Surrender To A Scoundrel by Julianne MacLean Page A

and not worry about things. She settled in but felt some apprehension when she looked at the boom. “Is there any danger that will swing across and knock us into the water?”
    “Not unexpectedly. At least not while I’m at the helm.”
    She continued to watch it, to see if it would move. “But what if you leave me here again to do something to a sail, and I’m the one steering?”
    He considered that a moment. “Good God, I hadn’t thought of that. In that case, if I yell duck, hit the deck as fast as you can.”
    “ What? ”
    He started to laugh. “I’m joking, Evelyn. You need to relax . That’s why we’re here, isn’t it?”
    She raised her chin and faced the wind directly. “We’re here because I’ve never been sailing before, and I wished to try it.”
    He chuckled softly. “I think there are a lot of things you’ve never done before and wish to try.”
    Her eyes widened. “I have no idea what you could possibly be referring to, Lord Martin. In fact, I don’t think I want to know.”
    “Oh, but I think you do.” He was still chuckling, leaning toward her, gazing at her with a teasing light in his eyes.
    More than a little unsettled, she found herself retreating behind her familiar stone wall of dignified reserve, even though she knew he only found it amusing and would take great pleasure in finding a way around it.
    “You are a scoundrel, sir, for I have given you no cause to think such a thing, much less speak of it.”
    He faced forward again, standing tall before the wheel. “But you have, Mrs. Wheaton. OrEvelyn…May I call you that? You see, you’ve agreed to go sailing alone with a notorious rake—who you once saw with your very own eyes naked in bed with a laundry maid—when Lord Breckinridge could just as easily have taken you sailing today. Unlike me, he would have agreed to bring his aunt and uncle, and it all would have been perfectly respectable.”
    She didn’t know what to say to such scandalous allegations because they were all true.
    “But you’re not allowed to worry about respectability today,” he continued. “Not here on the water, because this is the place where all restrictions disappear, and the only thing worth worrying about is which way the wind is blowing. Those are the rules of my boat, madam. There is no past. The future isn’t upon us yet, so we need only concern ourselves with the present. You can say anything you wish to say, or do anything you wish to do. You have my permission to be completely free.”
    She wondered if he said that to every woman he brought on board.
    “I don’t need your permission to be free,” she told him, but she sounded defensive, even to her own ears.
    He nodded with an air of respect, although she knew he was just being polite. “Right then—we know what we’re about. So let’s head out to open water. Take the wheel if you please.”
    He stepped back and waited for her to takehold. When she had a good grip, he leaped gracefully onto the foredeck and made his way past the windward shrouds.
    “Brace yourself, Evelyn!” he called out with a smile, holding on to a line while the wind blew his thick hair in all directions. “It’s time to gain some speed!”

Chapter 10
    E velyn sat on the bench beside Martin, trusting him to see them safely down the Solent as they left Cowes behind and sailed toward deeper waters. Gulls circled overhead, occasionally diving to catch a fish. The morning sky was still white with low-hanging clouds, though it had brightened, and the fog was blowing out to sea.
    “Would you like to hold the wheel again?” Martin asked.
    “Do you need me to?”
    “No, but I promised to teach you a thing or two, didn’t I? So why don’t you come here.”
    She wet her lips, dry from the wind in her face, and stood up. She was learning very quickly howto move on the boat, always in motion, pitching and rolling. She had to take great care in getting from one place to another.
    When she reached Martin, he