The captain looked his usual commanding, unruffled self in his dark-blue uniform. His keen gray eyes impersonally noted Jane's presence on the couch, before he turned his attention to Dominic. “You wanted to see me?” he asked composedly.
Jake crossed to the bar and poured himself a brandy. “You could say that,” he said tersely. “I hear you've been acting like a virtual Captain Bligh with our reluctant guest here.”
“I didn't say that!” Jane protested hotly. “I told you this was none of your business.” She turned to the captain and said quickly. “I'll be on deck tomorrow at the usual time, Captain Benjamin.”
“You needn't try to protect me, Miss Smith,” Benjamin said coolly. “I'm quite capable of making my own explanations.”
“Protect you!” Jane sputtered furiously. “I'm not protecting you, my dear Simon Legree. I just want no interference in what is strictly a private battle. I have no intention of winning by default.”
Benjamin didn't pretend to misunderstand her. “It seems you've done just that, whether you like it or not,” he answered impassively.
“Not on your life,” Jane said emphatically, her eyes burning like a flame in her white face.
“I can't believe this.” Jake came forward to stand beside the couch. “If you'll stop squabbling like two kindergarten children, I'd like that explanation, Marc.”
The captain shrugged. “There's nothing to make a fuss about, Jake,” he said calmly. “Miss Smith and I were just having a little battle of wills. I'll change her to another duty tomorrow.”
“You'll do no such thing!” Jane cried, struggling to get to her feet.
Jake pushed her back on the couch. “Be still!” he ordered roughly. He turned to Benjamin and asked grimly, “What type of work did you imagine she could do with legs like these?” He reached down and pulled the khaki pants up to reveal her swollen kneecaps.
Benjamin gazed in stunned horror, for once jolted out of his cool aplomb. “Good Lord!” he swore beneath his breath. He looked up at Dominic, his gray eyes stricken. “I didn't know, Jake,” he muttered. “I swear I didn't know. Why the hell didn't she tell me?”
“Because she's a stubborn young fool with more courage than sense,” Jake said curtly. “I gather she was under the impression that you were trying to break her spirit.” He shook his head in disgust. “I'd expect such behavior from a young firebrand like Jane, but what provoked you to go this far?”
Benjamin swallowed hard, looking slightly sick. “She may have been right. I don't know. She was so damned defiant that it got under my skin. Every day I thought she'd give in and ask me to change her duty, and every day she threw her refusal right back in my face.” His hands came up to cover his eyes. “God, I feel rotten.”
Jane felt her anger begin to drain away as she saw the unhappiness and self-reproach in Benjamin's face. She could grudgingly understand the irritation that had driven him to such lengths. Hadn't she been stirred by the same pride and stubbornness that had goaded the captain? She knew the same treacherous melting that she always experienced at the sight of another's distress or pain.
“I should think you would,” Jake said scathingly. “You've acted with the same asinine stupidity that she has.”
This remark was met with resentful scowls from both antagonists.
“It wasn't the captain's fault that I bruise easily,” Jane said defensively, with an abrupt about-face. “You hired him to run your blasted ship for you. If he thought that I'd be of most value scrubbing decks, then that's what I should do.” She scooted to the other end of the couch to evade Jake's reach and rose to her feet. “In fact, that's what I insist on doing!” she added emphatically. She turned and marched toward the door, brushing by the stunned captain with a curt nod. “I'll see you tomorrow morning at the usual time, Captain Benjamin.”
The captain was having a predinner drink with Jake in the lounge one evening, shortly after they had sighted the northern coast of Mexico, and was mentally congratulating himself on his diplomatic brilliance. It appeared that his solution to the problem Jane had presented was working very well indeed in the past several days. His self-satisfaction in this respect was suddenly blasted into the stratosphere by a call from his first officer, Jim Davidson.
When he turned away from the phone, he grimaced as he picked up his whiskey. “I should have known that it was too good to last. That was Jim Davidson on the phone. It seems that we have a slight disciplinary problem with the crew. Five of them were caught shooting craps in the storeroom.” He looked down gloomily at his drink. “One of them was your problem child, Jane Smith.”
