Illusion of Innocence: Regency Rebelles Series

Chapter 13.

Waking with the dawn clatter of a new day on the docks, Sin lay staring up to the ceiling of the wheelhouse, wondering how the devil he came to be there. He’d been in the middle of some important dream, but the moment his eyes opened to his unexpected surroundings, every shred of it had fled his consciousness and try as he might, he could not recall it.

Better to try and work out how to move a body that felt as if it had laid down pliable and wet, like clay, and woken set and aching as if he’d been poked with skewers and baked in an oven.

How? Where? He identified coiled ropes beneath him and the tongue and groove ceiling of the wheelhouse above.

He was in the wheelhouse, for sure. And then it all came back to him.

Verity. His wife. Asleep in his bunk.

It had taken some time, but he”d finally struggled to his feet, stretched, scrabbled at his clothes to straighten them out, and then stood for a while staring out into the thick fog of early morning in Amsterdam.

There was much to be dealt with. Port authorities to come aboard and check their manifests. Unloading of cargo and negotiations to purchase more—

Wooing Verity back to his bed.

And that took priority over everything else.

How close to the docks could he find a flower seller? Surely, if he slipped off the ship now, he’d find something with which to greet his wife when he woke her with a breakfast tray and warm water for her morning wash. And while she ate her breakfast, he”d have a bath ordered for himself. And perhaps she’d be willing to wash his back. Of course, he wanted more, but sap that he”d become, he”d settle for the gentle slide of her hands over the skin of his shoulders. Lower, if she’d go there—

Damn. Just get off the ship and find flowers before Nik finds him and starts lecturing him—or organizing his day, as he usually did when Sin was aboard and they were docked.

Dragging his coat straight and casting about for his hat, he jammed it on his head and climbed down to the deck in search of an idle deckhand to row him ashore. It wanted but two days to Christmas, temperatures were inching below zero first thing in the morning, but the fog would likely lift and they might see sunshine for an hour or two through the middle of the day.

Half an hour later he was scrabbling back up the rope ladder, inordinately pleased with his purchase of a heavily perfumed bunch of violets.

Violets for Verity. It felt right.

With a hurried trip down to the galley, he”d secured a tray with two bowls of steaming porridge with Peggy’s usual dollop of molasses on top, two of Mr. Jay”s sweet buns straight from the oven and two mugs of fresh made tea.

Thankful they were anchored in the stillness of the canal, Sin carried his booty along the deck to his cabin, praying for a better outcome than the last time he’d arrived there with a tray in his hands.

The flowers rested in a bent tin mug of water in the center of the tray. He knocked on the door and ducked his head to breathe in the heavy scent of the flowers—and pray. Please God, she at least let him in the door.

‘Who is it?’

‘Your husband. I come bearing gifts. Verity, please open the door.’

She didn”t respond to his request, but he took heart from the faint rustling sounds he could hear. When the door finally cracked inward he almost fell in as precipitately as he had the last time he’d brought her food.

Catching his breath and steadying his balance, he kept his eyes averted from where his wife stood holding the door. Only when the tray was safely on the table did he turn, the bunch of violets in his hand and dripping onto his boots.

He was glad he”d waited. The blanket from the bed was wrapped about her shoulders, and although she clutched it at her breast with one hand, it did little to conceal the fact all she wore beneath it was a fine lawn night rail, delicately embroidered with rosebuds about the hem.

If only he could keep his eyes on those tiny knots of pink and green thread. If only he could appreciate the delicacy of the hand work.

The tangled mess of her hair enveloping her head in a wild halo.

The womanly shape of her softly outlined against the gossamer material.

So much for his puny efforts not to ogle his wife”s form. She might tuck neatly under his chin, but her dainty form was all lush curves.

He wanted. God damn, how he wanted, but he did not allow himself to even think about that. He didn”t deserve the perfection that was this woman.

Groveling was what he had to do.

‘I went ashore to find you flowers with little hope I would succeed and yet, succeed I did. Beyond my fondest hopes. What could be more appropriate than these tiny and most fragrant of blooms that represent modesty and decency, two virtues I so callously doubted in you? Please forgive me and allow me to—court you—as I should have done from the start.’

The door clicked softly closed as she stepped away from it and then shyly she reached out and took the posy. Holding it to her nose, she closed her eyes and inhaled with obvious appreciation.

