Authors: Sarah West
Passion's Tide (20 page)
A nagging thought kept pushing against her subconscious: what ship? Her brain won the battle with her body and she sat up with a start, immediately regretting the swift movement as her vision began swimming.
She fell back against the pil
lows of what she now knew was Logan’s bed onboard the
Imperial Shadow
, groaning as she clutched her throbbing head
.
The after-effects of the alcohol did nothing to buffer her against the onslaught of memories that rushed back to her from the previous night; her failed escape attempt, the attack, Logan’s rescue, the kiss, her foolish
inhibition
.
A pink flush crept up her cheeks as she recalled in vivid detail what had occurred after Logan returned from his raid
.
She was humiliated
.
How could she have thrown herself at him in such a wanton manner? And then she remembered the heat she
had
felt, the burning desire that had her writhing under him, her body aching for the release it instinctively knew must follow such searing passion
.
And how he had turned her down
.
Though she supposed she should probably thank him for not taking advantage of her, the defiant part of her brain still contended that he
had
taken advantage of her by leading her on and then denying her the thing she w
anted the most: himself
.
She threw back the covers and saw, to her horror, that she was wearing a thin cotton nightgown that she had packed at the bottom of one of her trunks. This me
ant that Logan had rifled through her clothes and dressed her upon th
eir arrival back on the ship. She groaned. Had he carried her naked through the streets of Tortuga? She looked around and saw no evidence of the clothes she had been wearing the previous night, the ones she had been all to eager to rid herself of after a s
ingle kiss.
Amber realized that her fists were clenched so tightly that her fingers had gone white
.
She released them and waited for feeling to return, fury simmering inside
her
.
Well, she wasn’t the type to just give up when she faced an obstacle, and this time would be no different
.
A plan still hatching in her mind, she sat up and swung her legs over the side of the bed, then forced back the urge to vomit and
stumbled
across the room to the door.
Logan was sitting at the table in the galley, nursing a cup of coffee and a frown when Eli found him
.
“I take it she’s still asleep?”
“How’d you guess?”
Eli plopped himself down on a barrel and stole a sip of Logan’s coffee. “B
ecause if she was awake she would have torn you apart by now and scattered your remains all over the deck. And I’d have to clean you up.”
The brooding pirate glared at him
.
“Don’t you have anywhere else you could be?”
“No I don’t. As acting best friend,
I’m required to be there at all times to make you regret any stupid decisions made on your part
.
Check the pirate code, it’s in there after the bit about getting four hundred pieces of eight if you get your right leg chopped off.”
“It’s five hundred fo
r your right leg, four hundred for your left.”
“
Details
.
But regardless, my point has nothing to do with the amount of money you receive for losing your big toe or your pinky finger—”
“You
get one hundred for each finger, and as far as I know,
nothing for a toe.”
Eli rolled his eyes
.
“Are you just trying to keep me off topic?”
“Yes.”
“Well, congratulations
.
Now I’m preoccupied, wondering why the hell a poor bloke who loses his toe is any less important than the guy without a little finger.”
Abe limped into the galley,
dragging
a sack of sweet potatoes
behind him
.
“I’ve always wondered why we even have toes in the first place
.
I mean, what do they even do?”
“They help with balance,” Logan said as he stood to help Abe lift the sack onto the table
.
“And someone should be helping you
.
Where did Henry and Johnny get off to?”
“Oh, they were more of a hindrance than a help, what with the weather being so nice outside, so I sent them to play
.
And I can manage just fine, so don’t you worry about me
.
I think you should focus on what you’re aiming to do about that girl you left passed out in your bed, wearing naught but a blanket wrapped ‘round her!”
Logan groaned
.
“She’s not wearing the damn blanket anymore
.
I had the decency to put some clothes on her.”
“Is it decency when you were the one to rid her of her clothes in the first place?” Eli pondered as he dipped a finger into Abe’s mixing bowl, snatching it back
before he got swatted with a spoon.
