A Christmas Accord (2/2)
Dec. 19th, 2005 10:58 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dwgmHere's the second part of that sequel to last year’s Christmas fluff, The Christmas Guest (the first part is here). Thanks again to ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
hereswith and honorat for the beta read, and many helpful suggestions.
A Christmas Accord, continued...
Thanks to the kind offices of Swann’s valet, Peters, who now seemed like an old friend, by the time Jack descended the stairs to join Elizabeth’s party he was groomed to piratical perfection, and feeling all too sober.
“Got any rum punch?” he asked Elizabeth as she approached him on his entry to the crowded drawing room.
“No, but I shall bring you some Champagne. Come! Mrs. Pettigrew, over here, is dying to meet you.” She took his arm, to lead him across the room in the direction of a plump matron of a certain age, who was actually bouncing slightly where she sat on a sofa, and simpering like a besotted girl. Standing beside her was a large, severe-looking man in an iron-grey wig and a coat that was three years out of fashion.
“Bloody hell,” Jack muttered.
“Oh, please behave!” Elizabeth said quietly, a patently false smile on her face for the benefit of the Pettigrews. “I do believe they came all the way from their plantation in Mandeville just to meet you.”
“Not Mister Pettigrew!”
“Well, no, but his wife calls the tune: she was a great heiress and has many influential connections in London.”
“Hmmmph,” said Jack, unimpressed.
“So this is the famous pirate?” said Mr. Pettigrew in a derisive tone, as they approached.
Jack cocked an eyebrow, but Elizabeth stepped into the breach. “Mr. and Mrs. Pettigrew, allow me to present Captain Jack Sparrow, privateer for His Majesty, and hero of Providence Island.”
Jack turned and looked at Elizabeth sharply. “How the devil’d you know about that? It was barely a month ago.”
“James keeps us informed, of course.”
“Oh, yes, Captain Sparrow!” said Mrs. Pettigrew. “We have all thrilled to your exploits for years and years! Indeed, I find it in me to wonder at it, youthful as you seem.”
“Indeed,” agreed Mr. Pettigrew, looking Jack up and down with a dismissive curl of lip.
Jack said smoothly, “Appearances are sometimes deceiving, are they not?” Though not in your case, you great oaf! “And tales tend to grow in the telling.”
“Well, you’d better tell us yourself, then, Jack,” said Elizabeth, her eyes twinkling. “Norrington said a third of those you rescued were children!”
Mrs. Pettigrew bounced again. “Children! Oh, please, Captain Sparrow, do sit down here and tell me all about it!” She patted the seat next to her, hopefully.
Jack gave Elizabeth a glance that promised retribution later, causing her to give a chuff of suppressed laughter, then turned and smiled at Mrs. Pettigrew. “Of course, ma’am.”
A quarter of an hour later he rose, confident that the story he had related would serve to enhance his reputation for self-serving madness and exaggeration.
“Jack, you unconscionable liar!” Elizabeth hissed as they walked away from the gaping Pettigrews.
“How would you know, missy?” Jack demanded. “You wasn’t there! Now belay this Champagne. Don’t tell me you didn’t make me some rum punch?”
“You don’t deserve rum punch! James was there, and told us how it was.”
“Now who’s more fun to believe, him or me?”
“There’s only one possible reply to that!” said Will, coming up to them with a grin. “Merry Christmas, you old reprobate!”
Jack suffered Will’s hearty embrace with a chuckle, but said, “Old, again! First the Shipley chit, and now you. I believe I’m offended!”
“Shipley?” Will said, confused.
“It’s Estrella’s surname,” said Elizabeth. “Jack was making untoward advances to her, from what I understand.”
“With a name like Shipley, how could I resist?” Jack shrugged. “And there was nothin’ untoward – just a bit of light flirtation. You’d be pleased with our accord, actually – I’m to be suitably rewarded if I behave myself.”
“Ah!” Will nodded, eyes laughing. “Wise girl. She won’t have to worry about settling that debt!”
“I can be very well-behaved, if I put my mind to it!” Jack objected, before adding, slyly, “You wouldn’t give me away to her, now, would you?”
Rum punch was procured, but at last even that wasn’t enough to sustain Jack’s interest in the quizzy, and rather sedate, gathering.
