Passion's Tide (22 page)

Amber was propped on a barrel untangling a line of rope when Logan burst from his cabin with a formidable scowl
.
He blinked into the bright light and almost immediately settled his hard gaze on her
.
She squared her shoulders and continued her work, though her hands were burning from where the coarse rope rubbed the soft pads of her fingers
.
Logan disappeared below deck and resurfaced minutes later with a cup of coffee and a
biscuit
.
She refused to watch him walk about the
deck and talk to the men, and yet every nerve ending in her body was aware of his location
.
As he approached her now they seemed to vibrate with unsettled energy, and she quelled the urge to jump up and slap him, or embrace him, or run away…anything to qu
iet her tumultuous emotions
.
She chose silence.

“So am I right in assuming
you’ve given up?” Logan inquired as he stood above her in his typical power stance; hands on hips, legs shou
lder
-
width apart to keep his balance on the rocking deck, and a crooked
smile.

“Why would you think that?”

“Because you’re doing something mundane and womanly, more suited to your gentle nature
.
I’m glad you’ve come to your senses.”

“Well, believe it or not Logan, you’re wrong again
.
I’m just helping Pax out until he’s ready to show me some things.”

“What sort of things?”

She smiled
.
“I’m not sure, but he said it would be fun!” Logan groaned in response
.
“What’s wrong?”

“It’s too damn early.” He spun on his heel and
lumbered
across the deck towards his cabin.

“What’s his problem?” Pax asked as he walked up behind her and tossed her a rope
.
Catching the end of it she shrugged.

“Who knows? Now what am I doing with this? And what…are
you
doing?” She turned her head to follow Pax’s movements behind her as he
wound the rope around her waist and tied it
.
He grabbed the knot and lifted, hoisting Amber off the ground until her legs dangled
.
As he lowered her back down he grinned
.
“Pax, I’m getting the oddest feeling that I’m about to do something dange
rous or crazy. And knowing you, it’s probably both.”

“Well crazy maybe, but dangerous? Not in the least!” He yanked on the rope again for good measure, as if it would comfort her
.
“Why, are you too scared?”

“It depends.”

“On what?”

“Two things
.
First, how angry will this make Logan?”

“Extremely angry
.
And the second thing?”

She smiled
.
“How strong is this rope?”

Logan was cleaning his pistol for the third time
when he heard the commotion outside his cabin
.
Boredom made him put his gun down on the table and approach the door, but curiosity drove him to open it
.
“Logan doesn’t need to know what, gentleman?” Deacon stumbled back in surprise
;
Noah dropped his
gaze
.
“Men, something you wanted to tell me?”

Deacon coughed, then stepped aside and raised h
is finger
.
Color rushed to Logan’s face and he wished he hadn’t left his pistol in the room, unloaded
.
Seeing Amber ten yards above him, standing on the main topsail yard alongside Pax with nothing but a single rope to prevent her from plummeting to her
death, nearly undid any ounce of control he had on his temper, and he fought with the urge to go get his gun
.
He spotted Eli at the base of the mast, and
hurried
over to him
.

“What the HELL is going on?”

Eli jumped and spun around, a guilty expression immediately wiping the smile off his face
.
“Logan, oh, uh…feeling better?”

Logan narrowed his eyes
.
“Do I look like I feel any better?”

“Listen, before you go off on me—”

“
Are you insane?
She could kill herself up there! You didn’t think to stop her, or
come get me? What does Pax think he’s doing, anyway?”

“He’s just showing her how to let down the sail,” he rushed to explain
.
“But look, don’t get angry. She’s a natural, like a damn monkey up there
.
See?” he pointed at Amber
.
Logan shielded
his eyes against the sun and looked up
.

Eli had been right
.
Amber was balanced on the balls of her feet, unfazed by the wind that whipped her hair around her face or the thirty feet between her and the deck of the ship
.
She watched Pax with a smile, every so often throwing her head back to laugh at something that he said
.
Logan felt jealousy flaring within him and wished he could converse so easily with the fiery girl, make her laugh as Pax did
so
effortlessly
.

He thought he saw her smile waver when she noticed him standing below her, but it was back in an instant
.
She motioned to Pax, who tripped in his haste to turn and look down at his Captain
.
Amber reached out to steady his arm, and then she shared a look with him
.
He nodded and sidestepped h
is way towards the mast, descending in seconds.

