Stormy Vows/Tempest at Sea (31 page)

Some of the ruthlessness faded from his face, to be replaced by an odd watchfulness. He shook his head incredulously. “Don't you know that you're supposed to be ground beneath my heel?” he asked dryly. “What does it take to put you down, Jane?”

Jane shrugged, her smile shaky. “Oh, I'm suitably chastised, I assure you. You can be a very intimidating man, Mr. Dominic.”

“Jake, damn it,” he said impatiently. “What's the point in addressing me so formally, when you know I get nothing but cheek from you?”

“Jake,” she repeated, the name sounding strangely intimate on her lips. She pushed back her chair and rose slowly, her knees stiff from inactivity. “Well, Jake, I believe I'll call it a night. I'm afraid your court jester isn't providing you with the proper degree of amusement this evening. Perhaps another time.”

The dark eyes flared with annoyance. “It's early yet. Stay a bit,” he ordered arrogantly. “I'll give you another chance.”

She shook her head. “Not tonight,” she said, turning away.

Jake's hand snaked out to grasp her wrist, obviously meaning
only to stop her, but the stiffness of her legs caused her to be momentarily unbalanced, so that her left limb rammed into the table leg. A flash of hot agony shot through it, and a cry of pain broke from her.

Jake's eyes widened in surprise. “What the hell!” he exclaimed, his hand loosening around her wrist. His lightning glance took in the pasty color of Jane's face and the helpless quiver of her lips. “My God, what the hell happened?” he asked roughly. “You look like you're about to pass out.”

She shook her head as the wave of nausea gradually subsided. “I hit my leg,” she said shakily. “I'll be all right in a minute.” She sank back into her chair and closed her eyes, breathing deeply to still the sudden quivering weakness in her stomach.

With a muttered oath Jake was out of his chair and kneeling in front of her, his hands swiftly rolling up the loose leg of her khaki trousers.

She opened her eyes in sudden alarm and reached down to stop him. “No,” she said quickly. “I'll be fine. Just give me a moment.”

Jake's dark eyes were grim. “You're not going to stop me, Jane, so don't try,” he said harshly. “You barely touched that table leg and yet you're almost fainting with pain. I'm going to find out why.”

His determined gaze held hers for a long moment before she dropped her eyes. She couldn't fight him right now, she thought wearily. She hadn't the strength.

He had rolled the cuff over her knee, and now his swift, dexterous hands were unrolling the elastic bandage. He unwrapped the last layer of cloth and pulled the bandage away to reveal the ugly purple swelling of her kneecap.

“Good God!” he swore harshly. “What the hell have you done to yourself? That knee must be terribly painful.”

Jane wet her lips nervously with her tongue. “It's not that
bad,” she said. “It will be fine in a few days.” She tried to cover the discolored bruise with her trouser leg, but he stopped her, an ominous frown clouding his face. His sharp glance had now noted the slight thickness beneath the other pant leg, and with a terse but descriptive obscenity he proceeded to roll it up. His face was rigidly controlled as he unwrapped the second bandage and saw the swollen knee.

He sat back on his heels, and his gaze traveled from knee to knee with incredulous eyes. “You've got to be the most stupid little bitch on the face of the earth!” he said explosively. “Haven't you got the sense to know that those bruises need attention? You shouldn't even be on your feet, for God's sake.”

“They'll be all right,” she insisted stubbornly. “I'll bathe them in cold water when I get back to my cabin.” She started to rise, and he pushed her unceremoniously back into the chair.

“Stay where you are,” he ordered. “I don't want you on your feet again until you have my permission. Which probably won't be for at least a week,” he added grimly, as he eyed the abused knees sourly.

“That's not possible,” Jane said stubbornly. “I've got to work tomorrow.”

Jake's lips were taut with anger as he remarked sarcastically, “Your devotion to duty is praiseworthy, but I run things around here, if you recall. You'll do what I say and like it. I'll tell Marc I'm sending you to bed for the next week.”

“No!” she cried forcefully, her golden eyes blazing. “I won't have Captain Benjamin think I came running to you because I couldn't take it. I'm going back to work tomorrow, and you can't stop me!”

Jake's eyes narrowed at her words. “What can't you take, Jane?” he asked with the softness of a stiletto sheathed in velvet. “Why should Marc think that you'd run to me?”

