The Captain's Lady

by Jo Goodman

  The day before the Dark Lady was scheduled to leave Tortola, Cloud and Alexis were picnicking on their favorite section of the beach, the area below the crow’s nest, when they were interrupted by a soft tread across the sand behind them.

  Turning together, their faces showed opposite poles of emotion to the newcomer. Cloud frowned, irritated by the stranger’s intrusion, while Alexis smiled, elated he had returned safely.

  Getting to her feet, she ran lightly across the white sand and hung her arms about his neck pleading, “Keep that horrible Captain Danty away from me! I won’t stay with him another moment!”

  Cloud laughed with both of them. “You’re Scott Hansom, I take it.”

  The laughter died in Hansom’s throat. He put Alexis to one side and took a menacing step toward Cloud, refusing to show he was impressed when Cloud didn’t move. “And you’re the son of a bitch that took Captain Danty and exposed her to those bastards—Howe, Farthington, and what’s-his-name? Richard Somebody or Other.”

  “Granger,” Cloud supplied dryly, getting to his feet. “And you forgot Robert Davidson. Another bastard.”

  “You should know.”

  Cloud’s reply was cut off by Alexis. “But Mr. Hansom,” she reasoned, quickly perceiving the important issue, “how is it that you know?”

  Reaching into his back pocket, he threw several folded newspapers at Cloud’s feet. “It’s all there, Captain Danty. Everything. It’s what made me late. I left Baltimore for Washington when I first heard the rumors and I stayed there until I was certain the business was handled justly.”

  Alexis tugged at Hansom’s sleeve. “Here, sit down. Don’t make us read the accounts now. Tell us what happened.”

  Hansom eyed Cloud as if he were something to be stepped over before he did as Alexis suggested. Alexis seated herself beside him, while Cloud, in amused deference to the appraisal he was receiving, sat a few feet away.

  “I heard your name linked with the senator’s several times. That’s when I thought you must be in Washington. I knew there was going to be trouble the moment his men”—here the scathing tone was accompanied by a distasteful jerk of his head in Cloud’s direction—“started asking questions about you. I don’t suppose you ever received my message?”

  “No, she never got it,” Cloud answered for Alexis.

  Hansom gave him another narrowed look before he continued. “I found out that you had been in Washington a few weeks earlier, that you had been brought there by him and were going to get some idiotic pardon for crimes you never committed by men who had no authority to offer one.

  “Bennet Farthington confessed the whole of it to Little Jemmy himself. Jemmy’s war secretary, Eustis, resigned over this issue and some earlier conflicts. When Davidson discovered Farthington implicated all of them after Howe and he had tried to cover themselves, he killed himself. Apparently he couldn’t face the humiliation of the trial the others had to endure. The trial lasted four days and the jury was less than one hour returning a guilty verdict. All three men were given prison sentences for conspiracy to commit treason. If there had been proof that they had contacted the British, they would have been hanged.”

  It took Alexis a while to take it all in. “It’s really over,” she murmured wonderingly. “I can hardly believe it. They can’t hurt us any more, Cloud.” A frown drew her eyebrows together as a terrible suspicion occurred to her. She grabbed for the newspapers on Cloud’s lap. “What do the accounts say about Captain Danty? Do they know?”

  Cloud moved to kneel in front of her, stilling her frantic hands as she searched for the articles. “It’s all right, Alex. I looked through them already. I think it was a mixture of pride and fear that kept them from admitting all they knew. The world has Bennet Farthington’s sworn statement that Captain Danty is small and wiry and scarred so terribly in the face that he no longer resembles a man.”

  Scott Hansom was relieved to find he could laugh with Captain Cloud after all.

  Chapter 17

  Cloud took a few moments to become accustomed to the dim light as he entered Alexis’s quarters. Instead of the usual lamps there was only soft candlelight and if Cloud had been asked to name the quality of the light, he would have answered: seductive.

