‘Nonsense. But a man can’t expect a woman to remember him when he’s been gone two years.’
‘Bet yer my braces it be bad luck to marry.’ He looped his thumbs under the leather straps holding up his trousers. ‘No. I don’t bet yer my braces. They’s my lucky ones. But I’m wantin’ to keep yer around, Capt’n. So just yer remember—yer can look. Yer can touch. Yer can promise. But yer can’t say no vows. Not even them short marriages a seaman can give a woman on an island he’ll never see again and her only knowin’ his first name and no other.’
‘I don’t want a woman. I want a ship. You know how I feel about Ascalon. Best ship I’ve ever sailed and better than gold. Even if that treasure’s only broken rocks—Warrington promised me a ship for them. And I’m taking the stones to him—with a ribbon ’round them. He’ll make good on the promise.’
‘Fine talkin’. But a mermaid flash a little tail at you and you be forgettin’.’ Gidley laughed at his own joke. ‘Wouldn’t mind staying on this rock pile, if I had me a mermaid. Long as I didn’t get finned in my man parts. No. I’m thinkin’ wrong. A mermaid would pull the life right out o’ me.’
‘There’s no such thing as mermaids.’ His mind flashed to Thessa stepping from the water.
Gidley snorted. ‘I seen her and so did yer. She just sprouted legs. I know my history, Capt’n. On a moonlit night, don’t get in no water with her—she’ll turn back fish, drown yer and swallow yer just like yer a minnow.’ He raised a brow. ‘Yer has to promise me, Capt’n. No swimmin’ in the moonlight with the woman. All we’d have left o’ yer is yer boots. She may look tasty on the outside, but on the inside she’s all scales, bones and slimy parts.’
‘Don’t be ridiculous.’
‘Ain’t a man alive now what’s coupled with a mermaid in the water. On land they be fine, but get ’em in the sea and they’s all bite.’ His eyes narrowed. ‘I bet that other sister sports whiskers longer’n my own.’
‘She has big eyes and gills. Smells like bilge water. So get your mind off the women.’
‘Yer seen her last time?’
Benjamin shook his head. ‘Just seeing if you’d believe my fables as well as you do your own. If you mention one more word of that superstitious muck you’ll be tied to the mast, heels up, singing hymns.’
Gidley stopped for a moment. He mused, ‘Wonder if that one swimmin’ has one of them marks like her sister has.’ He touched above his breast. ‘Kind of draws a man’s eyes.’
Instantly, Benjamin’s thoughts jerked back to Thessa’s body. The sight of her stepping on to land. His imagination searched her skin, though the shift hadn’t allowed him to see close enough for a birthmark. His brother had said all the sisters had a small skin discoloration of some sort. The earl claimed it a longing mark. A remnant of something a mother wished for before a child was born.
Benjamin had no longing mark visible but when he looked at Thessa, he felt one deep inside his body coiling and bumping against his skin. He had no belief in mermaids or goddesses, but when he looked at her, he wished he did.
Even before she left her house to return outside, Thessa thought of the captain standing at the base of her stairway, waiting for her to take him to the stones. She remembered his eyes, surprised at how she hadn’t wanted to turn away from him. He had lightness in his gaze which reminded her of the way the early morning sun shimmered across the blue of the sea—when the golden glow of the morning made her feel she’d awoken into a world fresh and new.
Stephanos would remember the name of the ship that took her sister. He would be angry to see it in the harbour. She would have to talk to him, otherwise the captain would be in danger. Even if the captain worked all night getting the stones, Stephanos would gather the men of the island and attack before the ship could sail. She would have to speak with Stephanos very soon—before the captain lingered on the island digging in the earth.
Thessa opened the door and moved to the top of the stairway. The older man stood away from the house, his eyes on the landscape, but the captain waited for her. When the captain stepped aside so she could descend, she noted the width of his shoulders and the firm line of his lips. He looked no happier to be on the island than her father had been the last time—no man should disdain the island so. But she did want to help her sister and the captain had no knowledge of what could happen to him on the island.
‘You should take care.’ She studied the paths. ‘Do you have weapons on your ship?’
He didn’t answer and took his time turning back to her. His voice was soft. ‘Whatever would I need weapons for?’ He stood as still as the fallen columns at the top of the island.
She let the wind ruffle her hair before she answered, ‘Sea serpents.’
‘Ah, yes.’ His lips turned up the barest amount. ‘Sea serpents. I’ve dealt with them.’
‘They have deadly teeth.’
‘Mine are just as sharp.’ His chuckle both warmed and chilled her at the same time.
To men spilling blood hardly seemed to matter. But she hated the quick death. The suddenness where light went to dark.
Her mother’s brother had been celebrating the birth of a child and everyone had been merry. But someone had said something about the child not favouring the father and, before she even realised anyone was truly angry, a knife had slashed through her uncle’s belly. Everything had changed in less time than it took to scream. Her uncle bled to death almost before her aunt could kneel beside him.
She had learned how a world could be wiped away with a moment that happened in the space of a few heartbeats.
Even when Thessa’s sister left, this sea captain did not know how carefully Thessa had chosen her words to Stephanos. She had pretended her sister had said she was visiting their aunt and that it had been days before they realised she’d left the island. She’d even begged Stephanos not to search out the ship, flattering him and hinting that her sister was marred—in case Melina returned. Thessa didn’t think the Greek could have found the ship in the vast seas, but she’d not wanted him to try.
Melina had been trying to provide for them all and Thessa knew her elder sister had wanted to search out their father. Melina couldn’t have survived marriage to the Greek, but she insisted Thessa not go near him. Melina believed in art and beauty. Thessa wished every painting on the earth destroyed. They only caused grief.
If she thought and spoke carefully, she hoped to put off marriage to Stephanos long enough for him to notice someone else.
She became aware of the captain examining her face. Straightening her sash, she said, ‘I wanted to be certain you take care. One bite from a sea serpent and a man can sleep for ever.’
‘I realise life can be deadly.’ He looked at her and had the look of secret humour in his upturned lips, but his eyes had blandness behind them, as if he wouldn’t even let himself look back at his own memories. ‘Creatures of the sea...or land...they are nothing compared to the storms the heavens can send and I don’t fear them either. If I wished
