Pirated Love (21 page)

Tina grinned.  “I wonder what kind of bitch my grandfather got for ole Sir Barkley?”

“Is he old?” Claire asked, glancing at the dog on their bed as she went to her trunk for fresh clothes.

“No, he is only three, but he is big and I say ole affectionately,” Tina walked over to take the big head in her hands and ruffled his floppy ears.  “Aren’t you, ole boy?” she said with genuine warmth.

The dog might not know all the words she was saying, but he could understand the tone, and he loved this human more than any other and responded accordingly.  He tried to kiss her as he had Claire and she backed off pushing his head away.  “No kisses,” she teasingly said to the dog, who tried even harder after that.  They ended up wrestling on the bed, Tina’s robe becoming all disarrayed, as well as the bed clothes, but the easy laughter and affection between the two was something to behold and Claire enjoyed watching her wife behave in a manner in which she had never seen her before.

“Come help me hold him down,” Tina begged, seeing Claire laughing at their antics as she put the dog into a headlock and he easily broke it with his massive strength.  He got in a few licks before she wiped his feet out from under him and he fell to the bed with a whoosh that had him bounding back up and trying to grab her with his front paws in a mock battle.  He was barking and making a lot of noise.  Claire suddenly realized why he was called Barkley.  She wondered at the sir part, but had not questioned it yet of her spouse.

Finally, the massive dog was panting and not willing to play quite so much, and Tina was in disarray, covered with dog spittle.  “Oh, my goodness, it has been a long time since we wrestled,” she sighed and Sir Barkley tried to get in one more lick as she squirmed away.  “Nuh uh, I am covered in dog drool!” she mock-scolded as she got up.  His tail wagged hard on the messed up bed clothes.

“You’re a mess,” Claire told her as she headed for the bathroom.

“C’mon, luv, gimme a kiss,” Tina pretended to lunge at her and Claire shrieked and headed for the door.  The dog beat her to it though and clearly asked to be let out.  She obliged the big canine and saw Tina slip into the bathroom to get ready. 

She sat down on an upholstered chair to wait for Tina as she took her warning to heart and did not want to go out in the hall alone.  She heard the water running and, as it ran for quite a while, she realized Tina was really getting cleaned up.  The dog had spit throughout her hair by the time they finished playing.  It would not take long for Tina’s shorter locks to dry.  She thought about how angry she had been when the redhead cut her beautiful hair.  She kind of liked it now though.  Finally, Tina came out of the bath and was indeed rubbing her hair with a towel to dry it.

“Oh, you are still here.  You need not have waited for me,” she told her as she went to a closet door and opened it, revealing woman’s clothing.

“I decided to wait for you,” Claire told her as she watched her shimmy out of the towel, her unabashed nakedness displayed so gorgeously.  She eyed it speculatively and looking at the clock on the mantel over the fireplace, realized they did not have time for what she was thinking.

Tina watched Claire out of the corner of her eye and deliberately and slowly wriggled out of the towel to see her reaction.  She nearly smiled at what she saw.  Then she saw where she looked and she too looked at the time and realized she better hurry or her grandfather would be unhappy at the lateness of breakfast.  She quickly found a shift to get into and pulled a pretty velvet dress on.  She leaned down and put on garters and stockings and the proper matching shoes.  “Can you button me up?” she asked her wife, who stood in awe of the expensive dress Tina had just put on.  She obliged her without thinking.

Tina quickly ran the brush through her short curly locks and, opening another closet door which displayed a full-length mirror she admired herself for only a moment, perusing herself from head to matching toe before shutting it.  “There, that should please the old coot,” she said, annoyed.

“What?  You look absolutely stunning,” Claire told her, pleased with how her wife looked.  She had only seen this feminine side once before, and that was at their wedding.  She thought she looked stunning then, and she was certainly impressed now.

“Maybe I can give you all my dresses,” Tina teased.  They were all probably too big or too long for her shorter more voluptuous wife.  They were also the wrong colors for her blonde beauty. 

“Oh no, we bought plenty of beautiful bolts of fabric, I will make some sensible dresses for me to wear on ship, but I want some shirts and pants too,” she informed her wife, who escorted them out of their bedroom and down the hall to the stairs.

“Shirts and pants?” Tina asked, aghast.  “Whatever for?”

As they walked the first of the elegant staircases to the second floor, they continued their conversation.  Claire admired the portraits and landscapes that were hung periodically along the corridor to the next set of staircases.  “So that I can move freely about the ship too and not ruin my dresses, which get too heavy when they get wet,” she informed her.

“Let us get this straight.  I am the only one in this family that wears pants!” Tina teased her, but something about what she was saying was in a teasing manner and Claire heard it.

“You do what you want with your hair, I will wear what I want,” she said, with a bit of spirit showing.

Tina was taken aback by her wife’s tone and it showed on her face.

“Darling, I know it is your ship and I know this is your grandfather’s home, but I will not have you dictate what I wear or do,” she said, a little less testily.

“Of course not,” Tina agreed, as they walked into the breakfast room arm in arm.

“There you are.  Maybe we can eat now?” her grandfather greeted the two women and stood up to seat them both on his right.  David was nowhere in evidence.

“Where is David?” Tina asked.  She had expected to see him.

“He is gone off to play with the puppies,” he told them as the servants began to bring in covered platters, taking off lids to show them what they were offering.  At a nod, they would serve a portion, with a shake of the head, they would go on to the next person.  “He told you about them?”

“Aye, he did,” Tina responded, as she nodded at some poached eggs that were offered to her.  “What kind of bitch did you find for Sir Barkley?” she asked, curious.

