Free Into His Arms by Paula Reed

so.” She swallowed against the guilt that tightened her throat. It was a lie of omission, no better.
    “Where upon the island lives your aunt?”
    Where? In truth, she had no idea. How large was this island? She chose to elude the question, again forcing back regret for her dishonesty. It was but one among a host of newly committed sins. “She and her husband own a sugar plantation. Winston Hall.”
    “Aye, I know of the place.”
    Giles scrutinized her, and she felt her pulse quicken and her palms turn slick. She wanted for practice at this business of dissembling, and she thought sure he saw straight through to her heart and knew her to be a fraud.
    “There now, you see Giles, she is yet in one piece,” Captain Hampton called merrily as he swept through the door. “I have refrained from swallowing her whole, however tempting a morsel she may be.” In one hand he carried a steaming plate of eggs and dried beef, in the other a tankard of warm milk.
    The smell of food drove every other thought from Faith’s befuddled mind. Her stomach had been empty for well over twenty-four hours, and she rose from her seat, salivating. “Breakfast?” she asked, a bit too eagerly.
    Geoff teased her a bit, waving the plate under her nose. “Hungry, are you?” he asked. He laughed at the almost pained look on her face and offered her the plate.
    Self-restraint aside, she grabbed it, muttered a quick blessing, and took a healthy spoonful even before she sat again. Her eyes closed and a throaty sound of ecstasy slipped through her lips as she swallowed. Her attention was completely absorbed by the meal, or she would have noticed that both men watched her in pure fascination.
    I must be mad, Geoff thought. Her full lips glistened with grease from the eggs, and the pale waves of her hair tumbled down her back away from her angelic face. Her golden lashes rested against her pale pink cheeks in pure delight while she daintily popped a finger in her mouth and savored the flavor that clung to it.
    How did one get a virgin to ask for things she didn’t know about? He glanced over at his friend who laughed silently, sure proof that he had read Geoff’s thoughts.
    “I see she has a healthy appetite,” Giles observed.
    “Aye, for food, anyway,” Geoff sighed.
    The spoon paused halfway to Faith’s mouth, and she ducked her head, embarrassed by her own lack of manners. “Forgive me. I was just so hungry, and the food is delicious. How do you carry enough eggs for all the crew?”
    “We don’t,” Giles explained. “On deck we have chickens. We eat the eggs for the first part of the voyage, and the hens as we near the end.”
    “And the milk?” she asked, draining the last of it from the tankard the captain had brought in with the plate.
    “We keep goats, as well,” Geoff answered.
    “The deck must be a merry place, indeed! If someone could just rinse out one of my dresses, I’d love to go up there. I’ve never been out on the ocean before.”
    The two men exchanged uncomfortable looks. Her fate had been an easy enough matter to decide when only one other besides themselves had seen her, and he only in the dark. Still, the journey would have them at sea nearly a month. They could hardly expect to keep her below deck the whole time.
    Giles spoke first. “Ken is washing out her things. He’ll set them out to dry in the wind. The wool will take a goodly while, but the other will dry soon enough.”
    Geoff’s face took on a grim expression. “Aye, too soon, to be sure.” He turned to Faith. “I’ll see what I can do. Make sure you wear one of those caps, and keep your eyes downcast. I’ll order the men to leave you be, but I doubt they’ll hold for very long. Remember that every smile, every word will be seen as encouragement. In the end, I don’t want to have to kill any of my own crew over you.”
    They were easy enough instructions to follow. What he asked was a demeanor she adopted every time she left her house in her