“How bad is it?”
He half smiled. “It won’t kill you, unless you get mad dog disease from Rino.”
“What?” Sparrow felt her heart drop.
“Just a bad joke, girl. You’ll be all right.” He cleaned the wound and applied the paste. When he’d finished, he brushed her mouth with his and stroked a tendril of sea-soaked hair from her eyes. “Stay here and rest. I’m going topside to get this ship back in order. As soon as the storm clears, we’ll start repairs as well as we can.”
As he stood to go, Sparrow reached for him and buried her face in his chest. Her arms tightened around him, and she felt him flinch slightly as the gesture squeezed his ribs. She loosened her grip and looked up at him. “Let me wrap those again before you go up.”
He agreed, removing his wet shirt and unraveling bandage beneath. She took a dry one from the bag and bound his middle. When she’d finished, she rested her hand against his muscular chest, feeling his heartbeat against her palm. Injured and all, his body was still a marvel of male beauty. If she hadn’t been so tired, frightened, and worried, she would have wanted him then and there.
She felt her own concerns combined with attraction in the kiss he pressed to her mouth before leaving the galley.
Sparrow sighed, rubbing one of her sore palms with her other aching hand. She sat on her heels and glanced around the hold at the trunks she’d just secured. Most of them had held through the storm, but Lock wanted the ropes checked again.
Lock wanted the ship repaired yesterday
. If possible, he was even more diligent running the ship than he had been rebuilding the village. He was as hard on every crewman as he was on himself.
Early that morning, once the storm had passed and everyone knew Rino was dead, Sparrow had sensed tension on board. All the crewmen, first mate included, accepted Lock as the new leader—except for the second mate. At the man’s first gesture of rebellion, Lock had, to Sparrow’s horror, run him through with the short sword he’d taken from the Empress’s guard and flung the carcass overboard. The crewmen had watched then gone about their work, attempting to turn the ship back on course and make as many repairs as they could under Lock’s direction.
“You had to kill him?” Sparrow had snapped. Several of the men glanced at Lock with raised eyebrows, wondering how their new captain would react to demands from a woman.
“Get back to work, or else you’ll be swimming to shore, wherever the hell it is!” Lock had growled at the men, causing backs to turn and heads to lower over busy hands. Remote blue eyes met Sparrow’s. “Any act against my authority is as good as an act against my life. It’s an unwritten law of the Archipelago. Every man here knows about it. We have work to do, Sparrow. I need you below.”
She turned on her heel and stormed down the hatch. Halfway to the galley, Lock caught her arm and tugged her toward a hold. “In here. I’ll teach you how to check these knots.”
“Take your hand off me!” She’d shoved him.
“You never minded my hands before.”
She’d drawn a deep breath, closed her eyes, and willed her temper under control. “That was before you started booting people overboard every half hour.”
“I tossed two men: one of them threatened me, the other threatened you. Would you have rather I let Rino rip you apart?”
“I can’t wait until we land somewhere and get away from this ship!”
“I would have thought you’d be in a bigger hurry to get away when Rino was Captain. Now at least you’re as safe as can be. We can go anywhere we want in this ship.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, we’re no longer running, girl. We have the means to survive and survive well.”
“Lock, this isn’t your ship.”
“Ain’t it? I damn near drowned securing it, I’ll say that makes it mine.” He’d held her eyes, and by his expression noted the anger and disbelief she felt. “Just get to work, Sparrow. We can talk about it when she’s back on course.”
“Oh, we’ll talk about it, Lock! You can wager on it!”
Sparrow pressed her palms to her eyes. That conversation hadn’t gone well at all, and since then she hadn’t spoken to Lock other than brief words regarding repairs. Part of her understood his hard manner toward the crew. They were a bunch of pirates who would as soon cut out a man’s heart as look at him, but his new attitude bothered her. When they’d first met, he’d been like an animal, but after months together, he’d become human. They’d laughed and talked. They’d fallen in love. Now he’d reverted to the animal again, and if they stayed on board the Lady Fire, Sparrow was afraid she’d lose
her
Lock forever.
