by Shay Fulk
“How long will that take?”
John shrugged. “I don’t know, Mistress. A couple of hours.”
Cassandra looked up at the sky. “At least the weather is clear. We don’t have to worry about storms or anything.”
Suddenly they heard a creaking and turned toward their ship. Cassandra screamed as the ship broke in two and sank beneath the surface of the ocean. The pirate ship was on the other side and several of the pirates pointed toward the lifeboat setting on the sandbar.
* * * *
A man dressed only in a red coat and knee breeches without a shirt came to the railing. He was taller than the other men around him with long, blond hair hanging around his shoulders. “You lot go get her and bring her back here. And be careful with her. Can’t ya see she’s a lady?”
He walked away from the railing and turned to his second-in-command, Daniel Gibson. “Prepare the cabin next to mine for our guest.”
“What do you want done with the boy?”
“Put him down in the hold with the rest of the men.”
“And the other woman?”
“Probably her maid.”
“You want her in the room with the woman?”
“Yes. I think…” But he didn’t tell Gibson what he was thinking.
He climbed to the forecastle and waited while three of his men rowed to where the other lifeboat was stuck. His men transferred the woman and the boy over to their boat, and then towing the second boat, they rowed back to their ship Rage of the Wolf.
The young boy climbed the Jacob’s Ladder as if he’d been doing it all his life and when one of his men brought him forward, the captain could see that he probably had.
“I’m Mad Ned the pirate. What’s your name, boy?”
“J—john, sir.”
Ned nodded and his man turned the boy around and took him over to the hold. It was unlocked and the boy climbed down the ladder. Then Ned motioned for the woman.
She stood before him, her head held high, looking him in the eye. She was a beautiful wench, with blonde hair falling down her back and cornflower eyes.
“Your name, sir?” she demanded.
“I’m Mad Ned the pirate, Woman. And you do not demand anything from me. I, on the other hand…” He looked down over her, taking in her nightgown, robe that had come undone, showing her décolletage and her bare feet, “take what I wish when I wish it.”
* * * *
Heat like Cassandra never felt before filled her. Her hand came up and there was a sting in her palm as she slapped him.
He caught her wrist and squeezed. “If you do that again, Mistress, you will be required to suffer the consequences.”
She cried out with the pain in her wrist and he tossed her aside. “Take her to the cabin next to mine.”
“I will not be spoken to in that manner by such as you, sir,” she spat. She looked him up and down, her beautiful face marred with disdain. “And I use that term loosely.”
Before she could say another word, in front of the entire ship, he pulled her into his arms and kissed her. His mouth plundered hers, bruising her lips. His tongue shoved past her teeth.
Even though she pummeled his back and arms with her fists, he didn’t release her until he was ready. Then he shoved her away from him into the arms of Gibson. “Never mind the cabin next to mine. Take her to my cabin. I’ll deal with her there.”
Cassandra fought the man the entire time from when they left the deck to go below. She stumbled down the gangway with only the man keeping her from falling into the darkness below.
“No… Don’t make me go down there. I…” Sweat broke out on her forehead. The man forced her down the stairs.
She clawed at his hands, trying to keep from going down into the darkness, but it didn’t stop him. They finally stepped down onto the lower deck and he led her past the galley where a big black man stood over a pot cooking.
The man led her back past several cabins and opened the door of the one at the end of the companionway. He pushed her inside and she fell against a table bolted to the floor. She gasped as the table hit her where she’d bruised her arm aboard Captain Wilson’s ship, in her escape.
The door opened again and Cassandra expected the pirate captain to walk in. Instead, Tansy fell into the room.
“Tansy!”
“Mistress!” Tansy sprang to her feet and ran to her mistress. She fell to her knees in front of Cassandra, clutching her robe. “Please forgive me, Mistress. I…”
“Hush, Tansy. It’s quite all right.” Her voice shook slightly and she had to stop, swallow hard, before continuing. “It will be all right.”
