The Sea Rose (3 page)

She stared at him. Her mouth hung open
in shock.

“
Or…” He reached for her
and she flinched. He moved his hand slower but he continued on and
lifted her torn dress to cover her breast. She hadn’t noticed that
the fabric was slipping. “Or,” he repeated, “you can come back to
my cabin where you can have your wounds tended to and have a warm
bath and wash the salt from your skin and comb your hair and sleep
in a comfortable bed.” His voice practically purred, but she wasn’t
fooled. Roselyn glared at the salacious pirate.

“
I’m not going back to
your cabin. You must be insane.” Roselyn was a minister’s daughter
and a minister’s fiancée. She could not stay in his cabin, and she
was certainly not one of his concubines. She had heard of Handsome
Jack the pirate and his reputation. It was well known what the crew
of the Neptune’s Revenge did with the women they
captured.

“
Fine then.” He took a
step closer to her. The space shrunk, but she resisted the
temptation to back away and bravely kept her ground. “You certainly
don’t have to come with me. I’m sure the men would be happy to have
you below.”

He moved away from the rail and she
got a clear view of the sailors on the main deck eyeing her in an
unsavory way. While Jack was frightening, those men terrified her.
When one of them made what could have only been an obscene gesture,
she started and turned back to Jack.

He held out his hand to
her.

“
No games. You’ll be safe
with me. Come back and have a bath and we’ll talk.”

Roselyn hesitated for a second, and
then with as much dignity as she could muster, she gathered the
tattered remains of her ruined dress and strode past the pirate,
ignored his outstretched hand and stalked back down the gangway to
his cabin.

She heard him laughing behind her and
it only infuriated her more.

Chapter Four

She regarded him, her
expression leery, completely prepared to jump and flee if he made a
move she didn’t like. Flee to
where
she didn’t know. The pirate ship was clearly in
the middle of the ocean and the only other option was to seek
refuge with the sailors, which was really no option at all. So she
sat on the bed, poised to run, and watched the giant, still
conspicuously half-naked pirate, as he supervised the filling of
the bath tub.

It was difficult not to watch him, and
fairly quickly she gave up all pretense of being sly about it. She
hated him; that was certain, but his body was simply too divine not
to appreciate. The man was very tall, very broad, and very tan. His
hair, black as midnight, curled at the ends, and he wore a scarf
tied around his head to keep the long locks away from his face. She
didn’t have a lot of experience when it came to men’s physiques, in
fact, none whatsoever. Not even from art books unless she peeked at
them in someone else’s home. Her father considered even classical
sculpture sinful. Still, she knew what she liked. There was some
sort of primeval knowledge deep inside of her that told her he was
a fine specimen. Handsome Jack–if ever there was a perfect name for
someone, this was it.

His shoulders were broad and square,
and she marveled at the play of the muscles in his back as he
helped dump the buckets of water in the bathtub. Completely
intrigued by a tan line which appeared just below the waistband of
his breeches when he stretched, she averted her eyes before she
embarrassed herself further. But most fascinating of all, the area
beneath the waistband appeared only slightly less tan than his
torso. She blushed at the implication of what a tan rear end would
mean. What a rear end it was, too. Everything about the man was
muscular and strong.

Without a word, he gestured towards
the door. The cabin boy left with the empty buckets.

She was alone with him
again.

“
What is your name,
lovely?” he asked.

“
I am Miss Weldon.” She
may not be gentry, but she was still a well bred young woman and,
thus she used her haughtiest tone. “Soon to be Mrs. Rupert
Merickel.”

“
Oh, then I’ll be flirting
uselessly with a nearly married woman.” He placed his large hand
over his naked heart, feigning a pain there. “I am sure my heart
will break.”

She didn’t say anything, merely
continued to stare at him, her expression nonplussed at his attempt
to win her over.

He nodded to the steaming bathtub.
“Climb in while it’s still warm.”

“
I most certainly will
not. Not while you’re in the room.”

He chuckled again. It was very
unnerving when he did that. Worse yet, she was beginning to like it
a little, despite herself.

“
Can I at least help you
with your gown since you’ve no lady’s maid to assist you?” He was
all solicitation and geniality.

Her heart ached at the reminder of her
lost maid. Sally had been a dear girl, not just a helpful maid, but
a good traveling companion as well.

“
I think you’ve helped me
enough with my gown, thank you very much.”

That elicited another sexy chuckle.
“Fine, I’ll leave you to it.” He opened a huge wardrobe in the
corner and pulled out a shirt. “I’ll return in a bit to see if you
need any help washing your back.”

“
Get out!” she yelled,
pointing at the door. Just as she secretly hoped, she was rewarded
with a chuckle.
Really, I must stop
that
– she was an engaged woman, after
all. She purposefully thought of Rupert in his starched white shirt
and clerical collar. She was fairly confident Rupert didn’t have a
tan line anywhere on his body.

Jack lingered outside the cabin and
contemplated the lovely Miss Weldon, stripping off her clothes,
even now as he stood on the opposite side of the door. He had known
that she watched him while he supervised the filling of her
bathwater. She had quickly averted her eyes but she didn’t fool
him.

One point for the
pirate
. He mentally ticked off his score
card. Jack knew he’d have to take his time with this one; she would
be easily spooked.

He listened outside the door only a
second before he heard the faintest slosh of water hit the floor
and her long, contented sigh when she sank into the warmth. He
smiled again as he strode away from his cabin.

A scant half hour later,
she heard a perfunctory rap on the door and before she could refuse
entry, the door opened and her pirate sauntered
in
. When did he become my
pirate?

