Page 44 of Storm over the Caribbean (Storm and Silence Saga #8)

For a long moment, there was nothing but silence—then the pirates abruptly exploded in cheers.

The ones on the shore were shouting themselves hoarse and throwing their hats into the air.

Even the sailors on the ship reluctantly started to murmur their approval, then began to shout hesitant cheers for the man who had just killed the captain they were loyal to five minutes ago.

Pirates. Lovely, right?

My eyes swivelled to Mr Rikkard Ambrose, his chiselled profile resembling that of a conquering king as he stood upon his vanquished foe.

On second thought, some of them are actually lovely. One particular pirate in particular…

As if sensing my gaze, Mr Ambrose turned towards me, his deep, dark, unfathomable eyes boring into mine.

Leaping off the dead pirate captain, he kicked him out of the way and strode straight back towards the crowd of pirates.

Towards me. The intensity of his gaze was breath-taking.

I simply couldn’t look away. He had done it. He had actually done it.

And what’s more, he knew he would win from the start. He made me worry for nothing, the son of a bachelor!

Crossing the rest of the distance between us with three swift steps, he came to a halt right in front of me. Without looking away he reached out and thrust the sabre back into the hands of its owner.

“Here.”

“Th-thanks.”

Taking the sabre with trembling hands, Jack took three swift steps back, his eyes filled with awe and trepidation. I had a feeling he was going to thoroughly check the blade for poisons later.

With a last, lingering look at me, a look that was most definitely not meant for an overweight, male ship’s cook, Mr Ambrose turned to face the crowd, letting his gaze sweep over all the assembled pirates.

Everyone waited with bated breath, anticipating the speech their new captain was about to give.

“Let’s bloody celebrate! Anyone who drinks me under the table gets a hundred sovereigns!”

The entire crowd exploded in cheers. Instantly, they rushed towards the camp and started pulling out meat and fish and a dozen kinds of different drinks. Soon, the pirates were happily roasting food over numerous bonfires and gambling away their loot to each other.

“You know,” I cocked an eyebrow at him. “I think you might be born to be a pirate. They seem to appreciate your leadership style.”

“Indeed.”

“But there’s one thing…” With a smirk, I lightly jabbed my elbow into his ribs. “What about the one hundred sovereigns? Are you really going to pay when someone manages to drink you under the table?”

He cocked his head. “I have seen this entire camp. There aren’t any tables.”

Oh, that sneaky son of a…!

He just tricked a whole camp full of pirates. I should really be more careful around such a scoundrel in the future. He might end up knocking me up and—

Oops. A little too late for that.

Grinning, I turned around to face the camp, Mr Ambrose following suit beside me. Together, we gazed over the island we had spent so many terrible and wonderful days on. The island we could now finally leave.

“You did it!” I whispered, making sure to keep my voice low. Not that the carousing pirates several dozen yards away were likely to listen in. “You really did it! Now we have a ship! One? Ha, no! You got us half a dozen! Finally, we can return home!”

“Home?” Mr Ambrose’s eyes sparkled coldly. “Not quite yet.”

I stared at him. Then I reached up and stuck a finger in my ear to clean it, just in case I had misheard.

“ What did you say?”

“I said, not quite yet, Mr Linton. And I do not like to repeat myself.”

“What do you mean, not quite yet ? We’ve got ships. Heck, we’ve got a bloody fleet ! We can go home any time.”

“We could,” he allowed. “But should we?”

I stared some more. “What the heck do you mean, should we ? Why wouldn’t we? We’re stuck on an island, with none of our belongings, cut off from anyone we know, in the middle of a bloody camp full of pirates !”

“Indeed. A camp full of pirates.” He gave a curt nod, his eyes sparkling in a way that promised wicked things.

I might have appreciated it more if we were at home, in London, naked in our bedroom, and if he’d been staring at me instead of a bunch of carousing thugs.

“A camp full of pirates who now happen to be under my command .”

I opened my mouth to shoot down his argument—then closed it again. Eyes narrowing, I peered at him, trying to decipher his unmoving face. “What do you mean?”

“Is it not obvious, Mr Linton?” Cocking his head, he held my gaze for a moment, then looked out over the camp and the ocean beyond, surveying all as if it already belonged to him.

“For months, I had to watch report after report of pirate raids on my ships arrive at my office. I didn’t know who was behind it, I didn’t know why they decided to attack me, but I knew someone was challenging me.

There was and is only one major competitor in this area.

