Drake was into his third cup when Mather and his crony waltzed in. They approached a table already occupied by the window. Cross words were spoken and Mather's strong arm tossed a lad out of his seat. The table cleared and Mather made himself comfortable. They ordered ale and slouched back in their chairs.

Let them take their ease, and then he'd move in. Drake finished off his punch and was about to rise until a new development to this scouting party arrived. He snarled. Lynch. The fat conch, led by Abel, joined the renegades. The men had an intense discussion lasting through another cup. What were those b.a.s.t.a.r.ds up to? Did any of it have to do with Gilly? Finally Lynch shook Mather's hand and left, Abel trailing after him.

He got up, laid coins on the bar and nodded to McKinley. The keep had a hopeful expression. That was until Drake added more coins to the pile. Poor fellow, his shoulders slumped, and he made quick with clearing bottles and gla.s.ses from the bar. Drake suppressed a smile and strode over to meet with his new foe.

"See that ship there?" Drake took a vacant seat next to Mather, thumbing toward the window. "She's a mighty fine ship, wouldn't you say, Mather?"

Mather tensed with anger for a mere moment. "So I hear."

"Aye. She's got quite a reputation, eh?"

"As does her captain," he said.

Drake chuckled and removed his hat. "Good to know. I noticed your interest in my ship." Drake leaned over the table on his arm. "Why is that?"

"Let's trifle not." Mather relaxed back into his chair. "You've got a woman on board."

Good. No mincing words.

"Lovely la.s.s, isn't she?" Mather continued.

"Cough up your tale," Drake said. "And call off your harem girl. I've no wish to waste gunpowder on him."

Mather spoke to his crony without looking away from Drake. "Stow your weapon, Turk."

The wretch withdrew his gun he had aimed at Drake under the table, but he remained on high alert.

"Gillian McCoy is a prize I had the good fortune to acquire. She belongs to me." Mather took a casual sip of his ale.

"My men said otherwise."

"We had a simple dispute, yes, and don't quite see eye to eye on the unfortunate result of a mishap. If she will allow me, I'm quite sure I can straighten the whole matter out."

"She seemed fairly resolute in staying clear of you."

"You're a man accustomed to marauding and staking claim, no? Once you've taken your due, you're not wont to relinquish your reward, are you? Plain and true, you can appreciate how I might want her back."

"All the same, unless she seeks to reunite with you, Miss McCoy will be staying with me."

Mather's complacent smile tightened with his glacial stare. His head jerked with the twitch of his jaw muscles. His tongue flicked out. The man grated his teeth in great effort to control the spasm. "That's too bad."

"Oh?" Drake did enjoy a challenge. 'Twas laughable this miscreant would taunt him with a warning.

"Aye. One way or another I will get to her," Mather said. He tilted his head. "I would hate for someone to get hurt when I do."

"She must be worth it to risk your life over." Oddly, his own words rang in his ears.

"Not my life," he retorted, quite confidently.

A lanky lad entered the inn and rushed up to the table, unaware of Drake.

"Mather. Everything is ready."

Drake didn't have to look up to know it was Abel again. Or that Abel froze solid upon seeing him. The beanrake started to turn away, but Drake s.n.a.t.c.hed up the front of his shirt. Quick as a viper he yanked Abel down level and bashed his fist into his nose.

Abel flew back and landed on a table, toppling it. Bottles and cups flew through the air. The men who'd been sitting there showered him with irate obscenities. Soon, Abel, no less deserving, was having his a.r.s.e kicked to the scuppers. He would be laid up for some time licking those wounds. One soused chap at the table jumped to his feet and inadvertently b.u.mped the fellow behind him with his seat. It was all very amusing to witness the bedlam unfold. Punches were thrown, chairs flew across the room. Two sots chased squealing, giggling dancing girls around the stage whilst the harpsichord player pounded out a livelier tune. And poor McKinley. The chap poured himself a drink and sat in the corner.

