“No disease is more dangerous than a bad husband, for if a woman catches that Pox, she'll languish from it her entire life.”

“And when he'd hurried out as soon as Jane had been taken from the room, Louisa had mumbled something derogatory about the entire male sex.He hadn't taken offense. How could he?Molly was screaming her blasted head off and enduring hours and hours of pain, all to bring forth a child without her husband. At that moment, he had the utmost respect for women and nothing but contempt for himself and his kind.”

“Faintly, Sara heard a noise from somewhere above them, the grating of wood against wood, but she thrust the sound from her mind. Then a voice called down from above, “Cap’n? Cap’n, you down here?”Gideon tore his mouth from hers and jerked his hand back, a curse rumbling from his lips. “Yes, Silas, I’m here. I’ll be with you presently.”Shame washed over Sara in buckets as she came out of her sensual fog. Good heavens, her hand was on his breeches! And he’d been touching her with an intimacy only allowed a husband!As she snatched her hand away, the sound of descending footsteps echoed down to them. “Ive got to talk to you,” Silas said, his words punctuated by the clumping sound of his wooden leg on the steps. “It’s about that woman Louisa—““If you come any nearer, Silas” Gideon barked, “I’ll have you keelhauled, I swear I will!”

“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.”

“Whatever she might have said was drowned out when the door to her cabin swung open and slammed against the wall. She and Petey sprang apart at once, but it was too late. Gideon was staring at them with thunder on his face.“You and I had a bargain, Hargraves. And it appears you aren’t keeping your end of it.”Though the blood drained from Petey’s face, he pulled himself up straight. “It wouldn’t have been right to leave without sayin’ goodbye. An honorable man wouldn’t have done it.”“An honorable man wouldn’t have sold her out for gold, either. Did you tell her that? Did you tell her you were more than happy to take wealth over her?”When Petey merely shrugged, the look on Gideon’s face made Sara’s heart skip more than one beat.”

“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”

“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!”