Master of Seduction (16 page)

“Nothing?”

He shook his head.

Kit gave her a superior look. “I told you the captain is perfect. Cunning and—”

“And you wonder why I have a big head,” Jack said, giving Kit a light hug. “With this one around to always tout my abilities, ’twould be impossible to be humble.”

“Practice,” Lorelei said, arching a haughty brow, “I’m told, makes perfect.”

Jack laughed. How he loved matching wits with her. He’d never before met a woman so quick.

“Billy!” Kit shouted in Jack’s ear.

Wincing, Jack let the boy go.

Kit raced along the deck to Billy, who was just about to take a sail up the fore mast. “You said I could help you the next time you hung a big sail. Can I, huh? Can I help you hang the sail?”

Billy looked up at Jack, who nodded.

“All right, Kit,” Billy relented. “But you have to be careful.”

“I’ll be careful. Just you watch. I’ll be as careful as…as…as something that’s really careful, that’s what.”

Jack laughed, then turned back to Lorelei, who had risen to her feet. She had her arms crossed over her chest as the light breeze tickled her hair. Her face bore just a trace of pink from being out in the sun without a hat or bonnet. The color looked good on her.

“Now what was this about my being honest and brave?” he teased her.

She looked to her right while she squirmed. “You heard that, did you?”

“Hmm.”

Her gaze shifted back to his for an instant before she looked somewhere else. “It was for Kit’s benefit. I couldn’t very well tell him what I really thought of you, now could I?”

How he loved teasing her, especially when it brought out the provocative blush that was creeping over her face as she looked anywhere but at him.

“And what is it that you really think of me?”

Clasping her hands behind her back, she squinted her eyes toward the ocean. “That you’re arrogant.”

He smiled. “I’ll grant you that.”

Her gaze drifted to his before she looked away again. Lorelei appeared to be giving the matter much thought. “Irritating,” she said plainly.

“I can be.”

A twinge of anger darkened her eyes. He could tell she didn’t care for his ready acquiescence to her insults. “Infuriating.”

His smile widened. “I try to be.”

This time, she met his gaze levelly. “Why are you being so accommodating?”

He shrugged. “You’re speaking the truth and I never argue with truth.”

Jack leaned forward and placed his hands against the railing behind her, trapping her between his arms. The scent of lavender rose up from her skin and idle strands of her hair tickled his face and neck as the wind blew them about. “Do you wish to know what I think of you?”

“Definitely not,” she said primly.

Jack leaned forward a tad to take in more of her intoxicating perfume. When he spoke, his voice was a hoarse whisper. “I find you delectable.”

“Excuse me?” She quickly diverted her gaze.

“Beautiful. Exquisite.” Jack breathed the words in her ear as he brushed the back of his fingers over the softness of her neck.

She quivered. Beneath his fingertips, he could feel her pulse quicken. How he ached to kiss her, to feel her nails dig into his back.

If only they weren’t in full sight of his crew.

And his son, he realized with a start. Licking his lips, which ached to kiss her, he pulled away.

“Billy!”

Jack turned at the sharp scream to see Billy far above deck, hanging by his foot. Kit was tangled in the rigging, clinging to the mast for dear life, and Alice was running about below them like a mad-woman.

“Help!” Alice screamed again. “Someone help him!”

Without thought, Jack ran toward the mast where Billy dangled.

L
orelei looked up the rigging to where Billy was tangled in ropes. It looked as if he’d tripped on his way up and one of the ropes had caught about his ankle.

He swung in a macabre arc upside down about fifty feet above the deck.

Her mouth dropped as her heart pounded in sheer terror.

When one of the men started to climb up, another one grabbed him by the arm. “The rope’s giving way. It’ll snap before you get halfway up.”

Alice was running from man to man begging each one to save her husband.

Jack took a moment to survey the scene, then he grabbed a rope off the deck and coiled it quickly about his body. He climbed up the mizzen stay to the mainmast, then secured himself to the cross-beam as he tried to reach Billy.

Her throat dry, Lorelei didn’t know what to do. Kit was still upright and clinging to the rigging above Billy, his young face ashen.

Dear Lord, please
, she prayed,
don’t let them die
.

