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"Do you know," he said, "if you keep gazing at er, I shall be forced to pack you off belowdecks"

"A?" She fluttered her lashes at hi a trip to the storerooot"

"Siren" He gave her a surreptitious pinch on the hip "No, it’s the cabin I have inthere alone You need to rest" He walked her toward the hatch

"You won’t come rest with me?"

"If I come with you, neither of us will rest"

A current of pleasure shot straight to her center Then a ht intruded "But what of the noonfish as long as her arm sailed over the rail of the boat and flopped on the deck at their feet

Gray looked at the thrashing fish, then raised his eyebrows at her

"Soe"

Hours later, Sophia woke alone in the dark Her toes groped the floorboards for her slippers, and she wrapped a light blanket over her shift before heading abovedecks

Stars greeted her, in divineh so about the floor of Heaven, drilling little holes with an auger to let glory shine through

She spied him at the helm, his back to her as he looked out over the Kestrel’s stern, elbows propped on the rail The crewnored her as Sophia tiptoed past, through the swaying uht and into the shadows that cloaked Gray Noiselessly, she pressed her body to his, flattening her cheek against his back He tensed at the initial contact, then relaxed an instant later His fingers found hers as she crept one hand around his waist

"You should be sleeping," hethrough the solid muscles of his back She felt him, rather than heard hi you" And, because she wanted to feel hiestive voice, "Were you ed her hand doard to present her with tangible proof of just how ainst his back HeThis was yearning on a grand scale, indeed

He spoke again, sending pleasant tre, if the wind holds"

Now Sophia was the one to tense He pivoted to face her, drawing her tight against his chest "Nothing between us changes tomorrow" He lifted her hand to his lips and kissed it "Except this," he said, rubbing her pal I’ll do once we reach terra firhed, caressing his rough cheek with her thu?"

"Feel this?" He dragged her fingertips over the narrow scar slanting across his chin "This is what co in the starlight to ot that scar? You cut yourself shaving?" She could not help but laugh

"I’lad hing at you I’ … it isn’t at all what I’d ih It was pure folly" He looked out over the waters

"Must have happened somewhere near this corner of the ocean, since ere only a day or so out froland, after my father had died I was so worried for my sister, Bel She was just a child then We hadn’t seen each other in years, but froreeted me, I wanted her to feel reassured I was so anxious to look responsible, capable …" She heard the wry sroo when the storm hit Lost my balance and fell--sliced open rooh I’d been besieged by pirates"

"She was no less overjoyed to see you, I’m sure" Sophia rested her chin on his ar your sister Will she like me, do you think?"

"She will love you" The softtone, "Charity is her life’s work It’s what Bel does best, devoting herself to the most ard of souls"

"Well then, she willon it" He gathered her closer, then froze "I’ve just realized soone," he whispered, walking his fingers down the valley between her breasts "You didn’t pitch it overboard?"

She smiled "It’s beneath the mattress I didn’t want to feel it between us any I had pitched it overboard, what then? I do hope you’re not hed softly "Six hundred pounds is no paltry suh to persuade a ht have cause for concern"

And what if it were twenty thousand? Should I be concerned then?

Sophia rested her head on his shoulder She kneas only joking, that her ht have o, if he’d wished But still, she hesitated to divulge the rery reaction the first tier to tell him about Toby How could she tell him that she’d just been betrothed to another solicitous, patient man whom she’d callously jilted and deceived? Gray would doubt her anew, she feared, and Sophia did not kno she would bear it Better to wait until they were married He could not doubt her love then

She closed her eyes and let everything fall away Everything but Gray His thumb drew sh her body "Did you want to go below?" she asked

An eager part of him jumped at the invitation, but the rest of hier under her chin and tilted her face to his "Right noant to kiss my sweetheart under the stars"