Page 25 of Her Perfect Pirate
“Fighting slavers.”
The captain prodded a finger into Chow’s shoulder.“And who areyou?”
“The quartermaster.”
“Who were you before I let you join theGhost?”
Chow swallowed against the emotion rising in his throat.“A good-for-nothing pirate.”
“A pirate who did worse than nothing,” the captain corrected.As he should.If Chow had done nothing, he would still be at Northfield Hall, angry but innocent.Instead, Chow had done all the wrong things.“And why did I allow you to join my crew?”
“Because you are a forgiving man who gives second chances.”
“That’s right.Secondchances.Not third, not fourth.You want to learn from me, Sharkhead?That’s all you need to know.”
He understood that to say anything else was to put his own position on the ship at risk.If he provoked the captain now, he might end up overboard—and this time, the water was deep, land was far away, and the sharks would get him.
But Chow needed the captain to know.“When you sent Rebecca to that flagship, they thought she was a whore.I won’t donothingagain, sir.She should fight like any other pirate, but not like that.”
Captain Boukman sneered at Chow, his lips curling up as if he were preparing to take a bite out of his face.“Get out of my sight,” he ordered, and spittle landed on Chow’s cheek.
Chow did not want to believe this was the captain.This was not the man who had found him broken in Cartagena, searching for a way to bury his shame.This was not the man who went out of his way to make the newly freed people on his ship feel safe.This was not the captain who kept the crew at the forefront of his mind.
Somewhere, somehow, the captain had lost faith in theGhost.Perhaps even in himself.And now, the great man that Chow had so long trusted was gone, replaced by someone consumed by petty fear.
Chow would have preferred to walk the plank than to see how far the captain had fallen.But every pirate had to accept the fate delivered them, and so now, Chow had to leave the cabin and shut the door as if Captain Boukman was still a man to be respected.
Rebeccawastryingnotto trail Sharkhead around the ship like a lovesick puppy.Just because her body craved his presence at every moment did not mean she could—orshould—indulge it.She had learned that the hard way in past love affairs.So she forced herself to ignore her heart and even to take on extra tasks, to keep from mooning after Sharkhead just because they had settled their differences.
Case in point,Rebecca was practicing her knots with Long Tale Lee when she saw Sharkhead emerge from Captain Boukman’s cabin as pale and gray as the cotton rope in her hands.She stayed in her seat as he lurched across the deck on unsteady feet.She forced herself to remain still as he turned away, not even looking around to find her.
But when he bent over the railing, as if to vomit his soul into the ocean, she lost her willpower.
Something was wrong, and Sharkhead needed her.
For some reason, as she approached, the name that came to her lips was “Martin.”The soft, gentle name his mother had bestowed upon him.He didn’t react to it, not even as Rebecca cupped his shoulder.
She told herself that was a sign to retreat.But her heart didn’t listen.She said instead: “Husband.”
Now he reacted—a flinch.“You needn’t be tied to me.”
He didn’t want her at his side, then.Fine.Rebecca swallowed and retrieved her hand.“What do you mean?”
“I’m not a man you want to be tied to.”He didn’t look at her.“You should leave us in the Azores.Find yourself a better fate.”
The words would have stung her if she weren’t already reeling from his first reaction to her.“Is that what you want?To be rid of me?”
“You were right about him.You and Jack and all the rest.”He still stared at the horizon, the unending ocean, as if there were an answer there to whatever tormented him.“The captain isn’t to be trusted anymore.I didn’t see it all this time.I chose not to see it.Not until…” At last, he looked at her, and what Rebecca saw in his eyes was horror.“Not until it was too late to protect you.”
Her panic receded.
He was not trying to get rid of her.
He was apologizing all over again, even though they had already put it behind them.“I protected myself.”
“You shouldn’t have needed to.”
“What did Captain Boukman say to you to put you in this state?”
