Page 31 of Devil of the High Seas
When they had no luck finding the girl belowdecks, they moved upward. The moment Gavin set foot on the deck, he took note of the men currently at work. One old sailor stood by the mainmast and was clearly avoiding making eye contact with him.
Gavin subtly roved his gaze up the mast and glimpsed a figure darting over the top of the wooden bucket built large enough to hold a man in a lookout position. She vanished from view. There was no mistaking that attractive backside.
“Don’t worry, Ronnie. I’ve found my wayward captive.” Gavin had to work hard to keep from grinning. “She’s not going anywhere.”
“Oh, aye? Where’s the lassie got to?” his first mate asked.
He gave the faintest nod toward the lookout point.
“Will you be fetching her down, then?”
“Not yet. The important thing is she’s out of everyone’s way. I’ll let her have her fun.” It wasn’t as though the woman could escape the ship, or him.
Gavin stayed on deck for the next few hours with the men and took a turn at the helm before deciding to scale the rigging to see what Josephine was up to. Once up there, he peered over the top and found Josephine fast asleep beneath the partial shade of a billowing sail. The sun had passed its zenith a few hours previous, and now most of the lookout point was in a decent shade.
He took a moment to watch her sleep. She had donned Dominic’s clothing and rolled the pant legs up to uncover her boots and strapped a belt around her waist to keep the large white shirt tucked into the trousers. The shirt cuffs had been rolled up to allow her hands to be unencumbered by the long sleeves. She’d pulled her hair back into glossy waves at the nape of her neck and secured it with a ribbon. Her long dark lashes lay across her cheeks, and her warm skin held a hint of her mother’s Spanish heritage.
The girl wasexquisite, whether she wore a satin wedding gown or sailor’s togs. All the frustration he’d had at her childish antics earlier faded away. She was so innocent of the ways of the world, and yet her eagerness to live reminded him so much of Charity.
But he was not a fool. The two were far more different than they were alike. Charity had been raised in London and had seen the ways of the world there. She’d known things of life that this young lady had not. Charity hadn’t been jaded, but she hadn’t had the innocence of heart in her that Josephine did. Of course that innocence would fade as the years passed, but the curiosity, and courage, would remain within her. It was a part of her adventurous soul, and it called to his own.
“Where were you when I was seventeen?” he whispered to the sleeping woman. He knew she would have only been a child nine years ago, but he wished in that moment she was the same age as he was and that he had met her as a younger man. Had he met Josephine first instead of Charity, he knew he would have fallen in love with her. The thought bothered him more sharply than he expected. Charity could have married Griffin, and Gavin could have married Josephine. Then the break between him and his brother never would have happened and—
He stopped before his thoughts could deepen into melancholy. It was no good to dwell upon what might have been and to forget to live with the reality of the here and now.
“You weren’t there then, but you’re herenow, and I shall cherish what time I have with you.”
He was surprised at the wealth of tenderness he already felt for Josephine. His plan had been to take the woman who was to be his brother’s, but deep down, he knew it was more than that. They were still strangers, yet his soul seemed somehow to call to hers as if they’d been seeking each other for centuries. He hadn’t wanted to admit it before now, but there it was, like the tolling of church bells on a fine spring morning.
The wind changed slightly, and the ship angled a little in the water. Gavin held on to the mast, riding the waves with the ship as the air rippled against his clothing. This was the closest a person could come to flying, feeling like a storm petrel riding the air currents while the sun warmed his skin and the world before him seemed endless. For the first time in days, that dreadful feeling of the slipping sands in an hourglass ceased.
He watched Josephine, who slept on, and his wolfish smile softened. He would leave her to rest. However, just to keep her safe, he took one of the loose ropes that was partially tied to the crossbeams and wrapped it around her chest in a harness of sorts. That would keep her from rolling off the side of the lookout point. She’d been through much, and there was nothing like a true, deep rest when one found oneself at sea. And while she wassupposedto be his captive, he had given her a freedom no one else ever would.
“Sleep on,” he murmured. “And dream of me.” He wondered if this wild creature would dream of him, if she wouldwanthim. It caused a deep and surprising ache in his chest, one that only deepened the longer he looked at her.
He knew what it meant to love someone with all of his soul only to be found wanting. He’d been turned away by Charity, then by Brianna. Would Josephine see nothing in him to crave other than a quick dalliance into danger and excitement?
It shouldn’t matter. He didn’t need to be loved. He’d learned long ago how to survive without it. But she hadn’t simply fired a warning shot at his heart—she was unloading her guns on his broadside and preparing to board. What happened when she stormed his heart and claimed it?
A sudden shout of a sail being sighted jerked his attention back to the men on the deck below. Ronnie was on the forecastle, pointing portside. Gavin followed the man’s direction and spotted the approaching ship. He studied the ship from his position on the crossbeams, noting it was a large ship and gaining on them. They could likely outrun it, but he sensed this was one ship they shouldn’t flee. He quickly descended the rigging and joined Ronnie at the forecastle, who had a spyglass pressed to his eye.
“What do you see?” he asked.
“A naval frigate. It’s gaining on us.”
Gavin’s attention turned to the Union Jack flag proudly flapping in the wind on theCornish Pixie. They had no colors other than that, and for that he was grateful. ThePixiewas not a pirate ship, and it should be safe for a naval frigate to sniff around. They wouldn’t find anything wrong. Only he and Ronnie were outlaws. All they had to do was maintain course, do nothing suspicious, and they could fool the navy into believing all was well.
“What’s our plan, Cap’n?” Ronnie asked as he handed Gavin the spyglass so he could get a look at the ship on their tail.
“We play our roles, keep sailing unless they stop us. Griffin said the navy was prowling the coast. Most likely, this is just another ship making its rounds.”
“We barely made it a day away from the coast,” Ronnie grumbled.
“We knew we’d be risking this,” Gavin reminded his friend. “But at least this time we have a proper crew and a legal ship. They won’t know what we’re about—not even our own crew does.”
“Aye. But it still makes me nervous.”
“You’d be mad if it didn’t,” said Ronnie.
