Page 71 of Blow Me Down
I rubbed a weary hand across my forehead. I wanted nothing more than to sleep for a hundred or so years. “Oh? Why, then?”
“Because ye’re helpin‘ us when ye didn’t have to, ye talk to me like I’m a real person, not a floozy who doesn’t know her arse from her elbow, and most of…”
She smiled. “Most of all because ye’re so in love with that man ye can’t see yer nose in front of yer face, and I’ve ever been one to sigh over a good love story.”
I started to protest, but she just laughed and went off to her own room.
“That’s a wise woman. You should listen to her,” Corbin said, his voice fuzzy and thick from the draught. I suspected Jez had included an opiate in it to make Corbin sleep.
“She certainly is good with a needle,” I answered, easing myself down on the bed next to him. His eyes were closed, but one opened up just long enough to give me a sleepy look.
“Corbin, before you fall asleep, we need to talk about what we’re going to do.
Much as I hate to do it, we’re going to have to move you. You’re not safe here.
I don’t trust Tar not to turn you in for a huge reward.”
“True, most anyone would,” he agreed, his eyelid closing. “You’ll have to get Holder. He’ll take care of me.”
“Dammit, I want to take care of you,” I said, fatigue making me irritable.
A lazy smile stole across his lips. “You’re falling in love with me, Amy.”
“Stop that.” I pinched the skin on his arm.
“If you’re not already in love with me.”
“You’re delusional. Maybe you hit your head when Pangloss blasted your ship.”
“Once you are, you’ll want to spend every waking moment with me.”
I shook my head at him. “A mind is such a sad thing to waste. How tragic that yours should be taken from you at such a young age.”
He smiled a slow, lazy smile at me. “Soon you’ll be so head-over-heels in love with me, you’ll fulfill my every whim and fantasy.” The words were coming out slower and slower, slurring slightly.
“I thought I already had,” I said, unable to keep from leaning forward and pressing a gentle kiss to his lips.
“You have, but if I put my mind to it, I’m sure I can think of more,” he answered just before drifting into sleep.
I looked down at the man in my bed and wondered whether everyone else was right, and I was wrong… or I was just fooling myself.
Chapter 18
With cat-like tread,
Upon our prey we steal….
—Ibid, Act II
“So, what’s the prognosis?”
Tar turned his head and spat before giving me a squinty-eyed look. “She’s got a hole the size of a sow in her starboard side, lost the top eight feet of the mast, and there’s three feet of water in the bilge.”
I looked at my poor shot-up ship, listing heavily to one side so the damage on her right side could be examined. “Hell’s bells.”
“Aye. ‘Tis by the grace of God we made it here without us all bein’ sent to Davy Jones, but she’ll not be sailin‘ again without repairs.”
I bit back the oath I was dying to yell, instead turning on my heel and heading back to town. Tar and the twins scrambled up the narrow footpath behind me.
