The Ruthless Redhead's Revenge (11 page)

“Should we count it?” asked Roberta.

“One-legged Jack will do that, it's the quartermaster's job.
I'm surprised he didn't complain when I told the men to put the chest
in the cabin instead of down below. I think he just considered it
more secure here.”

“Oh...” Roberta looked disappointed.

“They'll be plenty of gold to count later. You'll get a
share on anything from the estate, I'll make sure of that. Then we'll
have my share also. As captain I get a much larger share than anyone
else on the ship. If you want to count gold, we can wait and count
our own gold.”

“Our?”

“If you're my woman, then it will be our gold, won't it?”

“I wasn't sure. That means different things to different
people.”

Ethan was staring at the chest of coins and spoke without
thinking:

“Well, I'd love to make you my wife instead of my woman but
I don't think you'd want that.”

“Yes, yes I would Ethan.”

Ethan realized what he had said.

“You would? I thought you'd be soured on the idea of
marriage from Mater Gutren.”

“No, just soured on the idea of someone else choosing who I
marry. If you were serious, I'd be your wife in a heartbeat.”

“Yes, I am serious. I would've asked you a bit more
romantically but that kind of slipped out when my mind was
elsewhere.” he said, gesturing to the chest of coins.

“More romantically than asking me over a chest of gold, that
we obtained together by force of arms, where you treated me as an
equal, and simply expected that I would be victorious over my
opponent? Unless we have different ideas of romance, that seems quite
romantic to me.”

“I hadn't thought if it that way, nor realized that you
would find it romantic. I don't think that most women would.”

“But Ethan, I am not most women, I am your woman.”

“For which I shall thank fate each and every day we have
together.”

A knock came at the door, interrupting their conversation. Ethan
tossed his breeches on and got up to answer it. Jack was on the other
side of the door. Roberta tucked herself beneath the blanket,
shifting about so that she could hear better.

“The men are all back sir. High tide is in about three hours
and we got the last of the supplies delivered.”

“Good, we'll be out in a short while. When you're ready to
start counting shares we'll move the chest to your cabin. Until then
we'll keep it locked up here. Robert was an inside man on this job,
he's to get a double share on everything from the estate. We never
would've even known about the gold without him.”

“Aye, sir. May I comment sir?”

“Go ahead.”

“Robert sir? Your subterfuge is not going to go far. I can
smell that he's a she and she's managed to flash her rather lovely
breasts at me twice while I've been standing here.”

Roberta flushed with embarrassment as Ethan turned around and saw
her straight in the line of sight from the door.

“Damn it man, I can't let the crew know. You know how they
feel about women on board a ship.”

“I think, sir, that if you let them know that the shares of
loot they are about to get are only because of her that their opinion
might rapidly change. This is going to be huge captain. Never mind
the chest of gold, what the men brought back in their hands alone
will exceed the total value of one of our ship raids. It's about
three times what we took on that last ship.”

“Are you sure Jack? I won't risk her and the men will have
to understand that she is mine and mine alone.”

“I'm sure, cap'n. They'll be able to buy themselves a
hundred wenches each and still have enough left over to get them all
drunk on the shares we'll have here. We're liable to lose a few that
decide they have enough to go settle down on their own though.”

“We'll try it your way. I hope you're right because if they
give her a hard time, they'll find out she's more skilled than I am
with a sword. You might spread it around that she is Geoff Cantas'
sister and that he trained her for several years. That might limit
any problems.”

“Is she truly?”

“Yes she is. As a matter of fact, our next stop is going to
be to contact Geoff. He's broken with his family except for his
sister. We're going to see if he is interested in providing
information on the elder Cantas' shipments. Since they're in
financial trouble the shipments won't be well-guarded, and they'll be
easy hauls for us.”

“Sir, aye sir. I'll tell the men what you said and tell them
she'll be bringing us more money still in the the months to come.
They'll be okay with that, I'm sure. If not, well we can always work
out a better disguise for her and replace the parts of the crew that
object.”

One-Legged Jack left and Ethan sat down with a map and some
navigating tools to plot a course for the port Geoff would be setting
up his business. As he sat there he muttered quietly to himself.
Roberta thought she heard something like:

“I wonder if he'll remember me. I certainly remember him.”

She wasn't positive those were the words he spoke since she was
slowly drifting off to sleep. It had been an incredibly exciting day
for her and her mood had been all over the place, causing her to
rapidly succumb to exhaustion.

When Roberta awoke, the ship was back to the gentle sway it had
when underway. She got out of bed and, as suspected, didn't see Ethan
in the cabin. She wasn't sure if she should go out in disguise or if
she should just put the clothes on without the cap and without
binding her breasts. From what she had seen of the rest of the ship
she was already in the most comfortable portion of it so she just
settled in to wait.

When Ethan finally arrived she had dozed off briefly twice more.
Evidently she wasn't as well-rested as she had thought when she got
up from her nap. Possibly it was the ship getting underway that had
woken her but when the door opened, she snapped out of her second
brief nap.

“Well, we're underway. Three days or so, assuming fair
weather, and you'll be able to see your brother again.”

“That's wonderful, thank you. I'm wondering something else
though. I fell asleep and I fear that I may have dreamed some things
I seem to remember as being real.”

“Which? That you agreed to marry me or that you won't need
to disguise yourself aboard the ship?”

“Both. I'm so happy that neither was a dream.”

“Well, you won't need to bind your breasts but I would still
recommend the cap. It will protect your skin a little and you'll need
that if you spend much time on deck.”

“Alright, if you say so I'll take your word for it. I need
to ask you something else though and don't know how to go about it.”

“Just go ahead and ask.”

“Well, when do you want to get married?”

