Cloud brushed aside the tears that had formed at the corners of Alexis’s eyes and called to Lafitte. “Jean! Are you and your brother going to stand there and stare as if we’ve gone mad or are you going to find someone to care for our wounds?”
“Neither of you appear to be experiencing any great discomfort to me,” Lafitte answered smugly. He sent Pierre for André anyway.
“What are you going to do about Captain Travers, Jean?” asked Alexis when the pirate had pulled up a chair and seated himself across from them.
“I will take the responsibility for his death. Something like this would be expected from me.”
“No!” Alexis and Cloud protested at once.
“There is no other way. I can protect myself here. Tanner, you would be sought by the British and Alex, you are still a criminal.”
“I think there is another way,” Alexis said. “If you will bring the ship’s doctor here and the lieutenant, Mr. Smith, I think I can persuade them to come up with something that will satisfy the crew and the Admiralty.”
Lafitte eyed her skeptically. “What can they do?”
“I’m not sure but they were friendly to me. Smith knows who I am, and the doctor was willing to risk a great deal to care for me.” André came into the room. At Lafitte’s direction he began cleaning and bandaging Cloud’s leg and arm. While he was working, Alexis related how she had been brought aboard after the storm and how Smith had come to know her identity.
Lafitte listened carefully and decided to follow her suggestion. “Pierre, send someone to bring the two men here. Tell them nothing. We will explain everything when they get here.”
Pierre was on the point of leaving when he offered a hasty apology to Alexis for believing Travers’s story about her. Alexis accepted his embarrassed regret graciously and warned him to take special care of the lieutenant when he brought him from the ship.
When André had finished with Cloud, Lafitte brought him an ottoman to rest his leg on. Then the servant turned his attention to Alexis.
“Are you cold, mademoiselle?” he asked.
“No.”
“Then I think you would be more comfortable if you would remove your cloak.”
Alexis hesitated, not wanting them to see the scratches on her arm and the top of her breast. The other marks were hidden by the dress.
“Is something wrong, Alex?” asked Cloud, sensing her reluctance to be rid of the cloak.
“No. I’ll take it off.” She unfastened the button at her throat and stood, tossing the cloak to an empty chair.
“Dieu!Did Travers do this to you?” Lafitte asked tightly. Alexis nodded and sat beside Cloud again, aware of his anger in the tight grip he placed on her hand. “He is better dead then. He was of no value alive.”
André made a compress for her eye which she held in place after being ordered to do so by all three men. He cleaned the scratch on her arm and applied a salve but he balked, blushing, when it came time to care for the thin line that started at her shoulder and snaked to the curve of her breast.
“It’s all right,” she told him. “I will take care of it later. There are others I have no wish to reveal here.”
Lafitte dismissed his servant. “Others? Why did he do this to you?”
“To punish me for trying to kill him,” she answered simply. It was of no consequence now. She leaned against Cloud’s shoulder, drawing her legs beneath her dress on the sofa. “Jean, I want to thank you for taking care of my crew. I am most grateful.”
“It was my pleasure.”
“Could I impose on your hospitality and ask for something to eat? It has been days.”
Jean was on his feet immediately. “Why did you not say something earlier? I will prepare something for you now.” He left them and went to find Jeannine.
Cloud chuckled. “Your friend says tact is not necessary between us, Alex. If you wanted to be alone with me, you could have just said so.”
“I would have, if that’s what I wanted. As it happens I really am very hungry. I was reduced to drinking my bath water.” She wished she had not told him that. His eyes were opaque with pain for her.
Cloud closed his eyes for a moment, squeezing her hand gently. When he opened them, the hurt had vanished and he said lightly, “And I thought you were only interested in me. You have severely injured my pride.”
“You’ll recover.” She ran her hand lightly along the length of his thigh, her eyes shone with a promise that gave meaning to her words. “I will make sure of it.”
