Pirated Love (12 page)

Tina did not answer again as she headed for the door.  “Could you bolt this behind me?  Again, no one but me or James is to come to the door,” she told her as she slipped out before Claire could argue or answer.

Tina was not even to the top of the stairs to the main deck when she heard the distinctive whisper of bare feet on the wooden steps coming up rapidly behind her.  She went to a crouch and pulled out her knife.  Her assailant went right over her and tumbled to the deck she had just been about to go up on.  She leapt after him, seeing the knife flash in the light of the moon.  Her knife was deadly accurate and she thrust up and twisted it, the cry the man might have made dying on his lips as he died under her.  She heard other feet making noise as they headed towards her in the moonlight.  She pulled out her sword and spitted one man on it before it wrenched out of her hand from his weight.  The final man cried out as he attacked and they fought.  Her strong shoulders stood her in good stead as she wrestled with the man.  Tangling her feet with the downed man she had already killed, she fell to the deck, immediately rolling out of the way as the man she was fighting plunged his knife into the deck where she had just been.  It stuck in the wood and she rolled back to slice down his arm with her own knife.  He pulled his knife out of the wood, and before she could roll away again or get up, he swung out and caught her along the ribs, she immediately felt the warmth of the blood on her shirt.  She knew blood loss was a quick way to lose strength and she knew she would have to finish this fight quickly or he would overpower her.  He came at her and crouching, she switched the knife from her right hand to her left.  As the moonlight glimmered on his blade, she slapped it aside to bring her own blade up and disembowel the man.  He dropped his blade to grab at the innards that streamed down his pants’ front.  She could see the horror on his face as he realized he was going to die, and he fell forward onto the deck. 

Tina looked around for additional attackers, but saw no one.  Holding her arm against her ribs, she headed up to the upper deck and, seeing Frank, asked him to fetch the doctor.  “Careful, there are three bodies on deck there.  I want them left for daylight,” she told him, warningly.  James looked at her curiously, but did not question.  He had known the man had friends and there would be trouble.  Having them clean the deck after the punishment had been like rubbing salt into the wounds.  They had not planned well or she would now be dead.

Frank returned with the doctor and a lantern and they stitched up her ribs quickly.  She had not lost too much blood, but another shirt was ruined and for some reason this angered her more than the men attacking her.

“I will stay and...” James began to offer.

“I got it, you get some sleep.  I may need you at daybreak,” she ordered him and with a nod, he saluted and left the upper deck.

“Can I stay?” Frank asked, and Tina looked at his hopeful face.  Nodding tersely, she ordered, “Blow out that lantern.”

It was cold in the night air despite the tropical breezes.  Part of it was shock, she knew, and she pulled her jacket tightly about her as she held the wheel.  She knew if a strong breeze came up she could turn it over to Frank, but some perverse part inside of her wanted to be there when the hands began to awaken and come on deck for their duties to relieve the night watches.  Seeing the bodies lying there would send a message that did not need words.

CHAPTER FIVE

During the following week, Tina allowed Claire up on deck, but insisted that Frank or she be her escort at all times.  It was not that she did not trust her crew, but there were still a couple of malcontents.  There had been grumbles when she ordered the men who had tried to kill her thrown from the boat and not properly shriven.   She would not allow them to be wrapped in cloth and weighted down so they would sink to a watery grave.  Instead, by throwing them from the boat like that, they were food for sharks and other fish.  She was sending a very direct message to those that would defy her.  Their worthless carcasses deserved no respect.

Most of the crew were firmly behind Tina and enjoyed meeting the woman they were holding for ‘ransom’.  Some wondered if they would even bother to collect it.  They could see how enamored their captain was of this blonde.  They teased and laughed with Claire, many of them older and taking on a fatherly mien.  Some told her stories and others related how Tina had saved them from a life of crime or prison.  She had given others a choice, and while not everyone had taken her up on her offer- some would never work for a woman-most of those who had stayed were good, if hard men.  They adored their captain and as she continued to make it profitable to work with her, they stood behind her.  They extended that courtesy to her lady and the respect she was accorded was something Tina expected and appreciated at the same time.

They also began to teach Claire the rudiments of sailing.  She was delighted in this new-found freedom and knowledge.  She could understand the muscles in Tina’s arms and shoulders when she attempted to steer the great wheel.  She did not last long and was amazed when Tina steered for hours, seemingly without fatigue.  She understood better now why Tina wore men’s shirts, which fit her admirably, and were frequently tailored to her incredible physique.  When Claire saw Tina wear just a vest occasionally, with the tropical heat, she understood further how the redhead burned so dark a shade of brown on her brawny shoulders and arms.  The work that Tina did required a strength that women frequently did not possess, and she was amused to attempt the same pursuits.  The wheel was heavy and too large and she laughed when it was suggested she keep trying to run her ‘own’ ship.

The sailmaker was enamored by Claire’s blonde good looks, but absolutely adored her as she sat next to him for hours, sewing with him as he repaired sails.  Other sailors joined them as they all swapped stories and Claire got an education in the outrageous tales they told each other.  Relying on the classics, she repeated what she had learned in school and from her tutors about Greek and Roman mythology.  She realized some of the stories these men told were versions of the same stories she told.  They might be lacking a formal education, but they did not lack knowledge.  They had more ‘street smarts’ than she could aspire to.

Tina watched with genuine delight as her crew made friends with her ‘lady friend,’ as they referred to Claire.  The fact that she was Lady Von Hagen had not been forgotten, but they had used a play on words to rename her.  She was ‘the captain’s lady friend’ and that was that.  To a very few, she was Lady Claire or Lady Von Hagen.  To Tina, it was always Claire.  She found it nice, when among the crew, that Claire referred to her as the captain, but in private it was now Tina.  Something about her British accent, and the way she said it, made Tina feel weak at the knees.

