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father’s ship. It was his gold. You must want that.”
    â€œI hope you are wrong. I hope Stuart Powell hanged. He deserved that after buying my mother’s indenture and making her his unwilling mistress.”
    â€œListen—”
    â€œNo!” She swung wildly at him. He swore when her fist struck him in the stomach, but he did not let her go.
    â€œâ€™Tis time you listened to the truth!” he snapped.
    â€œI know the truth!”
    â€œNo, you do not. You have been fed lies.”
    â€œIs it a lie my father was a pirate who destroyed the lives of everyone he touched?” Her voice broke. “Including mine?”
    His hands drifted along her arms, gentle now. “Rory, your father was a privateer.”
    â€œYou want me to believe he was licensed by the king?”
    He drew her to sit on the bed, kneeling before her. “Men vied to sail with Stuart Powell. His crew remained loyal even when he decided to destroy his ship rather than surrender it.”
    Rory stood. “Ask anyone in Port Royal. They will tell you the Raven was a pirate ship.”
    â€œWe shall ask the Blindman.” He came to his feet.
    â€œNo! I don’t want anything to do with you or your stupid quest.”
    â€œYou do not want this?” His voice was soft in the moment before his lips touched the back of her neck. Heated tingles scored her spine.
    Slowly he turned her to face him. His gaze captured her in its ebony glow as he brought her mouth to his. She fought the rapture. She must not let the succulent sensations control her. His eager kisses meant nothing. Even as she told herself that, her hands slid along his strong arms to his shoulders. As he leaned her back over his arm, his lips seared moist fire into her neck. Passion consumed her as if she were a candle swallowed by the sun.
    â€œStay with me, my sweet,” he murmured. “I shall teach you what you have missed while you have played at manhood.”
    â€œNo, Nathan,” she whispered.
    His tongue drifted in a lazy blaze along her neck, and she trembled. He pressed her against the door. “You want to stay with me.”
    Putting her hands on his wrists to keep his palms from cupping her breasts, she whispered, “Why won’t you let me go?”
    He claimed her lips again. From deep in her, longing erupted. She clutched his arms as she fought not to lose herself again in the fierce eddy drawing her deeper into their pooled desire.
    â€œBecause I need you, Rory,” he murmured against her mouth. “You are the blackbird of the dawn.”
    This time, Rory’s knee struck flesh. When he shouted and lurched back, she lifted the latch and fled. She ran past a cannon to the railing and choked back a gasp of despair. The Vengeance was more than a quarter-mile from shore. The harbor was filled with sharks. She scanned the deck. It dropped sharply to a lower deck, then rose like the sea at the bow. In the other direction, another deck topped Nathan’s quarters. On each of them, men stood, staring at her. Would one of them help her?
    A hand touched her arm. She grabbed a staff by the cannon and whirled. The wrinkled man, the one who had come with Nathan to Yellow Hal’s place, raised his hands.
    â€œPut it down, lass,” he ordered quietly.
    â€œI want a lighter to take me back to shore.”
    â€œIf the cap’n—”
    â€œI don’t care what he says. Let me off this cursed ship!”
    The staff was tugged out of her hands. She gasped as Nathan dropped the pole on the deck.
    His gaze held her. “Ernest, have the lighter lowered.”
    Rory was not sure what to do or say. When Nathan motioned for her to follow Ernest, she hesitated, then ran after the old man. She must not lose this chance to flee from the Vengeance and its enigmatic captain.
    Nimbly, she climbed down the ladder. She perched in the boat as Nathan followed her down. He tossed her hat into her lap. Tucking her