He chuckled and stroked his fingers across her bare shoulder.
“No, I meant I need your help with Rose and Bennet, and the dead men and Berne, and the yard overseer whatever his name is.”
“Walsh,” she supplied.
“Yes, him, too. Wait, how do you know his name?”
“Shoot,” she said again.
Reed swept his hand down to rest on her pert bottom. He circled it with his warm palm.
“Nice,” she murmured.
“I’d hate to have to spank you,” he said into her ear. “For withholding the truth.”
He felt her freeze in his arms.
“Spank me?” she repeated, and the breathy tone of her voice demonstrated her interest. In another moment, she pressed against him more firmly.
He groaned, then grumbled, “You’re not supposed to sound so pleased about it.”
“Oh, well. If done correctly with a strong but kind man and a willing woman, I’ve read—”
“Charlotte,” Reed interrupted. “Please tell me what you know about Walsh and why you know it.”
She sighed. “Does this mean you’re not going to spank me?”
He rolled her onto her stomach, pulled his hand back, and swatted her lightly on her rear.
“Hm,” she said, thoughtfully into the pillow.
“What do you think?” he asked, though he felt himself grow hard again and wondered at the unfamiliar source of his arousal.
“Itisan interesting sensation,” she admitted. “Do it again.”
Hesitantly, he did, putting more distance between them and lifting the bedclothes so he could see what he was doing. He smacked her lightly, then more firmly. Her bottom blushed a reddish hue.
“Enough,” Charlotte said, as he nearly swatted her again but stopped just in time.
“Well?” Reed asked.
“It causes a general warming and tingling that seems to travel from my posterior forward to my—”
“I meant, tell me about the yard overseer.”
“Oh,” she said, and then giggled uncharacteristically. After a second, she regained her composure.
“Now that the cat is out of the bag, I can tell you that when Rose came to me to investigate the sinking of the Garrard, I not only went to the insurance office, as you heard from Mr. Bennet, I also took a trip to East Boston.”
“Dammit all! That was dangerous and rash and dangerous,” he added again. “Yes, I know I said dangerous twice. You should have come to me. She’smysister, and this ismyproblem.”
Charlotte stiffened. “She islikea sister to me. I consider her to bemyfamily, too. What’s more, I didn’t know there would be any danger in looking into the circumstances of a ship that capsized four years past. How could I know?”
“True,” he conceded. “So you discovered that Berne received insurance money and then went to Kelly’s yard?”
“Yes.”
“And you met with the overseer, Mr. Walsh?”
