Desire in the Sun (32 page)

“I can’t help it!” he protested when she hissed at him late one night. Lilah thought she heard amusement in his voice, though it was too dark to properly see his expression. The idea that he found the situation even remotely laughable made her even angrier.

“You can keep your blasted shirt buttoned!” she spat in response, and this time there was no mistaking his laughter. Lilah stiffened and shot him a look that by rights should have slain him on the spot.

Lilah’s greatest worry was that Nell would come crawling into Joss’s pallet one night. Lilah didn’t know how she would react to that. Even if Joss turned the
woman away—which there was no certainty that he would do—she would be furious. If Joss did not turn the woman away, she would not be answerable for the consequences. This she tried to convey to him after several days of maintaining a discreet but increasingly furious silence, which seemed to amuse more than chasten him.

“How can you let her flirt so with you? Not that flirt is the word for what she does!” This was delivered under cover of slapping waves and rushing wind as Joss came to his pallet for what remained of the night. He’d stood first watch, so it must have been long past midnight. Lilah had been deemed useless as far as standing watch and most other shipboard duties were concerned, so she was free to retire when she wished. But she had not been able to sleep, wondering what Joss was getting up to without her supervision. Not an hour earlier, she had peeped from her blanket to find Nell sashaying along the deck to where he stood near the prow, the steaming cup in her hand her excuse for approaching him. It had been all she could do to remain quietly lying in her pallet. By the time Joss rolled up in his blanket beside her she was spitting mad.

“So you saw that, did you? You must have eyes like a cat,” he replied to her accusation with a long-suffering sigh. The notion that he considered himself hardly used made her temper heat even more.

“What I didn’t see was you sending her on her way!”

“You couldn’t expect me to do that, now could you? Nell is quite an armful for any man.”

He was teasing her, baiting her for his own amusement, Lilah realized after a moment’s shock. She passed from steaming to full boil. Laugh at her, would he!

“If you like her so well, then be my guest.” Lilah flounced over on her side so that her back was to him. “Just don’t expect to come mooning around me, you horny goat!”

Joss laughed, and reached out with a questing finger
to stroke the vulnerable nape of her neck. Captain Logan had apparently grown more trusting the longer the pair of them had been on board, so there was no longer a guard stationed feet from where they slept. Still, shipmates slept all around, and Joss’s action entailed some risk.

Lilah slewed around to glare at him. The clouds shifted away from the frosted moon long enough to allow her to see his face as he lay on his side not two feet behind her, his head resting on his arm.

“You are despicable!”

“And you are adorable. I’m only teasing you about Nell, you know. Though you can’t expect me to repulse her out of hand. To do so would be too suspicious. After all, if you
were
my addled nephew I would probably be glad of the comforts she’s offering.”

“If you bed her …” It was a slit-eyed threat.

He grinned. She could see his white teeth through the shifting darkness.

“I won’t. The only female I feel like bedding has a bosom that’s squashed flat as a board, is crusted with dirt and lying right next to me at this moment hollering at me for something that is not my fault. She’s a shrew and a witch, and she’s ruined me for any other woman. Any attention I pay Nell is just show. Satisfied?”

“No!”

He chuckled, the sound low. “It figures. Now be quiet, shrew, and go to sleep. And for God’s sake, don’t start shooting Nell any filthy looks. You’ll give away the game.”

“Then you’ll just have to watch yourself, won’t you?”

“I’ll try to discourage her, all right?” His tone told her that he was trying to be conciliatory.

Lilah was in no mood to be appeased. “You’d better! Or you’ll think shrew, indeed!”

But to mitigate the severity of her words, she turned over, scooted a little closer, and under cover of the blankets
stretched out her hand. Her fingers found his, stroked them. His hand closed around hers, wrapped it warmly, carried it to his lips. And he kissed her fingers, one by one, lingeringly, right there on the deck of the pirate ship.

XXXVIII

T
he second week out dawned clear and hot. The
Magdalene
was on a southeasterly course, fighting a brisk head wind. On this particular morning some twelve days after they had joined the pirate crew, Lilah awoke when Joss pushed her roughly. She grumbled, yawned, and sat up, blinking at the brightness of the early morning sunlight.

“Get a move on there, Remy!”

Obediently she staggered to her feet and rolled up her blanket, as did Joss. Then, limping and vacant-eyed, she followed him to a deserted section of the port bow where he attended to nature’s needs with flagrant disregard for any considerations of modesty, letting fly over the side as did the other men when weather and circumstance allowed. Lilah had of necessity to be more discreet. Retiring behind a hogshead, she made hasty use of a chamber pot, which Joss had on the first day out thoughtfully discovered and concealed for her there. Finished, she quickly emptied the contents over the side and returned the pot to its hiding place with no one the wiser.

When Lilah emerged from behind the barrel, it was to find Nell simpering up at Joss, The woman’s mass of coarse red hair hung in deep waves around her face and halfway down her back. Her skin was swarthy, and her face was round with slightly overlarge features. Despite
the woman’s blatant vulgarity, Lilah supposed sourly that men must find her exceedingly appealing. Certainly her figure was. Her breasts were large as melons, the nipples boldly visible as they thrust against her loose white top. Her waist was large in comparison with Lilah’s, but the voluptuousness of the breasts above and hips below made it look acceptably slender. Even as the woman stood still, smiling coyly up at Joss, her hips were moving, swaying the full black skirt she wore from side to side.

Today, obviously, Nell had gotten herself up to go hunting men. Her blouse had been pulled so far down over her shoulders that the top half of her breasts was bared. Her skirt was hiked short enough to allow much more than a glimpse of bare brown feet and slightly thick ankles. Her waist had been cinched tighter than usual with a sash of bright red silk. Her lips and cheeks had been roughed to nearly the same shade of red. Her eyes were fixed with infuriating avidity on the prey she had in her sights. And that prey was grinning at her with consummate charm and a complete absence of the outrage that Lilah, watching, felt.