  Alexis was standing at the table, her head bent, adjusting a candle in its brass holder. Her slender fingers were wrapped around the candle and the tiny flame flickered across her face as she secured it in its position. Cloud smiled at the determined set of her mouth, so familiar to him now. His eyes darted from her mouth to her throat where the dancing orange light caught the silver chain, sending a spark in his direction. Emerald eyes continued their slow appraisal as Alexis straightened and stepped back to view her handiwork. She glanced up. Her face held no surprise at finding him in the room although she had not heard him enter. She saw appreciation of her appearance in the warmth of his eyes. His gaze had changed from casual to one she could only describe as reverent. Skirting the table, she took a few steps in his direction, the sky blue gown veiling her body whispered its presence with every movement. Unbound, her hair formed a golden aura about her oval face and shoulders. Her eyes were bright, anxious, when his eyes returned to hers, and his eyebrows arched in a question he could not have asked with his voice.

  Alexis held out her hand, which he grasped firmly in his own, and led him back to the table. Cloud noticed the two goblets filled with dark, red wine only when she reached out to place one of them in his free hand.

  “We are celebrating,” she said quietly, pressing her glass to his. The contact of the goblets seemed as warm and intimate as the touch of their hands.

  “The occasion?” He raised the wine to his lips.

  “Several things actually.” She tasted her drink sparingly, savoring just the hint of it in her mouth, over her tongue. “A few hours ago I completed my first full day back in command.”

  “As if you had never left it.”

  “Thank you. We are also drinking to the fact we are only one week from New Orleans and possibly Captain Travers.”

  “And the end of your search.”

  “Yes. Then there is the matter of the Raleigh.”

  “Who told you?”

  “Peach. You should have said something, Cloud.”

  “There was nothing to say. I did no more or less than I was able to do.”

  Because he said it simply, as a matter of fact, Alexis did not thank him for being capable of so much. “And finally, we are alone.”

  “Completely?”

  “Mm-hmm. Last night was our last in separate bedrooms.”

  “That,” he said with emphasis, “is worthy of celebration.”

  “Exactly what I thought.” Stepping closer, she curled her fingers around the open collar of his linen shirt, spreading the material so she could see more of the tawny skin of his chest. She bent her head, pressing her lips to the slight hollow of his breast where his heart pulsed beneath warm, salty flesh.

  Cloud’s laughter was deep in his throat when she looked up, golden eyes misty and glowing, but with a glint that named him the target of her actions. He made no move to embrace her or give any outward indication he was affected by her nearness. She wanted to win him and he was moved by the notion she still thought it necessary. He calmly lifted the goblet to his mouth and drank deeply. He set it down and said, “I like it when you look at me that way.”

  “What way?”

  Again the throaty laughter. “You don’t know, do you?” Alexis shook her head. Strands of hair kept time with the ship’s slow motion, falling across her cheek and mouth. He smiled faintly, brushing aside the wisps. “You look as if you had no idea I was lost the very moment I entered this room.”

  “You were?” Her tone was softly incredulous.

  “Yes.”

  “Oh.”

  “I see part of it in the way you hold your mouth.” His hand moved to cup her chin while his thumb traced the line of her mouth. “It’s set in the same determined way when you face me as
when you face anything you perceive as a challenge. It’s not at all the look of a woman, so heady with desire, she can’t control the muscles of her face. It’s more resolute. I like it. I like being the challenge, the purpose of your determined smile.”

  Alexis could only return his stare as she listened to his words. He released her jaw, sliding his hand up her face. Her ear rested in his palm while his fingers intertwined with her hair and now his thumb slowly outlined her brow.

  “Your eyes too. Instead of being heavy lidded, drooping, slack with sensuality, your lids are open, almost tense, as if you were afraid the slightest drop would mean you might miss something. Your sensuality is in the clearness of your eyes. Behind that misty sheen, your gaze is steady, conscious, and there is a special light in them when you see something you want.”

