“Trust.” The corners of Aidan’s mouth were pinched. “You look at him as though…”

“As though?”

“When you look at him, I don’t recognize you.”

“How can you recognize anything about me? You know me very little now. A handful of letters and one visit over the course of four years amounts to little familiarity.”

He grasped her hands so tightly this time she could not free herself without a struggle.

“Then perhaps you are correct and we haven’t sufficient knowledge of one another any longer. But allow us to regain that familiarity we once shared. Remain here for a time with me. You will want for nothing.”

“You’ve just said yourself that your house is barely habitable.”

He smiled warmly. “We will fix it up together, just as we spoke of years ago.”

“And what of Miss Hat and her parents?”

He bent his head. “They are to leave the island shortly. But even if they were not, it would not matter. Dear Violet, I beg your pardon for that minor infidelity. Please forgive me. It will not occur again, I promise.”

His infidelity had not felt minor to her. In an instant that single kiss had cracked her world open. Or perhaps it had only widened the fissure that already existed. And Jin Seton had filled the void. For a time, in his arms, the loneliness that was her constant companion had abated.

Yet here was the man with whom she had dreamed of spending her life insisting that she could now live that dream.

She shook her head. “I don’t trust you.”

“But can you learn to trust me again?”

“Do you still wish to marry me, Aidan?”

“Of course, dear Violet. You are the best thing in my life. You always have been.” The same words he had spoken before, numerous times. She could not look at his face now, but stared at his thick hands circled around hers. Still so familiar, in truth, and yet this familiarity seemed wrong now.

“Please release me.”

He did so immediately.

“I’ve work to do, a new cargo to negotiate so that I can pay the April’s journey home. We may encounter unfriendly craft along the way and take a prize, but I cannot count on it, of course.”

“But this will be your home now, Violet.”

“I must have time to think.” She had not considered returning to Boston so soon. Not until the words formed on her tongue. “I know it was only a kiss. I assume it was only a kiss-”

“It was.”

“But it has changed much for me.” She was not the same naïve girl she had been. And now she was withholding the entire truth from him too. “Perhaps you could return here tomorrow, or the day after, and I will be able to speak of this with you then. But not yet.”

He nodded. His hand reached for hers again, but then drew back.

“Tomorrow, then.” He leaned forward and pressed a kiss onto her cheek beneath the brim of her hat. She did not lift her head, and after a moment he walked away.

Chapter 16

As the sun dipped low over the mouth of the harbor, the harbormaster’s wife sent Viola a written invitation. She was drawing her new gown from the packaging, its fabric stiff from pressing, when the note arrived with another. By the light of a lamp she perused it, her palms damp against the paper. Joining them to dine that evening would be six other guests, including two naval officers and their wives.

She unfolded the other message, from Aidan.

A knock came on her cabin door. She opened it, and felt like a perfect fool. How could it be that she could simply look at Jin Seton and her knees weakened?

He wore a coat of simple, elegant cut that fit him as though tailored for him. His shirt, cravat, and waistcoat were white and neat, and his handsome face clean-shaven.

His gaze flicked over her. “You are not yet dressed for dinner?”

“I am not going,” she blurted out, clutching her hands behind her, the letters crunching together. “I-I…”

He lifted his brows.

“I have another appointment this evening,” she said. “With-”

He held up his palm to halt her speech, the wounded palm she had insisted on doctoring so she could touch him again. In her hurt and indignation after he made his intentions clear to her that morning, she had not realized why she insisted. But she understood herself somewhat better now. And she knew that she could not accompany this man to a dinner engagement with strangers and acquit herself properly. She did not remember how to. In point of fact, she had never learned it. But she knew, simply by looking at the easy set of his shoulders and his stance, that somehow this former pirate did know. He would have no trouble making himself an equal of the harbormaster’s other guests, if not indeed their superior in dress and manners.

“You needn’t explain,” he said. “Your business is your own. I will make your apologies for you.”

“Thank you.” She chewed on her lip. “I think.”

The corner of his mouth lifted slightly and Viola’s whole heart turned over, colliding with her stomach and making her a little nauseous.

