Chapter 14
After that terrible day, Alister expected her to stop coming to him.
He knew he’d gone too far and had almost realised it too late. Yet she continued to stand near him. She spoke to him at the helm, asked him how his back was healing. Annoyingly, she even tried to check it by pulling his tunic up until he wiggled away before she could see.
Instead of getting Clint to bring him food or grog water, she continued to do it.
She didn’t seem upset or bothered by what had transpired between them. She glared at him, smiled at him, acted exactly how she had before.
She even came to look over his shoulder when he was in the navigation room and watched what he was doing, so she knew where they were in the world.
Not seeming to mind that she was alone with him in a confined space, she inspected the maps close enough to him that he could feel her shoulder brushing his.
He’d been apprehensive of her at first, closed off, considering his actions. Then, despite everything, she was the one who instigated a kiss, like she couldn’t help herself from tasting him.
Rosetta, with one draw of her silky pouted lips, sent him hurtling right back to desperation for her.
They were playing cat and mouse once more.
A game where, if she wasn’t with him in his chambers, he would corner her somewhere below deck just to tease her, hoping the more he tried to touch her, the more likely she was to falter.
Sometimes it left him cursing his own stupidity, as he’d leave with an ache in his groin, but he couldn’t help grinning when he walked away from her panting form.
Unfortunately, that was until a nasty rumour started, something he wasn’t particularly pleased with hearing.
“Aye, Alister. She’s sleeping with her crew,” Pierre told him while Alister was manning the helm.
He was supporting himself against the wheel, speaking with Pierre about the state of his ship. He wanted a full report every day to make sure there weren’t any complications with the repairs. They were uncertain about the state of the hull, since it still had holes and leaks.
“My crew,” he corrected with a hostile bite to his tone. That wasn’t why he was angry, though. “How do you know this?”
“Rumours have spread that she was seen in the hammock with Naeem the last few nights.” Pierre looked down at his filthy nails before biting one. “Apparently, the other cabins heard some odd noises.”
“Why should I care?” Alister gritted out, gripping the handles tighter.
“We know you’re keen on her.” His eyes drew over Alister knowingly, one of his blond brows raised. “We were just wondering if that was still the case.”
“I don’t give a shit what you do with her.”
Aye, lass. I told you if you sleep with one of them, you sleep with all of them. Except him.
He didn’t like that she’d been seeking his mouth, teasing him and denying him, when she may have been with another.
The grin that formed on Pierre’s face soured Alister’s mood further. He’d thought the relationship between her and Naeem was a little strange. It was a little too close.
Naeem had stomped his way into Alister’s quarters the first day they’d set sail, demanding to speak with him.
Apparently, he and the rest of her crew were worried her safety wouldn’t be a top priority. There had been a threat that if she got hurt in any way, they’d turn on him with a vengeance.
It was one of the reasons he hadn’t liked her on the pirate hunting vessel. She could have been injured or killed and her men may have turned on him, despite the fact that it was her own fault and she’d gone against his orders.
He needed them to sail, especially now with the amount of repairs needed below deck. It was around-the-clock work.
Alister had mocked him, but he’d still thought it was odd he was chancing that kind of threat. It was as though he feared for her more than Alister’s reaction.
His gaze narrowed as he glared at the front of his ship after hearing this terrible news from Pierre. Perhaps they’re in love with each other. For whatever reason, they’d been denying it until now.
It might be because they were forced to occupy the same sleeping space, forced into close proximity with each other.
He didn’t like it.
He had to make certain of the rumours. So, Alister stood outside her cabin with his back to the wall. He folded his arms and listened in.
Hearing Mr Smith shouting for them to shut up so he could sleep while a giggling Rosetta laughed at Naeem, who told him he was just jealous she was in his hammock tonight, confirmed what Alister had been told. He hadn’t stuck around to hear any more.
Out of curiosity, he’d changed the shift arrangements. He put Naeem on night duty to see what she would do – only to find out she’d been seen in Mr Smith’s hammock.
Alister couldn’t believe the update he’d received the next day. The man must be twice her age and she’d still brazenly hopped into bed with him.
Since he’d heard of her lying with Naeem, Alister hadn’t spoken to her unless absolutely necessary. Although he was still attracted to her, his desire had fizzled away near instantly.
She was now just becoming an annoyance, one that was starting to upset the men. Once the rumours began, he’d started receiving reports of men being slapped for trying to bed her as well.
He wasn’t interested in getting in the middle of it.
That was, until she stormed her way into his quarters without knocking while he’d been asleep in his hammock.
The door slammed against the frame loudly, shocking him awake.
He moved his arm to cover half his face, hiding the scar as if he was merely hiding from the sunlight filtering in.
Then he raised his head from where it rested to face her. “Oi, sweetheart. It’s too early for that kind of noise,” he groaned in a dull tone.
“Get your men to keep their bloody hands to themselves!” she screeched in such an unladylike, gremlin voice that he grimaced at its ugliness.
