Page 31 of Hired by Pirates

And yet...it wouldn’t be running away. It would be creating a new life. Could I be fulfilled being a ship’s doctor to only seven crew members?

It didn’t quite sit right. No matter how much I turned the question over and over in my mind.

I wasn’t able to see a solution, so all I could do was wait until the time was right to discuss it with the Captain.

For such a bold, brash man, he was certainly timid about certain topics with me. He was clearly overprotective, but I didn’t need to be sheltered completely.

There had to be a middle ground somewhere.

When the crew gathered in the galley for supper, I noticed that they were all a bit antsy. Like a child who had been given candy for the first time. Nobody could quite sit still. Jake kept rubbing the back of his neck with his hand. Simon kept stretching his fingers out, wriggling them like worms. Tobias couldn’t seem to stop drumming his fingers on his knee.

“Is there a reason everyone is so jumpy?” I whispered to the Captain.

Before he could answer, Jocko stuck his head in. “Captain, storm brewing to the north, but it looks like the kind we usually pass right through.”

He made to leave as soon as his message was delivered, but the Captain said, “No, Jocko, take us south a bit. Give it a wide berth. It’s fine if we catch some rain, but not the chop.”

“Aye, sir.” He sounded confused, as if this were an unusual command.

Jocko darted back upstairs, then the Captain chased after him, and I heard muttered voices from the deck. The circle of knowing looks passing around between the men at the table made me feel like I was for once not included in something.

“For heaven’s sake, what is it?” I demanded in frustration.

Tobias hesitated, then spoke softly. “Everyone gets a mite jumpy before a job, Astor. The Captain doesn’t want you to sail through your first storm at the same time.”

“Surely he can’t think I’m as fragile as all that?”

“Not at all,” Woods chimed in. “Everyone on this ship thinks you’re a very strong woman, Miss. But storms are different out here, and the first few times most people get a bit…”

“Rattled,” Jake finished.

“It’s just because he cares about you, lass,” Barnaby said with a warm smile, reaching over to pat my arm. “He doesn’t want you to have to deal with too many things at once. It’s about being a brand new sailor, not a woman.”

“Some used to say that Nick the Pick didn’t have a heart at all, but you’ve certainly helped him find it, Astor,” Woods grinned.

“Nick the – what?”

Tobias gave Woods a firm elbow shove in the ribs. “Don’t be telling her that.”

“It’s too late now. Tell me.”

Woods shrugged. “There was a tale of the Captain attending a fancy party long ago to...well, not to put too fine a point on it, Miss, to do a pinch of thieving. When a terrible murderous thug grabbed the host’s daughter, a certain Captain Nick Evans may have stabbed him several times with an ice pick.”

The men all looked at me, waiting for my reaction. How funny that my only thought was for the safety of a girl, not the violence, or technically what was legally right or wrong.

“I’m so glad that he was there to protect her,” I simply said, sending a round of huge grins around the table.

The Captain came back down with a cheery chuckle. “It’s not much of a storm at all. We’ll skirt the edges, and likely just catch enough rain to make Jake’s hair curlier.”

The men laughed, as the Captain took my arm. “We should get extra sleep tonight, lass.”

“Thank you for dinner,” I said, giving Barnaby’s shoulder a tap, and glancing at each of the men in turn. I appreciated how open they were with me, and how each of them had been helping me along.

As we walked the short distance from the galley to his quarters, I could actually smell the unfamiliar tang in the air. Glancing to the north, even though it was just past sunset, the thick, dark clouds were plain to see. The dense velvet blackness indeed looked ominous, and I was glad we were avoiding it.

The second we were alone in his room, the Captain kissed me firmly. His hands gripped my hips as his mouth captured mine, leaving me tingling all over.

“Someday soon, I’ll teach you all about storms,” he said, kicking off his boots, then reaching down to remove mine. “But there’s no way I’m having you try to sleep through your first time in big waves.”

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