“Ah, but has he the purse?”
“If not, then my fiancé will pay. Lord Cameron is one of the wealthiest men in the Virginia Colony.”
“But I do believe that he is aware of your feelings toward your impending nuptials, mam’selle. And, alas, all men are not so eager to pursue vixens who despise them.”
“I do not despise Lord Cameron,” she said coolly.
“Don’t you? Well, I am sure that such words would truly warm his heart! Lady Kinsdale, this is enchanting, but you must excuse me. We come ever nearer Bone Cay, but I fear that Logan is either so enamored of you or hostile toward me that he may seek an engagement upon the sea. I am needed.”
He bowed deeply and turned to leave her. At the door he paused and turned back, and amusement curled his lip. “I shall send men with the tub and water.”
“You needn’t. I rather like the way that I am since it does not please you!”
The smile stayed upon his lips. “Lady Kinsdale, I am giving you a direct order.”
“And I—” She broke off, for he was returning to the room. He sat upon the edge of the desk, waiting. “What are you doing?” she cried.
“If you cannot obey a simple order, then I shall stay to assist you.”
“You just said that you fear an attack!”
“Let Logan come with his guns blazing! If this is how you will have it be, then this is one war that I will wage first.” He raised his voice. “Robert! Mr. Arrowsmith. I need you!”
Skye stared at him and knew that he meant every word, no matter how dramatically each was spoken. She stamped a foot upon the floor. “Go!” she breathed in fury. “Go! I shall just live and breathe, Captain, to obey your slightest order!”
He smiled. “Good,” he said pleasantly, and jumped down from his desk. He turned at the door, and she saw the sizzle of amusement in his eyes, and she realized that more than anything, he taunted her. He’d offered the bath for her comfort, and not his own entertainment.
He had come to her against the terror of the night.
He was her enemy. Her deadly enemy. But he was a curious man, and she could not deny his courage, his determination.…
Or his strange tolerance and his even stranger tenderness. In her greatest hour of need, he had offered comfort.
“Mam’selle—” he said, nodding as he opened the door to leave her.
“Wait!” she cried.
He paused, a brow arched. She lowered her eyes.
“Yes, mam’selle?”
“Thank you.”
“Thank you?” he repeated, amazed.
“For the lights,” she whispered.
It seemed that he paused a very long time. “You are most heartily welcome, mam’selle,” he said at last. Then he left her, and the door closed.
Robert came with coffee and rolls, and then he and a number of sailors trudged in with the hip bath and water. She felt the men watching her. Blue eyes, green, brown, and hazel, they all fell upon her. Old men, young men, thin and ruddy, they stared at her as they came and went. They despised her, she thought.
But when she dared to look up, she did not think that they hated her so. The last man to leave the cabin bowed her way. “You fought well last night, Lady Kinsdale!” he said. He smiled deeply. “A lady, and ye dared take Blackbeard’s own sword against him!”
“Out, Rodgers!” Robert Arrowsmith commanded gruffly.
“Aye, sir, aye! Good day, Lady Kinsdale.”
The door closed. Skye let out a long, uneasy breath.