“
I’m not dressed yet. I’m
not even out of the bath,” she screeched, and tried desperately to
cover herself with her hands.

“
I’m not looking,” he
promised. He walked towards the bed, his hands full, and it truly
appeared as though he wasn’t looking. He made an exaggerated
attempt at covering his eyes when he turned and approached the
bath. She pulled up her legs and wrapped her arms around her
chest.

“
I brought clean towels.”
He laid some fluffy toweling on the chair next to the bath. “And
some soap.”

“
Soap?” she asked
incredulously. “I’m naked! You need to get out!”

To his credit, he still wasn’t looking
at her. “But this is my cabin,” he reminded her. “Where else am I
to go? Besides, this is very special soap. Virgins make it in
Jamaica from coconut milk.”

“
Virgins what?” This man
was mad, and maddening. “I don’t care who makes it.”

“
Use it on your hair. I
also brought you a dress. I’m pretty good with women’s bodies. It
will be your size.”

“
You seem awfully full of
yourself.” She reached forward and snatched the soap from his hand.
“I don’t want to wear one of your concubine’s dresses. I won’t put
one of those nasty things on.”

Jack picked up the torn and filthy
dress and undergarments from the floor. “Well these are ruined.
You’re always welcome to wear nothing. In fact,” he bent and
gathered the new clothes he’d laid out on the bed, “I think I’d
prefer you naked.”

“
Wait,” she couldn’t
believe she was saying this, “I’ll wear the dress.”
It is certainly better than the
alternative.

He shrugged. “Whatever you
want.”

She watched him warily as she lathered
the soap and washed her hair. It really did smell marvelous. “I’d
like to get out now. The water is getting cold.”

“
I won’t look.”

Roselyn sat in the chilly water, her
mouth hanging open at the audacity of the man. Unfortunately, she
really had no choice. She could either freeze to death in the
increasingly colder water, or she could risk his seeing her. She
closed her eyes and counted to ten, gathered her bravery and rose
from the water, quickly grabbing a towel and wrapping the warm,
fuzzy material around herself.

True to his word, he didn’t look. It
made the top ten list of hardest things he had ever
done.

He had given her as much time in the
bath as he dared. He had come by several minutes before and heard
her crying. It seemed a perfectly reasonable reaction to all that
she’d endured. As much as he wanted to comfort her, he seriously
doubted she’d appreciate him pulling her out of the steamy tub and
into his arms for a soothing embrace, no matter how much the idea
appealed to him. Actually, parts of him were stirring that promised
any embrace would not stay soothing for long.

He took several deep breaths to calm
the excited parts of his anatomy before he turned to her and
offered his hand to assist her from the bath. Her skin was pink
from the warmth of the tub, and her hair, free of the salty crust,
gleamed in ebony silkiness. She refused to meet his gaze–out of
shyness he assumed–and he didn’t press her.

This young woman,
alternately brave and timid, captivated him with her mercurial
nature. Ever since leaving England, never had a woman
not
throw herself at him
and he was looking forward to the challenge.

Chapter Five

He did insist on helping her with the
corset ribbons and buttons. Before she let Jack assist, she dressed
as much as she had been able. All that was visible to the pirate
was her back in the unbuttoned dress.

The garment was gorgeous; the silk
finer than she’d ever had the luxury to put on her body before. It
was a rich shade of purple, a color her father would never have let
her own. He would have declared it too “proud”. All her dresses
were brown or tan or cream. Well, all the dresses she used to own.
Now she owned nothing. Everything she owned was at the bottom of
the Atlantic Ocean.

“
Well, I was right.” He
looked her over with an appreciative eye. “A perfect
fit.”

Absurdly, she found herself
disappointed to find that her pirate had donned a shirt. The soft,
white linen hung loosely around his torso, the cuffs unbuttoned and
the laces undone at the neck. She averted her eyes and even went so
far as to cross the room to look out the large porthole when he
removed his buff colored breeches and put on black ones and a pair
of shiny, black leather boots. When she turned around, she was
taken aback. Now the pirate really looked the part. Did he have
that earring before? How had she not noticed a thick gold hoop in
one ear?

“
We’ll have dinner in here
tonight. I thought we could talk and get to know each other
better.”

“
You know everything you
need to know about me,” she protested.

“
Well then, we’ll play a
game.” It wasn’t a suggestion, more of a dictate.

The cabin boy and several other
sailors brought in a table and two high backed chairs. In
amazement, she watched as they spread a pressed linen tablecloth
and set the table with china, crystal and silver. When the meal was
brought in, she was further astounded. Roasted pheasant with a
fruit sauce, fresh greens and potatoes and a delicate broth soup
were placed on the table, all in china dishes. They had certainly
never eaten this well on the merchant vessel.

“
My lady.” Jack pulled out
her chair. She hesitated briefly before she decided to move forward
with the peace he extended.

“
Thank you.” She sat in
the chair with all the decorum she possessed, which had been
drilled into her from birth by her exceedingly strict father.
“Truly, I had no idea being held captive on a pirate ship would be
so comfortable.”

“
Need I remind you again
that you’re not a captive?”

“
Right. I’m free to go
anytime I want to dive into the sea and drown,” her voice dripped
with sarcasm, the gentle truce in jeopardy.

“
We are only about two
days from New Providence. Simply swim.”

“
Ah, but alas,” she
confessed, “I don’t know how to swim.”

“
Well then, may I suggest
you stay on board with me and enjoy a lovely dinner,” he paused for
a beat and then added, “and maybe more.”