With a sigh and a roll of his eyes, he dug into the creases of his hammock to find his eye patch somewhere within it.
“I told you what would happen if you slept with one of the crew,” he said, refusing to play dumb to her coy actions as he put his eye patch on to cover his blind eye. He adjusted it until it sat right. “Doesn’t matter if they were your own.”
He watched her eyes widen and her mouth fall open. She reached behind her and slammed the door shut. “Excuse me? I haven’t fucked anyone.”
He rested his head back, kicking a leg outside his hanging bed so he could make it swing from side to side. He closed his eyes, more interested in sleep than this conversation.
The sun is only just rising. Why am I dealing with this shit now?
“That’s not what I’ve heard. You’ve been caught in bed with both Naeem and Mr Smith.”
“To go to sleep!”
“Pardon?” He lifted his head once more to look at her. “You expect me to believe that nonsense? What kind of woman crawls into a man’s bed but does nothing?”
She’d taken him easily enough – a stranger, someone who’d raised a weapon to her, threatened her.
The audacity of this woman with her lies. He and his men weren’t idiots, and the cabin walls were only thin timber.
“A cold one!”
“There are blankets, sweetheart.” He chuckled darkly.
“They’re itchy,” she rebuffed. “My skin is sensitive, and they still aren’t enough to keep the cold at bay.”
“You had no issues before, so why now, all of a sudden?”
“Because my coat was enough to keep me warm! The hull currently has holes in it.”
His brows furrowed. Well, that is true.
“It is damp below deck and the wind coming through makes it freezing down there.” She folded her arms across her chest, narrowing her eyes into a deep, icy glare. “I can’t sleep when I’m cold, or itchy, or uncomfortable.”
He leaned up on one elbow, balancing himself with years of skill. “Why didn’t you tell me then? Hm?”
He shook his head; he had no reason to believe her.
“And what am I supposed to do? Complain to you I’m cold when there is very little you can do about it? I’d rather not be mocked. I’ve already been just for owning a pair of tits.”
His lips thinned at the truth of her words. He would have laughed at her for it, poking at her for her gender, since men could handle the temperatures below deck, no matter the state of the ship. Men were resilient, women less so.
“Do you think it’s comfortable lying next to Naeem or Mr Smith? Naeem is a wriggler in his sleep and Mr Smith snores like an ogre, but they are warm.”
Alister’s gaze turned towards the bed below him, one he rarely used unless he was too drunk to make it into his hammock.
She’d slept with the blanket and pillow.
He’d seen them both inside his hammock when he’d taken his ship back, and his were made of higher quality material than the grey blankets the crew had.
He brought his gaze back to her just as she cringed.
“And the idea I’d sleep with Mr Smith is ridiculous. He reminds me of my father.”
“And Naeem?” He tried to keep the curiosity from his voice.
“He is my friend and has been for many years. They are the only people I trust; they are family to me.”
Is that why she’s comfortable sharing a cabin with them? Alister thought for long moments.
“I can’t have you sleeping with men for warmth because the ship has been damaged.”
“What else am I supposed to do? Freeze to death?” She tapped her toe impatiently. “Those that catch a sickness on the seas are a liability and are prone to catching worse illnesses.”
If one person gets sick, the chances are others will as well. Now that was something Alister couldn’t have.
He gave a sigh at her dramatics before rubbing at the hair on his cheek as he contemplated his solution. With the dampness and the wind, he doubted it would be enough even if he gave her his blanket.
I can’t put her with Pierre and Derek. She’d been right that if he gave her that cabin to herself, he’d have to deal with an upset crew. He was already giving her special attention; any more would be an inconvenience that could cause tension he didn’t need.
“Alright, lass,” he finally sighed. He couldn’t believe he was about to say this. “Bring your hammock in here.”
“What?” Her head reared back while her face twisted into a wide-eyed glare of disbelief. “Sleep in this room... with you?”
“Aye. You were able to sleep comfortably in here before.” It also means I can keep an eye on her. “The men will back off once I explain.”
“I don’t want to sleep near you.” She eyed him suspiciously in his hammock. “I don’t think I trust you.”
“Hurtful.” Alister placed his hand over his heart like she’d wounded him. “I wouldn’t harass a lass while she slept.”
He might before that, though.
Her lips pursed into a cute pout of annoyance, her foot tapping harder while her head turned to the side in thought.
“Can I have the blanket and pillow?”
He let his arm fall from his hammock so he could gesture to them below. “Does it look like I need them?”
“Fine,” she huffed. “I’m already sick of almost falling to the floor when Naeem tries to roll over.”
A light chortle escaped him. Now, wouldn’t that be funny.
Rosetta slammed the door on her way out and Alister folded his arms behind his head, grinning at the ceiling.
She’d just given him a ticket to an easier way between her legs. Now that he knew the actual truth of what had been happening, perhaps the damage to the hull, and finding out about these rumours, had been a good thing.
She hadn’t denied his offer, showing she truly had just been cold, rather than promiscuous.
She can’t escape me if she shares my room.