Mary felt like someone had dumped snow down her back, her spine was ice, her gut felt hollow.<em> He knows, he knows.</em>She leaned back against her bench back, trying not to act like she was shrinking away from him,  but she was.<em> He doesn't look angry at my pose, just, just hungry.</em><br/><br/>She didn't bother looking around, there was no help in this place for her.  She realized she had one hand out of his sight, griping her belaying pin.  her first thought, always, but that was best thrown when needed, she was too slightly built for a hand to hand fight.  her hanger would have been a better choice, but drawing steel, even with that, he was too big, and too close.  She unclenched her hand and laid it flat on the table, fighting not to wring her hands in front of him, but she did drop her eyes as he cupped her chin, tilted her face up slightly.<br/><br/><br/>Her skin burned where he touched her.  She flushed, realized she was holding her breath, let it out in a rush, then met his eyes again.<br/><br/>"My name is Mary Nash.  All the rest of my story was true, with God as my witness."  She said it softly, but to her pride, very steadily.  Fire, fire was flowing through her veins from the still gentle hold on her chin.<br/><br/>But he wasn't a gentle man, she could feel the primal fury  coiled within him.  "I want to take a berth nf a ship, any will do.  I, I would like to continue posing as a boy, to others.  I feel safer that way."  Safe? She certainly didn't feel safe now. Her gaze grew more analytical.  "Even by pirate standards, you're not a proper christian are you?"  Out of his sight, without even her own conscious knowledge, her legs were crossed.  Hardly a position for springing into sudden action.  And her thighs were moving together, very slightly, the muscles flexing and relaxing.<br/><br/>The heat she was feeling did not come only from the hold on her chin.<br/><br/>But her fear, her fear was coming from the look in his eyes.