“The war has been over for a number of years,” she reminded him.
“Doesn’t matter, it worked to get me the chain. I’d suggest the other for the first mate, but as big as he is, I doubt any of us would care to get that close to him to try to put it on. At least this one is already restrained.”
He was referring to Drew, who’d been watching him with narrowed eyes since he’d walked in. Immediately she realized that Richard was the perfect candidate to give Drew the impression she wanted him to have.
She moved closer to Richard, patted his cheek tenderly, and said in a low purring voice, “Thank you,chérie,for the chain,” and promptly kissed him on the mouth in what she hoped was a lover-like manner.
But she really should have discussed her impromptu plan with Richard first, because without warning him, she took him so by surprise that his immediate reaction was to push her away from him. Unfortunately, he shoved her away, which caused her equal surprise, since it landed her on her arse.
Richard was too busy wiping his mouth with the back of his sleeve to notice her new position, and was indignantly demanding, “What the devil are you doing, Gabby?”
“Sitting on the floor, blast you!”
“Oh,” he said as he looked down at her, and then, “Oh!” as he offered a hand. “Sorry about that.”
She slapped his hand away, got to her feet, dusted off her skirt. Drew was laughing. He obviously didn’t need to ask why she’d kissed Richard; he’d figured that out quite easily for himself when Richard hadn’t reciprocated even a little bit.
“Shall we try that again,chérie?” Richard asked.
“Not in this lifetime,” she snorted. “And don’tchérieme, you dense man.”
He chuckled. Drew laughed harder. She would have liked to throw something at both of them, but most everything in the cabin was bolted down. No knickknacks, no clutter, though there were several large chests not counting hers, so maybe the captain just hadn’t unpacked yet.
She pointed a stiff finger at the door and said to her friend, “Go, before I add your head to the growing number of them being bashed today.”
Then, seeing Richard opening the door and taking the chain with him, she called him back. “Before you go, redeem yourself by getting the captain shackled to that chain first, and make damn sure it’s secure.”
Richard winced. “I need redeeming?”
She just narrowed her eyes at him in reply.
Chapter 26
OHR ANDRICHARD JOINEDGABRIELLEin her cabin for dinner. Ohr glanced at the captain a few times and finally voiced his concern.
“You’re going to leave him in here like this?”
“You mean chained? For now, yes. It will keep him from getting hurt again.”
“When did he get hurt?”
She shouldn’t have mentioned that, but since she did, Gabrielle decided the truth might be better than any trite assurances she could give. It would also explain why she wanted him to stay chained.
“He managed to escape,” she said, then quickly added, “I managed to tie him up again. No real harm was done.”
“I could just chain him to the deck instead,” Ohr offered.
“Swab those decks!” Miss Carla squawked.
They laughed at the parrot. It was typical of her to say one of her many phrases if she heard a word from them. But Gabrielle should have covered the bird, as late as it was. She did that now, then returned to the table. She noticed Drew staring at the parrot’s cage. He probably hadn’t heard her talk before then.
As for Ohr’s suggestion, it happened to be raining that night, but even if it hadn’t been, Gabrielle couldn’t bring herself to confine Drew topside.
She told her friends, “I’d rather he not be moved.”
“You can have our cabin, then,” Richard pointed out. “We can sleep in here.”
She thought about it for a moment. For propriety’s sake, she should do that, though it was a bit late to worry about propriety when she’d branded herself a pirate. Besides, this room, the captain’s domain, and her occupying it, was about the only thing that really supported her ruse. The men were calling her captain, yes, but Drew needed to see that they were coming to her for their orders, and their frequent stops in this room today showed that they were. And how could she enact her revenge against the captain if she didn’t have constant access to him?