Jake Dominic lifted an eyebrow mockingly. “Surely that's not so reprehensible,” he said easily. “You've always allowed the men to gamble on the Sea Breeze.”
“Not for money,” Benjamin said shortly. “Evidently there was quite a bit of cash involved in this particular game.”
“I see,” Jake replied thoughtfully; then his eyes lit mischievously. “And what discipline are you going to administer to these miscreants? Scrubbing the deck?”
“Lord, no!” Benjamin said with a shudder. “The men are easy enough to deal with. They know that the standard punishment for gambling is to stop their pay for a few days. But how in the hell do I discipline Jane, when she's not even earning a salary?”
Jake rose from the barstool and wandered over to the port-hole to stare absently out at the tranquil sea that was just beginning to be stroked by the scarlet rays of the setting sun. “I'll take care of it.” He spoke casually, over his shoulder. “As you say, she's my problem.”
“I didn't think you'd want to be bothered,” Benjamin said slowly. Though Dominic had inquired once or twice about Jane, he'd never once visited his charge in her cabin during the time that she'd been confined.
Jake Dominic turned around to face him, a sardonic smile on his face. “It would hardly have been discreet to display more than a casual interest in our little invalid. You know damn well if I'd paid so much as a courtesy call to Jane's cabin, the entire ship would have assumed that she was my mistress. The next two months are going to be difficult enough for her without that particular problem to deal with.”
That Jake had been acting chivalrously to protect Jane had obviously never occurred to Benjamin. “So you haven't grown bored with your court jester yet,” Benjamin remarked dryly. “That must be some kind of record for you, Jake.”
He shrugged, his dark eyes shuttered. “She's an amusing child. I enjoy having her around.” He smiled. “Even when she raises hell.”
“Shall I tell Davidson to send her to you for discipline, then?” Benjamin asked slyly. “It wouldn't do to exempt her from punishment. It would set a bad precedent.”
There was a trace of uneasiness in Jake's face. “It really wasn't a very serious offense,” he suggested tentatively. Then, as Benjamin continued to stare at him implacably, he said in exasperation, “Oh, damn it to hell! Yes, send her to me. I'll think of something.”
Benjamin smothered a smile as he turned away and once again lifted the receiver of the phone to give the order.
Jane arrived in the lounge five minutes later. She wore her own black jeans and a man's yellow sport shirt with the tails knotted under her small high breasts and the sleeves rolled up above the elbow. She also wore an expression of determination and defiance as she strode angrily into the room.
“It's utterly ridiculous for you to punish the men for having a friendly dice game,” she cried furiously. She stopped before them, her breasts heaving, her flaming hair seeming to take additional fire from her blazing eyes. “It's absolutely medieval of you to withhold their pay for indulging in an innocent game on their own time!”
The two men exchanged amused glances before Benjamin attempted to assume a stern expression. “A game quite frequently ceases to be friendly when money is involved,” he said coolly. “The rule is quite reasonable on shipboard. Men have been known to lose an entire month's salary when faced with their boredom of days at se
a. Some of these men have wives and children to support at home. How would you like them to be in need, even hungry, because of a ‘friendly’ little dice game?”
Jane's eyes were wide and stricken. “I never thought of that,” she said in a subdued tone. “You're quite right, of course.”
“Of course,” Benjamin agreed promptly. “However, we're here not to discuss the men's punishment, but your own, young lady. Not only have you disobeyed my orders about leaving your bed, but you've engaged in an illegal dice game.”
Jane made a face. “My knees are almost entirely healed now, so there was no reason to stay in bed. It was driving me absolutely bananas. And I wasn't actually gambling. I didn't have any money, so Simon was just letting me throw out the dice for him.”
“Simon?” Jake asked, his dark eyes narrowing.
“Your cousin, Simon.” Jane said, surprised; then, as he continued to look puzzled, she quoted impishly: “Four times removed in blood, forty million dollars in substance.”
“Oh, yes, Gordon Dominic's boy,” Jake said dryly. “I'd forgotten that he was on board.”
