Page 58 of Hooked By a Hero
“Yes, that must be it,” Woburn said, accepting the explanation easily, though he eyed Caspian’s now covered legs suspiciously.
Caspian glanced to Elias with a wry grin, then reached for his lover’s hand. Elias did not take the offered hand, however, which likely had more to do with the way Elias was attempting to maintain his modesty by holding the tail of his shirt down and moving carefully in the tatters of his trousers.
“We need to take these prisoners and the ladies back to the encampment,” Woburn said, puffing himself up a bit like he would be the man in charge.
“Agreed,” Caspian said, nodding to him with all the deference he would have used for Hunt. He found Woburn’s sense of authority endearing. “I would recommend that you take the prisoners ahead so that Hunt might secure them fully before the ladies are forced to be in their presence.”
“Oh, that is a good idea,” Woburn said with a bright smile. “Come along, you!” he ordered to the four mutineers that had been captured.
Caspian exchanged an amused look with Elias as the two of them stepped aside so that the mutineers could be led up to the path.
“I am in no state to entertain ladies,” Elias whispered once he and Caspian were the only men left, moving toward their packs. “I need a proper pair of trousers. Modesty aside, my legs are forming silver scales.”
“Oh, I doubt there is any rush,” Caspian said with a teasing shrug. “I am certain the ladies do not mind our state of dress, given the circumstances.”
They glanced across the short distance that now separated the two of them from where the ladies stood after the mutineers and the others had walked on. Contrary to what Caspian thought he would see, the ladies stared at the two of them with wary looks.
“I swear to you,” Elias said in his softest voice as he rushed to don the trousers he’d found in his pack, “neither of us will harm you. We would never, after what you have been through.”
The ladies’ expressions did not change from their wariness.
Miss Winters cleared her throat and all but whispered, “We saw you.”
Her words could have meant a dozen different things, none of which particularly bothered Caspian, but Elias suddenly looked anxious. He cleared his throat and asked, “What do you believe you saw?”
The ladies exchanged awkward looks with each other, which, again, nearly made Caspian laugh. Englishmen were so overly polite and careful with each other.
At last, Miss Winters took a small breath then said, “We saw what could only be…tails flash out of the water after the boat sank.”
Elias did neither of them any favors by squirming and fussing with his trousers, as if his body were the least of the things hewished to conceal from the ladies. “Are you, er, certain you did not simply see a pair of large fish?”
Caspian had to press a hand over his mouth to stop himself from laughing loudly.
“They were not fish,” Lady Adelaide said. “But I struggle to allow myself to accept what I believe I saw with my own eyes.”
“I saw your legs just now and all,” Emily said, nodding to both of them.
Elias blanched, but Caspian smiled. “It is a dark night, my ladies,” he said with a half bow, like the English made. “The moonlight often plays tricks on the mind, particularly when one is experiencing distress. And the humidity in this part of the tropics can trick the eyes as well.”
The ladies exchanged looks and nodded to each other and Caspian.
“We will leave the explanation at that,” Lady Adelaide said. “Perhaps we could return to the encampment now.”
Without another word on the subject, their small group made their way to the path and through the jungle. Emily fetched burning branches from the signal fire for them to use as torches, and although the danger had passed, the five of them moved quickly to rejoin the others at the encampment.
What they found there was surprising. The battle had ended, and fortunately, Hunt had led the other male survivors, and Ruby, in defeating the tired and malnourished mutineers. Tumbrill had been subdued and shackled and now sat in the clearing between two of the ramshackle huts that had been damaged in the attack.
“You’ve survived,” Hunt greeted them with a wide smile, leaving the clustered group of mutineers to cross to Caspian and Elias so that he could shake their hands. “Woburn said you were captured momentarily by Dick, but that you were somehow saved?”
“Yes, er, I was,” Elias said warily, sending Caspian a look. He glanced back to Hunt and said, “If you do not mind, my clothing and Caspian’s were damaged in the fight. We need to find shirts and make ourselves more presentable.”
Hunt glanced at Elias’s wet shirt and Caspian’s lack of a shirt, and though his face pinched in confusion for a moment, he had no way of making the connection as to why Elias and Caspian were in such a state. “We will share our stories as soon as you return,” he said.
Elias nodded, and he and Caspian hurried off to their hut, which had somehow not sustained any damage in the brawl.
“What do we tell them?” Elias whispered as the two of them searched for and donned the shirts that had been left there when they’d set out that morning, which seemed like a lifetime ago.
Caspian laughed. “I have asked myself that question a dozen times and more in the last few months.”
