Captive of My Desires (16 page)

G
ABRIELLE PACED THE SMALL CONFINES
of one of the cabins on Drew’s ship. Her nerves were acting up. She couldn’t believe she was stealing a ship, let alone
Drew Anderson’s
ship. She’d give it back, of course. She was really only borrowing it, or at least she tried to convince herself of that to alleviate some of the guilt that had begun to plague her. But it didn’t help much.

She’d come aboard last night after they made sure the captain wasn’t around. She hadn’t expected
The Triton
to be such a fine vessel. With three tall masts, it was a lot bigger than her father’s two-masted merchantman. Drew and most of his crew were off enjoying their last night in port, which had made it easy for the men Ohr had hired to sneak aboard and hide themselves in the hold.

She didn’t get much sleep last night, though, and finally gave up trying at dawn, so her anxieties had built up until the slightest little sound was making her jump. She’d chewed each of her nails down to the quick.

It was too quiet as the ship left the harbor and sailed out into the channel, indicating nothing was happening yet, but the wait was nerve-wracking. Her tension was very similar to what she’d felt three years ago when her ship had been threatened by pirates, when she’d waited for the sounds of cannons to warn if there would be a fight. There wouldn’t be any cannons fired this morning, but she was anticipating shouts, even pistol shots as command of the ship changed hands.

The sharp knock on her door startled the breath out of her and got an annoyed squawk from Miss Carla. That in turn woke Margery, who’d still been sleeping in her bunk.

It was Richard at the door. He poked his head inside to tell them, “She’s ours. You can come out now.”

“I didn’t hear any shots,” Margery said, then asked Gabrielle, “Or did I sleep through the noise?”

Gabrielle smiled. “No, there were no shots, but like you, I was expecting some.” She raised a brow at Richard. “How’d you manage such a peaceful transition?”

He came inside and closed the door with a grin. “We’re good.” But then he laughed. “Actually, we’ve had practice before. Took over a ship one night right in harbor, though it was just a joke among friends. We gave it back. But it showed us how easy it could be when you have the element of surprise on your side.”

“And you couldn’t have told me about that yesterday?” she huffed.

“Nothing is guaranteed. But surprise tipped the odds in our favor—Captain.”

She made a rude sound over his calling her that. Though they’d agreed that all major decisions would be hers, she was taking on the role of captain only to shoulder the responsibility for their theft, in case they were caught. She certainly wasn’t going to try to captain the ship, even though she was an experienced sailor now and had watched her father at the helm enough times. But Ohr was more suited to the task.

“So you had no trouble a’tall?”

“Not much. Well, it wasn’t easy subduing the captain. You could have warned us he was that giant you ran into on the docks that day we arrived in London. It took four of us to bring him down. He’s damn good with his fists.”

“You didn’t hurt him, did you?” She asked it too quickly, and with too much concern in her tone. She immediately amended, “Not that I care, but no one was supposed to get hurt.”

“He’s fine. Had to knock his first mate out, though, when he noticed us putting some of the crew in the hold and demanded to know what was going on. He laid into us when he figured it out for himself. Damned near as big as the captain is. But he’s secured as well, locked in his cabin.”

Gabrielle nodded and smiled to herself as she left the cabin. She’d already decided what she was going to do with Drew now that she had him at her mercy. She was going to make him think she really was a pirate.

As soon as the idea occurred to Gabrielle, she liked it. Not that Drew didn’t already think that she was one, but just in case he had any doubts, it would be easy enough to put them to rest. And then she’d make him want her anyway. It was the perfect revenge, in her mind. He hated pirates, so much that he’d tried to ruin her in her own backyard, as it were, because of it. It wasn’t even
his
bloody backyard! So she was going to make him want her so much, it would drive him crazy. And
then
she’d make sure he knew he could never have her.

She went to find out where Ohr had put him. He was in the captain’s cabin. And so was Drew, tied to a chair in the back of the room and gagged. She wished he’d been blindfolded as well, but he wasn’t and he was staring at her with murder in his eyes. Of course he would be. That didn’t surprise her at all. Even if he didn’t already have a grudge against her, he’d despise the people who’d taken his ship from him.

She moved to the table where Ohr stood bent over the charts and tried to ignore that those black eyes were following her every step. “Why wasn’t he put in the hold?” she asked in a low voice.

She was only pretending that she didn’t want the captain to overhear the question. The ship was very quiet at the moment. He’d have to be deaf to not hear her.

Ohr glanced aside at her and said cheekily, “Figured you might want a little revenge, considering how rude he was to you.”

Perfect! She couldn’t have asked for a better answer if she’d told him what to say. A few days in the hold was part of that revenge.

But there was more. “Besides,” he continued, “the hold is filled with his crew, and the last thing you want to do is put a captain together with his crew.”

“Why not?”

“It would give them the incentive to quickly plot an escape with him there to make sure of it. Separated, while he’ll no doubt be plotting, there isn’t much he can do about it on his own.”

She nodded. She supposed he was right. And she shouldn’t be asking him questions like that, things she should have known, if she really was his captain. And she
did
want Drew to think she was their captain.

She was curious, though, and wondered aloud, “Was it necessary to gag him?”

“It seemed a good idea, since he wouldn’t shut up,” he replied.

She rolled her eyes. She could just imagine what the giant had had to say. And she’d said more than she should have. She realized that now. So she mustered a brisk, captainlike tone and asked Ohr to step outside with her so they could discuss where to put the captain. Her carpetbags arrived first, though.

It had already been decided that she would occupy the captain’s cabin, since it was the biggest room and the most suitable place for them to gather to discuss any decisions that needed to be made. But that was before they’d decided to leave the real captain in it.

