“Sorry, Alex,” he said when he took his seat.
“Just open up, Tom. Let’s see how many teeth you’ve knocked loose.” Alexis pronounced him fit. “You may as well look as presentable to your captain as possible, although I don’t know how you are going to hide those black eyes. Frank, you’ve got a real shiner. You’re next.”
Frank saluted her smartly and took Tom’s place. Alexis and Landis nursed them all until she was satisfied they retained some resemblance to their former selves.
When she was finished she smiled at them. “And to think you are supposed to be guarding me. I’d have the lot of you keelhauled!” The laughter in her eyes belied the seriousness of her tone.
“It’d be worth it,” Forrest answered, “if you were around to take care of me afterward.”
“You’re impossible, you old goat!” she said, tossing a wet towel in his face. “All of you are just impossible.” They joined her laughter and when it subsided she shooed them out of the kitchen. “I’ll wager you haven’t had anything in your bellies but ale, and I intend to remedy that. Forrest, you go with the others. I’ll cook myself. These men have suffered enough for one day.”
The others gave Alexis a grateful look and pulled the blustering cook down the hallway before he could protest. She could hear his grumbling and the good-natured taunts of the rest of the men as they seated themselves in the drawing room.
Later they ate in Cloud’s spacious dining room and the men insisted Alexis preside at the head of the table. Their talk was light and friendly as they embellished the actions of their fight. Alexis listened intently, trying to discern the reason for their violence. She remained in the dark until Mike, feeling the effects of the wine served with dinner on top of the ale he had imbibed earlier, accidentally blurted out, “And when he called her the captain’s whore, I couldn’t…”
His voice drifted off into silence, broken by the sound of Alexis’s fork clattering to her plate. Mike sobered instantly and looked around the table for support. The others glared murderously at him, leaving him to smooth the incident over. He watched Alexis pick up her fork and place it beside her plate, never lifting her eyes.
“I’m sorry, Alex. I didn’t mean…” He faltered, not knowing exactly what he wanted to say. He was relieved when she rescued him.
“Don’t apologize, Mike,” she said evenly, folding her hands in her lap. “You did nothing save repeat what you heard.” She paused, gathering her strength. “So you fought for the captain’s whore. I suppose I should be grateful or at least flattered that you saw it as a reason for abusing yourselves, but I can’t thank you for fighting something I should have faced alone.”
Frank caught her eyes and held them. His boyish smile had faded, and he spoke earnestly. “We fought because we knew it wasn’t true, Alex. And you’re wrong about it being only your fight. We are powerless to do anything about you being a prisoner, but we could do something about how those men saw you. It was for ourselves that we fought, as well as for your name and the name of our captain. Our respect was on the line back there too. The men who saw you led away had no idea who you were. They thought we had wasted our time, not sighting any British ships, refusing to do battle. They did not realize we had finished one of the most valuable missions of the war, and no matter how we hate our assignment, we all retain some pride that the woman in question is Captain Alex Danty. They still know nothing about you, except that you are certainly no whore.”
“Thank you, Frank. I thank all of you for understanding that,” she said quietly. She brightened gradually as she dismissed the last of the pain she associated with being named a whore. “I still think I’d have the lot of you tied to yardarms!”
The tension broken, they finished their meal and Alexis listened with interest to the news they had obtained concerning the war.
After dinner she retired to the drawing room as the men flipped coins for the chore of doing the dishes. They were still haggling when she heard Cloud enter the house. He did not see her in the room as he passed, heading straight for the sound of confusion in the kitchen.
“What’s all this?” he demanded, looking at the men jammed into his kitchen. “And where is Alex?” He took a second glance at their faces and continued, his displeasure obvious. “And what the hell happened to the lot of you?”
Landis explained. “We are in the process of finding someone to do mess duty since Alex prepared our dinner. She is in the drawing room, taking a moment of well-deserved rest, and what happened to the men is a fight after we left them this morning.”
“Thank you for that very concise report,” Cloud said without humor. “Frank and Tom can do the dishes. Forrest, you can get me something to eat. We’ll leave Alex to her rest, and, Mike, perhaps you can explain the reason for the brawl since you seem to have the largest bruises.”
Mike was ready to begin when Alexis’s voice stopped him. She passed Cloud at the entrance to the kitchen and said, looking at everyone but him, “There was a disagreement between your crew and the men on the dock as to the nature of my presence on board theConcord.Your men settled it admirably. There is nothing more to it than that.”
Cloud looked from one man to the other, waiting to see if they would add anything to Alexis’s explanation. They were silent. Finally he said, “Forrest, bring my dinner to the study. And some wine for Alex. She will be with me.” He took Alexis’s arm, gripping it more tightly than he had intended and led her to the study. He shut the door behind him and when he faced her his eyes were hard, implacable in their gaze, and his mouth was pulled in a grim line.
“And the nature of your presence as those men saw it?” he asked as though no time had elapsed between her last words and the ones he was saying now.
She pulled free of his grip, stepping backward. “Cloud,” she said softly. “Don’t be angry with any of them. What else could those men think, other than I was someone’s whore?” She saw the anger in his green eyes replaced with terrible hurt, and she knew he suffered as much at those words as she. She held her hand to his cheek, meeting his steady gaze. “I am at least glad they saw fit to name meyourwhore.”
He clasped her wrist, placing the palm of her hand against his lips, then drew her close, wrapping his arms around her, as if to protect her. “I never wanted those words applied to you,” he whispered into her ear. “Never.” His lips brushed her forehead and her cheek before they covered her mouth.
It was a tender, gentle contact, and it made both of them ache with desires too long denied. Alexis felt her legs weaken as Cloud’s teeth tugged lightly on her lower lip, tasting her sweetness, savoring it, drawing her strength. She held on to his upper arms for support, but when the taut muscles offered no purchase she slid her hands over his shoulders, leaning her body into his, and clung to him as if he were her bastion. Cloud groaned softly into Alexis’s mouth when he felt her breasts swell and brush his chest. It was sweet torture to have them pressed against him, offering more proof of her need. In return his hands slipped to her buttocks, cupped them, and pulled her tight against his thighs. This time he swallowed her desperate moan.
There was a moment of surrender for each of them in the kiss, a moment when neither was strong enough to pull away, even though both knew where the kiss would lead. At that time Alexis did not care if she ever saw Travers again and Cloud did not care about the method he was using to make Alexis join him. But it was only an instant, and for each of them their goal prevailed. Slowly they parted. Cloud leaned heavily against the door while Alexis placed a physical distance between them, one she emphasized with words she had spoken before.
“I cannot be yours again, Cloud. Not until this thing is done.”
“I know,” he answered quietly. He reached for her face and brushed aside an errant lock of hair. His caress was given sound by the gentle sigh that escaped her parted lips. “I want you so much,” he added in response to her quickened breathing. “So much.”
“Stop, Cloud. Don’t say anything else. If you really love me, please stop.” Her eyes pleaded silently, admitting how vulnerable she was to giving up everything but him.
He nodded and walked past her, careful not to brush against her, knowing it would only take one small contact to make him cast aside her pleas.
“How did your meeting go”—she hesitated—“Captain?”
