Other Oceans: Book Two of the Hook & Jill Saga (16 page)

Hook’s eyes narrowed. “LeCorbeau.” He raised his claw, and aimed its lethal point at the Frenchman’s heart. “I will now be frank with you, also.” Hook’s blue eyes threatened the man as effectively as his hook. “Not only are you a privateer, pretending to be above piracy but respecting only those laws that protect you. You are also a despicable little Frenchman. No,
mon vieux
, I have never had any use for you.”

LeCorbeau sat frozen.

Hook smiled. “Until tonight!” And then he threw back his head and laughed. Eventually, his rival joined in, all the while tidying his very damp throat with his handkerchief.

“You will excuse me now— shall I call you once again, ‘compatriot?’” Hook shoved the jug across the table. “I shall send for you when I am ready to board
L’Ormonde
. Have another cup of ale while I say goodnight to my ‘so-delicate’ mistress, making an effort not to ‘abuse’ her too much, and then we’ll adjourn to your own fine vessel where we will come to terms regarding the handsome percentage you will pay me for allowing my men to take all the risk and all the blame. Then we will drink to our new understanding!” He rose quickly, Mullins stood aside, and Hook swept from the galley, grabbing up his hat and calling for his man to follow. He still didn’t know what that little rooster wanted, but Hook was,
eh, so much enjoying himself!

His new partner, meanwhile, the amusing and despicable little Frenchman, sat in the galley, spitting the taste of the foul English ale from his mouth.

Chapter 7

Honorable Intentions

J
ill reclined on the silk of the daybed, her hair spread like satin over the pillows. The ship’s surgeon perched at her side, still dignified, and every bit as attentive as Hook had been the first time she’d lain there. But on that occasion, she had been truly in pain.

“I have no reason to feel faint. I am usually quite strong.”

“Hush, Madam, let me take your pulse again.”

She held out her hand to him. It was the scarlet one, and she smiled. Hanover regarded it stoically, then took her wrist between his thumb and third finger.

“Better, now, but let me look at you.” He peered into each of her eyes. He removed his stethoscope from the black bag at his feet. She watched as he raised its cold metal cone to her breast, then she allowed herself to shiver. He looked up at her face. A vein on his temple gave evidence of his own pulse’s misbehavior, but he tucked the cone under the edge of her neckline, scrupulous in avoiding contact between his fingers and her flesh. He leaned forward and listened.

Raising his head, he observed her amused expression. He managed to ignore it.

“Your color is good. Have you ever experienced such a spell before?”

“Oh, no, Doctor.”

“Have you any pain, discomfort?”

She shook her head.

“None at all? You must tell me truthfully.”

She lowered her eyes. “Well, perhaps…”

Sudden concern creased his face. “What is it?”

“I may have allowed my…undergarment…to be laced too tightly.”

The doctor straightened. “I see. That might explain the shallowness of breath.”

“Yes.” She said it breathlessly.

“Have you any other symptoms? Do you have difficulty sleeping?”

Several different expressions crossed her face before she shrugged. “I can’t decide how to answer that question.” She observed the dueling scar running from his cheekbone to his jaw. It grew darker.

“Lady. Under the circumstances, I have to ask. Are there any signs—”

“No, Doctor.”

“You are certain of this?”

“Quite.”

“And…in the past?”

“No. Never.”

Visibly relieved, he put the instrument away, then he lifted his hands to her throat. “May I?”

She inclined her head, then raised it. Touching the sides of her neck with his fingertips, the doctor pressed up to her jaw line, and then down, frowning. “Does he mistreat you in any way, strike you?” He heard a quick intake of breath and once more became aware of his daughter standing behind him.

He didn’t look at her. “Liza. You will help the lady prepare to retire. I want you to stay with her until she falls asleep. You will alert me if she experiences further distress. Of
any
kind.”

For a moment, Liza stared at the red velvet curtain draped near the couch, then she dropped her gaze and nodded.

“Now wait outside.”

The girl’s eyes asked her mistress. The lady acquiesced. “Leave the door half open, Liza. You may go change your dress.” She had seen the blotch of ale.

