Passion's Tide

by Sarah West

  Amber lay in the tepid water, collapsed against his chest until she was confident her shaking legs would be able to support her weight. Still she wobbled a little as she stood.

  “Will it always be like that?”

  “With me it will,” he replied with a cocky smile. She decided to ignore him as she crouched to retrieve her soaking chemise from the floor. Logan whistled at the sight of her naked form bent at the waist. “Amber, how can you even blame me for watching you?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “You are absolutely, without a doubt, head-to-toe breathtakingly beautiful.” Surprised, she scanned his face for a sign of sarcasm, but seeing none, she was touched.

  “Oh, well, thank you. That means a lot,” she confessed. She was going to say more, but at that moment, Logan rose from the tub.

  He noticed her silence and followed her appreciative gaze. He chuckled. “Maybe the real reason you were so upset is because you wish you had discovered the mirror first, so that you could exploit it as much as I did.” She threw open the lid of her trunk and pulled out a fresh pair of breeches and a clean shirt. Laying them on the table, she reached for her dagger and tossed it into the air, catching it by the hilt and spinning it. “What are you doing with that?” he inquired as he tugged on his pants.

  “Contemplating your death,” she told him. “I was thinking I would tell your men that you couldn’t support your giant ego and you collapsed under the weight. It was a tragic accident, but I have to say, I saw it coming.”

  “Oh, very funny.”

  “I do try.”

  “You wouldn’t kill me, anyway. You’d miss me too much.”

  “That’s a big assumption on your part,” she said as she slid into her shirt and pulled her hair back from her face with a leather tie. “I meant to ask you, who’s Marcus?” She thought she saw him falter, but she couldn’t be sure.

  “Why do you ask?”

  “When you were asleep earlier and Abe knocked, you said ’go away, Marcus.’”

  He relaxed. “He was just my roommate at school. He would always have to wake me up in the mornings so I wouldn’t miss my classes.” Just then, another knock sounded at the door. Opening it, they were met with the sight of Deacon holding Johnny by a handful of shirt.

  “There’s something you need to be seeing, Captain,” he grunted as he shoved the boy towards the hatch. Logan glanced at Amber and shrugged, and they both followed the men down into the hold.

  “What seems to be the problem?”

  “It started when we noticed food had gone missing. Thinking it might be rats or Creed getting hungry in the middle of the night, I hid and waited, and that’s when I saw the boy.” He gave Johnny a second push. “Come on, show em what I saw.” With a somber expression, Johnny put two fingers into his mouth and gave a curt whistle. Amber startled as something large and furry rubbed against her legs. Looking down, she gasped in surprise.

  “Tybalt?” Incredulous, she scooped the cat into her arms.

  “I don’t know who Tybalt is, I’ve just been callin’ her Daisy.”

  “Tybalt is from Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet,” she explained to Johnny. “They called him the prince of cats. And besides, Daisy is a girl’s…” she trailed off as a quiet mewing came from behind a crate. The cat leapt from her hold and jumped out of sight, reappearing with a tiny calico kitten in her mouth.

  “Unless Shakespeare wrote anything about a princess of cats, I think Daisy’s a more fitting name,” Pax observed from the doorway. Three trips later and Daisy, the princess of cats, had carried out a whole brood of crying kittens.

  “How did the cat get on the boat, Johnny?” Logan asked.

  “I didn’t do it, I swear!” the boy defended. “She must have snuck on. I found her down here, and when she had the babies I just took to bringing her food and water, on account of she can’t leave em all alone because they’re always getting into trouble.”

  “Logan,” Amber cut in,” in all fairness he, I mean she, probably just followed us back from the inn. Don’t chastise him.”

  “Yeah, don’t chastise me!”

  Logan rubbed his temples to subdue his headache. “You mean to tell me that this cat snuck onto a heavily guarded pirate ship, unnoticed, stowed away, and gave birth to four kittens?”

  “Well, nine.”

  “Nine!?”

