Jillian Chantal

I’ve been absent from Tuesday Tales for a lot of reasons but I am going to try to come back and start posting again.  If you recall,  this is a group of writers writing to a weekly word prompt.

The new story I’m working on is an idea that came to me as I watched the show Black Sails.  I loved the character of Captain Vane and since he was based on a real pirate, I wondered what might have happened if he seduced a woman who gave birth to his illegitimate child. Would that child want to seek out information about him when she became an adult?  So, this is part of that story – near the beginning.

This week’s word prompt is number. Check out the other tales here.

“Hello? Miss?”

I looked up from my reverie into the brownest eyes I’d ever seen peering into my own. “Oh, I beg your pardon. I was thinking about where to go to get out of this rain.”

“Come inside the vicarage.” Leo placed his hand on my elbow as if to lead me away from the tombstone.

It had gotten darker in the cemetery, if that were possible. But maybe it was the effect of the rain that made it appear so. “You’re the vicar?”

He threw his head back and laughed. “Good Lord, no. God knows I’m the sinner in my family. Tis my brother who heard the call of the church and the even louder call to come to this heathen place to try to establish the ways of the Europeans here.” He leaned close to me. “I must confess, I even failed as an altar boy.”

“That sounds extremely unlikely, sir.” I wiped the water off my face. My poor hat had to be in shambles by now. It was doing nothing to keep me or my hair dry. Of course, being a little bit of a thing, it wasn’t designed for this kind of weather in any event.

“Come along. We’re both drenched to the skin. Or I know I am.” Leo looked down at his trousers.

My eyes followed his gaze and immediately regretted it. Well, maybe not regret as he was quite a handsome specimen but by the heat in my face, I knew he knew I was paying too much attention to how those fawn-colored breeches clung to every muscle he had. And what muscles. Oh my, if I weren’t so wet and cold, I might even have swooned.

Gathering my wits about me, I held my head up and looked him in the eye. “I’d give a fortune in gold for a warm cup of tea and a seat by a fireside.”

“Then you must not be related to our Captain Vane.”

My stomach clenched. Why would he say such a thing? “What? I beg your pardon?”

“Captain Charles Vane wouldn’t have given his gold treasure away so readily.” Leo grinned at me and took my arm. “How about you pay in smiles instead? I have a feeling such an expression on your face would bedazzle even the worst of us men.”

“And is that what you are?” I allowed him to lead me through the cemetery and past a number of tombstones until we arrived at a small covered porch.

“If I told you exactly how bad I am, you wouldn’t even deign to stand here beside me.” He winked but I wasn’t so sure he was speaking in jest. I had to admit, if only to myself, that I was intrigued by his words. I’d been on a ship with some non-too-savory characters in the last weeks and this man didn’t seem as awful as some of them.