She ignored the pirate, wouldn’t even glance back at him. But Jackie couldn’t get up fast enough, grabbed Jacqueline’s plate, and nearly ran down the stairs. At least she’d finished eating first, but it was surprising how the boy could be afraid of the man, yet loyal to him at the same time.

“You shouldn’t fill his ears with your woes,” Damon continued. “It’s not as if he can quit his job and hie off in indignation on your behalf.”

He didn’t move away. Had he tied off the wheel? She still wouldn’t look back to find out. She waited to hear if he had anything else to say, but after a few silent minutes passed she began to feel a little uneasy. But she refused to ask him what he wanted.

“I don’t mind your silence, Jack. It’s an improvement over what usually comes out of your mouth.”

She recognized testiness when she heard it. He did mind! And his remark wasn’t even true anymore. Since the day she’d gotten out of the cabin, she’d been cordial, mostly, except for last night, but definitely cordial in comparison to how she’d behaved before.

“So don’t mistake my offer.”

What offer? Ah, temptation to get her to talk. She wasn’t falling for that. She got up and headed for the railing at the back of the ship, still without looking at him.

“Come with me,” Damon said to her back. “You can talk to your friends—through a locked door. Don’t ask for more than that.”

She swung around wide-eyed. “Why now?”

“Because the wind is holding steady, so I have a few minutes to accommodate you.”

She didn’t care why, she was just so surprised and relieved that she would be able to find out how her brother was, from his own mouth. Damon’s saying Jeremy was all right didn’t make it true.

She followed on his heels, down to the main deck, then down the stairs to the next one. The galley would be down there and the crew quarters, which was where the pirates caroused when they weren’t up on deck. She hadn’t looked to see how many were up there, but she glanced back up the stairs hoping none would follow. The three-mast vessel was fairly large, so she was surprised there weren’t more cabins for ship’s officers, though Damon apparently had only one officer, his first mate. But only three doors were down here near the stairs, with another set of stairs that went down to the lowest level.

When he didn’t leave her there, she turned to demand, “Some privacy, if you please.”

He raised a raven brow. “Did I say that was part of the deal?”

Her brows snapped together. “You didn’t say it wasn’t. And if this was a deal, you should have said so and given me leeway to bargain!”

“Are you getting angry, Jack?”

She was. Damnit! “Five bloody minutes alone?”

He shook his head. “This is the most dangerous place on the ship for you to be, so you’ve got two minutes to get yourself reassured. Don’t waste it.”

“Jack?”

It was Percy asking on the other side of the door. Her raised voice must have drawn him to it. She’d been afraid she’d have to shout through the door to be heard, which would have been the case if the two were chained inside the room.

“Are you being treated well, Percy?”

“The food is rather tasty and they gave me a hammock to sleep in. It’s a hellish contraption. I don’t recommend it, Jack, ’deed not.”

She heard laughter coming closer to the door, then Jeremy’s voice next to it: “Percy had trouble figuring out how to stay in it long enough to sleep, but he’s managing now. Are you okay, Jack?”

Hearing her brother’s voice was such a relief she had to wipe back a few tears. “I’m fine—but not alone. The captain’s here. You?”

“Not bad a’tall.”

“He was black and blue—”

“Shut up, Percy,” Jeremy said, then to her: “The bruising is gone. I promise you I’ve had worse after a tavern brawl, and you know how many of those I’ve jumped into.”

“But something broke?”

Silence to that question, which had her holding her breath, then finally she asked the man who couldn’t keep a secret to save his soul, “Percy?”

“I’ve kicked him away from the door,” Jeremy said, then in exasperation: “Hell’s bells, Jack, stop worrying about something so minor. I thought it might be worse, but I didn’t have trouble breathing, and now it doesn’t bother me to move anymore, so it was probably just a bruised rib that’s mended itself.” He added angrily, “And the captain lied. He said we’d get out on deck for exercise, but we haven’t gotten out even once.”

She winced. “That might be because I’ve been let out.” She glared at Damon. “He doesn’t want us to talk privately.”

“And time’s up.” Damon took her arm. “You three will see each other soon enough.”

She’d heard the growls from the upper deck just as he must have, so she understood why her visit was so short. And she clearly heard someone yell, “Get out o’ the bleedin’ way, blighter, or yer going tumbling down—”

The threat ended when Damon reached the top step and stood shoulder to shoulder with Mortimer, both with pistols drawn. The first mate had come to guard the top of the stairs to keep four of the pirates on Damon’s crew from going down them. The thugs had apparently tried to catch her alone down there with Damon. One shout from them could have brought the rest of the pirates running. . . . She blanched when she realized what could have happened. Yet Damon had risked it just to reassure her that Jeremy was okay? Why the deuce didn’t he just let Jeremy out to see her instead of taking her down there? But then she realized why. Because Jeremy, mended, was far more dangerous than four blustering thugs.

Damon had tucked her behind his back as soon as they got up there, so she didn’t get a good look at the insistent pirates. But from earlier, she knew they were armed. The one wearing a green coat had four pistols tucked in his belt. Jackie had told her he called himself Bart Satin—no wonder he wouldn’t get rid of that atrocious satin coat. She’d seen him too often on the deck, as flamboyant as his brethren, but more malevolent in the way he looked at her, as if the lust he felt wasn’t the normal sort, but the deadly sort.