“Think I’ll slip out to the gardens for a bit,” he told Will after an hour of verbal fencing.
“I wish I could join you, but I’d better not,” Will said ruefully.
“No, this is the other side of the coin,” Jack agreed. “Marriage to ‘Liz’beth ain’t all a romp ‘twixt the sheets with the most beautiful lass in the Caribbean.”
Will grinned, looking across the room to where Elizabeth stood beside her father as he spoke with some guests. She seemed to feel their eyes upon her, and turned for a moment, cocking a brow and giving them a quick smile.
“She is, isn’t she?” said Will, rather dreamily, besotted anew.
Jack chuckled. “Aye. You go to her. I’ll just take a little rest from all this frivolity.”
“There’s a party at the Greenlaws’,” Will suggested. “Swann’s steward, you know. There’s to be dancing at that one. I’m sure you’d be welcome, and you might enjoy it.”
“I just might at that,” Jack said, and wondered if the pretty Miss Shipley would be there. Perhaps it would be as well to go see – make sure she was behaving herself and all.
The night air was cool and starry – a far cry from that Christmas four years ago, when he’d come here in the pouring rain, wondering if they’d even welcome him! Apparently there was something to be said for putting a little trust in people – some people, at any rate. He frowned, realizing how dear the folk here had become to him, even in the brief visits that were allotted to them. Privateering was profitable, but kept him devilish busy, though he had managed to return for the holidays each year. But it wasn’t just the Christmas spirit that made him feel that Elizabeth and Will were close as kin. The thin, white scar they each bore on one hand was the outward sign of the bond that had been forged four and a half years before, and though the scars had faded with the years, the bond had endured and strengthened. It made him more than a little uncomfortable to realize he’d do nearly anything for those two, and that they’d happily return the favor. Uncomfortable… but warmed to his wicked bones, too. They knew what he was – for the most part, at least – and loved him all the same.
Love! Lord, enough of this excessive sentiment, no matter its veracity.
Gay music came wafting on the air toward him – the skirling antithesis of Lizzie’s string quartet – and he grinned and quickened his step.
The Greenlaws’ house was set at a far corner of the Governor’s estate and was a beloved gathering place for the staff. Mr. Greenlaw, an exemplary steward, was their advocate as well, and Mrs. Greenlaw was known far and wide for her cooking and sympathetic ear. As he made his approach, Jack was greeted from all sides by party-goers making themselves at home on the front lawn and veranda, and then, ecstatically, by Greenlaw himself.
“Captain Sparrow! As I live and breathe! How good of you to join us, sir!”
Greenlaw, lingering by his door to greet new arrivals, had been keeping a weather eye on the dancing, which was going forth in the big front parlor. Stripped of its carpet, the room was large enough to accommodate several sets of dancers, and there was no hanging back for the music set every toe to tapping.
“Well met, Greenlaw!” grinned Jack. “Will told me you was havin’ your party tonight, too. The Gov’nor’s is all right, just a bit stuffy, eh? This is more to my taste: less talk and more liveliness!”
“You’re always welcome, Captain, as you must know. Will you take some more rum punch? You can fill your cup at the table in the corner.”
“Thanks, no, not just now,” said Jack, for the dance was coming to an end, and he’d spied his quarry. “I believe I’ll take a turn ‘pon the floor!”
“That’ll be a sight! Here, let me watch your punch cup,” said Greenlaw, taking it.
“Ta!” said Jack, and lit out in Miss Shipley’s direction. As he was approaching, Jack saw that a big, young, and rather rough-looking fellow had come up to her. Jack growled a curse (inwardly) for he suspected the interloper was asking her to dance. Her reaction renewed Jack’s good humor, however, for she didn’t appear to be leaping at the opportunity. On the contrary, she was flushing and her smile was half-hearted at best. So, Jack elected to take command of the situation. “Excuse me,” he said, putting some force behind the words, “I believe Miss Shipley’s promised this dance to me. She’ll see you later, there’s a good lad.”
The look on Estrella’s face was priceless, blank astonishment, at first, followed by sudden relief, which she then tried to disguise. “Oh! Oh, yes, Mr. Stanley. I’m afraid I did promise. You know Captain Sparrow?”
“’Fraid not,” said the youth, looking rather surly. “But I’ve ‘eard of ‘im.”