‘I love violets,’ she murmured softly. When her eyes opened she gifted him the sweetest smile he”d ever seen on her face.

‘They are your favorites?’ he asked, the words barely squeezing past the crazy lump in his throat.

What the devil was the matter with him?

This milksop practically begging at the feet of a woman, was not who he knew himself to be. But he”d already noted he no longer recognized the man he”d become.

‘All flowers are my favorites,’ she told him, still inhaling the scented bouquet.

Suddenly his mind leapt back in time to when he’d arrived unexpectedly at Pennington Towers the day before Jackson and Carly”s wedding and this fairy creature had been totally engrossed in arranging urns of flowers to turn the Great Hall into a veritable floral bower.

His wife loved flowers. It was a snippet of her personality he”d store away for future reference.

‘I will remember that,’ he told her, reaching for the hand in which she held the violets. Turning it over, he placed a warm, lingering kiss on her palm beside the still wet stems.

A soft exhalation of air slipped past her lips. His heart swelled with satisfaction.

Whatever she claimed, she was not unaffected by his attentions. The true challenge however, might turn out to be keeping his own rampant desires under control.

His cock was already making its presence felt in his trousers and now was not the time for that.

‘Shall we break our fast?’ he suggested, guiding her to a seat at the map table and pulling the other chair around so he sat catty-corner to her. Then he placed a bowl of porridge and a sweet bun in front of each of them.

‘Tuck in,’ he advised. ‘Peggy’s porridge really is best eaten hot. The lumps go down easier.’

‘Chew them,’ she said, almost under her breath. ‘Less likely to give you indigestion.’

What had she suffered down in that bloody galley?

‘Very,’ he said, laying a hand over her left one where it lay on the table. ‘I meant what I said. I don”t want to see you down in that galley again. It’s no place for a lady. No place for my wife.’

She slipped her hand out from under his and dragged at the blanket that had begun slipping off her shoulders.

Without even thinking, his gaze slid to where her nipples showed in perfect outline against the thin lawn of her night rail. From the way the cloth stood out from her body he could see her perfect breasts, hand-sized globes topped with neat, pert nipples that—

—disappeared behind the offensive damned blanket.

Though, on consideration, it was probably for the best. He”d never had such trouble controlling himself as he had around Lady Verity Davencourt.

Lady Verity Wolfenden, he corrected himself and returned to his porridge.

‘Sitting about idly or spending all my days stitching or reading is not my way,’ she told him, once the blanket was settled to her satisfaction and she’d broken off a piece of her bun and held it poised twixt tray and mouth. ‘I enjoy cooking and the men enjoyed my scones. So I will definitely return to help in the galley at times. However, I will probably no longer agree to scrub those endless plates over that—d—b—confounded bucket.’

She’d so badly wanted to curse those filthy plates. Sin grinned then swallowed a bigger lump than usual in the porridge. The stuff was barely edible. It was time he had a word with Peggy. How hard could it be to make decent porridge? Mr Jay would doubtless know how, but the problem would be getting Peggy to accept his advice. The morning porridge had always been Peggy’s prerogative and he guarded it jealously.

The glutinous lump settled in his gut and he thought he’d be fortunate indeed to escape a bout of indigestion.

But, one problem at a time, he advised himself, and the most pressing one was his wife.

‘I might concede the point you need some occupation,’ he began, but she interrupted him, waving her porridge spoon at him like a warning flag.

‘I didn”t think to bring either handwork or books aboard with me and I don”t see either lying about in this cabin. Therefore—’

Her words ended abruptly as he jumped to his feet and crossed to the paneling in the bulkhead, pressed a particular spot in the carved detail and a section swung out revealing two shelves neatly lined with books.

‘Oh.’ Verity was out of her chair, almost forgetting her blanket in her haste. ‘What a cunning device. Show me how it works.’

More than happy to humor her, he snapped it shut and showed her the carved Tudor rose to press to release the spring mechanism again.

‘That is so clever,’ she enthused, but already her attention had moved to the books.

Sin watched her delicate fingers glide along the spines, and knew himself jealous of damned books for knowing her touch.

‘History, travel. ‘Tails and Jests of Hugh Peter’. Sounds like typically male entertainment. ‘Diseases of Seafaring People’—ugh! Shakespeare. No library is complete without the Bard,’ she declared. ‘But I think I shall travel. ‘Lithgow’s Travels and Voyages Through Europe, Asia and America’ shall keep me entertained, and if not, there”s ‘Tavener’s Voyages Through Turkey and Persia and the East Indies’. They look quite old.’

