Page 201 of Storm over the Caribbean
Once again, I squeezed my new plushie. It was even life-sized, and made funny noises. How nice!
Unfortunately, my hugging session was interrupted a moment later by a meaningful cough. Glancing up, I saw Mr Rikkard Ambrose staring arctically at me. Or, more precisely, at my arms wrapped around another man.
So, like the good little wife I was, I winked at him.
Hm…should I squeeze Karim’s derrière for good measure?
Nah, probably not. They had only just stopped trying to kill each other. It would be a shame for them to start again so soon.
Besides, I was still rather curious about how the big fellow had ended up here.
“It’s really good to see you again, Karim!” Grinning up at him broadly, I gave him a last, big hug, then stepped back. “Now, I believe you were just telling us how you looking for pirates led to you punching my husband in the face?”
The big bodyguard squirmed under my enquiring gaze. Well, that and Mr Ambrose’s frosty glare that was still boring into him.
“Ehem…well,Sahiba, my men and I were just sailing past this island when the lookout spotted a ship anchored in a natural harbour, and, well, that ship looked just like one of the descriptions we’d received of a pirate ship, so we went ashore and investigated, eventually tracking the ship’s crew to a warehouse at the edge of this town, and, well…”
He glanced around, his eyes flicking from Mr Ambrose to me, and back to Mr Ambrose. To judge by the look on his face, he had to suppress the urge to peek into the dark corners of the room to look for hidden pirates.
“Ah, I see.” I nodded once again. “So, after not finding any pirates, you were so disappointed that you decided to take out your frustrations by punching your boss in the face. Very understandable. I’ve wanted to do that quite often myself.”
Mr Rikkard Ambrose turned his head towards me to once more focus his icy eyes on me. I just folded my arms behind my head and whistled like the harmless little wife I was.
“No! No, I would never—! I mean, I did, but…Bhath tah, woman!37 Stop twisting my words around!”
“Me?” Innocently, I blinked up at him. “Would I ever do such a thing?”
In answer, he sent me a dark glower.
“Aaah!” Rushing over to Mr Ambrose, I did my best to cower behind my hubby’s stalwart form. “Protect me from the wicked villain, dear husband! Any moment, he’s going to start swinging his sabre around again! I can feel it!”
I peeked over Mr Ambrose’s shoulder just in time to see Karim’s bushy eyebrows twitch.
“You…youifrit!”
“As amusing as this little show is,” Mr Ambrose interrupted with a face that was completely and utterly unamused, “I would like to hear the remainder of your explanation, Karim.”
He leaned forward, bringing said unamused face close enough to make the bruise on his left cheek visible.
Well, will you look at that? Not made of stone after all.
“Ah, um, well,Sahib…”
“Explanation.Now.”
“Certainly,Sahib! Right away,Sahib! As I said before, I, err, followed the pirate crew’s tracks all the way to the edge of town, and…” He glanced around again. “…and I could swear they led straight to this warehouse. There were even a few armed men outside,Sahib, I swear! But…”
He looked around the warehouse again, as if expecting a pirate to jump out at him any minute now shouting “Aarrr!”
Finally, he turned back to Mr Ambrose.
“I know they’re here! I know! I can practicallyfeelit! But…” He glanced around again. “Have you seen any sign of the pirates,Sahib? I’ve been looking for those bastards for weeks! I know I chased them to this place! And now…where the hell are they?!”
There was a moment of silence. Then, in typical Ambrose fashion, my dear husband, while remaining perfectly silent, raised his hand and pointed at himself.
Catching the Evil Pirates!
I smiled proudly at my husband who had just identified himself as murderous pirate scum. Was it any wonder that I was a happily married woman?
