The men did not release her but they steadied her and allowed her to take a tentative step toward the edge of the boat. She managed that well enough but she hesitated when she realized she would have to jump from the boat to the deck. She glanced at the men at her side and her desire for help was in her glance. They picked her up by the arms and lowered her into the arms of one of the men on the deck. She murmured a thank you and freed herself from his supportive embrace. She looked around at the concerned faces hovering over her. As if the throng of men was not suffocating enough she found the silence even more so. She tried to ignore the nausea in her stomach and the cramping in her muscles. A hand reached out to help her when she thought she would collapse.
“Take her to my cabin,” said the lieutenant when he had pushed through the men. “Henry, get the doctor.”
Alexis heard the words, sensed the concern, and was ready to obey. Then she saw him.
He had just entered the inner circle and the men parted so he had a clear place to stand. He was staring at her as if he had seen a ghost and Alexis thought she must look exactly like such an apparition.
She drew away from the hand at her side. Summoning the last of her strength she walked toward him. Her amber eyes narrowed and locked on his cold black ones.
“Captain Travers,” she said softly. Then she spit on his glossy boots.
Ian Smith looked down at the pale face and almost lifeless form occupying the bunk in his quarters. “Why do you suppose she did it, Dr. Jackson?” he asked.
Hugh Jackson finished hanging Alexis’s wet clothing over the edge of the two available chairs before he answered. “How the hell should I know? You say she called the captain by his name?”
“She did. Then she spit. Then she fainted.” The lieutenant laughed uneasily. “It is not something I am likely to forget. You should have seen our captain’s face. I thought we would be calling you for him.” He waited until Jackson’s laughter had ceased. Their mutual dislike for Travers was something they shared with all but a few of the men aboard, but they only felt comfortable sharing their animosity openly with each other. “How do you suppose they know one another?”
Hugh Jackson sighed. “You are asking questions you should be asking either the captain or this girl. Obviously they’re the only ones with your answers.”
Smith was going to ask about the scars on the girl’s back but he decided against it. It was only another question that was not answerable, at least not yet. He changed the subject.
“Captain Travers wants to know when she will be well enough to be moved. He says she cannot stay here and he wants to put her in the hold.”
“He will have to be patient like the rest of us. She is suffering from mild exposure. Depending on how far along that storm was before she fell overboard she could have been in the water up to twelve hours before we happened along. I can hardly believe she has survived at all. Judging from the marks on her back though, I would say she has been through worse.” He lowered his voice when, as if she could hear him, she stirred. He hastened to her side and secured the blanket where she had kicked it loose, freeing her calf and foot from its confines. “I cannot figure out why he wants her out of sight. What does he think she’ll do?”
“Now you are asking me something I don’t know. Send for me when she comes around. We will decide for ourselves if she is well enough to be taken out of here.”
“Where is the captain now?” asked Jackson.
“In his cabin, cursing the delay and the cause of it. He is determined to be on time to meet Lafitte. Tomorrow afternoon, as scheduled. No matter what.”
Jackson ran his fingers through his dark hair, salted with strands of white. He set his jaw firmly and said through clenched teeth, “Good. The longer he leaves her in our care—the better.”
Ian agreed and left the cabin, intent on finding someone among the crew who could help identify the girl’s relationship to the captain. Six hours later, when he was summoned by the doctor he was none the wiser. Too many of the crew had been with theFollansbeefor years and Travers had only assumed command of the frigate eighteen months ago. Furthermore, Travers had discovered the questioning and had warned Smith to end it immediately or suffer the consequences. Since there was only one set of consequences for officers and ordinary men under Travers’s command it had been easy to assure the captain he would not pursue the subject, nor would he question the girl.
Walking into the cabin, he saw Alexis sitting up in bed, sipping broth from a mug.
“I hardly expected to find you up and eating,” he said.
Alexis returned the smile he flashed, remembering this was the man who offered his help before she had seen Travers. He was young, perhaps only ten years older than herself. He had a boyish face, rounded, without the harsh lines of age she would have expected to see among the crew who served the man she hated. He was only slightly taller than she was but he made up for what he lacked in height with a dignity she thought would have been crushed ages ago. His hair was flaxen, his eyes bright blue. They still hinted of some of the eagerness she had often seen in the men who served her—and Cloud.
Suddenly she said, “You haven’t been with him long, have you?”
Eyebrows flew up, blue eyes regarded her curiously. “You mean with Captain Travers?” Alexis nodded. “No, I haven’t. Only in the last six months.”
“I thought so…since you sailed from Liverpool.”
The doctor and the lieutenant exchanged puzzled looks. “That’s right. But how do you know?” asked Smith.
Alexis handed her mug to the doctor and lay back in the bunk, pulling the blankets securely around her. “It is easy to see from your face,” she replied. “You could not have been with him long. You have the look of a man who still enjoys the sea. He would have killed that in you. Now the doctor here, I would guess that he has been with Captain Travers for years. In fact, I will say the gray hairs wouldn’t be on his head if he had been serving with anyone else. A good man will gray, looking upon too many bloody backs.”
Jackson opened his mouth to say something, then he shut it just as quickly. It was true, what she said. But how had she known?
“Our faces don’t explain how you knew I came aboard in Liverpool,” Smith said quickly. He was still too much of an officer to let her know he had wondered how long he could stay with Travers.
“Where else could you have come from?” she asked blithely. “The HMSFollansbeesailed out of Liverpool.”
“Whoareyou?” asked the lieutenant, forgetting the consequences of his question. He need not have worried. Alexis only graced him with an elusive smile and an equally elusive answer.