“You should get to know him better,” Jane said with enthusiasm. “Simon is a super person.”
“I'm glad you think so,” Jake said tersely. “Personally, I don't think much of a man who involves a young girl in illegal gambling.”
Benjamin raised his eyebrows at this hypocrisy from a man who had led dozens of women into much more iniquitous indiscretions, but he wisely withheld comment.
“It wasn't Simon's fault,” Jane said staunchly. “He wouldn't even have been there himself, if I hadn't told him I had never seen a dice game and asked him to go with me.”
“So it was you who lured the all-American boy down the path of wickedness,” Jake said lazily, taking a swallow of his drink. “It did seem a little out of character, from what I remember of Simon.”
“Couldn't you excuse him from punishment, just this time?” Jane pleaded wistfully. “It hardly seems fair that he should take the blame because I was curious.”
“I can't understand your fascination,” Jake remarked. “Surely a covert dice game in a deserted storeroom is a little on the sordid side.”
“Well, actually it was rather exciting,” Jane said with a reminiscent smile. “You see, I'd never seen anyone gamble before. My grandfather was very strict about things like that.”
“I can't make an exception in Simon's case,” Benjamin said emphatically. “Any more than we can in your own.” He turned to Jake. “Have you made a decision as to her punishment?”
A curious smile lit Jake Dominic's dark face as he stared with narrowed eyes into Jane's. “Oh, yes, I think so,” he drawled. “Where's the closest gambling casino, Marc?”
Benjamin answered warily, “San Miguel. It's a few miles down the coast.” His eyes narrowed as he saw the flickering devilment in the other man's expression.
“Good,” Jake said with satisfaction. “I've thought it over, Marc, and what Jane needs isn't discipline, but knowledge. We need to show her the wickedness of these games of chance so that she may satisfy her curiosity and get it out of her system.”
“Rather an unusual solution,” Benjamin said sardonically. “So you intend to take her to San Miguel tonight.” It was a statement, not a question.
Jake nodded, his eyes still on Jane's face, which had suddenly come alive with excitement. “I feel it my duty,” he said mockingly. “Care to come along, Marc?”
“I think I'd better,” Benjamin said grimly. “San Miguel isn't Monte Carlo, you know. It's little more than a dive. It's certainly not the type of place you'd take a lady.”
“Well, we can take care of that easily enough,” Jake replied, his eyes running over Jane's slight figure. “Just find her a loose coat and that stocking cap she had on when she burgled my cabin. The lights are bound to be dim in the casino, and she'll have no trouble passing as a boy.”
“I'll wear the white sweater Simon lent me,” Jane put in eagerly. “I'm lost in it.”
“Just the thing,” he agreed promptly, his lips twitching.
“Should I bind my breasts?” Jane asked worriedly, looking down at her feminine roundness with profound disapproval.
Jake made a sound between a cough and a gasp. “No, I don't think that will be necessary,” he said solemnly, not looking at her. “Why don't you run along and get into your disguise? Meet us on deck in thirty minutes.”
“Right,” Jane agreed happily, and ran from the lounge.
Jake released the whoop of laughter that he'd been suppressing. He bent over the bar, his shoulders shaking helplessly with mirth.
Captain Benjamin looked on in disapproval. “I'm glad you're so entertained,” he said caustically. “You know that this isn't a wise venture, Jake.”
Still chuckling, Jake commented, “Sometimes being wise can be abysmally dull, Marc. I can't wait to see her reaction to San Miguel.”
Benjamin frowned. “I don't like the idea of exposing a girl to that kind of atmosphere just to furnish you with a few kicks, Jake.”
“She'll be safe enough with both of us there to protect her.” Jake said carelessly. “Jane's wild to go. You saw her face.”
The captain nodded reluctantly. “I can't deny that. But damn it, she doesn't have the best track record for choosing what's good for her!”
“Why, Marc, you sound positively fatherly.”
“The girl needs someone to take care of her. And neither of us has the qualifications for the job.”
