Page 11 of Escaping Pirates (Legends of Neverland #4)

T he door to the brig banged open. “Let go of me,” I whispered to Harlan. He’d been holding up my arms all during the sounds of unloading the cargo and sinking the captured ship, and who knew what Captain Harsh would do if he saw that I hadn’t been suffering through my punishment correctly.

The instant Harlan obeyed, I nearly shrieked aloud from the pain that surged back when my muscles took on the weight of bearing up my arms again. Fortunately for me, those striding in didn’t spare me a second glance.

Captain Harsh, trailed by his two daughters, came to a halt outside Harlan’s cell.

“I told you he’s handsome,” Blossom hissed to Sugar, who nodded so vigorously that her hair bounced.

“So, sailor, what are your thoughts now about my offer?” Harsh barked out.

Harlan chewed on his tongue and cast a half-glance my way. “What are the terms of this offer?”

The captain grinned, his yellow smile revealing gold teeth. “I will gift you the opportunity to entertain my daughter, chaperoned of course, for two hours each evening, or you’ll walk the plank.”

“Daughters!” Sugar piped up. “I want him to court me, too!”

“You can’t court the same man as me!” Blossom huffed. “I saw him first and I called dibs.”

“Maybe he would like me better!”

“Maybe he wouldn’t!”

“Girls, girls,” Captain Harsh cut in smoothly. “Is that the way you want to behave in front of your suitor?”

Blossom immediately contorted her face into the sappiest expression I’d ever had the misfortune to behold. She curled her lips back and wrinkled her nose as she attempted a smile that looked more akin to a wolf baring its fangs. Sugar pressed a hand to her ample bosom and fluttered her eyelashes.

“What exactly would be required during these two hours each day?”

“Dancing,” Blossom cooed.

“Asking me about me, ” Sugar added.

“And me!”

“We would have nice dinners together.”

“And watch the moon rise!”

Harlan folded his arms across his broad chest. “What’s in it for me?”

Captain Harsh took an aggressive step forward and reached through the bars to grasp the front of Harlan’s shirt, but he didn’t flinch. “You get to keep your life, boy ,” he snarled, shaking him slightly. “That’s a fine proposition.”

Harlan twisted away so the captain was forced to let go of his shirt.

“But the expectations are still ambiguous at best,” he said, responding much more calmly than I had when my so-called deal had been offered.

“What end result are you hoping for? How long will this arrangement continue? Am I to be locked in the brig anytime I’m not entertaining your daughters, or will I be expected to serve as a part of the crew in some capacity?

What repercussions are there if I refuse? ”

“Hold your questions!” Harsh roared. “What is this, an interrogation?”

“If we intend to enter into a contract, then yes, I’m entitled to know the duties expected of me and what I can anticipate in return.”

Blossom whipped a fan out of her waistband, flicked it open, and fluttered it under her nose. “Oooh, I do love a man who knows how to negotiate!”

Sugar snatched the fan from her sister’s hand. “That’s mine, you nitwit!”

Blossom put her fists on her hips and stuck out her tongue. “Well you’re a…you’re an oxymoron!”

Harlan raised an eyebrow, and I turned my head to hide my smile.

Blossom flipped her hair so it whipped Sugar across the face, who spluttered and swatted it away. “Daddy,” Blossom began, linking her arm with her father’s, “just give him a contract. It would make me happy, and I like the idea of us coming up with what we want him to do and including that.”

“Yes, Daddy!” Sugar swung on his other arm. “We can write it up today. Right now!”

Captain Harsh tapped his boot on the floor and tugged at his braided beard. “I suppose if it pleases you girls…”

“Oh, yes, Daddy, yes!” they both chanted, bouncing up and down with excitement.

The captain’s steely gaze snapped over to Harlan. “Here’s the new deal. My girls and I will write up a contract, and you can sign it or die.”

The girls beamed, then Blossom clapped her bony hands together. “Let’s hurry, Daddy, and we can have it ready so I can have a date with…wait, what’s your name?”

“Harlan,” he supplied in a numb voice.

“What a dreamy name! Harlan .” Blossom sighed and flashed her cringey leer of a smile Harlan’s way before she tugged her father toward the door. “Let’s draw up a contract! Do you think we can include shoulder massages?”

“If you get one, I want one too! Or foot massages,” Sugar squealed. “Daddy, you’ll put that in, won’t you?”

“I don’t want him getting too familiar with you girls,” Harsh began, but the rest of his sentence was cut off as the door clicked shut.