What on earth had happened?

Jack’s perch on the cross-section looked about as tenuous as Billy’s situation. Still, he appeared calm.

“Billy,” Jack said, his loud voice somehow soothing as he unwound the rope from around his shoulders and lowered a piece to Billy. “Take a deep breath and reach for the rope.”

“I can’t!” Billy shouted, his voice filled with terror.

“Yes, you can,” Jack assured him, making her wonder how he could remain so serene while death faced him, his son, and one of his crew. “Besides, if you don’t take the rope, Alice will run off with Davy.”

“I’ll kill them both,” Billy snarled an instant before he grabbed the rope.

Jack had just pulled him upright when the rigging broke from under Billy. The heavy, tangled ropes and sail fell with a rush to the deck. Billy screamed in agony as the rope against his ankle was pulled taut. For a moment, she feared both he and Jack would be pulled to their deaths.

The sail hit the deck with such force that it jarred the boards under her feet and sent a rush of air over her. Lorelei stared at it, realizing that if it had broken even a second before it would have killed Billy.

Billy was screaming and twisting as he sought to maintain his grip.

“Cut the damned rope from his leg!” Jack snarled.

Tarik rushed forward to oblige. As soon as the rope was cut free, Jack stumbled back into thin air.

“Daddy!” Kit screamed from his place in the rigging at the same time Lorelei gasped Jack’s name.

Jack had lost his footing, but somehow he managed to catch himself against the mast and not lose his grip on Billy.

Time seemed suspended as Billy hung far above the deck, whimpering in pain while Jack attempted to right himself and find solid footing again.

Why wasn’t someone helping them?

Kit started toward Jack.

“Stay away,” Jack warned and she saw the fear and confusion on Kit’s face as he stared at his father, who was just a few feet away, powerless to help him.

Lorelei whispered a prayer for them.

And then, somehow, Jack found his footing and slowly he began to lower Billy toward the deck. Alice ran to her husband, sobbing as she threw herself into his arms.

Still dazed by what she’d witnessed, Lorelei watched as Jack dropped the rope, then made his way to Kit, who hadn’t moved. Together, they made their way down the rigging to the safety of the deck.

This time when Jack surveyed his crew, she saw the raw, untamed anger that creased his brow.

“What the hell were you doing?” he asked Billy.

“The rigging broke under me, Captain.”

A sailor of about thirty came forward with a piece of the rope from the fallen rigging. “It was just weather damage, Captain,” he said, holding it up for Jack to see.

Jack grabbed the piece and studied it. When he looked up at his crew, Lorelei realized this was the fearsome face of Black Jack Rhys that made grown men shake in terror. “How many times do I have to tell you to double-check the rigging?”

The pirates all looked sheepish.

Shaking his head, Jack dropped the rigging. “Someone clean up this mess.” He looked over to Billy. “And you, take the rest of the day off and calm your wife before she loses that baby she carries.”

Jack started toward Lorelei. “Now I’m sober,” he muttered irritably as he neared her. “But my head still aches.”

“You,” she said, enunciating every word slowly and with emphasis, “are insane.”

Jack ignored her as he handed Kit over to Kesi. “You,” he growled at Kit, “are not allowed to climb the rigging again until you’re grown.”

“Aw, Captain. I wasn’t the one who fell.”

“No, but you could have been.” Jack looked at Kesi. “Take him below where he can’t get into trouble.”

“But I wasn’t in trouble!”

Jack’s face would have melted ice. “You will be if you don’t obey me.”

Kit pursed his lips in an effort not to say anything more as Kesi led him to the deck ladder.

“I thought you were dead,” Lorelei said, taking the three steps that separated them.

Jack turned to look at her. “You mean you hoped I was dead.”

“No,” she corrected. “In spite of what you think, I don’t want you dead, Jack. And I’m glad you weren’t hurt.”

Jack watched in stunned surprise as Lorelei turned around and left him standing in the middle of the deck. Her words rang in his ears. And in that instant something vile and terrifying whipped through him. It was stupid, really, just a vague thought no doubt dredged up from his past.

Yet it was there, tormenting him.

What would it be like to have a woman like Lorelei actually care for him? To have her scream out for someone to help him the way Alice had done for Billy?

