She shrugged the question away. Whatever the outlaw had in store for her, she would face with strength and dignity. She would persevere—especially if she had a weapon.
Upon cursory inspection of his small cabin she found nothing but charts, nautical books and a compass. Not a single personal effect lay visible, and somehow that failed to surprise her. The captain could not be described as a personable man.
The key jangled in the lock. Christina whirled to the sound and watched with frozen horror as the door opened. The Black Dragon dominated the portal an instant later, assessing her with a long, expressionless stare behind that imposing black mask.
With a whispered oath, he turned away to his desk and removed the thong restraining the inky length of his hair. As it fell around his shoulders, Christina peered closer, studying his stiff, bearded profile as he paused and placed wide palms on the desk. He closed his eyes, bowed his head and heaved a wide sigh.
“You shouldn’t be here,” he said. “You should be in London with your mother and sister, or wherever you truly belong.”
She squared her shoulders in defense. “I had to leave. If you believe anything, believe that.”
He speared her with a glance. “I have trouble doing so, knowing you lied to me.”
Christina said nothing.
With a disgruntled nod, he opened swung his gaze to her. “Stowing away isn’t without consequence.”
She swallowed in apprehension. “Can we discuss what—”
-33-
Shelley Bradley
“No.” His single syllable cut her short. “I make the rules and mete out the punishments.”
Autocratic and implacable, just like her grandfather. And although her elder was more given to fits of shouting, Christina found the Black Dragon’s hushed threats more powerful.
He raised his brown fingers to the top button of his shirt. Her gaze riveted on the captain in terrified fascination, she watched as he unfastened that and the other three below it, one by one, baring a wide expanse of satin bronze muscle.
Christina backed away until her back collided with a wall. “Dear God, your plan is to ravish me.”
The captain cast her a sidelong glance, brow arched above his mask.
“Ravish?” He mulled over the word, then added, “No. I have no intention of touching you.”
Surprise lashed her. “You don’t?”
His deep stare lasted an endless moment. “I learned my mistake the first time.”
Even though she sensed an insult somewhere in his comment, Christina let out a sigh of relief as the captain doffed his vest. “I—I’m pleased to hear that.”
The captain peeled his shirt up his torso, exposing the sculpted width of his chest. Christina couldn’t stop the hungry slide of her gaze he revealed his golden body. He slid the garment down the hard ridges of his arms, and images of clinging arms and impassioned kisses arose in her mind. She shifted uncomfortably.
“I don’t suppose you enjoyed your two days in the hold?”
Ripping her gaze from his bare torso, she shivered at the memory of the rodents and the thick darkness. “Heavens, no. Terrible place!”
He crossed the room and opened the door. “Hancock!”
Within moments, the small man appeared, his mouth twitching with amusement. “Aye, Cap’n?”
“See that Lillianne has all the blankets, food and water she needs.”
“Aye, Cap’n.”
-34-
The Lady and the Dragon
“And see that they’re put down in the hold she emerged from. She’s going to spend more time down there.”
The moment he shut the door, Christina whirled on him. “What? You cannot mean that!”
“I do,” he assured before he looked away.
The thought of being trapped in that perdition again sent Christina into a panic. “I beg of you, do not make me spend another night with your rats.
Please.”
Hands braced on his hips, he shot her a questioning stare. “Are you saying you would rather spend the night with me?”
She stole a quick glance at his bed, easily wide enough for one…but a cozy squeeze for two. “Neither idea appeals.”
“So it makes no difference whether you bed down in the hold or my bunk with me?”
Christina glared at him. “You said you weren’t going to touch me.”
In two steps, he closed the distance between them and grabbed her arms. “I said I didn’t intend to touch you. I’m not making any promises.”
Christina glimpsed heat beneath the thunder and dark control in his silk-surrounded eyes. Did he, deep down, want her?
A shiver of thrill feathered down her spine, intensified by the sight of his fierce, muscled shoulders. The feeling made no sense, she knew. Yet she had the premonition that his touch might be one of the most exciting experiences of her life.
No. These runaway thoughts had to stop. The captain wasn’t exciting. He was boorish and rude and destined to make this journey miserable and painful.
But if that were true, why didn’t he simply beat or rape her? She was at his mercy, his stowaway to punish as he pleased. If ravishing or hurting her would please him, why didn’t he simply be done with it?
Whispering an oath that would have made her grandmother faint, he pulled away from her. He jerked the door open and yelled, “Now, Hancock!”
-35-
Shelley Bradley
The first mate’s uneven footsteps alerted Christina to his presence moments before he appeared in the doorway. The man took her arm in his blunt, brown fingers.
Christina dragged her feet, looking back at the captain, whose dark, unfathomable gaze clung to her.
“We’ll talk about the rules governing the rest of this voyage when you come up again.”
“Do not do this!” she shouted from the door. “If you have any mercy—”
“Mercy is a luxury I cannot afford.”
He turned away and reached for a clean shirt, his movements slow, almost somber. Then he addressed Hancock. “Take her down. Bring her back to me at sundown on Thursday.”
* * *
Journal,
The old earl has lost his mind. Viscount Monroe showed him a signet ring and explained to Ashmont he has not one son but two. It does not bear thinking, the ruination of all my carefully laid plans! To validate the tale, I had my footman follow the viscount. He next met with none other than the Black Dragon, and in a seedy tavern! My man overheard much of their conversation. Wouldn’t Ashmont be a proud papa if he knew his long-lost son was a notorious criminal? Maybe then he would be less eager to name the boy his heir.
I took action, just in case the Black Dragon is actually Ashmont’s son, as Monroe claims. I tried to eliminate him and do my country a great service at once.
Damn the Admiralty for botching the privateer’s capture. That scourge of the seas has fled to God knows where. But if he stands in my way, I will find and destroy him.
* * *
-36-
The Lady and the Dragon
The wind blew like a cool sheet across his bearded cheeks as Drex stood on deck, hands clasped behind his back, and stared at the late-afternoon sun.
Thursday afternoon, to be exact. He tapped his foot impatiently on the wooden deck beneath him.
Damn it, he should be angry. The girl had barged onto his ship and refused to take no for an answer. Then when he’d ordered her removed, did she leave?
No, she paid a member of his own crew to disregard his authority and abandon ship. Two days in the hold she hated seemed a fitting punishment.