Love's Abyss (St. John Series) (9 page)

“That’s totally different. I have no choice in this matter. You do.”

“So do you. Plus why would you wear that thin thing anyway, especially on board with that lying, raping bastard McClain?”

Madison could hear the disgust in Kris’s voice when she mentioned Andrew’s name. She spat on the floor to get her point across about her distaste for the man.

“Andrew is no such thing! But I wouldn’t expect you to understand. You don’t know him like I do,” Madison insisted.

Kris just looked at her new friend with concern. She slowly walked to the door, “I know him better than you think,” she said softly as she proceeded out the door and closed it.

Madison picked up the trousers and looked at them. “I’m not wearing these things.” She hunted around. “Where’s my dress?”

She frantically searched the place where it dropped. “Kris!” She walked to the door and flung it open. Kris stood in the doorway with a big smile on her face.

“I knew you would come looking for me,” she said as she walked back in. “Where are you going without any clothes on anyway?”

“Where’s my dress?”

“I threw it overboard,” she stated innocently. “It was beginning to get on my nerves.”

“But you weren’t the one wearing it. I was!”

“I still didn’t like it. Let’s get those trousers on.”

Madison looked at the brown trousers and then back up to Kris. “You did that on purpose.”

Kris smiled, “Why, of course I did. How else could I get you to wear these,” she said as she grabbed the trousers. Kris considered the trousers and then Madison’s undergarments. “Won’t work,” there was a pause, then she declared, “I’ve got it!”

She rushed to the locked drawer and pulled out the scissors and headed towards Madison.

“How did you unlock that so quickly?” Madison questioned.

A smug look crossed her face. “You can learn a lot here. Hold still.” In one quick move she cut one of the legs off of the sheer undergarments.

“What are you doing?!” Madison exclaimed as she danced around the room with Kris chasing after her.

“Well, if you refuse to remove these fluffy things, then I’ll have to make them work.”

Madison stopped so she wouldn’t get stabbed by the long scissors and watched in disbelief as Kris removed the legs from her looms. Kris cut them off extremely short, almost up to her butt.

“That should work,” Kris bragged about her handiwork. “Try them on.”

Madison reluctantly put on the trousers. She actually had no choice. It was either the outfit presented to her or the now damaged sheer undergarments she was wearing.

Once she had the trousers on and tucked her shirt in, Kris examined her. She tsked. “You look good, but you need something to help hide your girls.”

“My girls?”

“
Si
, your boobs,” Kris answered with a “what else would I be talking about” tone to her voice. She scrounged around in the Captain’s wardrobe. “Ah ha!” she declared as she pulled out a small brown vest and handed it to Madison.

Madison put it on and buttoned it.

“Perfect!” Kris said excitedly. “Oh! Look at the time, I have to go.
Adios
!” she said as she hurried out the door. The sound of the door closing and locking behind Kris echoed in Madison’s ears.

She turned and walked towards the open wardrobe. Madison gazed at her image in the full-length mirror hanging on the door. Her long auburn hair was down to her waist. The brown vest and matching trousers were accentuated by the crisp white shirt. She looked the part of a pirate, except she had no shoes. She peered into the wardrobe and snooped around. In the back corner she found a pair of old brown leather boots. She put on her knee high stockings and slid the boots on, looked back at her reflection and stared in astonishment. She looked just like a pirate. She began to wonder what Miss Ruby would say if she saw her and smiled. “This definitely isn’t proper. But what she doesn’t know won’t hurt her.”

Just then someone came crashing through the open window by the bed. Madison jumped back. It was the boy from yesterday. “What are you doing in here? And how did you get in here from there?” she asked the startled boy as she pointed towards the open window.

“Ohhh!” Samuel said with eyes wide as saucers. “Did you see that?! I did it! I actually did it!”

Just then he heard the Captain holler his name.

“Oh, no! I’m goin’ get it. Hide me!” he said frantically as they heard the echoing sounds of the Captain’s boots overhead.

Chapter Eleven

When Alex returned to the quarterdeck of
The Abyss
, spyglass in hand, Max was waiting on him. “What’s wrong?” Max questioned his friend.

“If I told you, you wouldn’t believe me. On second thought, you probably would since your wife is involved.”

Max grinned and gave a deep sigh. “What did Kris do now?”

Alex began to describe the scene that awaited him when he entered his quarters. Max roared with laughter.

“It’s not funny, Max.”

“Oh, yes, it is,” Max replied. “Since Kris discovered your new roommate yesterday, that’s all she’s talked about. Kris needed another woman’s company. Too bad it had to be the mistress of that bastard. Where did he find her anyway? Jake’s? Marie’s? Clarisse’s?”

“She’s not his mistress.”

