Linna : Historical Romance (The Brocade Collection, Book 5) (16 page)

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

“Larket
! Topside!”

Linna stirred at the heavy knock
even before the words made sense. No. They wouldn’t. They wanted Cord to work? No. He was much too ill. He was proving it, too, as he slept through the pounding.

“Larket!”

Linna slid out from beneath Cord’s arm, knowing for certain he was unconsciousness as he just let her go. He hadn’t allowed her any such movement all night. Her legs were numbed. Her back ached at having slept in one position on the floor. And she was ravenously hungry. She wrapped a quilt about herself before stumbling over Cord’s feet.

“Larket
! I’m warning—”

Linna pushed the door open a crack and watched the man’s eyes widen
. He was the height of her doorway. Linna wondered where they had found another crewman of such a size. Surely they weren’t all giants, she wondered, as she shoved her hair over her shoulder and faced him. “Cord is too ill to work today.”

“Who are you?”

“Well....”  Her voice tapered off as she turned to the sleeping mound on the floor. Trust him not to say a word to anyone!

“Cord got his-self a fancy woman?”

Linna’s expression froze. She should have waited to answer. It might not have been so acidic. “Perhaps you need your vision checked,” she replied.

“We don’t allow woman below-decks
. This be crew quarters.”

“Oh, really
? Perhaps someone should have informed us earlier,” she replied in a sarcastic tone.

He wasn’t unpleasant to look at, just big and not very bright from the confusion on his face.

“He should never have brought ye aboard. He knows the rules. This ain’t going to go over well with the captain.”

“
Oh. Good. At last we agree.”

“Huh?”  He asked it, screwing up his nose and forehead
. He was wearing the same sort of kerchief tied about his head as Cord had worn, and his loose-fitting shirt was open to the waist, showing off a nice array of muscle. And she’d thought Cord’s attire was improper!

“I think I can see why women aren’t allowed near the crew,” Linna commented as he just stood there.

“Huh?” he asked again.

She cleared her throat
. “And you’ve made the wrong assumption,” she stated loudly. “I am not a
fancy
anything. I happen to be his wife.”

“Cord went and got his-self hitched?”

“I just told you he did, and the word is himself.”

“Huh?” he replied for the third time.

Linna would have given him a dead-pan look, but it would be wasted. Cord groaned from the floor then, drawing their attention.

“How bad off is he?”

The man pulled the door handle out of her hands and walked right in, brushing past her without an invitation. Linna was forced sideways into the wall to make room. She’d been mistaken. He was tall, but Cord had him by at least four inches. Maybe more.

“He have a fever
? Weakness?”

“
Why would you think that? Maybe we enjoy sleeping on the floor.”

“What?”
He lifted his head and scrunched one side of his face as he looked up.

Linna relented
. She couldn’t take out her temper where she wanted to, and the man who had just forced his way into their chambers was proving to be too easy. “Forgive me. I’m a bit…out-of-sorts. Yes. Cord is fevered. He’s had it all night. And he’s very weak. I couldn’t get him into the cot by myself. That’s how weak he is. If you’d be so kind as to assist me?”

“Don’t look to me
. I can’t heft him for you.”

“Perhaps if we both tried?” she offered.

The man stood then and looked her over. Linna knew she was probably a sight. Her hair was falling about her, the blouse was askew, and the quilt wasn’t quite reaching her ankles.

“You’re pretty, but ye talk funny.”

“Oh. Bother. I take it that’s a no?” she asked.

Cord groaned at their feet, drawing her glance again
. “Well, I really hate to keep you from your own work, Mister...?”  She left it open but he didn’t supply a name. That was just as well. Sharpening her wits on him was a useless exercise. She’d rather not know his name. “You should probably cease staring and go now.”

“Go?”

“Someone has to apprise your employers of the situation. It’s going to have to be you. I certainly can’t do it.”

“You can’t?” he asked.

Linna sighed. “You just informed me that women weren’t welcome below-deck on this vessel. I certainly qualify as a woman. And I wouldn’t want anyone to get the wrong impression of me like you did. If you’d give his excuses to the captain, please? Or whoever he reports to?”

Linna would have held the door open for him, but it was already gaping wide into the hall, swinging back and forth with each roll of the ship.

“What?” he asked.

“Excuses for his absence
. You’ll have to make them.”

“Absence?”

Linna sighed, even louder. “He can’t climb any rigging today. He isn’t capable. Someone will need to be informed, surely. And someone besides myself will have to do the informing. I’m hopeful you’ll be the one to do it.”

“Oh.”  His face cleared
. “You want me to go and tell the first mate that Larket is ill.”

“
Ah. Good. We are communicating here. And…perhaps I could also talk you out of some victuals?”

“You sure do talk mighty fine
. Victuals, she says.”

“Victuals are food
. Toast, porridge, biscuits, whatever it is that you have available. Can we get some? Perhaps some tea, too? I’d love some tea.”

He shrugged, stepped past her to the door and went out into the hall
. “I’ll send his man to ye. He handles Cord’s need. I don’t. He can get what you want.”

Linna didn’t have long to wait to find out what the man’s last cryptic words meant
. How could a man of Cord’s few means have a servant? She hadn’t even finished asking herself the question when a man leaning toward obesity in his middle and sporting a long, narrow nose, bright blue eyes, and thin lips opened the door forcefully, by pulling the handle right out of her hands.

