Read Online Pirated Love by K'Anne Meinel - Free Book Online Page B

said, dismally.  The freedom of exploring the ship that day had been exciting.  Even if Frank did not tell her much, it had been exhilarating to think she did not have to stay in her cabin at all times.
    Tina was shaking her head.  “It ain’t safe,” she said, knowingly.  She thought about how Claire would stick out like a sore thumb with her beauty, her ladylike ways, and her clean appearance in the ports they planned to dock in.
    “Well, with you there or Frank...” she began, but Tina was still shaking her head.
    “We will be busy ,” she said, with finality.  “I cannot afford to have you gadding about or being seen by the wrong element.  I ain’t gonna shed blood for you,” she added.
    “Shed blood?” she asked, haughtily, not fully understanding the implications.  “I assure you all I wish to do is see...”
    “You ain’t leaving this room when we dock, and that’s final!” she said, as she stuck her knife in the table where it quivered from the force of the blow.
    Claire was annoyed, very annoyed by this, but a lifetime of following the word of her father or servants or even the nuns before that made her unsure of her ground, especially with this volatile captain.  She did not understand, but perhaps she would later.  Maybe if she just stayed quiet about it, perhaps the captain would change her mind or explain.
    “We need to send a message to your father too, about yer ransom,” the captain said to fill the awkward gap in conversation.
    “Where are you from?” Claire asked, suddenly.  She was intrigued by the difference in speech mannerisms that the captain had exhibited.  One moment she spoke in the slang that was evident in the other pirates and other times it was obvious she spoke like a British aristocrat.  It was an odd conundrum.
    “Why?” Tina asked in reply, avoiding the question with one of her own.
    “I was curious,” Claire answered, despite the harsh reply.
    “Curiosity kills cats.”
    “I am not a cat,” she tried to tease in return.
    “But you have a fine pussy,” she said bluntly and watched the blonde redden at her coarseness.  She felt a little bad for making her uncomfortable, but Frank had told Tina almost everything Claire asked about the ship and she was a nosy beggar.
    “Really,” she huffed.  “Is that necessary?” she asked, indignantly.
    “Aye,” she answered, with a shrug of indifference.  She was soon done with her meal and it was a quiet ending.  “You’ll want to make sure your trunk is closed tightly.  We’re in for a storm and it is going to get rough.”
    “You said that was why we were having an early supper, but there is not a cloud on the horizon,” she gestured towards the windows.
    “I know, but there will be...and soon.  I will stop by to make sure everything is tied down before it begins, including you.”
    “Tie me down?” she asked, indignantly.
    “In a storm like what I am expectin’,” she used slang, deliberately shortening her words, “You would get tossed around like garbage.  I do not want you gettin’ hurt!”  She did not like her words to be questioned, but she supposed she could make exceptions for the unknowing, for now.
    Claire did not understand.  She found a book in the captain’s small library in the bedroom that she took and read in the light from the windows until that began to fade.  It helped to pass the hours while the captain was on deck and she had to light a lamp to continue.  She had just managed to get it lit when a wave hit the ship and nearly knocked the lamp over.  She hung it quickly, by the wire around it, to one of the hooks in the ceiling and watched it swing to and fro.  Remembering the captain’s warning, she closed her trunk tightly and sat down on the bed as she looked out the windows from the room.
    Slowly, it got worse as the waves hammered the large ship.  Claire wondered how bad it could get and started in surprise as the door suddenly swung open.  She looked up