Jack said, “Then you’ll know I’ve little opportunity to avail meself of such delightful company. Come, Miss Shipley! The music’s starting up again.”
Estrella gave a smile of apology to Stanley, and placed her hand on Jack’s arm. As they took their places in the set, she said, quietly, “I don’t know how you knew, but I thank you sir!”
“Always happy to aid a lady in distress,” he replied, cheerfully, if mendaciously.
The musicians struck up, and there was little chance to speak with her after that, for it was a country dance and a very lively one. But Jack was a good dancer, and knew how to bring out the best in his partner as well. Miss Shipley was all delighted laughter by the end of the piece, clapping and returning Jack’s sweeping bow with a deep curtsey.
“Captain Sparrow! That was lovely, and I do thank you.”
“The pleasure was mine,” Jack smiled.
But Estrella’s were not the only words of praise, and soon Jack found himself with another partner in the midst of a second dance, and after that a third. By the time that third one ended, and Jack successfully pleaded excessive thirst to escape a fourth, Miss Shipley had disappeared.
“Had to get back to the Governor’s, I expect,” said Greenlaw, handing Jack his cup of punch, refilled. “She’ll be on duty ‘til the guests are abed.”
Jack tossed off the punch. “Ah, that’s good! P’rhaps I’d better go back, too,” he mused. “Will might be needing me.”
Greenlaw chuckled. “I’m sure you’ll liven up that gathering, just as you have ours.”
Jack sighed. “Alas, I’m sworn to good behavior so I daresay I’ll seem dull as the rest of ‘em. G’night and thanks, mate.”
Drink and dance music reverberating in his head, Jack hummed, and swayed across the grounds, and even trod a step or two with the golden moonbeams that played on the grass. He’d made a good impression on the Shipley lass, he was sure of it. Ah, that was ever the way of it: only a matter of time…
But then an outraged cry sounded a few yards off, in the shadows of the trees, and suddenly Jack was on the alert.
“Mr. Stanley! Let me go! Indeed, you mustn’t! I’ll tell them, and you’ll be turned off!”
Bloody hell! It was Estrella – and that young lout accosting her? Jack stuck his empty cup in his pocket, briefly lamented the lack of his sword even as he smoothly pulled his long dagger from his boot and slipped into the shadows, moving swiftly and silently toward the voices.
There were running steps. Jack slipped behind a tree, and Estrella, free for the moment, scurried past. Jack waited a half second, then stuck his leg out. As planned, Mr. Stanley tripped and fell heavily to the grass. Jack was on him immediately, one hand gripping Stanley’s hair and pulling the snarling face around in a businesslike fashion, the other holding the blade close to a rolling eye. The faint light glinted pleasingly along the edge of the weapon, and Jack smiled ivory and twinkling gold to see it.
“I wouldn’t move,” he advised, “’less you want to lose an eye.”
“You—you wouldn’t!”
Jack’s own words, come back to haunt him in this pass. He chuckled. “Oh, but I would, and with pleasure. I don’t hold with them as ill-treats ladies. An’ I’ve been drinking some. Me hand might slip: take that eye, or an ear, or maybe the end o’ yer nose. Unless…”
“What?”
“Unless you get straight back to Greenlaw’s, an’ tell ‘im you’ll be leavin’ in the morning.”
“What! I ain’t!”
“But you are, or I tell them as matters what you’ve been up to here with Miss Shipley. Why, you might never work ‘round Port Royal again! After you’re able to work again at all, that is.”
Stanley ground his teeth, absorbing this. Jack gave his hair a bit of a slow twist to encourage thought – to good effect.
“All right, all right! Let me up, then.”
Jack rose and backed away, and stood with his knife poised, in case Stanley should suddenly think better of cooperation. But the man just struggled up, and turned to Jack with a vicious look.
“Bloody pirate!” Stanley growled, running a hand over his sore scalp.
Jack chuckled. “Not near as bloody tonight as I can be, mate. Off with you now! And give Greenlaw my regards.”
Stanley scowled, then glanced sheepishly about for Estrella as he took himself off, lumbering through the trees and out onto the open path toward the Greenlaw’s.
Jack watched him go, and when he was nearly out of sight, smiled, for Estrella had emerged from wherever she’d been hiding and came slowly over to stand beside him.
