Into His Arms

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Into His Arms Page 6

by Paula Reed


  “Take this, Giles,” he said, but his eyes never left the face of the man who questioned him, “and add it to the crew’s profits from this voyage.”

  Giles opened the bag and let a handful of rich gold doubloons pour into his palm. It was a small fortune, no doubt!

  “That’s to pay her passage. She’s my affair now, and of no concern to the rest of you.”

  In terms of the crew’s immediate discontent, Geoff’s gesture soothed Giles’s worries. The men might well have preferred the woman to the gold, but none could afford to raise the ante. Paying for her would seem, to most, a fair enough way to settle the matter.

  The morning’s orders were issued, and the men set about their tasks, some busily, some indolently. Giles joined Geoff at the helm, gesturing away the crewmen who loitered there.

  “You’re an unrepentant rake, Geoff,” Giles challenged quietly. “Lord knows we’ve wenched together often enough in the taverns of Port Royal, but a virtuous Englishwoman’s a different story. She’s no whore, Geoff, and I’ll not have it said that we’re pirates and rapists here. She’s protected by the very Crown that we serve under the king’s marque.”

  Geoff’s brows shot up in genuine shock. “You know me better than that, Giles. The girl’s safe with me.”

  “Would you have me believe you can keep a temptation like her in your very bed and yet seduce her not?”

  The grin that crept across his friend’s face did little to allay Giles’s concern. “You said that we’re not rapists here, Giles, and I’m with you on that. Seduction is another matter entirely.”

  “‘Twas me Old Thomas came to when he found the girl. ‘Twas my care he gave her into,” Giles protested. “I cannot stand by and do nothing when I know that you mean her mischief.”

  Geoff raised an authoritative hand, halting further objection. “I am the captain, and even would you and the crew vote me down over this, I’ve paid her way. She stays in my cabin, and I’ll be the one who’s responsible for her.”

  ‘Twas clear by the look on Giles face that he had no intention of letting him pull rank again, so Geoff let the command slip from his tone. In friendship, he appealed, “I mean her no mischief, Giles, and I’ve no taste for force. If it makes you feel better, I’ll swear to you now that I’ll not do a thing to her that she doesn’t want done.”

  Giles narrowed his eyes in suspicion. “I’ll not abide by ‘her lips said nay but her eyes said aye,’” he warned.

  A slight smile tugged at the corners of Geoff’s serious lips. “If I do not hear her speak her desire with her own sweet mouth, I’ll not lay a hand on her.”

  With a shake of his head, Giles said, “I’ll wager all my booty from this voyage the girl wouldn’t know what to ask for. Do you swear it then, that you’ll do nothing she does not directly ask you to do?”

  Geoff stood a little straighter and put his hand over his heart. “I swear it.”

  Giles grinned in spite of himself. “And what will you swear upon? The devil’s had your soul since you were six!”

  Geoff laughed out loud, and the two men’s joviality cut the tension between them. “Aye, well, there’s that,” he said. “I’ll swear it as your friend and as a loyal Englishman. I’ll take nothing from the lady that she does not consent to give.” He rolled his eyes in mock chagrin. “God help me,” he added.

  “God help you indeed,” Giles replied.

  *

  As soon as Captain Hampton left, Faith placed her bare feet carefully upon the chilly floorboards of the cabin and tested her legs. They wobbled, and she felt weak, but she found they would support her, so she wrapped the sheet about her waist to cover her legs and explored the room.

  Dark wood paneling and furniture gave it a cozy, masculine feeling. Though the glass in the large window was too thick for a clear view, the mere thought of the unfettered ocean and sky soothed her troubled soul. The cabinets were unlocked, and with a twinge of guilt she perused their contents of heavy leather-bound books on navigation and neatly rolled charts. She unrolled thick ivory vellum to reveal a beautifully wrought map of the coast of the Spanish Main.

  From the desk, she picked up and hefted a shiny compass made of brass. It was solid and cold in her hand, and she idly turned it to align the needle. Also upon the desk rested some instrument with three metal rods fixed at two angles, each topped by wooden curves along which slid some sort of marker. The larger curve was inscribed with a mysterious grid, while the other was labeled with degrees. Fastened to the bottom was a small brass square with a slit. She picked it up, turning it this way and that, but could determine no practical use for the contraption.

