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"I told you I want you on my ship"

"Yes, and in your bed, I’ust estion that I barter away to you the one thing I hold dear"

"Your fiancé doesn’t hold that place?"

The crack of her pal his cheek echoed around the the speed hich he’d caught the brandy, she was fairly certain he could have His reflexes were sharp and quick So why did he just stand there and take it? Why didn’t he step away or grab her wrist or shove her aside?

She stuo"

She hated the pleading rasp of her voice But he was right Walter should have been ht before he left, and she’d been too daive it to him Now she would never know his touch--and worse, he died never knowing hers

The captain just stood there, studying her as though he could decipher every thought that rah her mind She hated hihtened her shoulders "I’love onto the vanity, spinning on her heel, she headed for the door

"A kiss"

She spun back around to face him "Pardon?"

"A kiss That’s what I want you to barter for passage on my ship"

"A kiss? That’s all? A kiss?" Surely she’d misunderstood

Slowly he prowled over the thick carpet, silent as a wraith, until he was standing before her, his gaze s as it dipped to her lips briefly Then he was looking into her eyes, holding her captive as easily as if he’d bounded her with silk

"A long, slow, leisurely kiss," he whispered in a velvety s that rese her spine She suddenly felt so reed "On et another until I am the one who ends it"

"Akiss," she repeated "That can’t be all you want"

"No, it’s not all I want, but it’s what I’ll be content to take Anything ive"

She shook her head "You speak flattering words, designed to lure me, but I know you expect er to her lips "No I expect nothing more than a kiss"

"So why not take it now? Be done with the bargain?"

"Because I want to torlee that juh her at his adh the door of the tavern on that storht I don’t knohy I only know that you do"