“Nothing open on the first floor, Captain Danty. There is a window open in Landis’s room, upstairs. The lattice might hold me,” Tom suggested. “I don’t want to break down the captain’s door.”
“Lead me to it, Tom. I’ll climb.”
“But your gown,” he protested.
She ignored his caution. “Show me that lattice.” She did not know her eyes were as bright as sparklers or that a muscle jumped in her cheek. She only knew that whatever they saw in her face prompted them to action.
She followed Tom to the back of the house and tested the strength of the lattice. “It will hold me,” she said certainly. She threw off her slippers. She put the hem of her gown in her teeth and began climbing, oblivious to the thorns and briars scratching her arms and legs. She imagined fleetingly she was on the rigging of her ship.
She slid into the opening headfirst. When she was on her feet she called down to the others, telling them to wait at the front door. She ignored their protests and demands for entry, leaving them gaping on the ground below.
She went to her room and began digging furiously through her clothes. She practically ripped the gown and undergarments from her body. She pulled on her black trousers and shirt, tied the crimson sash around her waist. After jerking on her high black boots she yanked the remaining pins from her hair, letting it fall to her waist. She tied her scarf over the top of her head and knotted it in the back, not bothering to take the time to hide her hair. She was almost out of the room when she stopped and turned back to look at the crumpled gown lying on the floor in a careless heap.
She walked back, slowly bending to pick it up. She smoothed out the folds and carefully placed it on the bed.
Don’t damn the gown. Don’t damn the man who gave it to her. Damn those who can’t see beyond the gown or into the man. Damn them for not seeing the truth.
She turned, running out of the room and down the stairs. She opened the door, propelling herself across the porch and down the steps. She knew the others were following her, but she did not acknowledge them. Her legs led her swiftly and surely to their destination.
Tom and the others had stared at her for a moment before finding their wits to follow. Seeing her now, in her midnight attire, they understood how she could evoke fear in an otherwise fearless man. They had never seen her dressed this way before. It was an outfit she only used against the enemy. They had imagined from the stories they heard what she would look like. They had not been able to imagine this.
She was incredibly feline, a stalking night creature. She did not appear to be walking; prowling was the word her movement suggested. When she glanced over her shoulder at them they saw brilliant yellow eyes catch the moon’s light and shoot it in their direction. They were glad her fierceness was not aimed at them.
Tom escorted Alexis to the house. She permitted him at her side only to gain entry past the surprised butler. Tom stood at the entrance to the dining room, frowning at his captain while Alexis stared intently at the others with angry amber eyes.
For the first time, Cloud saw Alexis as he imagined she must look boarding a British frigate. There was energy in every part of her body He realized with some shock that she was standing motionless. The energy was in her eyes and the faint tightening of her facial muscles as she worked her jaw. The black outfit she wore stressed her power, and the crimson sash was her commitment to revenge. He got to his feet, dismissing Tom, and offered Alexis his arm. She accepted it, calmly taking the seat he offered her.
Howe got up from his chair and shut the window, bolting it securely. Alexis’s laughter filled the room. “You seem to be taking me more seriously, Senator.”
“They all do, Captain Danty,” answered Cloud, taking his seat across from her.
“As you always have. Thank you for the reception at the pier. I should have known.”
“I warned you.”
“Yes, you did. I was expecting you to do it personally.”
“How did you manage to get back to the house? If memory serves, I believe you were dressed in blue.” His green eyes were bright with laughter. It was as if only the two of them were in the room.
She smiled. “I simply told Tom and his mates that we were going back to the house. I climbed the lattice to the upper floor, changed my clothes, and have returned like a child, filled with remorse and guilt for having run away.”
“That is hard to believe, Captain Danty,” said Granger, deciding he had had enough of their self-congratulatory conversation.
“What do you find difficult to believe?” she asked with wide-eyed innocence. “That I climbed the lattice? That I changed my clothes? Or that I am filled with remorse and guilt?”
“The last, Captain,” he said, agitated.
“Good,” she said sharply. “I see there has been some progress made in this room since I was here last.” She paused, absorbing their altered expressions. “Now. What do you want?”
They told her, ignoring her objections.
They told her they would give her a ship. A frigate. A war sloop. Whatever she wanted.
“I have the ship I want.”
They told her they would give her an unprecedented honorary commission.
“I am a captain.”
