Читать книгу A Captain and a Rogue - Liz Tyner, Liz Tyner - Страница 8

Chapter One

‘Capt’n. There’s yer mermaid.’

At his first mate’s words, Benjamin’s head snapped around and his eyes locked on the form slicing through the Aegean Sea.

Benjamin took two steps closer to the edge of the craggy rocks overlooking the water. The sea air took some of the rotted-egg smell of the island from his lungs and the shape reaching the shoreline took all thoughts from his head.

He reached to his side and took the spyglass from the hanging sheath, and peered. His movements must have caught her attention, because as soon as her head appeared in his eyepiece—she treaded water. Her eyes locked on his, capturing him.

Then she turned, long arms finishing the swim quickly. Everything else in the world disappeared but the vision in his spyglass. His breath caught. He’d truly found a mermaid.

‘Ah, she saw us,’ Gidley grumbled. ‘Now she’ll go and turn into a reg’lar woman. Blast the luck. Once a mermaid sees a man, she sprouts legs. Happens every time.’

The woman stepped on to the sand. Benjamin grunted in disappointment, realising he’d been lost in a fantasy.

He tipped the end of the glass downward to ascertain she did have legs. She wore a chemise, but the thin, wet garment viewed through a strong imagination left little covered. He braced himself, keeping his knees from giving way, while he leaned forward, trapped in his thoughts.

Gidley nudged Benjamin. ‘Lend me that glass, Capt’n. Want to see if she be sportin’ a tail.’

Ben pulled air into his lungs, giving himself time to relearn to speak. ‘No,’ he said. And then he murmured. ‘No fins.’ Breasts, yes.

‘Bet she’s the one we’re looking for,’ Gidley said.

‘I hope so,’ Benjamin spoke softly. ‘She’s...’

‘Mermaid like or reg’lar woman like?’

Benjamin paused. He’d not really studied her face. He raised the view of the glass, taking in the sculpted lines of her jaw and moving up to the graceful cheekbones. ‘I would say—better than either.’

Then he saw her pulling clothing on and he lowered the spyglass. He turned and slapped Gidley on the arm. ‘Turn your back. We’re gentlemen.’

Gidley grimaced, shuffling around until he faced the opposite direction. ‘Speak for yourself. I be an able-bodied seaman. And that’s a mermaid. Had to look and so did yer. Would be wrong not to appreciate, like spittin’ out good ale. Don’t let her get close enough to spit at yer, though. They’ve venom in their mouths.’

Benjamin shook his head. ‘She’s not a mermaid. She’s a woman. And if she’s Melina’s sister, then she’s not someone to dally with.’

‘Then I need to find the little treasure that I left behind last time. Bouboulina or Alenakous or something like that. Would ’uv remembered if I’d known we was returning. I brought more coin this time—so I’m expectin’ true love.’ He dropped the canvas bag of gifts they’d brought to give Melina’s sisters. Gidley tugged up his trouser waistband, puffed out his chest and straightened the rag of a cap that stuck to his head even in the roughest squalls.

The island breeze blew across them and Benjamin waited on the woman to scramble upwards through the rocks.

‘This ol’ island’s not a bad place, if yer don’t mind breathing in the whiffs of an old volcano demon’s breath.’ Gidley peered around the area. ‘But we need us a real voyage under our legs—not bouncin’ around to make yer brother happy. Just seems wasteful.’

‘Not if I make good on the deal,’ Benjamin muttered half to himself. He wanted to leave as badly as Gidley. Sailing was his life—not running errands for his brother, the earl, who just happened to share ownership in Ascalon with Benjamin.

But the earl had made a solemn promise. If Benjamin returned with Melina’s treasure—some artefact that neither of the men truly gave a whistle about—Benjamin could own the Ascalon from port to stern.

Marriage. His brother was so besotted with his wife that he was willing to trade away half a ship just to make a woman happy.

‘Yer snarlin’.’ Gidley’s words broke Benjamin’s reverie, while the first mate scratched his head and made his hat wiggle. ‘Thought seeing a real live mermaid would put a smile on yer face.’

‘I’m thinking of my brother losing his mind.’

‘Some women are worth losing a mind for. Just never seen one myself, ’cept that mermaid climbin’ this way.’

‘Don’t be daft, Gid. She’s just another island lightskirt.’

And at that moment, Benjamin heard her scrambling footsteps bounding up the rocks beside him, turned to her and lost his grip on the spyglass.

Even Gidley didn’t comment on the glass dropping, tumbling to rocks far below them.

Ben saw the resemblance to his brother’s wife—but this woman caught his eyes in a way no one ever had before. She might not be a mermaid, but Benjamin wouldn’t rule out her being descended from Aphrodite.

* * *

Thessa pushed back the dripping tendril of hair she’d not managed to capture in her bun and let her eyes linger over the agklikos who’d had that looking piece trained on her.

She waited for him to speak. She’d heard his last words. He was English. Like her father, a man who believed lies would feed his family.

‘I’m Benjamin, the captain of the Ascalon. I took your sister to England.’ This from the one who had weak fingers and too-strong eyes.

So many questions pounded into her mind at once that she couldn’t speak. She couldn’t put the words into the English she’d learned at her father’s knee. She couldn’t ask what she wanted to know most—her sister’s fate. If the ship had returned and her sister wasn’t with them, then she must be dead. Thessa shoved the thoughts from her mind and stared at the man in front of her. He had taken Melina to her death.

