Jack looked up from his pile of charts when he heard the sound of Emma and Blakeney's footsteps on the deck. His eyes widened with surprise when he saw Emma, but he made no comment as Blakeney saluted and said, "Sir, I found her sitting on the dunes. She says she was shipwrecked here a month ago."
Emma narrowed her eyes at Blakeney, annoyed that he had announced her himself, but kept quiet except to say, "My name's Emma Doyle, sir."
Jack nodded and bowed. "I'm Captain Aubrey. Welcome aboard the H.M.S. Surprise, miss."
She glared at him. "Please don't call me miss-sir. I prefer Emma."
"Very well," Jack said. "So, you were shipwrecked? What was the name of your vessel?"
"Uh....." Emma thought hard and fast, yelling at herself mentally, Come on, idiot, your dad's a history teacher, how dumb can you get? She couldn't think of any off the top of her head, so she made one up. "The, um, the Lionclaw."
Jack raised an eyebrow. "I've never heard of it."
"It was my father's ship. He built it, sir," she lied. "It broke up on the....reefs over there."
Jack spun around, gazing over the ocean. "Reefs? Where? I see no reefs."
"Er....." Emma was beginning to sweat. "Maybe it was a rock. I don't know. We were in a big storm at the time. I swam ashore, but everyone else drowned."
"You can swim?" Jack eyed her skeptically. "I don't know any ladies who can swim. And why are you wearing those odd clothes?" He peered at the design on her sweatshirt.
Duh, I can swim! Emma thought. That's why my shirt says Avon Swim Team, idiot! "Yes, I can swim. My, uh, father taught me how when my mother died of drowning."
For the first time, Jack looked sympathetic. "I'm sorry to hear that. You may spend the night here, and we'll decide what to do with you in the morning. Mr. Blakeney, escort Miss Doyle to her cabin."
Emma thanked him grudingly and followed Blakeney below.