Carried Away Chapter 8

For Disclaimer and other details please see Chapter 1.

CHAPTER 8

She had waited till he fell asleep. It had no doubt taken far too long; at least it had taken much longer than she had expected it to take. He was the captain of this vessel and as such had many duties to take care of. Shouldn’t he have fallen asleep the moment that he fell back into his bed? But no ... instead he had chosen to torment her for a long while beforehand.

The moment that he had left her on her own in his cabin earlier today she had been out of that bed. Actually she had leapt out of it as if it had been set aflame under her. All that she had known was that there was no way that she could stay there. That she couldn’t just lie in such a place ... a place that she was taken against her will. And the moment that that thought passed through her mind she ducked her head. That was just the point. It hadn’t been against her will. True, it probably wasn’t something that she had been interested in pursuing but she hadn’t fought him either. When push had come to shove she had just found that she didn’t want to.

So she had went about pulling her clothing back into place. She didn’t bother to wrap her breast down into place again. There really was no point now that it was known by people here that she was female. If she got right down to it she wasn’t even sure if she had made a convincing stab at trying to hide her gender. All that she had cared about was that she looked like she fitted in from a distance. She hadn’t considered that she might come in for some close up scrutiny. Of course that was before she had met that man Shawn. Still with the way that he had approached her from the moment he set foot on the other ship she was sure that he had known just what he was doing.

She pulled her clothes back on leaving the shirt untucked from the pants knowing that doing that would stop the material clinging to her and that would have to do for now. It was only when she caught herself remaking the bed that she had just climbed out of that she had given herself a strong mental shake. She wasn’t here to do work for any man. If he wanted his bed made then he could do it himself. He had been the one who had been so insistent on messing it up in the first place.

For the briefest of moments she had entertained the thought of going out onto the deck once more. Just to feel the air against her face and reassure herself that she was still alive and this hadn’t all been some horrendous part of the dying process. But she hadn’t dared. If she did then she wouldn’t put it past either Nash or Shawn to just throw her over their shoulder and carry her back in here. She had found herself wondering if this was where they intended to keep her for the entire journey. And that was something else that worried her but she was trying to shove to the back of her mind ... where were they going. Nash had said something about taking her to her original destination of Haiti but she was sure that she was going to end up somewhere else.

The rest of the time that she had spent in the cabin before Nash’s return had been spent pressed into a corner. She was fearful of moving just in case she did something that would be frowned upon. So far she had done what had been asked of her albeit reluctantly. She was still alive but she didn’t know how much longer that would last.

When he had returned she had pulled her limbs even tighter around her. The only reaction from Nash, if he even noticed and she was sure that he had done, was to laugh heartily at her actions. In that moment she was sure that she felt more hatred for him spill through her. And she had practically held her breath as she waited for it to begin. The words, perhaps to begin with they would be sweet and gentle, that he would use to try and cajole her back into his bed with him. The first few things that he had said had been sweet she supposed. He seemed to be enquiring after her welfare.

She hadn’t said a thing. No matter what he said or how much she appeared to amuse him she had kept her lips tight shut and refused to give him an answer. Hell it had taken everything in her to even so much as look at him. Perhaps it could all be construed as an act considering everything that had already happened between them that day already but she couldn’t help it.

“Ah, going back to playing dumb I see.”

That was what he had said and then he had laughed heartily and proceeded to tell her exactly why that wasn’t a good idea. But he hadn’t tried to entice her into sharing his bed. He hadn’t even made one veiled comment about it. Part of her had been expecting and waiting for the moment when his temper would just get the better of him and he would explode. At that time she was sure that she would feel his iron grip around her arms and feel him drag her to where he wanted her to be. Then their coupling would not be as pleasurable as it had been earlier in the day. Of that she was sure.

