The Grey Lady Ch. 08

You may wonder why I have been keeping all of the chapters of The Grey Lady in this particular section (Reluctance/Nonconsensual) when not all of them have had that theme. I hate having to search all over when I am following a particular story, so I decided to keep them all together. It's just a quirk of mine and I hope that you will bear with this particular idiocrasy.

I tried to give you readers 3 pages as you have asked, but the story refused to cooperate. Please forgive me. Hope that you enjoy this chapter and in the meantime, I'm working on Chapter 9, though it may be a bit of a wait. This particular one is giving me problems.

As always, I appreciate the kind words that you have given me about my work.

Please enjoy!

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Chapter 8

The days following the skirmish with the Ramrod settled into what could be called normal. Samantha would be awakened by Toby's knock to find herself alone in the room. She knew that Jake had gotten up earlier. Either she was a heavy sleeper, or Jake was quiet for he never woke her as he prepared for his day.

She would quickly dress, buttoning up as many of the buttons up the back of the dress as possible. She had become quite adept at getting a large portion of them done before Toby returned with the morning meal. The youngster was able to button the ones she could not reach. Then the two of them would sit down to eat.

Samantha began to think of the young cabin boy as more of a younger brother. The boy was sweet, personable and helpful. Despite having spent the last couple of years on a pirate ship, he seemed to still be a good lad. She had watched his interaction with the rest of the crew and noted that they all seemed to treat him well. There was no cuffing about the ears, or bullying. They would tease him, but it all seemed to be good natured fun. And Toby would tease back, but in a totally respectful way. She suspected that Jake had a hand in this.

Afterwards, Toby would clear away the dishes before coming back to help Sam clean the cabin. With the two of them working, the job was quickly accomplished.

Ever since the battle, Jake had decided that it would be a good idea for her to know some kind of self-defense. And if the truth were told, she was very receptive to being able to defend herself. She was finding it liberating to know that to some extent she had more control over her life. Since she had already used a knife, Sam had asked if maybe she could continue with it. Guns made her nervous, and swords, cutlasses and such seemed too overwhelming for her.

Jake was surprised by her choice though he could see the sense in continuing with a weapon that she had already used with relative success. He had talked to the Master Gunner, who oddly enough went by the name of Gunner and was in charge of the weapons on board. Gunner searched through his arsenal and found a beautiful dagger. The hilt was made of Jade and carved in the shape of a horse's head. The blade was in excellent condition, kept so by Gunner whose job it was as Master Gunner to keep not only all the cannons in working order, but taking care of all the other weapons on board.

"Gunner, where did we pick this up?' Jake held the dagger in his hands hefting its weight and balance.

"From that ship off Princely," Gunner grinned. "I thought we should keeps it fer the ship, ya know? Never know when a weapon like this would be needed."

"Well, it's needed now." Gunner headed over to the books that Jake demanded be kept on weapons and their care. "Make note. This is now the property of Samantha."

Gunner looked up at the Captain, then back down to the book and began writing. "Aye, Captain," Gunner said. It wasn't his place to tell the Captain what he could and couldn't do.

Gunner passed the matching scabbard to the Captain and Jake sheathed it before telling the old pirate, "At a later date, I'll send Samantha down to you. I would like for you to teach her how to care for it, sharpen it, clean it and such."

"Oh, aye, Captain. That I'll do. I'll set 'er up good."

Jake took the dagger and tucked it inside his shirt. He planned on giving it to her once she felt comfortable with the blade she was using. If she was going to learn to use a blade, she should learn to use more than one size and shape. And he wanted her to have one that belonged only to her.

Jake decided that if she was going to learn that skill, Willie was the best man for the job. The man was tall and wiry with a sharp, pointy nose and a dark mole on the left cheek. He also was missing part of his right ear, ironically from a knife accident. But the man could handle knives with the best of them.

Jake had talked to the man, asking if he would mind teaching Sam. He knew that Samantha would be safe with Willie - if Sam was a man, that might have been a different story. Willie had heard the stories about what the young woman had done to Captain DuFey. After all, news travels fast on a ship.

