An Officer but No Gentleman (10 page)

9

C
harlie wrapped herself in the sheet from Jaxon’s bed after the men who had stolen her clothes left the cabin.  She had been terrified when they held her down and began pulling at her clothing.  If she had it to do over again, she wondered if they would have waited outside while she stripped, if she had asked.  They just walked in unannounced and asked for her clothes.  It was only after she refused that they got physical.  She had fended them off for a little while until they all tackled her at once.  They had seemed genuinely surprised to find she was a woman and had apologized if they had hurt her.  But when it was all said and done, they had taken her uniform and left her with only the long strip of cloth she used to bind her breasts, her drawers, woolen socks and boots.  It was all so confusing.  Why would they take her clothes especially if they did not know she was female? 

Then, only a few minutes later, there was a knock.  Rather than answer it wrapped in a sheet, she ignored it.  Whoever it was would go away when they realized the captain was not in his cabin.  The door suddenly opened
, and the carpenter walked in.  He seemed surprised by her presence.

“Can’t you come back later?”

“The captain told me not five minutes ago to install this hammock now.”

Charlie scooted to the far corner of the bunk, her knees drawn up in front of her.  Only her shoulders and head were not completely covered.  She would have like
d to have wrapped the sheet over her shoulders, but she needed to keep her arms free in case she needed to defend herself again.

The
carpenter went about measuring for the hammock the captain had promised her.  He cast an occasional glance over his shoulder.  He shook his head and murmured something that sounded to her like, “Not the way it was done in my day.”

She didn’t know if he was referring to separate s
leeping arrangements or the way he was sent to a room with a nearly naked woman in it or maybe he thought she had slept with the captain without being married to him.  That was the way it looked.  She blushed to her roots.

Suddenly, the door shot open, slamming against the wall.  Jaxon Bloodworthy stood frozen.

Charlie was definitely a woman.

“Arthur? What are you doing?”

“You told me—
”

Jax cut him off.  “I didn’t know there was a naked woman in my cabin when I told you that.  I’ll let you know when it’s a good time to finish.”
              Arthur packed up his tools and the hammock and left.

“Why are you naked and in my bed?” he asked closing the door
after the carpenter exited.

She scooted out of the bunk and stood in front of him, still wrapped in the sheet.

“Captain, if you don’t know three men came into your cabin and stole my clothes, just what kind of ship are you running here?  The captain should always be aware….”

“The getting naked I’m well aware of.  It’s the fact that you’re a woman and you’re still naked I’m trying to get up to speed on.”

She looked at him like he was daft.  “I’d be more than happy to put clothes on—if I had any.”

Jaxon Bloodworthy stared at her.  How the hell had he
dismissed his instinct that she was a woman, and a little firebrand at that?  She was amazing.  Her sable brown hair had come down from its cord in the struggle.  It was blunted at the shoulders, the most common length for the men he knew.  Her eyes were a most unusual light shade of maple brown. They were large and slightly hooded.  Her small nose was perfectly straight and her lips, well, they would be full and nicely shaped if she’d stop drawing them between her teeth as if she was trying not to say something that was on the tip of her tongue.  Her face was tan, but her pale shoulders had never seen sunlight.  He wanted to touch that alabaster skin, run his fingers over the curve of her shoulders. No scars, except for the large burn on her arm.

And most amazingly, she didn’t shy away from looking him in the eyes.

“Why didn’t you tell me you were a woman?” he asked stepping towards her.

She refused to let herself step back.  If anything she leaned forward.  She was not going to let him intimidate her.

“Why are men so obtuse?” she asked rhetorically.  “Because I didn’t want you to know!”

Had Jaxon been paying more attention to her words, he would have lost his temper, but all he could think of was how his body reacted to her.  He pulled at his collar.  Damnation, it was hot in there.  It had been ages since a woman had brought his senses to life like that.  He tried to convince himself, it was just the provocative way she was dressed or more accurately, undressed with only the blue sheet wrapped around herself, but that was just part of it.  He liked the way she didn’t back down.  It had been a long time since anyone other than his family stood up to him.  But mostly, it was the way she looked at him as if she didn’t see his scars that drew his notice. Was it possible?

He couldn’t talk to her draped in a sheet.  With the images his mind conjured up, she might as well be standing there stark naked.  Jaxon crossed the room, his limp barely noticeable, and pulled a change of his clothing out of his locker and tossed them on the bunk.

When she turned to pick them up, he saw the remnants of bruises across her shoulders.  He felt sick.

“Did my men do that to you?”  His voice rose angrily.  He grabbed her by the arms and turned her back toward the porthole for more light.

She jerked away, instantly ready for a fight, her upper arms tightly against her body, the only thing holding up the sheet, her hands in fists.

He held his arms up, his hands open.  “Sorry.  I didn’t mean to grab you like that.  I was just trying to get a better look at what they did to you.”

“Your men didn’t do that.  Someone else did.”  Charlie slowly released her fists and turned back to the clothing.

Jaxon ran his hands through his h
air, only slightly relieved his men had not been the cause of her injury.  He would like to get a hold of the man who hurt her.   “My men,” he asked, tentatively, as he continued to stare at her back, “didn’t hurt you, did they?”

“I’ll probably have a few bruises from being held as they stole my clothing.”  But she wasn’t going to admit to the worst part, how much they had scared her.

“Do you expect me to change in front of you?” she asked.

Rather than leave, Jaxon turned his back to her.

Frowning, she did her best to dress without removing the sheet until she had his breeches on under the large panel of blue fabric and his shirt on over it.  Only then did she drop the sheet.  She tucked in her shirttail and shoved the long breeches into the top of her boots. 

