Chapter Thirty-One
YOU DIDN’T NEED TO manhandle me,” Jacqueline growled as soon as Mortimer released her. “A simple explanation would have sufficed.”
“That was a really risky thing for him to do, taking you down there with most of the pirates on that lower deck. And look where that’s got us, me punished and you—whatever you are.”
“How are you punished?”
“Getting stuck with you for the rest of the day, that’s how.”
She snorted. The man truly didn’t like her. As if she cared. But she was back inside Damon’s cabin, back behind a locked door, and that was intolerable, especially since the danger was already over. Or was it?
“What the devil is the plan you mentioned?”
He didn’t answer. He’d gone over to Damon’s desk to open the locked drawer and pulled four pistols from it. He sat down at the desk to check that they were loaded.
She waited for him to get around to answering when he was done, but when he didn’t, she demanded, “Take me to Damon so I can ask him.”
“You bedevil him enough.”
“I want to know—!”
“Good God, woman, shut up. You are the most stubborn, ill-tempered she-devil I’ve ever—”
“You’re too kind,” she cut in sweetly as she moved to a chair at the table and sat down facing him.
He was giving her a fierce look. “I’m only going to tell you this once. Behave, be very quiet, and you can probably go back on deck tomorrow—if we survive the day.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Again he was ignoring her, which made her yell, “I want to know why we’re being punished!”
“Damnit, lower your voice! And stop asking questions. You aren’t even being punished. You’ve got things to do in here now. I know, because I helped find some of those bloody books he wanted for you.”
“How would you like it if you were buried in a black hole?”
“Eh? There’s nothing dark about these quarters.”
“I meant the hole you’ll be in after I kill you,” she said nastily.
“Save your threats for someone who cares. If you make me shut you up, no one’s going to like that, least of all me, so for the last time, be quiet.”
“For the last time, tell me why I need to be or get Damon in here to tell me!”
He got up to do as she asked. Finally! But he didn’t cross the room to leave to get Damon. He took her by surprise instead, yanking her out of her chair and setting off all sorts of warning bells in her mind so her reaction was normal—for her. And the punch caught him nicely near his eye before she dodged out of the way of any retaliation. But his arms were just as long as Damon’s. He got a handful of her hair and pulled her over to her cot and shoved her facedown on it.
“You couldn’t make this easy, eh?” Mortimer growled as he put a knee in the center of her back. “How in hell he puts up with you is a bloody mystery. I wouldn’t. I’d chain you to the damn bulkhead!”
“And that surprises me?” she hissed, then louder when he got her hands together and started wrapping a rope around them, “What are you doing?!”
“Following orders,” he smirked.
“Liar! He wouldn’t tell you to do this to me!”
She would have railed more at him, but he stuck a wadded cloth in her mouth. She started to push it out with her tongue, but he finished off the gag with another strip of cloth, tying it behind her head, catching enough of her hair in it to bring tears to her eyes.
When he was done, he leaned down near her head to say angrily, “No, he wouldn’t, but I had orders to keep you quiet, even warned you to shut up, twice, but you just wouldn’t listen, would you? Count yourself lucky I didn’t return the black eye you just gave me.”
He tucked the four pistols in his belt and left, locking the door behind him. She waited until she heard the door close before she turned over and maneuvered her feet over the side of the cot to stand up. At least Mortimer hadn’t tied her ankles, too. Damned man could have just answered her questions instead of doing this!
She glared at the door next, wishing she could latch it to lock them all out of the cabin, but the latch was too high for her bound hands to reach. She ended up sitting uncomfortably in Damon’s chair so he’d get the full brunt of her murderous gaze when he opened the door.
But it was a long time before that happened. When it did, all Damon did was tsk at the look she was giving him. Jackie followed him in with their dinner tray, but hurriedly left.
Damon locked the door again before he said, “Mort can be a clod sometimes, but I did get an earful about your retaliation, so I’m going to assume your blackening one eye is enough for today?”
