Page 29 of Her Perfect Pirate
It broke in a mess of orange yolk in his eyes and beard.His nose began to bleed, and the red mixed into the egg like a vengeful sunrise.For a moment, all anyone could do was stare.
Then Chow stepped forward, pulling her behind him, in the same instant that Julio de la Cruz plunged his sword into Boukman’s side, and also in the same instant that Boukman pulled the trigger on his pistol.
The bullet went somewhere into the sea.Rebecca clung to Chow, and he clung to her, long enough to determine neither of them were injured.
Then they set to work finishing the mutiny.Chow rushed the quarterdeck with Davies and the other men; in no time, they had Boukman trussed and marching down to the brig.“Set sail for the Azores,” Chow ordered.
Rebecca hustled with the crew to change the sails.But as Fuego de la Cruz mounted the mast once more, he let out a different kind of shout:
“The frigate is headed for us!”
And a new kind of doom settled as they realized they had not acted fast enough to save their lives.
Chapter Thirteen
Toolittle,toolate.
It was done.Boukman was locked in the brig.Chow was a traitor.
But it was not enough to save them.Even if Chow gave the order to change course, the winds were against them.TheGhostdidn’t have the option of cutting away from the frigate.The royal ship was coming straight towards them, and there was no way for theGhostto get away from its cannons in time.
And worst of all—Boukman hadn’t revealed Chow’s secret.
Standing on the quarterdeck, telescope in hand, Chow’s mind was blank, his heart numb, and he realized he had been waiting for Boukman to do the confessing for him.
He had been counting on the crew turning against him.On Rebecca reeling away horrified.But most of all on Boukman doing the telling, so that Chow wouldn’t have to.
And now he was the de facto captain.They all thoughthewas worthy of deciding what to do next.When he caught Rebecca’s eyes on him, they were wide with hope and admiration.
The villainous part of Chow’s heart wanted to accept the reprieve.If they survived this fight and if he got rid of Boukman on some deserted island, no one—and especially not Rebecca—would ever know the truth about his past.
But if Rebecca never knew the truth, then Chow was tricking her into loving a man who wasn’t worthy.
He could accept being a traitor to free theGhostof Boukman.He could even accept the title of captain without telling the crew everything about his past.
But he could not be a husband to Rebecca if she did not know what he had done.
Before he decided how to evade the Royal Navy, he had first to confess.
Even if that meant Rebecca would disavow him just before the battle that would take his life.
Andsoitwasall coming to an end.
The mutiny over, Sharkhead was now their captain.In all their hurried whispers these past few days, they had not discussed what the mutiny meant for their marriage.But Sharkhead had already become distant, his eyes barely seeing her, his hands barely touching her.He didn’t so much as squeeze her hand before climbing to the quarterdeck to peer through the telescope at the fast-arriving frigate.And now Boukman was in the brig, no longer a threat to her.
Rebecca need not be an albatross weighing on Sharkhead’s neck.
If he was going to part ways with her, so be it.If the entire crew of theGhostdecided she had better leave them at the Azores, then she would go.She wasn’t a woman to stay where she wasn’t wanted.And she would be as nice as she could about it.No snarling, no snapping, just an honest farewell.
This she promised herself as she trudged towards the ladder, anticipating Sharkhead’s order to make ready for battle.He probably wouldn’t even allow her to fight.He would confine her below, as if she were a mere passenger, and send her on a longboat to the naval ship for mercy if it looked like theGhostwould lose.
She was almost to the ladder when Jack Davies slapped her on the shoulder.“Congratulations, pirate.”
She blinked in surprise.Then Fearsome Fred, from where he sat oiling his blunderbuss, added, “Perfect aim.Should have known, of course.Ave Rebecca has God on her side.”
It was the nickname that made her smile.Her pirate name, which Liberty Johnson had promised to tattoo onto her wrist, and which these men had bestowed upon her as a token of welcome.
Perhaps Sharkhead still intended to drop her at the Azores, but Fearsome Fred seemed happy to keep her on.Rebecca teased back, “I wouldn’t know God from Adam.”
