Read Defiant: 5 (Noble Passions) for Free Online

him
and batted her lashes. Batted. Her. Lashes.
    His horror was replaced by raging fury. And fear. A hard,
cold fear he hadn’t felt since Edward took them in off the streets. Did she not
know how dangerous it was for a girl, a girl as beautiful as she, on a ship
filled with bawdy men? Did she not realize the peril she was in?
    And not just from the randy tars on this ship.
    She was in danger from him. His palm itched to give her a
walloping she would never forget. He longed to bend her over his knee.
    MacDougal glanced from one to the other. “Do you know him?”
he asked.
    “Indeed I do.” Ned shot a frown at Percy. “Could you give us
a moment of privacy, please?” MacDougal had to be told about this dangerous
cargo he carried, had to be convinced to turn this ship around at once, but Ned
did not care to share the truth of Sophia’s identity with all and sundry.
    Percy, the ass that he was, grinned and leaned back in his
chair, crossing his arms. “No,” he said. “I think not.”
    Ned was possessed of the urge to kick the legs out from
under him. For one thing, how rude. And for another, he did not like the way
Percy’s assessing gaze was raking his…raking Sophia.
    MacDougal tossed back his drink and gestured for another.
Ned frowned. The man had had too much already in Ned’s estimation. He was the
captain of the ship, for pity sake. They were heading into a squall. He should
be stone-cold sober. Aside from which, the thought of Sophia in the presence of
a drunk MacDougal turned his blood to ice.
    “Well, I fail to see the problem,” he said with a casual
grin.
    Ned’s fingers curled as he resisted the urge to pound it off
his face. “You fail to see the problem?”
    “Yes,” the captain said as Sophia refilled his glass. “The
boy came with a letter of introduction from the McCloud himself.”
    Ned narrowed his eyes at Sophia. “Oh really?”
    She nodded.
    It didn’t help.
    “I’ll wager it was forged.”
    Her shoulder lifted in an unrepentant apology.
    “Forged?” MacDougal wiped his face with a broad palm. “Why
do you say that?”
    Ned collapsed in his chair. His knees would no longer hold
him. He did not cease glaring at Sophia, which, unaccountably, seemed to amuse
her. “Because your boy is not a boy.”
    “What?”
    “Your boy is a girl.”
    MacDougal paled. His gaze shot to Sophia. “No.”
    “It gets worse.”
    “Worse?”
    “She is the McCloud’s sister.”
    MacDougal’s throat worked. His lips flapped. And then,
finally, “Fuck me. Oh. Fuck me.”
    Percy chortled. “Famous!”
    Ned glowered at him. And then at her. “What were you
thinking, Sophia?”
    She tipped up her chin. “What do you think I was thinking?”
    “Stop playing games.”
    Her grin evaporated. She leaned on the table and glared at
him. “Oh, this is no game, Ned. He was going to force me to marry Dittenham.”
    “He wouldn’t have.”
    “Bah. You hardly know him. When he gets that look in his
eye… I would have been Lady Dittenham in a fortnight. And smelling of fish.”
    “Dittenham does rather smell of fish,” Percy said somberly.
    Sophia nodded her thanks to Percy and then had the gall to
smile at him. It sent shivers up Ned’s spine. He growled at Percy and then
whipped back to her. He waggled his finger, though it reminded him of Edward.
Reminded him he’d sworn never to waggle like that. “Your brother must be beside
himself.”
    “I left a note.”
    “A note?” His voice warbled in the soprano of an exotic
bird. “What did it say?”
    She tapped her lips, making him antsy. The sight of her
finger, her lips—
    “What did it say?”
    “Don’t bark, Ned. There’s no need to be rude.”
    “What. Did. The. Note. Say?” he ground out between his
teeth.
    “It said something along the lines of… I don’t care to
smell of fish . Although who would, really?”
    “Did you tell him where you were going?”
    “Heavens, no!” She sputtered a laugh. “He would