beneath me in my bunk. Your sister won't have cause for complaint, I promise you that."
"Seducing Rose wasn't part of the plan," said Lily with a clipped edginess. "I told you she needed a friend, not a—not a debauchee."
"Then you should have thought of that before you tossed her into my path." Nick leaned forward, his expression ruthless and his eyes glittering with anticipation. "I'm not a gentleman, Miss Everard, no matter how much you wish to pretend otherwise. If you want to play games with your sister's virtue as the stakes, then you're free to do so. But don't try to paint me the villain if I accept."
Resolutely Lily folded her arms across the front of her gown. "So that if, against your wishes, I remain in your life—which of course I am bound to do—then you will ruin my sister."
"Aye." Nick nodded. "That's the whole of it."
"So that if I continue trying to help you better yourself, you shall reward me instead by committing an act that can serve only to make you an even greater rogue and rascal." She sighed deeply, her full breasts quivering above the low-cut gown. "You aren't making this in the least manageable for me, are you?"
"I didn't intend to. You're a woman, and you're dead, and you might well be no more than a dream brought on by my being struck on the head. If I can't win against you, well then, I should cash it in now and be done." His smile was humorless. "Go on, heave all the water pitchers you please. But if you vanish now, this night, I give you my word that your sister will be delivered untouched to her bridegroom the moment her ransom is paid."
"As you wish then, my dear captain, though you are sadly misled if you believe a woman, alive or dead, is of no use as an adversary." With the air of a general preparing for battle, Lily tapped her folded fan against her shoulder once, twice, three times. "And I should warn you, too, that I'll have considerably more than water pitchers on my side."
The memory of what had happened to the
Angel Lily
's first captain flickered through Nick's mind, and swiftly he shoved it aside. His situation bore not the slightest resemblance to Fotherill's. He had an unbeatable trump in little Rose Everard, and if Lily forced his hand, he'd no compunction whatsoever about playing it.
Or at least that was what he told himself, and perhaps, at that moment, he believed it.
"You can try whatever you wish, Miss Lily," he said softly. "But mind that it's your choice. And mind, too, that when I play, I play to win."
Chapter Six
« ^ »
G ideon held on to the brim of his hat as he craned his head back to point at the top of the mainmast.
"That man there's the lookout," he explained as Rose, too, leaned back to squint upward into the sun. "His task is to scan the horizon for enemy ships. 'Course we hope he sights a slow, overburdened merchantman, but we want to know if he spots a frigate, too. Either way he'll bawl out the instant he spies a sail, and if we chase and close and take the vessel for a prize, then the cap'n awards him one hundred dollars for his trouble."
"One hundred dollars!" marveled Rose with open wonder too sarcastic to be genuine. "And does your captain take the money himself directly from the pockets of his poor captives, or must the same lookout man do that task, too?"
Gideon frowned. "It comes from his own pockets, Miss Everard," he declared soundly. "I've seen it a score of times myself. Besides, Nick—er, Cap'n Sparhawk goes as proper by the rules as he can. He doesn't countenance looting or helping himself the way some privateering masters do. He sends everything in to Charles Town to be auctioned and sold at the prize courts, and waits until then to claim his shares."
Rose nodded absently. She hadn't intended to be so sharp, but in the hour since she'd come on deck she'd heard nothing from Lieutenant Cole but the most overblown praise for his captain, and by now she half expected the man himself to come walking across the
"Seducing Rose wasn't part of the plan," said Lily with a clipped edginess. "I told you she needed a friend, not a—not a debauchee."
"Then you should have thought of that before you tossed her into my path." Nick leaned forward, his expression ruthless and his eyes glittering with anticipation. "I'm not a gentleman, Miss Everard, no matter how much you wish to pretend otherwise. If you want to play games with your sister's virtue as the stakes, then you're free to do so. But don't try to paint me the villain if I accept."
Resolutely Lily folded her arms across the front of her gown. "So that if, against your wishes, I remain in your life—which of course I am bound to do—then you will ruin my sister."
"Aye." Nick nodded. "That's the whole of it."
"So that if I continue trying to help you better yourself, you shall reward me instead by committing an act that can serve only to make you an even greater rogue and rascal." She sighed deeply, her full breasts quivering above the low-cut gown. "You aren't making this in the least manageable for me, are you?"
"I didn't intend to. You're a woman, and you're dead, and you might well be no more than a dream brought on by my being struck on the head. If I can't win against you, well then, I should cash it in now and be done." His smile was humorless. "Go on, heave all the water pitchers you please. But if you vanish now, this night, I give you my word that your sister will be delivered untouched to her bridegroom the moment her ransom is paid."
"As you wish then, my dear captain, though you are sadly misled if you believe a woman, alive or dead, is of no use as an adversary." With the air of a general preparing for battle, Lily tapped her folded fan against her shoulder once, twice, three times. "And I should warn you, too, that I'll have considerably more than water pitchers on my side."
The memory of what had happened to the
Angel Lily
's first captain flickered through Nick's mind, and swiftly he shoved it aside. His situation bore not the slightest resemblance to Fotherill's. He had an unbeatable trump in little Rose Everard, and if Lily forced his hand, he'd no compunction whatsoever about playing it.
Or at least that was what he told himself, and perhaps, at that moment, he believed it.
"You can try whatever you wish, Miss Lily," he said softly. "But mind that it's your choice. And mind, too, that when I play, I play to win."
Chapter Six
« ^ »
G ideon held on to the brim of his hat as he craned his head back to point at the top of the mainmast.
"That man there's the lookout," he explained as Rose, too, leaned back to squint upward into the sun. "His task is to scan the horizon for enemy ships. 'Course we hope he sights a slow, overburdened merchantman, but we want to know if he spots a frigate, too. Either way he'll bawl out the instant he spies a sail, and if we chase and close and take the vessel for a prize, then the cap'n awards him one hundred dollars for his trouble."
"One hundred dollars!" marveled Rose with open wonder too sarcastic to be genuine. "And does your captain take the money himself directly from the pockets of his poor captives, or must the same lookout man do that task, too?"
Gideon frowned. "It comes from his own pockets, Miss Everard," he declared soundly. "I've seen it a score of times myself. Besides, Nick—er, Cap'n Sparhawk goes as proper by the rules as he can. He doesn't countenance looting or helping himself the way some privateering masters do. He sends everything in to Charles Town to be auctioned and sold at the prize courts, and waits until then to claim his shares."
Rose nodded absently. She hadn't intended to be so sharp, but in the hour since she'd come on deck she'd heard nothing from Lieutenant Cole but the most overblown praise for his captain, and by now she half expected the man himself to come walking across the
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