The alcohol in those cocktails and the subsequent brandy was starting to make the room swing around. I closed my eyes and wished that sleep would come. I was just drifting off when I heard a tiny noise—the click of a latch being turned, or a key being turned in a lock. Someone was coming into my room. I was instantly awake and alert. Surely I’d locked my door, hadn’t I? And only the steward had a passkey. A sliver of light showed as the door opened inch by inch, then a dark shape was silhouetted against the light. A tall man, dressed in dark clothing, was coming into my room.

In an instant I was on my feet, looking around for some sort of weapon. How annoying that everything was bolted down on a ship. There was no vase, no bedside lamp, no jug on a washstand. All I could think of was the fruit knife in the bowl of fruit on the table and that would be hardly sufficient to ward off a determined intruder. Nevertheless I reached for it and felt the coldness of the mother-of-pearl handle as my hand closed around it.

“Don’t come any closer, I’ve got a knife and I’m not afraid to use it,” I said bravely.

I heard a deep chuckle as the intruder came at me, grabbed my wrist with the knife in it, holding it up while he pulled me to him with the other arm and silenced the scream I was about to give with a kiss. For a second I was too stunned to react. Then all resistance melted away in an instant. I knew those lips well. For a long moment I forgot to be annoyed with him, then I pushed away from him as his arms wrapped around me.

“What the devil do you think you’re doing, scaring me half out of my wits?” I demanded.

Darcy was smiling down at me. I could see the glint in his eyes in the light shining in from the passageway.

“Sorry. I had to stop you from screaming somehow and this seemed like the best way.”

He went to the door and closed it as I switched on the light over the bed. He looked at my hand that still clutched the fruit knife and started to laugh. “That was the knife you were going to defend your honor with?”

“It was the best I could do, given the circumstances,” I said. I sank down onto the bed and he came to sit beside me.

“What are you doing here, Darcy?” I asked. “I thought I spotted you on the dock but I decided I must have made a mistake because I haven’t seen you since.”