A confused look came to Max. “That’s the same thing you said yesterday, but I thought you were joking. Then just who the hell is she, and what was she doing on his ship if she wasn’t his entertainment?”

“St. John.”

“St. John? What the devil are you talking about, Alex?”

“Her name is Madison St. John.”

“Like, as in the merchant and Earl St. John or just a random person named St. John?”

“Merchant.”

“Ah, hell, Alex!” Max declared as his large hand rubbed his neck and then traveled to his head. “We’re dead!”

“I know.”

“I mean, have you seen the size of her brothers? And her father?”

“I know!”

“There’s eight of them, Alex. Hell, they’re the same size as us, if not bigger.”

“I know, Max!”

Max rubbed the side of his face. “Well, what are you going to do?”

“I don’t know.”

“That’s your father’s godchild you just kidnapped,” he whispered.

“Would you mind telling me something that I don’t know!” Alex snapped at his friend. The crew looked up. It was very infrequently that Alex raised his voice to Max.

“Back to work!” Max barked at the crew. He looked back at his friend. “Alex, this is bad. Really, what are you going to do?”

Alex took a slow, deep breath, “I don’t know, Max. But I’ll think of something.” As he finished his sentence Samuel came running past them carrying a rope, yelled, “Woo whoo” and jumped off the side of the ship.

Alex and Max scrabbled to the stern and looked over the edge. “Samuel!” Alex shouted as he looked at the water below. His eyes then spied the rope that went into the window of his quarters. “Samuel!” Alex bellowed again in frustration. “Excuse me, Max. I have another one of my problems to take care of.”

“Just like his father,” Max stated as he watched his friend head below deck.

Alex’s footsteps echoed aboard
The
Abyss
. The eerie sound bounced through the room below.

Samuel looked at Madison. “Quick, you’ve got to hide me!” pleaded the boy.

Madison just looked at him strangely. “Why should I help hide you?”

“The Capt’n, he’ll be furious with me. He told me not to do that,” he pointed towards the window, “again or I’d be in big trouble.”

“Then why did you?”

“A bet. Now, please hide me.”

Madison just stared at the boy, and could see the fear in the boy’s eyes—the type of fear a child has of their parents when they’ve done something wrong. “Oh, all right,” she agreed and walked over to the wardrobe. “Quick, get in and don’t make a noise.”

A smile crossed the boy’s face. “Thanks! I owe you,” he told her as he climbed into the wardrobe.

Madison’s ears perked to the sound of the Captain’s footsteps coming down the hall. She quickly hopped on the loveseat and picked up the book she was looking at before Kris came in. She was still trying to figure out why she decided to help the boy. She reasoned that it was because he reminded her of herself, breaking the rules and hoping not to get caught. How many times had others help hide her antics when she was a child?

Alex came bursting through the door, and Madison quickly pretended she was reading. She looked up and said, “It’s hard to concentrate with you doing all that stomping around. What are you trying to do, purposefully drive me crazy?”

Alex glared at her. “Where is he?”

“Who?” she asked sweetly.

Alex crossed the room to where she sat on the loveseat and took the book out of her hands. He leaned over, just inches from her face. “Don’t play innocent with me. Samuel, where is he?”

Madison gave him a smart-aleck grin. “I can assure you I have no idea what . . .”

“Don’t lie to me, woman!” he shouted at her. “Where is Samuel?”

“Well, even if I did know where he was, I am certainly not going to tell you now. Not after the way you’re talking to me!” she shouted back. “I am not one of your crew to be intimidated by your yelling and getting in my face,” she argued back. Slowly, in a low tone she told the Captain, “So. . . get out of my face,
Captain
.”

“Don’t back talk me. You’re aboard my ship, and you’ll do as I command.”

“I wouldn’t be on
your
ship if
you
hadn’t kidnapped me in the first place. So if I am not as hospitable as you want me to be—too bad!” They were just inches from each other’s face, both with eyes glowing, itching for a good fight.

Alex gritted his teeth. She could see his jaw tightening with anger, but she refused to back down. She had too much of her father in her for that. The longer she was on this ship, the more her old self came out.

She raised her hand and placed it on his chest. She could feel each hard muscle move. She gave him a push. “Now . . . get out of my face.”

“Or you’ll what?” pressed the Captain. Just then there was a noise from the wardrobe. A slow smile crossed his face.

“Found him,” he said smugly.

Samuel bit his tongue as his foot accidently hit the side of the cabinet.
He’s going to find me if he doesn’t kill her first.
He had never heard anyone stand up to the Captain like that, and no one, except his mother, had ever stuck their necks out like that to protect him.
Hopefully he didn’t hear the noise that my foot made over his arguing
, Samuel prayed, but it was an appeal too late. The door of the wardrobe opened.

