by Jade Parker
“I’d think you’d have a mutiny if you went about flogging them.”
Nathaniel looked past her. “You men are dismissed. Get back about your duties!” He returned his attention to her. “You are captain because it is your ship, not because you have the experience to lead.”
“This is not leading. This is bullying.”
She spun around to find Kane still standing there. She snatched the whip from his hand, marched to the side of the ship, and tossed it into the murky depths of the ocean.
She stormed back to the mast and addressed Kane. “Cut Sterling down immediately and carry him to my quarters. Then fetch the physician.”
Kane touched his fingers to his brow. “Aye, Cap’n.”
He pulled his knife free and went about cutting the bindings that held Sterling secure. Annalisa felt tears sting her eyes at the sight of poor Sterling’s bloodied back. She heard him muffle a moan, obviously trying not to let on how badly he’d been hurt.
“You’re not going to have him in your quarters dressed like that, are you?” Nathaniel asked, clear disapproval in his voice.
“I doubt he’d be able to stand wearing a shirt, at least not until the doctor’s tended to his wounds.”
“I wasn’t referring to his clothing but yours.”
Only then did she remember that she’d come straight from bed. She turned to face him. “I can’t believe you did this.”
“I know how important finding Crimson Kelly is to you. I did this for you.”
“Gentlemen generally give flowers to a lady when they wish to earn her favor.”
He gave her a sad smile. “Flowers are bad luck aboard ship. Considered to be an omen of deaths to come. Perhaps when we return to shore …”
She shook her head. He was missing her point entirely. “Sterling can’t be broken.”
“Every man can be broken.”
She glared at him, at the ruthlessness of his words. So unlike him. While she knew he was brave and strong and determined, he’d never been cruel. The crew liked him because he treated them all fairly. She liked him because he believed in justice — as she did.
“You act as though I’m the villain here,” Nathaniel said. “Yes, it was brutal, but brutality is all he understands. I didn’t think you’d object.”
“Then why do it while I was asleep?”
“Because neither did I think you’d have the stomach for it.” He took her hand. “I suspect most of the men have been flogged at one time or another. It’s part of life at sea.”
“Not aboard my ship. Is that understood?”
His jaw tightened, his eyes hardened, and she expected him to object. Instead, he merely gave a brusque nod and touched his fingers to his brow in salute. “Aye, aye, Captain.”
“Thank you, Nathaniel. I depend upon your wisdom, your knowledge, and your dedication to righteousness. You are a man of honor. Please don’t lose that in our quest to recover what we lost.”
“Pirates are a blight upon this earth.”
“I don’t disagree, but neither should we stoop to their level.”
“Haven’t we already, Anna?”
She shook her head, refusing to acknowledge that she was closer to being a pirate than she cared to admit. “No, we have not.”
When she returned to her cabin, Dr. Gabriel was already there examining Sterling’s back. Sterling lay on his stomach, on her bunk, his eyes closed. She wondered if he was sleeping. She doubted it. He was probably unconscious. Or perhaps he’d closed his eyes in order to hide what he was feeling.
“How badly is he hurt?” she asked the doctor.
“Could have been worse,” Dr. Gabriel said as he dabbed a cloth against the cuts.
Sterling flinched ever so slightly.
“My apologies,” Dr. Gabriel said. “I’m going to clean the cuts, put some salve on your wounds. Bandage them up. I’m surprised by the condition of your back. It doesn’t appear you’ve been flogged before.”
“Pirates don’t flog,” Sterling said between clenched teeth.
“Truly?” Annalisa asked.
Sterling peered at her through narrowed eyes. “Hardly ever.”
It looked as though he wanted to say more. Instead, he slammed his eyes closed and hissed with a sharp intake of breath as Dr. Gabriel continued his ministrations.
Watching his suffering, it was difficult to remember he was a pirate and no doubt deserving of such treatment. If only he’d agreed to help her, he’d have been spared.
Still, she couldn’t find it within herself to blame Nathaniel. After all, she’d toyed with the notion of taking a lash to Sterling’s back. How could she remain angry at her quartermaster for actually carrying through on something she’d considered? The difference, she supposed, was that even as she’d thought it, she’d known she’d never give the order to carry out the punishment.
Her world had been turned upside down when the pirates had attacked. Her innocence had been shattered. She despised them. Despised them all.
Despised James Sterling most of all.
Because even now, she longed to be kissed by him once again.
* * *
Annalisa Townsend had very nice ankles.
If he were a gentleman, James wouldn’t look. But then he’d never claimed to be a gentleman. Quite the opposite, in fact. He’d always admitted to being exactly what he was: a rogue, a scoundrel, a pirate.
And any pirate worth his salt would steal a peek at Miss Townsend’s ankles.
After the doctor left, she’d moved a screen into place and gone behind it to change her clothes. Obviously, she’d assumed he was either asleep or unconscious. Otherwise, she’d not have done something so daring.
But his back felt as though fiery flames licked at it. It would be a good long while before he found solace in sleep.
The screen stood on spindly legs, the bottom open, giving him a clear view. And so he watched her feet, her ankles, a bit of her calves as she went about dressing herself. From time to time, she would place one small, slender foot on top of the other. After a while, her hands appeared over the top of the screen as she wiggled into her dress.
