Page 76 of Blow Me Down
Amy,
I have a blockade to run, love. I’m not stressing the stitches. Stop worrying—you’llgive yourself gray hairs. Have I told you how much I love you? It’s so much that I’mnot even going to point out how ridiculous it is for you to be sitting there imaginingme with blood poisoning, torn stitches, and an oozing wound. No, it’s so much thatI’m just going to imagine you taking pity on my poor wounded body, and riding melike a bucking bronco.
Insert leer here.
Corbin
PS—When are you coming to see me? If you need help getting to the blockade line,let me know. I’ll arrange for you to be picked up.
Dear adorable, foolish Corbin,
I’m not talking to you until you lie back down and promise not to move.
Smooches,
Amy
PS—You‘re on re: the bucking bronco… as soon as you’re well.
Dear Amy,
The bearer of this asks that you please stop viewing the sending of these notes as somesort of pirate instant messaging service, as said bearer is getting sick and tired ofrunning the half mile to the cove, sailing to the blockade, delivering the note, andreturning only to repeat the process a few minutes later.
You‘re adorable when you’re stubborn.
Much love and many smutty thoughts,
Corbin
I looked up from the note to Prudence, who stood before me with a particularly belligerent expression.
“Cap’n Corbin says ye won’t be needin‘ me to deliver any more notes,” he said, his eyes narrowing at me. “He says that ye’re through behavin’ womanish, and ye understand that he’s old enough to take care of himself. He says ye won’t be embarrassin‘ him by motherin’ him in front of his crew.”
I sighed and put down the quill I had picked up the minute I finished Corbin’s note. Logically, I knew that he was right—he was able to take care of himself, and not likely to do anything that would hinder his recovery. But emotionally, I couldn’t help but worry about him. If only I could see him to make sure he was all right…
“Amy? Maggot, he says ye’re wanted down at the docks. The ship be ready to sail.”
“All right, Bas, thank you. Pru, you go with Bas to the ship. Tell Tar I’ll be down in a couple of minutes. And make sure that the supplies I sent down earlier are loaded properly, not just stacked on the deck.”
Both boys nodded and hurried off, Pru with a relieved expression, Bas with a hopeful gleam in his eye. No doubt he was hoping for more blood and gore. I had other goals, one of which was managing a few minutes to check on Corbin.
I gathered up my foil and headed down to the harbor, waving when the women gathered at the docks called their hellos. Pangloss was standing at the head of the dock just as he had been the day before—the treacherous wretch. I hadn’t had a chance to talk to him about why he’d attacked me the day before, but Bart had sent me a short note the previous night saying that Pangloss had confirmed his guess—the similarly painted ship near Corbin’s flagship had been mistaken for mine, and mine for the enemy’s ship.
I wasn’t entirely buying it.
“Hoy, Pangloss,” I said, trying to adopt a nonconfrontational pose. “I understand you’re ready for us to sail?”
“Amy!” He spun around, a wide smile on his face that faded as he saw the grim set to my lips. “Lass, I’ve been meanin‘ to see ye so I could apologize in person.
Bart says ye’re thinkin’ I opened fire on ye deliberately.”
“Well, the careful positioning of the ship and repeated volleys did sort of give me the impression of deliberateness, but Bart says you didn’t actually know that was my ship you were destroying so very efficiently.”
“Aye, I thought it was another of Black Corbin’s ships. I saw one painted just as yers, close to the flagship, and I figured ye was in position, so it would be safe for me to pick off a few of the sloops at the end of the line. Rumor has it that Corbin himself was on one of the ships that sank.”
“Really?” I asked, glancing toward the ship that had been loaned to me. My small crew was busy readying the ship, but that didn’t mean Tar hadn’t been talking. The only reason I had not asked Holder to keep him in custody was because Corbin was safe—and there was nothing Bart could do to me, not if he wanted me to provide supplies as the blockade tightened.
“Aye, but the devil takes care of his own. Corbin was sighted this morn on theJava Guru.”