‘They are. They’re destined for the library at the house in St James”s Square. I have a collection of old books there. The beliefs, medicines, foods and writings of bygone centuries I find fascinating.’

‘I collect herbals—and books on the meanings of flowers. Who knew there could be so many? And they don”t necessarily all agree.’

A knock at the door interrupted the most felicitous conversation they’d ever shared with one another and was followed by a shout from Hawkeye.

‘Mr. Sin? I brung some ‘ot water for yer bath, sir.’

‘Bring it in,’ Sin answered and turned to pull the copper tub out from the wall. ‘Thanks lad,’ he said as Hawkeye emptied the water into the tub. ‘A couple more buckets should do it.’

‘Aye-aye, sir.’

Hawkeye executed a jaunty salute and raced back out the door.

Sin turned to see Verity clutching the blanket around her body and glaring at him.

‘You might have given me a minute to make sure I was decent.’

‘You’ve been making sure you were decent ever since I walked in the door—which is damned ridiculous since I”m your husband.’

‘In name only, ‘she snapped, all the light leaching from her features and leaving her scowling like a small thundercloud.

Sin loosened his neck cloth and removed it, followed immediately by his coat.

‘What are you doing?’ she demanded, one hand gripping tightly to the back of the chair, the other still maintaining a death grip on the blanket.

‘I”m going to take a bath.’

‘But—but you can”t,’ she stammered.

‘I assure you I can. I”ve been doing so for many years now. The only assistance I need is someone to wash my back.’

‘You will not—I will not—’

She began to pace from the bunks to the door and back again.

‘You can”t. I”m here. And I can”t go out there because I”m not dressed and—and I can”t get dressed, not without help—unless I dress as Nipper—and I think you stole those clothes because I can”t find them.’

Coming to a halt by the door, she pinned him with those accusing opal-fire eyes.

‘All of which might be true, except it”s based on a false premise.’

She rolled her eyes and in that moment she reminded him of a particularly bratty child. Life with this woman was not going to be dull.

‘You can”t deny we are wed,’ he demanded and when she remained silent, he went on. ‘We are husband and wife and as such you are definitely permitted to assist me with my bath and I may assist you in dressing. Those are things husbands and wives do for each other.’

‘Not us,’ she declared flatly. ‘I told you—’

Hauling the shirt he”d been unbuttoning over his head, Sin stalked around the table to his wife.

A man, well, he, would only stand so much it seemed before his devilish temper snapped. But he”d be gentle with her, just not lenient.

Her mouth was still open, trying to form words to fling at him, and though it had not been his initial intention, by the time he reached her he knew there was only one way to silence her.

Ripping the blanket from her clutching fingers, he threw it to the floor, gripped her shoulders and hauled her hard up against his naked chest.

Which was exactly how he’d got himself into this mess in the first place. But his interfering brother wasn”t here this time to prevent him from taking this—

His mouth closed over hers and—where had he been going in his thoughts?

—from taking this—to its proper conclusion.

As if his heat had melted her bones, she sagged against him, her tight beaded nipples stabbing at his chest. She was as hot for him as he was for her. Moving his hands to cup her face, he angled it so he could deepen the kiss, probing with his tongue as she gasped into his mouth.

Her fingers tightened around his biceps and he bent her body back a little, looming over her, overwhelming her with his hunger for her.

At the moment he realized it was her nails he was feeling digging into his flesh, she bit his tongue, sharply.

What the devil?

He reared back and stared furiously down at her.

‘I—said—never—again.’ she hissed, taking advantage of his momentary distraction to pull out of his grip and reach for the blanket on the floor at their feet.

Before she could wrap it around herself, he snatched it away from her and tossed it to the other side of the room. Then he gripped her arms and held them wide.

‘Do not hide yourself from me. Your breasts betray you, Very.’ He softened his voice and gentled his grip, but he didn”t let her go. ‘Regardless what you say, your body still responds to me.’

She fought to free herself, two bright spots of color stark on her cheeks.

‘I don”t care what you think. We are not doing that.’

‘We will, Very my love. But not now. We’ll start again and I’ll show you all you were expecting—and more. I was a crass boor and I promise to make total recompense for that.’

For a moment, he held her face gently between his palms and pressed his forehead to hers.

