Page 27 of Devil of the High Seas
“Yes, what of her?” Gavin arched a brow.
“Well...” Greenwood exchanged glances with the other sailors again.
“Er...” The man’s face reddened. “Is she with you? It’s just that, well, ’tis bad luck to have a woman on board.”
Gavin was surprised at the rather personal question, but Ronnie leapt in before he could answer.
“Aye, she is with the cap’n. She’s hiswife, an’ she’ll be treated with respect.”
A few murmurs went up at this. Gavin inwardly groaned. This was not what he needed.
“Aye, hiswife,” Ronnie barked. “Any man who so much as looks at her funny will be thrown over the side.”
Gavin barely stopped himself from rolling his eyes and smacking the back of Ronnie’s head. The muttering about bad luck abruptly ceased, and the men straightened to attention once more.
“Besides, there’s another woman on board. Mrs. O’Malley,” Ronnie reminded the crew.
“Aye, but she’s a cook,” Greenwell added. “Cooks arealwaysgood luck, woman or no.”
Ronnie looked like he was ready to argue on the matter of bad luck, but Gavin stopped him with a hand on his shoulder.
“Thank you, Mr. Phelps,” he said, then spoke to the rest of the crew again. “Yes, my wife will journey with us to the West Indies. I expect you to be on your best behavior, as she is a gentleborn lady. I shall make it worth your while with extra rum rations once a week, and when we reach port, you shall have some time ashore to enjoy yourselves. Now, I assume we have a gunner and hopefully a surgeon on board?”
Two other men stepped forward beside Greenwell.
Greenwell nodded at the other two men. “This is Mr. Mefford, our gunner, and that is Dr. Gladstone.”
“Right, you know your positions on this ship?” Gavin asked. Both men answered with a confident nod.
Good, Dominic had hired an able-bodied crew. One less thing to worry about. They had successfully gotten away from England last night with no trouble, but time would tell how tricky the crossing to the West Indies would be.
“I invite the three of you to dine with me and my wife this evening in my cabin at eight o’clock.” He knew that on normal ships, those not captained by pirates, the occasional dinner with one’s captain was expected for the higher-ranking crew.
Once everyone was back to work, Ronnie trailed after Gavin, who had stopped near the helm. A young man named Brandon gripped the wooden spindles of the wheel with confidence. He couldn’t have been more than twenty-one or twenty-two, but he was a strong looking sort of fellow.
“Morning, Cap’n,” the young man said cheerfully. He nodded rather than saluting him, that way he could keep hold of the wheel.
“Did Mr. Phelps give you our heading?”
“Aye, that he did.”
“Excellent.” Gavin then faced the rest of the decks, watching the men at work. There was a peace to sailing in good weather, when men could be on the decks, scaling the rigging and taking care of rope and other things. It was soothing work that he’d always enjoyed. The sails were full of wind and the skies were clear. He let out a breath, and the tension in his shoulders eased.
“Cap’n, what’s our plan?” Ronnie whispered as they moved away from the helm. Gavin went over to the railing to lean against it. Ronnie joined him, his legs braced apart and his hands clasped behind his back in a posture to rival any admiral.
“Our plan?” Gavin replied.
“Aye, you have a ship and a wench... er,wife,” Ronnie quickly corrected. “What’s our plan? I thought we were to go after theSiren?”
“We are,” he promised his friend. “Beauchamp must pay for what he’s done.” The faces of his loyal crew who’d died fighting in the mutiny hovered at the edge of his mind, haunting him. He had vowed he would avenge them, and that was a promise he would keep.
“Then why risk bringing a lassie aboard, Cap’n? She’ll only be in the way.”
“We will stop at my island first and leave her there. She’ll be safe enough. Then we will go to Sugar Cove and recruit men for the recapturing of theSiren.” He nodded at the crew around them. “These men did not sign on to be pirates, and I do not want to put them in danger, or risk another mutiny.”
“We need cutthroats,” Ronnie said sagely.
“Aye,” Gavin agreed. “Now I’d better go and feed mywife.” He emphasized the word to Ronnie with a mock scowl. “I must explain to her that we are to play the role of husband and wife before the crew.”