“She’s all yours,” he mumbled to Logan as he ducked behind him, counting on L
ogan’s inability to take his eyes off of Amber to keep him out of trouble for the time being
.
It worked.

“Amber, get down here now
!” he called up to her, his scowl deepening
.
She stared back at him and he was lost in
the
intensity of her gaze unt
il he realized that her hands had moved to her waist
.
His stomach plummeted
.
He stood frozen as she untied the knots in the rope and let it drop beside her, then she crossed her arms in defiance
.

With a roar he pushed past Elijah and began scalin
g the mast, seething with anger and worry
.
It took him no time at all to reach the main topsail, and as he walked across the beam he saw Amber turn towards him, lose her balance for a second, and then recover it
.
She met his gaze straight on, without fear.

Logan took a deep breath to calm himself down
.
Seeing her sway and almost topple over had forced upon him the
severity
of the situation, and he knew that losing his head would only provoke her to do something even more dangerous
.
When he spoke, it was through gritted teeth
.
“Amber, I’d like to know what you are doing up here.” She cocked an eyebrow
.
“Please.”

“Looks pretty obvious to me, Cap’n,” she responded with a negligent shrug, a
mannerism she had picked up from Pax
.
“I was unfurling the sails because there’s a strong wind today, blowing in from the East
.
As you can see,” she gestured towards the sail, billowing in the breeze.

“Yes, and I can also recognize an act of defiance when I see one.” He sighed. “Amber, wh
at is it that you want from me? Is it attention, because you sure as hell have it now.”

“It’s not your attention I want,” she replied as she lifted herself onto the balls of her feet, balancing easily with an arm outstretched like a ballet dancer. She raised a leg behind her with her toe pointed and grinned at Logan. “I require something else.”

He winced as he watched her agile acrobatics on the narrow beam, and resisted reaching out to steady her. “What do you want?”

She pivoted to face him. “Respect.”

“All right, fine. I respect you. Can we stop this charade and climb down now, please?” He reached up and caught the dangling rope, extending it towards her. She shook her head.

“You don’t understand, do you Logan? You can’t just say you respect me, and expect the conversation to end. Stop trying to wear me down, because I assure you, it won’t work
.
You can push me as hard as you want, make me scrub the deck for
two more months until we reach England, but I will not give in. So you might as well save yoursel
f the trouble and give up
.
Besides, you’re being a hypocrite by rushing up here to rescue me, don’t you think? It shows you care.”

He smiled. “I see your point. And I suppose I would be being a hypocrite if I didn’t respect your bullheadedness, seeing a
s how I respect myself…and I’ve been told that we are exactly alike in that manner.”

“And?”

“And so,” he said with a flourishing bow, “I acquiesce. Congratulations. Can we climb down now? My head hurts like the devil.”

“Now you know how I felt yesterday,” she teased, motioning for him to turn and lead the way down. When Amber’s feet touched the deck, the pirates who had gathered to watch all began cheering.

Eli clapped Logan on the shoulder. “I take it you two have come to an understanding?”

As Logan nodded, Pax rushed up to them. “See, I knew it would work!”

Logan’s
smile
faded. “Don’t get your hopes up, kid
.
You’re not getting out of this one unscathed. I
want this entire deck swabbed by dinnertime, or you’ll be doing it again, is that perfectly c
lear?” Pax gulped and hurried away. Logan turned back to Amber, surprised to see her glaring at him. “What have I done now?”

“I just swabbed the decks yesterday, and you know it. Why are you making him do it again?”

“He shouldn’t have gone behind my back and coerced you into doing some asinine stunt to get my attention.”

She glared at him. “It worked, though, didn’t it?”

“That’s not the point. You could have gotten hurt, though of course I’m not saying you would have,” he added, upon seeing her expression. “Listen, I’ve been a Captain for many years, I know what I’m doing
.
May I continue to do my job, or do I need your permission now?”

She looked startled. “I wasn’t trying to tell you what to do, Logan. I just think you need to go easy on him, because he
looks up to you and he was just trying to help.”

He scratched the stubble on his chin as he contemplated her response, and then shrugged. “You may be right.” Eli and Deacon shared a bewildered glance that Logan saw out of the corner of his eye. “What, I can’t admit to being wrong every once in awhile? I’m fallible, too, you know. I have my faults…” This time, Amber was the one to laugh. He smiled at her. “Not many, though.”