‘I promise never to hurt you again, my love. Now—’

The door rattled under a sudden knock.

‘Mr. Sin. I be ‘ere with the nex’ bucket o’ water.’

Sinclair stepped away from Verity, grabbed the blanket from the floor and wrapped it around her shoulders before calling Hawkeye to enter.

The lad hurried in and poured the steaming water into the tub.

‘Now I”ll ‘aul up a bucket o’ cold to cool it down as you wants, Mr. Sin,’ he said cheerfully and slipped back out the door as if he”d had no clue the air was thicker than the tar they used for caulking.

Turning back to Verity where she now huddled on a chair with the expression of a sulky child, he dropped to his knees before her.

‘We will start slow—but we will start,’ he told her softly. ‘I am your husband and have every right to help you dress. You are my wife and I have every right to expect you will wash my back. Two simple tasks we can do for each other. Intimate, but not overly so.’

‘And what will we do once we are dressed? Are we to go ashore?’ She wouldn”t look at him, kept her head bowed and eyes down cast. ‘And what will you concede?’

Her voice was tight but determined. Clearly she was not going to be a passive, or even a submissive wife. Despite the fragility and ephemerality of her appearance she had a core of steel.

And he liked that about her. She would challenge him.

‘What would you ask?’

‘To go ashore,’ she said promptly. ‘To set foot on foreign soil. To see how people live here.’

‘There are things I must see to today. Port officials will come aboard to inspect our cargo. Then there are negotiations with the merchants to buy that cargo and with others to acquire more goods to take back to England. I won”t be free to squire you around till all is settled.’

‘Then I would accompany you on this business. That also interests me.’

Was there anything that didn”t interest her? Having a female privy to the dealings with the merchants and manufacturers was highly unusual and possibly abhorrent to some. But Sin decided if it meant he got his wife”s hands on him in his bath, he”d happily face down any blustering misogynistic Dutchman without a qualm.

Which was how, much later in the morning, his wife accompanied him and Nik when they finally left the ship and stepped onto Dutch soil.

She stood at his side observing and absorbing everything about her while he and Nik did business with the merchants in their warehouses at the port.

He”d been dubious when first she’d asked to accompany him, imagined she’d be a distraction. And she had been at the beginning of the morning, but only in so much as he found it difficult to ignore her presence.

To his surprise she had watched and listened and not once interrupted.

Until they came to the silk and lace merchant. There he’d selected several bales of some of the finest Brussels lace he’d ever seen. He’d checked the bolts of fabric on the first three layers and found them to be of superior quality. Nik had been watching him and he was about to suggest a price when Verity suddenly bent over the bale between them.

‘You need to check the bottom half of the bale. It’s inferior quality.’

Both he and Nik stared at her as if she’d said they’d find vermin among the goods.

‘What?’ he hissed up at her.

Hot color flooded her cheeks and she began to step back, but then stood her ground and stared fiercely back at him. She bit her lip and squeezed her eyes closed for a moment.

‘Please, Sin. Just check,’ she murmured.

He was an idiot, but because she’d begged him, he delved deep into the bale and fought to bring up a bolt from the bottom layers.

It was going to be a hell of a job to return the bale to its original tightly packed state.

And he held in his hands a bolt of vastly inferior, coarsely made lace. He dragged up another and another. Almost all the bottom half of the bale was the same.

The merchant cast Verity one fulminating glare as if to curse her to purgatory then began to bluster as to his innocence and claim he’d been as badly duped as they had almost been.

If it had not been for his wife.

His fey, knowing wife.

They left the bale in disarray and walked out of that warehouse without buying anything else they had set aside with a view to purchasing. The merchant scurried after them declaiming and protesting and practically bewailing the loss of trade.

All Sin wanted was to get Verity well away from the place for he suspected the man would soon descend to hurling curses directly at his wife. As for Nik, no one duped the Prince of Nagpur. The merchant probably hadn’t realized how close he’d come to wearing a jewel-handled Indian scimitar through his belly.

Verity was grateful she found the business of bartering with the warehouse merchants so fascinating. It kept her mind from the memory of Sin’s skin beneath her fingers as she”d washed his back per their bargain that morning.

Stopped her thinking of the moment he gripped her hand and dragged it over his shoulder and into the mat of dark hair on his chest. Pressed her fingers to his flat male nipples and groaned.

The instant she noticed a straining mushroom head piercing the suds at his lap.

