Lilah approached, limping, steaming, to see Nell pouting prettily. Her rouged lips pursed as she boldly ran her eyes up and down Joss's tall form, lingering longest over certain unmentionable areas that were clearly delineated by his snug black breeches.
"You got an eye for me, handsome, I know you do. A lady can always tell. So what's stopping us from bein' friends? A fine gent like you has-needs." This provocative speech, uttered in a sultry voice marred only slightly by the speaker's Cockney accent, brought Lilah's teeth snapping together. If Joss did not send the creature about her business, now, she would… she would… What would she do? If she was not to betray her true sex, what could she do? Nothing, she acknowledged with bitter gall.
Her helpless fury increased as Joss reached out to put his hands on Nell's too-plump bare arms, running his palms up and down them while he smiled into her eyes. Lilah stopped in her tracks, watching, while a fierce, primitive rage simmered inside her. He had no right to touch that creature, none at all! He was hers!
"You're a lovely woman, Nell, and I wouldn't be human if I didn't have an eye for you. But I fear that if I dealt with you as I'd sorely like to I'd have to take on the Magdalene's entire crew. Which as a newcomer I'm somewhat loathe to do. It's no secret that every man on board is panting to take McAfee's place, and somebody'd likely slit my throat were I to steal the prize from under his nose."
Nell simpered at this, obviously pleased, and closed the small distance between her and her quarry, running her hands over the sapphire silk covering Joss's chest to link them behind his neck. Lilah thanked providence that he'd heeded her request to keep his shirt buttoned. If she had had to witness Nell touching his bare skin, she would have exploded for sure.
"I wouldn't have taken you for a coward, love. And it's you I want."
Joss grinned appreciatively down at the bold thing, his hands resting lightly on her waist while she hugged his neck and boldly rubbed herself against him. It was clear to Lilah that he was making no move to free himself. That is, not until he looked over the hussy's head to find her glaring at him. Their eyes met, and hers sent a message that he would ignore at his peril. Joss's eyes widened for an instant, he grimaced, and shifted his eyes back to the woman hooking herself to him. He shook his head at her, and pushed her gently away.
"You're a tempting wench, but I'm a careful man. I'll have to think on your offer for a while. Now take yourself off, woman, and let me get on about my business."
Nell pouted, but he sent her on her way with a grin that Lilah felt promised far too much and a familiar slap on her backside. This pleased the shameless hussy so much she giggled, and sent Joss a coy look and a blown kiss back over her bare shoulder as she flounced away. Clearly Nell did not take Joss's refusal as final.
Lilah let Joss have the full blast of her blazing blue eyes, quite forgetting her role as the addled Remy in her anger. It didn't help that, with the rising sun striking blue sparks in the black waves of his hair, now tied neatly back, and with his face now adorned by the same piratical mustache as the bold rogue who had first dazzled her, he was so handsome he took her breath away. Tall and broad-shouldered, bronzed and hard-muscled, he was a figure out of a woman's dream. It was no wonder that Nell found him appealing, but she couldn't have him. He was hers! The thought was fierce, the anger that came with it red-hot. He was hers, and he had no right to flirt with other women! And she meant to tell the two-timing creature so right quick!
Clearly sensing trouble, Joss grinned at her placatingly. When that didn't work he frowned, eyes narrowing, but Lilah was too angry to heed the warning in that significant look. She marched up to him, barely limping, the stone in her boot no match for her rage, and thumped him hard in the chest with her fist before he could see the blow coming and move out of the way.
"You-!" she began furiously, only to be forcibly silenced by his hand clapping over her mouth.
"Hush!" he hissed. His eyes moved beyond her. Lilah became aware of Silas and another pirate rolling a hogshead toward this sheltering spot beside the rail. Beyond them, the deck was swarming with activity as the crew went about their daily business. No one seemed particularly interested in the little tableau by the rail, but at any second someone could look up, notice her behaving in a most un-Remy-like way, and become interested. Knowledge of the danger she was putting them in affected her temper like a douse of cold water. It still steamed, but no longer blazed.