“I found another Newfoundland, paid a pretty penny for her too.  Hope the pups are up to par when you see them,” he told her.  “Do not forget we have to go down to the village today,” he reminded her as he glanced at her outfit in approval.  For once, she was the beautiful woman he remembered her mother to be, and knew she would be proud of this woman she had begat.

“You do not mind if I bring Claire along to see some of what our business is about?  I do not want her to think it is all cutthroat pirating,” she teased.

“It is been a long time since I did that,” he grinned, showing his even white teeth against his perpetually dark skin. 

Claire examined him a little closer this morning since she was well rested and feeling wonderful.  He was a dark man with a dark complexion, but whether it was from having been at sea all those years or from his background, she did not know.  His goatee was carefully and immaculately trimmed.  His eyes were black and he sported a gold earring in his right ear, which matched Tina’s almost exactly.  He was what someone had once described to her as swarthy.  He was also a very handsome man for his age and she wondered that he did not remarry.  He was as tall as his granddaughter, thin despite what was proving to be a prodigious appetite, and he appeared healthy despite what Tina had told her about the accident.  There was no tell-tale sign that he had been seriously hurt.  Claire suddenly paid attention to what was being said as it seemed it had turned into an argument.

“You are too much like me!” he shouted at Tina, shaking his finger at her.

“And whose fault is that I would like to know?” she shouted back at him, her face turning red under her equally red hair as she stood up.

He looked at Tina fiercely, and Claire knew if he had looked at her in that way, she would have burst into tears immediately.  His expression softened though as he looked at the full-grown woman who now stood before him and started to laugh.  His whole body shook with his laughter. 

Claire exchanged a look with Tina, who smiled at her grandfather’s mirth.

When he wound down enough to speak he said breathlessly, “You are a fine example of when hard-headed fools have children.  You bring honor to your family’s name,” he told her admirably.

“Thank you, Grandpapa.  I have always had a fine example,” she returned the compliment as she returned to her seat to finish her breakfast before it got cold.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Claire watched as Tina smoothed her legs, her privates, and her underarms with that paste she had used on board ship to remove unwanted hairs.  Over the course of the months they had been together she had seen her do this many times and had, in fact, done it herself, copying Tina.  Tina had explained that some of the women in their class in England now plucked their cuny hairs, but she preferred the paste which hurt a lot less and at least smelled pleasantly.

“We will have to pick some of this up when we sail to the East,” she told her wife, as she watched her remove the hair with the paste.

“Are we almost out?” she asked, surprised, and wondered why they did not make it in England or France.

“Aye,” she answered, nodding.  “This will be my last trip to the Far East and I want to stock up on many things that will sell well in England.  I am thinking I should take a trip to the old family estate when we return and see if that manager that Grandfather put in place is stealing from me or not.”

“Oh no, do you really think so?” Claire asked, concerned.  Remembering her own family estate, she realized now that she no longer had any family but Tina’s.  Her father would never allow her to have a part of it after she sailed off with Tina.

Tina nodded again as she began to rinse off the paste which took the hairs with it.  Smooth, soft skin was left behind and she preferred it to plucking the many dark and red hairs on her body.  “Well, I fired the first manager I found stealing from me, the second one moved on after a while, and this is my third one,” she explained and then went to change the subject.  “Remember, I asked you if you knew how to keep books?” she glanced up as they had a late evening discussion.

“Yes, I remember,” Claire answered.

“I would like it if you could keep the books on this trip.  You saw today how involved it can get,” she commented, as she finished and rinsed the tub with a little water to make sure the paste was washed out.  “Your turn,” she offered, exchanging spots with her wife so she could use the paste too.  They did this about once a week on ship before they bathed so they both felt clean and fresh, but only if they had plenty of water. 

After first balking at it, Claire actually enjoyed the feel of it.  The first time her cuny was smooth and clean, she felt odd, but it had other advantages and her wife nuzzling between those lower lips unimpeded was one of them.  She thought about her wife’s suggestion that she keep the books and weighed it over in her mind.  She could keep household books.  That had been her father’s servant’s suggestion since she would be expected to keep her husband’s home, but the transactions she had seen today with Tina and Jacques had been involved and convoluted.  She still had not been sure of some of what had occurred as they traded goods for goods and discussed other business in front of her.  Her questions had not been welcome at that moment and she was afraid she would forget half of what she wanted to know.  Thinking carefully, as she smoothed on the paste, she said, “Perhaps your grandfather’s bookkeeper could show me how to keep accurate books so that I do not make mistakes?”

Tina smiled.  She knew that Claire was frustrated and sometimes bored, and this would give her something to contribute.  She had not thought about what Claire would do as her wife, and she wanted her to be happy.  Her willingness to at least try, was a positive sign.

“It surprised me how many people came to see you today,” she commented, as she rinsed her underarms and legs first, and then her cuny, of the excess hair.

“Well, I bring trade goods from all over when I fill my grandfather’s warehouses, and I know he will not cheat me,” she said, as she waited to rinse the tub for her wife so they could share it.  That was something they were both coming to enjoy immensely, if they could just keep their hands off each other, which neither seemed to mind.

“Will you not inherit all this someday?” she asked, spreading her hands and encompassing the whole castle with her gesture.

“Aye, but technically my brother will be Lord Beauchene,” she said, as she finished rinsing the tub and turned on both the hot and cold water piped in from the kitchen.

“But will his...”she sought a kind word. “Infirmities prevent him from not inheriting the title?”  She was trying to be diplomatic, but she had noticed he was not included on the outing to the village where many business people had come to meet Lady Beauchene, as Tina was known, and not Lady Carmichaels, as she really went by most of the time.

“Aye, they should, but not many people know how bad my brother is.  We do not tell people outside the family,” Tina said, raising her voice a little over the sound of water splashing into the tub.  She got in and held out a hand to her wife, who eagerly joined her in the incredible tub.