  “The light? Is it there now? Do you see it?”

  “Yes.”

  “Good,” she whispered, turning her lips into the palm of his hand. “I want you.” She voiced what he had known since he’d walked in, what she had planned for since returning to her cabin. Her fingers began to move over his shirt, unfastening the buttons until she could part the material fully. When she pulled it free from the band of his trousers, he shrugged out of it while her hands caressed the smooth muscles of his chest and slid lower over his abdomen.

  “Do you always get what you want?” His lips moved over her cheeks, her jaw, her closed eyes.

  “Not always.” Her breath was warm against the curve of his neck and her arms drew around his back. She could feel the rough lines of his scars with the tips of her fingers.

  “Liar.” His thick voice made it sound like an endearment.

  Alexis did not realize he had unfastened her gown until it fell softly to her feet. Her body shuddered at the touch of his hands on her shoulders. When she was naked he lifted and carried her to bed, but when he would have released her Alexis held on, refusing to break the circle of her arms about his neck. She pulled him in with her, rolling on top of him, covering his face, neck, and chest with quick burning kisses.

  He lifted his hips under her urgings to allow her to remove his trousers. When she had drawn them off her hands pressed against his thighs, his knees, his calves. Her touch was firm, her lips warm and moist, and Cloud, although enjoying her aggressiveness could not remain passive a moment longer. He changed her frantic, devouring pace with lingering kisses. His tongue traced the scar on her shoulder while his finger ran along the tender line of her freshly healed wound.

  “You’re beautiful,” he murmured against her shoulder.

  “I’m scarred.”

  “So am I.” He brought her hand around to his back, forcing her to touch the reality of his statement.

  “You’re beautiful,” she said. Her mouth sought his and the contact was tender and light and loving.

  His fingers circled the curve of her breasts, lightly teasing in their stroking, tempting her to move forward into the palm of his hands. When he rolled her swollen nipples ever so slightly between his thumb and forefinger she arched, straining to one side as the pleasure of his touch tugged at her very being. Cloud smiled at her action, enjoying her pleasure and determined to feed it. His smile closed over one of her breasts, worrying her tender flesh with his tongue, flicking it delicately until she squirmed beneath him and reached for his head, trying to pull him away.

  “I need you now, Cloud,” she told him breathlessly.

  He might not have heard her or he may have chosen to simply ignore her entreaty. His mouth merely moved to her other breast, giving it a similar loving treatment while his hand caressed her thighs. Under his insistent touch Alexis’s thighs opened to him and his fingers found her warm and moist and ready. Her heat and energy excited him and he moved to allow her to feel what she was doing to him.

  “I need you, Alex. Touch me.”

  Alexis did not need Cloud’s encouragement. She was eager to return his caresses. Her hands and fingers moved nimbly over him, feather light at times, deeply massaging at others. Under his encouragement, in the manner he had taught her she shifted to please him intimately with her hands, then her mouth. She drew out the pleasure, having her revenge for his earlier erotic teasing. When his control broke under her languorous ministration, he released a low growl deep in his throat and pulled her from him, rolling with her until she was beneath him.

  Their bodies met, arching, clinging, resuming the hungry urgent pace Alexis had set in the beginning, until, after climax, their exhausted limbs could offer no more than the gentle contact of thigh against hip, curving arm against curving waist, cheek against breast.

  “Marry me.”

  Those two words shattered the silence and penetrated the mist of contentment surrounding Alexis. She felt no pain at first. The words had the effect of an accidental cut, slicing the skin so cleanly and quickly there was no knowledge of injury until the line of vision included both the knife and the blood. She forced her eyes to look down at Cloud’s head, resting comfortably on her breast, and the throbbing began.

  “Alex?” He could barely hear his own voice above the pounding of her heart against his ear.

  “No, Cloud.” He started to lift his head but she wound her fingers in his hair and gently forced him to remain where he was. She did not want to look at him yet. She doubted she was strong enough to repeat her words if she had to look at his face.