"You're right, Remy, it's too early for a lad like you to be rolling out of bed. At least when he's home with his mama. But you're not home with your mama now, so be a man, if you can." Joss obviously intended this speech to quell suspicion if anyone had noticed the little scene between them. Silas and the other pirate appeared to afford the pair of them only the most passing attention. Still, to say more could be dangerous.
Frustrated, Lilah managed one more killing glare at Joss before she dropped her eyes and resumed her role. Joss turned away without another word, going about his duties with his "nephew" meekly trailing behind.
The rest of that morning and most of the afternoon Lilah passed as she had the other days aboard the brigantine. Although the quarterdeck was for the most part off-limits to females (the only exception being if the captain was amorous), Nell and her black-haired, sloe-eyed sister were very much in evidence on the deck below. They lazed back on barrels and fanned their skirts provocatively so that the breeze could cool their legs and more. Lilah, sweating as she squatted in the infernal heat, stared down at the laughing pair with fierce dislike. Every once in a while she would sneak a hard look up at Joss, to see if he was ogling the charms the women so casually displayed. To his credit, she never caught him looking, but she knew that did not mean that he did not. Only that he did it when she would not see.
Absurd as it was, she had to admit it: She, Lilah Remy, well-brought-up young lady, sought after by the most eligible bachelors everywhere she went, acknowledged beauty, was so jealous of an ill-kempt pirate's wench that it was making her sick!
What would happen when Nell realized that she was really, truly rejected was anybody's guess. All Lilah knew was what would happen if Joss surrendered to temptation!
Remembering how, back at Boxwood, she had wished to fall in love, Lilah marveled at just how naive she had been. Being in love was not wonderful at all. Being in love was frustrating, maddening, painful.
"Sail ho!" The cry came from the lookout in the crow's nest high above.
The warning shattered the heat-induced lethargy of the afternoon. Every soul on the Magdalene dropped what he or she was doing to stare out over the vast blue expanse of ocean. A sense of excitement as tangible as a flame licked across the deck.
"Where away?" Logan called back.
"Astern to starboard!"
Footsteps echoed across the deck with a noise like a well-pounded kettledrum as the crew raced aft to see for themselves. Joss shielded his eyes with his hand as he strained to make out the sail against the glare of the afternoon sun. Logan lifted a spyglass. Lilah, keenly interested, had to content herself with staring through the rails of the quarterdeck while maintaining her mindless squat.
Excited babbling broke out along the astern rail as the men, with Nell and her sister in their midst, craned to see.
"What is she?" Lowering the spyglass, Logan cupped his hands around his mouth to bellow up to the lookout.
"A galleon, sir! Heavy laden, by the looks of her!"
Logan clapped the spyglass to his eye again. "Aye, she's riding low in the water." Then he lowered the spyglass, collapsed it, turned. He moved to the rail of the quarterdeck to stand looking down at his crew, his hands clenched so tightly around the smooth-polished mahogany that his knuckles were white.
"Have you stomach for a fight, lads? From the looks of her, she's holding wealth for all of us!"
"Aye!" shouted several voices at once.
"Good lads!" Logan took a deep breath. Then, "Stand by to come about!"
As that order was obeyed and the r
udder went hard over, he shouted, "All hands take battle stations!"
The crew scrambled for their positions. Lilah watched with fascination as the grumbling, bumbling but-she'd thought-essentially harmless seamen changed before her eyes into an efficient, streamlined crew of cutthroats. For the first time since she had clapped eyes on them, they looked like her notion of bloodthirsty pirates. The implications made her go suddenly cold with fear.
Foxy, the apelike quartermaster, called off the names of the men, giving each a turn to go below and pick out small arms and other weapons. Speare, the helmsman, held the rudder steady, keeping the Magdalene headed straight for her prey. The lookout shinned down from the crow's nest, and joined the others in the push to go below for weapons. Chanting arose from many lips at once, low at first and then increasing in sureness and volume as the Magdalene plowed through the waves.
Yo, ho! Heave ho! 'tis a pirate's life for me!