Instead he hadn’t even mentioned it. Perhaps he thought that she would just break and come to join him willingly. He would be waiting for a long time if that were the case. But no, he seemed instead to be content to pepper her with all kinds of questions. That she didn’t bother answering. He seemed to enjoy answering them for her as much as he enjoyed asking them. It was becoming clear now that he was toying with her. His dislike of the upper classes was starting to show and now that he basically had one at his mercy then he was going to make sure that they listened to every damn word that he had to say. And he had a lot to say on practically every topic that a person could think of.

No matter how much she had wanted to just cover her ears on more than one occasion and scream at him to just be quiet she didn’t. She didn’t dare. At least if he was letting his mouth run away with him like this there was nothing else more sinister happening. Any time that she had so much as dared to look at him he was always smiling that devilish smile of his. If there was anything more likely to scare her than that she had no idea what it was. It scared her because ... well because she could see how attractive it was. So she made sure to keep her glances at him to a minimum also, besides it would only encourage him and she didn’t want him to think that she was actually enjoying listening to what was turning out to be one hell of a manifesto.

And that was just how he fell asleep. In the middle of some godforsaken sentence that she had absolutely no interest in hearing. The moment that his words tapered off so slowly she had turned to look at him. Not just a coy glance from under her lashes but she physically turned towards him. When he made no such mention of her movement she had known that there had to be a good reason. It was only when she was actually approaching the bed to check for herself that she realised that this could be a trick. Yes, this could have all been a trick and she would be the idiot that fell for it. For all she knew he could be laying there faking sleep till she got close enough for him to do something about it. That thought had given her pause and she had frozen right where she was. For all she knew she may have stayed that way for a good long time. It appeared that time had ceased to be a factor right about half way through all of his teasing conversation and banter that she didn’t have any interest in.

When he still hadn’t so much as budged even a fraction of an inch she had moved closer. She had even dared to loom over him so even if he were asleep had he suddenly awoken then he would have gotten the fright of his life. At one point her hand had crept out almost of its own volition to touch him. She had no idea what she was doing and managed to stop herself before her skin had collided with his. She had been angry with herself not understanding why she had felt the need to do that. But as she stood there just gazing down at him she had to reconcile herself to the fact that even though she was trying to tell herself otherwise that he was definitely attractive. No matter how much she lied to herself nothing was going to change that fact. Standing here looking at the light golden skin that covered his massive frame was doing strange things to her chest. She was sure that she could feel her heartbeat speed up.

And as she caught herself having that thought she had been thoroughly disgusted. Of course that wasn’t the reason that her heartbeat was picking up speed. It was doing that because there was the element of fear coming from the fact that he might grab her at any moment. And with that thought still resounding through her head she had tiptoed away from the side of his bunk as quickly as she could making as little noise as possible. Less noise than a mouse.

-o0o-

When she had first stepped out here onto the deck she had almost screamed as the cool air raced around her. The clothing that she was wearing was nothing more than that of a working sailor and as such wasn’t very thick. It offered very little in the way of protection from the cold and other elements. But biting at her lip she had forced herself to remain silent. If she could do that all of those times back at home when she would spy on her father and his friends after parties then she could do it now. Perhaps the stakes were a little higher this time but that meant nothing. Maybe her life had ceased to be of meaning from the moment that she was brought aboard this ship against her will.

Keeping to the shadows she had watched the men come and go as closely as she dared. The sky was so dark that it looked like it had been painted with India ink and she couldn’t see one single star to light anyone’s way. It was a shame really; she had always heard such wonderfully romantic tales of life on the open sea ... of the sky full of stars so bright that they almost looked like diamonds. She had always thought that sailors navigated by those stars. Perhaps she had been misinformed. So instead she had brought her gaze back down to the men as they busied themselves. It was obvious that only some kind of skeleton crew was running the ship tonight. She presumed that meant that the weather would be fine all night and no trouble was expected.

