Passion's Tide (8 page)

The skinny, freckled boy of nineteen laughed
.
“You know my weakness, Captain.”

“Everyone knows your weakness, you damn fool,” Deacon told him with a grin
.
“You make a habit of running
at the
mouth to everyone who will listen about the chits you bed every time we
dock, though we all know you’re lying and ain
’
t never seen the inside of a woman’s skirt.”

Logan stopped the young boy from making a rude comment to the taller, stronger Irishman, and waved them on
.
Still arguing
,
they picked up the heavy trunk and began shuffling up the plank
.
Logan turned again to the doctor, who was busy preparing his tools to amputate Abraham’s leg just
below
the knee, where a ball from a pistol had shattered the bone
.
Unable to retrieve the bullet and afraid
the wound
might become infected, Piers had decided the best course of action would be to remove the leg
.
Logan called one of the eager sailors over and instructed him to bring him a bottle of the strongest alcohol he could find, then went to sit by Abraham, who was sweating and shaking. The sailor returned with two pints of whisky, one of which Logan opened and handed to Abe.

“Cheers,” the man said with a hint of a smile as he raised t
he
bottle to his lips. When he lowered it again, it was empty
.
Logan took the bottle and turned to the young sailor, who had noticed the doctor’s saw and had gone quite pale.

“What’s your name, lad?”

“Henry, Captain.”

“Well, Henry, have you ever seen something like this?”

“No sir, this is my first voyage.”  He
glanced
nervously at the doctor, and back at Abraham, who was beginning to feel the
e
ffects of the whisky and was calling out to get it over with.

Logan nodded
.
“Give me your knife, Henry.”  He did, and Logan offered it to Abraham, who took the wooden hilt between his teeth
.
“I’m going to need you to come around here, to the other side of Abe, and hold him down
.
Can you do that?” 
Henry
nodded, and as they restrained the man, the doctor began sawing through his leg
.
Abraham bit down on the knife in his mouth to keep from screaming and did his best not to struggle, though sweat poured down his face, contorted in agony
.
Henry looked like he was about to be sick, but met Logan’s eyes and the encouraging smile he received gave him the strength to stay put
.
Finally, Piers was done
and h
e
sealed the wound with a hot poker to stop the blood
.
Abraham passed out from the pain and the doctor wiped the saw on his apron and moved on to the next wounded man, who luckily only needed a bandage
.

Logan clapped Henry on the shoulder. “You just did a fine thing there, Henry
.
That was very brave of you.”  The boy beamed as color slowly returned to his face
.
“How old are you?”

“I am but four and ten, Captain.”

“Fourteen, eh?” With a smile he led the boy to the side of the ship
.
“I want you to go find Johnny
.
He’s a year older than you, but he should help you settle right in
.
Tell him that I sent you, and that he has orders to show you around.” Henry
smiled
and saluted, a sweet but unnecessary gesture, th
en shimmied up the rope ladder and onto the pirate ship
.

“Well Cap’n, this here’s the last of the lady’s things.” Logan turned to see Pax and Deacon effortlessly lifting a trunk between them.

“I take it this one is easier to carry?”

“Aye,” Pax said with a mischievous grin
.
“We took the liberty of lookin’ inside this one too, just to make sure it wasn’t books.”

“And?”

“Petticoats,” Pax told him, his grin widening
.
“And all sorts of pretty lacy things.”

“Why don’t you tell the Cap’n about the stockings yo
u swiped, you stupid boy,” offered Deacon
.
Logan eyed Pax questioningly
.
The young pirate sighed and reached into his pants pocket, pulling out a pair of white silk stockings
.

“I didn’t mean no harm by it, I swear. I was going to give ‘em back.”

“You’ll put them back now, where you found them, and perhaps I won’t mention this conversation to Miss Amber
.
I’m sure you wouldn’t want to ruin your reputation with her before she even knows your name?” Pax bobbed his head in agreement and threw open the lid of the trunk, shoving the stockings into a back corner
.

The contents of the trunk caught Logan’s eye
.
Pax wasn’t lying when he said it was full of lacy things
. H
is gaze wandered over the corsets, petticoats, garters, stockings, silk shifts…

The lid slammed shut, breaking his concentration
.
He cleared his throat and gestured for the two men to continue, then ran a hand through his hair again and shoved his hat back onto his head
.
It was going to be harder than he thought, having a woman on his ship
.

Amber was
immediately
struck by the size of the
Imperial Shadow
.
After climbing the rope ladder and
jumping down
to the main deck, she swallowed the lump in her throat and looked around
.
Like the
Queen Charlotte
it had three tall masts with square sails, but the pirate ship was much longer, the rigging intensely more complex
.
She watched men scurry up and down the masts and ropes like
squirrels in the forest
,
and
observed as the black Jolly Roger came down and was replaced with British colors again
.
Before she could look at anything else, however, Buck laid a hand on her elbow and steered her towards the stern of the ship and up to the quarterdeck. Raised in front of her was the sterncastle deck, with the steering column and two staircases leading up to it, and above that was yet another deck.

