The Sea Rose (2 page)

“
There’s a boat to
starboard, Cap’n,” the quartermaster informed him.

His interest level climbed a bit.
“Whose flag are they flying?”

“
No flag.” The older man’s
voice slurred slightly from the rum he’d already consumed that
day.

The captain opened one eye and looked
at his quartermaster. “No flag? What kind of ship?”

“
Not a ship, it’s a boat.
A dinky little row boat.”

That was interesting enough
information for the captain to open both eyes and sit up. “Is
anyone in it?”

“
Can’t tell. Davy spied it
from the nest.”

“
You have the
glass?”

The captain stood, rising to his full
height of an inch or so over six feet. The quartermaster handed him
a long spy glass. The two men stood at the starboard rail and
looked out over the wide expanse of sea. After only a second or so
scanning the water, the captain located the row boat. It was a
small vessel, the size of a lifeboat, bobbing in the relatively
calm sea. He trained the glass on it, and though he couldn’t see
anyone, there was a flutter of what could have been
material.

“
All right, let’s go get
it.” The captain handed the glass back to Mr. Blake who ran down
the wooden steps shouting orders to trim the sails and come
about.

Curiosity had a firm grip on the
captain now. It wasn’t difficult; boredom was a side effect of life
at sea counteracted only by brief moments of thrilling battles and
hellacious storms. Granted, the life of a mariner was one of
complete freedom and adventure, but being the captain of this
particular ship, it was also a life of wealth and
advantage.

The great three-masted ship, Neptune’s
Revenge, cut through the waves then turned starboard toward the
tiny boat bobbing in the distance. Handsome Jack, the infamous
pirate captain, stretched his arms languidly over his head. He
rolled his head on his neck and arched his back to complete the
stretch.

The ship had been at sea for three
months on a return voyage bound for Nassau, the port in the New
Providence pirate paradise. The cruise had been unimaginably
successful. The original food stores had dwindled, the precious
vacated space taken up by a bounty of captured gold coins, jewels,
and other riches from the merchant and passenger ships the pirate
and crew boarded and conquered. Oddly enough, the booty that had
excited the pirate the most was a barrel of crisp green apples
taken off a Spanish galleon just days before.

He took a bite of one of those apples
as his ship come alongside the small boat. Two people were aboard
but neither responded to the yells and shouts rained down on them
from the rails of Neptune’s Revenge. At a nod from the captain, one
of the younger sailors leapt off the side of the ship. He made a
perfect swan dive and came up next to the row boat.

“
It’s a lady and some old
sea dog,” the young man hollered up to the captain.

“
Are they alive?” Jack
yelled back down.

The lad rocked the boat a bit. The old
man moved his arm and the lady moaned. “Aye, they be in bad shape,
but they live.”

“
All right, then. Bring
‘em up.”

The captain ordered a basket lowered.
The two occupants were raised, one at a time. Finally, the boat was
lifted and secured to the side of the ship. Jack made his way
through the gawking crowd of seamen. Lying on the deck was exactly
what the boy reported. An old man with a rough beard and missing
teeth, his breeches torn and his shirt ragged around the hem, lay
unconscious on the teak deck.

But it wasn’t the old man the rest of
the crew ogled. Jack shifted his attention to the woman. He could
see a hint of her beauty even after spending time adrift in a row
boat in the open ocean. Her face was young, and he estimated she
couldn’t be more than nineteen. Her full, bow shaped lips were
chapped from the sun and dehydration; her hair, though matted from
the wind and the salt water, was jet black and long. Not much could
be said about her figure underneath piles and piles of silk and
petticoats, but her corset alluded to a small waist and her breasts
showed promise.

“
Take the man below and
get some water into him,” the captain ordered. He knelt and picked
up the girl, her weight greatly enhanced by the soaked dress.
Without it she probably weighed only seven or eight stone. Once the
thought entered his head, he found it hard not to think of her
without her dress on. Obviously, this had been a longer trip than
he thought if a waterlogged woman-child could arouse
him.

The quartermaster looked upon the
captain with amusement. “Can I assume you’ll take care of the lady
yourself, Jack?” He waggled his eyebrows in a suggestive
manner.

“
Thank you for your
concern. I surely can’t leave her with you sea dogs.”

“
Sure you can, Cap’n,”
Blake assured him in his best English accent, “We’re all right well
be’aved society gen’lmen, doncha know.”

Jack flashed a smile and responded to
his officer’s jest in kind. “I’ll just take her to my
cabin.”

“
I bet you will.” Blake
roared with good natured laughter. The quartermaster turned to
supervise the other survivor’s transport below decks.

Jack’s cabin boy was in his quarters
when he kicked open the door. The room, neat and tidy, was spacious
and well appointed. He lay the young woman on a massive bed made up
with a satin coverlet and pristine white silk sheets over a feather
bed and down quilts.

“
Bring a pitcher of fresh
water and a couple more apples,” he told the cabin boy. “When she
wakes, she’ll want to have a warm bath, so bring in the tub,
too.”

“
Aye, Cap’n.” The boy gave
a quick salute and trotted out the door.

Jack took in the woman who lay on his
bed. A welcome sight for sure, but she was clearly a lady, and not
some floozy from a nearby port.

He glanced about the cabin deciding
what he should do, and then back at the girl. Woman, he corrected
himself, looking over her body again and mentally adding another
year or two to the estimate he made of her age earlier. He leaned
over her to assess the damage. There was a gash on her head that
would need tending. Her temple was bruised, but the salt had
cleaned the open wound and the bleeding had stopped so he didn’t
think stitches would be necessary. The dress was going to have to
go. It was ruined and still wet and eventually, he knew from
experience, the salt would make her itch.