A hold filled with gold and dead men gone cold,
Doubloons glittering bright beneath skulls black with mold!
Yo, ho! Heave ho! 'tis a pirate's life for me!
It took Lilah a while to get the sense of the words, and when she did she felt cold sweat break out along her spine. The pirates would kill for treasure, or be killed. Logan, his hazel eyes shining, paced the quarterdeck, muttering the pirate ditty under his breath. Watching him, Lilah no longer had any trouble seeing him as a merciless killer. The man was transformed by the chase, excited to the brink of insanity by the prospect of a bat- tie. Beside him, packing away the sextant and the papers he used for calculations, Joss looked composed, but Lilah knew he must be as unsettled as she. In the heat of the battle, anything could happen. What was the likelihood that they would come through this unscathed and unexposed? Even if Captain Logan's crew won, many would die on both ships, possibly herself or Joss. And if they lost… That possibility was nearly as bad. Pirates taken were customarily hanged by the neck.
As hard as she had ever prayed for anything, Lilah prayed the other ship would be fast enough to escape.
"We're short a gunner. Can you lay a cannon, San Pietro?"
"I have, in my time."
"Sugar-lips was a gunner. You can take his place by the aft cannon." Logan's eyes swept down to rest for a moment on Lilah. "You'd best stow your nephew below with the women. He'll be distracting you and getting in the way. And 'twill be safer for him."
Joss nodded once, curtly. Then, catching Lilah by the arm and indicating with a rough gesture that she was to follow him, he descended the ladder to the main deck.
The pirates swarmed all around them, turned younger, hardier, fiercer in the course of only minutes. Their eyes shone at the prospect of claiming a rich prize. An eager smile that looked more like a grimace parted more than one pair of lips. The chanting was quieter now, more a background hum as the men got ready to do battle. Lilah and Joss, pushing their way against the stream, were ignored.
"Will you really fight with them?" Lilah whispered, mindful of possible listening ears but unable to hold back the question as Joss flattened them both against the side of the forecastle to make way for a large cannon being rolled along the deck.
"I don't appear to have much choice. If they think we're against them, this lot will cut us down without a second thought. With pirates, it's either fight or die, and I don't intend to die if I can help it. Or let you die."
The cannon was trundled into position, lashed into place at the bow. Joss resumed pulling Lilah toward the hatchway. "Whatever happens, stay below. I'll come for you when it's over."
"No!"
"What?"
"You heard me. I said no!"
That this conversation was conducted in hissed whispers in no way detracted from its heat. Lilah's defiance stopped Joss in his tracks. Anger glittered in his eyes, darkening them to the deep green of a pine.
"I'm staying with you whether you like it or not. And if you argue with me, somebody's going to figure out that I'm not your addled nephew!"
"Maybe not my nephew, but definitely addled," Joss snapped, casting a wary glance around. "All right, have it your own way then. At least I'll be able to keep an eye on you. Alone, God knows what stupid stunt you'd pull."
This last was muttered under his breath as he dragged her along the deck after him. Lilah, having won the victory she sought, was back in her role of Remy again, limping and looking vacant as she was hauled in Joss's wake.
"Handsome, wait!"
Nell hailed Joss as they passed the hatchway. Joss turned in response, and Nell threw herself against him. Joss automatically let go of Lilah's arm to catch the hussy, and before Lilah's widening eyes, Joss's head was pulled down and he was being thoroughly kissed.
"Take care, love," Nell said urgently, releasing him at last. Lilah, eyes forcibly lowered as she fought to hold to the persona of Remy, glared at the deck until Nell went back into the hatchway. Joss resumed his march toward the stern, and Lilah limped along behind, heart pounding with anger. When they reached the stern cannon, Silas was there, having just finished loading the big gun.
"She's all yours, mate," he said with a wink, and crawled away along the deck to check the next cannon. Lilah saw that the others on deck were crouching now, sheltering behind the raised bulwarks. She remembered what Joss had told her when they'd first come aboard: The bulwarks were designed to keep the enemy from seeing any activity on deck until the Magdalene was upon them. For all those aboard the other ship knew, the Magdalene was as innocent as they were themselves. The pirates meant to make their task easier by taking their prey by surprise.