Every day, weather permitting, at four bells Sam and Toby would meet Willie on the Quarter Deck where Willie would have a small target set against the wall. There the three of them would work on learning how to throw a knife, how to handle it safely and how to not injure oneself. Willie honed his skills in addition to training Sam. And Toby. The young lad felt that picking up a new skill wouldn't hurt anything. The bandage on Sam's palm actually aided her, protecting her hand until she started to feel confident handling the blade. And Willie felt that the woman actually had a natural aptitude for the weapon.

Around midday, the lesson would end and Toby would escort Sam back to the cabin before heading to the galley to get meals for Sam and himself. They would sit and talk, or at least Toby did most of the talking, telling stories about his life before the Grey Lady, or enlightening Sam about life on board the ship with stories about different crew members. Jake had informed her about Picky Pete's death though he did not elaborate on the details but rather that the pirate had died during the battle. Toby, on Jake's instructions, refrained from mentioning the pirate. He had plenty of stories about other crew members as it was. The young lad was very observant, and somewhat of a natural jokester, and usually had her laughing.

Afterwards, Toby would clear away the dirty dishes while Sam would set about to do any mending that might have been dropped off. One of the first things that she had done was to alter the clothes that Jake had brought back for her so that they now fit as if made for her. The crew had discovered that Sam could sew, and she had been given the sewing kit that had been confiscated from the Ramrod which she used to also stitch up tears and rips in the pirate's clothes. If one of the crew needed something mended, he would drop the item off with Toby and the cabin boy would make sure that the piece got to Sam, and then return it when it was repaired. Missing buttons would occasionally need replacing, which sometimes was a problem as buttons were hard to come by on the ship and were usually saved for the pants.

If there was no mending, then she had Toby sit and learn to read. Jake had a fair number of books for the young man to learn from. And with a piece of charcoal and a slab of wood, Samantha set about teaching him to make his letters, using an old rag to clean the board before starting over. Toby had only a few years of schooling before he had had to stop and get a job to help put food on the table for his mother and himself. But, as Jake had pointed out to the cabin boy, if he had wanted to grow up to be the Captain of a ship, it was necessary that he be literate. Toby had been a bit reluctant but finally agreed to try to learn. She found a book on Jake's' shelves entitled "The Navigator" that the cabin boy had proclaimed he wanted to read. She was sure that the name was what was of interest to the young man. Nevertheless, the kid would spend the hour learning about travel westward in the United States, as well as travel up and down some of the major rivers. Once he started reading, he became engrossed in the book, occasionally finding it hard to stop.

After an hour of reading, Sam and Toby would spend the rest of the afternoon up topside watching the sea. Once they saw a group of sea creatures called dolphins and Toby informed her that they traveled in something called a pod. The nimble animals jumped in and out of the water and were grey in color. Sam found them fascinating and entertaining with their aerial leaps. They followed the Grey Lady, splashing about almost as if in play, making squeaky, high-pitched noises. To her, they looked as if they were grinning.

"Oh, to be that free!" She watched them in envy.

"But yew ar free, Miz Samantha. I'm tha wun not free. Ah now 'as ta go ta skool." She laughed at the pouting lad.

She watched as the men attempted to make repairs to some of the damage done by the Ramrod. One of the first things that had been fixed was the torn door frame so that the door to the Captain's cabin could be closed, giving Sam a modicum of privacy from the rest of the crew. The major repairs would require waiting until they put into port at Wexling, but some of them were a quick fix.

One of her favorite things to do was to watch the sun set. No two sunsets were the same and she loved the vibrant colors that would grace the sky each evening. The sea air was refreshing and yet soothing and she enjoyed just standing there letting her mind roam while she stared out to the sea.

As the sun would set, Toby would then escort her back to the cabin and leave, heading for the galley to bring back meals for Jake and her. Jake would always thank the young lad and then excuse him for the rest of the evening.