A dummy corporation of a dummy corporation of a dummy corporation, I soon discovered.

But no matter how much pressure I applied, I could not discover its true owner.

So I came here, hoping to find out who the mastermind is.

And what happens? He dares to send his goons to kill. My. Wife .”

Those last three words were spoken with such icy vitriol, such cold, calculated fury that, even in the tropical climate, I felt a shiver go down my spine.

“And?” I prompted when he had not continued after a moment or two. Although I had a feeling where this was going.

“And I do not let attacks on my family go unanswered.” Arctic light shining in his eyes, Mr Rikkard Ambrose’s gaze once more zeroed in on the camp.

The cold look on his face was utterly terrifying.

“My competitor likes watching pirates raid merchant ships? Well, let’s see how he likes it when this happens to him. ”

***

Three days later, on a certain merchant ship, under a certain tarpaulin…

“Um…Mr Karim, Sir?”

“Yes?”

“Err…how long have we been waiting by now, Sir?”

“Be quiet and watch! A pirate ship might be coming for Mr Ambrose’s goods any moment!”

“Um, Sir…we have already nearly reached our destination. No pirate worth his salt would be crazy enough to attack a harbour.”

“Then restock the supplies and turn the ship around! We’ll spread some more rumours in the harbour, then turn back around using the same route.”

“Are you sure, Sir? We—”

“Yes, I am sure! That bastard of a pirate captain is probably just drunk and sleeping the day away. The moment he hears about Ambrose Sahib ’s ship full of valuables travelling this route, he won’t be able to resist attacking us!”

***

“Are you crazy?” I hissed as I peered through the telescope at the distant, moonlit island. “You want to attack a harbour ?”

“Not a harbour, Mr Linton. Just some ships inside it.”

“Oh. Well, that makes things so much better.”

“Indeed.”

I resisted the urge to strangle him, mostly because I liked my fingers too much to test them against granite.

There was also the little fact that the crew of the pirate ship I was currently on would probably object to my trying to strangle their new captain.

Pity, though. It was so easy to dispose of murder victims on the ocean.

We were currently anchored hidden behind a tiny, uninhabited rock of an island only a mile or two away from a much larger one, the harbour of which we were observing.

I peered through the telescope again, closely scrutinizing the nocturnal coast. Then, suddenly, I froze—and, after a moment, grabbed Mr Ambrose by the arm.

“Down!” I hissed. “Hit the deck! Cover the lanterns!”

I had to give credit where credit was due.

Mr Rikkard Ambrose followed my command immediately.

Something which, I was sure, would give me a warm and fuzzy feminist feeling some time later—but not while I was pressed to the deck, clutching a storm lantern in both arms to cover its light.

Behind us, the pirates followed our example.

“What is it?” Mr Ambrose whispered, scouring the dark waters with his gaze. “What did you see?”

“A ship!”

“Arriving at the harbour?”

“No. Leaving ,” I grumbled, staring after the vessel. “What kind of idiot would set sail at this hour?”

“It is of no consequence, Mr Linton. Focus on the matter at hand.”

I cocked an eyebrow at him. “Meaning the attack on the well-fortified harbour over there?”

“Precisely.”

“So, tell me again, what is your plan? Last time you told me, I was too busy cursing to really listen.”

“All right. Listen here. This is what we are going to do…”

***

“I am going to kill him for this,” I growled, tugging at my dress. “ Painfully .”

“Oh, I don’t know.” Jack glanced at me out of the corner of his eye, snickering, as he walked alongside me through the island harbour. “You make quite the convincing pregnant lady.”

“You…!”

“Aye.” A certain little brat with a far-too-cheeky grin on his face piped up and took hold of my hand. “He’s right, Mum .”

“You just have to put on a few more pounds and actually start acting like a woman,” the adult pirate added smoothly. “Then I might actually believe it.”

I felt one of my eyebrows twitch. “Jack?”

“Aye, Freddie?”

“What do you think would happen if you were to say that kind of thing to an actual woman?”

He gave a short bark of laughter. “Ha! I’d be so dead!”

“I’d definitely have my butt spanked,” the little boy added with a shiver.

“Quite.”

Reaching out, Jackal patted my shoulder. “Our luck that you’re as male as they come, right?”

I contemplated for a moment or two what answer to give to that. A fist to the face was definitely among the top ten candidates. But then again, children were present.

You can always shield his innocent eyes with your free hand.

Good one! I was about to do just that, when, when—

“There!” Jackal hissed, alerting me and saving his nose in the process. “The signal!”