“I can take anything your precious captain hands out,” Jane
said, breathing raggedly, “anything! And neither you nor anyone else is going to keep me from being on that deck in the morning!”

“We'll see about that,” he said. “But right now you're going to tell me what you're going to be doing on that deck tomorrow.”

“Why, scrubbing it, of course,” she said bitterly, suddenly reckless. “Miles and miles of it. How else do you think my knees would get like this?”

Jake Dominic went suddenly still. “You're saying that Benjamin has had you scrubbing decks on your hands and knees for the past four days?”

Jane tossed her head. “Why not? Fresh sea air, sun, healthful exercise,” she enumerated caustically. “As you said, quite a change from the classroom.”

Anger flared in the dark eyes. “Damned if I don't almost see why Marc did it,” he said between his teeth. He rose to his feet and crossed to the phone extension at the bar and dialed rapidly. He spoke into the receiver. “Marc, I want you in the lounge immediately.” Without waiting for a reply he replaced the receiver and turned to look at her.

Jane looked infinitely vulnerable lying back in the chair, her cheeks pale, her diminutive body in its oversized garments slight and fragile. The only signs of strength were in the defiance in her eyes and the indomitable set to her soft pink mouth.

“Why didn't you tell me?” he asked curtly.

She lifted her chin. “It wasn't your concern. For that matter, it still isn't. It's entirely between Captain Benjamin and myself.”

He gazed at her in incredulous anger. “Damn it,” he said harshly. “I own the
Sea Breeze
. I employ every person aboard her, and you say it's not my concern when my captain abuses you?”

“I am not abused,” she said crossly. “I wish you'd just stay out of it.” She tightened her hands on the arms of the chair and attempted to lever herself into a standing position.

“Damn it, can't you ever obey orders?” he roared. He crossed
the room in four strides and swung her up in his arms, ignoring her startled gasp.

She started to speak, but he cut off her words. “Shut up! Just shut up!” He carried her to the brown leather couch in the center of the room and dropped her on it with all the gentleness of one disposing of yesterday's garbage. “Now, stay there!”

Jane pulled herself into an upright position, very affronted by this undignified treatment, and opened her mouth to tell him just what he could do with his orders. This extremely hazardous course of action was interrupted by the arrival of Marc Benjamin.

The captain looked his usual commanding, unruffled self in his dark-blue uniform. His keen gray eyes impersonally noted Jane's presence on the couch, before he turned his attention to Dominic. “You wanted to see me?” he asked composedly.

Jake crossed to the bar and poured himself a brandy. “You could say that,” he said tersely. “I hear you've been acting like a virtual Captain Bligh with our reluctant guest here.”

“I didn't say that!” Jane protested hotly. “I told you this was none of your business.” She turned to the captain and said quickly. “I'll be on deck tomorrow at the usual time, Captain Benjamin.”

“You needn't try to protect me, Miss Smith,” Benjamin said coolly. “I'm quite capable of making my own explanations.”

“Protect you!” Jane sputtered furiously. “I'm not protecting you, my dear Simon Legree. I just want no interference in what is strictly a private battle. I have no intention of winning by default.”

Benjamin didn't pretend to misunderstand her. “It seems you've done just that, whether you like it or not,” he answered impassively.

“Not on your life,” Jane said emphatically, her eyes burning like a flame in her white face.

“I can't believe this.” Jake came forward to stand beside the
couch. “If you'll stop squabbling like two kindergarten children, I'd like that explanation, Marc.”

The captain shrugged. “There's nothing to make a fuss about, Jake,” he said calmly. “Miss Smith and I were just having a little battle of wills. I'll change her to another duty tomorrow.”

“You'll do no such thing!” Jane cried, struggling to get to her feet.

Jake pushed her back on the couch. “Be still!” he ordered roughly. He turned to Benjamin and asked grimly, “What type of work did you imagine she could do with legs like these?” He reached down and pulled the khaki pants up to reveal her swollen kneecaps.

Benjamin gazed in stunned horror, for once jolted out of his cool aplomb. “Good Lord!” he swore beneath his breath. He looked up at Dominic, his gray eyes stricken. “I didn't know, Jake,” he muttered. “I swear I didn't know. Why the hell didn't she tell me?”

