Read Sapphire Dream for Free Online Page A

begun.
    She backed up and sat hard on the bunk, then jerked her knee to her chest to examine the appendage in question. A wicked scar now ran from her shin around to the fleshy part of her calf. Not a wound— a fully healed scar .
    Chills rippled over his scalp.
    She looked up at him, her eyes wide, her mouth open in shock. “How long was I asleep?”
    He shook his head, feeling a need to clear the shock from his brain even as he quashed the need to run. “A few hours.”
    She paled, a shiver tearing through her. “ How? ”
    Rourke swallowed hard. “ ’ Twas Hegarty’s doing.” At her look of confusion he held his hand out, palm down. “The wee man.” He stepped toward her.
    She scooted back. “Don’t come any closer.”
    “I’ve said I’ll not hurt you.” He heard the harsh edge in his voice and smoothed his words so as not to frighten her more. “I wish only to see your injury.” He took a small step toward her and was pleased when she did not retreat farther.
    Her chin went up, challenge flashing in her green eyes. “What is this? Where am I?”
    He took another step and watched her visibly tense. “The Lady Marie .” He said the name softly, willing her to calm. “My ship.”
    “How did I get here?”
    “I dinna ken.” Again that look of confusion, and he realized she was as confused by his Scots as he was by her strange words. “I do not know. You must ask Hegarty.” He eased onto the edge of the bunk, careful not to lean toward her. He motioned to her, gentling his tone. “I would see your leg.”
    Her chest rose and fell with agitation, her gaze sharp and distrustful, but she slowly straightened her leg toward him.
    With careful, deliberate movements, he took the smooth warmth of the limb into his hands and lifted it onto his lap. His mouth went dry. She was naught but flesh and blood, he reminded himself. He’d seen enough of her blood to know. He ran his thumb over the puckered length of scar, pink and white with health . . . and age.
    “It doesn’t hurt.” Her voice was tight with disbelief. She leaned forward and touched the wound herself, her fingers brushing against his.
    She looked up at him, her eyes at once terrified and bewildered. “How did he fix it?”
    Rourke met her gaze, then looked away. “Hegarty’s a skilled healer.”
    “Skilled or not,” she snapped. “Wounds don’t heal in hours. And this one was a doozy.”
    His admiration for her rose another notch. He could sense her fear, yet she met him with anger. “Aye, the wound was formidable. You bled enough for three men. My crew is still scrubbing the deck of your blood.”
    His thumb traced the scar, his palm brushing the strange smoothness of her skin. The feel of her warm flesh beneath his hand sent a shaft of desire bolting through his blood, causing his fingers to curl into the silken firmness of her calf as need to explore that slender expanse of leg nearly got the better of him. He swore and pushed her leg off his lap, then rose and paced away from her.
    “Who are you?” she demanded. In a bare whisper she added, “ What are you?”
    He turned and met her gaze. “I am Rourke Douglas, captain of the Lady Marie .”
    She lifted a brow. “Pretending to be a pirate.”
    “I am not a pirate.” Though he didn’t doubt his crew would turn to thievery at the first provocation.
    “Are you a reenactor, then? A movie actor? You’re not for real.”
    He watched her, at once confused by her words and enchanted by the way her mouth formed them.
    “I assure you, I am as real as you.”
    “And I’m living in the Twilight Zone .”
    He heard the sharp edge of sarcasm, but could not understand her meaning.
    She stood and walked toward the small window behind his desk, her movements assured and graceful. After a moment, she turned and faced him with an intense wariness that bordered on fear. A fear she would hide.
    “Why did you bring me here?”
    “I didna bring you.”
    “The dwarf.” Her eyes narrowed