Page 87 of Paid to the Pirate

Charlie didn’t awaken, not even when I grabbed the salve and spread another layer on her skin.

And again, an hour or two later. Slowly, reverently, my hands moved.

What should I do with you, Charlie? Drop you at the nearest port?

Yes, of course. Women were bad luck upon a ship.You deceived us. Nothing but trouble can come of you.

I’d deposit her at Port Royal once we arrived. Though that still left the matter of her mother’s murderer, whom I’d vowed to bring to justice. But I could do that on my own.

Again I spread a layer of ointment over the soft globes of her arse, dipping my fingers into the balm and working it delicately across her tender flesh.

I repeated the process until I’d used the entire jar and the sky outside lightened to the gray of pre-morn.

Chapter 38

Colt, the past

Icouldn’t very well turn her off the ship looking like a bedraggled swab, I reasoned. As soon as I cleaned her up, I’d let her go. Once she was made presentable again. The next day we’d dock in Port Royal anyway, and I knew just where to have her tidied.

I didn’t want to parade Charlie through the wharfs, however, soThe Dark Blademade berth in a favored inlet a quarter of a mile south of the main port. I bid the men to wait until our return. The imminent night of drinking and whoring kept the crew’s grumbling about the additional walk from our distanced cove to a minimum. And the threat of my wrath dimmed the chatter about Charlie’s newly revealed truth.

Charlie sulked, refusing to speak to me as I led her around the outskirts of town and beyond.

It wasn’t called the Wickedest City on Earth for nothing. Every fourth building was a bar or a brothel. Men entered with the wealth of princes, only to be reduced to paupers, having emptied their bag o’ bits on women and wine. Even at midday, revelry could be heard, carrying through the streets.

We made our way to Estelle’s, an old friend who kept a house free of gossip -- for a price. It was always a fair one for me, but still a price.

“I need access to your bath,” I said, when the no-nonsense blonde opened the door. “I also need a new gown, stockings, shoes… and perhaps, a hairpin of some sort.”

Estelle’s eyes flicked to Charlie, resting there for a while. I could only imagine what she thought, taking in the boy-girl’s filthy appearance, her ill-fitting clothing, and Charlie’s unique expression of fear mixed with defiance.

After a moment, Estelle said, “No hairpin is going to work on that head as she’s got no hair to make it stick.” Opening the door to let us in, she said, “Tub’s upstairs. I’ll have someone fetch water. And I’ll get her a clip.”

“Thank you,” I replied, tipping my head. “I’ll see to payment on our way out.”

Estelle shook her head. “This one’s on me.”

Sequestered in an upstairs room, I studied Charlie as a servant filled the tub with lukewarm water.

A woman, a woman,my mind repeated, flashing back to images of her bare rear.

No wonder she’d always been diligent in cutting her hair as we sailed. It was the very opposite of how negligent she’d been in keeping her body clean.

Once filled, her eyes flicked nervously to the tub, easily guessing what was to come. After we’d been left alone, I folded my arms and stated the obvious.

“You need a bath.”

“Then leave me to bathe,” Charlie ordered, jutting her chin.

Not a chance.

Those were the first words she’d spoken to me all day. She didn’t hurl a single insult or mention one word about her punishment or her ongoing deception and its discovery. I didn’t like admitting that it made me nervous to consider the calculation going on in her head. If she’d hidden the truth from us for this long, what else was she capable of?

“Alone so you can escape?” I asked. “Or do a shite job of cleaning and continue to hide behind your cover as a boy? You’re getting a bath and I’ll be the one doing the bathing.”

I hadn’t been sure I’d meant the words until I said them. I couldn’t leave her alone, but I’d been torn on the of idea involving myself directly in her scrubbing.

A fire lit behind her eyes. “You can’t clean me,” she insisted, snarling.

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