Saved By The Pirate (Book One)

24. Story Telling And Shirless Men

I screamed. Not literally, but mentally I did. And I could only imagine what Christopher thought, which was probably the same thing: what now?

The thing was, I didn't know what to do now. I would have to lie like a dog, something I wasn't so keen on doing, but luckily, Christopher was.

One thing led to another, and the next thing that Christopher or I knew, we were seated in the drawing-room with a crowd of strangers interested in our little tale.

Those damn butlers and manservants must have known Katherine's evil plan because before we could even count to a thousand, they swept our salads away and replaced it with our main course. Maybe it was just me and my stress, it probably was, but not ten minutes after serving our meal, they placed dessert in front of us.

Katherine didn't make it any better by annoying Christopher and me over silly little questions and assumptions. Even the people beside us became interested and leaned over to hear what was going on.

Right in the nick of time, the Lady saved us by saying that Christopher and I would have our time to share after dinner. We were safe until this very moment.

"Well..." I began nervously. I felt my throat tighten, and as if it couldn't worsen, I felt my face turn red. "Christopher and I met on my way to America." Excellent start, genius. Because when they ask how America was, you could so give them an answer.

The people gathered around all nodded in unison, hanging on to every word I said, especially the ladies, who couldn't wait to hear another spinning tale of romance. That was just what I needed, people that care what goes on in my fictional life!

Suddenly, an idea struck me. Oh, the most beautiful, most brilliant thing that I could ever think of popped into my head. I smirked, oh how I did. I placed my hand on my dear husband's.

"Christopher, dear, why don't you tell the story. You're better at telling it than I am."

He smiled, and right then, I should have known better. I made a mistake - a big one.

He cleared his throat. "Yes, on the way to America," he began. "I heard how pleasant the new world was overseas, and I made up my mind to venture out."

I couldn't believe this. How did I allow myself to get into this madness?

"But while sailing across the vast Atlantic, I stumbled upon another ship - a pirate ship."

Everyone gasped, even the men who only came because their wives dragged them. And from the smug look on my husband's face, he was eating it all up—every single bit of it. He smiled.

"As it is my duty, I pulled the ship over. The captain had not been happy to find that I, a decorated officer was putting a stop to his wicked ways, but of course, I had my men hold him back and call off his crew while I went to investigate. Immediately, I heard a woman's voice screaming."

"Oh, dear me. How tragic!" Exclaimed Lady Wheat, sitting across from me. Her husband placed a loving hand on her shoulder. He, too, was astonished.

Even young Katherine seemed quite surprised judging from the fact that she ignored her hatred for me and sat at the edge of her seat. I was sitting at the edge of my seat, as well. It was all too interesting how my dear, sweet husband told the story of how we met - even if it was complete rubbish.

"Yes, very much so," Christopher said. "I began to search around the ship until I found myself in front of a door to a strange room. I knocked it down, hearing the scream and there, I found a beautiful young woman, my Anne, tied up." He then lifted my hand and planted a kiss on the back of it.