  “I don’t understand.” He tried to maintain an even tone as she continued. He was only partially successful. “I’ve given it some thought, Alex. You could turn over your command to Jordan and he could marry us on this ship. Or we could be married in New Orleans in a week if that would be better. Why did you say no? You never gave me any reason to expect that answer.”

  “Please, Cloud. I said no because I anticipated you wanted to be married soon.” She hesitated, waiting for the constriction in her throat to pass. When she continued her voice was clear but the sign of her pain was in the tears stubbornly clinging to the corners of her eyes, then falling past her temples, into her hair.

  “You want to be married before we find Travers. Isn’t that so?”

  “Yes.”

  “Why?”

  Cloud refused to answer. Unconsciously his hand moved to her healing scar and his fingers followed the path of the reddened line. When he realized what he was doing he withdrew his hand abruptly. It was too late. He had already given her the answer she had expected.

  “Afterward, Cloud. I’ll marry you afterward.”

  “I can’t change your mind?”

  “No. I love you too much to be your wife for only a short time.”

  “Then don’t go after Travers.”

  “Don’t say that to me again.”

  “I despise him.” He lifted his head now, searching her face. He saw her tears, the clear blood of her wounded senses. He sat up, drawing her beside him, and cradled her head against his chest while she clung to his arms and the tears continued to flow, cleansing the hurt and easing the pain. When it was over his kisses were first a soothing balm and later more drugging than the laudanum. The sleep that followed the gentle unhurried uniting of their bodies was completely natural and Alexis found no reason to fear it.

  Salt spray hit Alexis in the face like a thousand stinging nettles. Wind tugged at her cape and she struggled to continue standing upright. Six days had passed since she had resumed full command. Now the storm was laughing at her, she thought, making a mockery of her skills, pitting her ability against a force which had no regard for her command. The Dark Lady pitched wildly, throwing Alexis to the deck. She grabbed a rope and pulled herself upright, the task doubly difficult because both the rope and the deck were slick with sea water. She hoarsely issued new orders that were relayed by Jordan as he fought the wind to approach her.

  “Captain, the ship can’t take much more of this pounding. Water’s coming in!”

  “The pumps are working, aren’t they?”

  “Of course,” Jordan had to shout to be heard ab
ove the rising wind. “They’re just not working fast enough!”

  Rain was hitting both of them in torrents. Alexis squinted to see through the solid sheet of water glistening all about her. Lightning created a jagged patch of light across the sky. The masts of the Dark Lady seemed to be thrusting themselves brazenly against the night sky, almost daring the wrath of nature’s destructive forces.

  “We’re changing course, Mr. Jordan!” Alexis shouted. “Our only chance is Barataría!”

  “But that’s—”

  “Yes, it’s Lafitte. It’s either him or Davy Jones!”

  Jordan thought Lafitte was infinitely preferable to the bottom of the Gulf and he told her so. Alexis laughed and made her way to Wilkes at the wheel to change course. She had to repeat herself several times to be heard above the thunder but finally Wilkes understood and fought to control the wheel and head them to their new destination.

  She slipped on her return to Jordan but she felt strong arms reach out to stop her from sliding across the deck.

  “Captain,” Redland said, placing her on firm footing once again. “Are you all right?”

  “Fine. What are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be helping secure the sails?”

  Redland paused, letting the thunder have the first word, then he proceeded. “It’s Peach! He’s been hurt! He fell from the rigging. Maybe a broken leg. Tanner’s taken him to your cabin!”

  “I’m going to see him. Mr. Jordan, maintain present course! I won’t be long!”

  She pulled her cape tightly around her and bent her head, bucking the strength of the wind head on. Redland stayed close beside her, his hands stretched out in her direction, in anticipation of another fall to the deck. His anticipation was correct, but he was worrying about the wrong person. Redland lost his footing, stumbled, and careened toward the rail. Alexis was beside him almost immediately.