The Yellow Dress

Captain Cassandra Williams is in love with the sea and her career until she receives an invitation from a forbidden suitor. A short story originally written for the Writer's Digest Short Story competition in the romance category.

Excerpt:

We’d been running at full speed for nearly an hour; a quick shakedown following urgent repairs to the turbine that powered us over the black ocean. When I sat very still the surface of my bath quivered with vibration that was felt more than heard. As I watched the ripples deepened as the pilot started our slow approach to rejoin the fleet. I’d spent much of the past hour getting grease out from under my fingernails and easing the ache in my back from yanking on a heavy wrench in tight quarters. They were lucky the Captain was small enough to fit where most of the engineers couldn’t.
“Ma’am, engineering is satisfied with the repairs.”
Winter air accompanied her as she let herself in to my stateroom. The Captain’s First Assistant was always the choice of the Captain unlike the rest of the crew who were more often than not assigned by some dumb land-legged bureaucrat back home. My First Assistant came from a proud line of mediocre sailors. Her father and current head of her House never commanded anything sturdier than a lifeboat. Neither had my father for that matter; First Assistant Cora Williams was my sister.
She’d shown no interest in my naval career until I made Captain and earned command of The Esteem. Through bravery and infallible reputation I struggled to bring respectability back to our obscure House. I wanted to be on top; a leader who watched the honour of my House growing as mine did. Cora on the other hand wanted to build our House back up from underneath. Service on my ship gave her access to the kinds of men who could help her; men who could be influenced by the persuasiveness of intimate encounters with the discreet and talented Cora.