Devon had settled back against the wagon, long legs crossed, arms casually folded at his chest, and his shining golden hair caressed by a black breeze. He was watching Sally in an intent way without seeming to be listening to what she said.
He took his time before speaking, and when he did, his tone was dangerously mild. “I wonder if it would be worth my time to discover what two young women of obvious breeding are doing in a low-life tavern.”
“The puppets,” said Sally, too quickly.
“Ah. Itinerant puppeteers. The common folk.” His beautiful mouth curved into a smile that quit before reaching his eyes. “And yet little Venus here has hands softer than an infant. She’s never been within a furlong of a scrub bucket. As for yourself, Miss Sally, no matter what silly disguises you adopt, your speech and manners belong to a lady.”
His tone robbed the words of any shade of a compliment, and there was a calm conviction in the indifferent voice that showed that it would be futile to argue. A threat rolled in the sea air, as thick and sizzling as hot oil over coal.
In a cool voice that made Merry pink with admiration, Sally said, “It’s unwise to put too much stock in these superficial judgments, sir.Yourspeech, for example, marks you as a gentleman, while your manners suit…”
“The gutter?” he supplied, his smile widening a fraction. “And they get much worse than this. It’s a good thing for you to think about.”
It was too much, even for Sally. “The devil take you, sir. We don’t know anything that would interest you!”
“How do you know what would interest me?” he asked her smoothly, inclining his head. “I’m willing to believe youhaven’t been foolish enough to tell Venus much. But you, Sally—it’s what’s inyourmind that intrigues me.”
Sally lifted her chin in brave defiance and snapped, “It’ll take longer than you’ve got to beat it out of me.”
“Without a doubt. I wouldn’t waste my time beating you, dear, because you have already shown me a quicker course.” Almost gently he said, “How much would you let me do to Venus before you started answering my questions?”
The shaft hit home with lethal accuracy. Over her head Merry heard Sally’s horrified cry, and Merry felt her legs grow cold and seem to recede from her body.
More than a minute passed before he said, “You’re a clever girl, Sally, but you’re an amateur.” He uncoiled from the wagon and slowly crossed to them. “Give me your hand.”
As Merry watched, Sally obeyed him warily. From his own right hand Devon slid a heavy diamond signet and dropped the ring into Sally’s palm, curling her fingers around it with his own.
“Give this to the man you’ll find at the stables, watching the horses. Tell him to hitch your team.”
In stunned thanksgiving Merry’s eyelids drooped closed, and she heard Sally’s awed whisper.
“You’re letting us go?”
Devon’s hand fell on the back of Merry’s head, slid caressingly under her curls, and stroked slowly over the line of skin behind her ear.
“One has a certain reluctance to maim anything so lovely,” he said. “I’ve a feeling, my brave Sally, that you wouldn’t recover any better than she would. I wouldn’t be so nice a second time. You know that, don’t you? And if it had been another man…”
“Yes,” said Sally quietly. “I know.”
“If you value her so much, you won’t risk her again next time.” His fingers traced the satiny skin on Merry’s neck.
“Go to the stables,” he said, turning. “I’ll send out your men.”
Like Lot’s wife Merry watched in rigid silence as he moved toward the tavern, the faint light touching the smooth, sensual roll of his hips, the graceful shoulders, the moon-kissed hair. He entered the tavern and pulled the door closed behind him, leaving them safe among the sand and the surf and the stars.
Sally’s legs slowly buckled, and she sank to sit on the wet grit, ducking her head down to her knees, and with bent wrists laid her palms on the back of her head. She laughed for a long time, half-hysterically, and when finally she stopped laughing, she said, “Dear God, what a man.” She looked at Merry, her cheeks wet with the tears of her laughter, and said, in a calmer voice, “We’re lucky to be alive, the way we botched that one. He kissed you, didn’t he? I guessed it. You look that upset, no more.”
In a voice that shook, Merry said, “If you had heard me, Sally… I was a whimpering ninny. I should have fought him.”
Sally chuckled tensely. “Fought? Him? What would you want to do a thing like that for? Merry, when a man like that kisses you… Never mind, don’t blame yourself.”
Merry lowered herself to the sand and put an arm around her cousin’s back. “Why do you think he let us go? Doesn’t he suspect who we are?”
“I have no idea what he suspects, honey. But I think that he was afraid he would have to kill us if he found out. Who in the world could that man be?”
“I heard one of the pirates call him… Devon.”
“Devon? Devon… Are you sure that’s what it was? Devon! Heavenly days! You don’t suppose—”
