Yes

Brenan got about halfway down the trail before he suddenly stopped and looked back his shoulder in the direction of the beachside cottage. He had very nearly managed to turn his horse around before he faltered and finally decided that it wouldn’t be such a good idea to ride back and actually kiss Claire… Red the way he wanted to.

Utterly surprised by the feelings which he now found himself having towards Red, Brenan slumped down into his saddle and then climbed down to stand on the trail, taking his horse by the bridle and leading it towards the road, hoping that the short walk would help to alleviate his confusion.

Attempting to convince himself that the way in which the image of Red popped up before him without him even having to close his eyes and how he could still feel her smell each time that he took a breath meant absolutely nothing, Brenan slipped into thinking about her behaviour towards him, trying to make sense of how she could at times treat him so cold and defensively at certain times and then on other occasions act in an entirely different fashion, such as her distraught behaviour when he and Cindy had returned to the beach. Most memorable though was the fact that she seemed to think much higher of him than he even thought possible, and that she had shared those impressions of him with Cindy until it got to the point where the beautiful young blonde seemed to view him almost as a hero-figure.

Brenan was less than happy when it dawned on him that he would have a good ten hours of solitude in which to reflect on Red’s behaviour, and he did his best to avoid thinking about anything as he made his way down to the road.

As he reached the empty road and climbed back up into the saddle, Brenan put in an effort to make himself think of other subjects than Red and whatever the two of them might be feeling towards each other and instead turned his attention towards the make-up of the crew for his still unnamed schooner. While his intentions had never been for it to be used as a conventional pirate vessel, Brenan still realized that it would be wise if at least a portion of his crew knew a little something about fighting. He knew plenty about that, and Red had seen her fair share of combat, but Brenan very much doubted that Cindy had been trained for that by her aunt, Brenan brushed aside how he still had trouble thinking of Red as anyone’s aunt, and he had no idea of how astute Davy’s observation that the two surviving brothers from Wild Oscar’s crew didn’t look much like fighters would prove to be.

Either way, it would be good to have someone aboard apart from him and Red who could lead the firing of the two cannons if the time ever came for a battle, so it might be wise to see if he couldn’t find an old soldier or an experienced pirate.

No matter how hard he tried to avoid it, the next four hours would see Brenan return to thinking about Red time and time again, with him being so distracted at one point by visualising how he should have kissed her that he very nearly toppled over and fell off his horse.

Taking that as a sign that it was time for a break, Brenan steered off the road and into a small clearing and set to work on eating the lunch that Red had provided him with. He couldn’t tell which of the women who was responsible for there being a sea apple in the bag, but finding it did make him release a brief chuckle.

The second leg of Brenan’s journey was much the same as the first, with him trying to keep his mind occupied by considering what sort of crew he wanted or any possible modifications to his ship that might be worthwhile, but continuously finding himself drifting back to thinking about Red, squirming in his saddle as he pictured what it would be like to slowly get her out of her dress.

“So, how did it go?” Davy asked Brenan when he stepped into his office, an office which was located down on the waterfront so that all that he needed to do to survey at least parts of his small fleet was to look out the window.

“Fine enough,” Brenan replied as he took a seat in the plush chair placed directly in front of Davy’s desk. Davy’s secretary had gone home for the evening, so Brenan had had to pour himself a cup of coffee, “I’ve got two new crewmembers, one of them my first officer.”

“How were things with Red?” Davy asked, leaning back in his chair.

“Good,” Brenan nodded his head, not entirely sure that he liked the thin smile on Davy’s lips.

“So, two new crewmembers, eh?” Davy grinned, “You got her husband as well?”
“Red’s not married,” Brenan squirmed in his seat, “It’s her niece…”

“Anyway,” Brenan went on, determined to change the subject, “are those two boys from the Dorian still around?”

“Why yes,” Davy straightened back up again, “it’s not the easiest for those to find work, I should suppose.”

“Huh?”

“They’re half-breeds, Brenan,” Davy explained, “Their father was a Lantian and their mother an ordinary land-dwelling, air-breathing woman. But they’re both good lads, and would be loyal to you until their last breath if you hired them.”

“Lantians, eh? How human are they?” Brenan had never quite understood the antipathy that a lot of seamen felt towards Lantians, but he was concerned that the sensitivity towards light that a lot of half-breeds suffered from would cause a fair bit of problems if it was really bad.

“They look a little odd,” Davy began, one of his hands coming up so he could rub two fingers against the scars on the left side of his face, “and they wear lenses over their eyes, but they could meet me outside at midday without passing out or anything.”

“Good,” Brenan nodded.

“By the way, Captain, would you be in need of a mad scholar aboard your ship?” Davy suddenly asked.

“Is there any other sort?” Brenan asked.

“I suppose not… Still, he used to be a junior officer aboard the Siren’s Call, but got into a little trouble with Bartley Simonds’ and was left on shore when it set out to sea yesterday.” Bartley Simonds, or Black Bart, was the captain of the Siren’s Call, and not a man who Brenan found agreeable in any way whatsoever.

“What kind of trouble?”

“Rumour has it he finally found out about Black Bart’s views on the taking of slaves and didn’t much care for it.” While ****-trading existed, it wasn’t a major trade so much as the small-scale selling and buying of “attractive merchandise”, particularly pretty young women. Black Bart would dabble in it from time to time, depending on whether or not there were any good catches aboard the ships which he and his ship attacked.

“So he’s mad but he’s got some general level of decency?” Brenan might have done a lot of bad things in his life, but he did feel a certain bit of pride about never having stooped to the level of slaving.

“Precisely,” Davy nodded his head, holding similar views on the subject, “and from what I’ve heard he’s pretty damn good at reading maps.”

“And he’s around so I can meet him?”

“Yes, it’s up to you whether you want to meet him or the twins first.”