It was time to leave before Drake took up the fight. d.a.m.n, how he loved a good fight. But not this time. He had an overwhelming urge to return to his ship and lay his deadlights on the sweet la.s.s to make certain she was safe. He'd try to figure out why this particular bit of armful mattered to him later.

"You'll leave the woman be, Mather. Am I clear?" Drake donned his hat, tipping it up just enough for Mather to see he meant his sound advice. "Go back whence you came. She is through with you."

Drake did not break eye contact with Mather as a man crashed onto the table between them. The addled lad cleared his head and smiled. Turk grabbed him by his collar and tossed him back into the mayhem.

"n.o.ble of you to act as her protector. I wonder if you are courting her favor. Hearken and be forewarned, Captain Drake."

Mather sneered out Drake's name as if he were a vile man unworthy of recognition. Aye, he wouldn't deny it.

"I will get Miss McCoy." His tongue fidgeted again. "And I will put a bullet in your brisket should you try and stop me."

"You will match yourself against me?" Drake smirked. Overly confident, this landlubber. Now Drake was obliged to see him bleed. "Never has a man looked me in the eye with threats and lived to see a good day afterwards. Take that as a Bible oath."

The dark sky twinkled with millions of stars. So close it seemed to Gilly that she could reach up and stir them with her fingertips. Sparkling lights shimmered on as far as the eye could see, making it difficult to tell where the heavens ended and the earth's horizon began. Warm sailing winds caressed her cheeks and fluttered through her hair, carrying soft scents of briny tides. Sails flapped against the breezes and the water below carried the ship silently across the vast sea. Nighttime on the ocean brought peace to her soul. She should make a serious decision to settle close to the sea.

Gilly had sat quietly on the p.o.o.p deck since the Rissa left New Providence. Henri had brought her a plate of food and she had shared a meal with Willie as he navigated the ship. She enjoyed her new friends, though Henri was still quite a crusty crab. Willie was a terrific conversationalist and when she retreated to the deck overlooking the wheel, he gave her the silence she craved. He held his tongue when he caught her taking another dose of laudanum, as well.

'Twas rare that she wanted to be alone. But this night, she needed to sort through the thoughts flitting through her head like minnows in a puddle. Captain Drake, Thayer, had her wound tighter than that winch used to bring up the anchor; the anchor windla.s.s, Willie had called it.

She had been relieved Thayer had given her a refuge from Mather. Deep down, if she cared to go that far, his involvement made her hopeful. Hopeful that he had a sliver of compa.s.sion for her. Not as a woman in need, but as a woman he might, even a tiny bit, like. Childish, wistful, foolishly smitten ideas.

Now Gilly was on her way to Havana. Once they made the Spanish island, what would become of her then? Would Mather catch up to her there? She didn't want to think about it. She had a few more days with the captain and she would focus on making them count.

Thayer retreated to his quarters upon returning from town and sent her away. He and Valeryn had matters to discuss that did not concern her. Or so she was informed. And that was fine by her. She didn't understand much of their shipboard jargon, although she was learning. Gilly hadn't seen Thayer since and she pondered if he avoided her.

The middle watch bell pealed through the mantle of quiet. The mournful toll fell on the sea's deaf ear and an ominous shiver slipped up her spine. An image of Thayer leaning against the banister with a devilish smirk on his handsome face, waiting for her to pay her due and kiss him, flashed in her mind. A shame her debt had been fulfilled.

Midnight. She should retire.

Gilly hopped off the p.o.o.p deck, nodded to the helmsman and climbed down the ladder.

"You're up late."

She jumped at Thayer's rich voice. It melled into the eeriness the witching hour brought.

"Heavens! You startled me." Soundlessly, the hunter prowled his domain. Shadows shrouded his features. She gulped. Mercy, this man made her knees weak.

"My apologies," he said. "You weren't in your cabin. I'm surprised you're still awake."

"It's just so peaceful." She gazed out across the expanse of the black abyss. "I lost the mark of time."

"'Tis easy to do when what you behold is beautiful beyond measure."

She looked back at him to find him staring at her. The umbra that engulfed the world in apparitions could not blot out the darkness of his eyes.