  “Don’t worry, they don’t eat much. And Henry and I have been taking shifts watching the little ones so Daisy can hunt.”

  “Wait, hunt? What does she hunt?”

  Johnny rolled his eyes. “Rats, of course.”

  “There aren’t any rats on my ship.”

  “Well not anymore, there ain’t.”

  Logan groaned as Amber came up behind him and placed a hand on his shoulder. “There isn’t anything you can do about it now, so why don’t we just leave them?”

  “I can throw them over the side of the damn ship,” he mumbled.

  “Just let Johnny take care of them,” she said, picking up the nearest kitten, an orange and brown tabby. “I don’t see what the big deal is.”

  “The big deal is that he kept crucial information, vital to the well-being of this ship, from his captain.”

  She snorted. “Vital information? You’re joking, right?” She dropped her voice to a whisper that only he could hear. “Besides, look how happy Johnny is. Apart from Henry, he’s the only boy on this ship. It’ll do him some good to have a pet to take care of. Didn’t you have any pets when you were a boy?”

  He grimaced. “Not a cat, certainly. I don’t like them.”

  “What’s wrong with them?” Johnny demanded.

  “They’re sneaky and manipulative creatures, and they always look like their plotting my demise.”

  “Oh, now that’s just silly. How could this cute, innocent little kitten be anything but precious?” she asked as she thrust the animal towards his face. Catching it before it could get too close to him, he held it at arms length and stared at it. “Does it look manipulative to you?”

  “Yes,” he replied without hesitation.

  “Liar.” Logan hid a smile. He had to admit, the little pest was endearing, if not precious. Its scruffy orange hair appeared too long for its tiny body and stuck out in all directions as if it had been struck by lightning. It hung limply in his hands, its tail swishing back and forth and its yellow eyes (like the mother’s, he noticed) were open as wide as dinner plates as the tiny kitten returned his stare.

  And then, as if the whole encounter had been scripted, it began to purr. “Oh look, it likes you!” Amber declared as she knelt to tickle another kitten behind its ears. Daisy rubbed against Logan’s legs and with a grunt, he shoved the tabby at Johnny.

  “Fine, keep the damn animals, for all I care. But they are your responsibility, you understand me? You aren’t getting out of your duties, and any food must come from your rations. Keep them down here and out of trouble. If I see a cat on deck I am kicking it overboard.”

  Logan glanced at the litter one last time then turned and left, Amber behind him. “You aren’t really going to kick a kitten, are you?” she asked, trying to keep pace with his long strides.

  “What do you think?”

  “I think, while you have the ability to kill a man, and the strength to command your men, you don’t have it in you to hurt an animal. Especially a poor, defenseless, one.”

  “Correct.”

  “Well, then why did you tell Johnny that?”

  “Because I don’t want them underfoot, getting in the way or distracting my crew. He’ll watch them closer than their own mother will if he believes they are in danger.”

  “Clever,” she remarked.

  He grinned at her. “I am, aren’t I?”

  Chapter Seventeen

  “How do you feel about Spain?”

  Amber looked up from the pistol she had been cleaning out on the deck “Spain? I don’t know, I suppose I don’t really support their political system, and I think that w
hile their navigational prowess is impressive, their desire to control the entire world is barbaric.” She noticed Logan’s stunned face. “What did I say?”

  He shook his head with a laugh. “I simply wanted to know if you would mind taking a detour there for a few days.”

  “Oh! I’d love to see Spain,” she said with color rising on her cheeks.

  “You know, with all the sun you’ve been getting, your freckles are becoming quite pronounced.” She quickly lifted her hands to cover her face, but he pulled them away. “Don’t. I think they’re adorable.”

  “I’m twenty-three years old. Adorable is hardly a word I enjoy hearing used to describe my physical appearance.”

  He leaned in close, his mouth inches away from her ear. “Dozens of other words come to mind when I think about you. Why don’t you put that gun away and I’ll tell you some of them.”

