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than she wanted to hear. Tears gathered behind her midnight blue eyes, but she refused to allow him the satisfaction of seeing her dismay. It had only been a dream! He wouldn’t have… would he?
    Thunder crashed suddenly, making the whole room clatter and quake. Nicolette felt the shock deep inside her and cried out. Laffite took her into his arms to comfort her.
    “No!” Nicolette pleaded, terrified by his nearness. “Don’t touch me!”
    Jean Laffite rose from beside the bed, looking down on her, his smile vanquished by her words.
    When he spoke, each word jolted Nicolette’s nerves and conscience. “But I already have, Nikki.”
    She couldn’t think of anything to say. When the full impact of his words struck her, a sob wrenched from her throat and she turned her face into the pillows to muffle it.
    “It isn’t the end of the world, you know. Drink this,” he ordered, holding out a steaming cup of tea laced with hundred proof rum, which had been warming over a candle by the bed. “It should calm you. You’ll be able to sleep. Don’t worry. I won’t disturb you the rest of the night. I’ll take the guest bedroom until you get used to the idea of having me with you.”
    Still clutching the sheet tightly to cover her trembling breasts, Nicolette turned and allowed Laffite to support her with his free arm while he held the paper-thin china cup to her lips.
    Better to drink quickly, she thought, and then he will leave. Her mind refused to remember anything clearly after the initial invasion of her cabin onboard the Fleur de Lis. Just as well, she told herself. If Jean Laffite made love to me, I’m better off not remembering.
    “Good girl,” he said when she’d swallowed the last of the scalding tisane. “Iil send Sukey in… now that you and I have finished with
    He started to rise from the bed, leaving his sentence as unfinished as Nicolette’s thoughts. She was just allowing herself a sigh of relief when Laffite turned back to her. Without warning, he pulled her into his arms. The sheet slipped until her bare breasts felt the contact of his hard, bare chest. He covered her lips with his and clung to her—searching, probing until Nicolette felt she would drown in her own desire.
    She might have lost her will completely—thrown off the partitioning sheet to feel the full length of his body pressed to hers—had he not broken their embrace, cleanly and abruptly. He strode to the door without looking back.
    Nicolette collapsed, trembling and gasping, among the down pillows. What had she done? What had she allowed him to do? If only the fuzz would clear from her brain! Her shame and embarrassment at the thought of Jean Laffite being the man in her confused dream—the man she longed for so desperately—drove all the horror of the time with the Sea Ravens captain to the black recesses of her subconscious.
    Nicolette tried to hold her heavy lids open until Sukey arrived. It was useless. Whatever potion Laffite had forced upon her, its effects were quick and sure. Gathering shadows dulled her senses.
    The rain drummed a soothing tattoo on the window-panes and roof. With the darkness that crept into the room came an easing of her mind. At last she felt totally relaxed. Her breathing became even and heavy.
    Only faint sounds penetrated the curtain of drowsiness descending over her—the shuffling of feet, the ticking of a clock, pots and pans rattling, voices outside in the hallway. Men’s voices. Or was she dreaming again?
    “You gone crazy, Boss?”
    “I know exactly what I’m doing, Dominique.”
    “But I heard what you told her just now. She’s gonna think you did this to her!”
    “Dom, don’t you understand? The girl can’t go home to her fiancé now. Not after what they put her through. Her pristine Creole husband would make her life hell after he found out on their wedding night. I don’t think she even realizes what’s happened to her. I told her aunt I’d take full responsibility and I