She looked him in the eye and held his gaze. He was the captain, but she knew she would have to become more informal with him than ship’s protocol condoned. Jaxon turned, breaking eye contact with Charlie.
“It really makes you uncomfortable to have me look you in the eyes.”
“The people who look me in the face only do it so they can stare at my scars. Most people just look at the floor when I talk to them.”
“Over that razor nick?” she asked lightly. “Here, look at this scar.”
Charlie removed her uniform coat, unbuttoned her shirt sleeve cuff and showed him the burn she had suffered as a tot. “My clothes caught fire when I was five years old—my arm, my torso.” The lie had served her well in the past and she was going to use it to her advantage now, only this time the lie was going to be bigger.
“I’m not…whole.” She gave him a moment to understand what she meant. “I’ll never father a child.”
The look of shock on his face almost made her crack a smile. She rubbed the back of her crooked fingers on her cheek. “I can’t grow a beard,” she said dropping her hand. “Nor will my voice deepen. That is why I need my own cabin.”
Silently, Charlie congratulated herself. No longer would she have to pretend to shave or pay a barmaid for her silence.
“That explains why, when I first saw you I thought you were a wench.” Jax winced realizing that wasn’t what a young man wanted to hear. “Uh, from a distance of course. Up close, I would never make that mistake. I think I may need spectacles soon.”
Charlie turned around repacking the doctor’s bag to keep him from seeing her expression. He had thought she looked like a girl. Although it amused her to see him flustered, it also scared her to know how close he was to her secret.
Jaxon now understood why the young man did not shy away from his scars like other people. Charlie’s disfigurement although mostly hidden, was worse than Jaxon’s. He actually felt sorry for him. Criminy! Gelded by fire. Charlie was right; he couldn’t sleep with the other men. But Jaxon already had two sets of officers, one for his ship and one to be in charge of their captured prizes. As it was, they didn’t have cabins for everyone.
“I’m not going to kick one of my men out,” he said. “I’ll have the carpenter put a hammock in here and we’ll share my cabin for now. I’ll leave when you need privacy.”
A knock at the door drew Jaxon’s attention. He stepped out into the passageway to speak with his brother, Daniel, first mate of The Dragon’s Lair.
“We have sails in pursuit. It looks to be the loblolly boy’s ship, coming back for him.”
“I think I’d like to keep young Charlie with us,” he said pressing his hand to his wound. “Charlie and Jimmy are about the same size wouldn’t you say.”
“I’d say Jimmy’s a bit stouter.”
“Bloating….” Jaxon met his brother’s gaze. One corner of his mouth lifted. “Take a couple of men with you in case Charlie gives you trouble. Strip him, put his clothes on Jimmy then send his body to the corsair to give the corpse to his ship. Tell them he wanted to learn to shoot and it misfired killing him. Meanwhile, we go back without the corsair slowing us down. There is no way for that merchant ship to keep up with The Dragon’s Lair.”
8
The three men stood outside the door in the cramped corridor eyeing each other. The largest of the three sported a black eye that was rapidly swelling shut. The youngest man rubbed his jaw, opening and closing his mouth to test the hinge. And the third alternately was rubbing his left shoulder and his ribs.
Suddenly, the three broke out into laughter.
“Oh, please, you have to let me tell him. I’ve got to see his face when he finds out,” Daniel choked out, his eye barely open.
“Are you mad? Do you want everyone to know a woman gave you that black eye? I think we should keep this to ourselves,” Romy said.
Daniel flashed a quick dimpled grin. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’m sure my baby brother here head-butted me in the melee. I only pretended to get kicked in the face.” He mussed his brother’s hair affectionately. “Damn, have you ever seen anything like that?”
Levi pushed his brother’s hand aside. “All I know is I’m in love. I lay my claim to her.”
Daniel shoved him into the wall. “Tis not as though she would be interested in a boy too young to grow a real beard.”
Romy held out the clothes they took off of Charlie. “So what are we supposed to do with these?”
Daniel sobered instantly. He guided the men down the passageway and up onto the deck before he spoke. He didn’t want Charlie over-hearing through the door. “Our cousin Jimmy died—“