She locked her jaw but didn’t make a move. The men filed out, one after the other, until only Robert remained, explaining that he had set a kettle within the stove and that towels and soap were set upon her trunk. Then he, too, was gone, and she was left alone with the Hawk and her steaming tub.
Still, she remained dead still. Steam wafted above the tub and silence hung heavy upon the air. It dragged on and on. Then the Hawk idly lifted a hand. “Your bath is ready.”
“Well, I am not.”
“The men worked long and hard to prepare this water for you, milady. I suggest that you use it.”
“I see. And I don’t suppose that you might consider leaving so that I might do just that?”
“No, I will not consider leaving.”
“Sea slime!” she hissed.
“A previously established fact, milady.”
“Oh, stop it, will you!”
“Why?” he inquired innocently. “Stop what? I am trying to be a gentleman sea slime and refrain from arguing with a lady.”
“This is absurd. I will not get into that tub with you here.”
He arched a brow, and she saw that he was not at all in a good humor, no matter how light his words. “How cold, Lady Kinsdale, how very cruel! I bear the burning tortures of the flesh by night to offer comfort and nothing more, and for my pains I return to my cabin—where I strive to keep you in comparative comfort and ease—to find you casting yourself into the arms of my second mate! Then, when I find my own leisure from the travail of captaining the ship, it is only for you to suggest I leave! Have pity, milady.”
“You should have sought a career upon the stage, sir,” Skye told him curtly. “It would have been a legal profession, and one at which I am quite sure you would have excelled.”
“Skye, I will not leave my cabin.”
“And I will not crawl into that bath.”
“I can make you, you know.”
“So you can. But it will be against my will.”
“Then is it your will that we clash by flesh again?”
She flushed, grating her teeth. Was she insane? He spoke the truth. It would be easier to move of her own accord. But that would be surrendering to his command, and she could not bring herself to do so.
“I will not crawl into that tub,” she repeated.
“By all the saints!” He swore with such vehemence and fury, leaping to his feet, that she cried out and backed further against the wall. She’d been a fool. He would touch her and with violence. He would rip the gown from her and toss her into the steam and…
She didn’t know what came after the “and.”
“Wait!” she pleaded, but he ignored her. With deadly menace he walked around his desk, his hands upon his hips. He stared at her hard, and his voice rang out with a deep tenor that caused a tremor in her heart and made surrender seem a most viable possibility. “Well, milady, if you will not get into that tub—” He paused, and she was halfway certain that he was about to do her severe bodily harm. But he twisted around instead, starting upon his own buttons. “If you will not get in, Lady Kinsdale, then I shall do so myself.”
“What?” she gasped, stunned.
He tossed his shirt to the floor and pulled off one of his boots. “I’m not about to waste that water.”
“But you can’t just—” She broke off. His other boot fell to the floor. He paused.
“I can’t just what?” he demanded politely.
“Take a bath in front of me!”
He cast his head back and his husky laughter held a dangerous note. “Milady, I beg to differ. I can. And I intend to.”
His hands were at the back tie of his knee breeches. She turned her back to him and stared at the wall. He ignored her. She heard him sink into the hot water with a self-satisfied sigh.