To know that if he’d tumbled to the ground, she would have mourned for him?

In spite of his denials with Lorelei, he knew what love was and he knew it did exist. At least it did for other people, if never for him.

Love was when someone loved you more than they loved themselves. It was when your life was more important to them than their own.

No one had ever given him that. Ever.

And no one ever would.

Lorelei doesn’t care if you die this instant
, his mind whispered.
Why should she
?

Thadeus would have cared, he argued back. As did Kit.

“
You’re worthless, boy
,” his mother’s voice whispered in bitter, drunken anger. “
Absolutely worthless. I should have killed myself the minute I found out I carried you. But I was stupid. I thought I might actually be able to love you. God, what a fool I was. If not for you, I’d have had a decent life. You ruined me and you will always ruin everything you touch. It’s the curse of your father’s blood
.”

Jack closed his eyes against the truth. It was his curse and it tainted everything about him.

Someone touched his arm. He turned to see Sarah standing behind him with a mug held in her hands. She urged him to take it.

“Thank you, Sarah.”

She motioned to ask him if he were all right.

“I’m always fine, aren’t I?”

She shook her head no.

Jack would have laughed, but he didn’t quite feel up to it. “Lay aside your fears. There’s nothing wrong with me a good dose of your brew won’t cure.”

She arched a doubtful brow and asked him if he were thinking of Lorelei.

“No,” he answered. “I was thinking about the past, which is a great waste of time.”

She nodded.

“Sarah?” Mavis called from the deck ladder. “May I borrow you for a minute?”

She excused herself and Jack went to find a quiet corner of the ship where he could let his head pound in peace and think no more thoughts of his past, or of the petite redhead who made him yearn for things he knew he couldn’t have.

L
orelei sat at a small table in the galley taking her afternoon tea with Kesi, Alice, Mavis, and Sarah. Jack had retired to his cabin and no one had seen much of him.

“Well,” Mavis was saying as she placed her china teacup back in its saucer on the table. “I’m certainly glad Billy is all right.”

“But you, Alice,” Kesi said in a chiding tone, “should have told us you were pregnant.”

Alice blushed. “I was going to tell all of you later today. I only told Billy yesterday. He must have told Jack last night while they were drinking.”

“We’ll be having a fine celebration,” Kesi said with a smile.

Sarah pointed to Lorelei and spoke gently with her hands.

“I’m sorry, Sarah,” Lorelei said. “You’re moving your hands too fast. I don’t understand.”

Mavis cleared her throat. “She says she’s worried about Jack.”

Lorelei frowned. “Jack?”

Sarah gestured.

“She say he’s different lately,” Kesi translated. “He doesn’t keep to himself as much.”

Lorelei turned to stare at Kesi.

Kesi shrugged. “’Tis the truth. He hardly ever spent much time with the rest of us, except for Kit.”

“I think he values his privacy,” Lorelei said.

Alice sipped at her tea. “I think he’s lonely and doesn’t know how relate to people.”

Lorelei laughed at the thought. “I honestly don’t believe that’s the problem. He seems to adapt to people with remarkable skill.”

“No,” Kesi corrected as she chose another tea biscuit. “He adapts to situations with remarkable skill. As for people…”

“He hides,” Alice finished for her. “Oh, he’ll drink with the men and is friendly enough, but when it comes to talking about himself or what he likes to do, he’s as silent as a tomb.”

Lorelei nodded in agreement. That was certainly true enough.

“But you,” Alice said. “You, he treats differently. He actually seeks you out to speak with you.”

“Only to torment me, I assure you.”

Mavis leaned forward. “And does his presence torment you?”

Lorelei blushed.

Alice laughed. “Just what we thought!”

“I am spoken for,” Lorelei said sincerely.

“You may be spoken for,” Mavis said, “but it doesn’t change the fact that you like Jack.”

“He’s nice enough,” Lorelei agreed. “Sometimes anyway.”

But in spite of her denial, Lorelei knew the truth. She was attracted to the scoundrel. Terribly.

She enjoyed his company. He was, dare she admit it, quite fun to be around.

“None of it matters anyway,” Lorelei said. “He’s only around me so that he can seduce me.”