“Where is he
? Oh dear! Dear! Cordean! Why didn’t you say something? Anything? If you’ve hurt one bit of that glorious physique, I will never forgive you! Hold this, darling.”  He handed her a pile of towels and bent beside the sprawled man, testing Cord’s forehead with a palm. “Mercy! He’s burning up. And you let him lay on the floor with but one covering? As sick as he is? For shame!”

Then he stood up, put his hands on his hips and faced her
. Linna was afraid her mouth was open.  

“Well missy
? What have you to say for yourself?”

“I
—.” 

Linna had the strangest urge to giggle
. She had to slap her own hand to her mouth, losing half of the quilt and the towels in the process. His eyes narrowed at the state of her clothing. For some reason, it made her feel cheap and tawdry.

“Oh, so that’s how it is, eh
? You’re a fancy girl, taken from the docks. Stupid girl. You should have come to me sooner. He’s of no use to you like this. Now, leave.”

Cord groaned then, stopping any response she could have made
. The man immediately dropped to his side and lifted a hand in both of his. “Cord? There, there. Simons is here to see to you. What did the mean, nasty girl do to you?”

Linna lost her battle for restraint and collapsed to her haunches with laugh
ter. Cord stirred at the sound, causing the man called Simons to glare at her.

“See there
? You’re upsetting him with your howling. Get me some fresh water! Not the scum-filled stuff from the common room, I’m going to need rainwater! And make it quick!”  Simons reached to lift the quilt covering Cord. “This boy needs to be bathed. That’s what he does.”

“Bathed?” Linna
lost her amusement as she watched the expression on Simons face as he looked at Cord’s nakedness.

“To relieve the heat
.
Tiens
! Women are supposed to know these things! You bathe the skin with cool water when the body spirals into the fever, and you must pile on blankets for a sweat. Where were you raised? In a field?”

“I didn’t know,” she replied.

“You didn’t know,” he repeated tonelessly, before becoming animated again. “That’s a great comfort to him in his hour of need, I’m certain.”

Cord grumbled something, and Simons knelt closer to his mouth.

“Well!”  Simons fluffed the quilt back into place.

“Was he awake
? What did he say?” Linna asked, despite herself.

“None of your affair, missy
. None at all.” 

He didn’t like whatever it had been, if the way he was snapping the quilt to Cord’s chin was any indication
. Linna’s eyes widened. She didn’t dislike the man, but all her instincts were warning her.
Then again
, she reminded herself.
Cord means nothing to me. If Cord is waited on by a man that others shun, what is it to me?

“You poor boy
. Simons has just the thing. And you! Are you still here? I sent you for water. It’s not going to materialize by itself.”

“I can’t go looking for water, Mister Simons.”

“Can’t or won’t?”

“I can’t.” 

“And why not, I ask?”

“Well, I don’t know where it is, I’m half-dressed...” she paused for effect and smiled slyly at him, “...and my place is right here
. Beside my husband.”  As soon as she said it, she asked herself why. She didn’t care how many freaks Cord kept around him. And with this Simons fellow, Cord would obviously be well-tended. Furthermore, it would mean she wouldn’t have to stay in such close proximity to the man.

“Your
—your...
what
?” the small man questioned with a shriek on the last word.

“Husband,” she said, calmly.

Simons stared at her for a moment, then moved his glance to Cord’s prostrate form, then back to her. “You...and my Cord? Married?”

“I’m afraid so,” Linna mumbled in an apologetic tone, waggling her
left hand at him.

“
But Cord is—. He’s—”

“He’s wed
. That’s what Cordean Raoul Larket is,” Linna continued.

“You know his full name?”

“Of course. It was part of the wedding ceremony.”

“
Non.
I refuse to believe it! He has no room in his life for a wife! None.
I
should know.”

Linna’s eyebrows
lifted, and she barely kept the snort from sounding.

“Although you do look most familiar...oh
no! You? No! No, it can’t be! You—-you’re the Daniels girl! From the—ouch!” 

She knew Cord was at least semi-conscious then, as he lunged for Simon’s throat with a hand, stopping any further words
.

“
Monsieur
...Cord!”  Simons croaked as Cord’s grip quickly loosened and his arm fell back to his side. “You’re awake! Saints be praised! And no thanks to this hussy here. She tried to convince me that you had wed her. I know the truth of that. You wouldn’t wed and replace Simons so easily.”

“Christ,” Cord ground out.

“Uh...if you gentlemen want to be left alone, I’ll be more than happy to oblige you,” Linna said sweetly. “I’ll just need a few items from my trunk, there. If you’d be so kind? Simons, is it?”

“Linna...don’t leave
! I—! My head!”  Cord had tried to sit up,  then collapsed back onto the floor, making a loud thump as he hit the bare planks.

“There
. You see what you’ve done!” the little Frenchman cried dramatically, as he bent back over Cord.

“What’s going on down here?”

Linna’s head swung up to the door frame and her eyes widened further. She only wished she could sink right into the panel behind her and join Cord’s shirts, as the man she’d visited with the previous day spoke, looking even more dapper in gentlemen’s attire than his captain’s uniform.

“Well
? Simons?”

The little man
sighed, released Cord’s hand and stood, looking rather pale to Linna’s eyes.

“Well...you see, it’s like this, Rex
. I was just trying to assist our Cord here with his illness, when she—.”  He stopped and pointed to Linna for theatrical purposes, “thwarted me!”

“
Oh. I’ll bet she did.”

He just answered to the name Rex
.
Goosebumps broke out on her skin and her mind went completely blank.
No. That didn’t mean anything. No.
The little man started gesturing again.