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not a
gentleman, Jack. You’re a pirate,” she whispered back against his
neck, while her hands found the glory that was his backside and now
she caressed it lovingly.
    Jack chuckled at her easy grasp of the
truth. “Ah, but alas, my sweet, I am not such a pirate that I’m a
despoiler of drunken virgins who are engaged to missionary
ministers.” He reached behind him with both hands and clasped her
hands in his. He brought them back around to the front and held
them to his lips and laid a kiss in each palm. She appeared
dismayed that he had put a halt to their passion, so he kissed her
lips briefly again.
    “ Rose, it is nearly
killing me not to take your beautiful body right now.” He looked
down appreciatively. He could see all her curves through the thin
cotton of her shift. “But now you need sleep.”
    She was clearly much too tired to put
up any serious protest, so when he led her back to the bed and
pulled down the silk covers, she climbed in and sank drowsily into
the feather bed, her head on the downy pillows, and she was asleep
almost instantly. He covered her and blew out the lantern near the
bed. As he stepped away, her hand slipped out and grabbed
his.
    “ Come sleep with me,” she
murmured, dreamily.
    Handsome Jack looked back at the
sensual, inviting woman in his bed and his groin ached. How much
could his tenuous resolve be expected to withstand?
    “ Please,” she said. He was
lost.
    He kicked off his boots and pulled his
shirt off over his head. His pants fell into a heap on the floor,
and he crawled into the bed beside her. She snuggled against him
and she fell asleep with his arms around her.
    Eventually, Jack fell asleep too, but
it was a long time before he could relax enough for that peace to
find him.
     
     

 
     
     
     
    Chapter Eight
     
    Roselyn opened her eyes to the morning
sun streaming through the porthole window. The pirate’s bed was
warm and comfortable and she languidly stretched her arms over her
head and immediately froze.
    There was someone else in the
bed.
    She carefully turned her head and
found Jack sleeping next to her. She gently turned her body until
she was face to face with him. She didn’t remember everything from
the night before, but she was fairly confident that they had not
made love. However, if her father looked down on her now from
heaven, then she was sure he would kill her himself. It was
entirely possible that everything he’d ever said about her was
true. But, her father was gone and he wasn’t in control of her life
anymore. Unfortunately, soon enough it would be Rupert.
    She had taken charge of her life
enough to decide to buy passage to New Providence and seek out her
fiancé, but was she brave enough to scrap that plan altogether? It
saddened her to know that she could never have the life she wanted
with a man like Jack. Pirates did not settle down with minister’s
daughters and get married. She already knew that he had a certain
animosity towards the aristocracy and his family. There was no hope
for the two of them off the ship. This was to be a voyage of
discovery, and afterward she would tuck it away with only the
tender memories to sustain her once she became a minster’s
wife.
    Emboldened by that decision, Roselyn
gave herself permission to be a little wanton.
    All she knew for sure was that he was
easily the most attractive man she had ever seen. She still had her
shift on, but he had no shirt–that she could see. Everything else
was a mystery.
    She dared herself to lift
the sheet and peek underneath. She glanced at his face, but he
still slept, his beautiful countenance peaceful and dreamy. Slowly,
carefully, she lifted the sheet by inches, alternating between
looking at his face to make sure he still slept and the growing
expanse of his skin. A well muscled chest gave way to a flat
stomach as the sheet crept its way down. Just like his mustache,
the hair on his chest looked equally soft, but she feared if she
stroked his skin and hair,