Chapter Three
Simon Merryweather Steals the Moment

To my dismay and absolute horror William had arranged a dinner date for me and a close friend of his: a Mr. Simon Merryweather, and he was apparently in the market for a new bride to bear his children. Wonderful isn't it how childhood friends can become such enemies? I had thought my dear cousin had understood just how it had been like living under my father's tyranny but alas, here he was acting just like Daddy Dearest back in London. We argued about it the day he decided to spring the news that I would be eating with Simon at a nice pub by the water and I would be on my best behavior. We had been in the parlor; Elizabeth was crocheting a doilies for a friend as Will was finishing the paper when all the yelling began. All I wanted was a little freedom from always having my decisions made for me so why couldn't he see that? But for some reason he was oblivious and I watched him leave in a huff out the front door while my blood just continued to boil with anger.
"He's being unreasonable," I barked, turning my attention to Elizabeth. She looked up from her doilies, her eyebrows raised with mock disbelief.
"Unreasonable? No..." she said, and I caught her thick sarcasm. "Sit down, would you, before you go running out that door after my husband."
I obliged, although not exactly wanting to (that idea about running after him didn't seem all that bad) and I folded my hands over my lap as she fixed her almond-shaped eyes on me.
"Now if I may be so bold, I would bet money that there's someone you would rather be spending that dinner date with. Am I right?"
Blushing a little I nodded, but was hesitant about telling her with who. After all, she'd known Jack just as William had and if he didn't want the pirate in town then Elizabeth most likely didn't either. "Yes, I met someone about a week ago."
Elizabeth covered a smile and leaned back in her chair. "Here only a week and already making new friends with the locals. You really are flirtatious, Jocelyn."
If only she knew the whole story, and it wasn't completely one-sided, or so I'd hoped. "So can you talk to Will?" I pleaded, taking her hand. "Merryweather sounds like such a bore and besides, tomorrow night is when I'm meeting him again."
"Then I'll ask William to postpone the dinner, but I won't ask him to cancel it. Simon has already been promised and I won't make William break his word."
It was better than nothing so I agreed as she returned to her doilies and began to crochet once more. "So what's his name?"
She sounded so innocently curious that I almost bared all but I caught myself just after letting his first name slip. Elizabeth smiled with a slight nod, her eyes never leaving her doilies. "Does he have a last name?"- she looked up a moment to give me that smile but I shrugged and pushed up from the chair. "Of course he does," I said simply, leaving the parlor. Elizabeth laughed.
"You're so much like your cousin."
That was just what I needed to hear.

The night was cool and inviting as I stepped outside for a little fresh air and to wait for Jack to arrive. William had reluctantly agreed to contact Simon and moved the dinner back but we didn't talk all that day. He knew I was spending the evening with Jack but I was determined not to let it bother me. He had no right to tell me how to spend my extended vacation, and if I wanted to "waste my time" as he put it, then so be it and I would be happy about it. Jack Sparrow had become my knight of sorts, like those handsome men out of the romantic books I enjoyed reading so much, and it was my duty to repay him in full despite the fact that I knew he was leaving soon for the wide ocean and I wouldn't be going with him. Just thinking of it reminded me of Will's question of him only a week ago. If he was leaving soon...why would he want to spend his days with a girl like me? A pirate and a lady...what was I thinking? Maybe Merryweather really would have been the right choice for me.
"Now Jocelyn," a familiar voice called from the dark before me, and all my ill feelings suddenly skittered away. "I can't be takin' a lady on me arm through town when she be lookin' so glum. What's a'matter, luv?"
Without really having to force a smile I skipped down the front steps and hugged him tightly, not caring whether or not he returned it; I needed the reassurance that he was actually here, that he was actually taking me for the night. My heart soared to feel his arms close behind me and hug me back.
"Feeling friendly, eh? Good thing I brought the rum then."
I looked up at him and he winked with that devilish smirk. "The rum?" - I pulled away from him. "I don't drink...sorry."
"You don't drink?" he asked, leaning back with narrowed eyes then pulling the small flask he had from his pocket. "Oh well, all th'more f'me then."
Tipping his head back he started to pour the strong alcohol down his throat but I reached up and took it from his hands. He wasn't going to drink if I could help it, although he ended up drunk by the end of the night anyway, but at least I kept it away from him until we started back for the estate.
"So where to, luv?" - he didn't seem too bothered by the fact I had stolen his flask away as he spooned his arm around the small of my back, sending shudders through every bone imaginable. "There's this pub-"
He stopped short, casting a quick glance my way, then shook his head with a lick of his lips. "No, no that won't do at'all. It's a bit crazy there at night, y'know."
But adventure was exactly what I wanted. I was sick of prissy dinner parties and candle light suppers, and having to eat my food one small square at a time and just thinking about a new, unruly experience made me smile. "No, let's go," I insisted, clinging to his side and looking up at him longingly. I was being bold, and I knew it, but I wanted more than anything to have Captain Jack Sparrow hold me against him and woo me all night. "I'd like to see what I've been missing all of my life."
