Page 54 of The Pirate Takes A Bride

Nick stared at her for a long moment, and then he raked a hand through his hair. “I’ll take both of you to Gibraltar. I have friends there. You’ll be safe until I return.”

So he thought to abandon her again. Same strategy, different setting. “Good,” she said, sweeping her hand out. “Take me to Gibraltar, but if you think I’ll be waiting there for you, like some patient little miss, think again. I’m going home, with or without you.”

He advanced on her so quickly she forgot her intention not to back down. She took a step, collided with the trunk, and sat down hard on the top. Nick leaned over her. He was furious. She was furious, but she still had the urge to reach up, take his shirt in her hands, and pull him down for a kiss.

“I’m trying to protect you,” he said, scowling down at her. “I’m trying to save you from...from dangers you cannot even understand.”

“You’re trying to escape me.”

“What sane man would not?”

She didn’t think. Her foot landed in his midsection, and she pushed. Hard. He fell back, landing on his arse, a shocked look on his face.

“Get out!” she ordered him, not caring that this was his cabin.

He stood, dusted his breeches off with more dignity than she thought she might muster if the circumstances had been reversed. “Gladly.” He stalked out and slammed the door behind him.

Hours later, she and Rissa had eaten and washed, thanks to the aid of the much put upon Mr. Fellowes and Nick’s cabin boy, Mr. Fletcher. Mr. Fellowes had taken Rissa and Ashley on a tour of the ship. Ashley did not care for another tour, but she wanted to see what Nick was doing. She spotted him on the bow with Chante. They passed a spyglass back and forth, studying the open water. As she watched them, Chante passed the glass to Nick, then turned to watch her. He gave her a farewell salute. Her answer was to turn away. She understood his message: when they reached Gibraltar he would be rid of her.

Ashley and Rissa ate dinner with the crew, and since the night was mild and the sea calm, some of the men mentioned sleeping on the deck. Rissa begged to join them, and Ashley deferred the decision to Nick. She was not sleeping on the deck. She had been looking forward to sleeping in a bed again, and she made her way to the great cabin while Rissa was still making her case.

It had been so hot that last day on the island, she hadn’t bothered with a shift under her skirt and blouse. Now she realized she’d left it probably still drying on a branch near the pond. She might have slept in her clothing, but she stripped it off and threw them on the floor. If Nick joined her, she had nothing to hide. He had seen her injury. She did not want to think too closely about his reaction to her burn. If she did, she would probably stop being quite so angry, and she needed to hold on to her anger right now. It gave her strength.

When she’d been in the hold for all of those hours and hours, she could not help remembering the way he’d kissed her burned leg, the way he’d delicately caressed it with his hands and his lips. And then she’d stupidly told him she loved him. At that moment, how could she not love him? She had never imagined any man would look at her disfigurement like that, would look at her like she was the most beautiful creature on earth, despite such a flaw.

Nick had made her fall in love with him in those moments. Even if she hadn’t already been falling in love with him, she did not know how she could resist him then.

But it was quite apparent he did not love her. He wanted to escape her. Of course, he said it under the guise of pursuing his Yussef, but Ashley had never been very good at being second best. She would be first with Nick or nothing at all. She slipped between the covers of the bed, enjoying the way the sheets drifted over her bare skin. The bed smelled like Nick, although the scent was faint. Judging by the shadows under his eyes, he had not slept in it much. She did not think he would join her tonight.

She came awake slowly, some time later, when she felt his warmth beside her. She blinked, uncertain where she was, and then made out his form on the edge of the berth. She did not know how long he had been sitting there, in the dark, in the silence, but she reached out a sleepy arm. “Come to bed.”

He made no move to take her hand. “Rissa is sleeping on deck. Chante is watching over her. She’s safe.”

“You should sleep,” Ashley said. “Mr. Chante knows you need to sleep.”

“What are you wearing under the sheets?” he asked.

“Come under here and find out.”

He chuckled. “I think we both know I will not sleep if I join you.”

“Oh, I don’t know. I’m rather angry with you at the moment. I have half a mind to refuse you your husbandly rights.”

He bent over her, and she caught her breath. “I could convince you.”

Oh, yes, she knew he could. She hoped he would. Instead, he moved back again, sitting quietly for a long time. Ashley had almost drifted off to sleep when he began to speak. It was only his voice, low and melodious in the darkness of the cabin.

“Ralph and I met when we were barely boys. We were both younger sons who’d chosen careers in the navy. His father was a gentleman farmer, and Ralph had never even seen the ocean when he decided to join the navy. That was the kind of man he was—always taking risks.”

“Sounds like someone I know,” she murmured.

“Believe it or not, of the two of us, I was the least inclined to trouble.”

“That’s a terrifying thought.”

He chuckled, and she smiled at her own jest, but she also meant what she said. Once she had thought Nick reckless and constantly in search of adventure and diversion. But these last weeks had shown him he was so much more than the immature, spoiled younger brother of the Marquess of Blackthorne she had thought he was. He was a captain, a man who oversaw the welfare of hundreds of others. He was a father, a man who cared more about his daughter than anything. And he was a man haunted by the past, by the death of a friend and a man who felt he needed to avenge the death of that friend.

“Ralph and I served on the same ship. He became like my brother to me, more than a brother since Jack—well, you know Jack. He scowls and bellows and yells orders.”

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