Page 35 of Devil of the High Seas
He came up behind her, his hands settling lightly on her bare shoulders. His touch burned deliciously on her cool skin.
He chuckled. “I’d much rather remove your gown than help you into it.” His hand slid down her back before he fastened the corset tight, though not too tight, then helped her with her skirts and laced up the back of her gown. She held a palm flat against the embroidered stomacher of the bodice.
“You barely fit this, but it’ll do,” Gavin mused. Neither of them could miss how the snug bodice pressed her breasts up high.
“This gown is my sister-in-law’s. She is shorter than I am and her bosom is smaller, but thankfully not by much.”
“Well, I shall never complain about a larger bosom.” He playfully leered at her before cinching the last two laces up and tying them. He already knew to tuck the strings of the laces beneath her overskirt, and she wondered how many women he had undressed and dressed to be so familiar with such a small but necessary detail.
“Have you helped many women into and out of gowns?” Josephine asked.
“A few, though not as many as you imagine. I’m not a wenching man. At least, not according to my quartermaster.”
“A wenching man?” Josephine wasn’t sure whether to laugh or be insulted.
“Never you mind about wenches, lass.” Gavin pinched her bottom. “You are the only woman I’ll be wenching anytime soon. Now hurry up and fix your hair.”
He turned his attention to Dominic’s sea chest, removing a fine pair of dark-buff breeches and a blue brocade frock coat. She borrowed Roberta’s mother-of-pearl comb to tidy the wavy mane of her hair while Gavin changed his clothes. She peeped at him a few times from the corner of her eye as he changed. There was something intimate about being in the same room with a man as he dressed. Something a true husband and wife might do.
“How did I become your wife?” she asked, wondering how the rumor on the ship had gotten started.
“Oh... Yes, I suppose we shall need some kind of story for the officers, won’t we?”
“Yes, I will need a story about how we met, but also why does the crew think I’m your wife?”
He pulled on the frock coat. The rich blue brocade accented the lighter tones in his brown hair, which he pulled into a queue and tied with a ribbon. In that moment, she saw how clearly he and Griffin were identical twins. He could have passed for Griffin to someone who didn’t know either man closely.
“Ronnie told the crew you were my wife. Apparently, there was some concern and the usual superstitions among the crew about women on ships, so he reassured them you were a gentleborn lady and that we were married. Few crews want a lothario as their captain. It shows a lack of discipline, and they need to trust a man who can control himself.”
“Really? I thought pirates liked—”
“These men aren’t pirates, Josephine. Your brother hired a crew of honest men. Still, even pirates have rules about women on board. It can be a cause for trouble to have females on ships. If there are too many men and only one woman... it leads to fights. And a ship on long or dangerous voyages cannot support having a dozen women on board to service the men’s needs.”
Gavin’s brutal honesty about the use of women on ships filled Josephine’s head with a faint buzzing sound and a ringing in her ears. Did he see women that way too? As objects to be used?
“You’ve nothing to fear, Josie. I won’t let anyone hurt you.” He placed a palm on her arm.
“That’s not what concerns me. It’s the idea of women being used for a singular purpose—to serve a man’s pleasure—and being seen as nothing more. We are not puppets to use and discard. We have lives, we have souls and hearts... we aren’tthings.”
Gavin’s face tightened. “I agree with you. It happens, even though it shouldn’t. Change is always slow in coming because change means conflict, and most so-called civilized nations try to avoid conflict, even if it means allowing bad behavior to continue unchallenged.” He brushed his fingers along her jaw, his eyes soft and so full of compassion for a man who lived outside the bounds of the law. “Now, come along and let’s pull the wool over these navy men’s eyes.”
Josephine followed him back up on deck, and with the aid of some sailors she was assisted over the side and down the ladder into a waiting boat. They were rowed a short distance to the looming frigate. Its bulky mass made her brother’s ship look much like the fae creature of folklore it was named after. Still, she guessed if it came to a sprint on the open water, thePixiecould outrun the frigate if she needed to. But in a broadside battle, theTorringtonwould surely blow the smaller ship out of the water.
When she climbed aboard theTorrington, she was met by a line of officers ranging from very young midshipmen up to the captain, who was a fit but stocky man in his late forties. The captain bowed deeply as Gavin and Josephine stopped in front of him.
“My lady, please forgive me. I often forget the difficulties of having women transferred between ships. I admit, however, that I am delighted to have you for dinner this evening.”
Josephine had never been a woman who craved the attentions of men, and having dozens of male eyes examining her bosom was unwelcome. She reminded herself she was the daughter of an earl and that this charade would save Gavin’s life.
“Thank you so much, Captain. It will be a treat to dine with such handsome officers of His Majesty’s navy.”
The officers nearest them, most of them close to Josephine’s age, turned ruddy at the compliment.
“I am Captain James Anderson.”
“I am Gavin Castleton, master of theCornish Pixie. I’m delighted to introduce my wife, Josephine, to you.”
The captain claimed Josephine’s hand and pressed a courtly kiss to the back of her fingers. Then he took her arm in his and escorted her to the captain’s cabin, where a lavish feast had been laid out. He helped her into a chair, and only then did he and the other men take their seats.
