"Evidently your brother cared enough to try to rescue his cousin from the guillotine."
"It was an adventure. I never said he wasn't a brave bastard."
"So you're willing to spare Charles because you hated your brother."
He nodded. "I've no driving lust for vengeance, and I do have a driving passion for you. I've never felt like this before. It's… extraordinary."
"Because I'm Polynesian."
"Because you're the most beautiful, strong, clever woman I've ever met." He reached out as if to touch her and then stopped. "You were meant for me, Lani. You were meant to live in my love and under my protection. You were meant to banish all the emptiness in my life. Jared doesn't believe in destiny, but I do. I have to believe in it. It's my only hope."
His words were halting, and so intense, they were almost painful to hear. She wanted to comfort him, hold him, stroke those tousled gray-flecked curls. She could not do it. She swallowed. "You have no hope." She smiled with an effort. "And you will soon forget this passion you have for me when you see all those fair-skinned Englishwomen again."
"Dammit, I will not forget-" He stopped and drew a deep breath. "You require proof. I can understand after the way Deville treated you."
"Charles treated me very well."
"So you've convinced yourself." His smile lit his rough features with warmth and sweetness. "But not the way I'll treat you. I've never had a treasure of my own. I'll know how to burnish it and keep it safe."
She felt again that rush of tenderness and pushed it firmly away. "I'm not a copper pot hanging in the kitchen," she said tartly. "I need no burnishing. Particularly not from you."
"Most particularly from me." His gaze raked her face. "But I think I'd better go away and leave the burnishing for later. I've given you enough to think about."
He turned and strolled away.
More than enough, she thought dazedly. Of course, she would not consider anything he said. She loved Charles, and Bradford was as unsteady as a weather vane. The next time she saw him, he would probably be deep in his cups and have forgotten his declaration.
Yet she had glimpsed a surprising depth and strength in Bradford today. He had shown her a side to his character she had never seen before.
And had not wanted to see.
The realization came with a sudden impact too strong to be denied. Bradford was right: she had used his inebriation as a reason to distance herself. From the first moment of their meeting she had known there was strength and intelligence beneath that careless manner. It had angered her, and then it had made her-
Cautious. She substituted that word for the one that came immediately to mind. Only cautious.
And she would remain cautious. She had told Cassie they must return to the real world, and she must not be distracted from her purpose.
She had an uneasy premonition that this Bradford she had just become aware of might be a force with which to be reckoned.
Where the devil was she?
Jared shifted restlessly before swinging his legs to the floor and standing up. Cassie would come soon. It meant nothing that she was late, he told himself.
But she had never been late before.
He moved toward the window and looked out at the sea. Smooth and serene tonight. No reason for her to be with Kapu.
Perhaps she was ill.
He felt a leap of alarm. Had she appeared unwell at the supper table tonight? No, just quiet and remote as she usually was when they encountered each other outside his cabin. When she walked through that door, there was nothing remote about her. She was all fire and beauty. God, she came alive.
He felt a heavy aching in his loins. How had he come to this? It had never been like this with other women. She was like a sickness, a fever in his blood.
Why was he just standing there, waiting? He should throw on some clothes and go to her cabin as he had threatened. He half turned and then stopped.
Shame. She had averted her eyes when she had asked him if he would insist on coming to her. She had been too proud to plead with him, but he had known she had desperately wished not to be shown vulnerable to Lani. She had been like an uncertain little girl, and he had softened.
As he was softening toward her now, he realized in exasperation. No matter how angry and frustrated he was with her, he could not bring her shame.
But, dammit, where was she? He needed her.
He was striding toward her down the deck.
Cassie didn't turn away from the sunlit sea but watched Jared approach from the corner of her eye, bracing herself. He looked completely His Grace, the Duke of Morland, today, his expression impassive, his manner imperturbable. Perhaps it would not be as bad as she had feared.
"Good morning." His tone was silky. "I trust you slept well?"
"Well enough."
"You lie." She suddenly became aware of the controlled ferocity beneath the smooth facade. "You're pale and pinched, and I'd wager you didn't sleep a wink all night. I can't tell you how much that pleases me.
"How very inconsiderate."
"I don't feel considerate. I'm angry and impatient, and I'd like nothing better than to throw you to a passing shark. Look at me."
She kept her gaze on the sea.
"Look at me!"
She reluctantly obeyed. Faint dark circles were smudged beneath his ice-blue eyes, and the skin was stretched taut over his cheekbones. Sleeplessness may have diminished her, but it had sharpened him. He seemed to glitter like a drawn sword in the sunlight. Impossible, she thought wearily. The restless night she'd spent dreading this encounter was making her imagine things.
"Were you ill?"
"No."
"I didn't think so." He drew a deep breath and his hand reached out to grasp the rail. "Then why didn't you come to me?"
"It was time for it to end." She looked away from him. "We'll soon be in England."
"Very soon. Tomorrow."
"Really? I thought it would be a few-" She broke off as he grasped her shoulders and jerked her around to face him. "Let me go!"
"End?" he said through his teeth. "You had no plans for it to end with the voyage. Should I remind you? You were going to stay close and use me for your own purpose."
"The situation has changed. I've decided it's best I no longer couple with you."
"Best for whom? Not for me and, by God, not for you, either. You want what we have as much as I do."
"It's true that I find coupling with you enjoyable," she said haltingly. Then she met his gaze directly and deliberately used his own words. "But I can't let it matter to me."
His grasp tightened on her shoulders. "You find it more than enjoyable, dammit."
"As Lihua said, you're very good at pleasure making. I've had no experience with other men, but I believe she's right." She swallowed. "But we both know that's not important."
"If it's not important, why shouldn't it go on?"
"Because I find it distracting. It's time I walked away."
"And what if I won't let you?"
"I've learned enough about you to know you will not force me. Brutality offends you."
"Who knows?" He smiled without mirth. "I might learn to like it."
She shook her head. "Not you. Even when you were most angry with me, you did me no harm."
"So you're going to give up your plan of turning me from my chosen path?"
"Of course not. But that doesn't mean I have to remain in your bed. It's clear I cannot sway you in that manner. You told me so yourself." She paused and then said in a rush, "But I'm not sure I entirely believe you. I think you'll find it much harder to kill my father now."
"Don't count on it."
She had to count on it. She had to believe she had accomplished something and those last weeks of madness were not pure self-indulgence. "And though I'm your hostage, I doubt if you'll throw me into a dungeon once we reach Morland. As long as I'm free, I have a chance to save my father."