"What do you intend to gain from flattery?"

"Whatever the lady will give me."

Oh dear Lord, I'm swooning.

He gave Gilly far too much power for her to wield. Ms. Brooks, her genteel educator, had always said, "Let a man believe his thoughts and actions are that of his own, whilst the lady sows seeds of her whims into his brain." That was a true talent a refined lady should possess. Otherwise, she would be nothing more than a dreary pet. Gilly had not tried the practice herself. Hyde had been too bull-headed to hear subtleties. Besides, she had only wanted one thing from him. His love. He never gave it to her. Not in the way she needed.

Thayer, with a suggestive eyebrow raised, planted a hand on the wall beside her head and waited for her to counter.

"What do I have that you could want? You surely will tire from my appreciative smiles or even of stolen kisses."

"'Tis true. Rarely would the dalliance of a fair piece end in a friendly tete-a-tete." He leaned in. "Nay. Often there is a good amount of tupping and cuckolding."

Armed with his beguiling, almost sinful, charm, she wasn't shocked by his language nor did she doubt his claim for one moment. Any request, demand or hint of innuendo and she would be helpless to resist him. All Thayer would have to do is touch her and she would lie, cheat and steal for him.

"But with your beauty, Gilly," he continued, "perhaps your smile and your hungry mouth is all I require."

Thank goodness for the dark. Thayer would be unable to see the blush heating her cheeks.

"A fierce man accustomed to taking gold and glory would not be content with small tokens."

He leaned in still closer. The breeze ruffled through his hair, brushing around his shoulders. Desire roiled in the depths of his sleepy gaze and stirred her body alive. The warm air surrounding him was steeped in rich flavors of rum. She could get drunk merely breathing in his breath. What a glorious notion-to get drunk from standing near him. She inhaled deeper.

"Are you offering me more than a token?"

"Yes. No. I mean, I don't know."

He chuckled, low and magnificent. "Come. Let me see you to your cabin."

Thayer pushed off the wall. d.a.m.n. The invisible pull, his indescribable spell upon her broke. No, not broke. Slackened. She followed him on the intangible tether which he had no idea he held.

"I spoke to Mather." He opened the hatch door for her to cross through. "You must have made an indelible impression upon him."

"I don't understand."

"He did a most unwise thing. He threatened me."

"Why didn't you leave me in Na.s.sau?" Annoyed, her tone soured. She didn't want to be the cause of more trouble.

"I was going to leave you."

She stopped, surprised by his sharp candor. Quickly she composed herself. "Well, you should have. I'm nothing if not a burden."

Gilly reached her door and pushed it ajar. Thayer grabbed the jamb, preventing her from opening it farther. His face was but a fraction from hers.

"As of yet, my lady, you've not become a burden."

She focused on his mouth and gradually worked her way up, her heart racing faster and faster until she landed in the pools of his pa.s.sionate gaze.

"On the contrary, love. You've brought a spot of delight to my jaded existence. To listen to you sing enraptures me. To smell your fragrance dulls the endless marching schemes and endeavors that I bear in my mind. To taste your lips, to feel your ivory skin, beguiles me in such a way no woman has before."

Gilly ducked under his arm and entered her cabin. These confessions set her reeling. Thayer cajoled her with honeyed talk she'd yearned to hear from a man for far too long. Here he was, more of a man she could ever imagine possible. Her heart beat relentlessly against her chest. She fumbled to light the lantern on the beam. With the flame hardly turned up, she retrieved her laudanum, gulping down more than an appropriate measure.

Thayer kicked the door shut and closed the meager gap between them. He pinned her against the dresser and slipped the bottle from her grip. "You are a rare gemstone among pebbles on a rocky coast."

If it weren't for his weight pressed against her, Gilly would have given in to her weak knees.

"You're drunk."

"Aye. Quite soused." His expression was cut from a cloth of determination. "But it is you that has me intoxicated. There's nothing I want more than to touch you now."