Lilah approached, limping, steaming, to see Nell pouting prettily. Her rouged lips pursed as she boldly ran her eyes up and down Joss’s tall form, lingering longest over certain unmentionable areas that were clearly delineated by his snug black breeches.

“You got an eye for me, handsome, I know you do. A lady can always tell. So what’s stopping us from bein’ friends? A fine gent like you has—needs.” This provocative speech, uttered in a sultry voice marred only slightly by the speaker’s Cockney accent, brought Lilah’s teeth snapping together. If Joss did not send the creature about her business, now, she would … she would … What would she do? If she was not to betray her true sex, what
could
she do? Nothing, she acknowledged with bitter gall.

Her helpless fury increased as Joss reached out to put
his hands on Nell’s too-plump bare arms, running his palms up and down them while he smiled into her eyes. Lilah stopped in her tracks, watching, while a fierce, primitive rage simmered inside her. He had no right to touch that creature, none at all! He was hers!

“You’re a lovely woman, Nell, and I wouldn’t be human if I didn’t have an eye for you. But I fear that if I dealt with you as I’d sorely like to I’d have to take on the
Magdalene’s
entire crew. Which as a newcomer I’m somewhat loathe to do. It’s no secret that every man on board is panting to take McAfee’s place, and somebody’d likely slit my throat were I to steal the prize from under his nose.”

Nell simpered at this, obviously pleased, and closed the small distance between her and her quarry, running her hands over the sapphire silk covering Joss’s chest to link them behind his neck. Lilah thanked providence that he’d heeded her request to keep his shirt buttoned. If she had had to witness Nell touching his bare skin, she would have exploded for sure.

“I wouldn’t have taken you for a coward, love. And it’s you I want.”

Joss grinned appreciatively down at the bold thing, his hands resting lightly on her waist while she hugged his neck and boldly rubbed herself against him. It was clear to Lilah that he was making no move to free himself. That is, not until he looked over the hussy’s head to find her glaring at him. Their eyes met, and hers sent a message that he would ignore at his peril. Joss’s eyes widened for an instant, he grimaced, and shifted his eyes back to the woman hooking herself to him. He shook his head at her, and pushed her gently away.

“You’re a tempting wench, but I’m a careful man. I’ll have to think on your offer for a while. Now take yourself off, woman, and let me get on about my business.”

Nell pouted, but he sent her on her way with a grin that Lilah felt promised far too much and a familiar slap
on her backside. This pleased the shameless hussy so much she giggled, and sent Joss a coy look and a blown kiss back over her bare shoulder as she flounced away. Clearly Nell did not take Joss’s refusal as final.

Lilah let Joss have the full blast of her blazing blue eyes, quite forgetting her role as the addled Remy in her anger. It didn’t help that, with the rising sun striking blue sparks in the black waves of his hair, now tied neatly back, and with his face now adorned by the same piratical mustache as the bold rogue who had first dazzled her, he was so handsome he took her breath away. Tall and broad-shouldered, bronzed and hard-muscled, he was a figure out of a woman’s dream. It was no wonder that Nell found him appealing, but she couldn’t have him. He was hers! The thought was fierce, the anger that came with it red-hot. He was hers, and he had no right to flirt with other women! And she meant to tell the two-timing creature so right quick!

Clearly sensing trouble, Joss grinned at her placatingly. When that didn’t work he frowned, eyes narrowing, but Lilah was too angry to heed the warning in that significant look. She marched up to him, barely limping, the stone in her boot no match for her rage, and thumped him hard in the chest with her fist before he could see the blow coming and move out of the way.

“You—!” she began furiously, only to be forcibly silenced by his hand clapping over her mouth.

“Hush!” he hissed. His eyes moved beyond her. Lilah became aware of Silas and another pirate rolling a hogshead toward this sheltering spot beside the rail. Beyond them, the deck was swarming with activity as the crew went about their daily business. No one seemed particularly interested in the little tableau by the rail, but at any second someone could look up, notice her behaving in a most un-Remy-like way, and become interested. Knowledge of the danger she was putting them in
affected her temper like a douse of cold water. It still steamed, but no longer blazed.

“You’re right, Remy, it’s too early for a lad like you to be rolling out of bed. At least when he’s home with his mama. But you’re not home with your mama now, so be a man, if you can.” Joss obviously intended this speech to quell suspicion if anyone had noticed the little scene between them. Silas and the other pirate appeared to afford the pair of them only the most passing attention. Still, to say more could be dangerous.

Frustrated, Lilah managed one more killing glare at Joss before she dropped her eyes and resumed her role. Joss turned away without another word, going about his duties with his “nephew” meekly trailing behind.

The rest of that morning and most of the afternoon Lilah passed as she had the other days aboard the brigantine. Although the quarterdeck was for the most part off-limits to females (the only exception being if the captain was amorous), Nell and her black-haired, sloe-eyed sister were very much in evidence on the deck below. They lazed back on barrels and fanned their skirts provocatively so that the breeze could cool their legs and more. Lilah, sweating as she squatted in the infernal heat, stared down at the laughing pair with fierce dislike. Every once in a while she would sneak a hard look up at Joss, to see if he was ogling the charms the women so casually displayed. To his credit, she never caught him looking, but she knew that did not mean that he did not. Only that he did it when she would not see.

Absurd as it was, she had to admit it: She, Lilah Remy, well-brought-up young lady, sought after by the most eligible bachelors everywhere she went, acknowledged beauty, was so jealous of an ill-kempt pirate’s wench that it was making her sick!