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she was glad to make it. “But I would never ask you to risk your heart. I want you to know that if you ever do need to override me, you can without fear that I’ll resent you for it. Because
I
have no fear that you would ever do it without great reason.”
    He crossed the cabin, caught her face between his hands. His emerald gaze searched her features, as if seeking any doubts. “You don’t fear at all?”
    “No.” Not that he would take her ship. She only feared losing him.
    His focus dropped to her lips. “Kiss me, then,” he said.
    Gladly. He met her halfway—and oh, his mouth. So sweet. His arms slid around her waist. She clung to his shoulders, sought a deeper taste, and with the parting of his lips she began shaking from the intensity of the emotions tearing through her. How could he do this to her so easily? Often, their kisses were playful, fun. Not this one. It brought her heart up out of her chest, filled the space between them.
    Yasmeen never knew what to do when he left her so vulnerable, so open. She kissed him—by the lady, how could she not when it felt as if she would die without it?—and she loved him. God, how she loved him. But she knew the only thingthat saved her when she exposed her heart was Archimedes himself, and that she trusted him never to crush it.
    He knew, too. When he lifted his head—not far, just enough to look into her eyes—his breathing was as rough as hers, and already he was helping her find a more comfortable tack. “You made me lose my head, Mrs. Fox. I meant to steal my daggers back.”
    Smiling, she pressed another kiss to his mouth and dropped her hands to her thighs. “Look again, Mr. Fox. I didn’t take them.”
    He was quick, but she was quicker. By the time his hands fell to his hips, she’d already slipped the blades into his sheaths and returned her arms around his neck. His grin matched hers.
    “You gave them back?”
    “I saved you the humiliation of fumbling when you attempted to steal them.”
    “Truly?” His eyes narrowed. “No. You’ve revealed yourself, Captain. Now I know you love me.”
    “It must be love,” she agreed. “You humiliate yourself so regularly, yet I try to spare you whenever I can.”
    Laughing, he caught her waist again, dragged her against him. “And this time, I’m grateful for it. Because God knows, I would only have to touch your thighs and completely forget why I was attempting to grab a pair of knives, instead.”
    He only had to touch her, too—though right now, they couldn’t follow through. With a sigh, Yasmeen laid her head against his shoulder.
    Archimedes groaned. “Our daily visit with Mrs. Fortescue?”
    “Yes.” Though rather than simply adjusting and verifying their direction, they would be meeting with the navigator to establish their new course when they left Port Fallow. Such consultations always took more time. “A longer visit.”
    “I prefer this,” Archimedes said.
    She preferred this, too. His taut muscles, his warmth, the slide of his fingers up her back…Yasmeen couldn’t stifle her soft sound of pleasure.
    “You should stop,” she said.
    He didn’t, and there wasn’t just simple pleasure now, but heat. His hands cupped her bottom, lifted her against him. Hismouth sought the curve of her jaw, the sensitive skin at her neck.
    With a moan, she let her head fall back, giving him better access. “I’ll kill you for this.”
    A shudder ripped through him. “Good God, that was cruel. You know how that arouses me.”
    She did. Lowering her face to his, she scraped the sharp tip of her forefinger beneath his jaw, watched the ecstasy tightening his features. Archimedes Fox relished a bit of danger—in any form.
    He closed his eyes. “Don’t sneer at me,” he said. “If you do, I’ll probably come.”
    The laugh burst from her, soothing the burn between them. Yasmeen kissed him, hard, and his reluctance echoed hers when he slowly let her down. She looked away from his flushed features,