Amber was too busy trying to remember the names of the different levels of the ship that she hadn’t noticed Buck opening a door between the staircases until he
gestured for her to enter.

She did and turned, only to find that he had already shut the door in her face
.
The distinct sound of a key turning in the lock only intensified the anger that racked her body
.
She was a prisoner
.

Silen
tly reprimanding herself to contain the tears of frustration that threatened to pour from her eyes, she smoothed down
her skirts
and
glanced
around at the room
.
Sunlight poured in from the large windows along the wall, illuminating the cabin and making it glow
.
A large bed was pushed against the opposite wall, plush with blankets and pillows
.
In the center of the room there was a long wooden table covered with maps and charts, a half empty bottle of rum sitting next to an open compass and a thick, leather-bound book
.
She was about to pick up the book when she heard the lock click and two men entered the room, carrying
the first of her
trunk
s
between them.

Catching her by surprise, one of them swept off his hat and gave her a small bow
.
“Allow me to introduce myself
.
My name is Paxton Grant, though my friends call me Pax
.
And I hope we can become friends, Lady Townsend,” he told her with a roguish wink
.

The other man roll
ed
his eyes toward the ceiling. “Don’t be paying him the least bit of att
ention,
M
iss
.
He flirts with all the pretty ladies.”

Amber decided that any ally would be helpful, and put on her sweetest smile. “Nonsense, how could I possibly ignore such a charming man?” she
said
, realizing that Pax must be at least two years
younger than she was
.
“Besides, I’m sure we will become
close
friends
.
And please, call me Amber.”

Pax grinned flirtatiously at her
.
The other man had to grab his arm and pull him out the door
.
In minutes they had carried the next trunk in, then left and brought in the third.

Pax winked at her again as he left, but the door was shut and locked much as it had been before, destroying any hope that he might take pity on her
.
With a sigh Amber turned around and noticed the broken locks on all three of her trunks
.

She ran across the room and threw open the one closest to her
.
In it lay an exquisite ivory gown, carefully folded, exactly how she had left it
.
She burrowed under it to make sure all of her other dresses were there; they were.

Slamming that one shut, she opened the black one containing her books
.
What had once contained organized stacks
was
now
in disarray. A bit of rummaging and counting confirmed, however, that all her books were there
.

A foray through the third, now m
essy
,
trunk verified her belief that someone, probably Pax and that other man, had riffled through her things
.

“I assure you, nothing is missing.” Amber spun around to see the Captain leaning against the doorframe, casually watching her
.
She hadn’t even heard him come in.

Getting to her feet, she brushed off her dress
.
“Then explain to me the broken locks, and the disorder.” He shrugged and gave her a wry smile, one that caused her to inexplicably feel the slightest bit weak in the knees.

“I believe Pax
and Deacon felt they had a right to know what they were carrying, and I can’t say I blame them. You were so adamant about having your things, they wondered what was so special about them.” He pulled himself up
right
and entered the room, shutting the door behind him
.
“But I can promise you that neither of them took anything
.
They were merely
satisfying
a curiosity, and surely you cannot begrudge them that right.”

Amber stared at him in shock
.
“You speak awfully well for…for a…”

“For a what, Lady Amber, a pirate?” He pulled off his hat and threw it onto the table
.
“A rogue? A scoundrel?”

She nodded and hoped her blush wasn’t too noticeable
.
He opened his mouth to continue, but stopped when a huge explosion outside made Amber jump
.

“What in
G
od
’s name was that?” she exclaimed as she ran over to the windows, which, unlike on the other ship, covered the entire wall and allowed her to easily see from them
.

“I’m assuming that was the fire reaching the stores of gunpowder on the
Queen Charlotte
” he told her,
studying
her with amusement
.
“Would you like to go outside and watch?”

“May I?” she asked him, momentarily forgetting that she was supposed to hate him
.

Logan opened the door and stepped aside as she ran out onto the deck, then followed her
.
He led her up the stairs onto the forecastle deck where she scampered over to the railing to better see the burning ship
.
All around her pirates cheered, watching as the sails caught on fire, the foremast cracking under the pressure and falling to the deck with a loud crash.
Alongside the ship floated the small longboat, packed with unhappy sailors shouting and rowing away from the burning wreckage.

Logan stood back and observed Amber
.
Her face was lit up with what he could only describe as childlike amusement, her hair glowing as it reflected the flames, a wide
smile
on her face as she leaned over the railing
.
He was bewildered
.