When she came out from behind the screen, she walked to the bunk and stared down at him. He’d closed his eyes, surprised to discover that even though he couldn’t see her, he was acutely aware of her presence. When she moved away, he peered through his lashes and watched as she sat in a chair at the table and slipped on her stockings, then her boots.
She turned her head slightly and looked at him. He knew he still appeared to be asleep, because she didn’t seem at all concerned. He wondered what she was thinking. What did she see when she looked at him? Did she think badly of him?
Of course she did. He was idiotic to think otherwise. Why did he care that she wouldn’t think favorably of him? He didn’t care at all.
A knock sounded on the door. She popped up from her chair, smoothed her skirt as though needing time to gather herself. “Enter.”
The door opened and a seaman walked in. “Yer breakfast, Cap’n.”
Carefully, he balanced a tray, his stomach serving as an anchor since he had only one arm. Ferret!
“Bloody hell! What are you doing here?” James demanded, coming upright and grimacing as pain knifed through his back.
Screeching like a mouse cornered by a cat, Ferret dropped the tray and skittered back.
Anna spun around, the wrath of a thousand women scorned evident in her face. “How long have you been awake?”
“Long enough.” Groaning, he swung his legs off the bunk.
Her second in command crashed through the door, his sword drawn. Always the knight in shining armor. Disgustingly so. James found himself wondering if he’d kissed Anna, if she’d kissed him back willingly. Had she freely given to Northup what James had been reduced to stealing from her?
“What’s amiss here?” Northrup said, his voice full of authority.
“Nothing,” Anna said, clearly exasperated.
“
I didn’t know he be out and about. I thought he be in the brig,” Ferret said.
“He should be,” Northrup said. “You!” He pointed his sword at James. “On your feet. Handsomely now!”
“No,” Anna said. “He’s still bleeding. He’ll stay here through the day. Less chance of infection.”
“And more chance of his causing mischief.”
“He’s hardly in a condition to get into mischief.” She nodded at Ferret. “Clean this up and bring some more.”
“Aye, Cap’n.” Ferret made quick work of cleaning up what appeared to be porridge. Since it had been in a wooden bowl nothing had broken, so he was spared that mess.
Everyone was quiet while he worked. No one quite trusted him not to repeat what might be said in the captain’s quarters. When he finally left, Northrup said, “Anna, you can’t keep Sterling here. The men will talk. Your reputation —”
“Went to the devil the day I decided to captain a ship.” Looking none too pleased, she walked over to James. “Lie back down so I can see if you undid the good doctor’s work.”
Biting back a moan, he did as she ordered. He wasn’t a fool. Her bunk was preferable to the brig.
Her fingers touched his shoulder. They were so warm, so gentle. “I think you’re all right.”
She backed up a step.
“You and I have a different understanding of all right,” he grumbled.
“I simply meant that I don’t think I need to send for the doctor again.”
She strode to her desk and sat in a large leather chair behind it. She opened a journal, dipped her quill into the ink pot, and began to write. “Since Mr. Sterling has declined to help us, we have no cause to delay. We’ll set a course for the Bahamas. See to it, Mr. Northrup.”
“You shouldn’t be alone with the likes of him.”
“I have two pistols, a sword, and a knife. Quite honestly, I’ve lost patience and would welcome an excuse to use one or all on him. So see to your duties and I shall see to mine.”
James could almost feel the bite of the cat-o’-nine in the glare that Northrup gave him.
“Aye, Captain, but I’ll leave the door open,” Northrup finally said before turning on his heel and storming from the room.
“Right jolly fellow there,” James muttered.
“Like me, Mr. Sterling, he has little patience with pirates. I suggest you rest and gather your strength. You’ll need it to fight off the rats in the brig.”
She tried valiantly to be tough, but he’d seen the tears in her eyes when the doctor had been tending his back.
“Why do you want Crimson so badly?” he asked.
“For the same reason I wanted you. He stole from me.”
“You’ve made it very personal.”
She came up out of the chair with the force of the wrath of an avenging angel. “It is personal. The treasure belonged to the king. My father was responsible for it. Now he sits in prison at New Providence, under suspicion of piracy or cowardice — Rogers has not yet determined which — because my father survived.”
“And now you risk your life to save his?”
“He knows nothing of what I’m doing, and I’ll not have you call it into question. It’s enough for you to know I want the treasure.”
With a flounce, she turned on her heel, walked back to her desk, and sat in her chair. Very deliberately, she dipped her quill into the inkwell and began scratching in her journal.
“What were you doing on the Horizon?” he asked.
Her hand stilled, her quill poised above the paper. “At the behest of the king, my father was to serve as the royal governor of Mourning. Do you know the island?”
“Aye.” He narrowed his eyes. “It doesn’t even have a decent port.”
“The reason the king sent gold with my father. So one could be built.”
“And you think returning the treasure —”
“Will give the governor no reason to hold him.” She gave him a hard look. “Not to mention the justice of it, which I’m fairly certain you’re unable to comprehend. Pirates do not have a right to steal.”
