"Apologize at once, Madame!"
"I'd rather have 20 lashes, if you don't mind." Carolyn arched her eyebrows and cocked her head. She swished right past him to turn down the bedsheets. Plumping the pillows, she climbed aboard the antique and sat, resting her head against its headboard, arms crossed across her chest.
"Now, please."
"Blast it woman, how would a lady of your standing know anything about such a practice?" he retorted. "Unless there's something you have yet to share, although inappropriate, that might temper or cause me to change my thoughts about your impeccable –"
"Derriere?"
"By Jove, you're fooling with me, Mrs. Muir. I'll not have you take my presence here, on my ship, so lightly!"
"My dear, dear Captain Gregg, I you must have threatened poor Seaman Applegate with thousands of lashes today. First this, then that, and now you imperiously demand an apology from me for Candy's sassy little mouth at dinner. Might I remind you that you are the distinguished ectoplasm, as you now refer to yourself, who insisted on keeping Candy in the dark about your presence? Who insisted on firm discipline with the children? They truly wanted to know, dear Captain, whether a ball really could fly through your pigheaded head. Why, if you're such a paragon of nautical virtues, allow me to chose my punishment before –" and she giggled – "the mast."
The Captain glowered and pushed at the telescope, sending it spinning right into the back of his neck.
"Well done, Seaman Applegate! You might want to practice dematerializing and digital dissipation of inanimate objects."
He furiously rubbed the back of his neck and glared at the human before him.
She smiled back, and his wrath lessened as he realized she only meant to have fun at his expense – or did she?
Carolyn patted the covers.
"Come over here, and we'll discuss how you can bump into everything but me!"
For a moment, he considered unfastening his belt for effect, to scare the wench even but for a second. She arched her eyes again, in open invitation. A gentleman would never countenance such a thing, he thought, as he walked towards his bed.