And when he helped her over the railing and onto the deck, he didn’t let her go. He folded her in his arms and held her gently against him, mindful of how sore her skin must be but also knowing, “I’m never, ever going to let you get that far away from me again, Alise. Sa be praised that you’re here and safe. I’m not letting you go again. I don’t care what anyone says.”

“Captain Leftrin,” she said softly. She leaned her brow against the side of his jaw. Was it an accident? Did he imagine the quick brush of her lips against his throat? A shiver, a flush of heat, ran over him and he stood perfectly still, as if a rare bird had deigned to alight on his shoulder. She pulled herself slightly back from him and looked up into his eyes. “It’s so good to be safe with you,” she said. “I knew you’d come for us. I knew it.”

Could she ever have said a more touching thing to him? He was so pleased by her words that he felt both foolish and extremely manly at the same time. He grinned fiercely and held her closer for a moment. Then, before she could request to be released, he set her free. Never did he want her to feel trapped by him.

Her next words brought him firmly back to earth. “Do we know what befell Sedric? Was he lost overboard during the wave?”

“I am so sorry, Alise. I don’t know. I thought he was in his cabin. I’d gone ashore to…check on things. I was there when the first wave hit.” He had to think fast now. No one knew he’d gone to meet Jess. No one connected him to the hunter at all. In his heart, he knew he’d killed the man. He’d given him a bad enough beating that he could not possibly have survived his time in the water. He’d killed him, and he couldn’t regret doing it. That didn’t mean he wanted to let anyone else know that he’d done it. It was his secret, and he’d take it to the grave with him. “It was sheer luck that the Tarman found me in the dark and took me aboard.” Another lie. Didn’t he owe her better than this? He plowed ahead with his tale. “Sedric might have been on deck and got washed overboard when the water hit. Or he might have been ashore. All I know is that when I went looking for him, he wasn’t here. And neither were you.”

“And it’s my fault, for dragging him into this.” She spoke the words quietly but firmly, as if it were a fault she had to confess.

“I don’t see how that’s true,” he offered her.

“I do.”