Pistons and Pistols. Tonia Brown
Rose grinned in return, knowing the older woman only meant well to begin with. Facing Magpie again, she dropped the grin. “Have the birds shown any sign of illness, aside from restlessness?”
Magpie shook her head. “No, sir.”
“I see.” Rose took a deep breath and ran her gaze over the faces of her girls once more. “Then if anyone feels they are being asked to do more than they are capable of, they can feel free to talk to me about it in private. Otherwise, this line of discussion is over. Do you understand?”
Without hesitation, the crew shouted as one, “Aye-aye, Captain!”
Rose smiled. “Good.”
Gabriella appeared in the doorway of the mess hall just in time to miss the crew’s dressing down. In a way Rose was glad. She hated to pull rank in front of the young thing. The girl was nervous enough as it was.
Gabriella’s eyes went wide when she spied her handsome suitor at the breakfast meeting. She apologized for her tardiness then took her seat at the far end of the table. The young navigator was late to every breakfast now, but before she would touch her own food, she always insisted on taking Atom his morning tray.
One morning Jayne took the tray before Gabriella arrived. The catty look and exasperated huffing from Guppy warned Rose not to let the tinker repeat the act. She’d pulled Jayne aside and asked the tinker to let Guppy handle the man’s nourishment. Jayne was blasé about it, as she was about most things, but Rose suspected there was a smoldering fire there somewhere. The older women thought there was tension aboard from the crew being overworked? Rose was sure there was more than just tension between Gabriella and Jayne.
There was downright animosity.
* * * *
The meeting took forever. At least it felt like forever to Gabriella. Being so close to Atom yet so far away made the seconds crawl to years. She was glad he was there, but she was having a hard time concentrating with him in the room. More than once the captain had to repeat her questions, while Gabriella scrambled to find answers as quick as she could. It was hard to pay attention to the captain’s droning voice when Atom was present.
Gabriella could feel his eyes on her as she ate. She couldn’t be sure why he wasn’t eating. At first the thought of a man watching her shovel food into her mouth made her a little self-conscious. After a bit, she relaxed and even found herself pushing each forkful between her lips with a sensuality she hadn’t known she possessed.
“We’ll reach the city of Tuluca within the hour,” the captain said from somewhere very far off. “So I suggest that Gabriella stop that nonsense right now.”
Gabriella snapped to attention at the sound of her name. She swallowed her mouthful and asked, “Stop what, sir?”
The captain pursed her lips a moment before she said, “That little game of hide-and-eat you have going on over there.”
Gabriella went aflame from forehead to neck as the rest of the crew tittered with laughter. She had never been so embarrassed. And right in front of Atom, who, as far as she could tell, was trying very hard not to laugh as well. While she appreciated his chivalry, she was disappointed with his amusement. After all, the ‘game’ she was playing had been a show just for him.
“In fact,” the captain continued, “I would appreciate it if you and Mr. Loquacious keep your flirting to your off hours. We have enough on our hands as it is. We don’t need a pair of love-starved pups to complicate matters.”
Atom’s eyes went as wide as Gabriella’s, and his color just as crimson. Gabriella could have kissed the captain for including him in her little tirade. That would teach the boy to snicker at her.
“Now,” the captain said. “If you two are done, may we continue?”
“Yes, Captain,” Atom said. He hung his head as if mortified by the experience.
“Yes, sir,” Gabriella added. She felt bad about taking pleasure in his scolding. No bother. She knew how to make it up to him, which she had every intention of doing once this meeting was over. She smiled as her wicked dream came back to her. One day she would make him feel just as she saw him, a god among men.
“As I was saying,” the captain started again. “We’ll stop in Tuluca for fuel only. No layover.”
The crew groused at the announcement. Gabriella couldn’t blame them—everyone seemed on eggshells since they had left the island. A good layover in a real, civilized city was just what everyone needed. Not to mention the fact she was hoping to get some alone time with Atom. A small airship was no place to confess your unbound love for one another.
The captain held up her hand, silencing the grumbling crew. “I know you are all long overdue for a furlough. But …” She paused, looking down at the table for a moment before she glanced back up and finished with, “I just think it’s best if we find a smaller town in which to enjoy the sights. As it stands, we will only just make it to Tuluca with the fuel we have. I plan to stop, buy a small load, then get back into the air. Afterward we can find a smaller place to put up our feet for a bit.”
Gabriella didn’t care where they ended up. She was just excited to see parts of the world other than the stinky eastern seaboard ports they had been trolling for the last few months. But she got the sinking feeling she was the only one who felt that way.
The captain must have sensed it too, because she said, “Trust me, ladies, I would like nothing more than a good hot shower and a nice long rest. And I know some of you are in need of some well-deserved physical attention. Our ship’s morale officer can only do so much. He’s just one man, after all.”
A gentle laugher rose from all the women except Gabriella. She bit her lip and ducked her head when she saw Atom turn to her with just the hint of a wicked grin. What was on his mind? She could only wonder …or perhaps hope was a better word.
Jax snorted. “Maybe if you’d let him out of your quarters, we’d all be a bit less tense.”
Gabriella joined their laughter this time. Atom squirmed in his seat, obviously uncomfortable with the turn of conversation. He was going to have to learn to loosen up a little if he planned on surviving around this lot. Although, Gabriella had to admit, she hoped he didn’t loosen up too much. She liked his proper nature, his gallant style. She loved his graciousness.
The captain called the women to attention again as she said, “I can’t explain why I want to keep a move on for a little while longer. I just have this feeling. I know you’ve all been feeling it too. You speak of tension aboard the ship. I think it’s more than just that. Something’s on the wind. A storm is brewing, if you will, and I think it’s best if we try to keep our heads as low as possible rather than get caught up in the eye of the cursed thing. Agreed?”
“Aye-aye, Captain!” the crew shouted.
“What about money?” Magpie said under the echo of their loyalty. “We’ve been poorer than church mice for weeks now. How we gonna load up the coal bins if we don’t have cash?”
The captain gave a wide, knowing smile. “You leave that up to me. Are there any other questions?”
The crew remained quiet.
“Then you’re dismissed,” the captain said.
The sound of scraping chairs filled the room as the crew rose to leave.
Since it was Gabriella’s turn to wash up, she remained behind, stacking plates as she contemplated the discussion. Tension? Storms? She didn’t like the sound of that at all. How could they hope to find Atom’s father if some new tragedy waylaid them?
She hoped…no, she knew her captain would find a way.
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