Gilly succ.u.mbed to reckless infatuation. She grabbed his whiskered cheeks and planted a desperate kiss to his mouth. Thayer wrapped her into an urgent embrace and seized control of their kiss. Rum coated her lips and swam in her already over-stimulated senses. Earnest groping consumed her. She couldn't feel him enough, wanting to ply every bit of his muscular form with her fingertips. Likewise, his hands pawed over her body spurring her to cast off any prudent hindrances.

d.a.m.ned jacket. She must shed it from him, she must get her hands under his tunic, rub them over his delectable hard chest.

Thayer abandoned her mouth for her neck, ravishing her flesh. He cupped her breast, squeezing it until her nipples puckered and strained beneath her dress. She threw her head back, arching into him. Heaven help her, she wanted him. No. She needed him. She grabbed tussocks of his hair, praying this wicked intimacy never stopped. His feeding upon her drove spikes of wet heat between her legs. Mad, he was driving her mad. Yanking his head back, she met his greedy eyes, and then kissed his open mouth.

He growled, fueled by her petulant actions. Thayer made quick work of the clothing binding her and soon he unveiled her b.r.e.a.s.t.s. His mouth sought to lavish her mounds which she gave to him in generous swells of erratic breathing. Coolness spread up her bare leg as he lifted her skirt and shift. He tucked her leg to rest upon his hip. The rough pads of his palm dragging along the underside of her thigh, so close to her naked vulnerability, brought wild pleasure.

Gilly tasted the salty sinews of his shoulder, kissing and nipping him like a tasty morsel. Her hand weaved into his shirt and around to his back, pausing for a moment to skim the smooth rise of the scar in his side. She caressed down the strong, taut planes to the top of his breeches. Did she dare go farther? Yes.

Her captain growled again. Picking her up, he threw her onto her mattress. He returned to leaving trails of fire along her thigh, boldly caressing higher. Her chilly nipples were warmed by his tongue working in sensual circles. She moaned and frantically worked to shove down his trousers so that she could better run her hands over his firm a.r.s.e.

Thayer found her most coveted spot; Gilly jolted from the surprise. Her breath caught as he stroked his fingers across her wet nub. She gasped for humid air, heavy with desire. Pleasure mounted with each swirl of his fingertips. Enthusiastic, she swiveled her hips to the rhythm of his strokes. Shadows on the ceiling flickering in the ocher glow danced along to her cresting sighs. He led her to the edge of paradise, closer he enticed her with dexterous hands and a skillful tongue. Any moment she would fall. Any moment. Please, yes, any moment.

She nearly expired when he abandoned all his efforts. His attention to her b.r.e.a.s.t.s was traded for her mouth. Suckling and kissing distracted her whirling thoughts. She'd grown familiar to the tang of liquor; she could sup on him for all eternity.

Thayer lowered his weight upon her, planting his hand on the pillow beside her, affording her more area of his skin to discover. Her fingers slid across a sheen on his back. She groped for more, pressing him as close as he would let her. Where was his other hand? She needed him to touch her, caress her more.

Shock and brief pain stunned Gilly as Thayer pushed his way inside her. He gave her a moment to adjust to his size, staring down into her eyes with a gaze clouded by frenzy, and then rocked into her. Slow at first. Delirious with him filling her, with the friction of him drawing out then gradually pushing back in, she dug her fingers into his back and pivoted up to meet his thrust, coaxing him to give in to the primal l.u.s.t. He obliged, pumping faster.

More, give me more.

Dear G.o.d, she had never been so wanton. Not even in the most ardent of moments with Hyde.

A wall of reality crashed down upon her. She had loved Hyde, and yet she never gave her body to him the way she was doing with Thayer. She acted like a lewd harlot with the captain.

This was wrong. So very wrong. This wasn't how she wanted it to be with Thayer. She didn't want to be a pa.s.sing fancy for him. A faceless doxy he would remember only for the prig. She didn't want to be his leisure. She wanted so much more with him. Suddenly, that she knew. She wanted him, all of him, to want her, to love her.

No, no, no.

"Stop." She pushed on his shoulders. "Stop, Thayer. Get off me."