Chapter 9
Not long after Alister attended to his cabin, steaming food was brought in and placed on the dining table. He’d ordered Glen to make food not only for himself, but for the men who had travelled with him. None of them had eaten well for the last few weeks.
He continued to shuffle papers, going through them carefully, while two of his men set down plates and a bottle of grog, as well as rum.
“Bring her in,” he ordered.
Alister realised he should hide her long, double-edged sword in a better location than across his desk. He’d also found her pistol and placed it on the dining table to keep in view.
Can’t have her reaching for either.
A few minutes later, Rosetta was shoved into the room. Her hands were already unbound, like they had no fear of her – which Alister didn’t.
“What is the meaning of this?” she asked with a brash tone, folding her arms across her chest to stand in the middle of the sparsely lit room.
His were already folded while he leaned his backside against the desk and regarded her with a mocking sneer. “You have quite the hide to speak like that as a captive.”
She gave a defiant upturn of her head, snubbing him with her little nose.
The sun shining through the gridded window was the only thing casting light into the room. Alister walked to the eating table and pulled his chair out. He sat, not pushing it back in.
After he curled his arm over the corner of the backrest of his chair, he gestured to the seat across from him with his hand. “Sit.”
“What? Dinner before you kill me?”
He gave a mocking snort. “If I wanted you dead, you’d be dead.” He brought his gaze from the chair to her face, raising a brow. “I do believe this would be lunch, considering the hour.”
With unladylike stomping, she grabbed the armrest of the seat, turning it slightly to create room. It scraped loudly against the floor as she proceeded to plop herself into it.
Alister grabbed her pistol, cocked the hammer, and pointed it at her head. “You and I are going to have a little chat.”
She looked at the barrel of the gun with a bored expression. “Pointing a woman’s own gun at her. That’s a rather low move.”
“Ah, but you see, I can already tell you’re a devious fucking bitch.” He placed his elbow on the arm of his chair while he kept the gun trained on her. “If I don’t do this, you’ll try to scheme a way of killing me, considering I’ve taken back my ship.”
With a harrumph, she folded her arms once more and crossed her legs in frustration. He reached for the bottle of rum, poured some into a silver chalice, and slid it over to her.
“Drink, eat, speak with me.”
He took a chug from the bottle directly, slamming it down with a thud against the table when he was done.
“You were pretty smart with the way you tricked me.” He saw her lips part in surprise at his compliment. Her squinting eyes trailed down his broad chest and then back up to his face with an unsure expression. “You wouldn’t have taken over my ship if you hadn’t done something so dishonourable.”
Her arms loosened before she finally unfolded them to grab the chalice. She gave a long sigh.
“There is no honour with pirates.”
“True.” He grinned. “Which means you’re good at it.”
She cocked an eyebrow at him, taking a sip of the rum like she didn’t care if he’d poisoned it or not. The feast between them wasn’t fancy, but it was enough to pique her interest by the way her eyes swept over it.
“I saw you organised my ship.”
“The systems you had in place were inadequate.” She finally gained the courage to place an egg on her plate. “I’ve just made improvements to what was already there.”
Alister had been surprised to see two chickens on the ship; she must have bought them when she’d taken them to port.
“I didn’t realise they were so lacking until I saw the changes,” he admitted.
Rosetta narrowed her eyes at him. “You are being gracious. Why?”
Alister started piling his plate with smoked meat, dried beans, eggs, and whatever else he could grab from the bounty before him. He eventually placed the pistol down – close to his plate, just in case – so he could eat.
With a knife and fork in hand, he said, “I am merely reflecting on what I have seen. I have many questions.” He pointed his forkful of egg in her direction, and it slipped off to splatter against his plate.
“I’m also rather curious how a wee lass like yourself found herself on these seas, became a pirate, got herself a loyal crew who would die for her, and then made her way to captain a ship with the aim to commandeer mine. ”
“I don’t have to tell you jack shit about myself, Alister Paine,” she practically growled.
He gave a shrug like he didn’t care, looking away to focus on his food. I missed Glen’s cooking. The crew who’d stayed with him had been terrible cooks.
He ate like a starving boar, demolishing his loaded plate with not a shred of etiquette or care for the lady in front of him. He smacked his lips in between filling his mouth with heaping, hungry bites.
