“Yes, I am.”
“Well then…” He threw his arms up in the air. “Well, then you will like Bone Cay, I suppose. I don’t know. I am quite certain that you will be ransomed quickly.”
“How long till we reach New Providence? Two days, three?”
“Yes, depending upon the wind.”
She stared at him hard and he shuffled his feet uneasily. He was a striking young man, much like his master. His speech was cultured and his manner refined.
Perhaps, she mused, he was not so horrible a pirate. He treated her like a lady despite the circumstances. He seemed to admire her, and she was not without a certain confidence in her ability to charm. He might be persuaded to help her.
She smiled at him, sadly.
“You must cease this horrible life, you know,” she told him. She pushed up from her chair and hurried around to touch his shoulder. She was so intent upon her pursuit that she did not see the doors swing open, or the Hawk enter into the cabin behind them. “Mr. Arrowsmith, if you could, perhaps, help me to escape, I could speak to the governor on your behalf. Oh, he is a man who wretchedly hates pirates, but he is quick to see remorse, and ever ready to give a man a chance! Robert, can’t you see? You will hang if you persist in this life! I could help you, truly I could. And oh, sir! I would despair to see you swinging from a rope!”
Her fingers fell upon his sleeve. He flushed, for they were very close, and her gown, though sedate, was made of thin cotton. “Milady—” he began.
“Yes, milady!” came a long drawl from the doorway. Robert jerked and jumped away from her. He stared blankly at the Hawk. The pirate smiled his slow sardonic smile. “That’s all, Robert.”
“Aye! Aye, aye, sir!” Robert sped on out of the cabin. Skye remained before the desk, her heart sinking as she watched the thunder of a pulse against his throat. He was dressed, as usual, in black corded by silver threads. His shirt was open and much of his bronze chest was displayed. She felt a nervousness leap into the pit of her belly and it was difficult to remain where she was. She wanted to run from him, and from the feeling inside of her. His eyes touched hers with dark and shimmering power, and to her eternal shame, she did not think to be furious or indignant. She thought instead of the night. She thought of her dreadful fear, and of how secure she had felt once his arms had come around her. They were like steel. They were bronze and hard and vibrant. Like the beat of his heart.
The blood began to drain from her face as she remembered their first morning together, and seeing him fully naked. Tremors shook her and she swallowed, trying to keep her eyes wide open and upon his. She did not wish to let them fall. Indeed, she did not wish to recall his anatomy one bit, and yet she did, and the very memory caused her to heat and burn inside. His sexual drive seemed as potent as his fighting force, and yet…
He had let her be.
“Alas, love!” he murmured softly, coming in and walking around to take the seat she had vacated. He picked up her coffee cup and sipped the warm brew, sighing with satisfaction as he raised his booted feet to clunk upon his desk. He folded his hands over his chest. “So you were trying to charm poor Robert into mutiny.”
“I was telling him rationally what would happen if he persisted in this life of infamy.”
“You lie, milady. But then, that is your way.”
“I am not lying. I would hate to see him hang.”
“And what of me, love?”
“I have told you, I will cheer the loudest when you swing by the neck!”
He watched her for a long moment, his eyes fathomless, his smile implacable. “Yes, I believe that you would. But they will have to catch me first, you know.”
“Perhaps Robert will betray you.”
“Fallen to your charms!”
“I did not intend to charm him, nor did I do so.”
“Be glad then that you did not, mam’selle, for then I should have been forced to slay him.”
Skye gasped.Hewas lying now! she thought. But how could she know? The man was an enigma. He leaned toward her then, speaking softly. “Indeed, I warn you, Skye, take care with my men. Any who touches you will die, and I will come to think that I do not give you adequate attention if you must seek out others.”
“I seek escape!”
“You will be free soon enough,” he said flatly. He started to rise, and she was glad, for she was sure that he meant to leave, and she was trembling terribly. But there was a knock upon the door and it opened and Robert was there again. He looked at the Hawk, who waited expectantly. “We’ve the hip bath, Captain.”
“Bring it in.”
Skye looked at him in horror, swirling to the far corner of the cabin quickly. She sought to hide, she realized, but there was nowhere to go. Two sailors walked in with the wooden tub between them and it seemed that a score of others followed with buckets of water.
And they all saw her. Every man saw her there in his quarters like a common…harlot.
