Never Trust a Pirate (Scandal at the House of Russell 2)

“No.”

She wanted to sleep, she wanted to curl up in his arms and stay that way. But he would leave her, she knew it. “Congratulations,” she managed to say, as her heart rate began to slow.

“For what?” He was lazily stroking her back, twisting strands of her long hair between his fingers, rubbing it against her.

“You made your point. I liked it.”

For a moment he said nothing. “You think that’s what I was doing? Proving a point?”

She wanted words. Men didn’t give words. Gypsy pirates especially didn’t give words, when they had no words to say. “What else could it be? We both know this meant nothing to either of us.”

“You mean because I’m a ship’s captain and a former privateer and you’re a lady? Or is it my gypsy blood that bothers you?”

He sounded as if the question was purely academic, but she was horrified. “Of course not. It’s just…”

He moved, and she half expected him to leave the bed, leave her. But instead he rolled up against the wall, taking her with him, wrapping her in the safety of his arms. There must have been a blanket somewhere near their feet, because he pulled it up, tucking it around her. “Tell you what,” he said in a steady voice. “When you figure it out, let me know.”

“I don’t…”

“Go to sleep, Maddy Rose. You can fight with me later.”

She opened her mouth to tell him she wasn’t going to fight. She was going to tell him what she should never, never say. She was going to tell him that she loved him.

But she was saved by the rocking of the ship, by his hand on the side of her face, gently pushing her head against his shoulder, by the sheer exhaustion, emotional and physical, that swept over her, and before she could say the damning words she’d fallen into a deep, dreamless sleep.

CHAPTER NINETEEN

WHEN MADDY AWOKE THE cabin was flooded with daylight, and she was alone. She immediately scrambled into a sitting position, dragging the blanket with her, moving to the far corner as she listened to the voices outside her door. A moment later she heard the peremptory knocking, and relief and disappointment flooded her. Luca wouldn’t bother to knock; Luca would stride in without announcing himself.

“Come in,” she said, hoping she sounded relatively serene, given that she was sitting naked in a man’s bed.

It was Billy Quarrells filling the doorway, surveying her with profound disapproval. “Did I wake you?” he said, ignoring any social pleasantries.

She could do the same. “No. Where’s Luca?”

If anything his look of disapproval deepened. “The captain is busy running the ship,” he said, his emphasis correcting her. “I offered to look after you and he gratefully accepted.”

“Look after me? You look as if you’d like to throw me overboard. Are you angry with me?” It probably wasn’t the smartest thing to say. Disapproval was coming off Billy Quarrells in waves, and he was both strong enough and ruthless enough to do just that.

“You’re more trouble than I realized,” he said shortly. “And if I think you’re causing Luca any harm then there could always be a tragic accident. Things like that happen all the time aboard ship. I don’t know as how anyone would miss you. And don’t bother running to him, telling him I threatened you. He won’t believe you, and even if he did he wouldn’t give a damn. He wanted you, he had you, and now it’s over.”

It should come as no surprise—the captain wasn’t a man for tender emotions or commitments. He’d been ruthless last night, demanding a response so bone-shakingly powerful it frightened her, but of course he didn’t care about her, for all his calling her his “love.” He probably didn’t know the meaning of the word.

Though there were times when she thought neither did she. After all, she had given her body to the man she thought, until recently, as her worst enemy; she’d held nothing back. He’d taken her, given her the kind of scary pleasure she’d never imagined existed, and then left her, leaving Billy to do his dirty work. And now she sat huddled in the corner, feeling bereft.

“I won’t cause him any harm,” she said wearily.

“Nor make any untoward demands?”

“Like what? Marry me and save my reputation? That’s already in tatters.”

“Marriage to a gypsy would hardly save your reputation and you know it,” he scoffed, eyeing her. “You’d be shunned worse than you are already.”

So he knew who she was. Of course he did—he was Luca’s oldest friend. Luca probably told him everything, including how pathetic she was. He’d taken her, stripped her down emotionally, and even if she tried to put a wall of words up between them afterwards he knew women well enough. He knew she was hopelessly besotted, and he was sending his best friend to end it rather than deal with it himself.

She wasn’t going to dignify that with an answer. “So why are you here if you’re not going to fling me overboard?”

“We’ll be heading into a blow, and the cap’n told me to make sure you’re settled before it hits. Since your ladyship has never bothered to set foot on your father’s own ships before, you probably don’t know this one has a bathing room. I’ll take you there, then down to the galley for some food, and then you’ll stay in your cabin, out of the captain’s way, for the rest of the voyage.”