Page 60 of Stilettos & Secrets on the 7 Seas

He nodded at Shrug, then eyed me like a cat, confirming the caged canary was still on her perch. He turned away to speak with Shrug.

I struggled to my feet and pressed against the bars to hear them.

“Ned, has Rowan lost his head?” Shrug pushed off the wall and paced in front of Ned.

“Keep your tongue, Shrug. You mind the guns. I’ll keep my eye on Rowan.”

“Why am I in here?” I rattled the cell door. Both men turned and looked at me. “I thought you brought me on board to help the captain?”

“Hush, witch. Rowan may seek ye, but I dinnae trust ye,” Shrug called to me from the doorway. Ned walked over to me and tugged on his red beard as if evaluating my worth like a prized tuna. “I can see why Rowan fancy’s ye. Yer younger than the others. Fine on the eyes, too. If’n yer no using yer magic to keep yerself young and beautiful. I heard ye witches have the power to do so.”

“For the last time, I’m not a witch. And I have a name.”

“Do ye now?”

“Yes, it’s Jennifer.”

“Miss Jennifer, the cap’ns in a bad way. If ye are a healer, and ye cure him, he might ta look a favor on you.”

“He looked fine to me.”

The man wrinkled his brow.

“Don’t get too close, Ned. She’ll pull ye in with her wily ways.” Shrug stepped toward Ned as if to rescue him from my sorceress siren song.

“Oh, for the love of God. I am not a witch.”

A shadow fell across the room, and Rowan filled the doorway. He looked at the two men and grunted, then turned and left the room.

“Bring her.” Ned motioned to Shrug.

“How do you know he wants me?” I released my grip on the cell door bars. “He didn’t say anything.”

“That’s his way.” Shrug handed the keys to Ned.

“Does the man do anything other than look like a brooding pirate and grunt his orders?”

“We’re not pirates, we’re smugglers,” Shrug said.

Ned unlocked the cell and gave me a wide berth. “Now you’ve gone and done it. Cap’n’s no’ going to like ye tellin’ ’er aboot our business.”

Shrug lifted an unconcerned shoulder but I didn’t miss his worried brow.

I stepped out of my cage. “Where are we going?”

Shrug took my arm in a firm hold. “Keep yer words to yerself. These men are no’ used to having a woman aboard, and they could vote to have ye removed.”

“They’re going to vote me off the ship for speaking?”

“Aye, unless ye cure the cap’n.”

I slid my hand into the pocket of my dress and fingered the small plastic pouch containing seven days’ worth of amoxicillin 500 milligrams. I’d brought it in case Marco was sick. If the captain had syphilis, it wouldn’t cure him quickly, but it would give him some relief, eventually. I hoped it would give me time to find Marco.

Shrug marched me down the ship’s length until we stood outside a wooden arched door I assumed by all the fuss was the captain’s quarters.

I squinted at the gnarled planks separating me from the giant. Was that a bullet lodged in the wood? Blade marks tattooed the old door and told the story of this ship. It had seen its share of battles.

I dug deep for my bravado, straightened my spine, and prepared to charm every last detail of Marco’s whereabouts out of Captain Hunk.

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