The earl grabbed her arm, and, without a word, dragged her along the deck, down the companionway, and pushed her inside the cabin, slamming the door closed.
Cassie rubbed her arm when he released her and frowned at him. “You needn’t be such a ruffian, my lord. Is it that you too are disappointed that there was no battle?”
“You disobeyed me, madam.”
She blinked at the cold fury in his voice. “I believe, my lord,” she said steadily, “that you are making a fuss out of nothing. There was no danger.”
The earl held himself stiffly, his arms rigid at his sides. Her ridicule of the situation made him all the angrier.
“I will say it again, madam. You disobeyed me. You will now tell me why.”
She stood her ground and raised her chin. “I did not think your order reasonable, my lord. The frigate was a good mile distant from us when we fired. Given that she was heavily loaded and thus unable to elevate her guns easily, we would have been able to outrange her, handily, even if she had chosen to engage us. The yacht is much faster and if there had been the need, we could have outrun her.”
He was taken aback. “Just how the devil do you know that?” She had analyzed the situation with impeccable accuracy, and it did nothing to improve his temper.
“I do not know why men persist in believing that women are stupid, useless creatures who have nothing in their heads but spun cotton. You know that I have sailed all my life. Do you believe me so buffleheaded as to be ignorant of the subject?”
“Very well, Cassandra, I commend your education. But the fact remains, madam, that you did not do as I bid you. Given all your experience and reading, you must know that without obedience and strict discipline, a captain cannot effectively command. Just what do you think would have happened if all of my men had decided to do whatever pleased them, rather than obey my orders? That, Cassandra, is insubordination, and subject to exacting punishment.”
Her forehead knitted into a thoughtful frown, and her eyes wavered from his set face. She drew a deep breath. “Though I am not one of your crew, what you have said is just. A captain’s orders cannot be ignored. I will submit to whatever punishment you deem fitting for what I have done.”
“The punishment, madam, is at the very least a flogging that would take the flesh off a man’s back.”
She paled visibly.
He pressed his point, wanting to assure himself that she would never again do something so foolish and dangerous. “If a man were not to obey my order in the face of impending battle, I would seriously consider hanging.”
There was silence between them for some moments. Finally, she said, “I think it would be wasteful of you to hang me.”
A slight smile hovered at the corners of his mouth, and he sternly repressed it. “I doubt not that you are right. I have never cared for wasteful hangings. The offense, however, remains the same.”
The earl found that his anger was rapidly dissipating. He had made his point well, and she had clearly accepted his reasoning. He thought to remove her obvious fear when she squared her shoulders and said in a calm voice, “I would ask only that you not demean me by flogging me in front of the men. Nor do you have to tie me up, for I will submit to your flogging.”
He stared at her, at a loss. Although he greatly admired her courage, he wanted to enfold her in his arms and reassure her, to see the fear disappear from her eyes. But she would see that as an insult to her courage, condescension to her as naught but a weak woman. He would well imagine that she would be enraged, and justifiably so, for everything that he had said to her would have a hollow ring. He was struggling to find an answer to this ridiculous situation when she asked in the same calm voice, “What kind of whip will you use, my lord?” She added, poised still, “Do I take it from your silence that I must be flogged in front of the men? And tied to the mast?”
“No,” he said finally, “I shall not beat you in front of my men, nor will I tie you down.”
“Thank you,” she said, her mouth now quite dry with fear. She closed her eyes a moment, praying that she would neither cry out
nor faint. It was on the tip of her tongue to apologize to him, to beg him not to whip her, but she could not bring herself to do it.
“Will you do it now, my lord?”
“No, I think not,” he said. “I will leave you, Cassandra, to think about what you have done. It will be settled when I return.” Since he had no idea of what the devil he should do, he knew he had to have some time alone, to try and untangle this mess. He gazed a moment longer at her pale, set face, and left the cabin.
He paced the deck, deaf to the shouts of taunting laughter from his men as they waved toward the now-distant Spanish frigate.
“Ye do not seem justly pleased, my lord,” Scargill said, as he walked into his master’s preoccupied line of vision. “The men performed well, as if they had all been trained in the English navy.”
The earl breathed deeply and turned rueful eyes to his valet. “It’s not that, to be sure, Scargill. I have got myself in a rare mess and am wondering how the devil to get out of it.”
“Ye speak in riddles, my lord.”
The earl drew a deep breath and ran his fingers through his rumpled hair. “Cassandra disobeyed me, Scargill, and I was a forceful fool.” As Scargill still gazed at him, at sea, he told him briefly what had passed between them. “She is at this moment,” he concluded, “waiting for me to return to flog her. Her only request is that I not flog her in front of the men.”
Scargill sucked in an appalled breath. “Jesus Christ,” he said succinctly.
The earl slammed a fist against his open palm. “Hellfire and damnation, this entire situation is ridiculous. And you, Scargill, you have done naught but add needless expletives.”