The door opened again and the captain came in. He looked from Cassandra to Tansy.
“I’m Mad Ned. As long as you are on my ship, you have my protection. You won’t be assaulted by my men.”
* * * *
He watched as Cassandra pulled herself to her full height, chin up, eyes filled with fire, even though he felt her fear.
“And who will protect us from you?”
“You will have to accept my word, my lady,” Ned said, “that you will be unharmed as long as you are aboard my ship.”
“How can we be sure of that, sir?”
“You have my word as a gentleman.”
“Gentleman?” Tansy squeaked. “You are no gentleman.”
* * * *
Unlike Tansy, the moment Ned walked into the cabin, Cassandra saw that he was a gentleman beneath the dirt and rough exterior. She also saw that he was quite handsome with full lips, bright green eyes, and long blond hair that hung in braided ropes. Even though it looked dirty, Cassandra could tell that he recently washed it. Unlike most people of the lower class, his teeth were straight, white without a bit of rot.
She blushed as she realized she was staring at his wide, muscular chest and belly. She spun and walked over to the windows that spanned the full stern of the ship. She sat down on the window seat and opened the window.
Tansy ran to her side and grabbed her arm. “You don’t plan to throw yourself out the winder, Mistress?”
Cassandra shook her off. “No, I won’t throw myself out the window, Tansy. I’m not that desperate…yet.”
Ned bowed to the two women and left the cabin.
“What are you going to do, Mistress?”
“Nothing yet, Tansy.” Cassandra turned back to the window. “Just have to wait until the captain shows his hand.”
* * * *
Ned had the same fear when Cassandra went over and opened the window. Relief rolled through him when she spoke. God, she was so beautiful. When his father wrote him and told him that he’d arranged a marriage for him, he thought he would get some horse-faced old biddy with a tongue as sharp as her nose. Instead he found himself falling in love with the lovely creature in the cabin below him.
All he had to do now was make sure she fell in love with him as well.
The door opened and the captain walked in, followed by a cabin boy carrying a tray. He set it on the table and the captain dismissed him.
He pulled the chair out and Cassandra sat down.
Tansy’s chin came up and she looked Captain Ned in the eye. “I can take care of my mistress.”
Captain Ned bowed to the black woman. “Very well. Enjoy your meal.”
Captain Ned walked out of the room, taking the tray with him.
“He just gunna leave us alone like that,” Tansy asked, her brown eyes wide as the door closed behind Captain Ned.
“It would seem so, Tansy.”
Cassandra took the napkins off the food. Two bowls of soup set under it.
Tansy raised one eyebrow. “What is it, Mistress?”
Cassandra picked up the spoon and tasted it. “Oh, it’s good. Some sort of seafood stew.”
Tansy sat down and tasted her own dish. “Are you sure it ain’t poisoned, Mistress?”
Cassandra breathed a sigh. “I don’t think they would rescue us just to poison us.”
They fi
nished the soup and just as Tansy took their bowls to the door, it opened and the captain walked in with the cabin boy again. The cabin boy set another tray on the table and together, the two men walked out.
Tansy and Cassandra enjoyed baked fish with some kind of grain that tasted very good. It had long brown kernels.
“What is this?” Cassandra asked, holding up a fork with some of the grain on it.
“It’s called rice, Mistress. It grows in the wetlands of Africa and in parts of the colonies and in Europe.”
“It’s very good.”
They finished eating and Tansy again started toward the door with their dishes. The door opened a third time and it happened again, this time with the captain and cabin boy leaving fruit and cheese.
“So what do we do now, Mistress?” Tansy asked.
Cassandra rose and walked back over to the window seat and opened the window. “I do not know, Tansy.”
“So what do we do now, Captain?” his second in command inquired. “Do you know this woman?”
The two men were up on the forecastle alone, most of the other men sleeping except the man in the crow’s nest keeping watch.