  Despite the shiver that coursed down her spine at his proposal, she forced herself to look contrite as she pulled the cloth from the muzzle. “I can’t, I’m on pump duty this afternoon.” She lubricated another section of cloth and rammed it back into the barrel.

  “One of the other men can do it, I’m sure.”

  “They wouldn’t be happy.”

  “They don’t have to be happy; they just have to do it.”

  “It’s not their job. It’s mine, and I’m not about to slack off and let it fall to someone else.” With a clean rag she went about drying the outside of the gun, removing any excess moisture.

  “Sweetheart, don’t you think you’ve worked hard enough, and deserve a break?”

  ”Believe it or not, I actually enjoy the work. It keeps me active and I like the challenge.”

  He lifted the pistol from her fingers and turned it over in his hands, inspecting it. “I can think of many other ways to keep you active.”

  She snatched the gun from him and slid it into the waistband of her pants. “I’m sure you could. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to get below deck.”

  He grabbed her arm. “God damn it, Amber, why does everything have to be so bloody difficult? Are you truly too proud to surrender this ridiculous notion you must act like a pirate? Why can’t you simply forget about it, and enjoy the rest of the journey with me—”

  “As your mistress?” The word came out in a hiss, its very idea leaving a sour taste on her tongue. “Is that really all I am to you?”

  “You’re putting words into my mouth. I’m just trying to explain to you that you have nothing to prove.”

  “Well you just convinced me that I do.” Conscious of the stares they were receiving she stepped forward, her chin tilted at a severe angle so that she could look up at him. “And just so we are clear, I may have given into my baser instincts last night but in no way was that an invitation to try and control my every action. Nothing has changed.”

  “Like hell it hasn’t.”

  “Is there something wrong?” Eli asked with a pointed glance at the men who had stopped working to observe the argument, stepping aside as Amber stalked away.

  “Of course not, she’s made herself abundantly clear.”

  “I must admit, Logan, your mood swings are becoming so turbulent, even I don’t know what to expect,” Eli said, giving his friend a curious stare.

  “My mood swings? Ha!”

  “It’s not like you to let a woman get under your skin like this.”

  “Yes, well she’s crawled her way under there and sunk her little claws in deep. And there she stays, leechlike, to arouse me and infuriate me in rapid succession. I can’t understand why she insists on working when she knows I am capable of taking care of her.”

  “Good lord, man, are you daft? Stop trying to keep her on a leash if you desire a civil relationship with the girl. Leave well enough alone.”

  “But she is exerting herself for naught—”

  “That is so far from the point, it’s a wonder you’ve bedded as many women as you say. Just let her calm down, and then try treating her like one of your men.” Their attention was drawn to Amber, who ascended the steps lugging a heavy coil of rope that was saturated with water from the bilge, and spread it out on the deck to dry in the sun. After wiping a bead of sweat from her brow, she climbed back down. “Though I can see why you find it difficult to treat her as anything but the woman she is.”

  Below deck, Amber stood ankle deep in water, straining to work the pump. Murmuring angrily under her breath, she let loose a string of colorful words she had picked up from the men when they thought she was out of earshot. The work was hard and seemingly endless, but it gave her the chance to work out her frustrations with Logan.

  “His mistress, indeed,” she scoffed. But the scene that played in her imagination was alluring, and she couldn’t deny the strong urge to submit to the fantasy. Because that’s all it could ever be: a fantasy.

  The vivid images of Logan and herself, sailing to far away places, exploring the deserts and lush jungles of uncharted lands, making love on the white sand of a Caribbean isle as the surf crashed upon the shore, all passed through her mind. Visions of Logan looking devastatingly handsome on the deck of the Imperial Shadow, the crew silent as Elijah read from a worn leather bible. As the sun sank below the horizon they would kiss, and the men would stand and cheer for their Captain, exchanging ribald comments with one another about the wedding night to follow.

