23. Isla #3
Isla rubbed her temple and sighed. “Perhaps that was a bit too blunt, but I find his disdain for anyone he considers beneath him quite trying. Yesterday, I heard him berate Lily for not clearing their breakfast dishes out of his way fast enough, and then when she left the room, he called after her that her time spent in noble houses could have been put to better use than as a nobleman’s plaything. ”
Lily glanced at her employer. “I’d hoped you hadn’t heard that.
Please don’t take offense on my account.
I learned early on to ignore those kinds of remarks from those who consider themselves the standard bearers for the morally upright members of society.
I’m quite content with who I am, Isla. I’d hate for you to lose a lifelong friendship because of how Lord Fitzgerald treats me. ”
A low, purring voice came from behind the group.
“He’s lucky he didn’t say those things to me, Lily, or to you in my presence because I would have cut out his tongue and fed it to the sharks.
” Ilona strode forward with a naturally seductive sway to her hips.
Seductive and deadly, quite a combination in Isla’s estimation.
Jonto stepped into Ilona’s space and growled, “Enough of that talk, Ilona. You’ll not lay a hand on any of them without feeling my whip flaying the skin off your back.”
Ilona rolled her eyes and drawled, “Yes, yes. I understand the consequences, Captain. I only hope your friend does, as well.” She strode down the steps to the main deck and disappeared through the hatch leading to the lower decks.
Isla, Celie, and Lily exchanged wide-eyed looks as Jonto stared after Ilona with a scowl. Isla was the first to speak. “Had I more time, Jonto, I would have warned you about Robert’s pretentious ways. He wouldn’t have been my first choice as a chaperone aboard a ship full of pirates.”
Jonto looked like he couldn’t agree more but was well-bred enough not to voice his thoughts aloud. He clapped his hands and forced a smile onto his face. “Let’s not let anything keep us from enjoying our day. I assume Celie and Lily will be acceptable as your chaperones for the day?”
Isla smiled. “Of course.” She lowered her voice. “And honestly, I’m relieved Pris and Robert have decided not to join us. We’ll have much more fun if we don’t have to watch our every step.”
With a conspiratorial giggle, Celie took her arm. “My thoughts, exactly, my dear.” She turned to Jonto. “I assume you have waterproof leather boots we can wear to get ashore?”
“We’d planned to carry you from the skiff to the beach, but if you wouldn’t mind wearing boots, I’ll have Babette get you each a pair from stores. Alpia!”
The girl shouted from the fo’c’sle. “Soir?” She took a running leap, cleared the stairs without touching a single one, landed on the main deck, and sprinted to the stairs leading up to the quarterdeck.
“Tell Babette we’ll need three pairs of boots for the ladies.”
“Aye, Soir.”
Just before she disappeared through the same hatch Ilona used, Jonto shouted, “And tell Ilona she’s coming with us to the island.”
“Aye, aye, Cap’n.”
Isla held up a hand. “I’d better take a moment to smooth Pris’s ruffled feathers, or I’ll never hear the end of things.”
Celie put a hand on her arm as she turned to go.
“Don’t you think it might be better if you waited until we returned?
” Her brows formed two peaks above her eyes, silently telling Isla that none wanted her smoothing those feathers and risking the possibility that the Fitzgeralds might have a change of heart and join them.
Isla laughed, “Celie. You’re incorrigible.”
With an innocent expression, Lily agreed.
“Perhaps it would be better to wait, My Lady. You may never have another chance to visit a tropical island, and you should make the most of it. Your mother would be dragging you toward the skiff right about now to keep you from assuaging that guilty conscience that’s kept you from living your life to the fullest.”
Jonto looked over his shoulder and announced, “The skiff is ready to sail, and it would be a shame to hold things up.”
With laughter in her eyes, Isla gave in to the inevitable. “Fine. I can tell when I’m outnumbered. Lead the way, Captain.”
Jonto escorted them down the steps to the main deck, where they were met by Babette and Ilona carrying the boots.
They handed them around, and as the ladies sat on the bottom step and pulled them on, Isla was surprised at the wink Ilona sent Jonto.
Even more surprising were his rolled eyes as he shook his head in response.
She would have thought one or both would be upset at their earlier exchange, but she sensed no animosity.
It seemed this pirate captain and his crew were perfectly comfortable with the typical squabbles any family might experience from time to time.
When they were ready, they climbed through the gangway with Jonto taking the lead and once again escorting each woman in turn. While Isla didn’t enjoy the trip down the ladder to the skiff, she handled it much better than when she’d first climbed aboard the Jest.