Page 41 of The Pirate Lord
“Let him down!” came a voice behind the captain. It was Miss Willis herself, her hair all atumble about her shoulders and her face as white as Petey’s ivory scrimshaw. “Let him go, I say!”
“Stay out of this, Sara!” the captain ordered, his fingers tightening around Petey’s throat. Despite the fact that the pirate still held him up by the shirt, Petey’s breath was half cut off by the pirate’s hold on his neck.
Miss Willis ignored the captain’s words. Coming up behind him, she clutched at his bent arm. “You’re hurting him! Let him down!”
“I’m merely teaching him a lesson,” Captain Horn ground out. “He needs to be reminded of his station, which on this ship is somewhere beneath cabin boy!”
“And for that, you would strangle him to death?”
“For that, yes. And for presuming to court you.” The captain glared at Petey, whose struggle to breathe was becoming more acute. “He doesn’t have the same rights as my men. I should have made that clear before.”
“But I chose him!” She latched onto the captain’s arm like a barnacle. “You said we could choose our own husbands, and I did! I chose who I wanted!”
The sudden silence in the cabin was deafening, punctuated only by the creak of hammocks swaying with the ship’s motion. Slackening his hold on Petey’s neck, Captain Horn turned his head to fix Miss Willis with a penetrating glance. “Are you telling me you truly wish to have a low sailor for a husband?”
“If my only other choice is a pirate, yes.” As the captain continued to stare at her, she added more firmly, “Of course I wish it. And if you tell him he can’t marry me, then you take away the choice you claimed to give me.” She took a deep breath. “If I can only choose a man you approve of, I have no choice at all, do I?”
The captain scowled at her. Then he threw Petey to the floor with a coarse oath, knocking the scrimshaw and carving knife from Petey’s hands. Petey gasped for breath as Captain Horn hovered over him, looking like a man struck in the noggin by a yardarm and itching to tear apart the one who done it.
When the captain flexed his fingers, then curled them into fists at his side, Petey scrambled to his feet and took a fighting stance. He didn’t want to fight the captain, for he’d wanted to stay unnoticed among the pirates. But fight him he would, if that’s what it took to keep himself and the little miss safe.
“Stop this!” Miss Willis cried. “Stop it now, both of you!”
Captain Horn ignored her. Regarding Petey with a mixture of contempt and amusement, he beckoned him on with one hand. “Take your chance, Hargraves. I dare you!”
Incensed by the pirate’s condescension, Petey kicked out in a movement designed to knock an opponent off his feet. Next thing he knew, he was flat on his back on the floor with the captain standing over him.
A grim smile crossed the captain’s face as he planted his foot on Petey’s chest. “Very good, Hargraves. A smooth maneuver. But whoever taught you to fight that way should also have taught you to ignore your opponent’s taunts. Fighting like an Asian requires also thinking like an Asian, which means not letting your emotions get the better of you.”
Petey stared up at him in awe. He’d never met another sailor who knew of such things. But he should’ve realized that if anyone knew, it would be the Pirate Lord.
To Petey’s surprise, the captain suddenly removed his foot, then held his hand out to him. Petey hesitated a moment before accepting the man’s help.
Miss Willis pushed around the captain and hurried to Petey’s side, her face distraught as she ran her hands lightly over his arms and chest. “Are you hurt? He didn’t hurt you, did he?”
“No, miss, just my pride.” He cast her a rueful smile. “Don’t fret yourself over it. I’m fine.”
It was only when he caught Captain’s Horn’s assessing glance that he realized he was behaving more like a servant than a fiancé. As he slid his hand around Miss Willis’s waist, ignoring her startled expression, he noticed that the pirate watched them with interest.
“Such a touching scene.” Captain Horn’s face wore a look of suspicion and muted anger. “And to think I never guessed until now the grand passion going on beneath my very nose.”
“Like Miss Willis said, she chose me.” Peter thrust out his chest, affecting a protective stance . . . a little too late, unfortunately. “She probably told you she and I became friendly on theChastity.” It was the story they’d agreed upon last night, though they’d known some would find it less than convincing.
Apparently, the captain was one. “She did claim something like that.”
Claim.Clearly, the man didn’t believe either of them.
Then the scourge of the seas cast a slow, lascivious glance over Miss Willis, making her tremble beneath Petey’s arm. “She and I have also become quite ‘friendly’ in the past two days. Haven’t we, Sara?”
Petey turned to her, surprised to find her blushing furiously. She cast him a guilty look, then lowered her gaze to her hands. “I-I don’t know what you’re t-talking about.”
“Of course not,” the captain ground out. “I should’ve expected a two-faced Englishladylike you to deny the truth about our ‘friendship.’ Well, you may deny it to me, and you may even deny it to this sailor of yours.” He lowered his voice. “But you’ll have a hell of a hard time denying it to yourself.”
With that strange remark, the captain stalked out of the foc’sle, slamming the door behind him and leaving Petey confused. There was definitely something between the captain and Miss Willis.
Miss Willis spun away from Petey. “The abominable wretch!”
For the first time since she’d entered the crew’s quarters, Petey noticed how disheveled she looked. The modesty piece she always wore was gone, and one of the ties from her chemise dangled outside her bodice. His blood ran cold. “What did he mean, ‘friendly’? What’s that bloody pirate been doin’ to you?”
