title. The boatswain waited with his arms crossed and his gold earrings and shaved head gleaming in the sunshine. A string of beads like the one William wore was tied around his neck. All the crew had them. It was their mark, he’d learned, fashioned by Anne.
Captain Kinloch stepped away from the railing. “Excuse me a moment, Lieutenant.”
“Of course.” It took all his willpower not to watch her hips sway in those damned trousers as she walked away.
* * *
KATHERINE FORCED HERSELF not to look back as she left Lieutenant Barclay standing at the railing. But she hardly needed to look when her body still hummed with his presence. “What is it, Rafik?”
“Young rigger Danby wants to see you.”
“Send him up.”
“He will not come. He is afraid.”
Katherine frowned. “That’s ridiculous.”
Rafik only regarded her with that expressionless stare that silently let her know he thought he would make a better captain than she.
Katherine brushed by him and descended the stairs, finally allowing herself a glance over her shoulder. Lieutenant Barclay stood with his eyes on the horizon and the wind toying with the hair at his temples. She forced her attention away. “Did he give you no hint of his concerns?”
“It is best for you to hear it from him, Captain.”
Fears of returning to England had plagued the crew since the moment they’d set their sails north. No doubt he feared the impressment gangs, but there was little she could do to protect him from that. Perhaps he wanted permission to go ashore before they reached England. That was out of the question.
They made their way toward the stern, where Danby was partway up in the rigging. The moment he saw her he climbed down and whipped his hat off his head.
“What is it you have to say, Danby?”
His hat crumpled in his hands. “I—I should have told you before. I know that. But I was afraid...well, I was afraid you wouldn’t hire me.”
“Told me what?”
“That I was aboard Captain Warre’s ship. When we put in at Gibraltar, I snuck away. I know it was wrong, Captain, and I’d never do such a thing to you. I swear. I’d die first.”
“I believe you. But why tell me now?”
“I’m afraid, with him here—him what we pulled aboard.”
“Lieutenant Barclay?” Her thoughts filled with his smile—the creases at his eyes, the lines around his mouth, the subtly wicked angle of mustache above his lips. White teeth against sun-browned skin. If she were a different kind of woman—
Danby frowned and looked past her toward the upper deck. “Aye, but...that ain’t Lieutenant Barclay, mum.” He gripped his hat in his hands. “That’s Captain Warre.”
CAPTAIN WARRE.
Katherine stared toward the upper deck where he stood laughing with William. William, who surely knew the truth about their visitor. Captain Warre looked her way, caught her watching him.
An accomplished storyteller, indeed. Her blood began to pound. “Danby, are you certain?”
“No doubt on it, Captain.” Danby still worried his hat in his hands. “No mistaking the likes of him.”
She turned her back on the upper deck. “You’ve no cause for concern. He cannot punish you here, and with the number of sailors on a man-of-war, it’s doubtful he’ll remember you. You may rest easy.”
Danby exhaled and replaced his hat. “Yes, Captain. Thank you, Captain.”
“Have you told anyone that you recognize him?”
“Not a soul, Captain.”
“Good. See that you tell no one else.” Danby bobbed his head and hoisted himself back up the rigging, while Katherine exchanged looks with Rafik.
“I shall take him now and lock him in the brig,” Rafik said.
“No.”
“Then what do you wish me to do?”
Her stomach clenched fiercely. In her mind, Captain Warre’s cannons exploded. She could almost smell the acrid gunsmoke drifting across the water. The girl inside her tried to propel her forward to confront him, but the woman she’d become kept that urge in check. She may have been helpless then, but she bloody well wasn’t helpless anymore.
She glanced at the upper deck, and the past sucked at her with its violent whirlpool of fear and helplessness. For a moment she thought she would be sick. “For now,” she said slowly, “nothing. He can do little, being only one man.” Except that Captain Warre had the presence of ten men.
“That is dangerous thinking,” Rafik said too sharply.
“It is not for you to question,” Katherine shot back. “For the time being, we shall let him continue to believe we have not discovered his identity.” The significance of that identity could not be ignored. “And I shall place him under your supervision.”
Only a slight narrowing of his dark eyes told her he might find that acceptable.
“You shall assign him every menial task,” she told Rafik. Oh, yes, the great Captain Warre would swab decks and polish cannons and slop buckets of filth. “He will be one of the crew—just another sailor. And I expect you to treat him as such.”
“Aye, Captain.” A slight curving of his lips betrayed his opinion this time.
“Not more harshly, Rafik.” She would need Captain Warre alive and well when they arrived in London.
“I will treat him as the rest of the crew.”
“Excellent.” She shifted so she could see the upper deck once more. Soddingest bastard he’d ever set eyes on, was he? As she watched, he put his hands behind his head and stretched his shoulders. Her body went soft and liquid deep inside, and she clenched her teeth. Ten years she’d nursed her hatred for this man, and now it took an effort to tear her gaze away from him.
This was unacceptable.
“Tomorrow,” she decided. “You will move him into the berth with the crew. He is still weak, so give him only small tasks at first and keep an eye on him for signs that he is not as recovered as he seems.”
Rafik nodded.
“And report to me regularly about his activities. I want to know at the first hint of insubordination.” It would likely come moments after he received his first assignment.
Rafik returned to his duties, and Katherine turned toward the upper deck. Her hands shook
