Page 49 of Devil of the High Seas
“He’ll be fine,” the salty old sea dog said. “You need to sleep, lass. The good doctor will watch over the cap’n for you.”
When they reached the captain’s cabin, she stumbled inside and fell face-first onto the bed, too weary to do anything but sleep.
CHAPTER12
A familiar voice dug into the fog of Gavin’s mind as he struggled to wake up. “You have the devil’s own luck, you do.”
“Ronnie?” He put a hand to his head and groaned as a dull throb joined the haze filling his mind.
A cup was pressed to Gavin’s parched lips. “Drink this,” Dr. Gladstone said.
He drank the cold water and fumbled in his attempt to grasp the cup.
“Easy, Cap’n. You’re in no condition to move,” Ronnie said.
Gavin struggled to open his eyelids, but the world seemed to press down on him from all sides.
“What... What happened?” The words were barely audible even to his own ears.
“You went over the side. We thought you were lost, Gavin...” His friend’s voice was rough with emotion. “I was lashed to the helm, trying to keep us steady, and I couldn’t go after you.” This spoke volumes as to Ronnie’s concern, because he rarely called Gavin by his first name.
Finally, Gavin forced his eyelids up, and the world around him, blurry at first, slowly came into focus. He was in the surgery, and Dr. Gladstone was holding a cup of water near his mouth. He gratefully took another long drink before he turned to Ronnie on his other side.
“I remember washing overboard...” He shuddered as violent, rolling nausea tossed his stomach. “How did I end up here?”
Ronnie seemed to understand what he was really asking. How was he still alive?
“Shesaved you. I’ve never seen anything like it, Cap’n.”
His mind and body were both numb with pain and exhaustion, and even this simple riddle was beyond him. “Who?”
“Your siren.”
“My ship?” Had they managed to catch up with Beauchamp already? Why would he rescue him?
“No, yourrealsiren, Cap’n. Your wife, I mean,” Ronnie emphasized. It took a moment to remember who Ronnie meant.Josephine.
“Is she—?” He tensed with new terror at the thought that he might have lost her.
“She’s fine, Cap’n. She’s asleep in your bed at the moment.”
Gavin sagged back on the surgery table. “How did she save me?”
Ronnie’s eyes glinted with admiration.
“She was something to see, she was. Wrapped a rope around her waist and dove in after you. Christ knows how she found you. The men watching said you went under, but she managed to find you and grab hold of you. The waves batted you about like a cat with a mouse before the crew spotted your heads bobbing in the water. She held fast, your siren.” Ronnie’s voice glowed with pride.
“The men hauled you back on board after she made a harness from some rope to wrap around you.”
“She did all that?” Gavin was stunned that she’d managed his rescue in the choppy waters of the storm. But he was also grateful and frankly in awe of Josephine.
“She did.” Ronnie leaned down close to Gavin when Dr. Gladstone moved away to refill the cup with more water. “You know my thoughts on marriage, Cap’n, but if it was me, I would marry that girl before your brother catches up to us.”
Gavin let his head fall back onto the small bundle of cloth that formed a pillow beneath him and stared up at the swinging lanterns. Josephine had saved him. Not only that, she’d risked her life to do it.
“How many men did we lose?” he asked his quartermaster, his thoughts clearing and focusing on his duties once more.
“Not one man, Cap’n. ’Tis a bloody miracle. We have two injured. Thankfully, the squall was brief and the men in the rigging lashed themselves down. We would’ve lost Bartholomew, but he says you saved him. That reminds me—he’s waiting outside to speak with you, if’n you’re up to it, that is.”
