A situation that had just turned very serious.

He'd failed to learn anything about her. He'd erred in his a.s.sumptions concerning her-she speaks French-and as a result of his mistakes, she'd overheard his conversation with his men.

The last thing he wanted was to have her entangled in his circ.u.mstances.

Now she was caught in the web.

"Monsieur, I've told you all you need to know about me."

She momentarily unbalanced him by speaking for the first time in his language of birth. Each perfect word sounded heavenly.

This was no daughter of a peasant who'd been tutored in a convent. Her manner of speaking and conduct were too refined. Her education had been obtained in France, or perhaps from French tutors in the Republic of Genoa. In short, her family was, at least at one time, notable. What happened? Why had they left her in a convent for so long? She was certainly of marriageable age.

Were they all dead?

"You are mistaken, mademoiselle. You have much to tell me. However, first allow me to tell you about me." By the note she had written and the look in her eyes, narrow, accusatory, and full of disdain, he knew she condemned him as a scourge on society. A pirate. It bothered him that she thought so little of him. And he had no idea why it mattered what she thought.

"My name is Simon Boulenger. I am, in fact, the captain of a fleet of privateer ships for France. It is my...duty"-he forced the word off his tongue-"to attack Spanish ships and forward proceeds to the Crown. And for your information, Toussaint works for me."

She flinched, but her gaze remained locked on his. He found himself admiring her courage. Under the circ.u.mstances, any other woman would have succ.u.mbed to tears by now.

"I don't require any explanations or details about you. All I'm interested in is returning to the convent."

He crossed his arms. "I don't think you understand. Matters have just become very complicated. You've been made privy to...sensitive information. As a result, I can't risk the lives of my men to take you anywhere now."

She paled. "You can't be serious! We are to be prisoners?"

"You will be treated no different than you have been."

"Except we are not permitted to leave!"

"That is correct. I'm sorry."

"Why? What possible harm could Gabriella and I cause you?"

"I don't know. I don't know how long you were listening, the extent of what you heard. I don't know who you are. Or who you know. These are dangerous times. There are enemies everywhere, including in the Republic of Genoa. I cannot take any risks. This is not a permanent situation. It's only until...certain matters are attended to."

Until his situation with Fouquet was rectified.

Until Fouquet was ruined.

"I heard nothing, really..."

Raising his brow, he gave her a skeptical look.

"Very little, I swear! And any personal information about me is irrelevant, I a.s.sure you."

He approached her. She stiffened, her fists still at her sides. Once again he found himself tantalized by her proximity. The sweet, fresh scent drifting from her chestnut tresses seductively swirled through his system. His hungry c.o.c.k hardened by the second.

Simon gazed at her upturned face. For the first time, he noticed an adorable freckle on her earlobe and another on her neck. He had to fight back the urge to press his lips to her soft skin. Dieu. He wanted to coax her into his arms and onto the bed, to turn the fiery look in her eyes into carnal hunger. If she had any idea how badly he wanted to sink himself inside her, knowing she would be deliciously tight and hot, she'd bolt for the door.

He couldn't believe he was l.u.s.ting after a virgin in convent garb.

A woman who, at the moment, clearly despised him.

He'd never been hated by a woman. And he didn't like being hated by this one.

"It is your game of secrecy that makes me mistrust you as much as you mistrust me," he said.

"You cannot do this. I demand you take us home! You have no right to hold us here against our will!"

"We won't be staying here. We will be sailing for the West Indies in a few days."

Her mouth fell open. She stepped back. There was horror in her eyes, a crack in her brave facade.

"No! We will not go with you!" she countered. "You wear finery and have influential friends"-she indicated the chamber with a sweep of her arm-"but you are not the n.o.ble or officer you pretended to be. You are not part of the King's Navy. You are clearly deceitful and no doubt corrupt. I want no part of whatever criminal endeavor you are embarking on!"

Her words gored him to the core.

Furious, he stepped forward. She took another step back, b.u.mping into the tall bedpost at the foot of her bed with a gasp.