“Wonderful, Eli, w
hy don’t you tell everyone the sordid details of my private life?”
“Begging your pardon, Cap’n, but it’s not so private when you carry her back on board in the wee hours of the morning, unconscious and naked as the day she was born.”
Eli winked at the cook
.
“Well said, Abe!”
Logan sighed. “With any luck she won’t even remember what happened last night
.
”
Eli studied his face
.
“What actually did happen last night, Logan? I tend to stay out of your affairs,” Logan snorted at this, which Eli chose to ignore, “but I’ve grown pretty fond of Amber, and if you did something to hurt her…”
“ Are we talking about how Logan bedded Miss Amber last night?” asked Pax with a
smirk
as he strolled into the room, Deacon at his heels.
“I didn’t bed anyone, damn it!” Logan fumed.
“I told him to stay out of your business, Captain,” defended Deacon, with a pointed look at the freckled teenager
.
“He just doesn’t listen to reason
.
I says to him it’s not his place to be asking questions about Amber’s deflowering—”
Logan’s chair toppled over as he leapt to his feet
.
“For the last time! I did not deflower, defile or compromise Amber last night!”
“Relax, Logan
.
We only thought—”
“I know what you thought, Eli, and I won’t lie and say it hasn’
t been haunting my ever
y thought since it bloody happened.” As soon as the words came out he wished he could take them back.
A puzzled look came across Eli’s face
.
“But why should you worry? You just said that nothing happened! If she’s still innocent…” He saw Logan’s eyes darken, and he sighed. “Oh Logan, you didn’t.”
“You devil!” Pax exclaimed with a giant grin, which was wiped from his face as Deacon hit him on the side of the head
.
Abe concentrated on mixing the contents of his bowl, and avoided eye contact with everyone in the room.
“Shit, Logan!” Eli groaned, rubbing a hand across his face
.
“What are you going to do?”
“What do you mean, what’s he gunna do? He doesn’t have to do anything!” interjected Pax
.
“Except maybe finish the job, if you know what I…All right, all right! You don’t have to glare, Cap’n. I get the picture, I’m leaving.” He was about to exit the room when Johnny brushed by him, looking anxious and scared
.
Pax smiled and leaned against the wall to watch
.
“This
o
ught to be entertaining.”
Lo
gan scowled
.
“If you don’t get out of my sight, you’ll be scrubbing the deck for the next two weeks
.
Got that?”
“But, I—”
“By yourself.”
“But I just—”
“With the smallest brush I can find.”
Eli cracked a
smile
as Pax stormed from the room muttering angrily to himself, Deacon shaking his head as he followed him
.
Logan turned to Johnny, who during the argument had attempted to make himself as invisible as possible by pressing up against the wall
.
“What is it?”
“It’s Amber, Cap’n
.
You said you wanted to know when she woke up.”
“You look like you’ve seen the ghost of Davy Jones, boy
. C
ome and have a cup of coffee to settle your nerves,” Abe said, pouring the boy a mug.
Logan stood to give the boy his seat at the table. “What’s gotten you so sh
aken?”
“It was Amber, Cap’n.”
“Did she yell at you?” Eli asked, thinking back to her previous heated arguments.
“That’s the strange thing. She didn’t scream, or yell, or hit me or anything.”
Eli glanced over at Logan. “I don’t know how, but it sounds like you lucked out
.
If she remembered what happened last night she’d be furious.”
“Oh, she’s mad all right
.
You’d know it if you saw her
.
I could tell she was trying real hard not to raise her voice, and her eyes…” the usually stoic boy shuddered
.
“She reminded me of a wolf about to slaughter a wounded rabbit, she looked so mean.”
“Great,” murmured Logan with a sigh
.
“What did she say to you?”
“She said she wanted her clothes from last night.”
“Tell her that losing her dress was her own fault,
and that there was no hope of saving her shift, so I just left it at the inn.”