* * * * *
Sparrow slowly climbed onto the deck, her body aching and her ear stinging. Though she’d managed to get some rest the previous night when Lock had taken her to the galley, it had been a light, agitated sleep, and now she felt more than ready for bed. Lock hadn’t slept at all, but as she stepped into the sunlight, she noticed him standing by the mast speaking to the first mate. His legs were spread in a wide stance, his feet planted firmly on the swaying deck. His arms were folded across his broad chest, the long, curved muscles visible in the mist-dampened tan vest he wore. Thick brown and white hair blew like knotted spirals around his shoulders and across his face. She knew he must have felt tired, but in spite of his injuries and lack of sleep, he looked strong enough to fight an army of Rinos.
“Come here, girl!” he called.
She resisted the urge to turn away from him and go back below. She approached, glaring at him.
He smiled and reached out to touch her face, but she stepped way. “What do you want?”
The first mate—a man of middle height and sturdy build—watched her with amused brown eyes. Lock ignored the man’s expression and said to Sparrow, “Nice morning.”
“For some, maybe.”
The mate smiled. “I like this woman, Captain.”
“So do I, if you get my meaning,” Lock growled.
The man shook long, black hair over his shoulder as he walked away.
“What is wrong with you?” Sparrow demanded. “All he did was make a comment.”
“Let him make it about some other woman, not about mine.” Lock grasped her arms and kissed her before she had a chance to refuse. She stiffened, but as his lips gently moved against hers, his tongue tenderly tracing the shape of her mouth, she forced herself not to melt into his arms. He whispered against her ear. “You’re mine, Sparrow, and I’ve made sure every man on this ship knows it. There won’t be a repeat of what Rino did do you. Believe me.”
“I’m more concerned with what Rino did to you.”
“To me?”
“You’re changing, Lock.” She held his eyes, her fingers braced against his shoulders.
“I’m doing what I have to. Believe me about that, too.” He released her, his gaze sweeping the deck. Men stood at their posts while others sat or gazed over the rails. All looked worn, and several were injured. Lock strode to the quarter deck and bellowed for attention. Sparrow stood beside Ilias as Lock spoke. “Last night’s storm did damage. You all know that, but we’re in decent shape. As soon as we dock and make repairs, we’ll make this ship the most formidable vessel to sail out of the Archipelago. This benefits me and that means it benefits you. Some of you know me. You know I’m not easy. What I am is fair. Work with me, and you’ll all go home rich men.”
Sparrow noted the pirates’ weary expressions turning to ones of interest. The crew shouted and cheered at Lock’s words. He held up his hands for silence, and they obeyed.
“Work against me, and the bottom of the sea will be your home. Now keep this ship headed North.” Lock stepped back onto the main deck and glanced at the first mate. “Mingo, you have her. I’ll be in my cabin shoveling out Rino’s shit.” He took Sparrow’s hand. “Come with me, girl.”
If Lock’s speech had pleased the crew, it unsettled Sparrow. What did he mean, they’d all go home rich men? Surely he didn’t intend to continue pirating? What about they plans they’d made? What about marriage?
As they disappeared below, Sparrow tugged her hand from his. She was losing the man she loved. Perhaps he’d never really existed at all.
* * * * *
In the Captain’s cabin—a small room, but far more comfortable than anywhere else on the ship—Lock bolted the door. He sat on the bed and tugged his shirt over his head, pausing in the middle of the motion, his ribs most likely hurting.
“We need to talk.” Sparrow folded her arms across her chest and paced the cabin.
“Sparrow, I have to get some rest.”
She glanced at him, noting his eyes were lined with fatigue, but he’d put on a fine show of power on deck. Besides, she was far too angry to sympathize with any discomfort he might be feeling.
