“I think I’ll see if there is any willow bark in the medical cabinet.” A thought occurred to her. “Do you have a medical cabinet?”
“In the galley.”
“Your fever isn’t high, but a little willow bark tea should keep it from going higher.”
Charlie stopped on her way out. “Oh, I assume you won’t want me to go alone into the fo’c’sle to check my other patients.”
Daniel didn’t miss her swollen lips or the redness in her face where Jaxon’s unshaven stubble chafed her skin. “I’ll be happy to accompany you after you bring Jax his tea.”
Daniel carried the chest into the room and closed the door behind him with his foot. He put the chest in the corner under the hammock. Daniel paced the length of the room then turned on his brother. Criticizing the captain of the ship just wasn’t done, even if the captain was the older brother you loved and worried about. If they were going to share the cabin, he didn’t need the whole thing to start off on the wrong foot. But he was also the first mate and he was the only one who dared to speak candidly with him.
“Don’t say it, Daniel.” Jaxon could feel the lecture coming.
“Don’t say what?” Daniel’s tone was firm. “Don’t say leave the lady alone? Don’t say you weren’t brought up to treat women like harlots? Don’t say everything your own conscience should be saying to you?”
“Look, I’ll concede that I think you were right about her being an innocent and my behavior is…lacking. But something happens when I’m with her.”
Jaxon admitted to himself it had been ages since he’d been with anyone. Was that all that this was; his need for release?
Daniel had seen this rashness in his brother before. How could a man who was so logical and intelligent be so foolish when it came to women?
“Jax, I have two words for you. Millie Adams.”
“Indeed? How can you compare that insipid creature with Charlie?”
“I’m not comparing them,” Daniel said. “It’s your judgment I question. When you were writing your letters to Millie, did you think you were in love with her?”
Jaxon speared him with a hard stare. He didn’t want to answer that question. “Aye,” he admitted reluctantly.
“Looking back now, do you think you ever loved her, truly loved her?”
He could admit now, it had only been a schoolboy crush. Millie’s beauty was beyond compare and he had an idealized image of her. He spent years writing letters to her, but spent almost no time in her company. If he had, he would have realized she was not the person he thought she was. Having a girl back home to love was what he thought he wanted; it was why he pushed himself so hard. But Millie was the wrong girl. Was this attraction the same? Was he only obsessed with her because she looked beyond his scars to see him? No, whatever this was, Charlie felt it, too, he had no doubt. Whereas Millie was nothing more than a beautiful shell, Charlie was the most fascinating woman he ever met.
Jaxon stopped and analyzed his last thought. Why did he find her so fascinating? He barely knew her. Maybe there was some truth to what Daniel said. It irritated him to think so.
“Do you have a point?” Jax asked dryly.
“You’ve barely met this woman. Maybe what you’re feeling is not real. Maybe you just want it so badly; you’re seeing things that aren’t there.”
“Millie Adams was a mistake—one that I have no intention of repeating. This is not the same.” Jaxon would never admit to Daniel he had already entertained thoughts of marrying Charlie. It was insane. He met her less than twenty-four hours earlier, but a voice in him knew she was the woman meant for him. He hoped he wasn’t being rash because he had been so rejected by women since he being keelhauled that he was latching on to the one woman who didn’t see his scars. “I have not convinced myself that I am in love with Charlie. As you said, we have only just met, but I am drawn to her like none who has come before.”
“Drawn like a moth to a flame?” Daniel asked sarcastically. He knew he was not getting through to his brother. “It’s hard for me to trust your judgment where women are concerned, when you have made such a mess of it before.”
He slammed his hand down on his desk. “I do not need a nursemaid, Daniel!” Jaxon raised his voice and could feel the scar on his forehead pull as his brow knitted. “We are finished discussing her.”
“We are not finished discussing this by a long shot,” Daniel shouted and stubbornly crossed his arms over his chest.
“It’s bad enough I have to tell Aunt Pru what happened to Jimmy; don’t make me tell Mother what happened to you.” His shouts were louder than Daniel’s.