The crew was pleased to see Alexis again. She put their worries about the incident aside by going about her work with a fresh enthusiasm that almost tired them out. As she performed her duties she talked freely with the men as she had done the day before, telling them what she planned to accomplish once she got away from the ship. She continued her incessant questioning, delighted to find more and more of the men willing to answer her with the seriousness her questions demanded. She saw Cloud watching her covertly from the quarterdeck but she knew he would make no attempt to stop this part of her education.
By noon she was exhausted. Her shoulder pained her beyond her tolerance. She sat down on the deck, leaning against the box that held the signal flags for support. She drew her legs up, sitting in a cross-legged fashion and scanning the ship for some sign of Cloud. She wanted to tell him she was too tired to go on for the rest of the day, to ask to be excused from her duties. When she did not see him she closed her eyes for a moment, determined to get up and find him just as soon as she felt stronger.
Quite unintentionally the moment stretched to a few minutes and Alexis had no choice but to give in to sleep.
Cloud and Landis stood over her, smiling at her sleeping form. “It seems as if your cabin boy is shirking her duties,” Landis said with mock severity.
“Looks that way,” the captain replied. “I’ll have to be getting my own lunch today.” He bent to pick her up.
Through the hazy existence of almost-sleep Alexis felt strong arms sliding under her body and she relaxed against them. Her arms went around the neck of the lean, hard body pressed against hers. She felt her head fall a few inches and come to rest comfortably on a firm shoulder.
Landis shot his friend a knowing glance and turned away to hide his chuckle when Cloud responded with a murderous look of his own. “Come on, Mr. Landis,” Cloud said, sighing in resignation. “Go on ahead of me and open the door to her cabin.” Under his breath he muttered, “Sometimes you see too damn much.”
Landis heard the comment and laughed. It was obvious something had changed between Tanner and Alex and yet, he wondered, had anything changed at all? They were both strong-willed individuals with purposes that conflicted. Had each finally accepted the other’s purpose? Landis opened the door to Alexis’s room and as Tanner walked past, Alexis held securely in his arms, he knew it was true. He looked from one to the other and for a brief moment allowed himself to feel their pain before he shut the door and went back to work, humming lightly to himself.
Cloud placed Alexis on the bunk and drew the covers around her. He was almost to the door when she called to him.
“Cloud?” It was only a whisper but it riveted him to attention. He returned to her side. “What is it, Alex?”
“I’m tired, Cloud. I was going to tell you, but I couldn’t find you.”
“How is your shoulder?”
“It hurts dreadfully. I don’t want to work any longer today, but I wanted you to know why.”
“I already know. It isn’t simply because of the pain, is it?”
“No. If I strain myself much more it may cost me my—” She paused, wanting to hear it from him. “You say it. You say what it will cost me.”
“Your escape,” he answered slowly. He allowed her to see by the tightening of his lips that she had punished him. “Get some sleep, Alex. I’ll check on you later.”
Chapter 7
When Alexis woke she saw Landis placing a tray of food on the table. She sat up in her bunk and smiled warmly at him. “What time is it? I feel as if I’ve slept through the night. I hope that isn’t breakfast.”
Landis laughed. “No, it’s your dinner. Captain thought you might like some. He said you needed a good meal in you as much as you needed to rest.”
Alexis agreed and sat at the table. “Where is the captain now, John?”
“I see you remembered,” he said, referring to her use of his name. “He’s below. He’s trying to figure out a way to add support to those crossbeams. He’s been working with the men for a couple of hours now.”
Alexis took a sip of her soup. It was as delicious as it smelled. Obviously Forrest did not need her around. “You mean he’s supervising the work,” she corrected Landis.
“Meant what I said. It’s one of the reasons the men like him so much. He’s not above helping them out when there’s a problem. He knows a lot about ships—but I suppose he has already told you about that.”
“Actually he has told me very little,” she replied, setting her spoon on the table. She leaned back in her chair and looked at Landis with interest. “He did say he met you on theGrenada.Did you escape together?”
Landis took a seat on her right and folded his hands in his lap. “We did. I couldn’t have done it without him.”
“I find that hard to believe. You would have found a way.”
“I’m not so sure. I had already been with theGrenadafor more than a year when they brought Tanner aboard. I had exhausted every alternative for escape I knew.”
“And what did Captain Cloud do?” Her head tilted to one side to punctuate her sentence.
“He thought of three more alternatives.” He laughed, his chuckle thick with admiration. “He would have thought of more but by the third time we did okay.”
“And what did you do? I mean why did the captain put an extra burden on himself by helping you escape?”
