Sarah's Pirate (2 page)

Chapter Two

Captain Jordan Bowman shook his head as he chuckled. The woman was as fiery as her hair and judging by her actions so far, probably not too bright. She lay sleeping on the cot in one of his holding cells, the black eyes from her broken nose contrasting sharply with her pale skin. He’d been worried that after so many stun hits she might be permanently damaged, but the ship’s medic had assured him that she was fine and would sleep off the worst of it. She’d probably wake with a killer headache, but well, he could probably use that to his advantage.

He honestly looked forward to the temper tantrum that would surely follow. The medic had offered to heal her broken nose, but the ship’s medical resources were scarce, and besides, Jordan believed in keeping his options open. At least this way he’d have something to bargain with—give him her co-operation and he’d fix her face.

Laughing softly, Jordan turned to leave the room, but the woman groaned, and he spun back quickly. Swollen eyes blinked heavily against the light, and another moan escaped as she tried to sit up. He knew the moment she realized her gun was gone. Deep blue eyes locked onto his as a deep growl issued through her clenched teeth.

“Give me back my gun,” she ordered as she straightened to her full height of five-foot-five. He grinned at her audacity. Locked in a cell, weaponless and injured, and still, the woman thought she could boss him around.

“Sorry, sweetheart,” he laughed, loving the way her eyes narrowed with her anger. “Poor G’ntriel still has a headache. Lucky her husband is around to kiss it better.”

“Husband?” she asked, bewilderment clearly written on her face. “That big guy was her husband?” He watched with amusement as she tried to hide the shiver that pulsed through her body.

He laughed at her again. “He’s much friendlier than he looks. Are you hungry?” he asked, trying to get the conversation back onto a saner topic.

“Of course I'm hungry,” she growled. “I've been trying to get the shipment of medicines to Heltor in the Flengorian system so that children’s lives will be saved. Not that you’d give a rat’s ass about dying children, but I haven’t slept or eaten properly in three days, trying to get to them as fast as possible.”

* * * *

He pinned her with his stare as his face turned angry, twin spots of color slashing across his cheekbones. “I care more than you understand.” The words were spoken quietly, leaving Sarah to wonder if he hadn't really wanted her to hear them, and then he turned and left the room.

Okay, mental note: When a man offers food, get said food BEFORE pissing him off
. Sarah rubbed her stomach as it rumbled loudly, reminding her yet again of how often she let her temper override her common sense. It felt like she’d been here forever, but in reality, it was probably only an hour or two. Still, food would’ve helped pass the time and shut up her stomach.

It growled again as a different man entered the room carrying a tray of food. It didn’t look very appealing, but the semi-edible smell made her stomach grumble even louder. He stopped several feet back from the force field that held her captive.

“Well, Sarah. I’m the closest thing we have to a doctor on this ship. Now we can do this the easy way or we can do this the hard way.”

“Just give me the damn food.” The man chuckled a little too happily at her grouchy tone.

“Captain said you had a temper,” he gloated as he dropped the food tray onto the bench beside him. “Looks like we get to do this the hard way.” He turned on his heel and headed back to the doorway, stuck his head into the hall, and nodded to someone. As he came back into the room, Sarah noticed three big ugly pirates follow him in.

“Okay,” the first man said calmly. “I’m going to fix that broken nose first and then you can have something to eat.” He nodded to the men behind him. The smaller one of the three stood back to level his stun pistol at her as the other two moved into the cell when the force field switched off.

Sarah’s entire body tensed for what could follow, and her breath caught in her throat at the realization of just how vulnerable she was. Hulking pirate number one grabbed her right hand as he entered, forcing it behind her back in an effort to subdue her. Instinct and temper overruled common sense yet again and she lashed out with her foot, kicking hulking pirate number two in the balls. She had a brief moment of satisfaction before hulking pirate number one twisted her arm so forcefully that she felt the muscle pop in her shoulder, a sure sign that the joint was about to dislocate.

Sarah tried to slow her breathing, tried to play it smart, tried to stay conscious through the pain as she held up her left arm in supplication.

“Okay, okay. I’ll behave. I promise.”

The pirate with the damaged package still rolled, moaning in pain on the floor as the “nearest thing they had to a doctor” helped him to stand. He grinned at the man’s obvious pain. “Shake it off Kingsley, unless, of course, you’re not man enough to hold down one little female.”

The man in question rose to his full, very imposing height, but he still looked a little green under the deep red stains on both cheekbones. Sarah tried really hard to concentrate on deciding whether the deep red blush was from pain, embarrassment, or both—anything to distract her from her own arm and the pain emanating down her back into her hips.

She watched almost in fascinated slow motion as he grabbed her ankles roughly, lifted her off her feet, and pushed all of her weight onto her trapped and twisted arm. She wasn't really sure, but she may have screamed in pain as her arm broke and the shoulder dislocated. Heat exploded through her body just before she very gratefully passed out.

* * * *

“Put her down,” the order growled through gritted teeth.

Both men holding the now-unconscious woman glanced at him before they dropped her onto the small cot, clearly unconcerned if she sustained further injuries. Jordon’s anger raised another notch and his phase pistol appeared in his hand so quickly that the men had little reaction time before he dropped them both.
Bloody pirates,
he thought, glaring threateningly at the two remaining men before he stepped into the cell to check the woman’s condition.

Jordon dropped onto one knee and opened the upper half of Sarah’s jumpsuit to reveal a badly dislocated shoulder, swollen forearm, and some already vicious bruising. He carefully levered the jumpsuit off her shoulders and pushed it down to her waist. Glad that she was already unconscious, he gripped her slim arm in his large hand and pushed the joint back into place.

