Episode 75
Shocking Behavior
They lay entwined in a shared lake of sweat atop the bunk, panting in the airless cabin. Geoffrey withdrew his arm from beneath her to sit up, his back to the plank bulkhead. He paused a moment to admire the flawless skin of a her naked back before reaching across her to a shelf set above the bunk for a tin of cigars he purchased in Cuba. He lit a black stick with a lucifer to take a long draw and blow a stream of blue smoke at the ceiling.
“I dare say that was not your first time,” he said, his voice thick with drowsiness. “If you pardon the insinuation.”
“There was a sub-altern in my father’s command,” she said. “Not as pretty as you.”
“Someone of the soldier class?” he said, aghast.
“Well, truth be told, he was a private.” Her smile broadened at the fresh shock registering on his face. “And an Irishman.”
“I imagine your father knew nothing of this!” he blustered.
“He’d have had the boy flogged. Or sent out on patrol alone for the Ghilzais to cut up.”
“Your station, Bella! You cannot continue such shocking behavior!”
“I didn’t hear you moralizing a moment or two ago.”
“Don’t you wish to marry well?”
“Are you proposing to marry me, Geoffrey?” She laughed as his mouth dropped open to gabble a wordless response.
“I would not presume!” he insisted. “And, I suspect, that you would have little interest in becoming my affianced. I’m not that sort of a fool.”
“Then what sort are you?”
“Not the sort to think you came to my door out of anything other than ennui. I suppose that I was only the least unpleasant choice unless, of course, the crew refused your advances.”
She lifted a bare foot to drive it into his gut. His breath exploded in cigar smoke, setting him to wheezing and coughing.
“There are only so many liberties I will allow you to take,” she said, still with the ghost of a smile. “Yes, I was quite bored, and I chose you because, as I said, you’re pretty enough. And, also, because you hold my father’s esteem even more precious than I do. You would never reveal this dalliance or risk failing in my father’s eyes.”
“I know my place,” he said, recovering his breath. “Even if you don’t.”
“And do not expect a visit from me again,” she said. “Or presume on my attentions ever again.”
“Of course not, m’lady.” He bowed his head even as he ran a hand over the slope of her naked hip.
That earned him a second kick to the stomach as she rose from the bunk to retrieve the layers of her clothing that lay strewn about the deck.
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