The Pirate:. Katherine Garbera

a while.”

      “Do you trust him?” she asked.

      “With my life,” Hamm said. “Why do you ask?”

      She shrugged. Now what was she going to say, that she’d seen the captain on deck last night doing something suspicious? That would make her sound…silly.

      “We’re all depending on him to get us safely through these waters. The attacks on ships in this area have been up and naturally I’m concerned.”

      Hamm nodded. “Laz will deliver you to your destinations. He’s reliable and dependable.”

      “Ah, Hamm, you’re making me sound like a Boy Scout,” Laz drawled from the doorway.

      “You are,” Hamm said.

      Daphne hated the way her pulse speeded up just because Laz had entered the room.

      “How’s Renault?”

      “Good. The cuts were superficial. I bandaged them and he’s fine now.”

      “Back at work?” Laz asked Hamm.

      “Yeah. How’s Fridjtof?”

      “Cooling off some. He’s edgy. I was hoping you could keep an eye on him,” Laz said.

      Daphne cleaned up the papers from the bandages and tried to look busy. There was no need for her to stay, except she didn’t want to have to try to squeeze by Laz to get out of the room.

      “No problem. Do you need anything else?”

      “Yes, but we can discuss it later.”

      Hamm nodded.

      “Thanks for your help, Daphne. If you hadn’t been here—”

      “You would have handled it fine. This wasn’t a real medical emergency,” she said.

      “No, it wasn’t, but it’s always nice to have an expert around,” Hamm said, as he walked out the door.

      Daphne started to follow him but Laz stopped her with his hand on her arm.

      “There is something I’m dying to know,” he said.

      “What?”

      “How your lips feel under mine,” he said, lowering his head and brushing his lips over hers.

      She surrendered completely to the embrace. The doubts she had about Laz were slowly melting away. Though she knew her instincts had been wrong before when it came to trusting a man, this time she thought that maybe she’d found a man she could rely on.

      She realized as he tunneled his hands through her hair and tipped her head backward to give him greater access to her mouth that whether this was wise or foolish she didn’t want to miss out on a moment of this experience with Laz.

      He was exactly what she needed.

      And for once she knew what she wanted. It had been a long time since she’d felt this decisive. She wanted to experience everything she could with this strong, sexy, mysterious man. She wasn’t about to let him slip through her fingers.

      She wrapped her own arms around his lean waist and leaned up into the kiss. His tongue felt smooth and tasted wonderful against hers. She forgot to breathe, forgot everything except the feel of his hands on her body.

      She’d never felt an enflaming attraction like this before. It wiped out all her other thoughts. All she wanted—no, needed—was to get closer to Laz.

      She slid her hands down his back and cupped his firm butt, pulling him closer to her. She rocked her center over the side of his hard-on. A moan escaped her.

      “Damn, Daph, you are one sexy woman,” he said, his voice gruff with passion.

      Ten minutes ago she would have argued that she wasn’t sexy. That she was just a nice girl. A girl-next-door-kind-of-girl. But in his arms she felt like the most beautiful woman in the world.

      She was the sexiest of creatures, and she knew she could tempt him. And that was a very powerful feeling.

      “Yes, I am,” she said, with a half-smile.

      Laz pulled her back into the first-aid room and closed the door. He lifted her up on the exam desk and then stepped forward between her legs.

      Daphne reached for him, drawing him even closer, wrapping her arms around his lean waist, and resting her head on his chest.

      She took comfort from this man. From the way he moved and the way he wanted her. He made her feel like she wasn’t just a divorced woman with stretch marks, but as sexy to him as a Victoria’s Secret cover model. It was a heady feeling and she was almost drunk from the sensation.

      She wanted Laz. The sea captain that she wasn’t sure she trusted. But that was her mind talking. Her body knew that he could be trusted to bring her pleasure. To make her feel like she was a woman again.

      He could bring back the feelings she’d lost two years ago when the words “another woman” had left her husband’s mouth—the words that had stripped away the very heart of who she was and how she thought of herself as a woman.

      She lifted her head and saw him looking down at her. There was desire, lust, and passion in his gaze, and she shook from the power those feelings evoked in her.

      She reached down and drew him even closer to her, afraid that he’d change his mind; she didn’t want to take a chance on that.

      Chapter Four

      A warrior takes responsibility for his acts. An

       average man acts out his thoughts, and

       never takes responsibility.

      —CARLOS CASTANEDA

      Laz didn’t question his instincts. This time they were telling him that everything he wanted and needed was here in his arms. Daphne felt so damned right. Later he might find that she regretted this moment, but right now, he knew she didn’t.

      Her taste was addicting; he couldn’t get enough of her mouth. Her lips were wide and full and when he kissed her, he felt consumed by her. His blood flowed heavier in his veins and his cock hardened against the front of his pants.

      She rested her head against his chest right over his heart and he ran his hands up and down her back, wondering briefly if he should slow this down. Was it too soon for Daphne to be intimate with him? But then she tipped her head up and twined her arms around his neck, drawing his mouth back to hers.

      She arched her back and he felt the brush of her breasts against his chest. The skimpy running top she wore was little barrier between them. He loved the feel of her body against his.

      He traced his forefinger over the neckline, feeling the residue of sweat on her skin. She was so earthy and sensual. He had sensed there was more to Daphne than the woman she presented to the world.

      And having her in his arms showed him that he had been right. Every touch of her mouth against his, his hands against her body, and her breasts against his chest just inflamed him more.

      He pulled her top up and felt the bare skin of her back. She was so delicately built. He stroked his finger down the line of her spine. She arched against him again as he again drew his fingernail down her spine. She shivered and pulled her mouth from his. “That feels…”

      “Good?” he asked, speaking into her ear.

      “Ooh, yes!” she said.

      She reached for the hem of his T-shirt and drew it up over his body. He pulled back from her so she didn’t discover the gun he had tucked into his jeans at the small of his back. He pulled her hands around to his front so that she could touch his chest.

      Then he pulled her shirt over her head and tossed it on the floor next to them. She wore a plain white bra underneath her T-shirt. There was a ring of sweat around her nipples,