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Interlude Three
Anchors away
Wherein Sark gives Sydney an unusual affectionate nickname
Whilst Marshall had gotten the engine working again it didn’t produce as much speed as it originally had. They were still some ways from making landfall as the sun became a smudge on the horizon behind them. The harrowing day and night before had taken its toll on Marshall, who wasn’t used to such activities, and also her father who had only slept a few hours the night before. They both had retired below deck to get some sleep while she stayed up with Julian who was now at the wheel.
She pulled her cloak around herself against the slight chill and walked along the deck. Her father had been a bit reluctant to have her stay up with Julian, but there were only two bunks and Jack felt like they needed someone to watch Julian as he took his turn behind the wheel. She wasn’t sure what he thought Julian was going to do, sink the boat? While he was on it.
She made her way to the stern of the boat and paused to observe Julian standing behind the wheel, the soft glow of a swinging lantern bathing him in golden light. In his outfit and with the slight breeze ruffling his locks he looked like he could be on the cover of a trashy romance novel. Biting her lip she sauntered over to him, snuggling into his side as he slid an arm around her waist. Sliding her arms around him she grinned into his neck.
His head turned towards her slightly, “What?”
“I was just thinking…” she bit her lip then snickered, “Captain Sark.”
“Doesn’t really sound right does it?” he pondered, “I’m more of the yacht with a captain so I can leisurely sun on the deck type.”
Her hands started roving, “Oh, I don’t know Captain Sark sounds rather rakish.” A hand dipped lower.
He stiffened and bit his lip, “Saucy wench.”
Not a very flattering nickname, but he had infused it with just the right amount of warmth and indulgence that she was going to let it go. She moved her other hand under the hem of his shirt and ran her nails lightly over his back.
“If I’m the captain then if I choose to call a brief halt…” he directed his hooded gaze to her. She rubbed herself against him encouragingly.
“The engine does seem a trifle unreliable…” he continued.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if it stopped again,” she flashed a smile at him.
“Right,” he fiddled with the controls, powering down the engine.
“Don’t forget the anchor, so we don’t drift,” she reminded him, already undoing the laces on her corset.
“Yes, yes, of course,” he muttered, hurrying off to lower the anchor.
She looked around the immediate area spying a pile of brown sacks against the back railing, nudging them with her foot she decided they were filled with something soft, better than the hard, splintering deck. Taking off her cloak she spread it out over the sacks and resumed work on her laces again. Even with the quite splash of the anchor hitting the water she still started slightly when Julian suddenly began working on the laces on the back of the corset.
“I really didn’t think the choice in clothing through properly,” he muttered.
“Good enough,” she raised her arms and let him yank it over her head. Turning around she threw her arms around his neck and hungrily sought his mouth. They stumbled back, making it down to her cloak without mishap despite the fact that they were both hastily fumbling with each others clothes.
*~*~*
He rolled them onto their sides, “I may rethink the captain idea.”
She giggled and turned over to snuggle back into his embrace. He wrapped an arm around her waist and she covered his hand with her own. Her ring winked green at her.
After lying closely together for sometime they reluctantly redress, though she left the corset off. She let him tuck her cloak around her before he returned to his captain duties, raising the anchor and restarting the engine, which it thankfully did.
She watched him through hooded eyes until she fell asleep.
She slowly woke up to the sound of Julian’s lovely clipped voice calling her name. Blinking her eyes open she smiled up at him and stretched out, wrapping her arms around his neck in the process. She pulled him down for a kiss, slightly puzzled when he didn’t respond right away, but he eventually did so she dismissed it until she parted from him. He straightened up to reveal her father standing disapprovingly near the wheel.
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