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"You know the faht, but inwardly she loosed a flurry of curses She’d never considered the possibility that this merchant captain could claim an acquaintance with the Walthaether Our fathers’plantations shared a boundary He was older by several years, but I paced hiroan Captain Grayson not only knew Mr Walthahbors! All her plans, all her carefully tiered lies… this bit of information shuffled the alone, with no chaperone?"

"I can look after myself"

"Ah, yes And I tossed Bains across the rooame we seamen like to play"

"I can look after myself," she insisted "If you’d waited another ave her a deep, scrutinizing look that es She breathed steadily, fighting the blush creeping up her cheeks

"Miss Turner," he said dryly, "I’ination of yours, you think sailing off to the West Indies will be sorand, ro tone, but Sophia wasn’t certain he meant to deride her Rather, she sureneral weariness with adventure

How sad

"Fortunately," he continued, "I’ve never known a girl I couldn’t disillusion, so listen close toYou will not find adventure, nor romance At best, you’ll meet with unspeakable boredom At worst, you’ll meet with an early death"

Sophia blinked His description of Tortola gave her some pause, but she dish she meant to stay there

The captain reached to retrieve his felt beaver from the bar

"Please" She clutched his arnoring the warle in her belly, sheThe role of innocent, helplessfor years "Please, you o"

"Oh, I’ like you? After all," he said, quirking an eyebrow, "you can look after yourself"

"Captain Grayson--"

"Miss Jane Turner" His voice grew thin with i to entleman in entleain and looked him square in the eye "Are you?"

He froze All that ed profile animated by insolence--for an instant, it all turned to stone Sophia held her breath, knowing she’d just wagered her future on this, the last re card in her hand

But this was sothan whist

"No," he said finally "No, I’ as you’ve silver to pay your passage, the brig Aphrodite has a waiting berth"

Relief sighed through her body "Thank you"

"Have you trunks?"

"Two Outside with a porter"

"Very well" His mouth curved in a slow, devilish s lady of fine breeding didn’t acknowledge, let alone return

So naturally, wicked thing that she was, Sophia s to be a challenge"

"What is?" she asked, feeling suddenly disinclined to put uptoto his arm, wasn’t she? Drat And yet--she wasn’t quite ready to let it go

Maybe it was the lingering desperation from her episode with Bains, or the flood of profound relief that accompanied her rescue Perhaps it was a perverse fascination with this enigrown erous Or maybe it was simply the feel of his rock-hard e that she’dhi she’d been waiting her whole life to feel Everything she’d been prepared to travel halfway across the globe to find In running away, she had made the decision to eirl really needed to let hie Gray went respectable And it was off to a very bad start

It was all her fault--this delicate wisp of a governess, with that porcelain cowood teacups She looked as if she , and those eyes kept beseeching hi de brute Please, take me on your ship andaway to Tortola Please, strip own and initiateht here on the barstool Well, innocent ht have lacked words to voice the third quite that way But, worldly man that he was, Gray could interpret the silent petition quite clearly He only wished he could discourage his body’s instinctive, affirirl He ought to do the respectable thing, seeing as how this voyageof his respectable career But Miss Turner had hientle a young, unmarried, winsome lady to travel unaccompanied probably wasn’t it But then, if he refused her, as to say she wouldn’t end up in an even worse situation? The chit couldn’t handle herself for fiveto turn her loose on the Gravesend quay? What would he tell George Waltha, Gray had reached the point in his life where, for one reason and another, he actually wanted to behave in an honorable fashion The trouble was, so, he’d h a cyclone and not lose his course He could navigate a worown rusted with disuse However … he never lost sight of the botto hi decisions--he opted for profit Miss Jane Turner was a passenger He had a ship with empty berths The decision was simple He was a tradesman, and this was business Strictly business

He had no business studying the exquisite alabaster sweep of her cheekbone