Page 209 of Storm over the Caribbean
“Help?” He cocked his head just half an inch or so farther. “How could I? Far be it from me to crush a young girl’s dreams. Unlikesomepeople, I am not such a chauvinist as to stand in the way of an independent girl who wants to forge her own path in the world.”
If looks could kill, Mr Rikkard Ambrose would already be a bloody smear on the deck. Unfortunately, I had not yet managed to acquire that particular ability. Something I would have to remedy soon. Especially considering the way I was shoved aside a moment later.
“Really?” With stars in her eyes, the girl brushed past me, gazing adoringly up at my soon-to-be-deceased husband. “You’d really help me fulfil my dream? You’d send me back to the pirate fleet? Can I go now, please, please, please? We may still be able to catch up to them! Please!”
Mr Ambrose opened his mouth.
My foot moved on instinct. In a blink, it came down on my dear husband’s toes, squashing them to the deck. “Don’t you dare say yes!” I hissed out of the corner of my mouth, low enough for only him to hear. “Don’t you dare!”
Mr Ambrose closed his mouth again and, deciding to follow tradition, stuck with his preferred answer for all questions:silence. That would have been the end of the matter—except, the little girl had apparently sharper ears than I had thought.
“You…!” Fury burning in her eyes, the fuming girl turned towards me. “How dare you? You don’t have any right to tell me what to do, you male chauvinist pig!”
From the direction of Mr Ambrose came a muffled choking noise that was very muchnota laugh. Sending him a glare that would have impressed Medusa40 herself, I refocused on the little girl and plastered a smile on my face.
“Ehem…well now, I think there might be a slight misunderstanding here…”
“Misunderstanding my smelly sailor’s arse! Just you wait, you macho bastard! I’ll—”
Somehow, I think you can imagine how things went from there. It took me roughly half an hour to convince the bloody girl that Iwasn’ta chauvinist son of a bachelor intent on crushing her dreams of independence. As for convincing her that, maybe, becoming the Queen of Pirates at ten years old might not be the best possible career choice, that took me approximately…
No, scratch that. I had no chance of ever convincing her of that. Not that this meant I was going to stop trying. As for Mr Ambrose…he watched the whole proceedings from a safe distance, a neutral expression on his face that didn’t fool me for a second.
“Well, Mrs Ambrose?” he enquired solicitously. “How go your efforts to protect innocent girls from the ravages of pirate life by trampling on their lifelong dreams?”
I threw him a dark look. “You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?”
“I can neither confirm nor deny that statement.”
Ha! He wasdefinitelyenjoying this.
Just you wait! Just you wait till it’s diaper changing time! I’ll be sure to be “conveniently” absent from home, and just in case you decide to delegate, I’ll take Karim with me.
His eyes softening ever so slightly, Mr Rikkard Ambrose reached out to cup my cheek. “Besides…” He glanced over at the little girl. “Whether or not I enjoy this is irrelevant, is it not? You are going to do it either way.” I felt his thumb gently caress my face. “You will make an adequate mother.”
Warmth surged inside my heart.
All right…maybe I won’t be absent on diaper day. Maybe we’ll do it together.
“Oy!” a young girl’s voice came from somewhere. But I couldn’t really bring myself to care from where exactly. I was far too busy staring into my husband’s beautiful sea-coloured eyes.
“Oy, you two! Why are you ignoring me? Why the heck are you staring at each other like that? It looks…icky. You can’t seriously be planning to—”
Leaning towards me, Mr Rikkard Ambrose pinned me to the spot with his gaze. I could feel his breath on my cheek and could see the need glittering in his deep, dark, fathomless eyes as his lips approached mine and—
“—ewww! That’s gross! I’m outta here!”
A moment or two later, I blinked, freeing myself from my husband’s mesmerising gaze, and looked around. “Where did Liam or whatever her name is go?”
“No idea.” He shrugged.
“Well…” A shudder went through my frame as I had a brief flashback of a little living tornado of a girl tearing into me. “I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to let the girl calm down a little.”
“Definitely.”
“It’s for her own good.”
“Absolutely.”
