Justified Treason (Endless Horizon Pirate Stories, Book 1) (6 page)

I struggled to silence me laughter when I heard the stumbling men shriek like little lassies and hide themselves in the trees. Faron sounded to be burned raw through as he hollered back, and once I knew I had him cornered at a safe distance I told him who I was.

As I helped
Charlotte up, I told her ‘bout Faron Flynn. “Flynn’s big as an ox and strong minded as a burley ol’ sea captain. Hell, he acts like he be in command most of the time, but he sure gets shook up ‘bout his superstitions.”

As she wiped the dirt off of her dress she chuckled, “That was terribly mean of you to spook your friend, but certainly amusing.”

“Friend? Ye know, now that ye mention it, I’d say that Faron Flynn be one of the few people in this world who I’d actually consider a friend.”

My mates met us at the widest point of the path near the water, and Faron shoved at me with an animated flare as he cursed, “Ye blimey rotten cannon fodder. I should shoot ye in the gut
for spooking me that way.”

As we greeted each other, I noticed
Charlotte had hid herself behind me back. Though she seemed to fancy me, I could tell that being surrounded by five men like me wasn’t quite as appealing. She suddenly seemed so small and dainty in comparison to the tall and foul, weapon loaded buccaneers.

Faron was an Irishman with dark hair and eyes. He was almost as tall as me but he was bulkier. He wore a tricorn hat, and his black and gold baroque coat was unbuttoned. In all the years I had known him, I had but once seen him wear a shirt, so as always, the tattoos that lined his collar bones were showing under his leather baldric that he had holstered two pistols to.

Planky was tall and lean and as usual, he was so drunk he wasn’t saying much past a mumble. He wore a bandana on his head, his striped shirt was torn, and his breeches were so tattered they seemed to be more like under drawers. And of course, the haggard old sea dog was barefooted.

Then thar was Marin the Marooner. We called him Marooner because he was a runaway slave. He was only sixteen years old, but the ridiculous piercings in his ears and the dark tattoos that went up his neck made him look as fearsome as an old voodoo chief.

While Charlotte awkwardly hid behind me, Pete, who was dressed like Planky but larger and sloppier, blustered, “Avast this wee beauty. Ye violatin’ her in these woods, ye dirty bloke?”

I assured them, “Ah, she be with me at her own will. Ye might wish ye could get one like this without draggin’ her by the hair, aye?”

They all slurred some vulgar compliments to applaud me luck, and I could only imagine the face Charlotte was makin’ while she hid behind me back. I put me arm around her shoulder and pulled her out to introduce her. “This here be Charlotte.” I shook her playfully to loosen her nerves. “Don’t worry lovely, they won’t bite nothin’ but a hard tack. And most ‘um don’t even ‘ave enough teeth in their ugly heads to do that.”

Knowing better than to tamper with a woman that I had under me arm, they behaved themselves enough and we carried on in conversation.

Faron started to tell me something, but he looked to be annoyed that Charlotte was thar to hear it. He stepped between us and nearly whispered to me, “Captain said if’n I saw ye, to tell ye we’ll be sailing out tomorrow at sunset, but after what ‘appened last night I ‘ardly think that be soon enough.”

Without regard to
Charlotte’s presence, Pete laughed, “I heard that stunt ‘bout got Bentley chomped up by a clapper-clawed dog.”

I didn’t want
Charlotte knowin’ what I did last night, and of course, Faron didn’t either. He shoved Pete by the shoulder and snarled, “Shut yer drunk mouth afore I chomp ye up meself. Ye know the kind of tales dead men tell.” 

To change the subject I asked Faron, “Did Alden the Logger meet up with ye?”

“Aye. Told me ‘bout how he swabbed ye up with a deck of cards at The Rusty Anchor, not that I be surprised. I think me grandmother could beat ye at that game.”

We drank some more rum while we swashed around a few more insults, and soon enough, Planky passed out stiff as a board; landin’ face first in the dirt. I heard
Charlotte gasp, but when she tried to reach out to help the fallen ol’ drunkard, I held her back and chuckled, “Don’t be worryin’ ‘bout him. That’s why we call him Planky. He rums himself into oblivion n’ hits the deck stiff as a plank. It be a common thing.”