“Get out, boy,” he heard the Captain snarl. Samuel crawled out of the wardrobe and looked down timidly.

“Well,” the Captain said.

“Y-y.-y-yes, sir,” the boy stammered.

“You deliberately disobeyed my direct orders.”

“I know,” the boy whispered.

“I told you
not
to do that again, and I believe you said ‘I promise.’ Now, boy, I don’t take kindly to liars. Did you lie to me, boy? Did you?!”

Madison watched the scene unfold before her, the goliath of a man and the small boy. A puzzled look came to her face. Why would he care so much about this particular crew member? She took in the likeness of both figures before her and drew a quick breath in.

“He’s your son.” The realization was out of her mouth and spoken before she had time to think.

Alex glared at her. Samuel looked at her in astonishment. He had never heard anyone speak those words directly to him before.

“Mind your own business,” Alex hissed.

A sense of déjà vu came over Madison. She had heard him tell her those words before, but how? She had never met him before.

“Well,” she started. “You brought this argument before me, so I just added my two bits.”

“I’ll remind you again, woman—”

“My name is Lady Madison St. John to you,
pirate.
”

She was starting to get under Alex’s skin. He looked hard at her and took in her attire. She looked stunning in her brown trousers, vest, and white shirt. Her wavy red hair was blowing in the breeze coming through the window. The sight of her took his breath away. He momentarily forgot why he was even in his quarters until he was brought back to reality by, “A bet, sir.”

Alex shook his head and blinked his eyes, “What?”

“It . . . it was a bet, Capt’n. Slim bet me I couldn’t do it. He said he’d give me two gold pieces if I did. That’s a lot of money. I couldn’t turn it down.”

Alex looked at the boy; he could see himself in the child before him. He took a long slow deep breath. “You know why I don’t want you to do that, right?”

“Yes, Capt’n?”

“For your disobedience, you have to clean the head for a month.”

“A month!” protested the boy.

“Aye, then maybe next time, you’ll think twice before you do it.”

“Yes, sir,” Samuel said quietly. He took his punishment without too much argument. It was better than the beating he thought he would get, thanks to Lady Madison. Samuel walked past her and picked up his hat. He mouthed “Thank you” to her as he left.

“You can begin now, Samuel.”

“Yes, Capt’n.” He would have to make it up to her. She took the brunt of the argument that was coming his way.

Madison watched the boy leave the room like a beaten puppy. Her gaze came back to the arrogant Captain. She tapped her foot angrily.

The sound was irritating to Alex. “What is that supposed to mean?”

“It means, give me back the book I was reading and leave—now.”

He walked very slowly over to where the spirited redhead was standing, and held the book out to her. She reached out to take it from his hand. Her fingers grasped the book and she pulled it. He held it tightly and pulled her to him. Dropping the book, he grabbed her by her waist. She pushed back on his chest. He leaned calmly over to her ear and whispered, “If you ever purposely disrespect me in front of my crew again, you’ll regret it.” The tone in his voice made the hairs on the back of her neck stand up, but she was too stubborn to heed the warning.

She pushed him away from her. “Don’t threaten me, Captain. Remember you still need to sleep.”

“So do you, love, so do you,” he replied and walked out the door, locking it behind him.

“Where do you think I’m going to go?!” she yelled at him through the locked door. “Stupid bastard!”

“That’s not very ladylike,” he replied lightheartedly and quickly left.

She threw the book at the door. “I hate you!” she huffed and plopped down on the loveseat.

When Alex returned to the quarterdeck, Max could sense his anger. “You all right, Alex?”

“Yes. No. I don’t know.”

“Hard to punish Samuel?”

“No, that was the easy part. Dealing with that infuriating woman, now that’s the hard part.”

Max was taken aback, “Little Miss Madison?”

“Oh, don’t let her size fool you. If I had it to do over again, I would have just left her on that damn ship. She is the most infuriating woman I have ever met!”

Max let out a chuckle, “This is too funny. The almighty Captain Alexander Xavier brought to his wits’ end by his own captive.”

“Shut up, Max.”

“I’m sorry,” Max replied as he leaned over in sidesplitting laughter.

“You keep it up and you’ll be helping Samuel clean the head.” Alex glared at him.

“Yeah, right,” Max replied with sarcasm in his voice, “That will happen just as soon as I grow breasts and we get married.”

“All right, then, you can take her.”

“Oh, no! One woman is enough for me. I can hardly handle the one I have. The redhead is your baby. You take care of her. I tried to talk you out of it, but
noooo,
you wouldn’t listen. Well, my friend, you made your bed, now lie in it.” Max turned and walked towards the bow, leaving Alex to question his own decision about taking the hostage.