"For pity's sake run, Charlie!"

For a panicked moment, Charlotte gaped at her brother's back. He stood between her and their stepfather, brandishing a knife. The older man's face was transformed from the lecherous grin it wore minutes before as he pawed her, to a mask of hatred for the young man facing him.

"Come on then, boy. You've waited a long time for this.," Billy Maggs taunted and moved forward. Charlotte gasped as Michael stood his ground. He slashed out with the knife as soon as his opponent came within range. Billy hissed a breath and clasped a hand to his ribs. Blood seeped through his fingers. He looked down in surprise.

"Keep back, Maggs, let Charlie go and we'll stop this now." Michael's voice was calm.

Charlotte watched in helpless horror as the pair rolled on the floor, finally coming to a stop, with Billy on top of Michael with the younger, lighter man's throat in a relentless grasp. She cast a glance around the room searching for some way to help her brother. Her eyes settled on a heavy candlestick. She grabbed it and brought it down in all her desperate strength on Billy's head. The big man gave a strange sigh and collapsed in a crumpled heap on top of his intended victim.

"He's still breathing,." he said in a tone of voice that suggested he would have preferred it otherwise.

"We have to go. Get some clothes,. "He said, moving to her and hugging her close.

Two days later, Charlotte stood toe to toe with her brother and said.,

"But Charlie, I can't leave you here. Maggs will be on the warpath. I can't believe he hasn't caught up with us yet. Look, all we need do is cut your hair, get some boy's clothes for you and smuggle you aboard." Michael's voice was so matter of fact, as he indicated the ship he'd signed on for, that Charlotte actually gaped at him.

"At least we could give it a try. We've nothing to lose.," he cajoled with a winning smile. Charlotte sighed and gave in, she could never stand up to Michael's charm.

Three days at sea changed all that. Michael's charm would never again work with her, she vowed grimly as she huddled in her place in the bowels of the ship.

" Appropriate word that...bowels,." she thought grimly.

At the moment the ship seemed to be moving around more than usual and there was a new urgency in the shouted orders she could hear. Feeling more than a little anxious, she crept out from her hiding place and began to make her way up to daylight. Lifting a heavy hatch she peered out and was rewarded with a huge mouthful of water. A full-blown storm was raging and the crew was working hard to keep the vessel safe. Charlotte coughed and spluttered before she lowered the hatch and crept back towards her lair.

"I'll just lie down for a moment,." she thought as she settled into the sheets and blankets.

"All safely battened down.," Jack thought in satisfaction while he shrugged out of his coat and shirt, dropping them in a sodden heap on the floor of his cabin.

"Killick will no doubt make his feelings known about my treatment of clothing again,." he thought wryly, scratched absently at his chest, and moved towards his recently vacated bunk.

"Well, lad, I hope you have a good reason for keeping the Captain from his rest." he said in a loud voice. The boy leapt from the bed like a scalded cat and landed on the floor, his eyes darting around the cabin looking for a means of escape.

"What's your name, boy, and how did you get aboard?" The lad looked stunned and gaped at him.

"Just tell me your name?." he tried again.

"Ch...Ch....Charlie,." the stammered reply came. The boy's face was scarlet with embarrassment.

"Charlie, is it? How long have you been aboard without my knowledge, Charlie?"

"Three...three days, sir.," Charlie replied, his gaze fixed on the floor, not meeting his questioner's eyes. Jack moved past him and sat down on one of the chairs in the room.

"So now, then. What to do with a stowaway?" he mused aloud and watched the boy's eyes widen in fear as the implications of his actions dawned on him. Seeing his distress, Jack relented. He stood and walked to the door, opened it and stuck his head into the companionway.

"Falling asleep in the Captain's bunk." she thought, remembering the large semi-naked man who had awakened her. He was huge, well, tall anyway, Charlotte barely topped five feet herself and most men appeared tall to her, but this man was big and broad and blond and handsome. Her breath caught in her throat as she remembered the expanse of naked chest and the encouraging smile.

Growing up in a dockside tavern, Charlotte had seen her share of naked men. Neither was she, at twenty, a blushing virgin but there was an elemental power about Captain Aubrey that fascinated her and demanded a response from her traitorous body.

"In here,." Killick grunted, indicating a door. Charlie went in and immediately saw her brother.

"Like that, is it?" Killick growled.

"Well, that's a story and a half." Killick said, as he bustled round the galley heating water for her to wash and assembling a meal for her. She fell on the food gratefully and listened with half and ear to the conversation between her brother and Killick. She caught the occasional phrase.

"What are plotting now, Michael Warren?" she demanded through a mouthful of hard bread.

"I'm not plotting. I'm just trying to make the best of a bad situation." her brother said haughtily.

