Jaxon Bloodworthy had such a perplexed look on his face that Daniel laughed. His whole body shook with guffaws that started in his belly and exploded out of his mouth like water from a whale’s spout.
“Charlie, the junior officer from the Arcadia, is not a man?”
“Do you think her shipmates will notice if we send Jimmy’s body?”
Daniel’s laughter followed him halfway across the ship. His strides were as long as his uneven gait could accommodate. That had been his first instinct when he saw her and yet it was so farfetched he dismissed the idea immediately. Jaxon cursed under his breath. How had it seemed more plausible to him that Charlie was a eunuch than a woman?
9
Charlie wrapped herself in the sheet from Jaxon’s bed after the men who had stolen her clothes left the cabin. She had been terrified when they held her down and began pulling at her clothing. If she had it to do over again, she wondered if they would have waited outside while she stripped, if she had asked. They just walked in unannounced and asked for her clothes. It was only after she refused that they got physical. She had fended them off for a little while until they all tackled her at once. They had seemed genuinely surprised to find she was a woman and had apologized if they had hurt her. But when it was all said and done, they had taken her uniform and left her with only the long strip of cloth she used to bind her breasts, her drawers, woolen socks and boots. It was all so confusing. Why would they take her clothes especially if they did not know she was female?
Then, only a few minutes later, there was a knock. Rather than answer it wrapped in a sheet, she ignored it. Whoever it was would go away when they realized the captain was not in his cabin. The door suddenly opened, and the carpenter walked in. He seemed surprised by her presence.
“Can’t you come back later?”
“The captain told me not five minutes ago to install this hammock now.”
Charlie scooted to the far corner of the bunk, her knees drawn up in front of her. Only her shoulders and head were not completely covered. She would have liked to have wrapped the sheet over her shoulders, but she needed to keep her arms free in case she needed to defend herself again.
The carpenter went about measuring for the hammock the captain had promised her. He cast an occasional glance over his shoulder. He shook his head and murmured something that sounded to her like, “Not the way it was done in my day.”
She didn’t know if he was referring to separate sleeping arrangements or the way he was sent to a room with a nearly naked woman in it or maybe he thought she had slept with the captain without being married to him. That was the way it looked. She blushed to her roots.
Suddenly, the door shot open, slamming against the wall. Jaxon Bloodworthy stood frozen.
Charlie was definitely a woman.
“Arthur? What are you doing?”
“You told me—”
Jax cut him off. “I didn’t know there was a naked woman in my cabin when I told you that. I’ll let you know when it’s a good time to finish.”
Arthur packed up his tools and the hammock and left.
“Why are you naked and in my bed?” he asked closing the door after the carpenter exited.
She scooted out of the bunk and stood in front of him, still wrapped in the sheet.
“Captain, if you don’t know three men came into your cabin and stole my clothes, just what kind of ship are you running here? The captain should always be aware….”
“The getting naked I’m well aware of. It’s the fact that you’re a woman and you’re still naked I’m trying to get up to speed on.”
She looked at him like he was daft. “I’d be more than happy to put clothes on—if I had any.”
Jaxon Bloodworthy stared at her. How the hell had he dismissed his instinct that she was a woman, and a little firebrand at that? She was amazing. Her sable brown hair had come down from its cord in the struggle. It was blunted at the shoulders, the most common length for the men he knew. Her eyes were a most unusual light shade of maple brown. They were large and slightly hooded. Her small nose was perfectly straight and her lips, well, they would be full and nicely shaped if she’d stop drawing them between her teeth as if she was trying not to say something that was on the tip of her tongue. Her face was tan, but her pale shoulders had never seen sunlight. He wanted to touch that alabaster skin, run his fingers over the curve of her shoulders. No scars, except for the large burn on her arm.
And most amazingly, she didn’t shy away from looking him in the eyes.
“Why didn’t you tell me you were a woman?” he asked stepping towards her.
She refused to let herself step back. If anything she leaned forward. She was not going to let him intimidate her.