“Heal her now!” Jordan glared at the medic, then stepped back and folded his arms across his chest. He’d spent the last half hour debriefing G’ntriel on her successful mission, learning all he could about the woman before him.

Even hung-over from Sarah’s stun shot, G’ntriel had spoken of her with great respect and admiration. Considering that G’ntriel didn’t really like other women, the praise had been nothing less than shocking. What could this small slip of a woman have done to impress someone as
un-impressible
as G’ntriel?

He watched the medic as he used precious resources to heal an injury that never should have happened. Damn, that was the problem with being a pirate. Quite often, the men surrounding you had their own ideas about what they could take. Every time something like this occurred—and it occurred with sickening regularity—Jordan reacted like any other Pirate Captain, ruthlessly and efficiently.

The men at his feet groaned as he kicked them both solidly in the ribs.

“Get up,” he ordered, standing over them aggressively as both men dragged themselves to a standing position, swaying in front of him like two drunken sailors on shore leave.

“Try that again and I will shove you out the airlock. Do we understand each other?”

“Yes, cap’n,” they both mumbled, squinting as they tried to focus their eyes.

“Report to waste disposal until further notice!” They both looked ready to complain, probably something along the lines of warriors don’t do cleaning duties, but considering that neither had recovered sufficiently from his stun gun to string together more than a few words, they both seemed to think better of it. Wobbling on unsteady feet, they shuffled towards the door.

“One last thing,” Jordan said, making sure that they both had to turn to face him before he continued. “Take special notice of how the ship’s waste grinder works. Wouldn’t want you to have an accident now, would we?”

Jordan couldn't even remember the name of the guy on the right, but judging by the way the man’s eyes widened, the message and barely veiled threat was received loud and clear.

He turned his attention back to the medic as he heard Sarah groan. She remained unconscious, but it was obvious that she was also in a great deal of pain. He again dropped to one knee, grabbed her cold hand, and warmed it in his own before he could think better of it.

The medic glanced down at their joined hands but wisely said nothing. Jordan wasn’t even sure why he was offering comfort to a woman who would most likely try to lodge his balls somewhere in his throat when she woke up, but still he held her small hand and rubbed his thumb over the soft calluses on her palm and fingertips.

He turned her hand over and noticed the blunt finger nails and small scars from dozens of little nicks and scratches. It would seem that not only was she the captain and pilot of her little ship, but she was probably the engineer and maintenance crew as well. Jordan grinned as he realized that this woman was no stranger to hard work.

He ran his hand up her smooth skin to her elbow and now-healed shoulder and was lost in his appreciation of her toned physique when the ship’s intercom sounded loudly.

“Captain to the bridge,” his first mate’s voice boomed throughout the ship.

Reluctantly, Jordan placed Sarah’s hand back to the bed, careful to position it somewhere comfortable so that she wouldn’t hurt her newly healed shoulder again. He rose to his full, intimidating height as he eyed his medic. He’d known Jonas for a lot of years now, but he was starting to wonder if he actually knew the man at all. He wasn’t sure what had happened here before he’d entered the room, but he’d seen the result and he wasn’t pleased.

“When she is healed, bring her to my quarters,” he ordered, his voice rough with anger. Jonas glanced up, almost insolently, but said the words a captain expected to hear from all of his crew when he gave an order. “Yes, captain.”

Chapter Three

She woke slowly as her head tried to make sense of her surroundings. Well she wasn’t in her own bed and now, as clarity began to return, she realized that she wasn’t in a cell, either. She shifted a little, testing the muscles of her shoulder before she noticed that her face and nose no longer hurt.

Not willing to risk discovery that she was awake, she cracked her eyes open just a fraction as she tried to see around the room while still looking asleep. She needn’t have bothered. She was alone in a large room that was furnished sparsely but comfortably.

Levering herself off the bed, Sarah only then realized that she’d been stripped of her jumpsuit and stood in only her underwear, a pair of grey panties, and matching stretchy singlet top with a built in bra. Glancing down at her unclothed state, she lowered her hand to her groin and gently probed the area for unfamiliar pain. She breathed a sigh of relief when she felt none. She wasn’t exactly sure what had happened while she’d been out cold, but she preferred to believe that rape hadn’t been part of it.

Although, glancing around the cabin, she realized that in the future she may not be so lucky. She rifled through what appeared to be personal belongings and found an old fashioned electronic photo frame. She turned it on and watched the pictures scroll through as gentle music filled the room. The pictures seemed to be of a young happy couple as they progressed through life’s milestones, a wedding, a new baby, another new baby, and then photos of the boys as they grew. One of the young men in the photos looked a lot like the captain of this vessel, and she wondered if the happy couple was, perhaps, his parents.

“My parents and my younger brother,” a voice confirmed from the open doorway.

She turned around, startled that she hadn’t heard the door open. She’d been so engrossed by the picture display, so enthralled with the life story that seemed to flow from it that she hadn’t given her own safety a thought.
Way to go Sarah
, she thought derisively.
Why not throw yourself at the man while you’re at it?

Instinctively, she grabbed the closest thing to her and threw it at his head. Instead of ducking, the stupid man reached out, caught the photo display awkwardly, and jammed a finger in the process.

“Ow,” he complained loudly. “For fuck’s sake, could you just control that rabid temper for five minutes?”

He stalked towards her with the frame held carefully in his hand. She backed away from the desk, unintentionally moving closer to his sleeping area. She sat heavily as the forgotten object hit the back of her knees and dropped her onto his bed.

He watched her impassively, his eyes flicking briefly to the pouty lips of her sex and then back to her face. He placed the frame gently back onto its place on the desk and continued to move towards her, anger riding him.

“Just relax,” he said impatiently. “No one is going to hurt you.”