“She told me you’d say that,” replied Johnny with unease, “and she told me to tell you she didn’t mean those clothes
.
She meant the ones she received from the innkeeper’s daughter, the ones…” he dropped his gaze to his feet, “she said the ones you stole from her last night.” There was a moment of strained silence.
“I wonder what she wants those dingy pants for,” mused Abe.
“She’s just being defiant,” replied Logan
.
“But in any case, what did you do with them, Eli?”
“I just tossed them in the hold
.
I didn’t know what else to do with them, but I figured we might as well keep them in case we
make a habit of
abducting females, or if Johnny suddenly decided to sprout hips.”
The young boy looked pe
trified at the prospect that he might one day be as curvy as the beautiful redhead
.
“You don’t think it’s contagious, do you?”
“I’m fairly certain you’re safe,” Eli reassured him with a chuckle.
“Still, if it’s the same to you Cap’n, I’d
rather not go back in there just yet.”
Logan stood
.
“Don’t worry, Johnny
.
I was planning on bringing her the clothes myself.”
Eli’s eyes narrowed
.
“Keeping an eye on her, Logan?”
“Something like that,” he said as he swept his hat off the table and left
.
Sitting at the wooden table, Amber squinted against the harsh sunlight streaming into the cabin, which seemed brighter than
any other morning
.
That and her throbbing head did nothing to help her foul mood
.
So when she heard the door open behind her, she simply lifted a hand, directing Johnny to drop the clothes on the bed and leave
.
She was not prepared for the voice that pushed its way through the fog of her mind.
“How’s your head feeling?”
Closing her eyes against the
intruding sound, which echoed loudly through her skull, she sighed
.
“I feel great, thanks for asking
.
Now leave.”
And then he was in front of her, or at least she thought the blurry vision that kept going in and out of focus resembled Logan
.
He was carrying a pitcher of water and a mug, and went through the motions of pouring her some
.
He slid it in front of her, but she turned away
.
“You should drink it, it will help.” She didn’t respond, and he tried again
.
“You have what’s called a hangover, Amber.”
She jumped to her feet
.
“Good lord, Logan, I’m not a complete imbecile!” She caught hold of the edge of the table for support as she turned on him
.
“I know what a hangover is, believe it or not
.
I also know how to read, write, do arithmetic, and oh, I even know where babies come from!”
“While we’re on the subject—”
“No
.
Absolutely not
.
The subject is closed, off-limits forever
.
What happened was a mistake…now stop moving around so much, I can’t focus on you!”
He grabbed her arm to keep her steady
.
“Amber, I’m not moving
.
And we need to talk about what happened last night.”
“Nothing happened,” she said defensively as she pulled her arm from his grasp, stumbling in the process.
His eyes narrowed
.
“That’s a lie, and you know it.”
“I know no such thing
.
Now leave.”
“Not until yo
u stop pretending that you weren’t affected by our actions. Something happened
;
you must have felt it too.”
“I felt nothing for you
.
I
feel
nothing for you
.
Now go away!” She planted a palm against his chest and shoved, but only
succeed
ed in pushing
herself backwards, tripping over a chair and
catching herself at the last moment
.
With her last remaining shred of dignity she flipped her hair over her shoulder and stalked past the fuming pirate, who watched her through stormy eyes
.
She approached the pile of clothes on the bed, picking up the shirt and holding it against her body
.
“This isn’t the shirt I had last night.”
“That one got ripped, remember?” he asked, pleased to see a flush cover her pale face
.
“So it did affect you, didn’t it?” She turned and faced the bed, clutching the shirt between her hands like a lifeline
.
He approached her
.
“Now, I’m curious sweetheart, are you upset about what happened, or about what
didn’t
happen?” He felt the pain before he realized that she had stomped down on his foot
.
Chiding himself for taunting her, he limped across the room and settled down into one of the chairs
.
Her hand moved to the hem of her nightdress, and then she looked over her shoulder at him
.
“Do you mind?”
