Бренда Джойс – The Prize (страница 23)

“Good day.” He nodded sharply at them both, dismissing his thoughts.

Virginia dropped her tiny hand from Harvey’s, her cheeks flaming, as if caught at the midnight hour with her hand in someone else’s safe. She looked as guilty as could be.

By God, they were plotting against him, he thought, amazed. The little vixen had enticed Harvey to her side, into insubordination. It wasn’t a guess. He smelled the conspiracy in the air the way he had first smelled the approaching storm last night.

“Devlin, good morning. I hope you don’t mind my taking some air with our guest?” Harvey smiled cheerfully at him.

“Fortunately my orders did not include you,” Devlin said calmly.

“Of course they didn’t. I’m the ship’s surgeon,” Harvey said with humor.

Virginia’s eyes widened as she understood. “I hope those ridiculous orders no longer stand!”

He faced her. She was so petite that she made him feel as tall as a mythological giant. “My orders do stand, Miss Hughes.” He didn’t like the look of the gash on her temple. “Harvey, I want you to tend to that immediately.”

“I’ll get my bag,” Harvey said, striding off.

And they were alone. Devlin stared at her. She, however, refused to meet his gaze. What was this? An effect of guilt? This morning she had been in his bed, on the verge of begging him for his kisses. Devlin was no fool. Desire had clearly shimmered in her hungry violet eyes. “Feeling guilty?” he purred, deciding to enjoy the debate that would surely ensue.

She jumped. “What do I have to feel guilty about? You are the one who should be prone with guilt, but then, you would have to have a heart in order to feel anything.”

“I confess,” he said, smiling, “to being absolutely heartless.”

“How far off course are we?” she asked, and it was more of a demand than a question.

“About a hundred and fifty miles,” he said, and he saw her pale. “That distresses you?”

She stared and finally nodded. “Where do we sail now?” she asked grimly.

She was very clever. He admired her wit and decided never to underestimate it again. “There’s no point in tacking south to Portsmouth. Besides—” his heart tightened, proving that he was capable of feeling after all “—I have grave doubts about the Americana making port there.”

Her eyes widened. “You don’t think…”

“I doubt she survived the storm. We barely outran her—the Americana could not outrun her. Mac is a fine sailor, but he was sailing with a skeleton crew.” A soft sorrow crept over him. He didn’t try to shove it away. This was the way of the sea and he knew it very well; it took more lives than it ever let go. Over the years he had learned that it was better to mourn the loss of his men and be done with it. He had also learned not to expect longevity from those who chose to sail with him. It was far easier dealing with death when one accepted its inevitability.

“You don’t care,” she gasped. “You do have a heart of stone—if you even have a heart at all,” she accused. “Those men—that ship—they lie at the bottom of the ocean because of you!”

Now he was angry. He gripped her wrist so quickly that she cried out and he did not let it go. “They lie in a watery tomb because of the gale, Miss Hughes, and as I am not Poseidon, I had little to do with the making of that storm last night.”

She dared to shake her head at him. “No! Had you not battled that ship, wounding it terribly—in order to abduct me—they would be alive!”

This woman seemed to have the capacity to ignite his fury as no one else could. He flung her wrist away and was ashamed to find it red. “Had I not battled that ship, wounding it and abducting you, you would be on the ocean’s floor with them.” He was about to stalk away. It crossed his mind that if he bedded her, he might teach her the respect she so clearly lacked. That, and far more.

But he was struck with his earlier assessment, and he whirled to face her again. “Do not plot against me with Harvey,” he warned.

She cried out, appearing frightened. “I…I’m not!”

“Liar,” he whispered, bending so close that their faces almost touched. “I know a conspiracy when it forms beneath my nose. Do you know what the fate of a mutineer is, Miss Hughes?”

“There is no mutiny,” she began.

He smiled at her coldly. “Should you entice Harvey to your schemes, that is mutiny, my dear. We hang mutineers,” he added with relish, and it was not entirely a lie. He wouldn’t hang Harvey, but he’d lose a damned fine ship’s surgeon, and they were as hard to come by as an Indian ruby, if not even more so.

She shrank away from him, against the wall. “I have something to say to you,” she said fiercely.

He had been about to go. He didn’t like her tone and he turned, awaiting her blow.

