A string of pearly white teeth widened. “If she wanted to kill you, we would not be speaking right now.”
“Pardon me, but I remain unconvinced.”
Jaffa pointed at his eye and winked twice. “That is what this means.”
There was nothing Jaffa could tell Darcy which would alter his opinion of Alex.
But Jaffa was loyal. He must have sensed Darcy’s disbelief, for he continued, “You told her you could swim. And the ship was careened and cleaned of barnacles recently. She knew you would survive. Just like Cap’n Nick would.”
“Who is he?” Darcy was sick of hearing how similar they were in appearance, but he was curious.
“That is for the cap’n to tell you. Not me.” With no further word, Jaffa turned and motioned for Darcy to follow.
The breeze felt different. Where it had been at his back the night before, it was now blowing against his face. “Have we alteredcourse?” he asked.
Jaffa did not answer. He walked in silence until he stopped at the door next to Alex’s cabin. “The cap’n expects you.”
Darcy peeked inside. Aside from Alex, there was another man sitting at the table, which was nailed to the floor in the middle of the room.
She saw him and motioned with her knife for him to join them. “Mr. Darcy, ye’re up early. I had da Silva slip some of his sleepin’ medicine in yer cider. Knocks most men out for a full day.”
So she was responsible for his deep slumber. Why was he not surprised? The woman was a plague.
She motioned with her knife for Darcy to join them, but he had no desire to share a meal with her, so he stood at the foot of the table.
If his superior position bothered her, she gave no indication of it. She continued, “Mr. Darcy, this is Quartermaster Boone. He’s theFancy’sCivil Magistrate, trustee, record keeper, and accountant. When we take a prize, he’s the one who counts up and divides the spoils.”
The quartermaster was tall and solid with a shock of blonde hair tied in a queue. “The right-hand man,” Darcy surmised, addressing Boone. He could not bring himself to speak tothatwoman.
Boone’s chest puffed out, and his appraising look turned to one of approval. “That I be, Mr. Darcy. ‘Tis a pleasure having ye aboard, though I daresay the pleasure’s all ours.”
Darcy liked Boone’s honesty. “You are not wrong.”
Alexandra stabbed a chunk of meat, tearing a piece off with her teeth, her cheek bulging as she chewed and spoke. “I hear ye have a young lady on land.”
Darcy's blood ran cold. He would allow himself to be dragged over the hull of the ship a hundred times before he spoke of Elizabeth to the she-devil with a wad of masticated cow lodged in her cheek. “Should that be true, I would not share my confidences with you.”
She shoved the ball of meat to her other cheek. “Then ye’d better learn not to speak her name in yer sleep.”
He felt his heartbeat all over his body.
Taking several gulps from her wine glass, she added, “Elizabeth. It’s a fine, strong name. Is she a fine, strong woman?”
The disdain in her tone made Darcy snap. “You do not deserve to utter her name.”
Alex stabbed her knife into the table, looking at Boone and gesturing at Darcy. “That! What’s a woman gotta do for that?”
Boone held his peace, an impossibility for Alex, who did not know the meaning of the word. “If Nick loved me like Mr. Darcy loves his Elizabeth, he never would’ve—” she cut her sentence off with a fiery scowl. Whoever Nick was, Alex would make him pay for whatever it was he had done.
Taking another gulp of wine andwiping her chin against the back of her hand, Alex asked, “What’d she do to make ye love her?”
“Nothing. I gave her my heart willingly, not under duress.” Something he doubted the woman sitting beside him could comprehend.
She mulled that over for a bit, then asked, “How long did that take?”
“From the moment I first saw her until now, ten months.”
She twisted her lips. “I’ve loved Nick these ten years.”
