He expelled a heavy breath, and I could practically see those aristocratic nostrils flaring.

With a heave, he rolled over and faced me.

I wasn’t prepared for his mouth to land so close to mine. His soft breaths kissed my lips, and his dark blue eyes gave me their full attention. They were the eyes of a man who directed, oversaw, and controlled everything. Eyes that command a woman’s soul.

“I’ve never slept beside someone who I wasn’t involved with…amorously.” I swallowed. “This… We’re not amorous.”

“No, we’re not.” He shifted to turn away.

“Wait.”

He waited.

“What will your soldiers think?” I didn’t care a whit about my reputation, but I needed to understand the ramifications. “If they believe you’ve succumbed to a lady pirate’s sexual prowess, won’t you lose your hard-won status in the Royal Navy?”

I believed him when he said he was the only one standing between Madwulf and me. A mutiny among Ashley’s crew would strip me of that protection.

“I’m not commanding a pirate ship,” he said. “This isn’t a democracy. No one on this vessel has the rank to question me, especially not my unruly prisoners.”

“Just so. This prisoner doesn’t wish to be molested by her captor while she sleeps.”

“Don’t look for lust where none exists.” He returned to his side, giving me his back.

“Then don’t jab me with your erection.”

“Stop talking.”

“Do you always get hard when you truss up and spank rabid animals?”

“One more word, and I’ll gag your impudent mouth.”

Another threat. I was certain he would follow through on it and grow hard as a rock from the result. The man was in severe denial, which served me well. For now.

In the back of my mind, I understood the likelihood of this situation turning in a direction I dreaded.

Much to my dismay, being rescued by my vicious, relentless husband was my best option. But the odds weren’t in his favor. He couldn’t just sneak aboard a first-rate ship of the line and carry me off unnoticed. The approach of the smallest, fastest sloop under his command would be spotted.

The terrifying truth was I didn’t know how he would battle the heaviest armed warship in the high seas. I trusted that he would try with every breath in his body, but I couldn’t wager my life on his success.

Ashley intended to deliver me to England to stand trial, where I would be convicted and hanged. That was a fact.

But I held the power to change it.

As a healthy adult woman, I’d won many hearts accidentally.

I had a month to win Ashley’s heart intentionally.

I’d thought of this before I’d taken the plunge off Jade’s gunwale. Before I’d met the unsmiling, unfeeling commodore.