The Noble Pirates by Rima Jean Read Free Book Online

went red. Not knowing how to respond – the incident that afternoon had caused me to rethink my initial assessment of him – I turned my back and asked, “Can you lace me up? I can’t do this by myself.” I waited, hearing him shift behind me.
    “Eh… Kat’s not back yet… I’m not sure where she went off to…” he muttered.
    I looked over my shoulder at him. “Can’t you help me?” The man had carried me in his arms, watched me puke my guts out, smelled me at my worst, killed a guy for me… and he was hesitating over this? Maybe it was because I finally didn’t look like complete and total shit. I was as clean as I was apparently going to get, and I was wearing some pretty nice clothes. My hair was a wild mess, but there was nothing I could do about that. I had brushed my teeth and applied some of Tanya’s makeup – some powder, blush, and mascara. The small mirror on the inside of the makeup bag wasn’t big enough for a total assessment, obviously, but it did reveal that I was in dire need of tweezers. My eyebrows were getting out of control.
    I waited, my head turned away from him, listening to the rustle of his fine clothes as he hesitated. Then I felt the laces tighten, and I straightened, trying not to hold my breath. I was focusing on doing the little things and forcing myself not to think about the big things. I wasn’t ready for that yet. I wasn’t ready to deal with reality yet. I just wanted to clean myself, dress myself, think about the small, trivial things in life. For a change. “So what’s going on between you and Kat?” I asked, dragging my mind away from the direction my thoughts were taking.
    “Kat?”
    “Yeah.” I realized that England was lacing me too loose – he seemed afraid of pulling the laces tight. He was probably afraid I’d faint or throw up. Because that’s all I’d been doing lately. “She seems possessive of you.”
    He was quiet for a moment. “Does she now?” I could tell by the tone of his voice he had no intention of answering my question. Which was just as well, since I knew the answer already. Hadn’t he not-so-subtly explained it to me? There were no “ladies” in Nassau. Just “whores and pirates’ women.” I turned to face him, secretly glad he’d gone easy with the stays. He was merely a couple inches taller than my meager five-foot-four-inch frame, but it made no difference: I knew, looking at him, that he was not a man to be messed with. I opened my mouth to say something when Jameson burst into the house and, in the next stride, into the room.
    His hooded eyes darted from England to me uncomfortably, his large jaw working his essentially toothless gums, when he said to England, “That jade o’ yours, Kat… been making trouble for this one here, she has! Went and cozied up to Charlie Vane, if ye get me drift, and told him we had a witch in our midst…” Jameson glared at me accusingly. “It was that bag o’ hers, filled with odd trinkets, and her running out in the rain, like she were mad…”
    England froze, his expression unreadable. He looked at me steadily and said, “Now ye’ll be obliged to accompany me on my business this evening, lass, since leaving ye here is no longer an option. If word of ye has gotten out, then yer not safe alone, in my house or otherwise.” He then chewed the inside of his cheek, contemplating something. “For yer safety, ye’ll have to be willing to play a part, ye see?”
    The nervous energy of the two men was contagious, and I found myself cracking my knuckles, twisting my fingers in my hands. “What part?”
    England looked nervous, and Jameson guffawed. “The cap’n’s doxy, luv!” the quartermaster said.
    I looked from Jameson to England, my eyebrows practically at my hairline. “You want me to pretend to be your… your…?” When England hesitated, the flush creeping back up his neck, Jameson continued to cackle. I took England’s arm, and straightened my shoulders. I wasn’t going