"That's enough. Warren, you stay here with Charlie...er.... Charlotte, begging your pardon, Miss.," the usually taciturn man blushed.

"Ah, yes! Our stowaway.," Jack said.

"Stephen, I'd like your advice on this current state of affairs."

"Young Charlie here fetched up in the middle of the storm. Sound asleep in my bunk no less. It appears that he has been aboard for some three days. Now the situation is out in the open. , I have to decide what to do with him." Jack grinned at Stephen before composing his face in sterner lines to turn and look at the boy, who was white-faced and appeared nervous.

"Well, he looks a bit too scrawny and feeble for a deck hand.," Stephen commented.

"What interests me, is how he got aboard.," he continued.

"Well, young man? How do you respond?" Jack asked, arching a brow at Charlie.

"I carried some stores on board and then slipped away below decks when no-one was looking,." the lad said, his voice quavering only slightly.

"Strikes me your crew have been less than attentive, Captain." Stephen said, earning a sharp look from Jack. He moved on quickly.

"Well, from the looks of him I'd say he was not much use as a seaman, but perhaps he'd be useful to Killick in some capacity. Can you read and write, Charlie?" he asked.

"Yes, sir." Charlie replied, his voice a little stronger.

"Capital idea! What do you say, Killick? Can you find gainful employment for the lad?" Jack said.

"War...War.... Warwick...Sir!"

"So, Master Charles Warwick, you'll answer to Killick, then Dr Maturin and then to me. That'll be all." Jack dismissed the two with a brief nod and turned to Stephen.

"I know, if the Doctor hadn't frowned at me, I would have forgotten and Michael would have ended up in the soup!" Charlotte gasped in relief. Michael had landed her in scrapes before, and none more precarious than this, but he had always tried to take care of her and she would have hated to see him suffer on her behalf.

"Hmmm.," Killick's response was gruff.

"What is it, think you, Stephen, that drives men against nature to seek out other men instead of the bountiful charms of women?" he asked in what he hoped was an unconcerned tone. There was a moment of silence and Jack could have sworn his friend was hiding a smile behind his sudden cough.

"It can be for any number of reasons, Jack. Some men find no attraction to the female form and find their ardour inflamed by the more muscular physique of men." Jack felt his jaw sag at the very idea!

"For others prolonged separation from their wives forces them to seek comfort and warmth in whatever way they can.," Stephen continued. Jack nodded seriously. Not being married, this struck him as unlikely. He waited for his friend to continue.

"For still others on a long journey, at sea for example, the relief that might be gained by one’s own means, if you take my meaning, is no longer enough to assuage the needs of the body.," Stephen finished with a knowing wink. Now that Jack could understand, merely a case of self-discipline, not any change in his appreciation of the female form. He felt a profound relief, and leant forward to refill their glasses of port.

That night in his bunk, as he sought the relief Stephen had spoken of, Jack closed his eyes and drew on his memories of the warm, willing, curvaceous bodies he had known on shore, but at the final moment, as he gasped in anticipation, it was the bright smile and dark eyes of Charlie, his stowaway, which flashed into his mind's eye causing him to explode in release. Growling in embarrassment and anger he surged out of bed and into his discarded clothes, meaning to find Stephen and divert his thoughts away from Charlie. He made his way through the ship to the Doctor's workroom. Stephen often worked late. As he went, he berated himself for a fool. He arrived in short time and knocked smartly on the door, even as he opened it, saying,

"Present yourself to me in my cabin appropriately dressed,." in a harsh voice.

"Yes, Captain,." she said quietly and watched as the big man left the room.

"Why didn't I lock the door? What am I going to do now?" A panicked voice sounded in her head. Eventually she calmed enough to dress and made her way on shaking legs to the Captain's cabin. She knocked tentatively.

"Come in!" a deep, strong voice commanded. She opened the door and crept inside. She stood timidly, her head down, staring fixedly at her bare toes and feeling the Captain's gaze burn her.

"Perhaps we should try this again." His voice sounded hard and uncompromising,

"What's your name, girl, and how did you get aboard?"

"Charlotte, Charlotte Warwick.... sir." She thought it was best to keep the others out of the mess she'd gotten into.

"Nothing need change sir, no-one need know, unless you tell them. I can keep working for the Doctor and looking after your clothes for Mr. Killick. I can sleep in the workroom still. I promise I will cause you no trouble...well, no more trouble." She blushed as he leveled a speaking look on her. The Captain stilled, apparently thinking it over.

"Very well, Miss Warwick, we will continue as before, but I must warn you that should you cause any more mischief aboard my ship I will put you ashore on the nearest piece of dry land," his face was serious and sombre. and

Charlotte said quietly, .

"Yes Captain, of course captain.," and bowed her head trying to hide her grin of relief.

