Free The Treasure Hunter's Lady by Allison Merritt Page A

slide. This time. Yet he saw no reason to let her get away with thinking all was well.
    Romy tried to straighten. "Yes, you’ve made that quite clear. Unhand me, sir."
    "I’d tell you to toss her, Captain,” Abel drawled. She gasped, eyes going round at his words. “But I have a fondness for her I can’t explain." He glared at her. "Especially after she whacked me on the noggin last night. If she can pay, I see no reason not to let her. It’d be a mess, trying to explain the loss to her father."
    Van Buren cocked an eyebrow. "Aye, and who’s that?"
    "Dr. Maggard Farrington."
    The captain's hand slackened. Romy staggered. He stared at her. " The Dr. Farrington?"
    She started to speak, but Abel cut her off. “The one and only,” he confirmed.
    "I’ll leave you to her, then." The captain stopped short and winked. "Don’t be rocking the ship, eh, Abel?"
    Romy rolled her eyes. "Ha, ha. Aren’t you clever? Brute."
    The captain bounded up the narrow stairs, laughing to himself. Romy rubbed the toe of her boot along a deep scratch on the plank floor, as though someone had bidden her to determine how it had come to be there.
    For the life of him, Abel couldn’t figure why she’d boarded the Ursula Ann . Unless she planned to kill him this time. The silence stretched out and it became clear she wasn’t going to volunteer the information. "What are you doing here?"
    She raised her chin. “Stopping you from getting your dirty hands on the treasure.”
    That again. “You couldn't do that from your daddy's camp?”
    “He told me I couldn't go with him.”
    Her voice was wounded. He figured she'd never been told she couldn't go on an expedition. For once, Maggard was showing some sense. Romy didn't have any business roaming a land where Indians and soldiers were always at war and deadly mystical serpents were rumored to reign.
    “So you stowed away.” Abel rubbed his sore temple. “I don't know why I didn't let him toss you.”
    She smiled, but it was weak. “Because you like me in spite of the fact that I have to stop you.”
    “You aren't going to stop me. I don't have a choice in this matter.”
    She frowned, obviously confused by his words. “That's what Papa said. Why do you have to do it? Who's making you?”
    Farrington hadn't confided in her. No real surprise there. “Never mind. Do you still have the things you stole from me?”
    Color stained her cheeks. “Maybe.”
    Leaning against the door jamb, he studied her in the tight pants. She was slender and leggy, but a narrow waist blossomed into curvy hips, giving her away as a woman. He didn't believe for a second that Van Buren thought she was a boy. Only a fool would fail to notice her figure.
    “You may as well come in. No sense standing out there where anyone could hear our business.” He turned sideways in the narrow doorway.
    “Thank you.”
    She attempted to squeeze by him, her body pressed against his. He heard her soft gasp, felt the pause as she lingered against him, soft and female. For a second, he considered kissing her, but this wasn't the same woman he'd danced with last night. She'd changed the moment she found out what he was after. And that made her dangerous. Still, he couldn't deny that he liked the adventurous side of her. With a small grunt, she forced her way past him.
    He hid his smile behind his hand by pretending to scratch his cheek. “I suppose I owe you some gratitude for not shooting me.”
    “I did you a favor by sparing your life,” she agreed, looking around the tiny cabin. Disgust was evident on her face.
    “No wonder you haven't found a husband, darlin'. Attitude like that.”
    She went from embarrassed to flat-out angry in the space of two heartbeats. Abel couldn’t hold his smirk back any longer. He could hardly wait to hear her retort.
    She drew herself up, looking proud and important, or at least trying to. “I'll have you know as of last night, I'm engaged to be married.”
    He scratched at his ear. “Sorry, I