There wasn’t a shortage of cabins. He could be moved to the one she was vacating. It might be tricky, though, as big as Drew was. If he decided to take out his current rage on them as soon as he was on his feet, someone would get hurt, and not necessarily him. But she didn’t want anyone else getting hurt.

The best way to avoid any more injuries would be to simply leave the captain in his own room. She could easily have her bags put back in that other cabin. Then again, why should she have to go to him to enact her revenge? It would be much easier if she kept him close at hand.

So she told Ohr, “I think we’ll just leave the captain where he is for now.”

He didn’t appear surprised, but then, she didn’t think she’d ever seen him reveal surprise. “Are you sure?” was all he asked.

“Yes. I know you were only teasing, but you were more right than you know. I am going to get even with that man for what he did to me, and that includes keeping him a prisoner where he’d least like to be right now: in my room, where he won’t doubt he’s at my mercy.”

Richard would have pried for more details, but Ohr wasn’t like that. He merely nodded and headed to the helm while she went back in the captain’s cabin.

She had to school her features before she approached the giant to stand in front of him. She wanted him to want her. That was her revenge. But it wasn’t going to happen if he realized how much she despised him now. She’d have to make him think it didn’t matter that much to her that he’d ruined her reputation. So a little truth wouldn’t hurt, to throw him off guard and keep him there, so he’d know that she had more than one reason to take his ship. She supposed she also ought to assure him that
The Triton
was only being borrowed, that they would return it to him in good time, well, hopefully in good time. But his was a three-masted merchantman. It should make very good time in the crossing.

He didn’t have to look up very far to meet her eyes. Even sitting, his extreme height was exceptional. And he was still looking daggers at her, which was very unnerving from such black eyes.

“If I remove that thing from your mouth, will you be civil?” she asked.

He made no sound, no movement, just continued to glare at her balefully. She decided to be helpful and pointed out, “A nod would suffice.”

No nod. He was still too angry to cooperate, she supposed. And the look he was giving her was actually causing her some nervousness she hadn’t expected, so she turned her back to him.

Taking a deep breath, she told him, “We aren’t keeping your ship. I received word that my father is being held for ransom on an isle two days’ sail east of St. Kitts. That he’s being kept in a dungeon is quite upsetting to me. I want him out of there. I knew your ship was ready to sail. I decided it would do nicely to get us back to the Caribbean in the quickest time possible. We won’t even be taking you too far off your course, nothing you can’t easily correct with a good wind.” She turned back around to ask again, “Will you be civil now?”

Still no nod from him and his expression hadn’t changed one bit. Blasted man was making her jumpy with those unnerving eyes of his. Well, good grief. What more assurances did she need to give him? But then she put herself in his shoes for a moment and realized there was nothing she could say to make this right in
his
mind. They’d taken his ship from him, removed him from control of it. That it was temporary made no difference to him, if he even believed it was only temporary. Maybe he didn’t believe her. She should find out, and the only way to do that was to remove his gag.

Having made the decision, she stepped around behind him to untie the knot at the base of his neck. She saw immediately that some of his hair was caught in the knot and pulled tight. That had to have hurt and she wasn’t sure she could untie it without pulling his hair even more. As she tried, one of his curls fell over her fingers. It was silky smooth like a child’s—quite startling, since there was nothing childlike about him.

The gag fell away, retained in her hand. She held her breath, waiting for him to blast her. Silence. And still he did not turn around to look at her. She stuffed the gag in the pocket of her skirt and moved to stand in front of him.

“Something to drink to get the taste of cotton out of my mouth,” he said.

How reasonable! He was going to be civil.

She looked around the cabin but saw no water, or anything else for that matter.

“In my desk drawer,” he said. The drawer revealed a decanter set in a wooden pocket designed to fit it, so the bottle would stay upright in the worst of storms. It was filled with some type of spirits, no doubt, but if that would suit him, it was fine with her.

She didn’t miss seeing the pistol in that drawer as well, nor did she hesitate to pocket it before she returned to him with the decanter. She was surprised he’d directed her to the place where he kept his pistol. Perhaps he’d just forgotten it was there.

She removed the glass cork and tilted the decanter to his lips. He had such a sensual mouth, full, supple, quite mesmerizing. The last time she’d stared at it, he’d been about to kiss her, the bastard, and he had, thoroughly. God, she wished she didn’t know what he tasted like…She gave him only two sips, then took her eyes off his lips.

“Appreciate it,” he said when she set the decanter down. “But I would appreciate it even more if you’d give me my ship back.”

Just like that, and so calmly, too. She laughed and told him, “Would you indeed? I wonder if it would surprise you if I told you that I would have appreciated if you hadn’t tried to embarrass me at the last ball I attended in London, by letting it be known who my father is, but, well, I didn’t get my wish…and you won’t be getting yours.”

“Embarrass you? The man you were with that night was courting you! If he didn’t know about your father, he damn well should have, or were you trying to get him to marry you without telling him the truth about who you really are?”

“You bastard! It was deliberate, wasn’t it?”

He didn’t answer, demanded instead, “Is that what this is about? You suffer a little embarrassment and you arrange for someone to steal my ship?”

“A little!?”

She had such a powerful urge to hit him that she actually took a step back before she gave in to it. This wasn’t going well. She never should have mentioned what he’d done to her. He obviously didn’t care. But he would. By the time she was done with him, by God, he would!

She took a deep breath and cleared her throat to produce a calm tone. “It doesn’t matter. And you don’t need to worry about your ship. I’ve assured you that you will get it back.”