Free Brazen Temptress by Elizabeth Boyle Page B

invitation to dine with him tonight but her father had put his foot down and said no before she could utter a word.
    She couldn't fathom why her father had suddenly seemed to change his opinion of Captain de Ryes — at least when it came to her visiting his ship.
    "I'll not have ye over there alone, lass," he'd told her sternly. "Not until we know his intentions."
    And Maureen knew better than to challenge her father when he made such an adamant decision. Especially when his tone clearly stated that he'd brook no resistance on her part.
    Just what intentions her father had been inferring she didn't ask. She knew only too well what she hoped for.
    More of Julien's kisses.
    A wave sloshed against the ship, and she watched its movement as it rolled from the bowline across the water until it touched the
Destiny.
    There in the shadows of the other ship, she saw movement, a boat being lowered quietly, and a single occupant rowing toward her.
    She smiled slowly, hugging her arms around herself.
Julien!
    Rolling onto her side, she watched his silent progress across the narrow channel between them. He'd obviously wrapped his oars with cloth to muffle their sound, for if she hadn't seen him, she certainly would never have heard his approach.
    She glanced up at the watch on the deck and the man in the mizzenmast. Neither seemed to have noticed Julien's approach.
    Her father would have their heads if he knew. Not that she was going to tell him about this obvious breach.
    "Maureen," Julien whispered as his boat came up underneath her position. "Climb down. Come with me."
    She resisted the urge to leap directly into the rocking boat below her. "My father said I couldn't go over to your ship alone. I gave him my word."
    Julien grinned up at her. "I know. That's why we are going ashore."
    At this Maureen nodded. She hadn't promised not to go ashore alone with Julien, and in a flash she clambered down a line to join him.
    In a few quiet strokes, he took them out from under the shadow of the
Forgotten Lady
and closer to shore.
    "Why aren't you wearing the dress I gave you?" he teased.
    " 'Tis too fine."
    He'd taken them down shore from where the two boats were moored, just out of sight of the watch. The rowboat bumped up against the sand, and she jumped out automatically and grabbed the line to pull the boat in farther.
    "Perhaps that dress is too fine," he said with a small laugh.
    She stopped herself and realized that most ladies did not leap from the boat until it was safely ashore. Hardly the action of the type of woman he was probably used to.
    Maureen was glad for the darkness, for she knew she was blushing. She was a fool to think a man of breeding like Julien de Ryes would ever want anything from her that he couldn't get for a few gold coins at any dockside.
    Hell, being such a handsome devil, coins were probably unnecessary.
    They walked along the sandy beach for a few feet, Maureen stalking ahead and Julien following with a blanket in hand.
    "Maureen, look at me," he said to her. "I like it that you can handle a boat, that you don't go into vapors at the sight of maggots, that you can climb rigging and trim sails better than any man aboard your father's ship or mine."
    "But I'm not a lady," she whispered.
    "Oh, but you are. That dress may not seem right now, but one day you'll wear it and put every other woman to shame. I would bet if you arrived in London, you would be dubbed the newest Original. Not a debutante in town could hold a candle to you. You have a fire in your soul that makes you more of a woman than any amount of finishing school or silk gowns can add."
    "I doubt that. I was in London for a time, and no one seemed to notice me."
    "I would have."
    Even in the darkness she could see the intensity of his gaze. It burned over her, and for a moment she saw that to him it mattered not that she was a sunburned, rough-edged lass in breeches, not a lady, manor-born and dressed in pale muslin. He didn't care that her hair smelled