“You asked me to marry you, now you want to make me some nautical whore on this floating den of wolves?”
“I don’t recall saying I didn’t want us to get married.”
“So what do you want to do, Lock? Take wedding vows then go out pirating?”
“I’m a pirate.”
“
Were
.”
“Unless you haven’t noticed, I’m Captain of this vessel. What would you have me do? Sink it to suit you?”
She stared at him in open-mouthed shock. When she recovered, she unlocked the door, but he grasped her arm and slipped the bolt back into place.
“Let go of me! I can’t stand to look at you right now, Lock!”
“Sparrow, I don’t expect you to stay on this ship forever. I’ll take you home.”
“Home where? To the Archipelago?”
“I have a nice house, a secluded beach. You’d probably like it there. You’d be safe.”
“Jailed by those eunuch slaves you once told me about? Maybe I can assist your mother at the brothel and help with the family profits!”
Lock’s eyes flashed rage and he walked back to the bed and lay down. “Come here and get some sleep. When you’ve calmed down we can talk about it.”
“I’m never going to calm down, Lock! You lied to me. You said you were going to try to make an honest life.”
“With this ship, we can make an honest life. We can trade instead of pillage.”
“Stop lying to me! This is a ship full of cutthroats, and you’re the worst of them all!”
“Things look quite different when you’re out of your own territory, don’t they?”
“What?”
“Everything was fine for you when I was chained to the wall washing dishes. Now that I’m free again, it’s harder to ignore the facts I’ve been telling you since the day we met.”
“I never wanted you chained to my wall, Lock! It was you who drove me to it, and you’re as unreasonable now as you were then! I thought you’d changed. I thought you cared about me.”
“I care about you more than anything.”
“Then prove it.” She sat on the edge of the bed and rested her palms on his chest, staring into his pale blue eyes. “Leave this ship with me as soon as we dock. If you don’t, it’ll destroy us.”
He tugged her onto the bed beside him and kissed her forehead. “It’s not that easy. The Lady Fire is my responsibility now.”
“Give it to one of the others. Ilias, maybe.”
Lock laughed. “Ilias? He’s a good enough crewman, but too soft. He wouldn’t last a day in charge of this vessel. One thing about a pirate ship, girl, only a bastard can run it right. I fit the description in every way, if you get my meaning.”
“You’re a good man deep inside. I remember how you rebuilt our village, and not for any profit.” She touched his face and spoke with more confidence than she felt. “I know you’ll do the right thing.”
She saw a flicker of emotion in his eyes—guilt, maybe?
Resting her cheek against his shoulder, she listened to the evenness of his breathing. Only when she was certain he was asleep did she turn her back to him and cry.
It seemed to take hours for Sparrow to fall asleep. Finally she succumbed to the ship’s gentle rocking and the pleasant feeling of Lock’s warm body so close to hers. He’d lied to her and probably to himself, but she still loved him. She had to get him away from the ship, or else the man he’d become might be lost forever. He had the potential to be good, but the temptation of the Lady Fire was like a disease to him. She’d seen some people addicted to wagering on anything from dice games to horse-races. They bore the same crazy look in their eyes as Lock when he played the part of Captain. It seemed piracy was a more terrible vice than she’d ever imagined.
When Sparrow awoke, Lock lay beside her, staring at her.
“Is it time to get up already?” she asked.
“Stay and sleep if you want. I’ll be going on deck in a while.”
“I’ll get back to work, too.”
“Wait.” Lock tugged off the blanket and raised her dress.
“What are you doing?” she demanded.
“I owe you.”
“Lock, we can’t—”
“Why not? We’re alone. No one will bother us. Besides, you once did the same to me under more dangerous circumstances.”
She relaxed. He was right. The danger of Rino was past, but the newer danger frightened her even more. The danger of losing Lock to pirating forever.
“I’ve missed being alone with you, girl,” he whispered.