Lock (42 page)

“By the way, what’s your name? Can’t keep calling you boy.”

“That’s all me mother ever called me—but I call meself Janos.”

“Janos, we’ve got work to do before tonight. Are you any good at drawing?”

“I guess so.”

“Good.”

“What kind of work are you going to do tonight, anyway?”

Sparrow rode silently toward the tavern, Opal’s hands on her waist from where she sat behind her on the horse. The gypsy girl chatted about the day’s events, but Sparrow thought only of Lock. For the past several days, he’d stopped at their site and walked her and Opal to the tavern, but today he hadn’t come. Perhaps he was tired of her already. The thought made Sparrow’s stomach drop, but if he reverted to his old ways, it was better that she hadn’t agreed to marry him right away.

“Sparrow, are you listening to me?”

“No.”

“Thank you so much.” Opal’s voice dripped sarcasm.

“I’m sorry. I was just wondering where—”

“Lock is? For a woman who had no intention of taking him back, he’s all you seem to talk about.”

“I know I’m a fool, especially after what he did.”

“I know what he did to you, but I like him. He’s interesting, funny, handsome.”

“He can also be arrogant, bull-headed, and rotten.”

“Nobody’s perfect.”

“Opal, he’s too old for you.”

“I don’t want him!” The girl giggled. “At least for anything like marriage. Tell you what, Sparrow. I’ll
borrow
him until you’re ready to settle down.”

“You’ll do no such thing!” Sparrow glared over her shoulder.

“It was only a joke. Besides, all he sees is you. It must be so nice to have a big, strong, handsome ex-pirate madly in love with you.”

Sparrow sighed. At times Opal seemed so bright for her age, but at other times Sparrow wondered if she had a brain in her head. Not that she entirely disagreed. Lock could be very winning, and just the idea of being in his arms made her entire body weak.

“Where is he tonight?” Sparrow muttered.

“He’s probably still getting back from the village. He’s a busy man, from what I hear. He’ll make some woman a wonderful husband.”

“You haven’t known him long enough to judge.”

“Sparrow, why don’t you just admit you want him back?”

“Of course I want him back, but I can’t let him know how much. Not right now. Lock’s difficult. I have to be careful how I handle this situation. I have to…What’s going on in there?”

Both women dismounted, and approached the tavern. From inside came the sounds of female voices shouting and laughing. Several men, mugs of ale in their hands, stood grumbling outside. Upon noticing Sparrow and Opal, their sullen expressions faded.

“Finally,” one of the men said.

“Lady dancers. Thank the goddess!” said another.

“What’s wrong?” Sparrow asked. “Why are you all out here?”

“That man who’s been following you around is in there,” snorted a tall, skinny farmer, “you wouldn’t believe what he’s doing.”

“And the women love it,” added a pot-bellied man in a stained tunic. “Disgusting.”

“What are they talking about?” Opal asked.

Sparrow heard giddy shrieks from the women inside, and she muttered, “I think know.”

She stepped into the tavern, Opal close behind her. Women and a few irritated men filled the room. In the center, surrounded by giggling ladies, Lock performed the most seductive of dances. Barefoot, dressed in a black leather vest and leather trousers that fitted to the hard length of his legs, revealing the enticing bulge of his crotch, he smiled and moved his hips and arms sensually. The open vest exposed his broad chest and muscled abdomen, thorns and branches painted across his skin, masking old scars.

Coins littered the floor at Lock’s feet, and every now and then a skinny boy scurried to the center of the room and gathered the money into a cloth pouch.

I know that boy
. Sparrow suddenly saw the missing pinky finger.
The boy from the Lady Fire!
What’s he doing here?

Opal laughed, clapped her hands, and went to join the women closest to Lock. Sparrow grasped her arm. “We have to get ready for our own performance, if we still work here, that is.”

“He’s very good, Sparrow!”

“Come on!” Sparrow took Opal’s wrist and dragged her to the tavern owner who grinned as he sold mugs of ale to several women.

“Sparrow! Opal! Business is better than ever!”

“You never told us you hired another dancer,” Sparrow said.

“Don’t worry, you’re certainly not replaced. He’s going to dance an hour or so in the early evening then you girls have the rest of the night. I didn’t think it was a good idea at first, but he said I didn’t have to pay him for the first two weeks. He’d just take whatever he earned from the patrons. I never realized how much women would like to watch a man dance. Crazy, isn’t it?”

“No crazier than the men who ogle us,” Opal said.

“The men don’t seem to like it much,” Sparrow noted, smiling inwardly. Though she didn’t like the idea of women lusting after Lock, she had to admit she found some justice in his performance. Why shouldn’t the village women enjoy the same entertainment as the men?

“They’ll get over it.” The tavern owner waved his hand. “It’s only one short hour a few nights a week.”

Sparrow’s eyes fixed on Lock as he moved. His gaze suddenly met hers and he winked. Sparrow tried to repress her smile, but only partially succeeded. There was no man like Lock. Anywhere.

The boy stepped out of the way as Lock spun, and Sparrow called to him. “Janos! What are you doing here with Lock?”

The boy smiled. “Sparrow! Good to see you.”

“What’s going on?”

“Work. The pirate and me is business partners.”

Sparrow resisted the urge to laugh since the boy looked so serious. “Business partners? I’m glad to see you’re off the ship, at least.”

“Things ain’t much better on dry land, I tell you. Was nearly hanged this mornin’.”

Sparrow looked horrified. “Why?”

“Some men said I stole from them. Same old story.”

She sighed and folded her arms across her chest. “Was it true?”

“I don’t want to spread no rumors.”

“Janos, what are we going to do with you?” Sparrow ruffled his curly red hair. “How did you and Lock end up together? How’s your finger?”

