Page 92 of Blow Me Down
My eyes narrowed. “Then you’d lose on both accounts. You think I’m some sort of pushover who doesn’t know how to defend her island?”
“You’ve been playing the game for, what, about two and a half hours now?”
“I have been here for almost two weeks,” I pointed out, my hackles rising. “I’m not going to let some handsome rogue pirate come along and take my island!”
He burst out laughing, holding up a hand as I started to stand up. “Sweetheart, you really are the cutest thing when you get riled up. Sit down and stop looking like you’d like to shish kebab me on that sword. I’d just have to fight you, then, and I’d probably lose, and I don’t think my delicate male ego can stand that.”
I gave him a look that let him know I didn’t appreciate his toying with me. “So you weren’t serious about taking the island away from me?”
“No. You can be governor of all the islands in the Seventh Sea as far as I’m concerned.”
I decided it would be magnanimous to forgive him. “Thank you. I happen to think I’m cut out for this governor thing. But captain… that’s a different matter. How about you take over as captain of Bart’s crew? Your men seem to like you, and they certainly respond to your orders better than mine did to mine.”
“I suppose I could,” he agreed. The next half hour was spent hashing out specific terms of the agreement. He promised to keep sufficient men on Turtle’s Back to defend her, to not attack the island while I or my representative was in charge, and to protect us when and if we needed his help against attack from other crews.
“There, I think that’s everything taken care of,” I said, signing my name below Corbin’s. “Perfect! I feel much better knowing there will be no more blockade.
Now I can set up some sort of trading program between us and the other islands.”
“Sounds like a good idea, but there are still two issues remaining to be dealt with,” Corbin said, his eyes twinkling.
I rubbed the feathery edge of the quill against my cheek as I mentally ran over the list of items we’d addressed in the nonaggression pact we’d just signed.
“Two issues? What two issues? What to do with Pangloss, you mean?”
“No, he’s easily taken care of,” Corbin said as he pulled me to my feet. “The two issues are your refusal to accept the fact that you’re madly, head-over-heels in love with me, and the make-up sex you promised me once we got the blockade ended.”
I thought about refusing him… for all of about a second. I’d never been one for much experimentation before I’d met Corbin, but as I sat on the edge of my desk with my legs wrapped around his waist while he pumped hard and fast into me, I decided there was much to be said for having an open mind to new experiences.
The remainder of the day was spent disassembling the blockade, bringing all the ships into the harbor under the terms of our new nonaggression pact. My chat with Pangloss later that evening was less successful.
“Ye sent for me, Amy?” he said as he entered the library. I looked up from the inventory of supplies that Corbin had generously turned over to the town.
Pangloss made a face. “Beg pardon, Cap’n Amy.”
I smiled. “Amy is fine. We both know I’m a long way from being a real captain.
Which is one of the things I wanted to talk to you about—but before we get to that, would you mind answering a couple of questions?”
“If I can,” he said, shaking his head when I gestured toward the chair. “I’ve things to see to in order to protect us from that devil, lass. I’ll stand, if ye don’t mind.”
“Pangloss,” I said, sighing, “I’ve told you three times now that Corbin has signed a statement saying he will not attack the island so long as I’m governor here. You can stop walking around like a dog with its hackles up just because his crew is in our harbor. They’re only there long enough to unload supplies—
supplies we desperately need—then they’ll be gone.”
“Aye, but he’ll be here still,” Pangloss argued, a belligerent set to his face.
“Yes, Corbin will still be here, but that’s at my invitation, so you need to just deal with it and move on. Actually, that’s one of the things I want to talk to you about—how did you find out about the men in your crew dying?”
He looked at me like I was mad. “When we came home the next day, all the women were weepin‘, and there was nary a crewmate to be seen.”
“Uh-huh. But did anyone tell you about this big battle that Corbin was supposed to have had? I mean, were there any eyewitness reports to it?”
“I don’t rightly see where ye’re sailin‘, lass,” he answered, a confused expression on his face. “The men are dead.”
“That’s not what I asked you.”
He shook his head. “No, no one saw the battle itself. It was over on the leeward side of the island—how could they? The only ones what saw it died there.”