But afterwards, the nights were filled with passionate sex. She could not resist Jake, his dark eyes smoldering, his black hair down just below his collar. Against the fashion of the times (or as Samantha remembered it), he did not usually tie it back but rather let the wind whip it around so that when he would arrive in the cabin after a day of working topside, his hair would be windblown with the odd stray curl prominent behind his left ear. It was always a conscious effort on her part not to reach up and smooth that wayward hair, or run her fingers through it. But, instead, she pushed that desire to the back of her mind. It was not wise to fall in love with a pirate. His days may be numbered. She did find herself adopting a more casual, if not playful, attitude with him. It was obvious that at least while on the ship she would be the Captain's "bedwarmer", an ugly but accurate term nevertheless.

Despite everything, an easy going banter seemed to have developed between her and Jake, almost as if they had been thrown together with no possible chance for escape forcing them to make the most of it. She was in fact quite grateful for him having saved her life and yet she would not have found herself thrust in that situation had Jake not felt the need to attack the Ramrod.

That being said, she had realized that that was now in the past and she might as well at least continue on and finish the rest of the voyage trying to be agreeable.

Her memory seemed determined to remain elusive. For some reason, she suspected that her dreams were filled with more information than her waking hours were. Each morning, she would awaken with the distinct impression that only moments before, she knew her name, or her family, or her entire life history and that those few precious seconds that existed between sleep and wakefulness, unconsciousness and consciousness, all memory had left her mind to hover just out of reach until the next night's repose. The only image she had ever retained was that stupid pirate standing in his underclothes. And though she could remember what the dastardly pirate looked like, the name of the same remained unobtainable. She would often wonder if this was a pirate that she knew well - the fact that he was dressed as he was suggested that she did. And if she told Jake, what would he think?

Samantha had to admit that if they had met under different conditions, she probably would have found herself quite taken with him. His looks were worthy of the classical swoon from any young lady worth her smelling salts. And despite it all, he had treated her as a gentleman, even when he bedded her.

As to that - the sex - Samantha found that she enjoyed it. If she were completely truthful to herself, she probably looked forward each night to lying in bed with him. And quite against her will, she enjoyed the sex. Did that make her bad? Probably. But if she were headed for hell, at least she would have a good looking companion there. And Jake was certainly gentle, kind - in fact, not at all what she would have thought that a pirate would be like.

If fact, the entire pirate ship was not as she would have thought. Other than Picky Pete, none of the other members of the ship had been anything but polite. Each man had shown her common courtesy. The only men who spoke to her were Mr. Bilge and Toby, though now that Willie was teaching her how to handle a knife, he also was allowed to speak to her. But the other members were courteous, giving her a nod or a smile when eye contact was made. Even the occasional doffing of a cap would happen and she had noticed that even amongst themselves, there was in general a politeness. That's not to say that there were never disagreements for fights would break out between the men. But Samantha noticed that Jake would immediately stop it, mediate the argument, and provide a solution. Jake's word was law and the men never seemed to grumble about his decision, at least not within earshot.

The ship itself was kept clean. Since the battle with the Ramrod, a large portion of the crew's time had been making repairs to the ship. Even though the men worked hard, they still seemed a relatively happy lot. They laughed, and sang, and joked (at least when they thought she was out of earshot.) Jake had explained that it was all share and share alike, for the most part, and she was just glad that that motto did not include herself.

Now that she had several new dresses (thanks to their acquisition from the Ramrod), she had to rely upon Jake to help her undress. In the evening, he was always very careful helping her undress though she could tell he was sometimes impatient. And once he had her naked, he would take her to new heights of ecstacy.

*****

His hands softly rested on her shoulders, radiating heat to the bare skin showing above the dress's neckline. She seemed to have no self-control where Jake was concerned. Through he stood behind her where she couldn't see him, she knew just how he would look, eyes full of desire for her body.

He slowly slid the sleeves down a bit, pressing his lips to that creamy white skin. She closed her eyes, lost in the feelings he was generating.

"It's at times like this that I regret finding this dress for you. These buttons will be my downfall." She could feel him making a conscious effort to unfasten the dress without tearing it or popping a button. "When we reach Wexling, you are not allowed to wear any clothes!" Jake's husky voice proclaimed.

