Catalina's Caress (12 page)

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The next morning Seth did waken feeling a lot better. He sat up on the edge of his bed and tested his strength by slowly moving his limbs. Then he stood with very little effort. The slight dizziness he experienced passed swiftly.

He looked at himself and chuckled. His clothes were torn and dirty, and he felt as if he were a street urchin or a river rat. But, he cautioned himself, I am alive. That thought took away the discomfort of wearing dirty clothes.

The door opened and Benjamin came in. He smiled when he saw Seth on his feet.

"Ah, it looks like your feelin' better."

"I am. Much better."

"Very good . .. very good. But don't push yourself more than you should. You're young and the young retrieve their strength easily, but not always as easily as their conceit believes.''

Seth laughed, but his legs did feel a little wobbly so he sat on the edge of the bed.

"Where's Jake?"

"Castin' off our lines, gettin' us afloat again."

Before Seth could say more there was a loud thump on deck, then a cry of anger followed by a voice that was obviously Jake's, obviously mad, and just as obviously using language that would make an old sailor blush. Seth's grin froze on his face, and Benjamin contained his laughter with a supreme effort.

"Jake has a rather bad temper," Benjamin said, his sober expression drawing a disbelieving look from Seth.

"That boy should have his mouth washed out with soap for talking like that. It's . . . it's revolting."

"Well," Benjamin said innocently, "not having a mother and livin' on the river has made it kind of hard raisin' Jake."

"Maybe someone else should try taking him in hand. Good heavens, sir, what kind of a man will he grow into if he reacts like that?"

As if to punctuate those words, Jake's voice came to them.

"You damn bilge rat, get your ass up and shove that line off before I have you tossed overboard. And you, you whore's son, I'll rip your. . ."

Seth gasped in shock as the words continued to filter through. It was beyond his belief that a boy as young as Jake could have acquired a vocabulary so full of the vulgar words he was hearing.

He clenched his teeth. "My God, Ben. You have to do something about that."

"I'm afraid I can't."

"Then I shall," Seth said determinedly.

"You're welcome to try."

Seth climbed the four steps from the cabin to the deck.

Jake stood with his back to Seth, legs spread and hands on hips. His language would have curled Seth's Aunt Charlotte's hair. Benjamin smiled as he appeared alongside him, for he did not expect Seth's next move.

Seth took three steps toward Jake and, raising his foot, caught him on the seat of the pants, lifting him several inches from the floor and sending him sprawling among the coiled ropes.

There was a shriek of absolute fury, a muffled sound of poorly smothered laughter, and then Seth's determinedly scowling face went through some rapid and astounding changes, registering anger, shock, and finally wide-eyed amazement.

The hat Jake had worn had flown in the opposite direction, and now Seth stood looking into the angriest green eyes he had ever seen. But they were surrounded by a mass of the most beautiful red-gold hair. Jake was a girl.

"You filthy spawn of a fatherless whore! You bastard! What the hell do you think you're doin'?"

Seth backed up a step, shaking his head negatively and searching for words that would calm Jake and that would put a stop to the convulsive laughter of the two crewmen.

"Jake!" Seth gasped. "Jake?" As if he had to repeat the name, hoping a miracle of sorts would happen and he wouldn't be seeing what was before him.

Jake was rubbing her backside while she continued to advance toward a still-awed Seth.

"What did you kick me for?" Jake screeched. "I help pull you out of the river and nurse you like a pink-assed baby and you kick me!"

"I didn't mean ... I mean I thought. .. Good God I didn't know you were a... a girl," Seth gurgled helplessly.

The laughter about them increased, provoked by Seth's obvious loss of equilibrium, and to Seth it looked as if Jake was now bent on murder.

Benjamin stepped between them, however. He had contained his laughter, but had decided it was time to bring the situation under some control. Besides, knowing Jake and her temper, he was quite sure Seth was going to need a little protection.

He had learned something about Seth the moment the man had backed away from Jake. Seth had obviously been trained to respect women. Of course, Benjamin thought with amusement, only the kind of women found in polite society. He was reasonably sure Seth had never run across a girl quite like Jake.

"Now, Jake girl, take it easy. Your mouth was runnin' again. The man thought you were a boy and was a little upset at your language."

"Upset! He kicked me! No river rat is going to kick me and live to tell about it!"

With a movement a little faster than Seth could follow, a silver-bladed knife appeared in Jake's hand.

If Seth had been shocked at finding Jake was a girl, he was totally stunned by the realization that she meant to use the weapon.

Now he was becoming irritated by the laughter of the two-man crew and by the fact that he was beginning to look ridiculous.

With a firm hand he pushed Benjamin aside and stepped around him to come within inches of the knife's blade.