“So you want to put an end to pirating?”
“I do. I never want anyone to experience the terror I did that morning when the Phantom Mist attacked us.”
He refused to allow her words to make him feel guilty. “I didn’t harm you.”
“You threatened me, Mr. Sterling. You stole my ring.”
He felt it grow warm on his finger. He was surprised she’d not taken it when she had the chance.
“I was merely carrying on a tradition that began when men first began to travel the seas.”
“Thievery?”
“There have always been pirates, m’lady.”
She straightened in her chair. “And there have always been those willing to challenge them.”
She was so easily angered. So righteous. He couldn’t deny that he enjoyed pricking her temper.
A knock sounded on the door. “Enter.”
James was expecting Ferret, returning with his porridge. Instead, it was the bloke who’d wielded the lash.
“Cap’n, Mr. Northrup sent me to fetch you. There’s something he needs you to see.”
“Thank you, Mr. Kane.” She rose from the chair and walked to the door.
James couldn’t believe his luck. He was going to be left alone.
“Mr. Kane, please escort Mr. Sterling back to the brig.”
“Aye, aye, Cap’n.”
Kane walked into the room. He was a huge bulk of a man. James could see two swords, the hilt of two knives, and three pistols strapped across the man’s chest.
“Don’t be giving me any trouble, pirate.”
James slowly, laboriously made his way out of the bunk. “Wouldn’t dream of it, mate.”
Annalisa joined Nathaniel at the prow of the ship. “You wished to see me, Mr. Northup?”
“Yes, Captain,” he said most formally.
He pointed toward the east. “It looks like we might be headed into a storm. Do you want to stay on this course?”
In the distance the clouds were black and low. It almost looked as though they were touching the water.
She suspected Nathaniel was feeling wounded from their earlier encounter when she’d questioned his judgment. Now she asked, “What do you recommend?”
His gaze darted to her quickly, before he turned his attention back to the sea. “It’ll be rough sailing for a bit, no doubt about that. But the ship is seaworthy. She can take it. Staying on course will get us to the Bahamas sooner, and we’ll have one less pirate to worry over.”
“Perhaps we should trim the sails a bit, though. No sense in rushing headlong into a storm, but I agree we should stay on course.”
“As you wish.”
“Do you think they’ll hang Sterling?”
“Absolutely.”
“Governor Rogers is known to grant pardons to pirates who renounce their wayward life.”
“James Sterling tossed your offer for freedom back into your face. Do you not think he’ll do the same to Rogers? Sterling values nothing except the clinking of coins. And even if he is granted amnesty, he’ll soon be back to his pirating ways. I have no doubt he is headed toward a noose.”
“You don’t much like him.”
Nathaniel looked at her as though he couldn’t believe she’d said that. “In so short a time, he’s already managed to charm you.”
“No, of course he hasn’t. I threatened him with hanging. You tried brutality.”
He flinched.
“Perhaps we used the wrong tactic.”
“And what would you recommend? Serving him tea?”
His voice contained a great deal of chiding. And she knew her next words were going to be met with resistance.
“Not tea. Dinner.”
Nathaniel turned slowly and faced her completely. “You’re not serious.”
“He refused to help because he doesn’t think I’ll keep my word. If he knew me better —�
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“He’ll take advantage of you, Anna. He’ll determine your strengths and your weaknesses and he’ll prey upon them.”
She angled her chin. “What weaknesses?”
“Your kind heart for one.” He looked out to sea. “Treat him with all the civility you want. You can’t tame him.”
She wasn’t certain she really wanted to.
“We need Crimson Kelly alive in order to find out where he buried the treasure, and Sterling is the only one who knows the man well enough to help us lay a trap. Even that Ferret fellow hasn’t a clue as to where the island might be.”
“Not surprising there. He doesn’t strike me as a man who knows much of anything. I can’t believe you took him on as a cook’s assistant.”
“I felt I owed him more than the reward. It would hardly keep him in grog for long.”
“Your generous soul will get you in trouble one day, Anna. I do hope you won’t hold the actions I took this morning against me. They were well-intentioned.”
She rubbed her hand up and down his arm. “I know. I suppose I worry that we could easily become what we’re hunting.”
He nodded slowly but kept his gaze on the approaching storm. “Very easily indeed.”
* * *
How could she convince a pirate that she could be trusted? Especially James Sterling, who’d been betrayed at least twice by all accounts — first marooned by his captain, then traded for coin by his mate.
Annalisa pondered her dilemma all day as the ship slowly sailed south by southeast. The winds began to pick up as the storm seemed to turn toward them. They could possibly outrun it, but there was no way to be sure which direction would guarantee them safe haven. Better to face the devil than have him at your back.
For now the rain merely battered the ship and the swells were growing slightly angrier, but no one was overly concerned. They weren’t in the midst of a full tempest, so Annalisa was continuing with her plans for dinner. Besides, they all needed to eat.
For her special guest, she’d brought out her best. She’d planned to wear the royal blue Empire style dress to her father’s first dinner party as governor. But there had been no joyous celebration when he arrived at New Providence to report the attack. There’d been only fury, blame, and distrust.
