asked from below deck.
“No, I never even thought of that possibility!” he said practically
leaping down the stairs. “You are a genius, Jo. What made you think of
that? It would explain so much--”
“Joe certainly has a high pitched voice,” Landon whispered to Kurt. “Not Joe, J O E. It’s Jo-- J O, as in Joanna St. John, Royce’s little
sister,” Kurt explained.
“Damn, I thought I scented a woman. I assumed it was residual,”
Landon snapped. “Are you seriously telling me there is a woman on this
boat, heading into God knows what?”
“Here we go,” Kurt laughed as he anticipated Joanna would make an
appearance anytime now. After all, Landon had made no attempt to
hide his anger at the possibility of compromising the mission with the
presence of a woman.
Landon was somewhat superstitious. He believed that a woman’s
presence on a boat was a bad omen and made the seas angry. Of course,
he also believed that disaster was sure to follow if you stepped onto a
boat with your left foot first.
To demonstrate his sensitivity to Landon’s paranoia, Kurt was always
very careful to make a point of stepping on deck with his left foot first.
Of course, he made sure Landon was watching.
In a whirlwind of fury, Joanna stomped up the stairs. She had clearly
overheard Landon spouting superstition like an old sailor.
“Yes, Wolf,” she said scathingly with blue sparks shooting out of her
eyes. “A woman is on board.”
Royce, who had been engrossed in reading his maps, not really paying
attention to the conversation, knew that shooting blue sparks were a bad
sign.
“Kurt, what is it they say about a dog being near fishing tackle?”
Joanna asked with heavy sarcasm. “You might want to move it to the
other side of the boat,” she suggested to Landon.
Stepping closer to Joanna, Landon goaded, “A fully clothed woman is
bad luck, but a naked one can turn the tide. How far are you willing to
go to see this mission succeed, JO--anna?”
Oh, this was going to be an entertaining day all around. Kurt glanced
toward Royce to see how he was going to react to the latest comment
from Landon, but he wasn’t paying all that much attention to the
spatting couple. After all, Joanna was easily capable of holding her own
without interference from big brother.
“I’m sure that line of shit was dreamed up by a man who had trouble
getting laid, which explains why you know so much about it.” Royce decided now would be a good time to intervene before Joanna
lost all control and turned Landon into a goat or something far worse. “Jo,” Royce said catching her arm before she decided to use it for
evil. “Landon’s on our side. Where are your manners?”
“He started it,” Joanna complained as she wrenched her arm away
from Royce.
“I’m finishing it,” Royce declared. “Enough!”
Joanna knew when to retreat and just what to say to get Royce off
her ass. “Sorry, I’m just uptight today. PMS.”
Kurt inwardly groaned. Deja vu. He knew entirely too much about a
woman’s temperament in conjunction with her cycle. At one point
there had been four girls, including Becki under his roof. He had never
known what he was walking in to.
Royce, on the other hand, called her out, “Nice try, Jo, but I’m not
buying what you’re selling.”
Damn! Joanna rolled her eyes and turned to go below deck without
another word.
Kurt frowned remembering a recent conversation with Becki.... “We need to talk,” Royce insisted dragging her to the front of the
boat where they could have some privacy.
“What the hell is wrong with you? You’re antagonizing someone
who is trying to help us. In case you don’t get it, there’s a Wolf just
under the surface! For God’s sake, Joanna, get your shit under
control.”
“A lot has happened in the last few years, Royce. Let’s just say I’m
somewhat off men right now. I’m a little touchy,” Joanna explained
rubbing a stress knot that had formed in her shoulder. “Sorry, I’ll tone
it down.”
“What do you mean a lot has happened, Jo? What happened?” Royce
knew that it took something major to rattle his sister. What the hell had
happened while he was MIA?
Joanna smiled at her brother and patted his chest. “Nothing I
couldn’t handle. I’m fine; I’ll even apologize to the Wolf,” she said as
she walked back toward the group.
“This discussion is not over, Joanna. We’ll put it on the shelf for
now, but you and I are going to talk,” Royce assured her as she walked
away.
“She’s a Witch!” Landon whispered as soon as Royce and his sister
had moved away from them.
Kurt laughed and said, “What? Just because she didn’t fall at your
feet, you result to name-calling?”
“No,” Landon explained slowly, “I mean she’s a real
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