We all laughed at the explanation just as we did every time we relived the scenario, and Marin the Marooner started poking Planky with the butt of his pistol. “Plus he be mean as a famished shark when he wakens.”

Pete held the empty bottle of rum upside down and stared up the neck. In a sullen tone of sarcastic despair he slurred, “That be our cue to move along mateys.”

Faron agreed, and though
Charlotte was seeming to warm up to their ridiculous antics, I was glad to get them out of me way. We all said our farewells as they teamed up to get Planky off the ground. He grunted like a hog head down in a trough, and they all carried on in their drunken antics as they lugged him down the trail.

Charlotte
seemed to ‘ave a million questions ‘bout their behaviors and allusions, but instead of answering, I tugged her back down the path we came in on. I found a large rock that overlooked the shore and pulled her up thar with me to look at the view. Everything glistened in the moonlight and I liked the way she tucked into me side while we admired the beauty. She told me she felt like she was living a dream.

I pulled her in closer to me side and kept me eyes on the horizon as I spoke. “Ye feel that horizon callin’? It tugs at me heart like the moon pulls the tide. The ocean rolls and wakes and never stays still; just like the soul of a sailor.”

I couldn’t wait any longer. I wrapped me arms around her and kissed her. At first her body was tense, but as I filled her mouth with my tongue I felt her posture begin to loosen. I moved me hands up and down her back to warm her up to the idea of lovin’ on me, and the more I surrounded her the more she welcomed me. She let her hands venture ‘bout me upper arms, and the way she felt around the shape of me muscles made me want more of her; so I pulled away.

At first, I was surprised I
found the will power to stop, but once I opened me eyes and saw hers glistening back at me in the moonlight I realized why I did. It was because she confused me. She lit something more than a fire of lust in me groin. The burn was definitely sensual, but different from the animal instinct that allured me to the tavern wenches. Whatever the hell it was, I knew I liked it, yet I had no idea what to do ‘bout it
.

Then that spell-casting vixen laid her head against me chest and sighed, “I believe I have fallen in love with you, Sterling Bentley.”

The moon was sinking lower, and much as I didn’t want to, I knew I had to be taking her home. I led her down the path, and after a while of walking next to the waves that glimmered in the moonlight, Charlotte snuggled her face into me arm and mentioned how she was getting tired. I teased her as I picked her up to carry her, and as she cuddled against me chest, she yawned, “I could sleep in your arms.”

“I could let ye,” I simply responded, but me filthy mind started wandering over all the other things I’d like to let her do.

Then she kissed me neck. The light and simple gesture seemed to fire a terribly carnal response in me blood. I growled like the animal she brought to life in my body, and laid her down in the gleaming sand. I pressed me weight over her, and with the sound of the waves crashing and the background, I ravished her with a long passionate kiss.

I held me hand on her face and slowly moved down her neck with open mouth kisses. Damn, she smelled so good and tasted so sweet, I wanted to eat her up. She pulled me closer, me blood burned hotter and I wanted nothing more than to be pressed as close as I could be. I moved me arm behind her neck to dive deeper into her kiss and grabbed onto her thigh, thinkin’ I wanted to pull her leg up over me shoulder. She exhaled a timid sigh and the silky hum of her sound consumed me with the desire to ravish her completely.

I put me fist in the sand next to her shoulder, intending to shove me hips between her legs as I lifted above her. Yet, once I opened me eyes to look at her, my ravenous intentions were unexpectedly detoured. Her white dress and pretty face left her looking like an angel illuminated by the halo of moonlight shining around her. She was worth so much more than a wild night in the sand, and I couldn’t taint her future with me dirty buccaneer blood.

As I struggled to resist my surge of desire, I noticed her chest was lifting with the heavy breaths of her anticipation, and her eyes were wide with what looked to be worry. The uncertainty of her innocence somehow extinguished me animal urges, and
I forced meself to retract from her forbidden allure by rolling over onto me back.