"You accuse me of deceit? Of hiding who I am? You hide more than you reveal! Who the h.e.l.l are you to judge me?" Merde. The day had been long. He was both physically and emotionally depleted. And he was sick and tired of this game. It was no longer intriguing. He wanted answers. Needed answers. "I'm tired of this nonsense. I demand to know who you are, and what truths you conceal. Right now!"

She glared at him, her body rigid. In a low voice simmering with ire, she said, "I have told you all you will ever know about me."

He was stunned. He was accustomed to compliance to his every order. Always. How was it that he could command hundreds of men, yet he couldn't get this one woman to tell him her full name?

Angelica saw his eyes darken and braced herself. She'd faced a man who was pure evil when she was younger. Weaker. She would not break her silence. She knew the h.e.l.l that awaited her if she did.

"Is that so, mademoiselle? Well then, let me tell you this. I know you are running away from something or someone." The accuracy of his words sent a streak of cold terror down her spine.

"I know something more about you," he said. "You don't wish to embrace a life of religious devotion. Or a cloistered existence. You speak of needing to return-but never of wanting to return. You say it is where you belong, but you have never said that you wish to belong there. Last night you showed me that at least part of you wants more out of life than what you get living in that convent." He cupped her cheek in his warm, strong palm.

Her senses jumped to life, startling her. Her hand flew to his forearm, intending to push him away, to break contact with his evocative touch. He covered her hand with his other, trapping it there. Beneath her fingers, through the fabric of his shirt, she was all too aware of his hard muscles and the appealing heat of his skin.

"Angelica..." he murmured, the seductive quality of his voice so naturally a part of him. It shimmered over her nerve endings. And quickened her heart. "You may despise me, but I am still the man who came to your rescue in that chapel. The man whose arms you were in last night. And last night, you very much wanted me to kiss you." He leaned toward her ear, his soft, dark hair lightly brushing her cheek. "Admit it," he whispered.

Briefly, she closed her eyes and swallowed. She would cut out her own tongue before admitting to that. To the kiss she'd craved. To the desire to feel his perfect lips against hers.

"A life cloistered in a convent is not what you wholeheartedly want. It limits and denies, and it demands a chaste existence. Do you really want to live out your entire life never having known what it's like to make love?"

Make love...

His words rippled through her body, down to her feminine core.

He lifted his head, his vibrant blue eyes gazing into hers once more. "Don't you wish to know the pleasure of being kissed...caressed..." He stroked his thumb across her bottom lip, sending sensations lancing to the tips of her b.r.e.a.s.t.s. She lost her breath. "Don't you want to know how incredible s.e.x can feel? Being taken to ecstasy and back. Do you not want to experience that? That exquisite feeling of being locked in this most intimate joining, your body yearning, until the rushing release...until the ultimate fulfillment?"

Never had she heard someone speak so boldly. Never before had she felt the impulses that now rioted inside her. Nor did she ever think the act between men and women could sound so appealing.

She looked away, desperate to break the allure, needing to quash the physical urges he incited and the desire for things she knew were impossible in her life. But he curled his fingers beneath her chin and turned her face back to his.

"Chere..." The unexpected endearment undermined her resolve. "Tell me you don't want to live in that convent. Tell me the truth."

It took a moment to locate her voice. "No. I do wish it." Her words sounded pathetic. Weak.

He dipped his head, his mouth so close to her own. "I don't believe you." His breath mingled with hers, warming her lips. "s.e.x can be sheer rapture. Something no one should forgo. The greater the attraction of the two people involved, the more intense the encounter. If I were your lover, I would taste every part of your sweet form...starting at your ankles...kissing you lightly up the inside of your legs..." His provocative statement practically buckling her knees. "Or perhaps, we would simply begin with your inviting lips." He lowered his head.

At the first touch of his mouth, he sent a hot rush streaming through her body, leaving her toes tingling. His kiss a decadent attack on her starved senses. Her long-dormant body was suddenly awash with desire she'd never imagined.

Overwhelmed, she fisted his shirt against his chest.