"This situation is out of control," he began. "I apologize for the kick. If I'd known you were a girl I would never have done it. But I won't say you didn't deserve something for that foul nasty mouth of yours. It's been a shock. I don't think I've ever heard a ... lady talk like you do. And your temper is as vile as your mouth. I shouldn't have kicked you, I should have dumped you overboard and held you under until you learn how to talk."

"How I talk is none of your damn business. What kind of gratitude do I get for pullin' your scurvy half-dead body out of the river? You kick me!"

"I said I was sorry for God's sake!" Seth cried. He was losing his own temper now. "What do you want me to do, jump overboard and finish the job?"

"I oughta cut your damn balls off and throw you overboard!"

Seth choked and his face reddened. This was monstrous! Worse, he could hear Benjamin's amused chuckle coming from behind him. He couldn't understand a grandfather raising a girl to act like this. He also knew he couldn't back down or the laugh would really be on him.

"Your language is like a gutter snipe's!" he said angrily.

"Ungrateful bastard!" she retorted tauntingly.

"Don't you ever take a bath?" Seth shouted. "I can smell you from here, like a river rat!"

"Ahhh," Jake screeched, "you filthy pig!"

She lunged at him with the blade and in the height of her anger Seth was pretty sure she fully intended to murder him. He stepped aside and caught her wrist with one hand while his other arm encircled her waist, lifting her from the deck. In two strides he was at the rail, and amid Jake's shrieks of fury and the hilarity of the crew he calmly tossed her over.

She came up sputtering, eyes wide with shock. The knife had slipped from her grasp and was lost somewhere on the muddy river bottom. Jake wanted to cry, but she would never allow such a ... a girllike thing to happen. The words he had shouted at her had struck a chord no one else had ever touched.

She allowed herself to be hauled back on the deck, but this time her grandfather kept an arm about her waist.

"That's enough, boy!" he said to a still-angry Seth. "And you, Jake, get below and dry off."

Jake was shivering and Seth saw, or imagined he saw, a look of almost fragile vulnerability in her eyes. Regret for what he had done was instant. .. but too late. Jake let out a muffled sound, then ran from her grandfather's side and disappeared below.

"I'm sorry, sir," Seth said. "This got out of hand somehow. It's no way to show my gratitude for her having saved my life. I'd better go and apologize to her."

"I'd leave her be for a while if I were you, boy. Jake has always been able to handle herself from the time she was knee high. I think this is the first time she's ever been backed down."

"But she saved my life," Seth protested. "I at least owe her an apology."

"There's time for that when she gets over this."

"God, I feel like an ungrateful cad."

"Don't fret, boy," Benjamin warned. "You haven't seen the end of Jake yet. She ain't one to let someone get the upper hand and keep it I'd be on guard if I were you."

"I... I don't mean to be presumptuous, sir, but Jake... I mean... well she's a girl."

"Sure is. I know she's a little rough around the edges."

"A little rough!" Seth laughed.

But Benjamin's eyes had gone cold. "Don't be judgin'. Jake has had a rough time. I know I havent raised her as a girl should be raised, but haven' to be here, on the river, it was best she got tough and learned to defend herself. What chance do you think a pretty girl would have growin' up on a fishin' trawler on the New Orleans docks? I had to teach her the best defense I could. But she's a good girl. You've only seen the bad side of her."

"I don't think I care to see it again."

"I'll have a talk with her."

"How old is she?"

"Let me see," Benjamin said thoughtfully, "gettin' nigh on to seventeen."

"Seventeen! She's a woman! Good God, you just stood there and let me throw her overboard!" Seth said miserably. "I really have to talk to her and tell her I'm sorry."

"Don't be sorry too soon. Jake has a way of diggin' at a man's temper. I have a feelin' you two will be shoutin' at each other again before long."

"No, sir," Seth vowed firmly. "No sir, I'm not going to let this kind of thing happen again. I'll be kind and gentle and that will change her."

Benjamin's eyes glowed with mischievous humor. He chuckled. "You do that boy and Jake'll walk all over you."

"I hardly think so." Seth laughed with a confidence

Benjamin knew from experience would soon disappear. "I find it hard to call her Jake now. What's her real name?"

"Jacqueline . .. Jacqueline Barde."

"Then I'll call her Jacqueline," Seth decided.

"You do that, boy," Benjamin said, a smile twitching his lips. "You just do that."

M
ore than half the day passed with Jake remaining in seclusion in the small curtain-covered cubicle set aside for her. Seth often went in and out of the cabin, anxious to apologize or at least talk to her and try to establish some neutral ground, but in this he was unsuccessful. He couldn't rip away the curtain and force her to confront him, for that would only make a bad situation worse.

He could hear her moving about and he even suspected that the smaller sounds he heard might be tears.

He tossed words about in his mind. Words that might help to make Jake—Jacqueline—understand that he really was grateful to her for saving his life, and that what had happened between them was an unfortunate mistake on his part. Then he thought of what had occurred and groaned again at the realization that he had actually kicked a young woman. Of course someone should have warned him. How was he to know a vile-mouthed creature that looked like a dirty-faced urchin from the docks was a girl.