Ned turned to his friend. “Yes, I know her. Or I should say I know of her.”
“Who is she?”
Ned looked around to make sure the two of them were totally alone. The full moon shone like a beacon, turning the calm sea into a mirror of glass. “As you know, this ship was commissioned by General George Washington to harass British ships and capture any and all American citizens that might be aboard British ships as a prisoner.” His second in command nodded. “He commissioned me as a privateer to do that. But I came out here for another purpose. I was on the lookout for something. A certain ship I knew was coming. The lady’s father sent me a letter about two months ago that he had arranged with my family in London for my marriage. The lady in question is Lady Cassandra Tompkins. My fiancée.”
* * * *
Even though the windows to the cabin were open, it was still oppressively hot inside. A slight breeze blew through the cabin, but it did nothing to alleviate the heat.
The door opened and Captain Ned stood there. “I thought you ladies might like a turn on the deck.”
“Thank you, but I am not going out there in my nightgown for your men to ogle me,” Cassandra replied.
Ned motioned behind him. “I thought that might be a problem so…” The cabin boy entered, carrying a dress, slippers and petticoats for each. “I’ll leave you to dress and return for you in ten minutes.”
He closed the door, leaving the woman alone. Ten minutes later, he returned. Both women were dressed and he offered Cassandra his arm.
Cassandra slid her arm over his elbow and with Tansy following, they walked out of the cabin.
It was much cooler on deck, although it was still quite warm.
“Where are we?” Cassandra inquired. “We’ve been sailing for several days and it’s warm.”
“We’re close to the Spanish island of Jamaica, my lady. We’ll buy supplies here, and then return toward Boston.”
She looked up at him. “Buy supplies? You don’t steal them?”
“No, my lady, we do not.” He smiled. “It isn’t right to make your neighbors angry.”
“Not make your neighbors angry, but you would anger…”
“Anger whom, my lady?”
“My fiancé, Lord Anthony Rice.”
“And how have I made him angry?”
“By keeping me prisoner. I was supposed to be in Boston for my wedding by August,” she replied.
Captain Ned bowed slightly to her. “My lady, you will be there in plenty of time for your wedding. I guarantee that.”
Cassandra didn’t know how Captain Ned could guarantee such a thing. What if the pirates were taking them to the slave markets of the Caribbean or South America? She closed her eyes, fighting her fear. Her hand gripped his elbow a little tighter than what she planned and he covered her hand with his own. What would they do if they found themselves sold as slaves? She wished she was home, playing with her younger brothers and sisters. Lincolnshire seemed as far away as the moon.
“I can assure you, my lady, we are only going to stop in Kingston for two days to buy supplies for the ship, and then we’ll be sailing back to Boston up the coast of North America. If you do not wish to get off the ship, you don’t have to.”
* * * *
Cassandra and Tansy stood at the railing as the men walked back and forth on the gangplank, hauling supplies onto the ship. Some they stowed below deck; some they left on the top. Before they weighed anchor though, Kingston Harbor Town received thirty new citizens in the captain and crew of the ship Cassandra escaped from.
As Captain Wilson left the ship under guard, he lunged at Ned. Ned’s men restrained him before he could get to the captain. “I see you hanged for this piracy, sir.”
Ned looked at the man and laughed. “Sir, t’is not piracy I have committed, for no treasure was taken from your ship. I simply rescued a damsel in distress.”
Tansy and Cassandra looked at each other. “What did he mean by that, mistress?”
“I don’t know, Tansy. Unless he meant rescuing us off that sandbar.”
Ned’s men released the prisoners as soon as they stepped off the gangplank. Free to do as they pleased now, Ned’s men collected more cargo and brought it aboard the ship.
Finally, Ned called for them to weigh anchor and they sailed out of the harbor, coming to rest just outside the bay.