“Actually, yes.” He turned though, allowing her a tiny bit of privacy
.
“Why are you doing this, anyway?”
“Doing what? Refusing to let myself be a burden to anyone?”
“I don’t follow you
.”
“Of course you wouldn’t, you’re a man
.
You’re the source of the problem.”
“I take offense
at
that,” he said, sparing a glance in her direction and wishing he hadn’t as soon as he saw the bare expanse of her back
.
She ignored his comment and slipped the shirt on
.
“The moment I
set
foot on the
Queen Charlotte
, the crew made it a point to ignore me, or treat me as if I was a fragile glass figurine
.
Either way, the message was clear: women do not belong on ships.” He made to speak, but she cut him off
.
“Don’t try to deny it, Logan
.
Your men were hardly any better; I saw the looks you received when you told them I was to be abducted as well.
“I’m sick of receiving questioning glances from your men, wondering what I’m doing every n
ight in your cabin, why I’m getting special treatment, and just resenting my very presence on the ship.”
“And so you think that dressing like a man is going to win you the crew’s favor?”
“I’ve already told you I’m not an idiot, Logan, I know that won’t work
.
Which is precisely why I’m
joining
your crew
.
If I’m going to be stuck on this ship with you for another two months
until we arrive in England
, then damn it, I’m going to work for my passage!”
“You can’t be serious.”
“I have never been more serious.” Prepared to point out t
he flaws in her reasoning, Logan looked up to see her standing in front of the mirror with a knife in one hand and a handful of hair in the other
.
He ran to her side and grabbed her wrist before she could cut a single strand.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” he demanded as tore the knife from her grasp and tossed it onto the bed.
“What am I doi
ng? What are you doing! What makes you think you have the right to stop me from doing anything?”
“I put up with your attitude, I indulge your ridiculous
requests, and I’ll even allow you to parade around my ship wearing those seductive clothes and pretending to be a pirate.”
“How on earth are these seductive?”
“I will not, however, allow you to touch even one lock of that hair.”
She was fuming
.
“How dare you! Who the hell do you think you are?”
He planted his feet and stared down at her
.
“I’m your Captain, or did you forget already? As a member of my crew, you are under my direction and care, and your first order is to erase all thoughts of cutting your hair from your mind.” He walked to his dresser and opened the top drawer, pulling a red bandana from it
.
“Here, tie it back if it gets in your face, but don’t you ever cut it.” His anger dissipated and he reached up to wrap a finger around a curl
.
“It’s much too beautiful to be tamed.”
Her mouth was suddenly dry
.
“I suppose you’re going to say that the same goes for me, as well.”
He smiled
.
“You have me confused with one of your love-struck suitors, Amber
.
I know better, that you are far too bull-headed to ever be tamed
.
God help the poor sap who thinks he ever can.” His hand darted out and caught hers mid-air
.
“I’m growing tired of you trying to slap me all the time.”
“It worked once,” she rebutted, trying to wrench her hand from his grasp
.
He gripped it harder and pulled her against him.
“Yes, but only because I was enjoying our first kiss far too much to anticipate your anger
.
I wonder though,” he said as his gaze dropped to her lips, “if you can deny the attraction between us after what happened last night.”
He dropped his lips to hers, letting her hand go so he could cup her face and tilt it to meet his, perfecting the angle between them
.
He felt himself becoming aroused as he savagely kissed her, one hand moving to tangle in her hair and driving his hips into her body. Only after the initial passion wore off did he realize that she hadn’t moved to kiss him back
.
He looked down, startled to see that her face was frozen in a look of complete disinterest
.
“I can, an
d I just did.”
He watched in disbelief as she walked around him and left the room, shutting the door behind her
.
But he didn’t s
ee her lean against the doorframe and shut her eyes, in a
n
attempt to regain her composure from the reeling kiss she had just used every ounce of willpower not to react to
.
Once her knees stopped shaking, she pulled herself together and set off to begin her first day of piracy.
