“He’s not my—” she started, but then smirked. “Is that why you’re bleeding again?”

“No, I was armed, he wasn’t, so it didn’t come to a scuffle.”

“I still want to see—”

“Then come here.” He patted his lap. “Let’s see how persuasive you can be.” Her immediate glare had him add, “No? Then settle for knowing they’re still breathing, and if you behave, you might get to visit them eventually.”

Behave? Or just not try to kill him again? It was infuriating that he’d drop crumbs that he knew damn well she wouldn’t pick up when he probably had no intention of ever letting her see Jeremy. Why would he? He was a bloody pirate!

Done with teasing her, he scolded, “You know you never would have made it to land last night. It was barely still in sight when you jumped. Do you realize the great distance you would have had to swim?”

“Another ship could have come along.” She sat down in a chair facing him.

“That would have been an incredible long shot. You were just a speck in the water, Jack. Even if a ship sailed past you, chances are the people aboard wouldn’t have noticed you even during the day, and certainly not at night. And dawn was a long way off.”

“If you’re expecting thanks for bringing me back, don’t hold your breath.”

His brows rose. “So you were willing to give up your life for your father?”

“Of course I would.”

“But was that really your plan?”

She wished now she’d taken a seat that didn’t face him. But she didn’t have to answer. She didn’t have to keep staring at those beautiful eyes, either, but she did.

She held her tongue waiting for him to press her, but he didn’t. So she was surprised to hear herself say, “I’m a good swimmer. I had every intention of succeeding.”

“Good to know that at least you aren’t fatally resigned, so I suppose we can simply agree to disagree on the outcome. But tell me, why didn’t you try to bargain with me first? You did before. Untold riches was your promise, wasn’t it, if I betrayed the pirate for you?”

She snorted. “It didn’t work last time, so why waste my breath?”

“But you haven’t even tried seducing me to your side, another option that wouldn’t require you to risk your life.”

Seduce him? Why the devil would he say that? He knew how much she hated him. But then she’d never been nice to him, not once, had only wanted to kill or hurt him whenever she got close enough to do so. She had no idea how trying to be nice to him would play out other than to make him suspicious since he knew her druthers fairly well. Yet it was still a tempting thought—seducing him to her side, not by bedding him, but by just making him think she might. She might even be able to convince him to take her home. No, how could she when she wouldn’t be able to resist punching him if she got that close. . . .

The cabin boy arrived with her second breakfast tray. He was a skinny lad about her height, with reddish-brown hair and freckles. He looked far too nervous, possibly because he knew, as everyone else did by now, that she’d stabbed his captain. She hoped she hadn’t hurt the boy yesterday when she’d shoved him out of the way for her aborted leap for the railing. She gazed briefly at his britches, wishing she had a pair.

Bastard stood up to leave, telling the boy, “Keep an eye on Jack.”

Jacqueline waited until the door closed behind him before she said, “Jack Barker, is it?”

“He wants you to call me Jackie.”

“No, he wants everyone else to call you that to avoid confusion, but you and I will still call each other Jack. Are you from London?”

“Aye, but newly come from Reading in Berkshire with my brother Tom. He wanted to go to sea, has been hankering for it for years, he has, but he was reluctant to leave me behind, since he’s all I got now, after our pa died. So he looked for a ship that would take us both on, and this one did. But I don’t know much about being a cabin boy, well, not even a thing.”

“Shall I tell you a secret, Jack? My mother was a cabin boy once.”

His eyes got so wide, she laughed, but he asked, “Did her captain know she was a she?”

“He did, but she didn’t know he did. It was amusing how that played out, to hear them tell it. But my point is that you don’t need any prior experience for this job. You’ll be told what needs to be done, so just follow orders as they’re given and you’ll do fine. And it’s just”—she started to say Bastard, but she didn’t want the boy to mimic her disparagement, which would get him in trouble, so she corrected herself—“the captain you need to be concerned with. Don’t ignore small jobs others might give you if they see you idle, but don’t let them interfere with something the captain wants done. He comes first for you, and you probably will want to keep busy. I know I would.”

He started to fix the mess the pirates had made of Bastard’s bed. “You’d want to be a cabin boy like your mum?”

“Goodness, no.” She chuckled. “But I hate being idle, and there isn’t much that I don’t know how to do on a ship, thanks to my father and four uncles, all of whom captain their own ships. Come to think of it, you might consider asking some of the crew to teach you their jobs when you’re not busy—that is, if you like sailing and aren’t hankering to get back to land now that you’ve tried it.”

“I like it. Didn’t think I would, but I do.”

“That’s good, considering this ship is not about to turn back. Now, before you rush off to attend your captain, you might be able to help me with something.”

He blanched. “I can’t let you out of here. That was growled in my ear by the first mate.”

“No, no, I wouldn’t get another Jack in trouble, I promise you that. I was just hoping you might have an extra pair of britches I could borrow?”

Chapter Twenty-One

JACQUELINE WAS SITTING WITH her feet up on Bastard’s desk.

Her legs crossed, simply because she could since he wasn’t there. And why the deuce wasn’t he? Other than his brief visit that morning, he’d left her alone the entire day. When he ought to have spent the day in bed to let his wound heal. When she was beyond bored. When she might have flown at him with her nails if he had come in before she calmed down.