Free Falling for the Pirate by Amber Lin

schoolgirl. “How old is she? Think , man. This is important.”
    “I don’t know. Nineteen?”
    Relief flooded him. He wasn’t sure, exactly, at what age he would have called off his plan. Would he have balked if she were seventeen? Lord knew he had been younger than that.
    “Find out everything you can about her.”
    Santiago nodded as Mrs. Wheaton came into the room. She was quiet on her feet, but they both heard her just the same, their instincts honed for survival. They shared that. They shared more than that, although neither of them ever discussed it.
    Nate watched Santiago, feeling an unfamiliar kinship. He had his partners in Fortune Investments, and his employees in his various companies. He had his officers and crew on Nightingale , both the adults and the boys. But he wouldn’t call any of them friends. He didn’t make friends, preferring the easy drift of solitude. He wouldn’t call Santiago a friend, either—he was more of a brother.
    A brother who was interested in Mrs. Wheaton.
    The realization startled Nate because they had disliked each other from first sight. But it was clear now, it was only Mrs. Wheaton who disliked Santiago. The way he was looking at her—that was more than male appreciation. It was longing, and Nate’s chest hurt just to see it.
    “Will Mr. Perez stay for tea?”
    She asked the question to Nate, her gaze trained on him…nowhere near Santiago. His heart sank. If anyone deserved to find contentedness, it was Santiago. But it appeared he wouldn’t find it here.
    “I don’t think so,” Nate said.
    “Very good.”
    Nate pretended not to notice the way Santiago’s gaze remained on his housekeeper until she left the room.
    …
    Julia spent the afternoon reading. The book.
    She started at the beginning, because she wanted to understand how a pious monk could end up in such a predicament. Indeed, he was introduced as the noblest of men. He had been raised and educated in a monastery. There was even a boy, an apprentice of sorts, who looked up to the monk with respect approaching idolatry.
    The fire filled her bedroom with a cozy warmth. She had a blanket thrown over her feet. And still, she shivered.
    Because she suspected what was coming. When the boy declared, “How willingly would I declare the secret which bows me down with its weight! But Oh! I fear! I fear!”
    And the Friar answered, “What, my Son?”
    To the Friar’s immense shock and dismay, the boy turned out to be a woman. She had dressed as a boy because it was the only way to gain entrance to the monastery. She had lied to him, and he was not happy about that.
    It all sounded too familiar .
    But the monk’s anger dissipated under the onslaught of his carnal desires. As Julia read on, she became engrossed in the book, and so focused that she almost didn’t hear the faint knock on the door. Stuffing the book beneath the chair’s cushion, she called, “Come in.”
    Mrs. Wheaton carried in yet another gown, this one a deep shimmering green with cream undertones, another one far too extravagant to accept. But the only things Julia had to wear.
    “I’ve come to help you get ready for supper,” the housekeeper said.
    Supper with Captain Bowen. After she had read those wicked words. And knowing he had probably also read them, since she’d found the book in his study.
    She felt faint.
    Mrs. Wheaton helped arrange her hair atop her head with curls dangling down. The gown seemed exorbitant for her position—where even rags would have been a gift.
    The captain stood when she entered the room, and escorted her to her seat. He asked questions about her preferences, which she didn’t know, and laughed when she guessed wrong—it turned out she did not care for beef liver.
    The whole situation felt like a fairy tale from a book. Which was how she knew it was wrong.
    She might call him a pirate in her head, but he was captain of his own ship, an important man of power and commerce. He was master of this house, even