Marc strolled over to me and buttoned the last few, which just happened to be over my breasts. A sly smile slipped onto his lips. “If you have any further problems, feel free to ask for my help.”
I frowned and swatted his hands. He yanked his hands away before I connected. “I think I can handle this part myself.”
He reached into his vest and drew out a small roll of rope. “I think this’ll help.”
I could only blink once before he looped his arms around me and drew me against his chest, where his hands settled atop my butt cheeks. We were face to chin, and I could feel every ripple of his muscles. He flashed me a sly grin. “Like what you feel?”
I glared at him. “I’d like it better if I wasn’t feeling it, now let me go.”
He raised his hands on either side and stepped back. “I was just helping you.”
I narrowed my eyes at him and took a step. “How were you helping-” I paused, and my eyes widened before I looked down. The rope he had held was now neatly wrapped around my waist. I twisted this way and that, and the large coat no longer fidgeted around my thin frame. “I, um, thanks.”
“Are you two coming?” Ramaro snapped at us from the railing. “He’s not going to wait forever!”
Marc set a hand on my lower back. “Come on, or we’ll miss our boat.”
He led me over to the railing, and Ramaro scooted to one side. I grasped the wood and leaned over the side. My blood ran cold.
The fog parted to create a passage, and a long, narrow boat glided out of the mist at the end. The vessel had been carved from a wood as black as the deepest night, and the surface was smooth enough to reflect the dark waters.
The most striking part of the ship wasn’t the material, but the driver. A tall, robed figure stood at the back of the boat. They were as thin as a skeleton and grasped a gondolier pole in their pale, bony hands. A hood covered their face, and they were slightly hunched, so inquisitive eyes wouldn’t have an easy time taking a peek.
The ferryman sailed silently up to our ship and turned so the boats were parallel. Then he waited.
Chapter 3
A noise behind us made me jump. I whipped my head around to find Fidel carrying a rope ladder over to us. His eyes showed his worry as he set the bundle on the railing. “You’re sure I shouldn’t be going with you, Captain?”
“More company makes for more eyes on us,” Marc pointed out as he tied one end of the ladder to the railing and pushed the other over the side. The ladder dropped to within a foot of the water and swung in front of our driver. “And I
He nodded at me. “Should Miss Larkin not remain aboard ship? It would be safer.”
My heart dropped into my stomach, and my eyes flickered to the door to the captain’s quarters. Marc and I had been sharing a room, but not the bed. He’d insisted, and I’d insisted on piling most of the blankets on the floor and sleeping there. The floorboards were as soft as concrete.
A sly smile slipped onto Marc’s lips. “It would, but I think she’d like something more than a pile of blankets to sleep on. Besides, I have plans for her that need her by my side.”
My eyebrows crashed down, and I folded my arms over my chest. “What does that mean?”
He swung over the railing and landed neatly on one of the lower rungs of the ladder. His head peeked over the banister, and his eyes sparkled at me. “It means we’re late for our boat.” He ducked out of sight before I could inquire further.
I leaned over the railing and watched him climb down the rope ladder like a monkey. Ramaro scurried up to me atop the railing and flicked his tongue. “Are you coming or not?”
I sighed. “I’m coming, just give me time to get over this railing.”
“Allow me,” Fidel spoke up.
Before I could object, he had wrapped his arms around my thighs and lifted me off the ground. I yelped and swung like a poorly constructed building in a heavy wind. “What are you doing? Let me down!”
“Very well.”
He set my feet on top of the railing, so now I stood several feet above the deck, facing the water. The steep drop below me made me dizzy, and I swayed to and fro. My arms flailed on either side of me.
Fidel grabbed my hand and one of my pant legs. “I’ll hold you while you climb down.”
I nodded before I lowered myself into a stoop and eased one leg over the exterior side of the railing. My foot found a rung and, with Fidel holding tight to my hand, I set my other foot on the lower rung. That rung was damp from the foggy air, and my inexperience meant my foot slipped.
I screamed and would have tumbled backward into the water if Fidel’s grip hadn’t stopped me. As it was, I still slammed my stomach against the side of the ship and dangled against the ladder. Ramaro snapped his jaws on my shoulder sleeve and stilled my flailing body. Several of the sailors rushed over, and a few slipped their arms through the narrow gaps in the posts and grabbed hold of me.