Jake slapped him on the shoulder. “For heaven's sake, Marc,” he said impatiently, “we're not adopting the girl; we're only taking her out.” He swallowed the rest of his drink and set his glass on the bar. “Now, while I go down and change, why don't you run along and check to make sure Jane's not doing something drastic?”
“Drastic?” Benjamin asked, puzzled.
Jake Dominic's eyes danced. “She seemed very concerned about looking like a boy.” He grinned. “What's more girlish than a woman's crowning glory?”
“Crowning glo—you mean her hair?” Benjamin asked, his eyes widening. “You think she'd cut off all her hair?”
“It wouldn't surprise me,” Jake said mildly.
“Oh, my God!” Benjamin exclaimed, and he bolted from the room.
five
THE CASINO WAS LOCATED AT THE TOP OF A hill overlooking the dusty, picturesque port town of San Miguel. The trip up the winding dirt road proved only a short ten minutes in the ancient rattling taxi that Jake Dominic had magically produced at the dock, and they were soon pulling into a bumpy, unpaved parking lot.
Jane peered eagerly out the window, her golden eyes blazing with curiosity and excitement. The parking lot was crowded even this early in the evening, she noticed. The large one-story prefab building that housed the casino was painted an astounding flamingo pink, and the name Tropicana was blazoned in nauseating chartreuse over the double doors at the front entrance.
“Disappointed?” Jake asked lazily, when she made no comment.
Jane shook her head. “Oh, no,” she said positively. “It's just as I imagined a dive would look.” She frowned in puzzlement. “Except for all those lights.” Both the front and rear of the casino were lit by several brilliant streetlights that illuminated the area until it was almost as bright as daylight.
He shrugged. “At a place like this it's probably necessary if you don't want to come back to a car with no tires.”
Benjamin nodded in agreement. “I've seen thieves completely strip a car inside and out in ten minutes,” he said dryly. “And that was in downtown Mexico City!”
Instructing the taxi driver to wait and ensuring his compliance with a sizable monetary exchange, Jake ushered them leisurely from the car, through the double doors, and into the crowded, smoky interior of the casino.
“It's utterly fantastic,” Jane breathed ecstatically. “It's like the movie set from Casablanca.”
Jake flinched. “Please,” he protested, with a pained expres
sion. “Rick's Place at least had a certain class. This is more like the cantina scene from Duel in the Sun.”
The entire far wall of the room was occupied by a long narrow bar. The rest of the large room was furnished with several green baize tables, offering various games of chance. The dimly lit room was crowded and noisy even this early in the evening. The patrons were almost exclusively male, for the most part Mexicans, dressed in dark trousers and the ubiquitous long white shirts and sandals.
The exception to the masculine atmosphere was provided by several voluptuously endowed señoritas in low-cut scarlet gowns who were presiding as dealers at the gaming tables. The old-fashioned ceiling fans served only to shift the smoke-laden air rather than freshen it, and the faces of the gamblers were shining with perspiration as they crowded close to the tables as if magnetized by the red-gowned dealers.
“Stay close to either Marc or me,” Jake ordered. “And keep that cap pulled down!”
Jane nodded eagerly, jamming her hands in the pockets of the oversized jacket Captain Benjamin had provided, and swaggered after the two men with what she hoped was a boyish gait. Jake and Benjamin's goal was the crowded roulette table where Benjamin elbowed a place for Jane. Marc Benjamin and Jake swiftly purchased chips from a dark-haired beauty, who gave them a dazzling smile, and they proceeded to play for several minutes, with indifferent success.
“Would you like to try your luck?” Jake asked quietly, pushing some chips in front of her.
Jane shook her head. “I'd rather watch.” The excitement and tension on the faces of the players was infinitely more interesting to her than winning or losing.
Jake shrugged. “It's really not my game either,” he said, looking around restlessly. “I think I'll try to find a blackjack table. Do you want to come with me?”
“No, I'll stay here with Captain Benjamin,” Jane said absently, her eyes on an obese man whose good luck was being raucously celebrated by much back-slapping and shouting. She was vaguely aware of Dominic's withdrawal.