Master of Seduction by Kinley MacGregor Page B

showed so naturally. Nay, someone had trained him as effectively as she herself had been groomed.
    But who?
    And why?
    With a regal wave of his hand, he dismissed his men.
    Knowing the captain wasn’t about to trust her with the knowledge, she cut a small piece of the duck and took a bite. She delighted at the delicate flavor.
    Their conversation lagged until Lorelei finally found enough courage to mention to him the matter foremost on her mind. “I met your son today,” she said after taking a sip of wine. “But then you know that, don’t you? You sent him to find out my favorite color.”
    He wiped his mouth with his napkin before he answered. “Yes. I wasn’t sure if you’d tell me.”
    “Why did you want to know?”
    He leaned forward slightly, as if about to impart some great secret to her. “I find you fascinating and I want to know all about you.”
    “Ah,” she said in full understanding. “Knowledge is power. The more you know about me, the easier I’ll be to seduce.” Like him, she leaned forward and met his gaze evenly. “And will you allow me such arsenal?”
    He sat back slightly. “Perhaps.”
    A glimmer of hope appeared. It was certainly a kinder answer than the rude “no” she’d expected. Fortified, she asked the question that had intrigued her most of the day. “Then tell me, who is Kit’s mother?”
    “I don’t know.”
    “You don’t know?” she repeated in disbelief. “Sir, ’tis the father who can be in doubt. The mother is surely known, unless you…” Her eyes widened. “You kidnapped the boy?”
    “Hardly,” he said, his voice laced with aristocratic disdain. “Kit is my son. That is all anyone ever needs to know about the matter.”
    Lorelei watched him in silence. If he hadn’t kidnapped Kit, and Jack was truly his father, then he must have known the boy’s mother…intimately, at some point.
    “Was she some passing wench you fancied? Or a lady of short acquaintance, perhaps?”
    “She is none of your business and she has nothing to do with me.”
    By his tone, she knew the matter was ended. Any further inquiries would only alienate him from her. But oh, how she longed to know the truth. Why was he so secretive about the matter? Had he loved Kit’s mother greatly?
    She almost laughed at the thought. Nay, the captain disdained love too much to ever have felt it. Which made the question of Kit’s mother all the more tantalizing.
    Changing the direction of her thoughts, she asked him about the next item that intrigued her. “Then tell me why you became a pirate.”
    He swirled the wine around in his glass and sighed. “These are all boring questions. I became a pirate to make money.”
    “Why not be a privateer, or join the navy?”
    “Because I refuse to answer to any man or government. On this ship, my will is supreme.”
    And it was. She knew that, had seen it firsthand on deck.
    “Now my turn,” he said, returning his glass to the table. “Tell me, other than thinking of Justin, what do you like to do?”
    She puzzled over the strangeness of his question. “What do I like to do?”
    “Yes. When you’re all alone in your father’s house and there’s no one to disturb you. What gives you pleasure?”
    That was harmless enough to answer. He certainly couldn’t use that against her in any way. “Reading.”
    His look became one of intrigue. “And what do you like to read?”
    “Poetry, mostly. I particularly like Anne Bradstreet.”
    He inclined his head to her, then recited one of her most favored poems.
    “ For riches doth thou long full sore? Behold enough of precious store. Earth hath more silver, pearls, and gold, than eyes can see or hands can hold. Affect’s thou pleasure? Take thy fill, Then let not go, what thou may’st find For things unknown, only in mind .”
    Lorelei smiled at the quote, impressed that he knew it. She continued,
    “ Spirit: Be still thou unregenerate part, Disturb no more my settled heart, For I have vowed (and so