Page 35 of The Pirate Lord
Perhaps they’d sent him up in the rigging as Captain Rogers had often done. Shading her eyes against the rising sun, she scanned the masts.
“Looking for someone?” a deep voice beside her said.
She jumped. Bother it all, it was Gideon. Why wasn’t he still in bed like the rest?
Apparently, he’d just performed his own morning ablutions, for his hair was wet and slicked back from his forehead, with only the ends curling dry. His insolent gold hoop earring winked in the early morning sun, as if shouting his contempt for civilization. But far more shocking was the absence of his shirt. Today he was dressed like many of his men, with only a leather vest to cover his upper torso.
She sucked in a breath. There was something so intimate about a man’s nearly bare chest. His was unfortunately quite broad and muscled, with just a sprinkling of black hair that formed a ragged line beneath the loose leather ties of his vest and trailed down to his golden belt buckle with its onyx inset. Clearly, he seldom wore a shirt, for his arms were tanned right up to his shoulders, the skin so dark it almost blended in with his nut-brown vest.
She realized she’d been staring only when he said, his voice lower and huskier, “Who are you looking for?”
His words snapped her out of her trance. She said the only thing that came to mind. “For you, of course.”
Suspicion flashed in his sea-blue eyes. “In the rigging?”
“Yes. Why not?”
“Either you’re very ignorant about what a captain’s duties are, or you’re lying. Which is it?”
Ignoring the plummeting sensation in her stomach, she gave him her most innocent look. “Really, Gideon, you are so suspicious. Last night you accused me of plotting behind yourback, and this morning you accuse me of lying. Who else would I be looking for?”
He tucked his thumbs in his belt, his gaze still skeptical. “And why would you be looking forme?”
Good heavens, how was she to answer that? “Because I want to go below.” Yes, that was logical. “I want to look in on the women and see about beginning our classes. I assume I need your permission for that, since you’ve posted a guard?—”
“Don’t you think it’s a little early in the morning for school? Most of the women are probably still asleep.”
Clearly, he didn’t believe her. Her heart sank. She wasn’t proficient at lying, as Jordan had so loved to point out. Then again, she’d never had such a desperate reason for it.
She turned away before her face revealed everything. “I hadn’t thought of that. Itisearly. Perhaps I’ll just take a turn around the deck.” In the process, she could look for Petey and shake off Gideon.
“What an excellent idea,” he said, as if he’d read her mind. “It’s a lovely morning and not yet hot. You don’t mind if I walk with you, do you?”
Bother it all. She forced herself to meet his gaze. “Do I have a choice?”
“You always have a choice.” His rumbling voice sent little frissons of alarm up and down her spine. For the first time that morning, he gave her a dazzling smile. It threw her completely off kilter, reminding her of how he’d kissed her with heart-stopping passion just yesterday.
The wretch was far too handsome for words. Why did God have to give such good looks to the most abominable men? First Colonel Taylor and now this pirate. It was damned unfair.
She groaned. The scoundrel even had her cursing. Where would it end?
He offered her his arm in a courtly gesture utterly at odds with his scandalous attire. She hesitated to take it. He had this tendency to bring the worst out in her, and right now she wanted to keep her wits about her.
On the other hand, she shouldn’t provoke him. It would be better to pick her battles. There were bound to be plenty to pick.
Tucking her hand in the crook of his bare elbow, she let him lead her along the deck. Her bare fingers touched his naked arm in an intimacy she wasn’t used to. In London, whenever she’d taken a man’s arm, he’d worn layers of clothing and she’d worn gloves.
This was nothing like that. She felt it every time he flexed a muscle, and his skin radiated a heat that warmed her fingers, then sneaked up her arm to warm the rest of her body. Oh, how she wished she hadn’t left her gloves on theChastity. At the moment, she’d give a king’s ransom for even the slightest protection that flimsy kid leather could provide.
They walked in silence a while. They passed a pirate polishing the brass fittings on the capstan, but just as Sara tried to get a peek at the man’s face to see if it was Petey, Gideon tucked her hand more firmly into the crook of his elbow.
“Tell me something, Sara. What made a lady like you agree to sail with theChastity?Why risk such a harsh and dangerous journey?”
“It wasn’t dangerous until you and your greedy pirates came along,” she said with a sniff.
“It would’ve gotten plenty dangerous, I assure you, if you’d stayed on theChastitymuch longer. Many a ship has foundered in the rough waters of the Cape, including a convict ship or two. Which makes it even more curious that a woman of your class would endanger herself for a lot of poor unfortunates.” His tone hardened. “Surely if you needed entertainment, there were plenty of balls and parties to occupy an earl’s daughter.”
As if she would have come aboard theChastityfor a lark! How dared he make such assumptions when he knew nothing about her.
