Free In Too Deep by Cherry Adair

media."
    The pirate gave her a slow, wicked smile. "Want to save water?"
    The room got a lot smaller as he advanced inside. Tally crowded against the open window and clutched a handful of bright cotton drape. Then she realized she must look like one of the heroines in an old 1920s movie. All she needed was to be tied to the railway tracks and have the words spelled across the screen at her feet… "No, Black Bart, not that ." She could practically hear the piano music. She dropped the drapes.
    "There's no shortage of water. Knock yourself out. Did Brian help with your repairs?"
    "Yeah, finally. More thanks, I suspect, to your intervention than to my dubious charm. Looks like I'll be accepting your father's hospitality for a couple days or so until they get the parts ordered."
    "The beach looks worth a lengthy visit."
    "I'm not that much of a sun lizard. Dinner, later?"
    Tally felt each separate beat of her heart under the hand she had up to her throat. "Sure. I'd like that."
    Said the fly to the spider.

Chapter Five
    « ^ »
    The new mast had to be ordered from Papeete.
    Although it had pained him, Michael had made sure there were fist-size holes in the stringer-reinforced GRP hull; the rigging was FUBAR; the ship's radio appeared shorted out, and several dozen 6mm stainless bolts were gone; the sail-drive unit, if anyone was interested enough to check, was out; and he needed a new backup 88-amp-hour, 12-volt battery.
    Appearances were deceiving.
    Right this minute the Nemesis could outsail, outrun, outwit anything in the water.
    Her owner was as adept with a screwdriver as he was with a Sig Sauer automatic. By the time he'd spent an hour "helping" Brian's guys fix his boat, they had all but begged him to go away and leave them to their jobs.
    Now all Michael had to do was wait.
    There was plenty to do. A thorough recon of the island was in order. He had to know exactly where Church had the arms hidden. It was tempting to blow the entire island to hell. But there were innocent civilians living here. And he wasn't a murderer. He was here for justice. Not wholesale slaughter.
    Michael rolled over on the fiber mat, the sun hot on his back. Anyone looking would believe he had nothing better to do than laze about all day. Later he'd continue romancing Tally Ho.
    If ever a woman was having second thoughts it was Church's daughter; he'd seen it in her eyes. Oh, she'd enjoyed the hell out of their wild monkey sex last night. But in the clear light of day she was remembering she wasn't "that sort of girl." It wouldn't be hard to change her mind. Last night had merely whetted her appetite. He had a few more tricks of his own with the pubococcygeal muscle he was eager to show her.
    However innocently it had begun, she had instigated their first mattress tango. What man wouldn't say hoo-yah to waking to find a half-naked woman sprawled on top of him?
    Yet her morning-after honesty had surprised him.
    He'd expected recriminations, and the excuse that she'd been too sleepy to think clearly; or that he'd forced himself on her. Instead, while she'd been sweetly embarrassed by her enthusiastic response, she'd been clear-eyed and frank.
    A small part of his brain reminded him she was as guiltless as the islanders. But he pushed it aside. He could have no qualms about using Tally Cruise in whatever way was necessary to make Church's downfall a reality.
    The sex was an added bonus he'd not expected.
    He hadn't had sex in over a year. Hadn't had the interest. Even though he'd met all shapes, sizes, and colors of women in his travels. He hadn't given enough of a damn to make the effort.
    His focus was revenge. Blood lust had blinded him, and had effectively turned off his sex drive.
    Yet here was plain little Tally Cruise, with her lush mouth, and innocent face. And a year's worth of pent-up lust rushed at him like a freight train. Go figure.
    He could turn it off, of course. But why the hell should he?
    Just thinking about her taut, toned, lanky