you?“

„I’m not interested in your pictures.“ She tried to keep her

gaze from the mural he’d indicated but found herself staring at

it in compulsive fascination.

„Not my pictures. They were commissioned by the

gentleman you christened with that bottle of wine tonight.“

Nicholas chuckled. „One way or another Bassinger seems to

like to bring ladies to their knees, doesn’t he? That woman in

the picture has a lovely mouth but not as lovely as yours.

Would you like to do that to me?“

„Certainly not.“

His hand slowly pushed down her petticoats, his palms

skimming the naked flesh on her belly. She inhaled sharply

and flinched back. But that brought her into direct contact with

the hard muscles of his body. Very hard, she realized

breathlessly. As hard as she was melting soft, as taut as she

was pliant.

„Then would you like me to do that to you?“ he asked

thickly. „I will, you know.“ His palm was rubbing back and

forth on the softness of her belly, every touch causing an

aching clenching between her thighs. „I’d like to do it.“ His

fingers tightened suddenly in the hair surrounding her

womanhood, and he tugged gently. She made a low sound in

the back of her throat as a tiny explosion of heat tore through

her every vein. Her back arched, her shoulders pressing back

against him. „That’s right, let it come, Silver.“ His palm

covered her and he began to rub. „You like it so much.“ His

teeth gently bit at the lobe of her ear. „Let me do that to you.“

His warm tongue darted in her ear, sending another hot shiver

through her. „Let me do everything to you. This was what you

were meant for….“

„No!“ Her cry held the violence of desperation as Silver

wrenched out of his grasp and whirled away from him. She

turned to face him, clutching her loosened petticoats to keep

them from falling. „I will not.“ She backed away from him,

her naked breasts lifting and falling. „Go away!“

His black eyes were brilliant in his taut face, his nostrils

flaring with the harshness of his breathing. „Come back. You

know you want to let me touch you.“ His voice was as softly

seductive as the song of a nightingale. „You know I can please

you.“

For a moment she could feel the words pulling her with the

force of a riptide. Dear God, he was right, she thought

desperately. He could please her body. He could do more than

please her, he could drive her to the brink of sensual madness.

Even knowing how close she had come to submitting to that

allure, she still wanted to fling herself in his arms, run her

hands over his body, beg him to do whatever he wished with

her.

Beg. The repugnant thought brought her immediately to her

senses. She did not beg. Not ever. She drew herself up and

faced him. „Go away. I don’t want you here.“

He took a step forward. „Liar.“

She lifted her chin. „No, it’s lust. My body may want you,

but I am not my body.“ She touched her breast, glaring at him

fiercely. „I’m more than that. I am Silver Delaney. I don’t lie

down and spread my legs because a man tells me I must.“ A

patch of color burned in each of her cheeks and her voice was

shaking with feeling. „I am not a toy. I am not my mother!“

„I never said – “ He stopped, his dark eyes blazing.

„Dammit, you know you’re going to let me take you to bed.

It’s only a question of time. Why not…“ He trailed off as he

read the rejection in her face. His breath released in an

impatient explosion of sound as his hands clenched into fists at

his sides. „You’re sending me away?“

Silver made no answer.

He stood very still, looking at her, then he turned and

strode toward the door and threw it open. His voice held a note

of barely restrained savagery. „I have no liking for women

who pretend to be what they are not.“ His glance over his

shoulder was a burning sword thrust. „You’re no prim

schoolgirl, and the only reason you let me undress you was

because you wanted my hands on you. You wanted me,

dammit!“ The door slammed behind him with a force that

shook the crystal prisms on the rim of the lamp on the bedside

table.

Silver gazed at the panels of the door for a long moment.

He had been so angry. Why couldn’t she summon a like anger

to use against him? Her body still ached with hunger and

emptiness. She closed her eyes, a shiver of yearning rippling

through her. Nicholas could have filled her body and stopped

the aching. Had he spoken the truth? Had she allowed him to

undress her not because she wanted to meet his challenge but

because she desired him? She must stop thinking of him. He

cared nothing for her. He was the enemy. Tomorrow evening

she would escape this boat and never see Nicholas again.

An unexplainable thrust of pain pierced through her. No,

she thought in sudden panic. She would feel nothing for him.

Not lust, certainly not love. Nothing.

It was a litany she repeated over and over to herself as if

saying the rosary as she finished undressing and turned out the

lamp. A litany she continued to murmur as she lay in the

darkness for the many sleepless hours that followed.

Nothing. She must feel nothing for Nicholas.

6

A yellow satin gown was delivered to the stateroom by

Valentin shortly before six the next evening.

He stood in the doorway, the brilliantly colored garment

draped over his arm, a pair of yellow satin slippers in his hand,

and a faintly apologetic smile on his lips. „Nicky sent these.

He thought you’d be a trifle more comfortable at the dinner

table tonight wearing something more appropriate.“

„I’m not surprised he feels a whore’s gown more fitting for

me.“ Silver’s face was without expression as she took the

items from Valentin and tossed them carelessly onto the

padded velvet bench. „I’m to join all of you for dinner again?

I’m amazed Nicholas wants to chance my presence. I’ve not

seen anyone but Mikhail all day, and he vanished as soon as he

delivered my breakfast and lunch.“

Valentin made a face. „Nicky decided you needed time to

ponder and told us we weren’t to approach you.“

And a very clever move it had been, Silver thought. She

had nearly gone mad confined to this room all day with

nothing to do and nothing to think about besides Nicholas

Savron and her response to him last night. She had paced the

floor, trying to incite herself to an anger that would submerge

the tumult of feeling she was experiencing. Anger had not

come until now. She felt it sear through her in a furious tide as

she gazed at the yellow gown. By all that was holy, now it was

a silken gown! Damn Nicholas and his crystal chandeliers, soft

velvets, and fine damask tablecloths. How easy life was for

him. When she thought of the comparison between his life and

Etaine’s, she wanted to take a tomahawk to that arrogant

golden head. Etaine struggling desperately for breath; Etaine

forced every night into that hellish cage. And now Nicholas’s

actions were making life even harder for Etaine by preventing

her, Silver, from being close enough to help when needed.

„How kind of him to decide to permit the poor prisoner a brief

respite.“

Valentin was clearly troubled. „Tell him what he wants to

know, Silver. Nicholas can be very difficult. You’re going to

get hurt.“

„You think that if I tell him where Dominic can be found it

will be over?“ Silver shook her head. „You aren’t such a fool.