Page 26 of Escaping Pirates (Legends of Neverland #4)

T he clang reverberated in my head as they slammed Harlan’s cell door shut after flinging him inside.

He lay in a huddled, bloody mass on the floor, soaked and gasping for breath.

As soon as the brig door thudded closed behind the men who’d carried Harlan in, I wrenched the iron bar aside and squeezed through.

A choked cry sprang into my throat. Harlan’s clothing was in tatters, and deep cuts crisscrossed his entire body.

“Harlan, I’m so sorry,” I said, tears welling in my eyes as I gingerly dabbed at his wounds with my skirt. The benefit, and disadvantage, of using my red gown was that I didn’t know how much blood Harlan was losing. “You shouldn’t have…”

“It’s just—just some scratches,” Harlan panted, wincing with every movement. “I’ll be fine.”

“What made you do it?” I asked, softly pressing the hem of my dress down to stem the bleeding. Each time I changed position, he sucked in a breath or flinched.

“I didn’t want him touching you,” he groaned. “I distracted him from you, and that was my goal. ”

“Harlan…”

He winced as he propped himself up on his elbow. “Did he hurt you?”

“I hardly think that I’m the one you should be worried about right now. You could’ve died.” I touched the fabric softly to the cut just below his left ear, and he caught my hand. Shivers ran up my spine and tingles spread from where he touched me.

This wasn’t the time for noticing how attractive Harlan was. He was injured and bleeding. He needed treatment and care. I shouldn’t be thinking about anything other than helping him recover…

“Did he hurt you?” Harlan asked again, his voice low and husky.

I shifted my focus to another cut on Harlan’s cleft chin and dabbed, lightly holding his jaw to keep his face steady while I treated him.

“No. I don’t think he intended to hurt me,” I said, heart palpitating frantically, still stroking the cloth across Harlan’s chin. If he hadn’t been in so much pain, I would have quite enjoyed our proximity.

“His intentions were far from pure,” Harlan grumbled.

“Agreed. I wasn’t blind to that.”

“I wish he was blind.”

“You don’t want him even looking at me?” I teased.

Harlan held my gaze for a long time. “No, I don’t,” he answered very seriously. “I don’t want any man to look at you the way they did tonight.”

I paused dabbing at his wounds. Harlan was so honorable and gallant.

He was the type of man girls could dream about riding in on a white horse and rescuing them from danger.

He was willing to sacrifice to protect me and my virtue.

If I were to marry someone, I would want it to be someone like Harlan.

“Thank you,” I whispered, finding it completely impossible to stop touching Harlan. Thank the high seas that I had a valid reason to keep my hands on him. “You kept me safe, even though you got…”

“It was worth it, then.” Harlan reached up to hook his fingers behind my head, drawing me in until our lips were nearly touching, his eyes burning with intense longing.

My heart flew up into my throat. He was going to kiss me.

I dropped my gaze to study his mouth as I realized that I fully intended to kiss him back.

Harlan’s fingers tensed at the back of my head as he let out a gasp of pain and released me, clutching at his side instead.

“What—”

“Don’t fuss,” he panted, eyes closed in a grimace. “I’ve always been a baby about pain. Like I said, it’s just a few scratches. I’m trying to be tough here to impress you, but this kind of hurts…more than a little.”

“You could take off your shirt so I can tend the cuts,” I suggested, trying to keep my voice level. The idea of Harlan without a shirt was enough to make any woman blush.

“I don’t think that’s such a good idea,” Harlan said with a small smile. “I need to keep what little dignity I still have left.”

It was all for the best. If I saw Harlan without his shirt on, I wouldn’t be surprised if I became as giddy as Blossom and Sugar.

“Don’t do anything like this again, okay?” I told him softly, stroking his forehead to move his hair out of his eyes. “We need to get you back. Your double won’t last forever. Berkway needs you, and I don’t want to see you hurt any more than you want that for me.”

“I don’t think I’ll be able to control my temper around Tyrone. He’s such a—such a word I can’t use around a lady.”

“And I appreciate your integrity. Hold still so I can help you.” I continued to blot tenderly at his wounds. Harlan opened his mouth several times, but on each occurrence, swallowed his words and finally nodded.

When I lay down that evening back in my own cell, I felt his presence more acutely than ever, and I gained a new appreciation for our bunks being so close together.

I snuck my hand through the bars to find Harlan’s hand, and the moment I did, he entwined our fingers.