“Don’t hurt at all no more. The son-of-a-bitch—I mean Lock—got me out of the hangin’. Can’t figure out why, but I won’t complain about it.”

Sparrow glanced at Lock and half smiled.
So he got Janos out of the hanging. Maybe he really has changed this time
.

She hoped so because she knew she couldn’t give him up again, no matter what.

* * * * *

Lock shoved damp hair from his eyes as he stepped into the kitchen where Sparrow waited for her turn to dance. Opal had claimed the tavern floor as soon as Lock finished, but not before tossing him a saucy wink.

“We made a killin’!” Janos grinned as he hurried to keep up with Lock’s long strides. He peered into a sack full of coins.

“We?” Lock raised an eyebrow.

“Never thought women would throw money at a man just for screwin’ air.”

“Screwing air?”

“Sure. The way you dance, that’s what it looks like. Speakin’ of screwin’, imagine how much you could make if you bedded them down…”

Lock shot the boy a look that said exactly what he thought of the idea. Janos gazed back at the money pouch. “Just a thought.”

“So how much did you make?” Sparrow cast him a haughty look as she approached, a sheer veil draped over her body, scarcely concealing her pantaloons and beaded vest beneath.

He took the pouch from Janos then held out his hand.

“What?” The boy looked innocent.

“Empty your pockets.”

“But I didn’t take nothin’.”

“I think I might tattoo that phrase across your face,” Lock muttered. “Empty them. I didn’t dance my ass off so you could keep half the profits.”

“I didn’t take nearly half,” Janos muttered, fishing in his pockets and tossing into the pouch the coins he’d taken. “And you said you’d pay me for working for you. I been crawling on my hands and knees for the past hour picking up coins.”

Sparrow peered in the pouch and Lock pulled the strings tightly, nearly catching her nose. She glared at him. “That’s not right. You make more than I do and you’ve only been here a night.”

“I can’t help it if the men are stingier than the women. Besides, you get a fee from the owner, too.”

“Are you going to pay me or what?” Janos demanded. “At least let me get something to eat. I’m starved.”

Lock glanced at the skinny boy and divided the money between them. “You look like you could use it. Out of what I gave you, I want you to go to the market tomorrow and get some supplies for our camp.”

“Why should it come out of my share?”

“Don’t you ever shut up? You’re worse than a woman.”

“I resent that!” Sparrow lifted her chin.

“Sparrow, you know I didn’t mean you.”

“I’m sure he meant it. He’s obnoxious, ain’t he?” Janos grinned at Sparrow before he stepped back into the main room to order food.

“He can be.” Sparrow folded her arms beneath her breasts. Except for the cook who stood grumbling over his stew pot, they were alone in the kitchen. She placed a hand on Lock’s bare chest. “Janos told me what you did today. You saved him from being hanged.”

Lock shook his head. “Good for him, but I get the feeling it’s going to be bad for me. He’ll probably try to kill me in my sleep.”

“You did cut off his finger.”

“Yes, and I just saved his neck. That boy attracts trouble—and it’s going to be like chewing rocks to get him to keep his hands off other people’s belongings. Speaking of belongings, everything in my wagon got stolen this afternoon, so it’s a good thing I got the extra work here.”

“All your things are gone?”

“Even my underpants.”

Sparrow laughed, and Lock felt a smile playing around his own lips. “Think that’s funny, do you, girl?”

“I’m sorry.” Sparrow swiped the tears streaming from her eyes as she leaned against the wall, dissolved in laughter. “Who would want your underpants?”

“They were good wool ones for the winter.”

Sparrow collapsed on the floor, unable to control her mirth.

“Took my frying pan, my razor—”

“What do you need a razor for?” She pointed to his white streaked beard.

“To shave my privates before I wear the wool underwear.” He tossed her a sarcastic look and folded his arms across his chest. “Will you get up from there. It’s not all that funny. Good thing I didn’t keep the money I’ve earned in the wagon or else four months of work would have been gone to the wind.”

“Where are your earnings, then?”

“Buried over half this continent. I couldn’t very well take it with me in the wagon while I was trailing you all over creation.”

“Buried?” Her laughter resumed. “You’re not even a pirate anymore, but you’re still burying your money!”

“Glad to see how much I’m amusing you tonight.”

She stood and slid her arms around his waist. “I’m sorry. I’ve almost forgotten why I fell in love with you. You make me laugh and you make me crazy.”

He cupped her cheek and kissed her, his eyes slipping shut, enjoying the sensation of her lips and her firm curves pressed close to his body.

“Sparrow, get out there!” Opal said as she stepped into the kitchen.

Sparrow tugged away from Lock, blew him a kiss over her shoulder, and hurried to the floor.

“That was quite a performance you gave,” Opal said to Lock. “Sparrow told me you could dance, but I wasn’t sure.”

“Have you been teaching her?”

“Yes. She does well. The men love her.”

“Do they?” Lock wondered if his irritation was apparent.

“She has a beautiful body.”

“Yes, she does.” Lock walked out to the table where Janos was shoving in a variety of foods.

“Slow down before you kill yourself.” Lock snatched a slice of bread from Janos’s plate.

“So? You never know when it’s going to be your last meal.” The boy’s words were garbled as he spoke with a full mouth.

Lock’s gaze fixed on Sparrow as she danced. Most of the women had dispersed, and the room was now filled with men, drinking, eating, and ogling Sparrow and Opal.

Someone nudged Lock in the shoulder, and he glanced at a plump, dark-haired woman. She offered him a lusty smile. “That was a fine performance.”

“Thank you.”

“Last time I saw such a stud, my husband borrowed his brother’s breeding bull.”

Lock resisted the urge to raise his eyes.

The woman’s hand slid up his arm. “Looking for some company later on tonight?”