words made her reflect on the treatment she had received from Captain Sylvester. He had given her his protection and shown her respect and what had she offered him in return? She regretted her quarrel with him more than ever. Supposing he decided to leave her to her fate? She would be a prisoner in Peg’s house, for she would not dare to go anywhere alone while Captain Pike was in port.
Justin frowned. He knew that he had provoked Maribel to a sharp retort, but he had been annoyed with himself for bringing her to this place. He should have known that it was too rough and ready for a woman like her. She could never live happily on the island. He must see to his business here and leave for England as quickly as possible.
‘So you’re Sylvester…’ The bulky pirate placed himself square in Justin’s path, his narrow set eyes glinting with malice. Some of his teeth were black and rotten, and his breath foul. He wore a red scarf beneath a battered black hat and an overcoat with several pockets over his shirt; his breeches were salt-stained, his boots had never been polished and his hair hung on his shoulders in greasy rattails. ‘I’ve heard you took a few prizes this trip—bagged yerself a mighty fortune, by all accounts.’
‘We have done well enough,’ Justin replied, keeping his tone civil though he disliked the man instantly. They had never met, but Pike’s reputation had gone before him and Higgins had pointed him out earlier. ‘My men are happy with the fruits of their labour. I trust you had similar fortune?’
‘Trust, do you?’ Pike spat on the ground, snarling in disgust. ‘We took nothing but a poxy merchantman with a cargo of wheat and barley. It will fetch a few guineas here for flour is always needed, but we had no rich pickings. Seems that you had all the luck, Sylvester. Tell me, what be your secret?’
‘We have no secret, just good fortune,’ Justin said. ‘Next time we may not fare as well.’
‘I heard tell you took at least two of that devil Don Sabatini’s ships?’
‘We may have done. Excuse me, sir. I have business.’
The pirate made no attempt to move. His hand rested suggestively on his sword hilt. ‘I took one of his ships last year…’
‘I dare say you will again.’ Justin’s eyes glittered. His hand moved to the hilt of his sword. ‘I believe there are plenty of merchant ships to go round. Perhaps you should try hunting in a different place—in the West Indies, mayhap?’
For a moment Captain Pike’s hand hovered above his sword hilt, a snarl on his lips, and then, as Higgins and one or two others came to stand at Justin’s back, it dropped to his side.
‘As you say, there is plenty for all. It would be better if we do not tread on each other’s toes in future, Sylvester.’
‘I wish you luck wherever you choose to go.’ Justin bared his white teeth in a smile. The other man glared at him, then pushed by and walked off.
‘Take care with him,’ Higgins warned in a low voice. ‘He has a foul temper and picks a quarrel too often. More men have died duelling with him than we lost in a year at sea!’
‘Captain Pike does not bother me.’ Justin did not smile. ‘He may not lay claim to the seas—they are for everyone to roam as they see fit.’
‘I agree with you there and, if we meet at sea, we are more than a match for him. He has but the one ship while we have two…’
‘Three—I intend to purchase another ship. We shall be strong enough to stand against anything Sabatini or any other man sends against us when we sail again.’
‘The men expect to share the spoils of the last voyage. I am not sure they wish to purchase another ship.’
‘They will have their share. I have enough put by from other prizes to buy her. My house takes little of what I earn and I need nothing more. The new ship will earn its price many times.’
‘I thought you meant to gather what you could and start a new life elsewhere?’
‘In time, perhaps.’
Justin dismissed the question. Once he had thought to make a quick profit and start elsewhere, but he could see no real future for himself. He had forfeited his right to the life of a gentleman. His father would rightly disown him if he returned with the profits gained as a pirate in his pocket—and he was not sure that his cousins would welcome him in France.
Maribel’s scorn for his trade was proof if he had needed it that no decent woman would want him as her husband. He had made his choice when he threw in his lot with the mutineers and assumed command of the Defiance. There was no point in trying to be something that he could no longer claim to be.
His mouth twisted wryly as he recalled her scathing words when she was first taken captive. Even recently she had told him that she suspected that he had once been a gentleman. Well, she was right. He had been once, the son of a respected landowner and cousin to men who stood well at court. Those days were over. He was a pirate and must live and die as one—though he would not compare himself to the scum he had come in conflict with a moment earlier.
Pike was the lowest creature to crawl on this earth. Justin understood that he had made an enemy of the man. He had not provoked the quarrel, but it had happened and he would have to take great care while the pirate remained in port.
He grimaced and put the incident from his mind. They would split the profits from their successful hunting trip once he had sold what he could for gold. Justin already knew what he meant to purchase with some of his share. He was smiling as he went inside the tavern to meet the man with whom he had arranged to do business. There was something he had it in mind to purchase…
Maribel had finished unpacking her trunk. Anna had offered to do it for her, but under Peg’s sceptical eye she had refused, asking only that Anna would show her how to wash her undergarments and how to take the creases from her silk petticoats.
‘’Tis not fitting that you should do such work,’ Anna scolded. ‘Some of the linens will need to be held over a steaming pot and then spread flat with a heated smoothing iron. I am not sure that such a thing is to be found on this island, my lady. Leave your linens to me and I shall see what I can do.’
‘I must learn to do these things for myself, Anna. Peg told me that there are no servants here.’
‘She may say what she pleases.’ Anna’s eyes glinted. ‘I know my duty to you, my lady, though it is so hot here that you may care to do as other women do and leave off some of your petticoats.’
‘Leave off my petticoats?’ Maribel was shocked. It was true that she was feeling the excessive heat, sweat trickling down her back and legs beneath the heavy layers she wore. She had already left off her heavy padded panniers, but she could not dispense with her petticoats! ‘No respectable lady would appear in public without her petticoats.’
‘You are not in Spain nor yet England,’ Anna reminded her. ‘I took off my petticoats days ago. Higgins advised me to go without them for comfort and I have felt much better for it.’
‘But you—’ Maribel stopped, ashamed that she had almost said the word servant. Anna had been a good friend to her, supporting her through the ordeal they had both suffered. She looked down at the stiff skirts that felt so wrong for her present situation. ‘You are right, Anna. I have been very uncomfortable. Perhaps I should leave off two of the heavier