Grateful that her father was too obsessed with the woman to notice the stain or to comment on her unconfined hair, Liza tiptoed from the room to hurry to her quarters. She knew now he wouldn’t bother with her again. Not until he needed her.

“You must listen to me, Madam. I forbid you to exert yourself in the next few days. You will remain quiet.”

“I had intended to practice fencing tomorrow, but it can wait.”

“Fencing, Madam. You surprise me again.”

“The captain insists I be ready for anything.”

“I see that I must be the same. As you know, swordplay is also an interest of my own.”

“Perhaps you will show me one or two of your strategies. But not tomorrow. I will obey your orders. I hope you will allow me to walk, though? Fresh air always does me good, and I did promise myself to inspect your daughter’s living arrangements. I have neglected it.”

“It is kind of you to concern yourself for her. Fencing is out of the question until I have examined you again, but yes, you may take the air if you wish. Otherwise, rest. To make sure you do not overdo, I shall personally escort you to— our quarters.” The doctor’s handsome face flushed as he realized the implication of his words, and he made a business of neatening his medicine bag.

“You see, Doctor Hanover, you are already falling in with our unconventional manners! A gentleman showing a woman to his quarters? What next?”

“Of course Liza will accompany us. But perhaps you are right, Madam. You have a strange effect on me. I find I am not as strict in my thinking as I once was.”

“I am trying to think now. What can have made my heart race in such a way this evening? We were only discussing—”

Hanover looked at her sharply.

“Or rather, we were about to discuss your history. Weren’t we, Doctor?”

“The inquisitive Frenchman seemed eager to use your talents to pry into my past.”

“I admit, I should like an excuse to learn your history.”

“Until I came aboard your ship, Madam, I had no history.” Hanover leaned closer. His crisp tone softened. “And as far as I am concerned, you had none either.”

She tilted her head. “Doctor? Whatever do you mean?”

He snapped his bag closed and set it aside. The surgeon’s duty was at an end, and he became a man like any other. “I hardly know, myself! But as of this evening, I have new hope. Perhaps this elusive weakness you are experiencing is a fortunate thing after all. It gives us a chance to speak together. Privately.”

Jill cast a look at the door. The ship’s motion had nudged it, or was it her bo’sun? But it remained slightly ajar. “Are you implying that I deliberately feigned illness?”

“I am implying that I hope you have done so.”

“But that would mean I have lied to you. And to my captain.”

“I hope you have lied to me. Lied
for
me.”

Her eyes remained clear. “I have no need to lie. Quite the opposite; I find candor to be protective. Truth, itself, is a weapon.”

“Then do not wound me with it!”

“So once again you hope for falsehood? You are indeed compromising your principles, as I predicted.”

“Like you, Madam, I find myself inventing my own standard of conduct.”

“And what do you hope to gain by it? However we have come by our moment of privacy, what should we have to say to one another within it?”

Hanover glanced over his shoulder at the door. He spoke quietly. “What I have to say is quite simple. I am an experienced and intelligent man. I am able to weigh evidence and make decisions quickly. It is a necessity in my profession. I have come to understand that you are exactly the woman I need.”

“Need?”

“It sounds cold to put it thus.” He blinked. “The woman I want.”

“Still, you sound cold. Do you mean desire? Or love?”

“…Yes.”

She pushed herself back to sit up higher. “You will excuse me if I fail to swoon. I am becoming accustomed to such declarations.”

“Do not mock me!”

“No, once again, I only tell you the truth.” She laid her hand on his arm, becoming aware yet again that his was a swordsman’s arm, firm beneath the velvet. “It is also true that I appreciate your frankness, Doctor. I have done so from the first, even though you don’t yet appreciate mine. I must say, you are most attractive when most uncomfortable— for instance, when you are speaking of things you would much rather hide.”

Urgently, he hiked himself closer to her. “Please, Madam, we haven’t the time to spend in flirtatious pretense, nor am I skilled in it. Perhaps you yourself aren’t aware of it, but this morning you gave me to understand— that is, I have begun to believe…”

“No. I gave you nothing but a clear picture of our situations.”

