“Must you say things like that in public, for God's sake?""What do you mean?"He lowered his voice to a hiss. "Remember yesterday at the inn? My 'pistol' is making an appearance, thanks to you."She glanced down at his trousers, which only made them bulge more obviously. Then she lifted a mischievous gaze to his face. "Whatever will you do, now that you're in this...state?""Conjugate Latin," he said tersely. "Think of England. Think of anything but you and me doing--Bloody hell, there it goes again, and we're nearly to Rotten Row." He stopped short and stepped behind a bench with a high back that sat near the river.She stood next to him, pretty as the proverbial picture, her eyes dropping to his trousers with virginal curiosity. "Would you stop looking at me there? he growled. "You're not helping."She laughed. "You're the one who started it by trying to seduce me with words. Serves you right if you have to suffer for it."-Giles and Minerva”

“She realized she’d been staring only when he said, his voice lower and huskier, “Who are you looking for?”His words snapped her out of her terrible trance. “I . . . I . . .” she thought furiously and said the only thing that came to mind. “For you. I was looking for you.”Suspicion flashed in his sea-blue eyes. “In the rigging?”“Yes. Why not?”“Either you’re very ignorant about what a captain does, or you’re lying. Why is it?”Ignoring the plummeting sensation in her stomach, she forced a smile to her face. “Really, Gideon, you are so suspicious. Last night you accused me of plotting behind your back, and this morning you accuse me of lying. Who else would I be looking for but you?”

“You weren't always so...appreciative. When I said that men enjoyed my company, you said you found that hard to believe."What?" he retorted with a scowl. "I never said any such thing.""Yes, you did, the day that I asked you to investigate my suitors. I remember it clearly.""Theres no way in hell I ever..." The conversation came back to him suddenly, and he shook his head. "You're remembering only part, sweeting. You said that men enjoyed your company and considered you easy to talk to. It was the last part I found hard to believe.""Oh." She eyed him askance. "Why? You never seem to have trouble talking to me. Or rather, lecturing me.""It's either lecture you or stop up your mouth with kisses," he said dryly. "Talking to you isn't easy, because every time I'm near you I burn to carry you off to some secluded spot and do any number of wicked things to you."She blinked, then gazed at him with such softness that it made his chest hurt. "Then why don't you?"-Celia and Jackson”

“Then she jerked back with a siren's smile that made his confidence falter. "Well." She tapped her chin. "That was a decent kiss, all things being equal." She pressed her hand to her chest. "My heart is, if not quite racing, then heading into a quick walk. But I need a thermometer to determine if and how high my body heated. I shall just go--""Don't you dare." He caught her by the arm as she was on the verge of fleeing. "You know bloody well that you responded to that kiss."With a suspicious glee in her eyes, she tugged her arm from his grip. "I'm not saying I didn't respond-- just that I didn't respond to any overwhelming degree. But it was a good kiss, I suppose. Better than some, not as good as others.""What the hell do you mean? How many chaps have you kissed in the last nine years, anyway?""No more than you've kissed women, I should imagine.""My God.""But don't worry-- I don't think the average woman would complain about your kissing. You're perfectly competent."Competent? Bloody insolent chit. Even knowing she was trying to provoke him didn't ease his wounded pride. "Perhaps we should try again."-Giles and Minerva”

“No,” she whispered. “No more.”His breath came hot and heavy against her ear as his arm crept back around her waist. “Why not?”For a moment her mind was blank. What reason could she give that would make sense to him? If she protested that they weren’t married, he would simply put an end to that objection by marrying her, and that would be disastrous.Then she remembered Petey’s plan. “Because I’ve already promised myself to another.”His body went still against hers. An oppressive silence fell over them both, punctuated only by the distant clanging of the watch bell. But he didn’t move away, and at first she feared he hadn’t heard her.“I said—” she began.“I heard you.” He drew back, his face taught with suspicion. “What do you mean ‘another?’ Someone in England?”She considered inventing a fiancé in London. But that would have no weight with him, would it? “Another sailor. I . . . I’ve agreed to marry one of your crew.”His expression hardened until it looked chiseled from the same oak that formed his formidable ship. “You’re joking.”She shook her head furiously. “Peter Hargraves asked me to . . . to be his wife last night. And I agreed.”A stunned expression spread over his face before anger replaced it. Planting his hands on either side of her hips, he bent his head until his face was within inches from her. “He’s not one of my crew. Is that why you accepted his proposal—because he’s not one of my men? Or do you claim to have some feeling for him?”He sneered the last words, and shame spread through her. It would be too hard to claim she had feelings for Petey when she’d just been on the verge of giving herself to Gideon. But that was the only answer that would put him off her. Her ands trembled against his immovable chest. “I . . . I like him, yes.”“The way you ‘like’ me?” When she glanced away, uncertain what to say to that, he caught her chin and forced her to look at him. Despite the dim light, she could tell that desire still held him. And when he spoke again, his voice was edged with the tension of his need. “I don’t care what you agreed to last night. Everything has changed. You can’t possibly still want to marry him after the way you just responded to my touch.”“That was a mistake,” she whispered, steeling herself to ignore the flare of anger in his eyes. “Petey and I are well suited. I knew him from before, from the Chastity. I know he’s an honorable man, which is why I still intend to marry him.”A muscle ticked in Gideon’s jaw. “He’s not a bully, you mean. He’s not a wicked pirate like me, out to ‘rape and pillage.’” He pushed away from the trunk with an oath, then spun towards the steps. “Well, he’s not for you, Sara, no matter what you may think. And I’m going to put a stop to his courtship of you right now!”

“Nothing she says or does would surprise me.” Gideon faced the helm once more, putting his back to Barnaby. He wasn’t about to go anywhere near Sara again, not the way he was feeling now. Let Barnaby deal with her today.“Maybe not, but that doesn’t mean it’s nothing to worry about. You’ve got more schooling than I have, but isn’t Lysistrata the play where the women refuse to have relations with their husbands until the men agree to stop going to war?”With a groan, Gideon clenched the wheel. Lysistrata was among the many words of literature his father had forced down his throat once he was old enough to read. “Yes. But don’t try to tell me she’s teaching them that. It’s Greek, for god’s sake. They wouldn’t understand a word, even if she knew it well enough to recite it.”“She knows it well enough to give them a free translation, I assure you. When I left her she was telling them the story with great enthusiasm.”Barnaby reached for the helm when Gideon swung away from it with an oath. “I should never have taken her aboard,” he grumbled as he strode for the ladder. “I should have sent her back to England gagged and bound!”

“He twirled one coppery lock around his finger, and that seemed to rouse her from her stunned silence."Stop that," she whispered, a troubled expression crossing her face."Why?" he smoothed her hair down over one shoulder, thinking that she had the creamiest skin he'd ever seen, skin that was just begging to be touched. She gasped when he stroked one finger up along the curved contours of her neck. "It's not..proper," she said.That made him smile. "Proper? We crossed the line from proper to improper right after you left the Chastity. You're on a pirate ship, remember? You're alone in a cabin with a notorious pirate captain..you've lost your proper little cap..and I'm about to kiss you."As soon as he'd said the words, he knew they were a mistake-and not because of the outrage that filled her face. It would be dangerous to kiss her. She wasn't the woman for him.But he had to taste her once, just a little taste. So before a protest could even leave her lips, he brought his mouth down to hers.”