Page 15 of The Captain of Betrayal
"Best in years," Jack broke into a smile, which seemed to triple the wrinkles on his lined face. "That lad what moved into the old Smuggler's Cottage on the Cove Road, showed me how to weave a new type of net. It catches the smaller pilchards, as well as the sea bass. He's a genius that lad, so he is."
"Oh?" Polly's heart skipped a beat at this news, as she wondered who exactly this newcomer was. She had a sinking suspicion that she knew; but even James Black wouldn't be so pig-headedly rude as to move to her village. She was here first —the old rules still applied in her opinion.
"Aye, great man," Jack grinned, his smile gap-toothed but sincere. "Then I heard that after he left me, he met old Ned Turnpike, who was making his way to Truro, when Ned's horse done took a fright and Ned lost control of the thing."
"How dreadful," Polly murmured, for Ned was near eighty if he was a day.
"It would 'ave been," Jack replied seriously, "If this lad hadn't jumped into the cart, wrestled the reins from Ned's hands, and brought the beast to heel."
"How wonderful," Polly responded, glad that Ned had been saved, but still worried that his saviour was none other than her nemesis Captain Black. She did not like the thought of any of her neighbours speaking of James Black in such a reverential manner. They wereherneighbours,herfriends, nothis. Polly quickly changed the subject from run-away horses, to the pilchards that Ned had netted. She bought a basketful off the fisherman, before hastily departing to the safety of the village, where she hoped she would hear no more about the heroic newcomer.
"How's a girl?" Mr Lawless, the proprietor of the local inn, The Fisherman's Friend, called as Polly made her way up Shop Street.
"Just fine, Mr Lawless," Polly replied, stopping to talk to the man. "What's happened here?"
Mr Lawless held a hammer in his hand, and was busy mending a rather large hole in the inn's wooden door.
"Oh we'd some bad 'uns last night, lass," the landlord replied, shaking his head at the memory. "It was just myself at the bar, when some lads out of Castlewaith rolled in, already filled to the gills with drink and looking for trouble."
"Goodness," Polly again found herself murmuring, for Mr Lawless, though sprightly for seventy, would have been no match for three drunk young men. "And they broke your door?"
"They would have broke my neck," Mr Lawless replied, widening his eyes in horror at the memory, "If it wasn't for that Black fellow."
"Oh?" Polly's response was a barely concealed groan of despair; so the mysterious new hero in the village was James.
"He took on all three, and single-handedly ejected them with the only casualty being the door."
"How wonderful," Polly dejectedly replied--another admirer for Captain Black.
"He's a great man," Mr Lawless seemed to miss the flatness of her tone, and his eyes glazed over with admiration for James as he spoke. "And the village is lucky to have him."
Polly couldn't find it within herself to add to Mr Lawless' accolades about the brave Captain, so she merely offered him a tight smile before continuing on her way with a wave.
How dare he, she fumed, as she stormed up the hill toward home. How dare he come to my village and try to steal my friends. James Black was Polly's past, while St Jarvis was her future--she did not want past and present to collide, not when she had finally found a place for her and Emily to call home.
Polly's inner, angry monologue was cut off when she reached the end of Shop Street. Here the road split in two, with the boarding house on one side and the small village church on the other. In the middle of the road, there was a small green, where summer fetes and the like were held. The green was, at that moment, thronged with ladies--her ladies from the boarding house--and at least half a dozen of the local children.
"What's going on?" Polly queried, as she sidled up to the Hamilton twins, who were both staring up into the branches of the ancient, leafy oak which dwarfed the middle of the green.
"Little Lottie Thompson's kitten is stuck up in the tree," Poppy answered, dragging her eyes away from the spectacle to glance at Polly.
"And Captain Black has climbed up to rescue it," Alexandra finished for her twin sister.
"Of course he has," Polly could not help herself from responding darkly. Captain James Black to the rescue, again; it took all her willpower not to sigh with annoyance. Instead she raised her gaze up and saw that the dashing Captain was indeed perched high in the tree top. James had removed his coat and waistcoat, and was dressed only in his shirtsleeves and breeches; a fact which seemed to have enthralled the ladies who milled below.
"I wonder would you be watching if it was Bill Hoper up there?" Polly wondered aloud to the twins, already knowing the answer.
"Obviously not, Poll," Poppy gave a giggle, "Bless poor Bill, but I doubt he would have made it to the first branch, let alone the top of the tree."
The Hamilton twins sniggered at this, then both let out simultaneous shrieks of horror, as the branch that James was perched upon gave an ominous creak. Even Polly, despite her antipathy toward her old friend, felt a jolt of fear as the crack echoed across the green.
If he falls and breaks his neck, it'll be me that has to clean his brains up, she thought to herself, trying to justify the hammering of her heart. She did not care about James; she only cared about him not falling from the tree and traumatising her guests. The last thing she needed was to be proprietress of an empty boarding house...
"Oh, thank goodness, he's got it," Beatrice cried, interrupting Polly's thoughts. Mrs Actrol's companion clapped her hands in glee as James reached out and snared the kitten from the branch above him, grabbing the little thing by the scruff of its neck. Polly bit her lip to keep from laughing as the tiny ball of fur lashed out at James, scraping at him with its claws as James began his descent through the branches. Her laughter quickly died as the end of James' shirt snagged on a branch, pulling it free from his breeches and revealing a rather tantalising glimpse James' of bare, toned stomach. Polly heard several of the nearby ladies gasp at the momentary flash of tanned flesh, and saw that some of the women had obviously been as affected by the spectacle as she.
"Thank goodness the poor kitten is safe," Beatrice finally said, breaking the silence that had fallen. The older woman's face was bright red, and she looked as though she was suffering terribly from the heat. The Hamilton twins had fared no better--both of the twins had cheeks that were flushed and they seemed even giddier than usual.
"Is that your Aunt Augusta making her way up the hill?" Polly innocently asked the girls, who paled at the mention of their stern Aunt.
