Page 11 of Devil of the High Seas
“You should return to your chambers before someone finds you missing. They will turn the house inside out looking for you, and it would doom me.” He was being a tad dramatic, but he needed this tempting beauty to leave before he allowed his already spiraling emotions to make him do something rash and foolish, like seducing her.
“I should go... Vesper will certainly worry if she cannot find me.”
He echoed the name. “Vesper?”
“My maid. If I can sneak some food up from the kitchens later, I shall bring it to you.”
“Thank you.” Gavin moved stiffly, careful not to put any pressure on his healing shoulder as he moved to the edge of the bed. His movements drew Josephine’s eyes, and her gaze flashed with innocent desire. She glanced away from his bare upper body.
“And I will see about finding you some proper clothes to wear. Yours are quite ruined.” She nodded at the tattered, bloody, and briny clothing left discarded on the floor.
Gavin gazed at her a long moment, enjoying her discomfort at his seminakedness, and when her oh-so-innocent eyes once more darted back to him, he gave her an arrogant grin.
“Best to stop blushing, lass. It gives a man a desire to make you blush more and in far moreinterestingplaces.” He let his gaze slide down her body to her breasts before slowly rising back up to her face.
“Oh!” she gasped and suddenly seemed to realize she was still in a chemise that barely covered her legs. “You are far more wicked than your brother,” she shot back.
“And what do you know of my brother?”
“I... well... He lives close to my family. That’s why I’m here visiting. We were invited to a ball last night. But the weather turned, and he offered his home to all of the guests.”
“He invited you to a ball?”
“Yes, my entire family. I... I should go...” She rushed from the room so quickly that he half wondered if she was merely another of his bittersweet dreams.
Gavin wished more than anything that he hadn’t been injured. He wanted to leap up from the bed and grab her arm to stop her leaving. There was something she wasn’t telling him. His Josie had secrets... But what secrets could this innocent young woman have? He stared at the low-burning oil lamp and, with a curse, climbed out of the narrow bed and crossed the room to the small cabinet in the corner. He knelt and opened the doors, to find an extra bottle of lamp oil. He did not want to spend the rest of the day in the dark. Had he frightened her off?
No, she would come back...she can’t resist the temptation.She’d said she had knownmanypirates. She couldn’t be too scandalized by him to stay away, could she?
Josephine, with those warm gray eyes and those lips begging for a man’s kiss... she would come back to him. He could feel it in his bones.
* * *
“I’ve gone utterly mad,”Josephine muttered as she hastily dropped the tapestry back into place and darted back to her own chamber. She had just stepped inside when she heard a shriek.
“My lady!” Vesper cried out. She threw down the ball gown she had been holding and rushed over, clasping Josephine in a fierce hug.
Vesper Lyndon, a girl in her early twenties, was an understated beauty with green eyes and gold hair. Josephine hugged her maid back, smiling at the relief she felt to have made it back to her room unseen by anyone but her maid.
“Where the devil have you been?” Vesper demanded like a mother hen.
“I...”
“Don’t tell me any tales, my lady,” Vesper warned. “Your chamber pot is empty, your pillow is gone, and you are covered in dust, and heavens... is thatblood?” The word escaped Vesper in a much higher pitch than the rest of her words.
Josephine poked her head back into the corridor, checking to see if anyone else was outside. It was still empty. She shut the door and slid the latch into the lock position before facing her maid.
“Vesper,” she began soothingly. “You mustn’t tell anyone...”
“Tell anyone what? Oh, heavens... I’ll get the boot for this. What have you been up to?”
Josephine clasped Vesper’s hand in hers. “A man came into my chamber last night.”
Vesper’s eyes grew round. “A man?”
“He was injured, and he was looking for Lord Castleton. He found me instead.”
“Where is the man now? Is he dead?” the maid inquired in a wary voice.