“I don’t know what ‘make your apologies’ means,” she admitted.

“I will invent a plausible story so as not to insult my host and hostess with the announcement of your untimely absence. I suspect you wish to remain in his good graces.”

“I am sorry. I had a prior dinner engagement with… with Mr. Castle, at the hotel. I hadn’t the opportunity to tell you earlier.”

He nodded. “I wish you a good evening, then.”

“He has arranged rooms at the inn for us all, you know.” She gestured with the wadded up letters. “For the Hats and me. And you. He hopes that you will accept his invitation for a comfortable chamber, since he cannot offer us hospitality at his house as we-as I expected.”

He tilted his head. “Am I to understand that if I refuse and remain aboard, you will consider it mutiny on the wager?”

She couldn’t resist a grin. “Most certainly.”

“Then rest assured, I will be at the inn tonight.” He turned, then paused. “But not as Mr. Castle’s guest. I will hire my own room.”

Her pulse skittered. “You carry a great deal of pride along with that arrogance, don’t you?”

He regarded her for a steady moment. “Pride has little to do with it. Good night, Viola.”

She stood for a silent minute in her doorway, listening to the creaking sounds of her ship, largely quiet in the absence of most of her crew. Then she packed a small bag. She had no plans to dine with Aidan. His missive only begged her to take up his offer to rest in comfort tonight at the inn while he tried to clean the house sufficient for her return to the farm shortly. She suspected the Hats would be at the hotel too, and probably dining there as well. But she doubted Aidan would call upon them, not after his promises this afternoon. He had seemed so sincerely sorry for his mistake and so ready to make a fresh start of it with her.

She would go to the inn, indulge in a bath, and wash her hair with soap. Then she would sleep in clean linens on a dry mattress and in the morning wake refreshed. For with the morning came the end of the wager, and she must be fully prepared to argue again with Seton when he demanded she return to England.

This time, she intended to win.

At the dress shop she had also purchased a new shift, one that cinched around the waist with a thin cord and laced up the front with ribbons. In her small, simply appointed bedchamber at the inn, she bathed, then donned the new garment. She combed her wet hair and it sprang into loose curls, but refused to dry completely in the humidity that rose at nightfall on the tropical island. Tendrils stuck to her brow and clung to her neck.

She went to the window and opened the shutter. Breeze stirred in her hair and against her shift, brushing the crisp linen over her breasts. The sensation of Jin’s mouth on her, sending heat through the fabric of her shift, came to her with a sudden weakening of her limbs, then warmth between her legs. She was still tender there, but abruptly the tenderness throbbed. With only the slightest suggestion, her body was eager for him again.

It was unnerving. And… delicious.

Her fingers gripped the windowsill and she gazed out at the sparkling black water of the bay. The April Storm’s masts towered the tallest; no other vessels in the port tonight to match her in size, though there were plenty of other newer ships and boats.

She stared at her father’s old brig across the moonlit water, the familiar pain of fading grief hovering like a shadow inside her. The ship should be scrapped, in truth, but she hadn’t the funds for a new vessel. Without the April, she would be without employment except on another captain’s vessel. That was not an option, of course. Women aboard ships served one role-whore.

She would have to take at least four or five hefty prizes to even begin to imagine purchasing another ship of the April’s size. But prizes were scarce these days now that the wars were well and truly over up north. If she remained in these islands she might take a Mexican or Cuban pirate or two. But against that sort of enemy she was just as likely to get herself killed-or worse-especially in unfamiliar waters.

She needed that ship sitting in dry dock in Boston. Jin Seton’s new ship. She needed him to lose the wager.

He had been irritated with her earlier in the day because he desired her. Clearly. This she was not fool enough to mistake. But he did not want to desire her. Because perhaps he desired her too much? More than he wished? To the point of falling in love with her and losing the wager?

It seemed unlikely. He could have been peevish because of exhaustion, like her. But perhaps not. Perhaps she could still win. Perhaps, if she gave him one more taste of her, he would finally fall in love.