“Captain Sparrow!” she breathed, voice shaking.
He turned to her, and picked up her hand, and brought the work-rough fingers briefly to his lips. “Are you all right, then?”
She clutched at his fingers with her own. “I… I’ve never seen anything like it! Oh, you were wonderful!”
He said, with practiced sincerity, “As I said, always happy to aid a lady in distress.”
“I’ll never doubt it again!” said Estrella, and to his surprise and delight she let go his hand, put her arms about him, and kissed him.
Surprise did not immobilize him in the least. His arms were about her waist in a trice, drawing her close, swift to savor the soft touch of appreciative lips, and the lingering taste of rum punch.
“Mmmm,” he hummed, giving her a squeeze, and he felt her smile, giving herself happily to the moment.
It was all too brief. He let her go at the first sign she wanted that, and she backed away and stood there, with her palms to her cheeks. “Oh!” she said. “That was…. No wonder they talk about you as they do!”
“Of course!” He spread his hands, and smiled. “I’m Captain Jack Sparrow!”
“Good Lord.” She smoothed the front of her dress, a little agitated, now. “I…I…”
“I won’t tell anyone, you’ve no need to worry. It’ll be our secret, eh?” He held out his arm. “Come. I’ll walk you back to the house.”
“Yes,” she said, smiling, and slipped her arm in his.
He smirked at her. “But about our accord…”
“Accord?” she said, puzzled, but then remembered. “Oh! The… the kiss. If you behave.”
“What say you? May I still hope?” he said, dramatically plaintive.
She pursed her lips. “Now Captain! Get on with you!” she said, her voice fond. “A good man, and a good pirate, that’s what Mrs. Turner’s said all along. And on my honor, you shall have another kiss before you leave us, if that’s what you’d like.”
“If I’d like!” exclaimed Jack. “Silly chit. Of course I’d like – and flavored with rum punch, again, if you please.”
“Done!” said Estrella. “A true Christmas accord!”
~ Finis ~
hereswith and honorat for the beta read, and many helpful suggestions.A Christmas Accord, continued...Thanks to the kind offices of Swann’s valet, Peters, who now seemed like an old friend, by the time Jack descended the stairs to join Elizabeth’s party he was groomed to piratical perfection, and feeling all too sober.
“Got any rum punch?” he asked Elizabeth as she approached him on his entry to the crowded drawing room.
“No, but I shall bring you some Champagne. Come! Mrs. Pettigrew, over here, is dying to meet you.” She took his arm, to lead him across the room in the direction of a plump matron of a certain age, who was actually bouncing slightly where she sat on a sofa, and simpering like a besotted girl. Standing beside her was a large, severe-looking man in an iron-grey wig and a coat that was three years out of fashion.
“Bloody hell,” Jack muttered.
“Oh, please behave!” Elizabeth said quietly, a patently false smile on her face for the benefit of the Pettigrews. “I do believe they came all the way from their plantation in Mandeville just to meet you.”
“Not Mister Pettigrew!”
“Well, no, but his wife calls the tune: she was a great heiress and has many influential connections in London.”
“Hmmmph,” said Jack, unimpressed.
“So this is the famous pirate?” said Mr. Pettigrew in a derisive tone, as they approached.
Jack cocked an eyebrow, but Elizabeth stepped into the breach. “Mr. and Mrs. Pettigrew, allow me to present Captain Jack Sparrow, privateer for His Majesty, and hero of Providence Island.”
Jack turned and looked at Elizabeth sharply. “How the devil’d you know about that? It was barely a month ago.”
“James keeps us informed, of course.”
“Oh, yes, Captain Sparrow!” said Mrs. Pettigrew. “We have all thrilled to your exploits for years and years! Indeed, I find it in me to wonder at it, youthful as you seem.”
“Indeed,” agreed Mr. Pettigrew, looking Jack up and down with a dismissive curl of lip.
Jack said smoothly, “Appearances are sometimes deceiving, are they not?” Though not in your case, you great oaf! “And tales tend to grow in the telling.”
“Well, you’d better tell us yourself, then, Jack,” said Elizabeth, her eyes twinkling. “Norrington said a third of those you rescued were children!”
Mrs. Pettigrew bounced again. “Children! Oh, please, Captain Sparrow, do sit down here and tell me all about it!” She patted the seat next to her, hopefully.