  “‘Tis a backstaff,” said a voice from the door, and she nearly dropped it in surprise. “A navigational tool. Did I frighten you?”

  She turned abruptly back to the door and to the stranger who stood somewhat formally in its frame. “Well, you startled me, that’s sure!” she said.

  Though she was instinctively afraid of anyone she met on this fearsome journey, she could not help but note that this man had a kind face. He was perhaps as old as the captain and wore his hair in the same queue, but his face was soft and kind, rather than hard and lean. His eyes were the same soothing gray that spilled through the cabin window from the sea and sky beyond. He was a bit shorter than the captain, as well, and the cumulative effect was far less intimidating.

  “Forgive me,” the man apologized. “The door was ajar, else I would have knocked.” He stayed just outside the entrance, and Faith pulled the sheet more tightly about her. “I am Giles Courtney,” he said, “the first mate and quartermaster here. I brought you to this room actually, but I don’t suppose you remember that?”

  “Nay. It seemed I was below, thinking I could never climb the ladder from the hold and would die there, then I was here with the captain.”

  She did not speak it, but wondered if he had assisted in changing her clothes. The thought brought a stain to her cheeks, and she fixed her eyes upon the tool in her hand.

  “Aye, I thought you’d not remember. You were out cold when we found you.”

  “We?”

  “The ship’s cook found you first. If you’d not made your way up that ladder, we’d not have found you in time. ‘Tis glad I am to see you well and comfortable. You are comfortable then?”

  Nay, Faith thought, I am most assuredly not comfortable. But to the sailor she replied, “Aye, at the moment.”

  Giles smiled mildly at the uncertain look in her eyes. “I see Geoff has been his usual forthright self. Frightened you a bit, has he?”

  “I seem to be a stowaway upon a ship with a man who mocks the Almighty without a thought of divine retribution. I am at the mercy of the sea and your captain, and I have done nothing of my own accord to secure God’s grace. Why would I have cause to fear, Goodman Courtney?”

  “Call me Giles, please, and with regard to God, well, Geoff and He have never been on the best of terms. If you hope to win a soul for the Lord, you’ll fight a losing battle there, Faith.”

  She started to bristle at the use of her Christian name, but was struck by the irony of her circumstances. She sighed and gave him an uncertain, little grin. “Nay, Giles, I’m in no position to admonish anyone in the name of God.”

  He gestured as though to entreat entry, and she nodded, sitting at the desk. He moved with the same confidence as his commander, but without the arrogance, and it struck Faith that she had, indeed, studied the other man’s every move. Why?

  “How came you on our ship?” he asked. “Are you in some trouble?”

  “Aye,” she admitted without thinking, but shook her head at his knowing nod. “Nay, not of that sort! I assure you, I am a virtuous woman! I was...no longer welcome in my village.”

  Giles said nothing, but patiently waited for her to add what she would.

  “I seem to have gotten myself at odds with our new minister. I am bound for Jamaica and my Aunt Elizabeth.”

  “And the rest of your family?”
<
br />   Faith sighed and toyed with the backstaff before her. The question was a natural one, but it brought with it a pang of regret. “This was my mother’s idea,” she explained. It wasn’t a lie, not really. “My father disapproved.”

  “Ah, so that is why you did not simply book passage upon a likely ship.”

  “Just so.” She swallowed against the guilt that tightened her throat. It was a lie of omission, no better.

  “Where upon the island lives your aunt?”

  Where? In truth, she had no idea. How large was this island? She chose to elude the question, again forcing back regret for her dishonesty. It was but one among a host of newly committed sins. “She and her husband own a sugar plantation. Winston Hall.”

  “Aye, I know of the place.”

  Giles scrutinized her, and she felt her pulse quicken and her palms turn slick. She wanted for practice at this business of dissembling, and she thought sure he saw straight through to her heart and knew her to be a fraud.

