“In my quarters, my lord.” Ashley’s tone hardened, leaden with challenge.

“Good heavens, that is highly irregular.”

“So is the capture of a female pirate.”

“It’s unbeseeming. Intolerable.” Dycker tapped his cane hard against the planks. “The Royal Navy is not running a brothel aboard its ships. If the First Lord of the Admiralty heard of this—”

“He would understand my quandary and appreciate my willingness to be flexible.”

The air stretched with nervous strain. Anxiety rippled from the rank and file of soldiers and quickened my own breaths.

“Just so.” Dycker sniffed. “There is no further need for you to thwart the boundaries of propriety and risk your reputation. The hold in my flagship is empty. I shall transport this prisoner to England in your stead.”

My objection exploded in a plaintive, horrified gasp that quickly turned into an enraged growl. A smirk stole across Dycker’s face.

Ashley’s hand balled and released at his side. “I appreciate the offer, but she is my prisoner. As thus, I intend to deliver her myself and collect the due recognition.”

My heart shriveled. He wanted his promotion. Of course, he did. And perhaps a part of him wanted to keep me close for the duration of the journey so that he could continue to use my body until he handed me over to the headsman. There might have been an even smaller part of him that wished to keep me forever. But in the end, when forced to decide between his career and my life, I knew he wouldn’t choose me.

My thoughts twisted to a dark place, one that painted the aristocratic world in shades of liquid red.

Dycker strolled back to Ashley. “We’re only a day from New Providence. I don’t have the space to confine forty prisoners, but I can hold the woman while you capture your feral pirate. I shall take her off your hands and moor along the eastern coast of Eleuthera, just a few hours from here.” He thrust his chin in a southwesterly direction. “I’ll wait for you there, and upon your return, I shall sail in consort with your ship back to England. There, you can collect your prisoner from my hold and deliver her to the authorities yourself.”

I stopped breathing, my pulse shivering and gaze locked on the man who held my heart and my life in his hands.

His expression showed no creases, no tension, not a twitch of an eyelash as he spoke in a steady, unconcerned voice. “Very good, my lord. I’m most grateful for your assistance.”

“Excellent.” Dycker snapped his fingers at the lieutenants behind him. “Transport her to the flagship. Make haste.” He turned back to Ashley. “How about a drink in your quarters? I shall like to hear the story of how you captured Edric Sharp’s daughter.”

“It would be an honor.” Ashley turned and led the admiral to the companionway.