“I look ridiculous.”

He turned to face her. 
Ridiculous
was not the word he would have used to describe Charlie. Delectable, maybe. The clothes swallowed her up.  With one hand, she held up the breeches and the other she waved through the air trying to get the cuff around her wrist.  There was something very alluring about seeing her dressed in his clothing.  It was almost as if by being dressed in his clothing he was laying his claim to her.  He wondered if his crew would make certain assumptions when they observed the intimacy of sharing his wardrobe.

Jaxon could see what she was attempting to do one-handed.  He stilled her arm and began neatly rolling up the sleeve.  When he finished with the first arm, she switched that hand to hold up her breeches and held out the other one as well.

He glanced around the cabin for something to use as a belt, but not finding anything, he removed his own belt.  Quickly, he wrapped it around her, measuring her waist, and then took it to the desk where he used his penknife to cut another notch.

It never occurred to him to hand the belt to her to put on.  He just began sliding it through the loops. She flinched when he touched her belly.

“I’m a little ticklish,” she said, never knowing herself to be ticklish before.  She covered his hand with hers, staying them.  “I can do that myself.”

“Of course, you can,” he said pulling away, slightly embarrassed that he’d took such liberties.

“Captain Bloodworthy.”  She paused passing the belt through the loop.  It was the first time she had said his name.  She never knew someone’s name could sound intimidating.  To her, his name seemed more formidable than
his scarred, scowling face he implied scared men.  But to call him
Jaxon
would be far too familiar without his permission. “Does everyone already know I’m not a man?”

“I believe I was the last to know.”

She tried to school her reaction.  It was automatic.  She had spent so many years trying to be tough that showing her emotions was not a natural thing. But deep down what she felt most was uncertainty tinged with fear. 

But she also felt an incredible sense of relief.  She would not miss the constant lying.  And that steadfast fear of being found out, she wasn’t going to miss that either.

She met his gaze.  “What now?  Do you still want me to join your crew?  I can’t sleep in the fo’c’sle.”

“We still need your medical knowledge.  This ship, this
crew—we are privateers.  Engaging the enemy is what we do.  As long as the French and the English fire their cannons back at us, we will suffer injuries and losses.”

Her mind fixated on the fact they fought against the English.  Perhaps someday they would find her crewmates and Dr. Kirk.  “Before I answer
, I have one more question of you.”  He raised an eyebrow.  “Why did you take my uniform?”

“First, let me say
, if I had known you were a lady, I would never have ordered it.”  He raked his hand through his hair and lied.  “You were not entitled to wear an officer’s uniform on my ship.  You may be the junior officer on a second-rate merchant ship, but we are not merchants.  I needed you to understand the way of it.”

She nodded in understanding.  It had been her fault for insisting he kick one of his officers out of his cabin to give it to her.  He must not have believed her lies at all.

“You really were second mate of your ship?  You weren’t his doxy wearing his uniform?”

C
harlie should have been mad he thought so, but she was proud of what she had accomplished.  “Indeed I was.”

“You were on this ship less than a day and we found out.  How, if what you say is true, could you live day after day without anyone finding out?”

“The ship’s captain was my father.  He protected—the lie.  I slept in his cabin until I was promoted to my own.”  She crossed her arms over her chest.  “You know, if I stay to be your surgeon’s mate, you will have to make sure your crew knows I am under your protection.  I don’t want to worry every shadow contains a man ready to jump out and do unspeakable things.  I may have been exposed to many things land women are not, but I am not a ship’s whore and I won’t be treated that way.”

“My men wouldn’t….”  But even as he said it, he knew there were many men he could not vouch for.  When he had received his
Letter of Marque and Reprisal
he had taken on many men he did not know.

“Your crew
are menfolk, are they not?” she asked.  “Also, I insist on having accommodations with a lock and key.”

“You
will stay in my cabin—with me until I figure out other arrangements.  I will afford you all the privacy you need.  The key is always in the door.  If I am ever ungentlemanly, you may lock me out as well.  Then, we are agreed?”

She met his eyes. What choice did she have?  “We are.”

Jaxon heard the bell ring out six bells.  7:00 PM.  “It’s time for the memorial service on deck for my cousin.  All hands.”

In other words
, she was expected to be there as well.  “I’ll meet you on deck,” she said as he moved to the door.  “I need a moment of privacy.”

“I’ll wait out here.  Until I make clear to the crew you are under my protection, I don’t want you to go anywhere alone.”

As soon as Jaxon closed the door behind him, Charlie untucked her shirt and unwrapped the strip that bound her breasts.  If everyone already knew she was a woman, she wasn’t going to bind herself.  A soft moan escaped her lips as her nipples puckered to trumpet their freedom.  She tucked her shirt back in and joined Jaxon in the passageway.

As she fell into step behind Jaxon, Charlie was completely fixated on the motion of her breasts when she walked.  She had no idea they were going to bounce.  Perhaps if she changed her stride….  She quickly realized that short steps made them bounce more and longer strides seemed to make them sway rather than bounce.  The feel of her nipples against the soft cotton fabric was intoxicating.  Suddenly self-conscious, as she stepped into the daylight, Charlie announced, “I need to go back to your cabin.”

Jaxon grabbed her wrist before she could retreat.  “What’s the matter?”

“Nothing,” she lied.  Pulling her wrist free she crossed her arms across her chest.

The corners of her mouth lifted.  “Oh, I see.  Take my shirtwaist,” he said shrugging out of his jacket then unbuttoning the vest below.  “They are very nice, but like fine art, they need not be on display for the masses.”  He handed her the shirtwaist and put his coat back on.