  “There now, you see Giles, she is yet in one piece,” Captain Hampton called merrily as he swept through the door. “I have refrained from swallowing her whole, however tempting a morsel she may be.” In one hand he carried a steaming plate of eggs and dried beef, in the other a tankard of warm milk.

  The smell of food drove every other thought from Faith’s befuddled mind. Her stomach had been empty for well over twenty-four hours, and she rose from her seat, salivating. “Breakfast?” she asked, a bit too eagerly.

  Geoff teased her a bit, waving the plate under her nose. “Hungry, are you?” he asked. He laughed at the almost pained look on her face and offered her the plate.

  Self-restraint aside, she grabbed it, muttered a quick blessing, and took a healthy spoonful even before she sat again. Her eyes closed and a throaty sound of ecstasy slipped through her lips as she swallowed. Her attention was completely absorbed by the meal, or she would have noticed that both men watched her in pure fascination.

  I must be mad, Geoff thought. Her full lips glistened with grease from the eggs, and the pale waves of her hair tumbled down her back away from her angelic face. Her golden lashes rested against her pale pink cheeks in pure delight while she daintily popped a finger in her mouth and savored the flavor that clung to it.

  How did one get a virgin to ask for things she didn’t know about? He glanced over at his friend who laughed silently, sure proof that he had read Geoff’s thoughts.

  “I see she has a healthy appetite,” Giles observed.

  “Aye, for food, anyway,” Geoff sighed.

  The spoon paused halfway to Faith’s mouth, and she ducked her head, embarrassed by her own lack of manners. “Forgive me. I was just so hungry, and the food is delicious. How do you carry enough eggs for all the crew?”

  “We don’t,” Giles explained. “On deck we have chickens. We eat the eggs for the first part of the voyage, and the hens as we near the end.”

  “And the milk?” she asked, draining the last of it from the tankard the captain had brought in with the plate.

  “We keep goats, as well,” Geoff answered.

  “The deck must be a merry place, indeed! If someone could just rinse out one of my dresses, I’d love to go up there. I’ve never been out on the ocean before.”

  The two men exchanged uncomfortable looks. Her fate had been an easy enough matter to decide when only one other besides themselves had seen her, and he only in the dark. Still, the journey would have them at sea nearly a month. They could hardly expect to keep her below deck the whole time.

  Giles spoke first. “Ken is washing out her things. He’ll set them out to dry in the wind. The wool will take a goodly while, but the other will dry soon enough.”

  Geoff’s face took on a grim expression. “Aye, too soon, to be sure.” He turned to Faith. “I’ll see what I can do. Make sure you wear one of those caps, and keep your eyes downcast. I’ll order the men to leave you be, but I doubt they’ll hold for very long. Remember that every smile, every word will be seen as encouragement. In the end, I don’t want to have to kill any of my own crew over you.”

  They were easy enough instructions to follow. What he asked was a demeanor she adopted every time she left her house in her village, but it had always been to protect her reputation only. She had never truly feared the men around her. Her earlier feeling of dread returned full force. “What manner of men are these?”

  “Ordinary men, Faith. Men who know they’ll be a month at sea without women. Men who would find you a temptation even were they surrounded by willing wenches with common looks.”

  “What would they do?”

  “With enough drink, who’s to say? At best, they might beat me senseless and game for you, at worst throw me overboard and share you.”

  Again she looked to Giles to confirm what she’d heard and was terrified by his nod.

  “Are you pirates, then?”

  “Nay, Faith!” Giles protested.

  “Privateers!” Geoff corrected. “The king has granted us a letter of marque to harass the Spanish, and we pay our fair share of profit to the Crown. Still, we’re not navy here. The discipline is not so harsh, and the men more likely to have minds of their own. Most of the crew are honest Englishmen with respect for a good woman, but there are those with fewer scruples, and after a night of drink, the line between the two gets a mite thin.”

  When the captain had left her earlier, Faith had begun to relax. It had seemed that Providence had guided her to a safe haven. Now, her newfound security slipped through her fingers, and the food that remained on her plate lost all appeal. “I see.”

  “Speaking of the crew,” Giles interrupted. “One of us had better be up there.”