Damon walked toward her as he asked that. Considering her scalp was still smarting, she disagreed, but she couldn’t say so yet due to the gag and couldn’t even shake her head no without it hurting even more. And then he swore when he was standing behind her and could see for himself how entangled her hair was.
“I apologize for my friend. He had limited options to keep you quiet. This was the harmless one, or so it was supposed to be. To be fair, I highly doubt Mortimer realized that he tangled your hair in this knot. It will take a few minutes to undo.”
It took longer than that, he was being so careful in untying the knot without pulling out any more hair. The second the tied strip came loose, his fingers began to massage her scalp. It felt heavenly, so good, that she was quite tardy in spitting out the rest of the gag or recalling that she still didn’t have the use of her hands. But he untied them a moment later.
“So has Mort been added to your kill-on-sight list?”
She could lean back in his chair now and did so as she rubbed her chafed wrists. “An-eye-for-an-eye style of revenge would mean plucking out every one of the hairs on his head.”
Damon chuckled. “Not quite even, but—so, the black eye is sufficient?”
“I suppose.”
He came around to partially lean on the side of his desk, facing her, before he asked, “Would it be sufficient payback to me?”
“Certainly not,” she huffed. “Your tally of transgressions is far too long. And it’s going to get you hung—or worse.”
“There’s worse?” He raised a dark brow. “And here I thought we’d moved beyond that.”
“Whatever would make you think that?” she asked with feigned sweetness.
“You don’t kiss me like you want me dead, Jack.”
She didn’t have an excuse for that. She felt herself blushing but said sharply, “Nothing about this was harmless. The harmless approach would have been to explain to me the necessity for quiet. What the hell was plan B?”
“A precaution. I made a move today that I’m not ready yet to back up. There was a possibility that it might have provoked the pirates to make their move now, before I’m ready for it. I wanted you safe in case they came up en masse for a fight. Your making noise would have incited them further because you’re what they want. Your yelling and screaming would have given them an excuse to break in and ‘rescue’ you. You could have stayed quiet, you know.”
“Why couldn’t Mortimer just tell me that?!”
“He doesn’t know how far we’ve progressed. He probably thought I wouldn’t want you to know.”
She was speechless, but only for a moment. “Whatever progress you think we’ve made has been reversed really far today. You could have told me what was going on. You could have told him that he could have told me! Instead I spent the day gagged and with my hands tied!”
“I apologize—”
“Not helping!”
“This is odd thanks for allowing you that visit today, which is directly responsible for what you’re in a snit about now. Are you at least reassured that they’re not dying?”
“They’d say they’re fine even if they’re bleeding to death.”
“You know him that well?”
She frowned that he was fixated on one when she’d just mentioned both. “No, but I know they’re chivalrous, and men like that will lie to keep a woman from worrying. So I’m only somewhat reassured. I’d still like to actually see them both.”
“I don’t want to watch you crying over a—suitor.”
It was apparent in that moment that he knew he had her brother Jeremy. The pause was too significant. Bloody hell! But she refused to confirm it. He wasn’t going to get to gloat to her if she could help it. So she left his chair if that’s what he was waiting for and moved to the table to ignore him.
But she couldn’t do that when she was still bristling over what had happened with the pirates after she’d spoken with Jeremy and Percy. “I don’t believe they’re all against you when you work for the same man and share the same goal. It’s just Bart Satin who appears to be causing all the trouble for you.”
“Your thinking that I’m loyal to that pirate is a misconception.”
“Then take me back to London now, before you end up dying over this!”
“Would you care?”
It was a long moment—she actually had to think about it first!—before she said, “Of course not. But if you don’t favor Lacross, then why are we here!?”
“For a different reason this time, so leave it go. You’ll have answers soon enough.”
He left the cabin, clearly telling her that she couldn’t pull the information out of him until he was ready. But what was he waiting for?