He kept his eyes on her even though the First Mate dressed to tease and in his arms to torment him did not look at him. She looked past him. Any success he felt fell even as they seemed to glide together. She moved around him like water, always flowing to each of his missteps, always finding the path past any obstacle, always through his arm but never could he really hold her. But Jax would take the feel of her, any that she gave, and for the moment, float.
Float he did.
When she finally looked at him again it was to guide him back to their purpose and reason for being here at all. It was not to dance with him. Jax should remember that. Even as her words trickled over his face he struggled to catch a breath and come up from the pleasures he was drowning in.
They were to spy. He glanced to her face and for the first time since she took his hand he looked past her and around her. They were not the only ones in the fancy hall. Right, he remembered. But he just wasn’t ready to release her. Not just yet. She said she did not know how to sneak and spy, well Jax could say he didn’t know either. But he had always enjoyed a game. This was just another game.
“There is a man standing close to plate of small vegetables. His eyes are curious. He has a beard that seems to me to be close to the skin of a rabbit, grays and tans more like fur than hair. Could it be he spies on the carrots and radishes? He means to take revenge for all his cousins caught unfairly while pursuing tasty treats.” Jax spun her around to view the man he noticed right there munching upon a carrot. He was watching them, well her of course, and when she turned toward him he tipped his head as he put another orange stick into his mouth.
“Or perhaps more of interest is the woman who holds a long silk cord in one hand and a glass in the other. Did I see her dip that cloth into the drink and then pass it over her lips? Could that be a piece of her skirt that she tore from the edge letting her ankles breath this night air? There might be things hidden under her dress that she is about to release. That she is about to feed from her own lips.” He turned them both around so the good doctor playing dress up could see the woman whose skirt was too short drinking with a kerchief dabbing at her mouth. When the woman saw them look at her she lifted her chin and quickly looked away.
“So much to see. So much to spy. All of them hold secrets and believe that they are much cleverer than they truly are.” He let his arm loosen its hold and for the first time since he started this crazy silly talk he looked to her. “Myself included, fair maid.” He stopped his dance and smiled.
Jax did not think he would find out anything more than he already had this night. He played all sorts of games but none of them involved gathering sneaky information of any value. He collected the memories of night flowers and the pictures of sunsets not the purpose of plans of rich pushers and pullers. Let better players play that game, like Ms Greene and the Captain.
If he could add something he would. Not so much for either of them as for the crew mate he had just had the pleasure of dancing with.
Almost as an afterthought before he lost her Jax leaned closer to his First Mate and whispered, “I have one secret myself this night. I am plotting and planning for you to allow me to say, just once, only once, your name. Not the title. Not the sir name, but your familiar name, your first name.”
He watched her eyes trying to judge how offensive he was, or how close to seeing the ice them return. But as he looked he saw someone else close beside them. He smiled again not sure he wanted to know just yet the reaction to his secret or strange tales.
“Ah, lovely Ms Greene." He made a grand gesture and bowed to her. "Thank you so much for the pleasant invitation. Might I introduce to you the most stunning of Night Blooms, Madame Beauchamp?” Jax had to admit he enjoyed his temporary spot between the two woman. So different from the deck of the ship and yet when secrets fell and spies were cast, so much the same.