“I was hoping that we could get Geoff's blessing and that he
could attend. Assuming, of course, that you are ready and still
willing to marry me between four days and a week from now.”

“I hadn't even thought about that. Geoff can attend; I'm
sure he'll give his blessing when he knows it's exactly what I want.
He was furious with father for selling me off.”

“Actually, your father auctioned you off. There was
correspondence in the bottom of the chest. Your father had sent out
lockets to several different men, and evidently the bidding was
intense; that's why the final bid was five thousand gold escudos.”

“He must have started that back when I was still sixteen if
there were that many bids.” Roberta said, looking at the sheaf
of papers Ethan had produced.

“Not only that, he started the bids at a mere five hundred
gold escudos as well, the fool. Any male with eyes can see that you
are worth far more than that.”

Ethan grinned to take the sting out of his jibe knowing that she
was still rather touchy about being auctioned off.

“Personally I believe that there isn't enough gold in the
entire Caribbean to equal your worth. But I may be slightly biased.”

“Flatterer!” she accused.

“By no means, I'm simply speaking my mind. I'd not part with
you for anything but your word that you wanted me gone. Nothing else
could cause me to do so.”

The next three days passed in a blur for the two of them. They
spent their time in the cabin and on the deck. They continued to
attempt to sate one another to no avail. In those times when they
were not engaged in sex, since even they couldn't go at it
continually, Ethan began to teach Roberta those ship duties that
she'd be able to handle.

They discovered that with her light weight and nimbleness that she
was a natural in the rigging. It was decided that her regular duty
would be the crow's nest. Her eyesight was sharp and she was the
lightest member of the crew. The two combined made her a natural for
it as well as allowing the rest of the crew to not be forced to
continually be seeing a woman when they had none of their own.

The night before they were to make port, the quartermaster called
the crew together to divvy up the shares from the cargo of the ship
Roberta had originally been on, of which she got none, and the coins
from the chest, of which she got two hundred and ten escudos. Each of
the crew got over a hundred themselves while Ethan received six
hundred escudos.

The other officers received varying amounts, more than Roberta,
but less than Ethan. None of the crew were complaining, certainly not
after they were reminded that once the rest of the loot from the
estate was sold they would be receiving more. Possibly as much as
another one fourth of their share from the chest.

The crew was informed that they would be receiving a full shore
leave in the port they would arrive at the next day. The ship would
receive some refitting and maintenance. Then they would be setting
sail again two weeks after they arrived if all went as planned.

Roberta waited, impatiently, for the crew to depart the ship.
Ethan insisted that he see them off, sounding them out about having a
woman on board as they left. Once the crew was off, she and Ethan
would depart and try to find Geoff.

Ethan was rather happy when he and Roberta were leaving the ship.

“So, what has you grinning from ear to ear?”

“The crew has decided that you are a guardian angel and good
luck for the ship as opposed to the normal thought of a woman on a
ship being bad luck.”

“Me, an angel?”

“I didn't disabuse them of the notion. But it appears that
there will be no problems with you staying out of disguise.”

“Well, I'm glad that they can accept me, even if they have
to credit a supernatural talent to me in order to do so. Where shall
we start to look for Geoff? I doubt he'd have a building here yet,
although he and Madeline should have arrived already.”

“Well, was he getting into his own branch of the family
business? Should we look for prospective shipping offices that he
might be wanting to rent or purchase?”

“He said that he'd be doing that and probably tutoring in
swordsmanship until the shipping business took hold.”

“Well then, we shall ask about as to whether there is
recently arrived tutor in swordsmanship that is better than average.
If he's put the word out that he is looking for pupils we should find
him in a day or two.”

Ethan and Roberta took a room at an inn. This one was much better
than the one they had found themselves in when pursuing Master
Gutren. The bed was actually more comfortable than the one in the
captain's cabin and the food was truly good, not just better than
ship food.

They put out word that they were looking for an excellent tutor in
swordsmanship at several of the weapon shops in the city. They gave
the address of the inn as a contact point for a tutor and then
returned to the inn to enjoy the food and each other.

The following day began with a pair of disappointments. Two men
showed up claiming to be excellent swordsman and able to instruct
them. When Roberta showed up the first, he left in a huff. When she
defeated the second, he tried to turn violent and Ethan threw him
from the window.

As she peered out into the crowd forming around the injured man
lying in the road, she saw Geoff's face.

“Geoff! Geoff! Up here!”

Geoff looked about for the sound of his sister's voice and finally
looked up at her final shout. He looked amazed to see her but quickly
entered the inn. Geoff found his way upstairs and when he entered the
room he quickly strode to Roberta, giving her a warm hug.

“How are you here? You should be married off to father's
choice by now.”

“It's a long story. Allow me to introduce someone to you.
Geoff, this is Ethan.

Geoff turned:

“Ethan you old goat, where have you been for the past eight
years.”

“I wondered if you would remember me Geoff.”

“How could I forget some of our exploits. They enraged our
fathers and garnered us a reputation that I still have to live down
to this day.”

“I feared that you might blame me for that reputation. I've
followed your own for some time. Nowadays when I hear you mentioned,
it is normally in conjunction with your prowess with a sword as
opposed to our youthful indiscretions. Thank you for training your
sister as well, it may well have saved her life.”

“Roberta, what happened?”

“As I said, it's a long story. Let's see if the inn can
provide us dinner in our room here and we can relate it to you.”

The inn was happy to provide dinner in their room, especially when
additional compensation was mentioned. As they ate, Roberta and Ethan
related their story to Goeff, only omitting their thoughts on getting
him to aid them by providing information. Once they had finished
Geoff turned to Ethan:

“That details the last week but what happened to you for the
years prior?”