  And then, as the evening’s festivities drew to an end, he would lift her into his arms and carry her, glowing in her white dress, across the threshold of his cabin. After laying her on the plush bed, his nimble fingers would stray to the buttons of his dress jacket, one by one…

  She yanked herself from the daydream before it could continue. The trouble was, Logan’s comments earlier hadn’t upset her because they were scandalous, but because it was all too easy to envision herself happy in that role. For her, the previous night’s activities had been life altering, and not only because she had so willingly surrendered her innocence. It was because besides her parents, Logan was the first person to embrace her passionate nature. He encouraged her to explore her hedonistic inner self, to forget about responsibilities and live in the moment. Whether his liberation had been intentional or an accidental result of his seduction, she knew she would always hold a place in her heart for the rugged pirate.

  A soft splashing drew her attention towards the narrow stairwell, where a black kitten sat on the bottom step, his white paws swiping at the curious liquid that filled the bottom of the ship. Uncertain of how it would act next, Amber watched it out of the corner of her eye as she worked hard to make up for the moments lost in dreaming.

  The kitten paced the bottom step, stalking what she could only assume was his own reflection. Then he paused with his rear in the air, and with a little wiggle pounced from the safety of the stairs and into the murky water.

  Leaving the pump unattended she dove forward to snatch the flailing, caterwauling animal, drenching her own clothes in the process. The kitten, associating Amber with security and dryness, clawed his way up her arm to settle upon her shoulder, shaking with fright. There it rode as she pushed open the door to the cargo hold.

  Johnny rushed towards her with an apologetic frown, begging her not to report his negligence to Logan. The kitten now refused to climb down from his perch into Johnny’s outstretched hands, and instead dug his sharp claws deeper into her flesh. “Get me a cloth,” she directed, while extracting the imbedded nails with care, and tugging the cat down against her chest. Henry handed her a clean rag and she swaddled it up like a babe, cradling it until it ceased shaking.

  “Are you going to tell the Captain?”

  Her gaze transferred from the kitten to Henry. “Why would I do that?”

  It was Johnny who answered. “We just figured that since you’re sharing his bed and all, you wouldn’t keep nothing secret from him.” Amber was certain that her earlier blush at Logan’s teasing did not come close to the crimson color that crept up her face now.

  “Maybe
you shouldn’t talk about that stuff, Johnny,” Henry said, noticing her blazing cheeks.

  “Where did you hear this?”

  “When I was in the galley getting food for the kittens, I overheard Abe tellin’ Eli that the Cap’n went into his cabin last night and never came back out like he was supposed to.”

  “And is that all they said?”

  “No, they was also guessing as to if he got around to bedding you," he told her, meeting her her gaze directly. “Abe said he didn’t think he would, but Eli claimed he knew the Cap’n better than Abe did, and he told him that Logan’s been itching to bed you since we took down the Queen Charlotte and you tried to slap him. What?” He threw up his hands at Henry’s reproachful stare. “She said she wanted to know.”

  “It’s…fine. Now here,” she said quickly, shoving the kitten at the boy, “take Puck and make sure he stays out of trouble this time,”

  “Puck?”

  “Yes, it’s from A Midsummer Night’s Dream. He was the mischievous fairy who got into all sorts of trouble, so it seemed appropriate, and I’ve always named animals after Shakespeare’s characters.”

  “Is he the fellow who wrote Romeo and Judy?”

  “Juliet, and yes,” she answered, giving him an inquisitive look. “Johnny, do you know how to read?”

  He shook his head. “Never had the chance to learn. I took to the seas as soon as I was tall enough, and my mum didn’t know so she couldn’t teach me.”

  “What about you Henry?”

  “I learned a little bit from my brothers,” he told her. “I’m not the most skilled, but I can read and write enough to manage.”

  She smiled as an idea occurred to her. “Boys, I’ve decided not to tell Logan about Puck’s little adventure on one condition: Henry, you will teach Johnny the alphabet and how to write his name. I think you’ll find reading to be an enjoyable escape from your dull duties, and maybe I’ll even lend you a few of my books. Do we have a deal?”