There was that devilish smirk again before he tugged me in the direction of town. The sash tied loosely around his waist smacked against my legs with his long strides and I struggled to keep up with his long legs until he finally stopped next to a building that looked vaguely familiar. He nodded toward the window and I peered inside, my hands gripping the wooden sill as my eyes studied the actions going on inside the pub. I felt my eyes widen as I watched a man get tossed across the length of the room and another swing a punch and missing whoever it was he was aiming at. I covered a laugh with my hand, watching as one of the waitresses smacked a man trying to be fresh but the laugh caught in my throat the instant I felt Jack's cheek against mine and his arm around my shoulders as he leaned against the sill as I was doing. "I'll admit I enjoy a night in there once and awhile, but as you can see it's no place fer ye to be," he said, his voice low and husky. His arm slid away from my shoulders, his hand going across my back and he paused a moment before stepping away from me. I could almost swear to it he paused to breath deep and from then on I always enjoyed telling myself that he'd paused to breathe in my perfume as I loved breathing the scent of ocean from his clothes. I struggled to keep from thinking about it and continued to look through the distorted glass.
"And what's that supposed to mean?" I asked, attempting to sound innocent but it came out a little more sarcastically. I moved my eyes around the inside of the pub until they landed on a face I had wished never to see again. He was drinking a mug full of beer and carrying on with a few acquaintances of his when I saw him, my chest suddenly becoming tight as I realized what building Jack had brought me back to.
"You got some spunk to ya," he said but I wasn't paying much attention to him anymore. I had to leave, I had to go somewhere else before he saw either of us. "We have to leave now," I said, not bothering to care if he was talking or not. I looked at him and he was leaning back a bit, his eyes widened slightly with curiosity but I didn't feel like explaining as I grabbed him by the arm. I couldn't breathe anymore; the feel of the brute's coarse tongue sliding across my skin sent waves of sickness crashing over my stomach and I tugged at Jack as a notion to leave. "Jocelyn?"
My lungs just didn't want to expand and I felt a lump forming in my throat; any moment longer and Jack would be adding my dinner to his ensemble. "Please," I begged him, struggling to breathe. "I can't take being here any longer, I -"
I felt my heart begin to race and not even the feeling of Jack's warm hands on my shuddering shoulders could calm the fear I had begun to feel. He quickly led me away and toward the beach away from all the commotion in the pub, never leaving my side the entire way. He acted faster than I expected, removing my shoes and stockings and letting the warm ocean ebb over my feet as he pressed a hand firmly to my stomach and captured my eyes with his own. It was getting harder and harder to breathe as the lump in my throat finally forced the tears pooling in my eyes to spill over onto my cheeks. "Now jus' relax, luv," he said. His voice was no longer husky or rough, just smooth and surprisingly calming as his fingers massaged at my stomach. I could barely feel it through the blasted corset but just knowing he was there helped. "Take a few deep breaths and let them out slowly..."
Doing as he instructed I breathed deep, letting it out slowly but my heart just wasn't having it. I couldn't stop feeling the fear I had experienced only a week ago, the image of that brute holding me helpless against a cold, unfeeling stone wall. "I can't get him out of my head..." I gasped, clutching his shoulder as the pain in my chest grew. He cupped my jaw with his other hand, bringing me to look him in the eyes again as the hand on my stomach found its sweet spot, calming me down and slowly decreasing my heart rate. "Deep breath," he whispered, his thumb sliding across my skin as I continued to lose myself in those two deep pools of chocolate. Breathing deep I finally was able to fill my lungs and the pain in my chest began to subside. Saving me from bad luck was beginning to become a habit of Jack Sparrow's but I didn't dare mention it; his reputation was on the line after all, and I figured as soon as I let him know I was all right his hands would leave and the warmth would quickly fade. No use playing it out, so I smiled and gave a slight nod.
"Thank you," I murmured, loving the feeling of the water crashing softly over my bare feet and finding comfort in it. But, unlike I had predicted, Jack's hands never left me and, instead, he snaked one arm around my waist, pulling me closer to him, and his other hand moved through my hair before he replaced it on my neck. This was it; this was the moment I had been waiting for since he had rescued me from certain death. We studied each other's features in that infinite second between action and immobility before he finally moved in for a kiss and I shut my eyes in anticipation...but it never came. His lips never touched mine and before I knew it I was being dragged away by two scrawny arms.
"Miss are you all right? Has he hurt you in any way?"
I stared in disbelief at a thinning man standing between me and Jack. His hair was blond, or at least it seemed so in the bright moonlight, and stood about my height, if not a bit taller, meaning he came no where near to matching Jack. I peered around him at the pirate only to see him standing with his arms crossed, a perturbed look chiseled on his face and all his weight rested on one foot as he tapped an index finger against his arm.
"You quite through, mate? Me and the miss was a bit busy, if ye catch me meanin'," he said irritably but the man wouldn't listen to him.
"I know what you were up to you pirate, and I suggest you bugger off before I go to the proper authorities."
"Oh now you can't be serious," he drawled and I stifled a giggle, glancing from one then the other. As much as I could've kicked the man for interrupting us I was finding it quite amusing to watch them bicker back and forth. "Bloody Englishmen," he added with a mutter before looking back at me, a smile dancing in his eyes. "Well miss I guess I'm off."
He bowed before me, extending his hand and trying to mock those "bloody Englishmen" and I placed my fingers within his grasp. His quickly planted a kiss before the intruder stepped between us once again and shooed Jack away. My hero gave a quick glance, mouthing "Tomorrow?" before swaggering off, humming a familiar tune.
"And really bad eggs!" he shouted, his arms flinging up in the air. I couldn't help but smile as I noticed his silhouette throw back a swig of his flask, and I suddenly reached for the thin pocket on my full dress. The sneak had taken it back from me.
"Miss, are you okay?"
I looked at the intruder and forced a sweet smile. "Yes," I managed, gathering my shoes and stockings nearby. "I'm fine, thank you. Does my...rescuer have a name?"
"Simon. Simon Merryweather."
Wonderful. Just wonderful.