Jack gave Elizabeth a glance that promised retribution later, causing her to give a chuff of suppressed laughter, then turned and smiled at Mrs. Pettigrew. “Of course, ma’am.”
A quarter of an hour later he rose, confident that the story he had related would serve to enhance his reputation for self-serving madness and exaggeration.
“Jack, you unconscionable liar!” Elizabeth hissed as they walked away from the gaping Pettigrews.
“How would you know, missy?” Jack demanded. “You wasn’t there! Now belay this Champagne. Don’t tell me you didn’t make me some rum punch?”
“You don’t deserve rum punch! James was there, and told us how it was.”
“Now who’s more fun to believe, him or me?”
“There’s only one possible reply to that!” said Will, coming up to them with a grin. “Merry Christmas, you old reprobate!”
Jack suffered Will’s hearty embrace with a chuckle, but said, “Old, again! First the Shipley chit, and now you. I believe I’m offended!”
“Shipley?” Will said, confused.
“It’s Estrella’s surname,” said Elizabeth. “Jack was making untoward advances to her, from what I understand.”
“With a name like Shipley, how could I resist?” Jack shrugged. “And there was nothin’ untoward – just a bit of light flirtation. You’d be pleased with our accord, actually – I’m to be suitably rewarded if I behave myself.”
“Ah!” Will nodded, eyes laughing. “Wise girl. She won’t have to worry about settling that debt!”
“I can be very well-behaved, if I put my mind to it!” Jack objected, before adding, slyly, “You wouldn’t give me away to her, now, would you?”
Rum punch was procured, but at last even that wasn’t enough to sustain Jack’s interest in the quizzy, and rather sedate, gathering.
“Think I’ll slip out to the gardens for a bit,” he told Will after an hour of verbal fencing.
“I wish I could join you, but I’d better not,” Will said ruefully.
“No, this is the other side of the coin,” Jack agreed. “Marriage to ‘Liz’beth ain’t all a romp ‘twixt the sheets with the most beautiful lass in the Caribbean.”
Will grinned, looking across the room to where Elizabeth stood beside her father as he spoke with some guests. She seemed to feel their eyes upon her, and turned for a moment, cocking a brow and giving them a quick smile.
“She is, isn’t she?” said Will, rather dreamily, besotted anew.
Jack chuckled. “Aye. You go to her. I’ll just take a little rest from all this frivolity.”
“There’s a party at the Greenlaws’,” Will suggested. “Swann’s steward, you know. There’s to be dancing at that one. I’m sure you’d be welcome, and you might enjoy it.”
“I just might at that,” Jack said, and wondered if the pretty Miss Shipley would be there. Perhaps it would be as well to go see – make sure she was behaving herself and all.
The night air was cool and starry – a far cry from that Christmas four years ago, when he’d come here in the pouring rain, wondering if they’d even welcome him! Apparently there was something to be said for putting a little trust in people – some people, at any rate. He frowned, realizing how dear the folk here had become to him, even in the brief visits that were allotted to them. Privateering was profitable, but kept him devilish busy, though he had managed to return for the holidays each year. But it wasn’t just the Christmas spirit that made him feel that Elizabeth and Will were close as kin. The thin, white scar they each bore on one hand was the outward sign of the bond that had been forged four and a half years before, and though the scars had faded with the years, the bond had endured and strengthened. It made him more than a little uncomfortable to realize he’d do nearly anything for those two, and that they’d happily return the favor. Uncomfortable… but warmed to his wicked bones, too. They knew what he was – for the most part, at least – and loved him all the same.
Love! Lord, enough of this excessive sentiment, no matter its veracity.
Gay music came wafting on the air toward him – the skirling antithesis of Lizzie’s string quartet – and he grinned and quickened his step.
The Greenlaws’ house was set at a far corner of the Governor’s estate and was a beloved gathering place for the staff. Mr. Greenlaw, an exemplary steward, was their advocate as well, and Mrs. Greenlaw was known far and wide for her cooking and sympathetic ear. As he made his approach, Jack was greeted from all sides by party-goers making themselves at home on the front lawn and veranda, and then, ecstatically, by Greenlaw himself.
“Captain Sparrow! As I live and breathe! How good of you to join us, sir!”