For the moment, though, fury had driven fear from Lilah's mind. The only thing that interested her was Joss's reaction to Nell's kiss. As he hunkered down on one side of the cannon and she squatted on the other, she fixed him with a hot stare. He met her eyes, and scowled.
"What would you have had me do, push her away?" he demanded in a testy undertone, correctly interpreting that accusing look. Stevens and Burl came crawling along the deck just then to take their places aft of the stern cannon, so Lilah had to bite back her reply.
Silas brought cutlasses for Lilah and Joss from the ship's store. Joss had the pistol that had once belonged to McAfee, and he checked the powder to make sure it was dry. Lilah was apparently deemed too dim-witted to be trusted with a pistol, and she was given only a cutlass. Its cold handle seemed to burn her palm. The coming fight suddenly seemed all too horribly real.
The galleon, all things being equal, was faster than the brigantine, but on this day all things were not equal. The galleon was heavily loaded, while the brigantine, having been barren of prizes since the careen, was nearly empty. The wind blew dead astern for the brigantine, while the galleon, holding to a northeasterly course, was quartering. The galleon, having no reason to suspect anything amiss, was making no attempt to outrun her pursuer. Lilah, peeking occasionally over the bulwark like the others, felt her nerves tighten to a screaming pitch as she realized that it was just a matter of time until the Magdalene overtook her quarry.
"They think we're just coming up to exchange news," Joss said. "From their quarterdeck, they should only be able to see Logan on the quarterdeck, Speare at the helm, and Manuel over there by the forecastle. They've obviously no notion yet that we're a threat."
"This'll be first blood for yer nephew, eh, San Pietro?" Silas asked. Without waiting for an answer, he lifted his head to peer cautiously over the bulwark. What he saw made him duck.
"Holy William, we're almost upon her," he cackled, and stroked the sharp end of his cutlass almost greedily. "Not more'n a quarter-hour, I'd wager."
Lilah's heart hammered as she exchanged glances with Joss, but surrounded as they were, there could be no further conversation between them.
"The Beautiful Bettina out of Kingston, Jamaica. What ship?" The hail came from the galleon, carrying faint but clear across the water.
Time seemed suspended as the galleon waited for her answer. On the quarterdeck Logan dropp
ed his hand in a slicing motion.
"Drop canvas or be blown out of the water!" came his roar, and in punctuation one of the Magdalene's cannons boomed, sending up a white plume of water as the ball exploded off the Beautiful Bettina's bow.
XXXIX
With all need for concealment past, the crew jumped to their feet, cheering and brandishing their weapons. Someone sent the Magdalene's crudely drawn black flag skittering up the pole. As it unfurled, flapping wildly in the breeze, the crew cheered again, blood-lust in the cry.
There was another boom, and a white spume hurtled skyward just beyond the Bettina's bowsprit as a second shot was fired across her prow.
Standing now with the rest, Lilah could see the tiny figures on the galleon's deck scramble for weapons. The Magdalene's strategy had been masterly, her surprise complete.
"Poor souls," she whispered, the horror of what was happening making her forget that she wasn't supposed to speak. Behind her, Silas cocked an ear and gave her a sharp look, but Lilah was too preoccupied to notice.
"Stern cannon!"
At the command, Joss motioned to Lilah to raise the wood panel that hid the mouth of the gun until needed. Lilah did so, fingers stiff with fright, then stood by the sand bucket as Joss lit a match. Cupping his hand around it, he applied it to the wick. Powder sputtered as the wick caught, burned. Lilah winced, clapped hands to her ears.
The cannon exploded with a roar and an enormous backkick that would have sent it skittering across the deck if it had not been lashed into place. Smoke spewed, and through it the ball arched up. Lilah watched, fascinated, horrified as it spun on its arcing trajectory. She breathed a sigh of relief as it fell just short of its goal, kicking up another harmless geyser of water scant feet from the Bettina's side.
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