She started to reach for her drawers next, but drew her hand back. She’d rather not give Bastard another performance for his amusement. She could wait until he left the room to put on the underclothes, so she unbuttoned the lower half of his long shirt and tied the lower edges around her waist. There, she was presentable and decent for the moment, even if her feet were bare.
“Nicely done.”
If she liked the man, she would have given him a jesting curtsy for that remark. She ignored him instead and took her skirt back to the chair so it could continue to dry.
She took a deep breath. “I want to see my men today.”
“I just saw them. You Malorys are all alike. Your brother tried to kill me.”
“He’s not my—” she started, but then smirked. “Is that why you’re bleeding again?”
“No, I was armed, he wasn’t, so it didn’t come to a scuffle.”
“I still want to see—”
“Then come here.” He patted his lap. “Let’s see how persuasive you can be.” Her immediate glare had him add, “No? Then settle for knowing they’re still breathing, and if you behave, you might get to visit them eventually.”
Behave? Or just not try to kill him again? It was infuriating that he’d drop crumbs that he knew damn well she wouldn’t pick up when he probably had no intention of ever letting her see Jeremy. Why would he? He was a bloody pirate!
Done with teasing her, he scolded, “You know you never would have made it to land last night. It was barely still in sight when you jumped. Do you realize the great distance you would have had to swim?”
“Another ship could have come along.” She sat down in a chair facing him.
“That would have been an incredible long shot. You were just a speck in the water, Jack. Even if a ship sailed past you, chances are the people aboard wouldn’t have noticed you even during the day, and certainly not at night. And dawn was a long way off.”
“If you’re expecting thanks for bringing me back, don’t hold your breath.”
His brows rose. “So you were willing to give up your life for your father?”
“Of course I would.”
“But was that really your plan?”
She wished now she’d taken a seat that didn’t face him. But she didn’t have to answer. She didn’t have to keep staring at those beautiful eyes, either, but she did.
She held her tongue waiting for him to press her, but he didn’t. So she was surprised to hear herself say, “I’m a good swimmer. I had every intention of succeeding.”
“Good to know that at least you aren’t fatally resigned, so I suppose we can simply agree to disagree on the outcome. But tell me, why didn’t you try to bargain with me first? You did before. Untold riches was your promise, wasn’t it, if I betrayed the pirate for you?”
She snorted. “It didn’t work last time, so why waste my breath?”
“But you haven’t even tried seducing me to your side, another option that wouldn’t require you to risk your life.”
Seduce him? Why the devil would he say that? He knew how much she hated him. But then she’d never been nice to him, not once, had only wanted to kill or hurt him whenever she got close enough to do so. She had no idea how trying to be nice to him would play out other than to make him suspicious since he knew her druthers fairly well. Yet it was still a tempting thought—seducing him to her side, not by bedding him, but by just making him think she might. She might even be able to convince him to take her home. No, how could she when she wouldn’t be able to resist punching him if she got that close....
The cabin boy arrived with her second breakfast tray. He was a skinny lad about her height, with reddish-brown hair and freckles. He looked far too nervous, possibly because he knew, as everyone else did by now, that she’d stabbed his captain. She hoped she hadn’t hurt the boy yesterday when she’d shoved him out of the way for her aborted leap for the railing. She gazed briefly at his britches, wishing she had a pair.
Bastard stood up to leave, telling the boy, “Keep an eye on Jack.”
Jacqueline waited until the door closed behind him before she said, “Jack Barker, is it?”
“He wants you to call me Jackie.”
“No, he wants everyone else to call you that to avoid confusion, but you and I will still call each other Jack. Are you from London?”
“Aye, but newly come from Reading in Berkshire with my brother Tom. He wanted to go to sea, has been hankering for it for years, he has, but he was reluctant to leave me behind, since he’s all I got now, after our pa died. So he looked for a ship that would take us both on, and this one did. But I don’t know much about being a cabin boy, well, not even a thing.”
“Shall I tell you a secret, Jack? My mother was a cabin boy once.”