Pulling her away from the bedpost, he wrapped his arms around her tightly, and pushed his tongue past her lips, possessing her mouth with a thrilling thrust. She moaned. He kissed her with dizzying intensity, his tongue giving hers swirling caresses. Her heart hammered. Every inch of her quaked. This was like nothing she'd ever known. His taste was inebriating. The texture and heat of his mouth made her ravenous for more.

He stopped abruptly, pulling away.

She snapped opened her eyes, panting. Bereft. A tormenting need pulsed within her.

He was holding her at arm's length, his expression unreadable, his emotions masked. Yet his accelerated breathing was not so easy to conceal. He'd been no less affected than she by the brief heated kiss.

Dear G.o.d, what was she doing? She'd only been out from the convent for a short time. How could her conduct have deteriorated to this level? Just because he had immense appeal and charismatic comportment? So what? Because when he touches you, he makes you feel like a woman. He makes you feel alive... She silenced the small voice inside her. None of that mattered!

After living ten years in a convent, accepting its way of life, she shouldn't have landed herself in such a situation with any man. Much less a man some called the Black Demon.

A man who had deceived her and was now refusing to set them free.

Simon Boulenger had his own secrets to guard. And she wanted no part of them or any of this. She had enough to deal with.

Placing his hands on his hips, he released a sharp breath. "Dieu, we are playing with fire."

Fire. What an appropriate word. She felt as though she was burning.

"This is not going to go any further," he said.

She gave a nod, all too happy to agree, instantly squelching the disappointment inside.

"This game of intrigue ends tonight, Angelica. I am going to ask you for the final time, and I expect the entire truth-"

Holding up a shaky hand, she halted his words. "Do not ask. I've told you all that I am willing to say."

A man who touched a woman the way he did wasn't the sort of man who inflicted physical harm on one, of that she was certain now. However, for a moment, from the fury in his eyes, she thought he'd reached his limit of patience with her. She was convinced he would rage at her, hurl vicious words.

Instead, he turned and walked out.

Simon stalked toward Gabriella's chamber.

He was putting an end to the fascination he had with this green-eyed woman, permanently. Women had always been a pleasant diversion from the enormous demands and responsibilities placed on him, not a complete distraction.

And not one of them had ever driven him mad.

His sac was painfully full. His c.o.c.k was stiff as a spike. And worse, the sweet taste of her mouth was consuming him. He was sorely tempted to turn around, satisfy her curiosity, sate his desire.

And end this s.e.xual torment.

He couldn't believe that a few s.e.xual words and a kiss with a virgin could be so erotic.

She was drawing away what little focus he had, at the most dangerous time of his life. The time to rea.s.sert control was long overdue.

He would know Angelica's secrets once and for all.

The door to Gabriella's bedchamber opened. Domenico emerged with a string of curses. "Women! Who can understand the female mind?" He strode toward Simon.

Ignoring Domenico's comment, Simon didn't break his stride.

"Gabriella is very upset," Domenico advised as Simon walked past.

"Tell me something I don't know."

"I tried to calm her down. I told her we were not pirates."

"Good." Simon's voice was bland.

"Then I kissed her."

That halted his steps. Simon turned. "And how was that received?"

"She weeps harder now."

Simon grunted. His mood was too foul to be amused over Domenico's rebuffed advances.

"d.a.m.ned unmanning situation," Domenico muttered to himself. "One moment she's receptive, the next she wails! I've no idea if she's insulted. Or elated."

At the moment, he didn't care a whit about Domenico's amorous difficulties. "I want a watch placed on the women here in the hall. They're to be kept apart until the departure." He wanted no more plotting between the two. "Find Paul. He can sit for the first watch."

Simon found Gabriella standing near the window, staring into the night.

When she turned her red-rimmed eyes toward him, they changed from dispirited to wary in an instant.

He schooled his features into a pleasant smile, and closed the door softly. Walking to the table in the middle of the room, he motioned to one of the chairs. "Please be seated, Gabriella. I merely wish to speak with you." He could see she was skittish.

Reluctantly, she walked over to him and sat on the chair he held out. Making his way around the table, he seated himself across from her.

"Wh-Where is Angelica? What have you done to her? I want to see her." Tears threatened to spill down her cheeks.