"That will be all, Warwick.," he said in dismissal and she turned away and fled the cabin.

So now Jack didn't have a major problem. He was in hell. When he had thought Charlotte was Charlie he was embarrassed and confused, now that he knew who she truly was he was in  a prison of lust and desire for her. He tried avoiding her but every place he went his eyes effortlessly found her. He tried to ignore her when she served meals in the cabin but her quiet movements and soft smiles held his attention.

"What might you be wanting with the Captain’s linen, Charlie?" Charlotte met Killick’s eye with difficulty.

"I though he might wish some way to dry himself after his swim." She said, cursing the blush that suffused her face.

"Did you now? Well, get yourself along there sharpish and be well clear when He returns. The less he is reminded of your presence, the better.," Killick said gruffly.

"Please sit, Captain, and I’ll rinse the salt from your hair." Her voice was so matter of fact that Jack found himself obeying without conscious thought. He watched her move to the cabin door, close it gently and turn the key in the lock before turning back to him and moving close to his side.

"If you lay your head back I can begin.," Her soft voice said. Jack felt he was in a dream; he eased himself down in the chair and rested his head back into her palm. He closed his eyes with a sigh, if this was a dream he would wake soon enough.

"All done.," Charlotte's soft voice drifted over him and he sat up to have his head enveloped in a towel and rubbed briskly. He luxuriated in the feeling of being cared for her actions gave him, along with an erection that, thankfully, was covered by the loose folds of his untucked shirt.

"Take off your shirt." He looked at her in surprise; they were words he had heard in his dreams of her but this time he was awake.

"You need to change your wet clothes." She explained with another cheeky smile and stood in front of him, resting her hands on his shoulders, lifting the damp material and helping him to strip the offending garment over his head. He dropped the shirt on the floor and sat back.

"Well, Miss Charlotte, this changes things somewhat." his voice sounded amused and his gentle smile confirmed it.

"You have only moments to absent yourself from this cabin before you find yourself back in my bed, but this time wide awake.," he stroked his fingers through her dark curls.

Charlotte leveled a look on him and kissed him, relishing the feel of his hardened manhood against her, and felt a shiver of delight when he stood, lifting her in his arms, and carried her to his bunk. When he laid her down, Jack stood looking down at her, a strange expression on his handsome face.

"You imagined...." Kneeling up she came to the side of the bed, smiled and lifted a hand to the first button of her loose shirt and opened it. Her smile widened to a grin when Jack roughly brushed her hands away and continued the process himself. The urgency of his movements made Charlie catch her bottom lip in her teeth as shivers ran through her body centering in her groin. Her hands rose to slide to his chest, to tease his flat nipples. The move caught him by surprise and he pushed her back on the bunk, stripping her shirt down her arms, trapping them against her sides.

"She is so slight, I will surely hurt her.," he thought before all conscious thought left him with the touch of her fingers on his naked chest and the fastenings of his constricting breeches. He lay back and moved helpfully, his breath catching as she crouched over him, trailing her fingers over his shoulders and down his arms. He reached out and pulled her on top of him, learning her shape and the way she reacted to his kisses and caresses. Holding her with one arm he teased a hand down to ease her legs apart and slide one finger into her welcoming heat. Charlotte's eyes widened and she bucked and ground against his hand.

"Charlotte I am at your mercy. Can you give me ease?" She giggled and moved above him,. Holding his needy rod in one hand she impaled herself on him. For a moment neither moved. Eyes wide they gazed at each other, breath shortened and gusted from them.

"Oh, Jack!" she said finally,

"Me either, my sweet stowaway,." he whispered hotly between their kisses. Charlotte began to move urgently on him, her tight wet channel grasped and squeezed him, making his hips rise to her and his hands to clasp her buttocks guiding her moves as they became less coordinated as her completion approached.

Charlotte lay on top of Jack, loving the sound of his thundering heartbeat beneath her ear, and slipped out her tongue to taste his skin, still salty from his swim. He patted her back soothingly and rolled to one side, laying her beside him in the close confines of the bunk, his eyes holding hers warmly. They smiled at each other.

As for himself, the added spice of the secrecy made their times together more exciting and entertaining than any he had spent with a woman. Charlotte was a young woman of strong character, mischievous humour and endless invention.

"Goodbye, my sweet stowaway.," he had said against her mouth as he held her up off the floor, one arm wrapped around her waist the other hand thrust into her hair.

"Goodbye, my handsome Captain." she had said, before catching his face in both hands and ravaging his mouth with passionate kisses, the salt of her tears wetting his lips.

Eventually, reluctantly, he set her down and stood back, straightening his waistcoat.

"That will be all, Warwick." he said in a low, sad voice.

"Yes sir, thank you, sir." she replied, wiping her tears with the sleeve of her shirt.