Gower turned from Harriet to bow in Chase’s direction. “It has been a pleasure meeting you, Frakenham. I hope I get to see more of you before you leave again. When is your ship due to sail?”

“Not anytime soon. It is in port with repairs.”

“Is it? Do you mind my asking which port?”

Chase didn’t even pause. “Whitby.”

“Ah yes. I’ve been there. And the name of your ship?”

“Really, Mr. Gower,” Harriet said, an air of tension clinging to her. “There’s no need to question our guest as if he—”

“Nonsense,” Chase said easily. “My ship’s name is The Tempest. She’s a three-masted rig, just returned from India.”

Gower managed a more genuine smile, his eyes narrowed. “Thank you. Good day, Captain.”

“Good day, Mr. Gower.”

Gower bowed once to Harriet, then followed Mrs. Ward out the door. And for the first time since he’d assumed the role of Captain Frakenham, Chase found himself alone with his fiancée.

Chapter 10

His lordship tells me the other day that starch makes the man. But let me tell you, ’tis silver that provides the starch. And that’s where my heart lies.

Lord Kilturn’s valet, Hobart, to Ledbetter, the Earl of Greyley’s valet after a chance meeting at the tailor’s

Harriet eyed the man lying on the settee. He hung over both ends, his arms behind his head, his ankles crossed on one of the good cushions. Not that he seemed to care. He was too busy watching her through narrowed eyes, tension evident in his biting blue gaze.

Harriet sniffed. “You, sir, were impolite.”

“I wouldn’t say that.”

“I would. There you were, acting as if I was your—”

“Fiancée,” he said smoothly. “Which you are, according to your mother.” He lifted his brows. “Isn’t that what you are? Or did I miss something?”

She choked. “That isn’t what I was speaking of. You don’t remember who you are, and yet you came in here and…and…took liberties!” Yes, that described what he’d done. He’d stepped far over the bounds of propriety. Even now she could feel where his hand had rested on her hip, his fingers warm through the thin material of her dress.

That touch, so simple and yet so possessive, had caused a reaction that lingered still. She smoothed her hands over her skirts, wondering if he’d felt that same flare of heat. If his body had also shivered with sudden—

She caught his gaze and colored, certain he could tell her thoughts. “Your actions were totally unnecessary.”

“You may not have needed a visible reminder of the fact that you are supposedly betrothed to me, but it seemed that Mr. Gower did.”

“He didn’t believe there was a Captain Frakenham.”

A faint smile touched the stranger’s lips. “Yet here I am.”

Harriet eyed him a moment. Oh yes, there he was. Six-foot-plus of whipcord muscle and solid sinew, of hard blue eyes and breathtaking handsomeness, all wrapped into one unknown, yet very dangerous, man. Even lying on the couch seemingly at his ease, he emitted a sharp-edged, almost lethal quality. “Tell me, sir, do you still not remember who you are?”