“Because she's a stubborn young fool with more courage than sense,” Jake said curtly. “I gather she was under the impression that you were trying to break her spirit.” He shook his head in disgust. “I'd expect such behavior from a young firebrand like Jane, but what provoked you to go this far?”

Benjamin swallowed hard, looking slightly sick. “She may have been right. I don't know. She was so damned defiant that it got under my skin. Every day I thought she'd give in and ask me to change her duty, and every day she threw her refusal right back in my face.” His hands came up to cover his eyes. “God, I feel rotten.”

Jane felt her anger begin to drain away as she saw the unhappiness and self-reproach in Benjamin's face. She could grudgingly understand the irritation that had driven him to such lengths. Hadn't she been stirred by the same pride and stubbornness that had goaded the captain? She knew the same treacherous
melting that she always experienced at the sight of another's distress or pain.

“I should think you would,” Jake said scathingly. “You've acted with the same asinine stupidity that she has.”

This remark was met with resentful scowls from both antagonists.

“It wasn't the captain's fault that I bruise easily,” Jane said defensively, with an abrupt about-face. “You hired him to run your blasted ship for you. If he thought that I'd be of most value scrubbing decks, then that's what I should do.” She scooted to the other end of the couch to evade Jake's reach and rose to her feet. “In fact, that's what I insist on doing!” she added emphatically. She turned and marched toward the door, brushing by the stunned captain with a curt nod. “I'll see you tomorrow morning at the usual time, Captain Benjamin.”

The captain was having a predinner drink with Jake in the lounge one evening, shortly after they had sighted the northern coast of Mexico, and was mentally congratulating himself on his diplomatic brilliance. It appeared that his solution to the problem Jane had presented was working very well indeed in the past several days. His self-satisfaction in this respect was suddenly blasted into the stratosphere by a call from his first officer, Jim Davidson.

When he turned away from the phone, he grimaced as he picked up his whiskey. “I should have known that it was too good to last. That was Jim Davidson on the phone. It seems that we have a slight disciplinary problem with the crew. Five of them were caught shooting craps in the storeroom.” He looked down gloomily at his drink. “One of them was your problem child, Jane Smith.”

Jake Dominic lifted an eyebrow mockingly. “Surely that's
not so reprehensible,” he said easily. “You've always allowed the men to gamble on the
Sea Breeze
.”

“Not for money,” Benjamin said shortly. “Evidently there was quite a bit of cash involved in this particular game.”

“I see,” Jake replied thoughtfully; then his eyes lit mischievously. “And what discipline are you going to administer to these miscreants? Scrubbing the deck?”

“Lord, no!” Benjamin said with a shudder. “The men are easy enough to deal with. They know that the standard punishment for gambling is to stop their pay for a few days. But how in the hell do I discipline Jane, when she's not even earning a salary?”

Jake rose from the barstool and wandered over to the port-hole to stare absently out at the tranquil sea that was just beginning to be stroked by the scarlet rays of the setting sun. “I'll take care of it.” He spoke casually, over his shoulder. “As you say, she's my problem.”

“I didn't think you'd want to be bothered,” Benjamin said slowly. Though Dominic had inquired once or twice about Jane, he'd never once visited his charge in her cabin during the time that she'd been confined.

Jake Dominic turned around to face him, a sardonic smile on his face. “It would hardly have been discreet to display more than a casual interest in our little invalid. You know damn well if I'd paid so much as a courtesy call to Jane's cabin, the entire ship would have assumed that she was my mistress. The next two months are going to be difficult enough for her without that particular problem to deal with.”

That Jake had been acting chivalrously to protect Jane had obviously never occurred to Benjamin. “So you haven't grown bored with your court jester yet,” Benjamin remarked dryly. “That must be some kind of record for you, Jake.”

He shrugged, his dark eyes shuttered. “She's an amusing
child. I enjoy having her around.” He smiled. “Even when she raises hell.”

“Shall I tell Davidson to send her to you for discipline, then?” Benjamin asked slyly. “It wouldn't do to exempt her from punishment. It would set a bad precedent.”

There was a trace of uneasiness in Jake's face. “It really wasn't a very serious offense,” he suggested tentatively. Then, as Benjamin continued to stare at him implacably, he said in exasperation, “Oh, damn it to hell! Yes, send her to me. I'll think of something.”