Harlan’s mouth uselessly flapped open and closed, just like a fish out of water.

“It seems that you have some business experience,” I commended him. “I wish I’d thought to request a contract.”

“Some lot of good it did me. I think I just contracted myself into courting two of the most repulsive women I’ve ever met.” Harlan glanced my way, then hurried over to hold up my arms again. “How long do they leave you like this?”

“Until they remember me or need something. It’s not so bad other than no rations and the pain. I’m not tied up all that often, just when I talk back.” I relaxed against his grip. “Are you going to sign the contract?”

“Probably. It won’t do anyone any good if I have to walk the plank.”

“The idea of having someone to talk to who isn’t a rat is an attractive notion,” I told him. “They aren’t the best conversationalists.”

“And it only comes as the cost of me dating two rats,” Harlan added glumly. “I guess we’ll just have to see what stipulations are placed on me.”

“You thought quickly. When I was taken, I was so busy throwing things overboard for my crew that I didn’t even think of asking for a contract.”

“You chose the better option. I would gladly trade my contract for being able to save even one of those men.”

“I’m so sorry.” How I wished I could throw my arms around him, but even if I could, I knew it would do nothing to lessen the emotional agony Harlan was suffering.

We didn’t have to wait long for Harlan’s contract to be delivered.

By the time night had fallen, Captain Harsh and his girls were back.

Blossom and Sugar both beamed from ear to ear and kept exchanging glances and squeezing each other’s hands.

Harlan took the proffered contract and scanned it, his green eyes skating from side to side until they reached the bottom of the page.

He looked back up. “Where would I sleep?”

Captain Harsh’s eyes became slits. “Don’t assume your privileges during your time with my daughters mean privileges any of the rest of the time. You sleep here in the brig.”

“What about meals?”

“You’ll have dinner each night with my girls.”

“And how would I have the mental focus to entertain your lovely daughters if I’m so famished that my only thought is of my next meal?”

“Oh, Daddy!” Blossom waved her hand carelessly. “We can have Scurvyella bring him extra meals. I want him to be thinking about me , not food, when he comes to…call on me,” she added with a sigh.

“Call on us, you mean,” Sugar corrected.

“Fine,” Harsh spat. “Three meals a day, same as my crew. Now sign. ”

“Not until those conditions are added. You can add an addendum on the back.” Harlan met Harsh’s gaze evenly, without a flicker of concern.

“Fine!” Harsh snatched the paper back, jotted down the additional clarifications, and shoved it back, at which point Harlan accepted the paper and signed his name in sharp, angular lines.

“I’ll send someone for you at dusk.”

“Scurvyella!” Blossom snapped. “We have a lot to do, don’t just stand there! Daddy, let her out so she can help us pick out outfits for tomorrow.”

It seemed that Captain Harsh’s affection for and over-protectiveness of his daughters worked out to Harlan’s advantage.

Blossom and Sugar prattled on and on about what would be required of their new suitor and lamented the fact that their father hadn’t allowed them to demand hand holding or kissing out of concern for his daughters’ integrity.

The notion that Captain Harsh was concerned with preserving his daughters’ virtue when he had threatened to sell me was the most ironic thing of all.

Harlan’s contract listed far fewer duties than what was required of me, but I would have much rather kept styling their hair forever compared to what Harlan was expected to do.

The most physical requirement was dancing once a week and a chaperoned foot massage the day following the dancing.

I could only imagine Harlan’s reaction once he got his first whiff of Blossom’s feet, which often had bits of gray lint sprouting between her toes.

Each time I clipped her toenails, I would try to stuff my nostrils ahead of time to avoid the scent of rotten mushrooms that lingered about her feet.

I made a mental note to pass the tip along to Harlan before he was required to rub oil onto the sisters’ feet.

All the next morning, I styled their hair and applied exotic cosmetics to Sugar’s and Blossom’s faces, cinched their corsets until they could barely breathe, and picked out the gowns that were best suited to their complexions and figures.

Though the tasks were far easier than the scrubbing they often had me do instead, my lightheadedness from my incessant hunger made me slow and clumsy, which earned me several cracks over my wrists and knuckles with a spare hairbrush or shoe.

“Oh, go make yourself useful. Take my sweet Harlan his noon meal,” Blossom trilled.

“And tell him that Sugar sends her warmest regards!” Sugar interjected, handing over a handful of her precious butterscotch candies. “Give him these and tell him that it’s easy to know they’re from me, because Sugar is sweet.”

“And tell him that Blossom is hindered breathless at the thought of his masculinity!”