He lifted the bag at his feet and moved towards her. She didn’t take the offering. She knew not to accept anything from one of the sailors. Gifts were not without cost. And never would she take something from a man who’d caused hurt to Melina. She’d die first.

‘Captain. Vessel. Melina. Away.’ He spoke carefully, snaking his other hand up and down in a bobbing motion to indicate a ship sailing.

‘We.’ He touched his friend’s arm and then his own chest. ‘Are here.’ He pointed to the ground. ‘Searching.’ She thought he mimicked digging. ‘Melina sent...for treasure.’ He touched the gold ring and she noticed both his smallest fingers had rings.

She shook her head. But he’d mentioned her sister. And he spoke as if she were still alive. The thoughts darkening her vision vanished. The world around her reappeared and she stared at the two men.

‘Try French, Capt’n,’ the straggly one said. ‘’Cause of all the French ships that dock here, whores has to learn it early.’

‘Whores?’ Thessa snapped out the word.

‘See, Capt’n...’ The silver haired one smiled so big she thought his face would burst. ‘Just have to find the right words. Melina told me both her sisters can speak King’s English better’n me. ‘

‘I did not learn it by choice,’ Thessa said. ‘My father forced us.’

‘I must be grateful,’ the younger man said. ‘To see a woman swimming and then to be able to speak with her is indeed a treat. Women in London do not prefer to swim.’

She searched his face. He didn’t have the thrashed-around look she’d seen on many men. In truth, his eyes had the colour of sky and sea combined.

‘It’s true,’ he added. ‘A few of my men still cannot swim. The ones who have been with me longest, when we’re in warm ports that are not well populated, I have commanded them to learn. But near people, the water carries away the waste. You’d not willingly immerse yourself.’

She looked the tall one over carefully. An officer’s coat contrasted with the seaman’s duck trousers, the legs tucked into scuffed knee boots. Wind whipped hair with strands of lightness, possibly put there by some spirit running her fingers through while he slept. Small whiskers at the sides, but trimmed, near his ears.

He did look pleasing to the eyes. Better than the usual men she saw.

His nose wasn’t broken. He had teeth. Both ears. No scarring. A bit odd, that, but then he was from a country where the men rode horses instead of using their own legs, worked with ledgers and wore flounces around their necks. But this one left off his lace. Near the string tying the neck of his shirt closed she saw darkened skin, almost like a man from her own country.

Even though she couldn’t fault the man his appearance, he needed to leave Melos. The men who docked on the island were refuse tossed out by their own countries. If they’d been worth anything, someone would have kept them at home.

‘If yer mermaid had a tail when she was afloat, might ’uv been a bit sharp at the end—pointy like,’ the older one said quietly, one brow twitching aslant.

‘With such perfection of face and form, one can’t be too upset that there’s a flaw somewhere,’ the captain answered. Then he gave her a smile which she was certain would help any woman overlook his heritage.

She realised her sister could be sitting in their home at that very moment. Just because she wasn’t with the men didn’t mean she hadn’t returned with them. ‘Did you bring Melina?’ The words rushed from her lips and her eyes locked on him. She moved two steps towards the trail to the house before he answered.

‘No,’ the captain stated. ‘She married my brother and we feared the trip for her as she could be adding to the nursery. Her first trip did not do her well, and since she is already having seasickness on dry ground, she couldn’t manage another sail.’

‘She’s gonna drop a babe on the ground real soon. Doing herself proud,’ the older one said. He looked too bland and spoke too sweetly. ‘Knows a woman’s place.’

‘Nothos.’ She bit out the word. They had let her sister stay behind—or forced her. Surely Melina had been forbidden passage if she did not return. And the child. That meant Melina had sold herself to a man. Her sister had sacrificed for family.

Gidley leaned his head to Benjamin and spoke from the side of his mouth. ‘I don’t think that was praisin’ me on either one of my parents bein’ wed. Maybe if we toss her into the sea she’ll turn back into a mermaid and swim away.’

‘But then we would lose this charming creature,’ Benjamin said and tilted his head in acknowledgement.

Thessa looked at the man, then let her eyes move skyward to dismiss his flattery.

The captain’s lips quirked up. ‘It takes more than two sea ravaged men to impress a mermaid.’

She waved an arm, indicating the gnarled olive trees and scrubby grasses behind her, and then pointed to the cragged rocks rising majestically from the edge of the perfect sea and the water itself. ‘I live with this every day. I am not easily impressed.’

‘I wouldn’t prefer a woman who was,’ the captain said, and in that moment, he looked away from her.

But just before his head turned, something sparked behind his eyes, watching her in such a way her breath caught and warmth tickled in her body. She took half a step back and squared her shoulders.

‘What do you want?’ Thessa asked.

‘Melina said you could show us to the artefacts. The stones.’

She raised her brows. ‘Artefacts. For an Englishman? The island is covered with rocks. Take your pick. They are all valuable to me.’

They were, but only as places to put her feet. She was more concerned for her stomachi. The rocks couldn’t save her now.

Marriage to Stephanos would not be so bad. She would have the home he was building. She would have a friendship with his mother. She would have food to eat. And she would learn not to breathe the spoiled air when Stephanos stood near.