And reacted like a naive, unsophisticated ingénue.

Apparently deciding to act the adult because she was one, didn”t mean she instinctively would.

They were in yet another warehouse, a silk merchant’s and she was trying to hang back and let the men conduct their business without her interference. But this time Sin was keeping her close.

He looked into a bale of the most exquisite silks she’d ever seen.

‘We’d usually have to go all the way to India or China to get silk as fine as this,’ Captain Nik said, kneeling beside Sin and examining the easily seen bolts of fabric on the top of the bale. ‘Do we trust the quality is all through the bale? Or do we dig deeper?’

‘No need,’ Sin said with a sudden smile up at Verity. ‘We have a secret weapon. Very?’

He was asking her? Trusting her. Believing her?

She’d already checked her knowing, but had intended to keep her mouth shut.

He believed her.

For the first time in her life there seemed a purpose to the psychic abilities her family had tried so hard to suppress. Every cell in her body relaxed, and breathed, in a way it felt they’d never been able to before.

Sin believed her.

‘Same quality, right to the bottom,’ she whispered.

Sin smiled up at her and her legs almost crumpled to deposit her in an inelegant mess at his side where he hunched over the bale.

Eyes so often dark with storm, glowed up at her with the brightness of a perfect summer’s day.

Her husband believed in her.

‘You’re going to take her word for it?’ Nik asked, standing up and spearing first Sin and then herself with his piercing black stare.

‘I am,’ Sin said calmly.

Rising to his feet, he named a price that had the Captain’s brows almost disappearing above his hairline.

‘That’s insane,’ the Captain began. ‘You can’t be sure—’

‘I am,’ Sin averred again. ‘She was right about the lace. She’ll be right about this too. You get us a price anywhere below that and we’ll both end up happy.’

‘How many bales?’ the Captain asked tersely.

There were about a dozen bales in the stack and Sin surveyed it for a minute, then turned once again to his wife.

‘Is every bale as good as the first one?’

Suddenly Verity felt the weight of the responsibility he was gifting her.

He trusted her, which meant it was important she got it right. Panic threatened to overwhelm her then she pushed it down and calmed herself. This was not the time to start doubting what she’d always known. Focusing on the stack of bales she let her familiar sixth sense take hold.

‘Every last one of them,’ she murmured softly.

‘Right, then we want the lot—at the right price.’

Nik glared at Sin, but her husband refused to back down.

‘So be it,’ the Captain finally muttered and looked up to wave the merchant over from where he’d been hovering while they made their decisions.

While Sin had been the one to make the choice of merchandise and set the price, Nik took over the negotiating and was driving an astute bargain, judging by the merchant’s displeased frown.

Apparently content to leave them to it, Sin secured her arm and drew her deeper into the gloom of the huge building stacked with crates and chests, in some places to the roof. They stopped to examine an opened chest of the most delicate woven woolen fabric Verity had ever seen. And a display of stunning quality antique Delft ware.

‘Either would suit our requirements if Nik can get it for the right price,’ Sin told her.

‘The Captain does all the bargaining?’

‘Mostly,’ Sin said. ‘He has the gift for it. His crafty tongue has made us very wealthy. My forte is to find the goods and tell him what we want to pay. We have proved to be a formidable team. Will be even more so I should think, with your knowing to guide us. I’ve never really believed in the supernatural. But you really do know, don’t you?’

‘Yes.’

‘How? Explain it to me. If you can.’

‘You believe me?’

‘Very, how can I not? You knew we would be married—and here we are. You were right about the lace. You saved us money there and I believe you will make us money on the silk. I would be a fool to go on doubting. So please, tell me how you know?’

‘You won’t like my answer.’

‘Try me.’

His eyes were the most serious she’d ever seen them. They were wed—for a lifetime. She really needed to try and help him to understand, which was difficult when she didn’t really understand herself.

‘I just know,’ she said. ‘When I look at those bales, or those caskets I can—if I concentrate—I can visualize what’s inside them. Although I don’t actually see, it’s more that I—know. Like I know L—Libby was not—in that coffin.’

Now why had she blurted that? Obviously she felt safe this far away from her parents and Charity. It had only been a whisper. Perhaps he hadn’t heard it.

‘Libby? Your sister who died?’

She couldn’t help it. The words had to be said.

‘She’s not dead,’ she whispered adamantly.

