said without voice and laid his lips against mine.
Dear lord, again with that mouth. More than a kiss, it was a promise. A flutter of hope.
Leaning back, he stretched toward the table at the bedside. My compass was there, along with the tiny scroll and jade stone. He reached over those and grabbed a piece of parchment. A letter.
He held it out for me to read, and I instantly recognized Priest’s bold, slanted handwriting.
This is Ashley’s private manor on the southwest coast of England.
Yesterday marked five weeks since we found you near the island of birds.
The commodore is in London, settling matters with his crew and ship.
He shall join us here when he’s finished.
When you’re well enough, I will convey you to the windows.
There, you will see Jade anchored in the private harbor below, sheltered by cliffs.
Your crew is enjoying the township, stirring up trouble at the tavern and debauching the local maidens.
The servants and tenants on the property are discreet and loyal.
We are safe here.
Your men are safe and merry.
The only priority is your return to health.
I read it twice, nodding my approval. It didn’t answer every question, but the immediate ones had been addressed.
So this was Ashley’s manor. I looked around the bedchamber with new eyes, assuming it was the estate on the cliff that he’d said he favored. Strange that he’d allowed us to stay here—his lover and her husband—in his absence.
I didn’t know how I felt about that. “When did we arrive?”
Yesterday. His voice stopped at my ears.
Priest and Ashley had spent a week together when I was on Blitz. And another five weeks while I convalesced. They should know each other quite well by now. But they’d been already well acquainted, hadn’t they?
“How do you and Ashley know each other?” I pitched him my stormiest glare.
He looked away, staring at nothing. When he met my gaze again, his mouth gave life to a string of noiseless statements. With each rapid word, he grew angrier and more agitated. Since he wasn’t trying to slow down and help me understand, I suspected he was venting rather than giving me any real answers.
I could tell him to write it all down. But I was too impatient to wait when I had questions he could answer with a single syllable.
“Over the past weeks, did you talk to Ashley about us?” I stiffened, uncertain how to proceed in foreign waters. “Did you discuss…everything? Our marriage? Our separation? Did he tell you how I tried to use him to escape?”
He nodded through every inquiry, his expression hard and unflinching.
“He didn’t know you were in Jade’s hold when he captured me.” My mind raced to make all the connections. “Did you tell him? Does he know that’s why you hunted HMS Blitz?”
Another nod.
“I didn’t fall easily into his bed. I swear it.” A swallow stuck in my throat. “I was angry with you, and I needed a backup escape plan. And…I was attracted to him. Am. Still. I love him, Priest. But when my relationship began with him, it was fraught with pain and distrust. Until he saved me from the admiral. Did he tell you about that? About my imprisonment on the flagship and the violation that happened to me?”
Aye. His teeth clenched in what I assumed was a hot hiss of sound.
He stood and turned away, hiding his expression as his fingers stabbed through his hair, flexing and releasing.
“Priest…” I didn’t wish to hurt him. Not anymore. I didn’t know how to fix this.
He made another turn, hands on his hips, head bent, pacing forward, walking aft, pivoting forward, eying me. Then he looked at the table beside me.
I followed his gaze to the tiny scroll. “Did you read it?”
He stopped pacing. Nodded.
I crossed my arms, finding the pain from the motion bearable. “Tell me it’s a map.”
A grin startled at the corner of his mouth, struggling to pull free. I stared at those lips, my own twisting into a smile as he said, Aye.
“Tell me something.” I narrowed my eyes. “Where did you hide the compass on my ship?”
Now he grinned with abandon, damn near laughing out his response. Jobah.
“Jobah?” I couldn’t have read that right. “That goddamned traitor had it the entire time? I’m going to kill him.”
You won’t. He shook his head, trying to rein in his smile.
He was right, of course. I had a terrible weakness where my helmsman was concerned. I let him get away with all manner of insolence, only because he had the