“I despise you,” she said thickly.

Oddly, he flinched, not outwardly, but somewhere deep inside his body. Outwardly, he felt his lips twist into a mirthless smile. “That is the best that you can do?”

She looked as if she might strike him.

“Do not,” he warned softly.

She clenched her fists. “I am sorry I missed,” she said suddenly. “I’m a fine shot, and if only I had waited, you would now be dead.”

“But I’m not dead, alas,” he mocked. Her words had an edge he refused to feel, cutting deep. “Patience, Miss Hughes, is a virtue. And you, my harridan, lack it entirely.” He strode away.

“Why are you doing this? O’Neill!” she cried after him. “Harvey says you are rich!”

He pretended not to hear.

“Bastard,” she said.

CHAPTER SIX

JACK HARVEY CLIMBED THE three steps to the quarterdeck. Although his semblance remained cheerful, as was characteristic for him, he was still stunned that Devlin had abused his hostage—stunned and disturbed. But he’d given up trying to understand his captain. He’d served under O’Neill long enough to know that he would never understand him.

Devlin was at the helm and he turned at the familiar sound of the surgeon’s short, surprisingly light footsteps. “How is she?” he asked.

“The gash could have used a stitch or two last night, but it’s healing nicely now. She hasn’t had a headache since she received the blow, which, according to Miss Hughes, was during the storm last night.”

Devlin nodded at his first mate. “Take the helm,” he said. He stepped away and he and Harvey moved to the deck’s larboard side. “You are eyeing me oddly,” he remarked coolly.

Harvey no longer smiled. “Damn it, Devlin, I hope she got that blow as she claimed, by falling, and not from some other means.”

He stared, instantly comprehending Harvey’s meaning. “By God, you think I hit her?” He was genuinely surprised. He had never hit a woman in his life.

“I don’t know what to think,” Harvey grimaced. “Not now.”

Oh, ho, he had a very dark inkling, indeed. “Really?” He gripped Harvey’s arm and they stepped down to the main deck, away from prying eyes and listening ears. “You are a fool, Jack, to allow a clever vixen like Miss Hughes to so sweetly tie you up and wrap you with a pretty bow.”

Harvey appeared flustered. “What does that mean?”

“That means,” Devlin said tightly, “that she has enticed you into disobeying me, has she not?”

Harvey blinked, paling. “Devlin…” he faltered.

“What do the two of you intend? And tell me, how can you justify thwarting me, defying me, when I am your captain?”

Harvey stiffened. “Damn it, you seduced her.”

For one moment, he felt as if Harvey had spoken a foreign language, one he had never before heard. “I what?”

Harvey blinked another time, now looking worried and uncomfortable. “You seduced her,” he said less certainly.

He stared as red-hot fury swept over him. Damn that woman with her clever machinations, her foul lies! “So that is what she told you?” he asked, as if completely calm.

“Er.” Harvey hesitated. “Yes.”

“You know, it is good luck for you that we are, for the most part, on good terms. Otherwise you would not be wearing such a straight nose. I don’t seduce virgins. Innocence does not tempt me.” And as he spoke, he was aware of that having changed.

Harvey paled. “Oh, dear,” he said.

“You have always been taken in by a pretty face,” Devlin said.

Harvey grimaced. “Devlin, I beg your pardon, I am so sorry!”

Devlin didn’t know whom he felt the most umbrage at—Jack Harvey or Virginia Hughes. He certainly felt like throttling the latter. “What did the two of you plan?”

Harvey remained white. He shook his head. “I was to bring her a sailor’s clothes from one of the boys below decks. Then, when we made port, I was to distract and preoccupy you and she would simply walk off the boat with the others.”

“Very clever,” Devlin said, and he meant it. The plan would have undoubtedly worked if he had not sensed the conspiracy between his ship’s surgeon and his little captive.

“Devlin, I am sorry, terribly sorry. I knew it was not in character for you! But then, this entire affair makes no sense—you’ve never ransomed a woman before. Please forgive me. She was so convincing! She wept, for God’s sake,” Harvey cried, his gaze filled with anxiety.

There would be no forgiveness for anyone. Devlin said, “When we reach Limerick, you will have to find another ship. As of this moment, you are relieved of your duties.”