"God," he whispered aloud, "what a revolting situation."

He thought about his sister, Cat, and superimposed her image over this girl's. The comparison was beyond belief, but it also gave him an idea.

The first step in bringing this idea to fruition would be a long informative talk with Jake. However, after his fifth trip into the cabin, Seth was forced to the conclusion that Ja— Jacqueline was not about to make another appearance that day. He walked out on deck and went to sit beside her grandfather who was meticulously mending a large net.

"Benjamin?"

"What?"

"Can I ask you a personal question?"

"Sure, boy."

"What happened to Ja— Jacqueline's mother?"

"Didn't take to bein' married to a fisherman. Oh, it was all right for a while, long as he could take her playin' and dancin'. But then she got caught with Jake. Wasn't in her plans, havin' a baby. Tied her down, but it didn't tie her down for long. By the time Jake could walk, so did her Ma."

"She just left her?" Seth said in disbelief.

"You might say she even left her before she was born. Twas always her pa who cared for her. Tried his best, but there was a lot of things about raisin' a little girl neither of us knew."

"And her pa ... her father?"

"We hit a big storm comin' off the gulf one night. Got swept overboard. We never even found his body. I just had to come home and tell Jake her pa wouldn't be comin' back."

"How old was she then?"

"'Bout twelve or so."

"Twelve. What an awful blow to take just at the time when you need a family the most."

"Yes. Come to think of it," Benjamin said thoughtfully, "it was right after that she started insistin' we call her Jake. It was like ... well, she couldn't stand bein' who and what she was and decided to be someone else."

"She can't go on the rest of her life being Jake," Seth declared quietly.

"Look Seth," Benjamin replied, "this here boat is all me and Jake has. It's livin' hand-to-mouth, but it's livin'. She isn't on the street like some girls her age. I've kept her from that."

"I'm sure you did the best you could do for her. But Ben, she's a girl. She needs ... things"—Seth shrugged as he searched for appropriate words—"things only a woman could give her."

"What things?"

"Well, I don't know," Seth said helplessly. "She needs to know about... what she should be, how she should walk and dress and talk. She needs to know she's a woman. Ben you don't want her living on the docks the rest of her life do you?"

"Long as I'm alive she won't. This boat is her home, and I think she's happy here."

"Are you sure?" Seth said quietly.

"What does that mean?"

"It means"—Seth hoped he would be able to understand without getting angry—"you're afraid."

"Afraid of what?"

"Of Jacqueline finding out there's a whole world she's never known about."

Benjamin's face froze and he bent close to Seth. "You're so clever," he said quietly. "Well let me tell you somethin'. I don't know what you've got in mind for Jake. But remember you come from another world. Oh, I can tell by everything you say and every move you make. So imagine what will happen when you open the door to your world—let her have a real good look— and then she has to come back and live in this one. You going to help her or hurt her worse than she has been?"

Benjamin rose and walked away, and Seth remained still, looking at his intentions. In many ways Benjamin was right, but he still felt there was a way to help Jacqueline. He had to think about it for a day or so. In the meantime he wanted to make peace with her ... and he found that wasn't going to be too easy.

They met at the table when they sat down for the evening meal. She had shoved her hair under the flop-brim hat again, and he was well aware of a pair of green eyes as cold as ice.

"Jacqueline I—"

"My name is Jake," she replied frigidly.

"Your name is not Jake," he said easily.

"Butt out of my business, bilge rat," she gritted out, her teeth clenched and her chin jutting out belligerently. "I don't need you nosing around in my life."

"I'm not nosing around in your life. I just want to talk something over with you."

"Well, I don't want to talk with you anymore, so heist your ass outta my cabin and go find some little doll on the docks that wants to hop in bed with you because I dont. Besides"—she grinned evilly—"you probably ain't too good anyway."

She was purposely goading him and Seth was sure it was due to a growing need in her for self-defense. But he felt he could play her little game as well as she could.

He laughed. "Go to bed with you! You skinny foul-mouthed excuse for a woman. I wouldn't go to bed with you if you were the last female in the world. Besides, if I did, I'd probably catch a good dose of your meanness and start frothing at the mouth."

Her face went from white to continually increasing shades of red. By the time it had reached a very interesting shade of magenta she exploded.

"You overgrown whoreson! You damn son of a bitch. Get your filthy self out of here! Get off this boat or don't sleep at night, for if you do, I'll cut your bloody throat!" She wanted a battle, she needed a battle.

He rose slowly, smiled, and spoke gently. "You're so stupid just looking at your ugly half-boy's half-girl's face makes me sick." He walked out and closed the door behind him, hoping he had struck the chord he wanted and hoping he had started her thought processes spinning, not to mention the feminine side of her nature.