Page 12 of Hired by Pirates

Simon nodded. “Aye, we likely are a scary lot to an innocent girl who’s never left her home town before.”

“Yes. So our mission before the mission is to make her comfortable and happy.”

I turned to Simon with a raised eyebrow. “Which includes her patient obeying her every word to the letter.”

“Aye, Captain.”

Looking out the small window of the deck house, I could see Jack and Jocko pointing out bits of the rigging, while Astor smiled and laughed merrily.

A strange, cold weight settled in my lower belly as I realized there was more to fear than her disappointment, even disapproval, when she found out what we were up to. There was also the possibility that she might be attracted to a man closer to her own age. Or any man that wasn’t me.

Even though I was certain there was some sort of pull between us, it wasn’t enough. I was going to have to make her fall in love with me as quickly as possible.

The problem was, I’d never wooed a woman properly before, and had no idea how to go about such a thing while on a ship together.

Without proper courting, which I wouldn’t know how to do anyway, I was going to have to make something up, and fast.

~ Chapter 5 ~ Astor ~

* Learning on The Five Winds *

There was so much to absorb that my mind was spinning in a wonderful new way. I didn’t think that the boys expected me to memorize every single term on my first day, but I was trying my absolute best.

I’d never thought about how many parts of the ship there were. Main deck. Mid deck. Lower deck. Forecastle. Bow, stern, port, starboard.

The most important thing I had learned was that when I heard anyone say, “Coming about,” I was to duck immediately and look around for the wooden boom of the sails before straightening up again.

Apparently, the biggest danger on a ship was to lose your attention. I vowed to stay sharp, since the very last thing I wanted to do was to cause trouble or draw attention to myself.

I would never have imagined that all of this would be so wildly exciting. It was so fascinating that I almost forgot to be nervous.

The largest feeling of excitement was of course centered on the Captain himself. The tingling feeling I had around him was already changing from nervousness to something else entirely. Something deep and smoky, which ran up my spine and made me want to inhale his rich scent again.

I could see him in his meeting room, talking with the other men, but sneaking glances out the window at me at the same time. It was as if he were keeping an eye on me, even though I was with two of his crew members.

The way he had hugged me was definitely not of the sort his grandmother had suggested. Feeling the warmth of his hands through the back of my dress was like a spark that ignited something I didn’t even know was inside me.

My school friends had all discussed boys they would like to marry someday. The reasons had seemed incredibly shallow. Edna wanted to marry the baker’s son so that she could have pies and tarts whenever she wanted. Agnes had wanted to marry the son of the dressmaker, so that she could be the best-dressed woman in town.

All of their goals hinged on them getting men to fulfill their dreams, and to provide whatever they thought was important.

I had a different dream. I wanted to be a real, respected doctor.

In a matter of minutes, the Captain had made that dream come true, in a way. Even though it wasn’t in the eyes of the entire town, just the seven men on board, I was now an actual doctor.

That little thought made my head spin almost as much as the Captain’s attention, and at least as much as the information Jake and Jocko were pouring into my head.

“It’s often hard to hear voices when it’s windy,” Jocko was saying.

“Aye,” Jake stepped in. “So listen for the bells. If it’s just one bell, and it’s around meal time, that’s the call to the galley.”

“That’s the kitchen and dining room, right?” I asked.

They laughed at me good-naturedly. “I’m sure it’s not any sort of dining room you’re likely used to,” Jocko chuckled. “But it’s where Barnaby cooks and we eat.”

“No matter what he cooks,” Jake said with a shudder.

We finished our slow, meandering walk around the entire perimeter of the ship, then the boys gave each other a strange look.

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