Greenlaw, lingering by his door to greet new arrivals, had been keeping a weather eye on the dancing, which was going forth in the big front parlor. Stripped of its carpet, the room was large enough to accommodate several sets of dancers, and there was no hanging back for the music set every toe to tapping.
“Well met, Greenlaw!” grinned Jack. “Will told me you was havin’ your party tonight, too. The Gov’nor’s is all right, just a bit stuffy, eh? This is more to my taste: less talk and more liveliness!”
“You’re always welcome, Captain, as you must know. Will you take some more rum punch? You can fill your cup at the table in the corner.”
“Thanks, no, not just now,” said Jack, for the dance was coming to an end, and he’d spied his quarry. “I believe I’ll take a turn ‘pon the floor!”
“That’ll be a sight! Here, let me watch your punch cup,” said Greenlaw, taking it.
“Ta!” said Jack, and lit out in Miss Shipley’s direction. As he was approaching, Jack saw that a big, young, and rather rough-looking fellow had come up to her. Jack growled a curse (inwardly) for he suspected the interloper was asking her to dance. Her reaction renewed Jack’s good humor, however, for she didn’t appear to be leaping at the opportunity. On the contrary, she was flushing and her smile was half-hearted at best. So, Jack elected to take command of the situation. “Excuse me,” he said, putting some force behind the words, “I believe Miss Shipley’s promised this dance to me. She’ll see you later, there’s a good lad.”
The look on Estrella’s face was priceless, blank astonishment, at first, followed by sudden relief, which she then tried to disguise. “Oh! Oh, yes, Mr. Stanley. I’m afraid I did promise. You know Captain Sparrow?”
“’Fraid not,” said the youth, looking rather surly. “But I’ve ‘eard of ‘im.”
Jack said, “Then you’ll know I’ve little opportunity to avail meself of such delightful company. Come, Miss Shipley! The music’s starting up again.”
Estrella gave a smile of apology to Stanley, and placed her hand on Jack’s arm. As they took their places in the set, she said, quietly, “I don’t know how you knew, but I thank you sir!”
“Always happy to aid a lady in distress,” he replied, cheerfully, if mendaciously.
The musicians struck up, and there was little chance to speak with her after that, for it was a country dance and a very lively one. But Jack was a good dancer, and knew how to bring out the best in his partner as well. Miss Shipley was all delighted laughter by the end of the piece, clapping and returning Jack’s sweeping bow with a deep curtsey.
“Captain Sparrow! That was lovely, and I do thank you.”
“The pleasure was mine,” Jack smiled.
But Estrella’s were not the only words of praise, and soon Jack found himself with another partner in the midst of a second dance, and after that a third. By the time that third one ended, and Jack successfully pleaded excessive thirst to escape a fourth, Miss Shipley had disappeared.
“Had to get back to the Governor’s, I expect,” said Greenlaw, handing Jack his cup of punch, refilled. “She’ll be on duty ‘til the guests are abed.”
Jack tossed off the punch. “Ah, that’s good! P’rhaps I’d better go back, too,” he mused. “Will might be needing me.”
Greenlaw chuckled. “I’m sure you’ll liven up that gathering, just as you have ours.”
Jack sighed. “Alas, I’m sworn to good behavior so I daresay I’ll seem dull as the rest of ‘em. G’night and thanks, mate.”
Drink and dance music reverberating in his head, Jack hummed, and swayed across the grounds, and even trod a step or two with the golden moonbeams that played on the grass. He’d made a good impression on the Shipley lass, he was sure of it. Ah, that was ever the way of it: only a matter of time…
But then an outraged cry sounded a few yards off, in the shadows of the trees, and suddenly Jack was on the alert.
“Mr. Stanley! Let me go! Indeed, you mustn’t! I’ll tell them, and you’ll be turned off!”
Bloody hell! It was Estrella – and that young lout accosting her? Jack stuck his empty cup in his pocket, briefly lamented the lack of his sword even as he smoothly pulled his long dagger from his boot and slipped into the shadows, moving swiftly and silently toward the voices.