She, on the other hand, took small, neat bites of her food.
When he was done, he leaned back in his chair to watch her nibble at her own plate while he took swigs from his bottle.
“I am rather curious. You sold my loot.”
“What of it?”
He placed the bottle down, rolling the base edge of it. “What did you get for it?”
She pursed her lips. “Three hundred and sixty-seven pounds.”
“Ha! How did you manage that? I calculated around three hundred and twenty.”
She gave her own laugh. “Mr Smith was a hard-working businessman before I met him. He can swindle any man out of the highest price. There is none better than him.”
Alister knew exactly who he was from overhearing their conversations when he’d been her captive.
“Then why is the safe so empty?”
What did she do with all of that coin? He’d expected to see a hoard of it, yet there was barely anything inside.
“A hundred and seventy of it went to your crew,” she admitted, grabbing her chalice to lean back in her chair, mirroring him. “A further eighty went to mine.”
Alister cocked his head to the side, his brows furrowing deeply. “Why was it unfairly shared?”
She gave a shrug, talking over the rim of her silver cup. “Your men earned it, mine didn’t.”
She gave more to my men because they’d been the ones to steal it. It was clever on her part.
“You only did so because they would have been upset otherwise.” He gave a huffing chortle. “You did it to appease them.”
“So?” She rolled her eyes at his impudent tone. “You mock me by pretending to know me, but anyone in my position would have been an imbecile not to do it.”
Alister pointed the rim of his bottle at her. “You’re right, which is why I agree with it. I just won’t let you spin webs to deceive me; you’ve already done enough of that.”
The naughty smile of pride she gave made him wipe his mouth on the back of his hand. That smile could do twisted things to a demented man like him. He found it suggestive – even if she was trying to be malicious.
“What do you really want?” She waved her hand at the table between them. “You haven’t just invited me here to eat and converse. Tell me what you want.”
“In due time.”
He let his gaze trail over her, hoping she didn’t see it for what it was: appreciation. The woman had a body men would kill to touch, and she sat in way that exuded wicked confidence.
That assertiveness gave the assumption she would be bold. Alister had to force himself not to let his wandering eye linger and returned his focus to her face. She looks like she’d ride me well. Too bad she’ll most likely try to cut it off first.
“What did you do with the rest of my loot? Where’s the rest of the coin?”
She sighed once more. “I spent it fixing and supplying the ship. The number of holes I found were pathetic, and we barely had enough food and water to make it to port.”
“Vinil port,” he told her.
When her eyes squinted, a dark grin began to form across his lips, curving them wide enough to reveal his teeth.
“How...” She seemed to think better of her question. “How the hell did you find us? This island is deserted; not many sail near. No one knew we were approaching it. How did you know we were here?”
Finally, she asked him the question he’d been waiting for, and he was so proud of his answer, he even started to snicker.
“You’re witty, but foolish.” He leaned forward, resting one of his forearms across the table.
“While I was tied up and your crew weren’t looking, I instructed one of my men you’d kept to find out your plan.
He climbed the outer hull, crawled through the window of this room, saw your plans, then relayed that information to those you’d imprisoned.
Those lads gave me that information when we were in Dunecaster. ”
Her face paled as realisation struck her. Her eyes widened, her lips parting in a stupefied expression.
“Aye, lass.” He chuckled, reaching over the table to point a thick finger at her. “You’d written this pit stop. Since you had to port, and we were already at one, we lay in wait for you. We saw you approaching from shore.”
The small boat he’d used to get here was hiding at the cape on the other side of the island.
“But how did you even get a ship? It’s barely been a month!”
Alister had to admit, he was having fun revealing his scheme to her, detailing how she’d failed.
It serves her right after what she did.
“I had a small chest of treasure buried on Dunecaster in case I ever faltered, got drunk, and gambled our supply funds away.” He shook his head, finally leaning back.
“Luck on my part. I don’t gamble like I used to, but it meant I had the funds to buy another ship, supply it, and head straight here in less than four days. We arrived three days ago.”
He’d gotten his men to row to shore when he’d taken back his ship so they could burn the one they’d used to get here. He hoped she would ask him about it so that he could tell her he it was currently burning, because he didn’t want to give her the option of somehow getting away.