He rolled her over on her side and
worked on the buttons down her back. There were a lot of them and
each was very small. After fighting with six of them he uttered a
curse and then simply yanked the rest of them off by tearing the
dress straight down the back.

The sound and the sudden feeling of
being jerked around brought her back to consciousness and the young
woman screamed.

Chapter Three

“
Don’t you touch me,”
Roselyn screamed and leapt from the bed. The integrity of her dress
completely compromised, it fell away in the front when nothing held
it together in the back. She grasped at the cloth across her
breasts, trying to hold it in place and protect her
modesty.

“
I’m not going to touch
you.” When the man stood from his kneeling position on the floor
and took a step in her direction, she screamed again and ran to the
only protection she could find. She stood behind a massive cherry
desk hoping the solid woodenness of it would provide some
protection against the half-naked giant advancing on
her.

“
Don’t come any closer,”
she warned and grabbed a letter opener on the desk and wielded it
with her free hand.

The man chuckled. “Oh, love, you’re
adorable, standing there all brave and trembling, clutching at your
dress and pointing the silly little dagger at me.”

“
Who are you?”

“
My lady.” He made an
exaggerated bow. “Handsome Jack and the Neptune’s Revenge at your
service.”

“
Oh my God!” She sank into
the desk chair. Any hope she had of finding Rupert now was a lost
cause. The sting of tears pinched behind her eyes. This was just
too much. First, she’d had to deal with the death of her father,
then the sinking of the ship, and now pirates. What had she ever
done for God to forsake her this way?

“
Oh now.” He approached
the desk and slipped the little dagger from her hand and slid it in
a desk drawer. “Tis not as bad as all that. You’ve been rescued,
you know.”

“
Only to be held captive
on a pirate ship.”

“
Who said you were a
captive?” he asked, his voice smooth as honey.

Roselyn realized how close he stood to
her and she leapt from the chair, circled around again, and stopped
on the opposite side of the massive slab of cherry wood.

“
You’re not a captive,” he
reiterated.

“
Oh, then you’re telling
me you’ll let me off this ship this very instant?” She thought it
doubtful, but there might be a chance.

This time his laugh was louder, more
robust than the chuckle from before. His eyes twinkled with mirth
and she couldn’t help noticing the accompanying smile was
devastating against his tanned face. “Absolutely.” He waved his arm
in a sweeping gesture of invitation. “You are free to go. In fact,
I’ll escort you myself.”

“
No.” She sidled towards
the door, ready to dart away at the first threatening move he made.
“I don’t need any help.”

His smile did not diminish and it did
not mock her in any way. In fact, he enjoyed this. He was intrigued
by her bravery. Usually any captive, man or woman alike, either
cried hysterically or begged with simpering pleas when faced with
the enormity of being captured by Handsome Jack and the crew of
Neptune’s Revenge. This girl was different. Obviously afraid–she
would be an idiot if she weren’t–still there was a pluck about her
that interested him.

And she was exquisite to look at. Even
tousled and abused by the storm, he could see she was beautiful.
Her sable brown eyes gleamed at him in anger and fear, and her
plump lips pursed in frustration. She stood warily near the door,
her pretty toes peeking out from under her tattered dress, prepared
to dash to freedom.

He extended both hands in front of
him, palms open, showing her he had no weapons. He came around the
desk as she retreated further towards the door.

“
If I’m really free to go
then I can do this myself.” Her voice waivered only a little bit,
but he could hear the fear she tried so hard to mask with
bravado.

“
Certainly.” Jack tried to
arrange his expression into something a little more serious, but
failed miserably. “I’m just coming along to help you with the gang
plank.”

She felt around the door when it
pressed against her back. Without turning around, she fumbled with
the knob, managed to open it, but then stumbled against the lip on
the floor. Jack darted forward, intending to catch her before she
fell, but she regained her balance and clung onto the door frame
with her one free hand. She screamed again as he got closer, so he
abruptly stopped and held out his open hands again to show he meant
no malice. She reminded him of a skittish kitten, and he couldn’t
resist flashing her another broad grin.

“
Out the passage to the
right.” He gestured with his eyebrows and a nod of his
head.

“
You’re really going to
let me go?”

“
You are free to leave
this ship right now if that’s what you want,” he assured her
again.

She let loose of the door jamb and
broke into a run down the hallway in the direction he’d indicated.
Jack followed at a leisurely pace, knowing she couldn’t get
anywhere.

She clung to the rail of the deck
looking out at miles and miles of calm ocean when he exited the
gangway and walked up behind her. She whirled away from him and ran
to the port side of the ship. Again, all she would see was ocean.
She spun around and glared at the pirate behind her.

“
There’s no land.” She
sounded annoyed.

He smirked at her, smug.

“
You said I could go.” She
pointed out across the expanse of water. “You said I could
go.”

“
Yes, you can go.” He
nodded and smiled at her with a face as innocent as an
angel.

“
No I can’t, oh
you…you…bastard!” She clamped her hand over her mouth in shocked
surprise. Her father would be appalled. And she didn’t even want to
think about Rupert. Her fiancé would not be pleased. It would just
go to prove what they had always said about her.

“
Not exactly, love.” He
leaned against the rail next to her. “While I often wished
otherwise, I do have a father.”

“
But you said...” The
tears welled in her eyes again. The lashes weighed heavily with
unexpended tear drops.

“
What are you accusing me
of?” Jack smiled solicitously. “You are certainly free to
go.”