Chapter three 6 страница

She’d been swimming before the storm came up. She must have thought me daft. Or so addled by her physical form that my sentences were incoherent. My ire quickly grew at her laughter. Gone was my plan to feign ignorance. “Why have you set us upon a northerly course?”

“Since when is ship navigation a concern of yours?”

“Rest assured, it is not my intent to promote myself to any sort of position amongst your crew, Captain Wolff.” I noted the twitching at her jaw line. I pushed ahead, daring to risk her wrath. “My sole intent at this point is to complete my voyage to Puerto Cabello.”

Her left eyebrow arched. Piercing grey eyes boldly stared at me. “And why are you suddenly in such haste to reach Puerto Cabello?”

“I have a marriage—”

“That you couldn’t have given a ship rat’s ass about five days ago!”

I willed myself to control my breathing. I forced my voice to remain calm. I couldn’t afford to blurt out the truth in a moment of anger.

“I want to fulfill my obligations,” I whispered sweetly.

“I think you don’t know what you want.” She threw up her hands in frustration. “Five days ago, you wanted me to take that which should have belonged to your betrothed—”

“Until I came to my senses—”

“Until you realized I wasn’t—”

“What you pretended to be,” I finished. The sudden proximity was almost too much to bear. We stood scant inches apart. Her breath was upon me, hot and intimate upon my cheek. “At least I can take comfort in the knowledge that I was never that passionate—”

An incredulous laugh. “Shall I drop my breeches and show you the claw marks on my buttocks, my lady?” A wolfish grin mocked me. “I suppose congratulations are in order. Of all my enemies, you are the only one to ever draw first blood.” She folded her arms across her chest, leaned back on her heels coolly. I could have clawed that smug look off her face with my fingernails.

My face remained a neutral mask of indifference. My tone was reasonably civil. “Fortunately, though, I prevented you from drawing my own blood.”

“Hah! Keep your precious virginity!” Her breath was upon me. She stared fixedly at me. Her bottom lip curled up; her eyes narrowed. Suddenly, a hand was at the back of my head, pulling me to her. A tongue was on my lips, forcing my teeth to part, burrowing its way into my mouth. She pulled back abruptly, breaking off our kiss. “I wouldn’t take it now if you paid me to, little girl.”

She made a point of wiping her mouth on the back of her hand. She backed away, stepping into the now pouring rain. Alone now, angry and hurt, I allowed the tears to come at last, confident that the rain would mask my weakness should Captain Wolff dare cast a glance back at me.

Дата добавления: 2015-11-14