“Are you sure about that, Cap’n? Because I can point out several if you’re interested in what I have to say,” Amber responded.

He groaned. “Do I ever have any choice in the damn matter?”

The peace only lasted so long, however. Dusk was settling as Logan and Amber fought once again, while the crew, now accustomed to the sound of yelling coming from his cabin, paid no heed to the quarrel.

“Damn it, Amber! I though
t
we settled this earlier,” Logan barked as the door swung open and he followed her into the pale moonlight. She spun to face him.

“I don’t recall saying that I was going to stop working. I can’t stay locked in your cabin for another two months, I’d go out of my mind with boredom. And besides, that would be as if I were admitting defeat,” she explained. “And I’m not about to do that, no matter what you say to me.”

He threw up his arms. “For the love of god, how the hell is sleeping in a bed a sign of surrender? You are the most ridiculous, stubborn, aggravating woman I have ever met,” he fumed.

“And you’re an ornery know-it-all,” she called over her shoulder as she walked away from him. “Goodnight, Logan. I’ll see you in the morning.”

Elijah arrived in time to see the top of her head disappearing beneath the hatch. “What was that all about?”

Logan groaned. “She refuses to do anything sensible. She’s not a pirate, so why does she insist on pretending to be one?”

“Come on, I’ll pour you a drink,” Eli said as he led his friend back into the cabin, where he went to work fixing up two glasses of rum. Logan accepted his with a grunt, tossing back the contents in one swallow and gesturing for more. “I think you’d do well to remember what happened last night when you tried to drown your anger in liquor. Do you really want to repeat that?”

“Get off my bloody back, mate.”

“Watch it, Logan, your accent is slipping. You aught to be more careful of that, unless you plan on telling Amber and the rest of the crew? Not that I think it’s such a terrible idea, it would be nice to stop hiding what you are—”

“Hell no,” Logan articulated carefully in a flawless American accent. “And don’t bring it up again.”

“Fine, whatever you say. Now,” he paused to pour himself another glass, “what are you going to do about Amber?”

“What
can
I do? I’ve done just about everything I can think of, and yet she still refuses to be reasonable. Maybe I can lock her in the brig until we get to London,” he mused wistfully.

“She’d find a way out, you know she would.” Eli laughed. “And then there would be the devil to pay.”

“Well, what do you suggest then, since you seem to know everything?”

“Why don’t you stop treating her like a child barely out of swaddling, first of all. Don’t gape at me, Logan, everyone sees the way you look at her, how you watch over her like a hawk. You’re too protective of her. Combine that with your competitive nature, add a dash of lust and a pinch of anger, and you have the perfect recipe for trouble. It’s no wonder she’s confused. You keep her in the sweltering heat all day, forcing her to scrub the deck, and then set up her hammock for her. You ask me to treat her like any of the men on board, and yet when she climbs the mast to learn something that all sailors must know by the time they take to the ocean, you look like you’re about to throttle someone.”

“I don’t know what to do,” Logan said with a sigh, his head propped on his hands. “She says she wants my respect.”

“Do you respect her? And be honest with me, I know when you’re lying.”

“Of course I do. She’s intelligent, brave, creative—”

“Beautiful?”

“God, yes. She’s…wait,” he narrowed his eyes, “just what are you getting at?”

“I’m saying that you want her, Logan. You might as well admit it.”

“I will not.”

Eli shrugged. “That’s good, then. That means you won’t mind that Pax has every intention of taking Miss Amber up to the crow’s nest tonight to finish what you started in Tortuga.” Logan leapt to his feet with a feral growl and started towards the door. “Relax, you know none of your men would ever go behind your back like that, unless they had a death wish. But will you admit to yourself, now, that you care for her?”

“How can I care for her, when every time I see her I want to wring her neck?”

“Because,” Eli explained patiently, “you know deep down that you would do almost anything to protect her, and you would slaughter any man
who
harmed a single hair on her head. You’ve appointed yourself her official guardian. Besides, there is a very fine line between lust and anger; both are passionate emotions. You might just have trouble distinguishing between the two of them.”

“So, what, I’m supposed to let her run around the ship and get into trouble?”

“I think that when you start treating her like an equal, like a friend, she’ll stop acting out.” He winked
.
“And who knows what’ll happen when you two finally stop fighting.”

“Now what are you insinuating?”

“Have another drink, Logan, and figure that one out for yourself.”