and permanently stained his otherwise elegant attire.
“She sits beside me.” The captain’s tone brooked no argument as he took his seat at the head of the table and nodded toward the chair to his right.
Inching her way over, Emeline sat, her stomach in so tight a knot, she doubted any food could pass through. But what choice did she have? Her mind spun with a myriad of horrifying possibilities of her future. Nay! She must trust God. He knew her predicament, and though, at the moment, she felt not His presence, she knew He was with her.
Finn grabbed a platter of salted fish and began piling food onto his plate.
“We wait for Charlie,” Captain Keene said.
“Women ain’t nothin’ but trouble.” One-armed Rummy sneered at her.
“Come now, Rummy. Charlie has saved our skin more than once.” Maston took his seat and poured wine into his glass.
“Sorry to be late.” A female voice drew Emeline’s gaze to the door, where the woman master gunner sauntered in with a grin on her face and the authority of any pirate. Her gaze brushed over Emeline, and a tiny smile lifted her lips before she pulled out a chair and plopped down beside Finn.
