She didn’t. And while he might have thought she was getting the water to dump on his head for the sexual frustration he’d just forced on her, she wasn’t. She did find some, though, and splashed it on her own face. Then she found a spot on the deck that wasn’t too windy and curled up with her blanket to get some sleep. Not very comfortable, but inside the captain’s cabin was the kind of discomfort she didn’t know how to deal with, so anything was preferable to that.
•••
Ohr nudged Gabrielle’s foot, which was sticking out from under the blanket she’d brought up to the deck with her. She woke slowly to find him standing beside her, offering a hand to help her up. She hadn’t gotten nearly enough sleep during the night to have her mind clear of webs immediately.
“Rough night?” he asked.
It was a logical question, she supposed, after he’d found her asleep on the deck. But it didn’t begin to describe what the captain of this ship had put her through last night with his talk of lovemaking.
But she said merely, “The captain got too—oh, good grief, I meant to say cabin. The cabin got too hot, so I sought a nice breeze for a while. I must have fallen asleep before I cooled off.”
“Are you sure you don’t want to swap cabins with us?” he asked.
“I’d like to, yes!”
Gabrielle blushed immediately. She had said it too quickly, and after that blunder she’d just made, too. How embarrassing!
But Ohr appeared not to notice how desperate she’d just sounded. He was like that, though. Even if he guessed exactly what was on her mind, he wouldn’t say so, nor would she know it from his expression. He was quite possibly as good as James Malory had been at schooling his features.
But she really didn’t care at the moment. She was just determined never to go through such an intensely arousing experience again. Good grief, how utterly ridiculous she’d been to think she could handle sleeping in the same room with that outrageous American. He was too handsome. Even in the dark when she couldn’t see him at all, he was sinfully enticing, his voice too sensually provocative. She had no idea it was even possible to be stirred like that by mere words.
The current arrangement just wouldn’t work. She had to be in control to enact her revenge. Even chained,he’dbeen in complete control last night. He’d madeherreact, he’d stirred uphersenses. She was supposed to be doing that tohim!But how could she if she couldn’t even think straight because of what he made her feel?
And she didn’t doubt it was all deliberate. He’d been trying to seduce her for one reason and one reason only, to get his ship back.
She thrust it from her mind and asked Ohr, “Did you get some sleep yourself after that trouble we had with Sawyer last night?”
“A few hours, which is all I need. I’m going to take over the wheel now—or would you like to?”
Ohr wasn’t teasing her. Steering the ship was one of the things her father had enjoyed teaching her when she’d sailed with him. She didn’t have the strength in her arms to do it for very long, and certainly not in rough weather, but it was a beautiful, clear morning, and the wind was steady, so she nodded and followed him up to the quarterdeck.
He left her there. She almost called him back. Alone, she knew what she’d end up thinking about—him—so she was relieved when Richard came to join her a few minutes later.
“I’m usually fine being celibate,” Richard said.
He was sitting in front of the wheel, leaning back against it so he wasn’t facing her. He’d been chatting about this and that, nothing relevant. Then that remark came out of the blue and Gabrielle had no idea how to reply to it, since she couldn’t imagine what it was in relation to. So she said nothing, hoping she’d simply misheard him. No such luck.
“It’s your fault, you know,” he continued. “If you hadn’t tried to kiss me yesterday, I never would have started thinking about her again.”
Oh, good grief, this was about Georgina Malory. She’d really thought that was over and done with. When she’d gone to warn him about what James had said, the implication being that Richard would be a dead man if he ever approached Malory’s wife again, Richard had assured her that no woman was worth dying for.
She reminded him of that. “You agreed to stay away from her.”
“At the time, yes, but I didn’t say forever.”
She rolled her eyes. He didn’t notice. He was still facing out to sea.
She tried the most reasonable approach. “You know, she’s a remarkable woman.”
“I thought so,” he agreed.
“Remarkable in that she loves her husband. A lot of women don’t, you know. A lot of women marry for a variety of reasons, many of which don’t include love.”
“What about you?” he asked. “Are you only going to marry for love?
“Yes.”
He’d already swung around and moved over, was sitting cross-legged now off to the side of the wheel so he could look up at her. “The American ruined your chances of finding true love in London. I ought to go down there and make mincemeat of him while he’s chained up. Someone needs to make him sorry he did that!”
