The most action he had taken part in was chasing Gwen through the woods, and look how that had turned out for him.
He could hardly wait to be off of this blasted ship, for so many reasons, he thought as he looked out into the dark night, the navy waters nearly matching the sky, with the full moon above lighting their path. He would soon see his family, his home, his land again. His stomach would stop roiling from the motion of the ship. And he would be rid of Doc and Gwen. He paused at the last thought. Would he really be happy to be done with her? Of course. And yet … part of him knew that he was lying to himself, that he would miss having her around. She brought a sense of life and of purpose that he had been missing, and since they had boarded the ship home and he had kept her confined in the cabin, he could feel the emptiness.
His mind wrapped around Gwen’s fire, from her hair to her tongue, Roderick was oblivious to his surroundings until he felt something heavy and solid thud into his back. He gave a loud “oomph” and fell forward, nearly tipping over the side of the ship and into the churning waves below. At the last moment, the weight was lifted, and he was suddenly free once more. Arms waving madly in the air as he fought for balance, he managed to grasp the rail before he was able to push off and finally turn around to see what had threatened him. His eyes widened and he was momentarily frozen in shock at the sight in front of him.
A large, burly man was slapping at arms that held him tight around the neck, his fingers scraping at the person who held him in a vise-like grip. The arms were strong, slim, and sinewy, and yet they were also fairly smooth… Good Lord, Roderick thought, realizing what he was witnessing, and finally sprang into action to help.
Gwen was straddling the man’s back, a ferocious wildcat as she held on tight, trying to choke all breath from the brute as he continued to swing about wildly, attempting to detach her from him. Roderick could see the determination etched on her face as her sole focus seemed to be finding the strength to keep the man from freeing himself.
Roderick made it to them in a couple of quick steps, just as the attacker was finally able to loosen his grip on Gwen’s arm, leaving deep gouge marks in her satiny flesh. As she began to fall backward, Roderick came up in front of the man, swinging his arm about and planting his fist in his nose. His attacker stumbled, coming to his knees, and in the process dislodged Gwen completely and she went sprawling on the deck, arms and legs akimbo. Roderick dimly noted she had returned to her breeches, before his focus went back to the man who rose to his feet, his nose spurting blood over the planks of the deck floor.
He and Roderick circled one another, ready to spar. The brute threw a left hook, which Roderick ducked before bringing his fist up in an uppercut, connecting with the man’s jaw. Roderick didn’t want to admit that a woman had helped him in a physical battle, but he realized that his opponent’s reflexes seemed to have been hampered from his dealings with Gwen. As Roderick’s mind drifted, he took a punch to the gut, reeling backward and trying not to be sick, as his stomach had already been threatening to empty before he had engaged in this match.
Roderick was getting ready to charge when the man suddenly crumpled, losing his footing and going limp on the deck in front of him.
“What in the he—” he started, before looking up and seeing Gwen, a fiery angel, brandishing a pistol — the butt of it now bloodied — in her hand.
She looked at him, an eyebrow raised and a quirk to her lips. “You really are a terrible officer, aren’t you?”
Chapter 9
Why she had saved his life, she had no idea.
It had only taken a day on the ship for Gwen to pick the lock of her cabin door and find her way out to explore. She had been careful to avoid Roderick. If he knew she had managed to escape, he would likely have found a second lock for the door, or — worse still — would