LITMIR.BIZ

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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 ones and just wear a thin shift and one silk petticoat.’

      ‘I am sure you will feel more comfortable, Donna Sanchez.’

      ‘You should call me Maribel. It is best not to use my titles here, Anna.’

      Anna looked dubious. ‘I am not sure I could do that, my…señorita.’

      ‘Yes, call me señorita if you will not use my name.’ Maribel sighed with relief as she shed some of her layers of petticoats, then, feeling how much better it was, she took off the last of them and stood in just a simple shift and the gown she had chosen. ‘This is my simplest gown, but still it is too costly for life here. Do you think you could purchase something simpler for me to wear, Anna? I am not permitted to visit the waterfront, but there must be merchants of a sort, I think.’

      ‘I am certain there are, though they do not have shops to trade from, merely a stall or the window of their house. I shall ask Higgins where suitable clothes can be purchased, D—señorita.’

      ‘Thank you. I will give you some gold pieces. I do not know how much you will need.’

      ‘One gold piece should buy you at least two gowns of the kind you require,’ Anna said. ‘Do not give me more, for I might be robbed.’

      ‘Is it too dangerous for you to visit the merchants?’

      ‘I shall not go alone. Higgins will take me if I ask him.’

      Maribel looked at her thoughtfully. ‘Has he spoken to you—asked you to wed him?’

      ‘We shall not marry in church, but it is agreed between us that we shall live together once he has built us a house.’

      ‘And when the ship leaves? Shall you come with me to England?’

      ‘We’ve talked about that,’ Anna said. ‘I shall look after you on the journey, but once you are in England I shall leave you and return with Higgins to the island. He says that when he retires from the sea, we shall set up a little trading station of our own. More people are beginning to settle here and we can buy from the ships that drop anchor and sell to those who live here.’

      Maribel felt a pang of regret. ‘I shall miss you, Anna. You have been a good friend to me.’

      ‘You were always a fair and generous mistress. In England you will find others to serve you, perhaps better than I ever could.’

      ‘They will not be better than you, Anna.’

      ‘Well, it will be some weeks before we must part,’ Anna said. ‘I am to stay with you until Higgins has his house built—and there will be the voyage to England. He says we can buy goods there and bring them back to the island. When you leave to join your family, it will be time enough to say our goodbyes.’

      ‘Yes…’ Maribel turned away to tidy some of her things. She had set out her own brush, silver combs, perfume flasks, and a small hand mirror on the top of an oak hutch that served her as a dressing chest. Tears stung behind her eyes. She felt very alone. When Anna left her she would have no one in the world that cared for her. Her mother’s relatives would be strangers and she was not even sure they would welcome her to their house. Especially if they knew that she had been living with pirates for some weeks.

      Maribel spread the wet clothes on bushes to dry in the heat of the scorching sun. The steam immediately began to rise and she knew she must be careful not to let them dry too much or the creases would never come out. She had washed a few of her things while Anna was out buying things they needed from the

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