Page 41 of Devil of the High Seas
Josephine detailed her meal between spoonfuls of stew and discussed some of the conversation she’d had with the captain and his men.
“So they are hunting for pirates, are they?” Olive asked quietly.
“Yes, but they won’t find any here,” Josephine was quick to add.
Olive gave her a strange look before she masked it with a smile. “No, of course not. Run along now. You shouldn’t be distracting me or the biscuits will burn. I refuse to make hardtack for the men at least for the first week while we’re at sea. If I burn these, the lads will be in fits over it.”
Having been politely dismissed, Josephine went above deck, still pondering the expression on Olive’s face when she’d mentioned pirates.
The seasoned old sailor who had helped her was already on the deck, cleaning. “Back again, lassie?”
“I am.” Josephine smiled at him.
Bartholomew returned her warm smile, and her heart swelled with affection for the salty old fellow.
“Have you seen... my husband?”
“Aye, he was running gun drills earlier this morning. They just stopped a few minutes ago. He’s over there on the forecastle.”
She looked over her shoulder at the ship’s bow. The smallest and highest section of the deck at the front of the vessel, the forecastle, had but one lone figure standing atop it. The flying jib front sail billowed above and ahead of him, stretching out into the endless blue of the sea and sky. Gavin stood with his hands braced on the railing, his tall figure displaying his broad shoulders and narrow waist while showing off his powerful thighs. The glint of a short sword shimmered at his hip. Excitement flared within her again.
“My pirate,” she whispered with a dreamy smile.My lover,she silently added with a blush.
She strode across the deck, dodging sailors who took a moment to glance at her before resuming their tasks. After the previous day of seeing her in men’s clothing, they were growing accustomed to it. She had no desire to disrupt the crew as they saw to their duties. Gavin might use it against her as an excuse to keep her belowdecks in his cabin all day if he thought the men were distracted by the sight of her.
She climbed the steps to the forecastle, and Gavin turned his head at her approach.
“Am I to assume this will be a habit with you?” He nodded at her clothing.
She joined him at the rail. “Yes, at least during the day. I want to explore the ship and learn how to sail. Would you teach me?”
He was quiet a long while before he spoke. “To what end, might I ask? What will you do when we part ways, lass? You can’t go to sea, you can’t have this life. You’ll have babies and the task of mothering them and running a grand estate. Why ask to learn about something that the world will deny you?” There was a hint of pain in his words, rather than judgment or censure.
She took her own time answering him and tried to ignore the stab of pain in her chest at the thought of them parting ways someday.
“I believe souls are neither male nor female—they are simply souls.” She gestured to herself. “This body, simply because it’s female, should not rob me of my dreams. I live and die like any man does. Why not let me hope for a future where my daughters aren’t told their only value is in being wives and mothers? I don’t want my identity erased. Motherhood and bearing children are important, but that isn’t all that women are. We aren’tonlymothers. We are so much more, if only men would let us be so. Let me dream, Gavin, even if it’s all I’ll ever have. Sometimes holding on to the light of a dream is enough to survive a century in the dark.”
Gavin placed a hand under her chin and turned her face toward his, his nose brushing hers as he leaned in.
“Very well, lass. I’ll give you your dreams. But remember, the higher the climb, the farther the fall. I may not be there to catch you.”
She kissed him. “Not all damsels need to be saved by heroes. Some save themselves.”
He smiled as she kissed him again.
She shoved his shoulder with bold resolve. “Stop delaying. Show me how to be a pirate.”
He threw his head back and laughed in pure delight. “So I’m to make apirateof you now?”
“The fiercest one on the Atlantic,” she said without any teasing now. “Give me a pirate’s freedom.”
He traced her lips with his thumb before he leaned down and delivered a most wicked kiss to her lips.
“Your first lesson is stealing a kiss from a pirate captain.”
“Is that all? I will certainly get top marks,” she promised as she threaded her fingers in his hair and pulled his lips back to hers. Then she showed him just how much of a pirate she could be.
CHAPTER10
