Page 21 of A Pirate's Pleasure

“And you just happened to fall on top of me, did you?”

“Yeah, that’s right.”

“And the threats out of your mouth weren’t threats, I’m assuming?”

“What threats?”

There was a chorus of mumbling from the pirates, which equated to none of them having heard any threats. Or having seen anything. There wouldn’t be any support for me from that quarter. Big surprise.

“He said I wanted a man in a dress,” Newton said, seeing his opportunity to get a jab in.

I rolled my eyes. “You were the one who suggested I wear a dress. They wouldn’t let me have my clothes,” I explained, risking a glance at Zephyr. He didn’t find it amusing, but he wasn’t angry either. More like he was stuck somewhere between the two and hadn’t yet decided which way the pendulum would swing.

“You might as well let him go,” he said to me. “Because we both know you won’t stab him.”

“I might,” I said with a snarl. “I haven’t decided yet.”

“You won’t,” Zephyr said with a certainty in his voice that I didn’t appreciate. “Because then there’ll be blood. And then you’ll pass out. And I’ll have to carry you to the cabin. Again.”

One pirate sniggered, and I aimed a venomous glare his way.

“‘Ere,” someone said. “If ‘e faints at the sight of blood, how did ‘e murder someone?”

“He didn’t,” Zephyr said. “Why do you think I’m helping him?” Because you still love me. Because you’ve never really replaced me in your heart. I didn’t voice my wishful thinking aloud. “He’s an innocent man who’s been framed.” He drew himself up to his full height, his expression turning stormy. “And I’ll say this once and once only. You may not be happy that he’s here. I’m not happy that he’s here.” Charming. “But he is here, and he’s under my protection. Which means if you mess with him, you mess with me.” Better. “Does everyone understand that? Does anyone have a problem with it?”

More shuffling of feet. “Can’t we just dump him somewhere?” That was Newton. My biggest fan.

“Tempting,” Zephyr drawled. “But if there’s any dumping to be done, that’s my decision, not yours. Unless you have ambitions to be captain, Newton? Should I be watching you closely for signs of mutiny?”

Newton went so red that even the tips of his ears lit up. And much as he tried, he couldn’t make eye contact with his captain. “Course not. You’re the boss.”

“I’m glad you remember that.”

I only had a few seconds to be smug before Zephyr grabbed me by the arm and yanked me toward the stairs that led below deck. It seemed he wanted to talk to me in private. Well, good, because I had a few things I wanted to say to him.

Chapter Nine

Zephyr

I pushed Lief into the cabin and rounded on him. “How do you do it?”

He stared back at me, a slight furrow appearing on his brow. “How do I do what?”

“Find trouble so quickly.”

He snorted. “I think you’ll find that trouble found me. Not the other way around. Your crew had it in for me. They led me to believe that they’d done something with my clothes. Suggested I might like to take a swim to go look for them.”

“I already told you they don’t like you.”

Lief crossed his arms over his chest and lifted his chin. “Yeah, you did, but I expected that dislike to manifest itself in continuing to pretend I don’t exist, not in tripping me up, jumping on top of me, and whispering threats in my ear. What was I supposed to do? I could hardly just ignore him.”

He had a point. “Well, they’ll leave you alone now.”

“Shame you couldn’t have told them to do that before. It’s almost like you wanted them to mess with me and teach me a lesson.”

Had I? Quite possibly. “And have you learned one?”

“Course not.”