* * * *
The day dawned, if you could call it that, with a barely perceptible lightening of the sky. Waves slapped against the side of the ship, sounding like angry fists slamming the wood from the outside.
Tansy and Cassandra stepped out onto the heaving deck. Cassandra remembered a green-broken horse she learned the ride on. She grabbed a rope to keep a wave from throwing her into the ocean.
“You ladies need to get below deck. It’s not safe up here,” the second in command told them, coming over to them. A wave broke over the deck, soaking the hem of their dresses.
“It’s too dangerous down there too,” Cassandra told him.
Cassandra could see Ned struggling to turn the ship into the waves.
Another wave broke over the ship, sending men and cargo into the ocean. Luckily Cassandra was still holding on and she grabbed Tansy before she joined the men over the side.
“Thank you, mistress,” Tansy said, sweeping her sodden hair out of her eyes.
“We need to head toward shore,” Ned called over the storm.
Moving hand over hand toward the forecastle, Cassandra made her way to Ned’s side. “Where are we?”
* * * *
Salt water tangled her long blonde hair and Ned thought she’d never looked more beautiful. His fingers itched to thread through her tresses, pull her to him and kiss her. Desire turned to deed and his arm snaked out to enwrap her waist. Her eyes widened as he pulled her to him. Her mouth opened to scream, but it never left her throat as his mouth covered hers.
* * * *
Cassandra pummeled his back with her fist, trying to fight him off. She twisted in his arms, trying to free herself but he only ensnared her tighter. His whiskers rasped against her chin and cheek. His mouth bruised hers.
Then, it felt so right — Ned kissing her. Cassandra leaned her body against his, her arms wrapped around his wide shoulders. A storm raged inside her body. She felt his hand move from her waist, down to clutch her bottom and she just didn’t care. It felt right, what he was doing to her.
The masculine scent of his skin mingled with the tangy spray of ocean water sent her senses reeling. If she were the swooning kind, she would do so. But she never had been.
Another storm wave hit the ship, sending more men and cargo over the side. Gibson grabbed Tansy to keep her from going over too and she wrapped her arms around his neck.
The next wave that hit the ship broke the mast at the base, sending yards upon yards
of canvas to the deck. Trying to get out of it was like trying to fight off an octopus. Just as Cassandra fought free of the sail, another wave hit the ship and she went over the side. She screamed.
Ned, seeing her fall over the railing, yelled. Leaving the wheel, he went to the bar and dove over. He could see her and between swimming and wave riding, he was able to get close to her side.
He pulled at her clothes.
“What are you doing?” she asked, shocked.
“If you don’t get out of your clothes, they’ll drag you down and you’ll drown,” he screamed over the wind.
Together they stripped her dress off and began swimming toward the distant shore.
As their feet touched the sand, they dragged themselves onto the beach. Exhausted from fighting the waves, they collapsed near each other.
* * * *
Cassandra awakened to the feel of a soft feminine hand on her ankle.
“Is you awake, Mistress?”
“Yes, I am, Tansy. Where are the men?”
“Don’t know. They wasn’t here when I woke up.”
Tansy’s fingers moved higher on her shin and Cassandra smiled.
“The men ain’t nowhere around,” Tansy whispered and Cassandra felt Tansy kiss her inner thigh.
Cassandra laughed. “Has Mr. Gibson been teasing you, Tansy?”
Tansy giggled. “Yes, ma’am. When I wasn’t with you, I was with him.” She laughed. “That man was one hell of a lover.”
Cassandra felt Tansy’s hand move higher on her thigh and she gasped as the black girl’s fingers parted her pantaloons and dipped deep into her private parts. Cassandra moaned as Tansy’s fingers stroked in and out. She felt her juices flow and her hips began moving with the caress of her friend’s fingers.
“Yes, Cass…give it to me,” Tansy whispered.
Cassandra felt Tansy come down between her thighs and screamed as a moment later, Tansy dipped her tongue deep between her creamy lower lips.