“Do you feel unsafe with me?” he asked.
“No.” This was the truth.
“When we met, you told me that you would never allow any man close to you. You told me you’d never put yourself in a position of danger from any man.”
“What I told you was, I would neveradhereto a man. I would never be bound to the dominion of a man. These men I investigate have no hold over me. They barely notice me. And you? You’ve never tried to dominate me. You don’t force me to adhere to you.”
“I dominated you when we kissed.”
She laughed. “No, you didn’t. You just... lay there.”
Stoker ran a hand through his hair and squinted into the distance. “This just keeps getting worse and worse.”
“Stop,” she said. “There is nothingworseabout this conversation. It’s a good conversation. I’m rather enjoying it. I can’t believe I’ve kept away for five days.”
“You kept away because I embarrassed you.”
“I insist that you stop telling me how I feel. Honestly. I was never embarrassed.”
“You were ashamed.”
“No.”
“You were confused.”
“Possibly. But not because of anything you’d done. Stoker, you do not intimidate or subjugate me. If anything,Itook advantage of a sick man. But will youalwaysbe so very sick and so very stranded here? Will you alwaysjust lie therein my bed? No, you will not.” She paused, gathering her nerve. “Would you like to know what I’ve been considering these past five days? I’ve been asking myself if it feels prudent to explore a physical relationship with you when I know you will eventually sail away and leave me.”
“Sabine, we will not have a physical relationship.”
She looked up at him. “Truly? You’ve decided this? After what we... shared? Simply to—leave it?”
“God save us fromwhat I want, Sabine, we’re dealing in—”
“Because I’m not so sure we should leave it.And,” she said, “I believe we should decide together.”
“You don’t know what you ask,” he rasped.
“I know you must stop trying to protect me,” she cut in. “You sought to protect me from the Duke of Wrest, just when that got interesting. You seek to protect me from the smugglers. And now it feels as if you endeavor to protect me from... yourself? Have I got that right?”
He stared at her, not answering.
She went on, “You said you gave up rescuing women when you married me.Stop, Stoker. I don’t need rescuing. I’m not a victim.”
“You are not a victimyet,” he said, speaking to the ground. “But only because these smugglers, or saboteurs, or whoever the hell they may be have not caught on that they’re being followed by a woman bent on their demise.” He looked up, leveling her with his intense green glare. “Andonlybecause I’ve not unleashed the... the... maelstrom of my desire for you and ravished you, mind and body.”
Sabine sucked in a little breath. His words felt like a lightning strike to the newly awakened part of her, so attuned in his presence. After a moment she said, “I’m sorry to tell you this, Jon, because you don’t seem to like it, but I find statements like that very exciting. And they only make me want it more.”
He blinked. “Make you want the smuggl—”
“Make me wantyou,” she corrected, cutting him off. The bashfulness and indecision of the previous week were suddenly nowhere to be found, gone from her head and her heart. Even his confining protectiveness was forgotten. She glanced at his mouth. The wordsunleashandmaelstromanddesireheating her skin and places deep inside her.
“Sabine,”he warned lowly, fixing his own gaze on her mouth.
“Yes?”she whispered. Her breathing hitched and accelerated. Their gazes locked; the air was charged between them. Sabine felt something monumental was about to snap or implode or burst into flames. She bit down on her bottom lip.
“Do not,” he said, not looking away from her mouth.
She laughed, a mix of nerves and excitement. There was no help for it. His resistance in this moment felt comical. “It can’t be helped,” she said, laughing again. “I quite like the idea of being ravished, mind and body.” She crossed her arms over her chest. She scooted closer to him. He flinched, toppling his hat and his cane to the ground.
