Page 36 of Hired by Pirates

She shook her head. “No, I don’t think so. But I’m excited to try it again when I’m less nervous.”

I chuckled, shaking her head against me. “Only my beautiful little doctor would think of something like this as an experiment, or test.”

Her hand dropped onto the centre of my chest with a tiny little plop. “You know I didn’t mean it like that.”

“I know,” I said, nuzzling her against me. Then I stared down at the beautiful face I could not get enough of. “I love this freckle,” I said, kissing the tiny light brown spot at the edge of her lip.

Her sweet giggle broke the tension.

“Sleep,” I said, reaching over our heads to turn down the lamp. “We have a big day tomorrow. I hope that I didn’t tire you out too much.”

I looked down just in time to catch her rolling her eyes at me. “For the tenth time, I’m not that delicate.”

“You are to me, my love,” I said, grazing her forehead with my lips, then pulling the blanket over us.

Now that Astor was truly, completely mine, I was even more unnerved at the idea of sending her into Acreton tomorrow.

But better to let her assist a tiny bit at the beginning of the afternoon, so that she could feel accomplished and helpful.

Then she could remain safely on the ship for the rest of the day.

~ Chapter 15 ~ Astor ~

* Approaching Acreton *

Judging from the angle of the sun, I woke up slightly early, but even so the Captain had already left. Washing and dressing quickly, I wore a darker blue, slightly more formal dress, since we would be going into a strange town today.

Although I knew very little of fashion and the intricacies of dressing for proper occasions, I had to assume it was always better to be a bit overdressed than a bit underdressed.

As I crossed the deck, a giddy thrill swept through me as I saw the shore in the distance, with an unfamiliar town gradually coming closer.

When I reached the galley, a bowl of porridge and a cup of tea was set in front of me just as I sat down. Everything seemed to be running with an almost military position.

“Good morning,” I remarked. Everyone responded in kind, but their voices sounded strained.

“Acreton looks quite pretty,” I commented, sipping my tea which tasted stronger than usual.

“Aye, it’s much bigger than the last time we were there, too,” Simon grumbled.

I noticed that he had loosened his sling slightly, and was moving his left arm a lot more freely. I had checked and re-wrapped his wound yesterday afternoon, and everything was healing nicely, but he still wasn’t fit to lift anything.

“Did you want me to check your arm this morning?” I asked.

“No, thank you. Let’s leave it until tonight.” He stretched his fingers nervously, as if trying to judge how nimble they were.

“You seem to have full movement of your hand,” I said. “I know that you need it today for some reason. How does it feel?”

“Fine,” he said curtly.

“As quick as it used to be?” Tobias asked.

“Hard to tell,” he said, tapping the end of each finger against his thumb. “Probably close.”

The men all seemed to breathe a sigh of relief, which only made me more frustrated.

“For Heaven’s sake,” I exclaimed, my hands dropping to the table with a slap. “Does nobody have the stomach to tell me what the blazes is going on?”

“They’re under strict orders not to,” the Captain said as he entered, which made me jump, spinning around to face him.

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