Storm over the Caribbean

08. Caribbean Cruise

"This does not mean you will be accompanying me into danger, understood? Wherever we are going, I will find a nice hotel room with three locks on the door and you. Will. Stay. There."

I nodded most obediently and demurely, like a proper wife should. "Of course, Dicky Darling. Just as you say, Dicky Darling."

My words probably would have come across as more sincere if I hadn't been relaxing on a deck chair, sipping a drink through a straw. This was the life!

I glanced over to where Mr Rikkard Ambrose was lying on another deck chair which I'd practically had to force him onto.

"You know...relaxing works better if you don't clench your butt and keep your back straight as a rod."

He cocked his head. "Who, pray, said I wished to relax?"

Good point.

"So, where are we heading first?"

He sent me an icy glare. Ah, so apparently he wasn't in the mood to talk about this.

"Or, if you don't want to talk about that, we could chat instead about why your father, whom you've had nothing to do with for over a decade, is suddenly after you," I happily suggested. "And why he's sending you letters that contain words such as 'heir', 'duty' and 'marriage'. Sounds like a very interesting subject."

Apparently, that was the right thing to say to make him talkative.

"Caribbean," he stated, his voice cool. "We're heading to the Caribbean."

"Oh, I approve!" I nodded firmly. "Summer, sun and sandy beaches."

He cast a glance at me. Surely it was only my imagination it seemed rather displeased?

"This. Is. Not. A. Holiday."

"Oh, I know that!" I told him, since it was clearly obvious. "If it were a holiday, you wouldn't be here."

That got me another of those icy looks of his. I didn't really let it bother me, though. Judging by the way his eyes were raking my body, he couldn't be too angry with me.

But then his gaze suddenly changed and his eyes met mine, something ominous flickering deep within them.

"Pirates."

That one word of his made me shut up immediately. Some people might romanticize pirates, but I was married to the man who was the world's biggest target for pirate raids, and who very much did not appreciate the fact. Some of the reports I had read were rather...disturbing.

Suddenly, his overprotective behaviour earlier made much more sense. If he intended to go pirate hunting, taking his pregnant wife along for the ride was probably pretty much the last thing he wanted to do.

Not that that would discourage me.

"During the last few months," he explained, "my vessels travelling on trade routes through the Caribbean have fallen victim to an increasing number of pirate attacks. Slowly but surely, I am being driven out of the area, and my competition is taking over."

Glancing over the railing, I inspected the two heavily armed ships that had been accompanying our yacht ever since we left the harbour.

"So...that's why they are here?"

"Indeed."

"Still..." My brow furrowed in doubt. I wasn't an expert on pirates, but I was fairly certain that the more dangerous specimens could not be taken down with two ships alone. Fend off one or two raiding ships? Sure. Take on an entire fleet? No way! "Going to hunt pirates? Just the two of us? I know Karim is on the other ship, but you didn't even bring any men except the sailors. Not that I don't appreciate your confidence in my spiffing gunslinging skills, but this seems a bit risky."