Page 27 of The Pirate's Daughter

“Mr. Quiggly,” Devin snapped at the man even as he rushed towards the bell. “Sound the call. All hands on deck. Raise sail. Ready to come about.” Devin continued to clip out orders as Mr. Quiggly rang the bell pulling most out of their berths. “Mia go below,” he said, heading towards thehelm.

“What? Captain, why?” She stayed right on hisheels.

“Go below, Mia,” he told her again and watched the storm of rebellion rise in her. “Go below, as soon as we are underway, I’ll comedown.”

She glared at himsuspiciously.

“I promise. Now gobelow.”

With a huff she changed course and made her way to theirquarters.

For more than an hour the activity on deck was chaos. Anymore a navy ship’s mission was passive in nature. Pirate activity was rare, and trade routes and waters well-used prevented ships being attacked or wrecked. Truly, since the surrender of Bonaparte more than a decade ago, piracy had died off. The mad Frenchman used pirates to disrupt the naval campaigns, but without his sure funding they dwindled and with resources like silver dying out there was little to be had with pirating. Most captains were veteran sailors who knew the waters and could safely navigate them. For some reason, this ship wasfloundering.

Mia had said it listed hard and was in a set turn. It could be rudder or sail damage, but they were too far off to tell. As activity settled into urgent but routine sailing, Devin handed the wheel to another and made his way below deck. He needed to dress and not look like someone pulled suddenly from his bunk. Pushing open the door, he found Mia had already done so and now sat as Grim—of all people—worked twisting her hair into some fashion oranother.

“Ah Captain, yes come. Good, Mia happy now. Dress, greet ship,” Mr. Hong said and pointed to the fresh uniform laidout.

Devin rubbed at his brow and sighed. As long as Mia was happy, he supposed other things could become apriority.

“Thank you, Hong,” Mia said. “Do you think you might find me a little food? And maybe something for CaptainWinthrop?”

“Ah yes, food make Mia happy, go now,” Mr. Hong said, then indicated Grim should go too. The man handed Mia the end of the braid he’d been working, patted her shoulder, and walkedout.

“How long before we come alongside, Captain?” Mia asked and reached for aribbon.

“There’s a headwind and the sea is choppy, but I think four hours at most,” Devin said, stripping down and feeling a flush wash over him as his wife turned to watchhim.

Have mercy. What they’d done last night—to have a woman so willing, a wife who created bliss in the bed, a female who stared boldly at a naked man and kept appreciation in her eyes as shedid.

“Two hours might be enough time,” Mia said, a wicked little smile on herlips.

“Enough time?” He saw her eyes drop then come back up. His half hard cock jumped and hardened more. “I can’t,” he groaned and put his foot in his pants leg. Mia rose so gracefully from her seat his cocked twitched again. Like the roll of a wave, that was how shemoved.

“It looks like you can,” she said, as she came towardshim.

“Well if you’d stop looking at me,” he said and saw the gleam in her eye grow warmer. “Or perhaps if you’d leave I might find somecontrol.”

“Leave? The cabin?” She camecloser.

“The cabin would be a good start. But you might need to leave the ship, maybe the hemisphere. No, no I’m pretty sure you’d have to leave the world to be far enough away.” He straightened, pulling his pants over his hips, as Mia stepped up and set her hand on hischest.

“You want me to leave, Captain?” Her sultry voice nearly sank his resolve. And when her hand dropped to his groin, fished down in his breeches and found his cock, he knew he wasn’t getting on deck as fast as he’dthought.

“Mia,” his voice sounded pained to his own ears. He couldn’t do this. He had responsibilities. He took her hand and pulled it away. A pout claimed her face. “There’s no reason for you to leave. Even if you made it to the moon, I’d think of you, and thinking of you is all it takes forthis.”

That cheered her. “Well, perhaps we should go topside so you can put your thoughts elsewhere,” she said, reaching for hisshirt.

“Mia,” he said taking the hand that held the shirt and pulling her against him. “You’re always in my thoughts no matter where I am.” She actually purred. He heard it and felt the rumble as he leaned down to kiss her. Such a soft, gentle contact. Sweet. Different from the other kisses they shared and as capable as those to make him ache forher.

“I think you need to be on deck, as much as I might want to be on some beach with you.” She lifted his belt as he straightened his shirt tails and smoothed hispants.

Her mentioning a beach made him recall his dream and again his cock strained against the cage he’d put it in. Mia helped him finish dressing and as he sat to pull on his boots, Mr. Hong came in with atray.

“Crew eating, dressing too. Short order, come on deck. No time. Now ready,” he said setting the tray down and moving back to the door. “Eat, come on deck, see ship all sideway inwater.”

Devin and Mia both started, but Mia shook her head and indicated Mr. Hong may not have picked the correct words to describe what was learned about the distressed ship they closed downon.

“If it’s serious, one of the crew would come tell you,” Mia said lifting a chunk of mango to herlips.

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