I stretched me arms out at my sides as I exhaled, “What ye be doin’ to me, Charlotte?”

My chest rose and fell from shortness of breath as she sat up in the sand trying to catch her own. Me hat had fallen off, and I saw her looking at my hair before she pulled herself next to me and played with me ponytail. Feeling her hands run through me hair helped to cool me smoldering nerves, and as me breathing slowed, I lifted one side of me lip, looked at her with a playful ferocity and growled. She laughed and told me I was silly before she cuddled up next to me in the sand.

The sound of thunder rolled in the distance and we watched the heavy clouds make their way towards the moon. Me tension slowly subsided, and I became so relaxed with her layin’ on me chest that I could ‘ave drifted off to sleep…

Then I realized she was crying. Holy shipwreck. She was sobbing all over me coat. Me mellow nerves tautened with an irritating burst of panic. “What’s the matter with ye?”

“Nothing. I am fine,” she lied.

“Yer not fine; yer crying.”

She started laughing through her tears.

“Now ye be laughing?” I sat up, put me head in me hand, and huffed, “Avast, they say mapping the coast is a fine art, but charting the feelings of a woman would be much greater a chore.”

Charlotte
leaned into me and put her head on me shoulder as she sniffled through her stuffy nose. “Oh, I am so sorry, my love. I am just worried about so many things. I feel like I am trapped in a corner that I have no way to escape. I have no one to talk to about it so it has all built up.”

“Well ye can talk to me as long as ye don’t cry and laugh all at once.”

She chuckled at me remark and took a deep breath before she attempted to explain her predicament.

“Where can I start? Well, being with you is like a dream come true, and I can’t imagine carrying on in my daily life without you. Yet I know you will be leaving, and I will be heartbroken when you go.”

I nodded in agreement as I pulled me flask out of me bootleg for a chug. I had already expected her to get weepy when we talked ‘bout me leavin’, so as she reeled on, me mind played over all the typical lines I used to appease the ladies that I left in my wake.

She rambled on ‘bout some other things, but she caught me attention again when she sniffled, “Worst of all…” I had already pondered everything she had mentioned, but I wondered what the hell the worst of all could be. I turned away from the moon I had been staring at and looked at
Charlotte as she blurted, “My father has arranged a marriage for me.”

An unexpected fire ignited in my belly. Though I knew I would be leaving her, I was irrationally bothered by the thought of her being with someone else. Normally I did the leaving, and it never once troubled me to do so. I was abashed by the way I was so easily agitated by this woman I had just met.

I stood up and chucked my flask of rum towards the ocean and redirected my own irritation at her. “Why the hell didn’t ye tell me that, Charlotte? Ye could get me hanged for runnin’ off with me while ye ‘ave another man courting ye.”

She was certainly offended, maybe even afraid. She stood up and backed away from me as she defended, “I just found out about this wretched betrothal this morning and did not want to tell you because I do not want it to be real. My father has talked about marrying me off before, but this is the first time he has forced the issue. I don’t even know who this man is.”

Her pretty face was flush with devastation. Thar was no way I could stay mad at her. Takin’ a deep breath to calm meself, I let it out through puffy cheeks, then slowly stepped towards her. “Alright. I am not upset with ye, Charlotte. I just be frustrated with the situation. What do ye want to do? I could take ye home and we could pretend this never happened if’n ye think that’s best.”

She looked like she wanted to cry again. “That is not what I want at all. I know it seems impossible but
I want to be with you.”

“I want to be with ye too.” I was stunned by me own statement, but I liked the way she smiled as she heard it. I stepped closer to her and she pleaded, “Take me with you,
Sterling.”

Me mind flashed over the ridiculous impossibilities of the notion and I nearly chuckled. “I can’t.”

She lowered her head and pouted, “Of course you can’t. I am sorry I asked. I suppose you can just take me home like you want to and I’ll marry that strange man and try to forget about you.”

That possessive heat flared up in me blood again,
but I tried to tame my temperament as I asserted, “I won’t be losing ye to some wig wearing scallywag, Charlotte.”