"That should make shopping at market interesting."

"All right. Then no clothes in the house."

"Servants?"

"Damn! I'm fighting a losing battle." He sighed and she could hear the frustration in his voice. "Can I not just tear it? I'll get you a new dress when we get there."

"Patience is a virtue."

Jake growled. "I have never been a virtuous man."

It took him a bit more time than he wanted, but eventually he unbuttoned it and peeled the back of the dress forward, sliding his hands along the bare skin so recently revealed. His hands slipped between the dress and her skin, reaching around to cup her breast under the material, pulling her in to him with her bare back against his chest.

"Are you going to help me undress, or play?"

"Both," he proclaimed as he kissed her shoulder again. "In case you haven't heard, I am the Captain and what I say, goes." He leaned in to nuzzle her neck and whisper in her ear. "If you play your cards right, I think I can get you a good room. Plush bed. Lots of sex." He nibbled on her earlobe.

"Really? I heard that the Captain was short and fat, with a squeaky voice and tiny attributes." She smiled knowing he would take the bait.

"Madam had been severely misinformed." He chuckled at her tease. "I would be most happy to enlighten her as to these errors."

He pulled his hands back and with nimble fingers began to lift the dress, the silky material sliding up her to reveal the pale body beneath. He dropped it on the floor and started to draw her into him, but she lightly swatted his hands and disengaged herself from him. Picking up the dress and crossing to hang it on a post, she said, "I don't want this dress dirty."

"I think you care more about that dress than me. Maybe I should throw it overboard." She heard him grumbling behind her and turned to see him watching her from across the room. She stood before him, naked. His manhood was already pressing the limits of his pants, and the longer he watched her, the more it grew. She watched him cross to her, her heart beating faster with each step he took.

He stopped close to her, so close yet not touching. His size overpowered her, towering. She could smell him - a mixture of sweat, the sea, and maleness, and something else. Something that caused her to feel the wetness gathering, threatening to trickle down the inside of her leg. She could feel the heat cross that small space between them as he leaned down to her, their lips almost touching, so that they took the same breath, breathed the same air.

Then, he kissed her. Without even thinking, she leaned into him and the fire from his body engulfed her. His arms were around her, one hand on the back of her head and the other against her bottom, pressing her into him. His lips demanded more.

He pulled back, looked at her and groaned. "Damn, Woman. You are going to be the death of me." Without another word, he picked her up in his arms, crossed to the bunk and dropped her on it. She laughed as she bounced a bit, watching him remove his pants. His penis sprang free. Each time she saw it, she was amazed that something so big could fit in her.

Jake grinned at her, climbing into bed and turning on his side to reach out, his strong arms drawing her to him. She couldn't help but watch his penis as it continued to grow.

"See something that you like?" She hesitated. Jake grew quiet, sensing her reluctance.

"What is it? You can tell me."

"Do... Do you mind... ah..." She started blushing, finding it hard to actually put into words her request. "I... I... wanted to... could I look... your penis?" If it were possible, her whole body seemed to blush. She was tongue-tied but possessed a natural curiosity in this thing that had become a large part of her life.

Jake gave a chuckle. "My dear, only repressed virgins call it a penis. A woman calls it a cock." He reached out to draw her near to him. "And you, my dear, are definitely a woman." He lifted her chin, kissing her soundly on the lips. Then he rolled over on his back and gestured towards his manhood which was standing at attention.

"I place myself in milady's hands." He saw her hesitate and took her hand, drawing it to his proud member and placing her fingers around its base.

His cock throbbed in her hand. She could feel his heart beating through it as it twitched ever so slightly.

"I promise it won't bite." She heard the smile in his voice.

She was curious. She was drawn down to take a closer look, noting several prominent blue veins running from the base hidden in the curly hairs of his groin to just under the mushroom shaped tip. His sac, large and heavy looking, nestled on the underside in amongst the pubic hairs. The head was reddish-purple and she could see that it was feeling needy. From the slit on top a pearly thick fluid was gathering and a thought flit through her mind. She wondered what he would taste like. After all, he had tasted her.