‘Not dead? Now, Very—’

‘Don’t, Sin. I should not have said anything. Papa would be so angry with me.’

‘Then why say it?’

Oh damn, if only she could stamp her foot and throw a tantrum like young Philip Fenhurst did when he was not happy. Like a child.

She would not, but nor would she say another word on the subject of her knowing.

‘I do not wish to speak of it anymore.’

As they’d talked, they’d continued to walk past towers of bound bales, piles of stacked lumber, and crated, decorative clay chimney pots. Rounding an aisle they came upon several shiny, mint-new curricles looking a little forlorn without horses attached.

The perfect distraction. Verity walked around one of the vehicles, admiring its shiny black and gold lacquered finish.

‘Do you own a curricle?’ she asked.

‘Do I—?’ His eyes narrowed a little at the abrupt change of subject, but he allowed it. ‘Yes. It’s housed in the mews at the back of the house in St. James’s Square,’ he said, frowning as if in impatience.

‘Excellent,’ she said airily, slipping her arm through his and continuing to walk down the aisle they’d been following. ‘You will be able to teach me to drive it when we reach home. You did lose our bet you know.’

‘You forget nothing, do you?’ he asked, looking down at her with exasperation.

‘No,’ she said sweetly, ‘I do not. Especially when I have been promised something I really want.’

‘And I did lose the bet. All right, I promise to teach you to drive my curricle—heaven help me.’

With a tiny smirk of satisfaction she let him lead her deeper into the maze of stacked merchandise.

They could no longer hear the back and forth bartering of the Captain and the merchant or even the distant noises of the docks drifting in through the open doors at the front of the warehouse.

There wasn”t even a lot of light to see their surroundings. At that realization, Verity turned to point them back the way they had come, but Sin had a firm grip on her arm and tugged her easily behind the last barrier, coil upon coil of ropes of varying thicknesses stacked one upon the other.

But it was instantly obvious Sinner was not interested in rope.

‘Dammit, woman, you turn me inside out,’ he growled softly, pulling her close, cupping her face and covering her mouth with his.

His lips were firm, warm, demanding and her mouth opened as naturally as a daisy to the sun. She was helpless but to respond. His tongue swept past her lips, purloining even her thoughts of resisting.

He demanded her tongue dance with his, taste him as he tasted her, steal his breath and scent as he stole hers. The serious conversation of but a moment before was lost, like smoke on a wafting breeze.

‘This color on you,’ he muttered, loosening the emerald green pelisse so it fell from her shoulders unheeded to the dusty floor, ‘makes your eyes glow like jewels in sunlight.’

He pressed hot, moist kisses to the base of her throat and nuzzled lower, pushing with his mouth at the neckline of her gown.

‘You have no idea how badly I wanted to strip every layer of cloth from your body while I was helping lace you into this gown this morning. I cannot accept your ultimatum, Very. I will not. I”m just giving you warning here.’

His hand slipped into her bodice and found one peaking nipple. With a quick movement of his fingers her breast sat atop her gown and his head dipped before she could respond.

Verity could not utter one word of reprimand or denial as his lips closed over the hardened nipple. All awareness of where they were, or anything beyond the rivulets of fire streaking from her sensuously tormented nipple to her belly, and lower to her woman”s core, had dissipated.

Only Sinner. Her husband. The need. For something.

‘Sinner,’ she whispered, her fingers slipping through the dark silk of his hair and pressing his head, his mouth, closer.

Incoherently begging for more. This—

A deep groan hummed against her nipple and Verity thrust towards his mouth, wanting more of the deep suckling, but he lifted his head and quickly tucked her aching flesh back beneath her bodice, swept up her pelisse off the dusty floor and gave it a quick shake before tossing it around her shoulders.

Her eyes fluttered open, took in a slightly flustered looking Sinclair, noted the coils of rope and other crates stacked around them, heard the odd contrapuntal whistling coming nearer.

They were about to be interrupted. Was this how it was always to be with them? Instinctively, Verity clutched the pelisse about her throat and fumbled with the buttons.

Sin reached up and gently straightened her bonnet, then turned to study the huge variety of ropes, coiled and waiting for purchase.

‘This looks like good hemp,’ he said, fingering a coil of rope almost as thick as his forearm, as if that”s what they’d been discussing all along.

