Page 15 (1/1)

"Did you now?" In two long strides, he was near enough that his breath led with hers and she had to tilt her head back to continue to gaze into his icy blue eyes He rested his curled fingers in the curve of her cheek, his thuue slipped out on its own accord to lick where he touched and she could have sworn she tasted the saltiness of his skin His eyes darkened He had such incredibly long lashes Their ebony shade made the blue of his eyes seeht suaze dropped to her lips

They tingled

He lifted his eyes to hers

She waited, waited

He ca--

"The , Princess And this isn’t it Sleep well"

Grinning, he tweaked her nose, spun on his heel, and strode from the room

If she could have drawn in a breath past her fury, she’d have shrieked at him Martha rushed in "Oh, dear God, what did he do?"

"Nothing" He tweaked my nose! She wasn’t about to aded his e of the bed and stared at the closed door She popped back up "He told me to sleep well I’ll show him I shall accomplish that with remarkable success"

As they prepared for bed, they were both surprised to find ater in the basin Obviously the captain had so was crisp, freshly laundered, but when Anne climbed onto the bed, the spicy scent of Crimson Jack rose around her

Martha blew out the lah room between them that they didn’t touch Anne didn’t want to consider that the bed had been specially designed to acco in his arht have been ht be a very dangerous erous, he’d have locked that door, and he--not you--would be in this bed withof the ship But she didn’t sleep Instead, she wondered why he could so easily resist kissing her And why she wished he’d just get it over with

Standing at the helhtly that his hands were beginning to ache Walking away fro those succulent red lips had been one of the hardest things he’d ever done When he touched his knuckles to her cheek, ski bottom lip, inhaled her scent

When her breath hitched and her eyes began to close

One kiss That was all he’d demanded in payain in which he came out at the short end He should have demanded one kiss every day Instead he had only one for the entire journey He had to ive him more Because once he had his kiss, she had to initiate the next one Unfortunately his wooing was on a schedule He had to claim his kiss before they reached Scutari because once she visited with her fiancé, her love for hi a kiss to Tristan as nothing more than a payment

With any luck, the winds would die and their arrival at their destination would be delayed Perhaps he’d take a wrong turn, go down around the Cape of Good Hope, then across the Indian Ocean to tropical islands Perhaps he could even convince her to e That thought brought a s now as she snuggled in his bed

His sheets, his cabin would smell of her when she left No woht he was a bit mad to make this journey with toh for their services not to gru curled around him in the sa, leaving nothing untouched He wondered how far she would allow him to take the kiss Not nearly as far as he wanted to take it, he was certain

Would her fiancé be returning with theht that hadn’t occurred to him before Not that it e As with all things in his life, the constancy of so bored hies But conquering her would be his greatest triu to give hi and sunlight peering through mullioned s She was on the ship, on her way to Walter at last--and yet it was not visions of him that had filled her dreams Rather it was one very dark blue-eyed devil whose nearness caused her skin to tingle with the need to be touched She’d never experienced this sort of longing, wasn’t quite certain what to make of it He wasn’t like anyone she’d ever met before He was a curiosity That was all If she but touched his bristly jaw, felt his lips pressed to hers, then her interest in him would be satisfied

Obviously her father was correct: it was ti the Season she was bound towo That’s all these strange yearnings signified: that she was not only receptive to a man’s attentions but in need of them