There were running steps. Jack slipped behind a tree, and Estrella, free for the moment, scurried past. Jack waited a half second, then stuck his leg out. As planned, Mr. Stanley tripped and fell heavily to the grass. Jack was on him immediately, one hand gripping Stanley’s hair and pulling the snarling face around in a businesslike fashion, the other holding the blade close to a rolling eye. The faint light glinted pleasingly along the edge of the weapon, and Jack smiled ivory and twinkling gold to see it.
“I wouldn’t move,” he advised, “’less you want to lose an eye.”
“You—you wouldn’t!”
Jack’s own words, come back to haunt him in this pass. He chuckled. “Oh, but I would, and with pleasure. I don’t hold with them as ill-treats ladies. An’ I’ve been drinking some. Me hand might slip: take that eye, or an ear, or maybe the end o’ yer nose. Unless…”
“What?”
“Unless you get straight back to Greenlaw’s, an’ tell ‘im you’ll be leavin’ in the morning.”
“What! I ain’t!”
“But you are, or I tell them as matters what you’ve been up to here with Miss Shipley. Why, you might never work ‘round Port Royal again! After you’re able to work again at all, that is.”
Stanley ground his teeth, absorbing this. Jack gave his hair a bit of a slow twist to encourage thought – to good effect.
“All right, all right! Let me up, then.”
Jack rose and backed away, and stood with his knife poised, in case Stanley should suddenly think better of cooperation. But the man just struggled up, and turned to Jack with a vicious look.
“Bloody pirate!” Stanley growled, running a hand over his sore scalp.
Jack chuckled. “Not near as bloody tonight as I can be, mate. Off with you now! And give Greenlaw my regards.”
Stanley scowled, then glanced sheepishly about for Estrella as he took himself off, lumbering through the trees and out onto the open path toward the Greenlaw’s.
Jack watched him go, and when he was nearly out of sight, smiled, for Estrella had emerged from wherever she’d been hiding and came slowly over to stand beside him.
“Captain Sparrow!” she breathed, voice shaking.
He turned to her, and picked up her hand, and brought the work-rough fingers briefly to his lips. “Are you all right, then?”
She clutched at his fingers with her own. “I… I’ve never seen anything like it! Oh, you were wonderful!”
He said, with practiced sincerity, “As I said, always happy to aid a lady in distress.”
“I’ll never doubt it again!” said Estrella, and to his surprise and delight she let go his hand, put her arms about him, and kissed him.
Surprise did not immobilize him in the least. His arms were about her waist in a trice, drawing her close, swift to savor the soft touch of appreciative lips, and the lingering taste of rum punch.
“Mmmm,” he hummed, giving her a squeeze, and he felt her smile, giving herself happily to the moment.
It was all too brief. He let her go at the first sign she wanted that, and she backed away and stood there, with her palms to her cheeks. “Oh!” she said. “That was…. No wonder they talk about you as they do!”
“Of course!” He spread his hands, and smiled. “I’m Captain Jack Sparrow!”
“Good Lord.” She smoothed the front of her dress, a little agitated, now. “I…I…”
“I won’t tell anyone, you’ve no need to worry. It’ll be our secret, eh?” He held out his arm. “Come. I’ll walk you back to the house.”
“Yes,” she said, smiling, and slipped her arm in his.
He smirked at her. “But about our accord…”
“Accord?” she said, puzzled, but then remembered. “Oh! The… the kiss. If you behave.”
“What say you? May I still hope?” he said, dramatically plaintive.
She pursed her lips. “Now Captain! Get on with you!” she said, her voice fond. “A good man, and a good pirate, that’s what Mrs. Turner’s said all along. And on my honor, you shall have another kiss before you leave us, if that’s what you’d like.”
“If I’d like!” exclaimed Jack. “Silly chit. Of course I’d like – and flavored with rum punch, again, if you please.”
“Done!” said Estrella. “A true Christmas accord!”
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no subject
Date: 2005-12-20 11:05 pm (UTC)I adore the lines 'wicked bones' and 'the soft touch of appreciative lips', and your period turn of phrase, like 'As I live and breathe!' is so good.
Huzzah for Jack/Estrella!
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Date: 2005-12-20 11:12 pm (UTC)I'm so happy you enjoyed the story, and liked the way I wrote Estrella! Happy Holidays, and all the best for the New Year!
no subject
Date: 2005-12-21 02:45 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-12-21 02:56 pm (UTC)Hope you are in good health, too. Again, Happy Holidays!