  “Aye,” Geoff said. “I’ll join you shortly.”

  “Welcome aboard, Faith.”

  “Thank you, Giles. And thank you for saving me.”

  He smiled shyly, but at his captain’s frown, he made a hasty exit.

  “One more thing, Faith. When you’re on deck, ‘tis best if you—well, if it appears that we have a somewhat closer relationship.”

  Faith’s aqua eyes grew round. In a voice hardly above a whisper she asked, “They think I’m your whore?”

  Geoff scratched his head and tried to think of how to soften it. “I’ve laid claim to you for myself. It was for your own safety.”

  She studied a long scratch in the surface of the desk. “What does that mean, ‘laid claim’?” she said, never lifting her eyes.

  “Most will assume we’re lovers.”

  Her face burned, and she kept her eyes carefully focused on the scratch. “But they will be mistaken.”

  “I cannot abide it when you will not look me in the face, Faith!” He was glad he had insisted, for he saw not the look of fear he’d expected. Her face was red, but her eyes flashed with challenge.

  “You said that you do not take women by force, Captain. If that is so, then anyone who assumes that we share a bed will be mistaken.”

  “You will call me Geoff. We’ll hardly convince anyone that you’re taken if you call me Captain.” The golden glints in his eyes twinkled, and the genuine smile that lit his face chased away the sinister look he carried when serious. “Besides, it will be no mistake. I cannot leave you here unguarded at night, and I’m not thinking to sleep with my feet upon my desk each night.”

  Again, Faith felt her momentary calm rocked by a sense of alarm. “Surely you do not think to sleep here, with me?”

  “Aye, there’s nowhere else. ‘Twill be an exercise in self control, but I’ll manage.”

  “Nay, Captain! What you suggest is out of the question! I’ll sleep on the floor, then. I don’t wish to trouble you.”

  He reached across the desk and lightly traced the line of her delicate jaw, sending strange fluttery feelings down her throat.

  “You will trouble me no matter where you sleep, but I cannot put you onto the hard floor. I promise, I will be utterly trustworthy. Or is it yourself you do not trust, fair Fai
th?”

  She looked anxiously, first at his broad shoulders, then at the bed that had seemed so large and comfortable. It appeared to shrink before her very eyes. “I cannot sleep in the same bed with a man.”

  “Well, if you insist, there’s no need to sleep much at all.”

  Her eyes flew to his, but she could not tell if their merry twinkle said he spoke in jest or in hope. “Have you an extra blanket?”

  The humor left his face, and he again looked the part of cold-hearted pirate. “I give my word, you are safe from any unwanted advances, but neither of us will sleep on the floor, Faith.”

  She couldn’t help it; whenever she was faced with someone’s displeasure, she lowered her eyes and could not entirely find her voice. Besides, at a moment’s caprice he could become quite intimidating!

  “I only meant that one of us should sleep above the bedclothes,” she said. “The layers of cloth will keep our bodies separate.”

  Geoff felt a quick stab of guilt for glowering at her. “I didn’t mean to cause you fear. That’s a fine idea. A bit of a disappointment, but sure to do more to preserve my sanity. Look at me, now, I won’t bite.”

  She peeked shyly through her lashes, filling Geoff’s head with images that were bound to do little for his self-restraint.

  “Good then. I have duties to attend to above. It will be awhile till your clothes are dry. Can you keep yourself occupied here?”

  Relieved that the conversation was at an end, she nodded. “I am still weary. Perhaps I’ll just nap.” Perhaps if she napped, she would be too well rested to sleep at night. Perhaps then she would sit up and read until dawn.

  The thought of her lovely, white flesh warming his sheets sent Geoff tripping for the door with a brief nod of farewell. Perhaps, on deck, he could work himself into an undeniable exhaustion. He would need to be weary to the bone to survive this night.

  Chapter 7

  Two days had passed since Diego Montoya, captain of the Spanish ship Magdalena, had made his humble plea to the prostitute-turned-saint for whom his ship was named. In those two days, his prayer that the late captain’s fever would leave the rest of them alone had been answered. The answer was no.

 

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