by Eris Adderly
“Keep talking like that, Mrs Collingwood, and I’ll have you over my knee,” he said, grinning. Her low laugh in response was musical on the night air.
She ran a bold hand up his thigh, and pressed herself in close at the hip, her new choice of garb, a man’s shirt and breeches, leaving little barrier between her body and his. “Whoever had the idea for white uniforms obviously never had to work a day in their life.” Her voice rose to his ears in husky amusement and she stood on tiptoe to claim his mouth in a hungry kiss.
“Temptress.” He gripped a handful of her hair near the scalp when she wriggled against him in suggestion.
“Knave,” she fired back, nipping at his lower lip with her teeth.
“Save it for the stateroom, you two,” Till said from the far bench, his own pair of oars at the ready.
Hannah ducked out of his grip with a low chuckle and Edmund taunted his friend. “You’re only cross because I got the first kiss this time instead of you.”
“Come now, there’s enough for everyone,” she said, bending to greet the quartermaster in a similar manner.
Edmund took up his set of oars and, now with the launch untied, they shoved off toward the ship.
He did slip back into silence for a time, but Hannah was no stranger to his recent brooding.
“Is he still on about The Devil’s Luck?” she asked Benjamin, twisting her body back as if she needed to see as well as hear the man’s response.
“It takes a man time to adjust, you know,” the bald man replied, attempting to be considerate.
“Oh, for pity’s sake, Edmund”—she turned back to him—“I know she was your first ship, and you did make a name for yourself with her, but there’s nothing wrong with this new one.” Her lecturing amused him; this was not the first night he’d heard it.
“Stow it, you,” he said, in mock seriousness.
“Is that how it is, now?” She played along. “Perhaps you’d like your old surgeon back? Though I daresay the men prefer my hand to his.”
Her teasing made the corners of his mouth turn up in the moonlight.
She was right, though. The new ship was faster, and better built as well, but he’d so hated watching his galleon swallowed up by the deep blue. Better to see her at the bottom of the sea then taken by Royal Navy, bitter though it had been to watch her burn. Those navy dogs would pay for the damage yet.
He left his thoughts of irritation alone for a moment once the launch bumped against the hull of their new ship. Routines took over their actions for a time, but before long they had the smaller boat hoisted. The three of them made their way back onto the deck, the ship’s freshly-painted name passing them on their ascent.
He and Benjamin were already casting aside their ‘borrowed’ uniform coats as soon as they saw the launch secured, and Hannah followed along behind, treating Edmund to a playful swat at his backside.
The stateroom it is, then.
“Join us, Till?” He tossed his casual aside to the quartermaster as they moved aft.
“I’ll hear a report from Hezekiah first. And Mr Grey.”
“Don’t be too long,” Hannah warned him, quiet mirth in her tone.
“I’m always just long enough for you, woman,” Benjamin shot back over his shoulder as he moved off to find the bosun.
Edmund’s cabin was a welcome homecoming after the close prison cells beneath the fort. His new surgeon was leaning against the cabinets, pulling off her boots before the door had swung closed. He hoped this evening she’d stay the night in his berth after, rather than retiring to her personal cabin below, as she was sometimes wont to do.
“You don’t like these white breeches, then?” He returned to her earlier gibe as his own boots hit the floor.
“No, they’re ridiculous,” she said, imperious. “Take them off.”
The small, desperate noises of two people working toward a common goal were the only thing to disturb the cabin for a time after that, although after a short while, and the quiet opening and closing of a door, the sounds came from three.
With anchor weighed and the first watch in place, the Merry Widow pointed her bow at the horizon and put the island at her back. Edmund Blackburn had lost his old ship, and with it an old set of ideals he’d shed like a skin, but the unlikely paradise he found in his stateroom at this moment was proof enough: he still had the benefit of the Devil’s own luck.
* * * *
September 19, 1716
Dearest Father,
I take this opportunity to write you and hope this letter finds you in good health, as I am, thanks be to God for it. My deepest apologies for having kept you worried these past months. I did arrive safely in Boston at last, and met with your brother, though not in the manner I’d originally planned. I won’t be remaining with him, however, as I was given an opportunity to apply my studies elsewhere and have chosen to accept it. I will return to visit you in Bristol, when I am able, and I will try to tell you what I can of my travels. My deepest thanks for allowing me the freedom to study as I would in your household. The wisdom I found in the texts from your library gave me courage to find a fitting place for myself, though now I see that the true learning is somewhere out here beyond pages and words. I think of you often, Father, and you are in my heart. If you meet with your brother again before I do, tell him I found my own way, as he suggested.
With best love,
Your Hannah
* * * *
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About Eris
Eris writes for the reader who’d like to take a vacation from their daily reality, whether through impossibly lusty scenarios, or other places and times entirely. She loves historical fiction, fantasy, sci-fi, and anything that bends a little askew from expectations.
When she’s not staying up until the wee hours writing, Eris also likes to read, baby talk her cats, exasperate her husband, and obsess about writing some more. Somewhere in the middle, there will be some OCD flailing and nitpickery and much sleeping until noon on the weekends.
Find Eris Online
Website: http://erisadderly.com/
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Eris-Adderly/e/B00PV5I0PG/
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Also by Eris Adderly
The Skull and Crossbone Romances:
The Maid and the Cook (A Devil’s Luck Vignette) – A light-hearted, bawdy pirate romance novella following Brigit, the widow’s maid from The Devil’s Luck, and her adventures down in the galley when she catches the unexpected eye of the ship’s cook.
The Decline and Fall of Rowland Graves (A Devil’s Luck Vignette) – A tragic, Gothic romance novella, with a dark, Halloween twist. The origin story of the villainous surgeon who menaced Hannah aboard The Devil’s Luck.
After Exile Series
Book One: An Emperor for the Eclipse – A man they call ‘exile’ and a woman they call ‘witch’ meet their fate on the steps of the imperial palace. Neither will ever be the same. A dark, romantic fantasy.
Blushing Books Publications
Gallows Pole – A notorious highway thief makes a dangerous bargain with a hangman in eighteenth century England. A dark, historical erotic romance novella.
Acknowledgements
Thank you to my husband for his endless tolerance of late nights spent writing and endless talk about this and so many other stories. Thank you to my mom for listening some more and encouraging. For first version edits, I’d like to thank NDP and the Florida royalty. For a weather eye on this revised version, Myra: you’re the beans. I owe you. And thank you to the boatload of new friends I’ve made through Lit. Without your cheerleading, I would not have come this far.