Something Claire found odd was that the crew and Tina would never tell her where they were going or what they planned to do in the future.  They had gone into several ports to deliver goods from their holds to barter, to sell their ill-gotten gains, and to listen in taverns for news.  On a lark, Tina had dressed Claire in men’s togs and slicked back her long, blonde hair as dandies did, in a queue at the back of her head.  She had even gone so far as to paste a false mustache on her upper lip to complete her disguise.  Taking her into town, it was near to impossible to hide her girlish figure or feminine ways though.  They could not stay long, and while Claire had been disappointed, she had also been frightened as men looked at her with lustful eyes once again.  Her own crew had barely managed to get her out of there as Tina ended up in a fight with one man.

Alarmed when she saw the stitches on Tina’s rib cage from the knife fight on the ship, Claire was even more alarmed by the bruises that formed from an actual fist fight.  Tina returned victorious and smiling despite a bloody nose and a black eye. 

“Maybe I should get a patch and look even more sinister?” she teased, but Claire was not amused.  It was dangerous and she understood now why Tina kept her hidden, for the most part, as they went from port to port with their goods.

Claire was having the time of her life, but Tina would no longer tell her about her past and regretted mentioning her grandfather or that she had been raised on ships.  This saddened Claire, but she thought she understood.  She did not realize the passage of time until it was brought home to her one day after their last port visit.

CHAPTER SIX

“I have had word,” Tina told her and tried to maintain a stiff upper lip.  She told herself that she did not care, it was what they had been working towards.

Claire looked up from the pillow she was embroidering.  They had found it somewhere in the ship’s stores and she was enjoying working with all the various colors and creating a mermaid on the ocean-colored background, but she knew she would not quite get the colors right as the beautiful ocean was constantly changing.  “Word?” she asked, hesitantly, her eyebrows beetling together in concern because Tina seemed angry.

“Your father, he has agreed to our ransom demands,” she told her curtly.  Glancing at Claire, she was in time to see the horrified look that crossed her otherwise beautiful face.  She would not tell her that the negotiations had been lengthy and difficult because he had tried to cut the demand in half, cheapening his daughter’s value.

“When?” Claire asked, as the threads she was working with fell to her side on the settee in front of the window.  The best light on the ship, out of the wind, was still from these immense windows that spanned the cabin.

“We are already on course for the agreed upon exchange.  We will let you off at another neutral island so that he does not try to grab you without paying the ransom.  We also have to make sure it is not a trap.”  She looked out the windows at the ocean, trying to ascertain how she felt about this development.  She had had other captives over the years and none had affected her so.

“So we have what?  Weeks before...?” she began, but was interrupted.

Tina was shaking her head.  “No, we will put you on the island tomorrow and meet with him later in the day.  I have given the order and we are on the way.  You should see him a day or two after that.”  She looked stiff and uncompromising.

Claire had not expected this all to end so quickly and abruptly.  She thought she had weeks, possibly months, for this adventure to continue.  She glanced up at Tina with tears in her eyes, not understanding her attitude.  It was at that moment she came to realize that not only had she admired this strong woman, but had fallen in love with her.  If someone had told her when she left England that it was possible to love a woman as a man, she would have called them a liar.  This feeling, this emotion, left her feeling very vulnerable, and she could see by Tina’s demeanor she was not going to be too accepting of anything she could or would say.  She did not want to go back to her father or the fate that was in store for her.  The thought of her fiancé, a man, any man touching her as Tina had, filled her with dread.  She knew that if she told anyone this, her father for instance, they would accuse her of having unnatural desires or that she would change her mind once she was married.  “So soon?” she asked weakly, realizing all the ramifications.  She wanted to beg Tina not to make her go, but she knew she would sound like a child.  She did not want Tina to think of her as a child.  She loved this woman, and while Tina had not told her she loved her, she felt she did.  This was something another woman would feel on instinct alone.

Tina nodded abruptly once and turned away.  A lump was forming in her throat and she did not wish to speak any more.  During the course of the day, she was difficult to get along with and many of the crew felt the lash of her tongue.

“She is on a tear for sure,” more than one commented out of her hearing.

Their supper was eaten in silence and then Tina pretended to read some maps she spread out on the table once it was cleared.

Claire was at loose ends.  Normally affectionate after their meal when they had time alone away from the prying eyes of the crew, this cold Tina was not the woman she had come to know and love.  She was abrupt, rude, and she did not know how to talk to her.  She did not want it to end like this.  She wanted to make love all night while they still had time together.  She tried to walk up behind Tina and put her hand on the nape of her neck, knowing that Tina enjoyed her touch.  Instead the redhead stiffened imperceptibly.  Tension was in every bit of her body.  Claire tried to start rubbing those tense muscles along the redhead’s shoulders, but Tina finally looked up with a blank look on her face.

“What do you want?” she asked, in a cold tone.

Claire was taken aback.  She was not sure she had not done something wrong; her insecurities returned.  Perhaps for Tina all this had been pretend and she did not love her after all.  Perhaps it had all been part of collecting the ransom from her father, getting her to fall in love with her, make her more cooperative.  She stiffened her spine and allowed her hand to drift back to Tina’s broad and muscular shoulder.  “I want you,” she said softly, and for a moment she saw a softening in the hard, green eyes, before they returned to the stone they had become today.

Claire would never know how that simple phrase affected Tina.  Tina wanted her too, but for her own sanity she had to push her away.  Abruptly, she got up and began to roll up the maps that she had not really been able to see anyway.  Jamming them into the cubby holes on the desk, she left the cabin, banging the door behind her as she left.