Page 48 of Hired by Pirates

“On the contrary,” Woods said. “The women were all impressed that such an elegant young lady was also clearly so smart and accomplished. The men were just relieved that there had been a doctor around to take care of a terrible emergency.”

“Mr. Morgan is one of the wealthier men in town, despite being held down by the damned Strouds and Ledfords,” Morty continued. “But he’s very influential and well respected. By doing a giant favor for him and his family, you’ve endeared yourself to the entire town of Acreton.”

“I wish I could have watched,” Jocko said. “That labor must’ve been so interesting.”

I flashed him a grin. “If you’d like, I can tell you all about it while we’re not eating.”

“Oh. Right. Sorry.”

The Captain sat beside me, stony-faced and silent. I wanted to reach out to him, but was terrified to make things worse. I didn’t want to overreact or make a mistake because I was overly tired.

When I finished eating, my hands resumed turning in my lap, fussing with my skirt to try to calm my nerves.

“I didn’t even hear the police behind me as I came down the dock,” Morty said sadly. “I’m so sorry, everyone. I would never have thought they’d follow me. They seemed so gobsmacked by the revelations of what those two families had been up to for so many years.”

Jake nodded. “We just didn’t have time to shove off.”

“That’s fine,” Barnaby said, giving me a wink. “They didn’t find a darn thing.”

“Wait. Where did you…” My head spun towards Woods. “Does this have anything to do with your special project?”

“Yes,” he grinned proudly. “I built a false wall in the cargo hold four feet away from the hull. Even the door itself is perfectly hidden, so in the low light down there, nobody could ever know where we keep four extra barrels of rum, and however much money we took in today.”

I tried to say that was wonderful, but it came out as a yawn.

“Let’s get you to bed, lass,” the Captain said gently, but without his usual warmth. “Boys, keep us on course to Toburg, full sail if the night winds don’t pick up.”

“Aye, Captain,” Jake said.

As we walked to his quarters, the Captain didn’t even hold my hand.

As soon as we were inside and I had slipped off my boots, I turned to him. “What’s wrong? Are you really that angry that I could have messed up your job by helping that poor woman give birth to her baby?”

“No, Astor. I assure you, I really was not upset. You did the right thing.”

“Then why aren’t you holding me in your arms already?” I asked.

Normally I would be above begging but after the tension of the day, I needed nothing more than to sink into his arms and taste his kisses.

And still that cold expression was impenetrable.

His thick hair fell slightly into his eyes as he shook his head. “Just get into bed. I’m going to check our course.”

I couldn’t believe that I was so absolutely devastated that the man didn’t want to sneak a peek at me changing into my night dress.

I sat on the edge of his bed to take my hair down and brush it out. Then my teeth dug into my bottom lip as I realized I needed to decide which bed to get into.

Whatever this sudden wedge was that had been driven between us, I had to force him to tell me.

I decided to slip into his bed, reasoning it would be easier to get him to talk while we were touching. Whenever we were close together, it seemed that he couldn’t help but be open with me.

Fluffing the pillows and arranging the blankets made me so sleepy that I couldn’t keep my eyes open. Listening closely, I could almost hear Jake and the Captain speaking nearby, but the whispers of the wind prevented me from hearing the actual words.

I may have heard the word Toburg, but I was already half asleep.

When my eyes next opened, it was still dark. The lamps were out, and the Captain was gently snoring behind me, without our bodies touching at all.

My natural instinct was to stay silent. But back in my hometown, being quiet never accomplished anything. The only time I made progress was when I swallowed hard and spoke up.

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