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Chapter 6
“I beg your pardon?” Morgan asked, temporarilystunned by her request.
Serenity gave him a huge smile. “Forgive me,
Captain. ’Twas a small jest. I wanted to see the look on your face. And it’s priceless. Truly, truly priceless.”
He groaned. How could she gain so much satisfaction out of making him insane?
“If you’re through with your games, then I have serious business to be about.”
“What a novel idea,” she said, pulling her small book and pencil from her pocket. “If you’ll just—”
“What do you think you’re doing?”
She paused and looked up at him. “I’m going to work. You have a ship to run and I have a story to research.”
Morgan stared at her in disbelief. How she could even think about writing after all that had happened was beyond his ken. “Isn’t writing a story what got you into this trouble?”
Her face lit up as if she were proud. “Absolutely, and if suffer I must, then far be it from me to suffer in silence. I plan to make a great novel out of this ordeal.”
“Ordeal?” he asked, offended by her choice of words. If she wanted an ordeal, he could certainly give her one!
But then he reminded himself that she was sheltered and naive, and to her thiswasan ordeal.
“Adventure, then,” Serenity amended. “Actually, it’s hard to say whether it’ll be an ordeal or adventure until all this is behind me. Not that it matters right now.” Putting her glasses on, she gripped her book and pencil like a soldier would his musket. “Now take me topside, Captain.”
“I’d rather take your bottom side and spank…” he said under his breath.
Serenity tensed, and gave him a look that said she wasn’t quite sure she’d heard what he said. “What was that?”
He sighed. “I feel blindsided by your chatter, Miss James.”
He watched the comical expression on her face as she tried to match the syllables he supplied her with the ones she’d originally heard.
By her frown, he could tell she knew they didn’t match.
Irritated and yet somewhat amused, Morgan headed out of the room and did his best not to grumble or curse as she followed behind him.
After several steps, Serenity asked. “You’re thinking, ‘Why me?’ aren’t you?”
He paused at her question and turned around to look at her over his shoulder. “How did you know?”
“You have that same look my father gets right before he says it out loud and implores my mother’s soul for help.”
“Does that a lot around you, does he?”
“Well, only every now…hey!” she snapped as she caught his meaning, not to mention his teasing smile. “That was rude. You don’t know me well enough to be so insolent.”
“No, but I’m learning fast.”
She gave him a damning look that told him she probably had a sudden impulse to shove him up the ladder. And under her breath she whispered, “I’ll get you!”
I wish you would,Morgan thought to himself as he turned around to help her up the short ladder that led to the deck. There was nothing he could think of that would be more pleasurable than beinghadby Miss Serenity James.
“Now, remember rule number two,” he said in warning, “If you fall overboard, I won’t go back for you.”
“I thought you said you would.”
