Page 20 of The Summons


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“Stand down,Charlotte.” Maston snorted in derision. “Best get back to your guns.”

“Gladly,monsieur,” she retorted in a feigned French accent. “An’ you’ll see them pointed at your maggot-infested hide.”

Emeline took a step back. Best not to get involved in whatever quarrel existed between these two. Beyond them, Captain Keene stood at the starboard railing, ordering several pirates down into the boat that had just been lowered.

Maston plopped his hat back atop his head and gave a lecherous grin. “Thinking of my hide, are you? I offer it freely to you any time.”

“I’d rather be skinned alive and tossed to the sharks.” Charlie spat to the side, casting a glance at Emeline. “Leave her be or answer to me.” She snorted in disgust. “Must every woman who dares cross your path endure your vomit-inducing advances?”

“I’ve heard no complaints.”

Charlie stabbed his chest with a finger so hard, he nearly stumbled backward. “Not until you leave them wit’ a babe in their womb an’ not a shilling to live on.”

For a moment, Maston merely stared at her, then he shrugged. “Such accusations, Mademoiselle Charlotte!”

Charlie gripped the hilt of her blade. “Call me that again, and I’ll gut you where you stand!”

Emeline’s breath caught in her throat. She took another step back, glancing at the hatch that led below to her cabin.

Maston arched his brows. “If you refer to the woman in Barbados, it was her choice. I am not a man to force myself upon a lady.” He adjusted the dirty lace on his cuffs. “The babe was an unfortunate consequence.”

Plucking a knife from her belt, Charlie charged him and leveled it at his throat. “You unrighteous cad. You left her with nothing!”

Emeline’s heart seized. Would Charlie kill the man right where he stood? And over what? His was a crime many a pirate committed across these islands.

A wave of fear traveled across Maston’s face, quickly scattered by a fury that narrowed his eyes and pulsed a vein in his neck. He grabbed Charlie’s arms, spun her, and shoved her back against his chest, then forced the knife in her hand to point at her own gut.

Emeline’s throat went dry. Before she could ponder her next action, before she could consider the sanity of it, she grabbed the hilt of Charlie’s cutlass, pulled it from its sheath, leapt behind Maston, and pointed the tip at his back. “Let her go, or I’ll slice you in two!”

Chapter 7

B

lake had kept one eye on the surrendered merchantman and one eye on the ensuing altercation between Maston and Charlie. He knew there was bad blood between them, though he knew not the reason. But of all the times for them to cross blades! He had a ship to pillage, and he needed his men to be on the alert should the merchants entertain a reckless thought and pick up arms. He was about to order them to cease their foolishness when Miss Hyde did something so astounding, Blake had to blink twice to ensure his eyes did not deceive him.

The high-bred woman—the little timid mouse—grabbed Charlie’s sword from its sheath and pointed it at Maston. Blake would laugh at the shocked look of indignance on the Frenchman’s face if he had time for such tomfoolery. As it was, his men called to him from the cockboat below.

“Are ye comin’, Cap’n?”

One glance at the merchant schooner told him the crew remained unarmed and ready to be boarded, kept under submission by the twenty muskets in theSummons’ shrouds and the nine-pounders mounted on her starboard railing.

He marched toward Maston and the girl, plucking his cutlass from his belt, and intending to fling a multitude of curses upon them all when Charlie elbowed Maston in the gut. His bosun bent over groaning, released the knife, and leapt out of the way, cradling his stomach and laughing.Laughing?

“Well met, ladies. Well met!” the Frenchman managed between moans.

Charlie picked up her knife and stuffed it back into her baldric, casting Maston a seething glance.

Miss Hyde remained frozen, the sword leveled mid-air, and her bottom lip quivering.

“Enough of this!” Blake shouted, halting before the mad trio. “Back to your stations!”

Wind blew a strand of hair into Charlie’s face, and she swept it away, scowling. “It were his fault, Cap’n.”

Maston raised his hands innocently. “I merely asked if the lady wished an escort to her cabin.”

Charlie inched to Miss Hyde’s side and carefully pried the sword from her tight grip. “I thank you, Miss, for your help.”

The lady finally released a breath and nodded. TheSummonsrolled over a wave. Blake reached out to settle her, but she balanced herself well enough.