Free Too Great a Temptation by Alexandra Benedict

grip, went flying through the air, piercing the opposite wall.
    Clutching a small cluster of hair in her palm, Mirabelle whirled around to confront the hulking figure towering above her.
    She was thunderstruck, met by a tangle of dark curls swirling across a strapping chest. She had never seen Damian like this before, his shirt wide open, his lengthy, raven black locks fanning free. He was too ruggedly handsome for words, leaving her belly in knots at the sight of him.
    “What are you doing here?” she demanded, flustered.
    “I’ve come to study the sea charts. What the hell do you think you’re doing?”
    “Get out, Damian.” She averted her stormy eyes. “This doesn’t concern you.”
    Turning quickly, she went over to the other side of the room and jerked the embedded blade from the wall. She didn’t want Damian to see any more of her tears—or the blush that had adorned her cheeks at the sight of him so scantily attired.
    His rough voice faded to a husky whisper. “What’s wrong, Belle?”
    She faced him again, confident her flushed cheeks had lost some color. But one look at his muscled form, and a spark flared deep in her belly. She wondered, unabashed, what it would feel like to rake her fingers through the matted curls on his chest…or to have those lush and arrogant lips pressed hard over hers.
    And then she remembered the bounder didn’t want her, that he didn’t find her the least bit interesting, and she promptly pushed her absurd yearnings aside.
    “It seems I’m too beautiful,” she said, her remark smothered in sarcasm, for she didn’t feel the least bit pretty at the moment, her eyes all puffy and swollen from tears, pieces of her hair hacked away. And knowing Damian didn’t think very much of her, either, made her feel even worse. It appeared only her brothers thought her a temptation, but since they were her brothers, their opinions didn’t count. All doting brothers thought their sisters comely and a target for seduction.
    It didn’t bode well for her dream, she realized, that her kin believed her too attractive to remain aboard ship. No one else considered her fair, but her blind brethren continued to insist she was a menace to the crew with her “charming” good looks. If she didn’t change their minds about the matter soon, she just might find herself dropped back on England’s shore—for good.
    “I have to do away with my beauty, you know?” She walked over to the mirror again, knife in hand. “Tars aboard the Bonny Meg must be ugly. Captain’s order.”
    She lifted the blade to her scalp once more.
    Robust fingers latched onto her wrist.
    “You’ll do no such thing,” Damian admonished, the low timbre of his voice prickling her spine.
    She gazed up at him. Piece by piece he took her apart with those heavenly blue eyes. It was as if he could see right inside her heart.
    She didn’t care about his mysterious past right then. Her absurd yearning was back. The yearning to be wanted—even if by him. She was just so tired of being tossed away all the time. Of being told there was something wrong with her. There was a desperate need inside her for acceptance, a need to belong.
    But she would never belong in Damian’s arms, she told herself. It was too great a risk. A risk of the heart. One she wasn’t willing to take. Besides, the oaf didn’t want her, remember?
    She twisted her wrist free of his grip. “Get out, Damian.”
    His sensuous sapphire eyes flared. “Give me the knife.”
    Taking a few steps back, she tried to ignore the jitters in her belly. “I will not.”
    His hand came out. “The knife.”
    “Forget it.” She clasped the blade’s handle even harder. “I have to do this. Don’t pretend like you give a damn.”
    He took a daunting step forward. “And what does that mean?”
    The butterflies wreaked havoc on her insides. “I know you don’t care about what happens to me. You just want me off this ship and rotting on land with some oaf of a