‘There you are,’ Captain Nik said, with the merest glance in Verity”s direction, though she was certain those intelligent black eyes took in every bright blush on her cheeks and speck of dust on her poor, abused pelisse. ‘You”re looking at rope? Since we renewed everything that needed renewing while in dock in London, we surely have no need of more?’

‘I don”t know. It”s good quality,’ Sin said, as if he”d been pondering the merits of good hemp rope.

‘We”ll keep it in mind for later then,’ the Captain interrupted as the merchant who’d followed him, began expounding the quality of rope such as they would find in no other warehouse in Amsterdam. Or London for that matter. Clearly the man sensed the opportunity for further trade,

‘You”re right,’ Sin said, taking Verity”s arm without even glancing at her and leading her past Captain Nik and the merchant, to stroll slowly back down the aisle they’d scarcely looked at on their way to the seclusion at the back of the vast building.

‘You, woman, are dangerous to my sanity and my reputation,’ he told her, as they emerged into the brightness of the street.

‘I didn”t ask you to pursue me,’ she snapped back, stung by the accusatory tone in his voice.

‘Well, that was rude,’ Captain Nik said right behind them, effectively concluding the argument before it could get started.

‘It was,’ Sin muttered and spun on his heel to step back into the warehouse, leaving Verity alone with the Captain.

Apart from his proper congratulations on her marriage this afternoon before they set out to bargain with merchants, the only other contact she’d had with the man was when they were formally introduced at the house party at Pennington Towers and the few moments of fraught silence when he’d gathered his belongings from the cabin before Sin had discovered her presence.

None of which could have prepared her for the harsh admonition that spewed from his lips the moment Sin vanished through the door.

‘You have set a silken trap for Sinner, Lady Verity. He appears to be a willing prisoner, but I warn you, he is my partner and best friend. I will not take it kindly if you damage him with your feminine wiles and manipulations.’

The last word was scarcely out of his mouth before Sin was back, his expression blandly satisfied.

‘There you go. Ruffled feathers smoothed,’ Sin said to the Captain as his glance slid from his friend’s narrowed eyes and lips to Verity”s stormy expression. ‘And it looks like I have more to smooth out here.’

That last had been more of a question and hung in the air between the three of them, waiting like a hidden spider”s web to trap the unwary.

The Captain’s aristocratic nostrils flared and his mouth compressed into a tight line. Verity realized there was more yet he wished to say. He was an incredibly handsome man, his mixed blood giving his features an exotic cast it was difficult to ignore, but he also had the innate superiority of his princely status and she seemed to trigger it.

But she couldn”t allow a falling out between friends over her and she had no intention of trying to defend herself to the man. He”d judged and condemned her on the most flimsy of evidence, unless that was how her husband had presented it to him.

She tilted her chin and felt her own nostrils twitch with anger, but she knew better than to give in to her Davencourt temper.

‘If you gentlemen have further business to conduct, I think I would prefer to return to the ship. Please call whatever constitutes a hack in these parts and I will leave you to your gentlemanly pursuits.’

With one fulminating glare in Nik”s direction, Sin turned back to Verity.

‘I”ve had enough of warehouses and merchants for today. You said you wanted to see the city and how people live in this place. Do you still wish to do that?’

Aware of the astonished glower on the Captain’s face, Verity stared back at her husband, lips compressed while her heart thudded painfully against her ribs. Best friends of long-standing probably never needed to hold back with one another, and Verity knew the Captain was about to give Sin chapter and verse of his shortcomings—or hers—right here on this dockside street.

‘I”m going to hire us an open carriage, and we are going sightseeing,’ Sin said, a steely edge to the words Captain Nik could not miss. ‘You are welcome to come with us.’

Oh no he wasn”t, Verity thought mutinously and then released a rush of breath in relief when he turned down the offer.

‘I believe I”m ready for something a little more stimulating,’ he said. ‘I”ll see you at dinner.’

Without another glance at either of them, the tall, elegant and yet dangerous-looking man strode across the street to what was clearly an inn and disappeared through its doors. He was not what one expected of a ship’s captain, too princely in his bearing, and yet that dangerous edge dared anyone to challenge him.

‘If you wanted to go with him, I could still go back to the ship,’ Verity muttered.

For of course he would normally have gone with his friend and they’d drink to their successes and doubtless enjoy the attention of a willing barmaid or two.

Women would be all over the pair of them.

‘I have a wife now,’ Sin said, his voice oddly flat and calm. ‘He will have to get used to it.’