The Captain of All Pleasures (Sutherland Brothers #1)(3)
Author: Kresley Cole

This race would be the greatest in history—a win could catapult their line to worldwide recognition—and she wanted nothing more than to be a part of it.

When she didn’t respond, he teasingly pulled her cap down, then asked in a conciliatory tone, “So tell me, what were the two subjects you failed?”

Popping her hat back up, she feigned a grave look. “Alas, I fear that floral arrangement and playing the harpsichord are forever out of my grasp. As you can imagine, the knowledge of my deficiencies is crushing,” she added as she checked an imaginary tear.

Lassiter looked to chuckle in response, his stifled smile showing her that he was happy to see her. But he made his features stern again. “Listen to me, Nicole. I want to enjoy our time together before I sail, so let’s get one thing straight about the race.”

Her brows drew together. Dear Lord, he couldn’t be; he was opening his mouth, his face set to tell her she wouldn’t be sailing. “Don’t say anything yet—please,” she said in a rush of words. “Just give me a few days to prove to you that you need me in the race.” And every voyage after.

“Nicole, it’s not going to—”

“Please!” She grabbed his forearm and began to speak, but he held up his rope-scarred hand to forestall her.

She decided then that she couldn’t win this skirmish. But this was hardly over. She had other arrows in her quiver for their next round, so she reeled in her thoughts and forced herself to let the fight lie for now.

And was even silent when he said, “I’ll make this as clear as possible: Nicole, there is no way in hell you are sailing this race. And you have Sutherland to thank for making my decision easy. While I have a breath in my body, you won’t be anywhere within reach when I have to contend with him.”

I’m going to kill those beasts, Nicole thought grimly as she pounded her head against her forearm on the desk. When she sat up, she blew a wisp of hair out of her eyes, and looked down at her desk, presently littered with charts. She glared at all the numbers and equations fogging together.

She couldn’t think, much less concentrate on plotting a course to impress her father. She didn’t expect to when the livestock in the hold had been shrilling for a quarter of an hour.

Of course, this would happen when no one was on board to shush the puling animals. Lassiter had gone to a meeting he’d set up through the woman from the tavern, and nearly all of the crew were out enjoying their liberal shore leave.

The sounds dimmed. Holding her breath, she inwardly commanded their silence for the rest of the night. Just when she picked up her pen again, the animals erupted once more. Disgusted, she threw it down. Why weren’t the two crewmen who’d drawn guard duty tonight seeing to this annoyance?

Probably asleep on the job. She would never fall asleep on the job.

Nicole stretched her arms high above her head before rising from the bolted-down chair in her cabin. Although she wasn’t going very far, she grabbed her woolen cloak and pulled it tight.

She trotted with her clanging lamp toward the companionway, trying not to breathe too deeply of the sluggish low-tide air, but she couldn’t suppress a yawn or two. She thought of the other reason she’d gotten so little accomplished this whole day—her exhaustion in the face of a sleepless night. She’d tossed and turned with sensual dreams, the sheets tangling between her legs, the fine cloth of her nightdress growing too bristly against sensitive skin.

In this dream, the man who set upon her wasn’t a faceless stranger. It was Sutherland.

She reminded herself that he’d largely influenced her father’s misguided decision about her sailing. And that the race would pit her father against this man again, making bad blood worse. So why could she still feel his warm, strong fingers firm on her wrist?

Shaking her head, Nicole drove him from her mind yet again. She did not have time for distractions.

At the companionway, she scanned the deck for the guards. Unable to see anyone to reprimand, she swung effortlessly down the steep, narrow steps as she had a thousand times before. When the light touched the animals, the insouciant goat merely swung its head toward her. But the wide-eyed pigs and sheep were frightened and heartily announced that fact in the echoing confines of the hold.

She puckered her lips and cooed, but they were spooked as they were when a bad storm was brewing. Muttering a curse, Nicole set her lamp on the floor and reached for the shovel to throw them more feed.

Her arm halted in midair.

The light from the lantern faintly illuminated a shape crouched on the floor, a huddled form partially obscured by one of the mighty timber ribs of the ship.

A man?

Nicole pushed her hair out of her eyes and up more securely in her hood as she squinted to make out the sailor’s identity. Whoever he was, he needed to learn that he shouldn’t be down here at odd hours without a good reason. Even more, if he’d upset the animals, then he should have made some effort to calm them.

“Just what do you think you’re doing down here, sailor?” she demanded, each word she spoke underscored by the solid click of her boots as she marched toward him.

But as she neared him, something inside her, some oft ignored instinct, told her to proceed warily.

He didn’t answer, just rose and turned to her. Her breath leached out in a hiss.

The man bore a purplish, bubbled scar that curved over his forehead and down through a vacant eye socket. A foul odor emanated from him. It was the smell of gin, refuse, and blood. She gagged, her eyes watering as she swallowed to keep from retching.

After several shallow breaths, her wits returned. This couldn’t be one of her father’s men. Which meant which meant that she was in trouble. Again.

The play of emotions over her face must have amused the scarred man, because he grinned, revealing teeth that resembled little chunks of charred wood. She couldn’t stop the widening of her eyes, or the hasty step back.

With her next step, she drew a deeper breath, regretting it immediately as his reeking form moved toward her. She managed to say, “Carry on, sailor. M-my apologies.”

For a second, then two, she awaited his reaction. How could she attract the guards’ attention when the animals obviously hadn’t? Could she outrun him? She was in trousers—she might be able to escape to the deck if he came after her. She should try she really should move .

Just as she spun toward the companionway, the man called out, “Don’t think we’ll be wantin’ ’er to go nowhere, Clive.”

Appearing out of the shadows before her came a hulking second man, a man she sensed was even more dangerous than the first.

Two of them, in the hold. With her.

Nicole gaped at this new man’s equally alarming appearance. She found herself morbidly fascinated by his pie-plate face, round and stamped down except for the bulbous protrusion of his lips. She watched him much like a bystander witnessing a terrible carriage accident, mouth parted, too horror-struck to move.