She stifled a gasp at the snarling black and green dragon tattoo dominating one shoulder blade. Its open mouth breathed fire across the width of his back, to his other shoulder. The curling tail wound around a powerful biceps.
She couldn’t move, could not tear her eyes away. A tattoo? Dear God, what kind of a barbarian would have that arrogant monster permanently embedded into his flesh?
One without the worries or scruples of a gentleman.
Uncertainty assailed her. This man was the antithesis of all she’d known, spawned from an opposite end of the Earth. She knew nothing about his less-than-civilized world. Would she survive long enough to see Aunt Mary in Grand Bahama? Trembling, she shoved the dismal thought aside and glanced about his cabin.
An exotic, Oriental aura dominated the space, which looked half the size of her dressing room. A burning taper filled the room with a pungent musk. Her shocked gaze fixed on the dramatic austerity of the black decor, relieved only by the pale wooden walls. An ebony and emerald silk coverlet on his bunk boasted the same scaled symbol of fire and power as his shoulder.
He reached for his shirt and pulled it on, concealing the intimidating dragon from her view. She swallowed in relief.
Feet planted apart, broad shoulders filling his black shirt, he tucked the cotton garment into skin-tight, biscuit-colored breeches. “I told you I didn’t want to see you.”
Startled by his acknowledgment, she stammered, “But I must speak with you. Please. Five minutes.”
He whirled to face her. The sight rooted her in place.
-12-
The Lady and the Dragon
A scrap of black silk stretched along the upper part of his square face, from brows to the bridge of his nose. She shivered. Only one type of man wore a mask: the dangerous kind.
The sight of his hard, bearded jaw arrested her next. A wall of power surged toward her as he stepped closer. Christina could not decide if she should attribute the feeling to the foreboding impression he made with black shirt, black mask, black beard, black eyes…or the displeasure thundering across the hard angles of his face. Then again, perhaps the sleek ebony length of his hair grazing his mammoth shoulders and the golden ring dangling from his left ear roused her unease. Either way, he was no one to trifle with; he’d made that abundantly clear without a word.
“W—why do you wear the…mask?” she stammered. “Oh, my… You hide your identity.”
“Hmm. Perceptive.” His low quip cut and didn’t invite further conversation.
But she could not give up and return home. Life in Switzerland was much more abhorrent. And cold.
Hancock burst through the door. “Cap’n, I’m sorry. The vixen tricked me.”
He turned to her, his look less than friendly. “Come on. The cap’n wants ye gone.”
A crooked smile curved the captain’s mouth as he waved the man away.
Christina did not find his expression comforting.
“No need,” he assured, his gaze shifting to regard her. “I’ll handle her.
Dismissed.”
The little man glanced from her to the captain, then back again, smiling now. “Aye.”
Hancock closed the door behind them, leaving them alone. In the ensuing silence of the small cabin, the captain scanned her with a thorough gaze.
She crossed protective arms across her chest and buried her apprehension.
“I came to make you a proposition, Captain.”
“A proposition?” His already suggestive tone dropped to a purr that set her instincts on full alarm. He leaned his hip indolently against the small cherry-wood desk bolted into the cabin’s wooden floor. “Well, now you do have my attention.”
-13-
Shelley Bradley
Christina gasped. The cur actually had the nerve to smile! She trembled, and he grinned like a well-fed cat.
They stood on opposite ends of the minuscule cabin—three steps from each other. The captain pushed away from the desk; his stride ate up one of the precious steps separating them. With her back at the door, Christina had nowhere to retreat.
She struggled for her next breath. The scents of salt, incense and man filled her nose. She forced herself to hold his stare, even as a tingling awareness of the captain rose inside her.
“I am talking about a business proposal,” she corrected. “And I will thank you to stop leering at me.”
An infuriatingly insolent grin lifted the corners of his mouth. “Don’t thank me; it won’t happen.”
He stepped closer. Closer still—only a breath away, a breath nearly shared.
His gaze touched her face. The massive breadth of his chest rose a mere inch from hers. His presence swirled around her like a gust of hot wind. She found her gaze trapped deep in the intensity of his dark eyes.
“If you don’t wish to be leered at, don’t wander where you aren’t welcome.”
His breath fanned across her cheek as he lifted a hand toward her.
Dear Lord, was he going to touch her? Christina’s gaze ricocheted around the cabin, looking for somewhere to shift out of his path.
His hand neared her waist. Her breath caught in her chest. Closer, closer his outstretched fingers came…until he nudged her aside and opened the door.
“I expect you to be gone when I return,” he said, then turned his back on her without another glance.
“Wait!” she demanded before he could leave. “What about my proposal?”
“I’m not interested.”
“Please listen,” she implored, clutching his sleeve. “You have not heard my idea.”
He turned to her with a scowl. “I don’t need to.”
-14-
The Lady and the Dragon
“Please, I’m desperate. Do you think I would have come here, suffered you calling me a light skirt and virtually risked my life to barge into your cabin if I was not?”
After a weighty pause, he replied, “Not unless you’re a half-wit. Are you?”
Christina swallowed her anger and forced herself to meet his stare. “I will not leave until you listen.”
His dark eyes behind the ebony mask gleamed as they scanned her up and down, heightening her anxiety—and awareness. She bit her lip in worry, wondering how to shift the conversation back to her purpose—hoping the warm, foreign vibration plaguing the pit of her stomach would cease.
“Perhaps we could do business…for the right price.” A provocative note inched back into his voice. “What do you seek?”
His aim was to intimidate her, and blast the man, he’d hit his target. Her heart thudded; she felt hot and cold all over. Christina took a deep breath and forged ahead. “I require transport to Grand Bahama. My—my…husband is awaiting me there.”
The man quirked a jet brow in speculation. “Husband? How long has it been since you last saw him?”
“T—two years.”
The captain turned and stepped toward her, closing half of the much-too-close distance between them. His presence was looming, capable of more powerful impact on her beating heart than either his voice or his frightful, colorful tattoo.
He grasped her chin between firm fingers. She bit her lip, feeling shaky and hot as his gaze probed her face.
“You can’t possibly have been married for ten minutes, much less two years. What is it you truly want?”
“I—I’m telling the truth.”
“Princess, two years ago, you were still in the schoolroom. And if you’re married, why are you uncomfortable with a man’s eyes on your body? Why do you blush at the sight of a man without his shirt?”
-15-
Shelley Bradley
She cursed his power of perception—and the guilty flush creeping up her cheeks. “You are not my husband. I am prepared to pay you two hundred pounds for transport to Grand Bahama. Why should you need to know my reasons for traveling?”
Instantly, his lazy manner disappeared. His hands encircled her arms, pulling her disconcertingly close to his muscled, half-covered chest. She released the valise. It hit the wooden floor with a deafening thud.