“Yes, exactly. I am now attempting to do the same. Ah, perhaps I should approach the subject from another direction. Tell me, honestly. I know— I am not an innocent— what you give to Hook. You have made me understand that particular situation perfectly.”

“If I shocked you—”

“I find there is no time for shock, Madam. What I want to know is, what do you really feel for this man?”

“You have heard the tales. You know his legend. He is rich, he is strong. Hook has everything—”

“He has you.”

She regarded him steadily. She paused briefly. “Yes.”

“Lady. Has he your heart?”

“Any woman could give him what I give. If he didn’t believe he held my heart, how would I be preferable? I am uniquely placed, Doctor. I cannot go back, and I cannot move on.” She shot him a bold look. “Yes. I give him my heart.”

“Why then, if Hook values you so highly, does he not marry you? Despite his casual use of you, he has demonstrated even to me that he is willing to fight for your honor. Marriage is the least he could give in return for your affections.”

“Doctor Hanover, don’t you see? That kind of marriage is simply an act of law. What use has any pirate for any law?”

“Of course. And you emulate him, operating within your own set of rules. But I have always thought of marriage as a sacred institution, one I have found worthy to uphold.”

“It is pointless to conjecture; I am satisfied with my position.”

“So you claim. But…what if I could redeem you to polite society?”

Scorn edged her laugh. “I told you before. Polite society will want nothing to do with me!”

“You would be accepted with no questions asked, if you were to return…as my wife.”

Jill stared. She opened her lips. She counted slowly to five, then took a deep breath. “You counsel me to remain quiet, Doctor. Is this how you think to calm me?”

“The best possible treatment for you, Lady, is to leave this ship and begin a new life. An honorable life, as an honest woman. Yes, this
is
my counsel. I hope you will take it. I dare to hope you will take
me
.”

“I challenge you to find a woman more honest than I! It is my honesty that most disturbs you.”

“Perhaps you are right. I am only sure there is none to match you.”

“And where exactly would we find this ‘honorable’ life, Sir?”

“Not in England, unfortunately. But in my homeland. Heidelberg, or Vienna.”

“And live the rest of my days pretending—”

“Your truth does indeed wound me, Madam!”

“I don’t mean pretending to care for you— that might come easily if I allowed it— but pretending to be other than I am. Is this how ‘honest women’ live? I suppose you will suggest next that I should wear gloves at all times, to hide the shameful stain of my experience?”

“You could hardly explain such a blemish.”

“Yet you yourself bear your experience on your cheek.”

His hand hurried to his jaw. “My mark is one of honor.”

“And so is mine.”

“Only in this depraved world of piracy. Surely to be accepted among society is worth some sacrifice?”

“You must have noticed,” she said. “One sacrifice is never enough for society.”

“But to live among decent people again—”

“Decent people have always disappointed me.”

“But I shall not. If you’ll only come away with me, I will prove it to you.”

She smiled again. “Raising the question of your own decency. But even if I were so inclined, and for many reasons I cannot say I am, just how do you think to accomplish it? Do you expect Captain Hook to bend to the propriety of your suggestion? To bless our union and send us off in a skiff full of rice and flowers?”

“You must trust me. I believe a way off this ship has opened for us. I cannot yet be certain.”

“Doctor Hanover. Please leave now. I can’t listen to any more of this fantasy!”

His whole being inclined toward her, as if he longed to touch her. “Madam— Jill! I assure you, this is no fantasy.”

“Don’t speak to me again until you know what you are offering. I will hear no more— no more— until you have real means of deliverance. Until you can tell me everything, tell me nothing!”

“Yes. Yes, I understand. I will do as you ask.”

“No, you don’t understand, but you will. Until you can tell me not only of your plans, but also of yourself, I won’t even consider marriage to you. Why, for example, Sir, can you not return to England?”

The surgeon stiffened and pulled back.

“As you see, I am many things, but I am not foolish— Johann.”

Again, shock struck his face. “You know my name? But how?”

“In the same way, maybe, that you surmise I am the wife for you. But guessing about a husband isn’t acceptable, Johann. The life I lead may be questionable to the world at large, yet I know who and what I am. I can guess your name, but I don’t yet know who you are.”