Scurrying out of her hiding place when the coast was clear Mary crossed to the side of the ship and looked out. Not that she could actually see much because of the darkness. It was all a trifle disappointing if she were honest with herself. Gripping at the railing that she was currently pressing herself into as the boat gave a lurch of movement she almost squealed out but managed to bite it back just in time. Even as she stepped as high as she dared and looked over the edge she couldn’t see the water down there. Well she could see an odd hint of white foam as it crashed against part of the ship’s hull but the only thing that really made it clear that there was water down there was an almost underlying and constant roar of it. The noise of it slapping against the vessel made it clear that they were moving at a fair clip also.

“I would be careful if I were you.”

Hearing the masculine voice coming from somewhere behind her Mary spun around quickly. It could only be one of two people. It hadn’t occurred to her to try and work out if she recognised the voice at all. Her quick movements were almost the undoing of her however when one of her feet slipped out from under her. Out of the corner of her eye she was sure that she saw the taller shadowy figure move closer to her and that spurred on her own movements. She tightened her hold on the railing till it was surely in a death grip. There would be no tipping over the side for her this night.

She coughed doing her best to roughen her voice as she did so. “I’m being careful.” She stated.

“So I see.” John responded and tried his best not to laugh at the way that her voice had come out. It had sounded so cracked and rough that he hadn’t realised straight away that she was doing her best to make it sound masculine. So this was the woman that had been making all of the noise earlier. He couldn’t see her clearly at all and found himself cursing the darkness. For once in his life he was feeling a natural curiosity and couldn’t do anything about it. Well he supposed that he could take a few steps closer to her but he knew better. Nash had staked his claim and only an idiot would do anything to upset their captain. “You might consider moving away from the side.” He added simply for his own amusement.

Her eyes narrowed as it hit her that she didn’t know who this was. Still he wasn’t running off to tell anyone that she was here or grabbing at her either. “I will do no such thing.” She said in as haughty a voice as she could manage. “I do what I want to do.”

“I’m sure that the captain would have something to say about that.” John pointed out and then looked around. He was actually surprised that he didn’t see Nash lurking around somewhere. “Where is he ma’am?”

In that moment she felt hot anger pour through her. Being kidnapped from her own ship wasn’t enough. Now they all thought that she had to ask that ... that ... man for permission to do anything! “Maybe you should try looking for him in his cabin!”

“He doesn’t know that you’re here?” He asked and could feel the shock thrum through him. If Nash knew that his men were just blithely wandering up to his new interest and chatting like this he wouldn’t be happy. Things would be different if he were around and knew that this was happening but he obviously didn’t know that the little chit was out of the cabin. She had been right at the edge of the ship! Had she been about to throw herself off and into the water below? To do that was surely a death sentence. But perhaps that was what she had been looking for. Moving towards her he quickly gripped her arm and tugged her towards him. When she bashed against his chest he realised that perhaps she had been standing closer to him than he had originally thought. “You have to go back to the cabin.” He said in a rushed whisper.

She was still trying to push herself away from him. So much for not being grabbed. “Why? Because you say so?” She snapped out.

“No.” John stated in what he hoped was a calm voice even though it was being pushed out between clenched teeth. “Because he’ll expect you to be there when he wakes up.”

“And we wouldn’t want the captain to be disappointed would we?” She asked but the sarcasm could be heard clearly in her tone.

He had known that she would argue with him. After all if she felt desperate enough to try and kill herself to escape her situation then why would she listen to a damn word that he had to say on the matter? “You have to go back there.” He stated once more then hardened himself against the way that he could feel her struggling against him. “If you don’t go back there voluntarily then you leave me no other choice but to carry you there myself.” He added even though he wasn’t really sure if he was capable of that.

“No!” She said and jerked against him. She had had enough of being manhandled for one day. “I’m going.” She told him and sighed out loud when he let her go albeit slowly.

“Did I hurt you?” He found himself asking almost against his will. That hadn’t been his intention.

She shook her head belatedly realising that he wouldn’t see it in the dark ... or at least not very clearly. “No ... you didn’t hurt me.” She whispered and began to walk back the way that she came. It struck her several times that she could just keep right on walking and head to another part of the ship to hide out. But each time she realised that she didn’t dare ... because this man was walking right behind her.