Holding his hand sent tingles shooting up my arm to combine with the heat in my chest, making me wonder if I was about to levitate.

Instead of suppressing the hurricane of emotions related to Harlan like I normally did, I allowed them to run free.

Heat swelled in my chest and butterflies danced in my stomach, a welcome change from the hunger I’d been used to for so long.

Harlan liked me, possibly even loved me.

He wouldn’t have risked walking the plank and endured keelhauling if he didn’t.

The warm glow in my chest spread to envelop my neck and face as a blush stained my cheeks.

In a strange way, his fierce protectiveness of me when Tyrone became too handsy made me feel dainty and feminine, like I was a prize worthy of protection.

I nearly laughed at the thought. Dainty and feminine?

I slept with rats in a pirate ship prison cell and spent my days scrubbing shoes and cleaning up after Sugar and Blossom.

There was nothing feminine about that. But nevertheless, Harlan had a way of making me feel like a princess, his princess, no matter how threadbare my rags were or how filthy my living conditions.

He had been my knight in shining armor, swooping in to defend my honor when I felt trapped.

If only I could find a way to let him know how much that meant to me.

Neither of us spoke. I didn’t want to do anything that would break the magical spell that had fallen over us.

“Your dress is different,” Harlan said the following night when I was finally done with my duties. Thankfully, Tyrone and his crew had departed earlier that day. At least I didn’t have to worry about being sold to him for a short time.

I gave a slow spin to show off the new dress. It was a faded brown one of Sugar’s that she had deemed unflattering and ugly, and as Tyrone was no longer aboard, they had ordered me to change.

“They seemed to think the red one I wore for Tyrone last night might tempt you,” I told him. “They don’t want any competition.”

“ You don’t have any competition,” he answered. “And I most certainly was tempted.”

“Well, don’t tell Sugar and Blossom.”

Harlan pulled aside the loose bar. “Come over. I wanted to show you something.”

I squeezed through the gap. “What is it?”

“You need to learn how to defend yourself,” Harlan said. “If you ever have another situation with Tyrone or another man, you need to know how to fight back.”

“You’re still hurt, though,” I protested. Sugar and Blossom had taken great delight in bandaging up Harlan as best they could that day, but he still moved slowly and occasionally flinched.

“Not badly. Most of the cuts were fairly superficial, so they’re healing quickly. I can handle teaching you to fight.”

“Everyone is so much bigger and stronger than I am,” I pointed out. “If it comes down to brute strength, I’ll always lose.”

“Fighting isn’t always about brute strength.”

“I’ll bet it helps, though.”

Harlan nodded slowly. “It does, but you can overcome that with enough training. Now—” He closed his fist around my upper arm tightly enough that I was trapped, but not hard enough to hurt me. “If someone grabs you, what would you do?”

I attempted to pull away and scrabbled my fingers against his, trying to loosen his hold on my arm.

“They’ll expect you to do that,” Harlan noted. “It’s the natural response to try to pull away, but you want to take them by surprise. Move in fast and hit them in the throat, eyes, or groin. Then use their surprise to get away.”

“I can’t run far on this ship,” I commented, but nevertheless obeyed, closing the distance between us and miming a chopping motion to his neck.

“Good! But don’t use the side of your hand.

Hands break fairly easily in fights. Focus on using your elbows and knees.

It hurts them a lot more than it will hurt you.

Once the victim fights back, the attacker will usually retreat a step.

Follow them and continue attacking. Once you lose your advantage, it’s hard to regain it, so press it for as long as possible.

It doesn’t matter how big someone is if they are blinded or curled up in pain. ”

I tried to follow his instructions, but Harlan was too quick and soon had my arm twisted around my back .

“You attack me and I’ll show you,” he instructed.

No one as small as I was could ever best a self-respecting pirate, and no person with any amount of self-preservation would attack someone as large as Harlan, but I played along and acted like I was going to grab him.

In a flash, Harlan moved in so close that our chests touched, crowding me so I was forced to walk in reverse until my back brushed up against the cell wall. “Always throw the first punch,” he told me. “Get the upper hand and keep it as long as possible.”

Hours later, I felt ready to drop. The only light in the brig came from the moon threading silver through the barred porthole. I stood on the cold, damp floor, fists up, facing Harlan. My muscles burned and sweat clung to the back of my neck like a second skin.

“Again,” Harlan said. “Aim for the throat this time.”