Page 216 of Storm over the Caribbean
That impudent little…! This brat had just called me fat to my face! I wasnotgoing to cave just because she pulled a cute face! I was not! I was not going to be overwhelmed by those bloody motherly instincts of mine! I was not! I was no—
“Aww…don’t be sad!”
Crap.
Before I knew it, my arms were wrapped around the bloodthirsty little midget. “Don’t be sad! Everything will work out all right.”
“R-really?”
Suddenly, her voice sounded a lot less confident and bratty.
“Yes. I’ll make sure of it.” Hugging her close, I gently stroked her hair. “Say…why do you want to be the Queen of the Pirates, anyway?”
There was a pause.
“…read a story once.” Her voice was nothing but a whisper now. She avoided my gaze by hiding her face in the folds of my dress. “The pirate queen in the story…she’s not afraid of anything. She’s free. She’s tough. She…she’s always got enough to eat, and to drink, and…and never gets beaten and…and…”
Suddenly I felt like sailing back to the Caribbean and burning down everything in sight till everyone acknowledged this little girl as the Queen among Queens of the Pirates.
Bad Lilly, bad! You can’t just start killing off people just to make a little girl happy!
No matter how much I might have wanted to. Those dratted maternal instincts!
“Don’t worry.” I squeezed her as hard as I could without squashing anything important. “Nothing like that will ever happen to you again!”
“P-promise?”
“Promise! Isn’t that right, Dicky Darling?”
When no answer was forthcoming in the next two seconds, I planted my heel strategically on Mr Ambrose’s toes.
“Isn’t that right, Dicky Darling?”
“Hng!”
“You see!” I beamed at the little girl. “That’s a promise if I ever heard one!”
In answer, Leah gave me her first tiny, shaky, but undeniably present smile.
“Here.” One step took me in front of Karim, and I firmly placed the little girl back into his arms again before he could flee. “Mr Ambrose and I have to take care of some things for now. Can you look after her in the meantime?”
Instinctively, the bodyguard’s hand went to his sabre. There was a hint of pleading in his eyes, and in his beard, too. There was even a little bit of pleading in his left foot. “Can I go back to hunting pirates instead?”
“Hey!” A small hand grabbed hold of his bard and tugged in protest. “I ain’t that bad!”
“Or I could hunt serial killers,” Karim suggested hopefully. “Or brigands in the Sahara. Or wild beasts in the jungle!”
I placed a hand on his shoulder and, gesturing at Mr Ambrose, gave the bodyguard a serious look. “Just take it as practice for when you will have to guard our child.”
Suddenly, Karim didn’t look nearly as unhappy anymore. Squaring his shoulders, the bodyguard straightened abruptly.
“Yes,Sahiba! As you command,Sahiba!”
And without another word of protest, he turned around and marched off, his chest swelling with pride.
“Adequately done,” Mr Ambrose commented. “He didn’t even require a pay raise.”
“I learned from the best. Now…” Linking my arm with his, I turned towards the crate that was once more issuing muffled curses in French. “Let’s take care of business, shall we? I’mdyingto find out what our guest has to say.”
