Free The Accidental Courtesan by Cheryl Ann Smith

eagerly. “Yes, please.”
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    G avin watched her pale face turn animated. She colored with a light blush, obviously excited at the prospect of putting her pretty little feet on the deck of a ship. Most women saw ships as a means to get from one place to another and thought of little beyond that. Noelle seemed intrigued by the ship itself. He realized that besides his aching attraction for her, there was much about her to like.
    â€œThen let us proceed.” Gavin took her elbow and led her outside. The bright sun had moved temporarily behind a fluffy cloud. He wondered what she was thinking beneath the shadows produced by her bonnet. Everything about her puzzled him. One minute she looked like she wanted to lick cream off his chest, then the next, like she wished to put a bullet between his eyes and be done with him.
    He much preferred the former.
    Gavin chose the three-masted schooner less for its interesting lines than for the fact that it was currently unoccupied by workers. The ship belonged to a duke and had taken a beating during a stormy journey to Paris. Gavin had refitted the damaged pieces, and it would be sent off to Dover in the morning. It was the perfect place to get the lovely lady alone.
    It had come as a surprise to see her alight from the rented hackney in her drab costume. Gavin knew she’d been avoiding him. To see her arrive at his shipyard unattended by a chaperone had almost cost him his footing, and quite possibly his neck.
    Not that he was complaining, mind you. Her scent mingled with the salty sea air and teased his nose. He’d never thought sea salt and spice and fruit could arouse him until his cock twitched beneath his dirty breeches. The combination stirred up images of her in his bed, kissing him with that delicious mouth of hers. He was beyond tempted to taste her again, if only to assure himself she was not some heated daydream about to dissipate on the wind.
    Noelle lifted her face to the breeze, and her bonnet fluttered. He caught a brief glimpse of her pert little nose and fine angled features as the bonnet blew backward against the tightly tied ribbons beneath her chin. Just as quickly, the wind died, and the bonnet returned to its previous position.
    Gavin wanted to snatch it from her head to expose her face, and to crush the unflattering bonnet beneath his boot. He was stopped from doing so by fear of retribution from the petite miss. If he angered her and she ran back to the waiting hackney, then he might never discover the reason for her visit.
    And he was nearly expiring from curiosity.
    â€œI own the land from the warehouse down there”—he paused and pointed to the low, squat building perched on the end of the row, then turned in the other direction—“to just beyond the ketch with the pink sail.”
    Noelle screwed up her mouth, and Gavin chuckled at her puzzlement. “The marquis who owns it wants to present the boat to his wife for her birthday. He spent a sizable chunk of his fortune getting the sail tinted her favorite color.”
    Her amber eyes softened. “He must love her very much.”
    Gavin shrugged. It wasn’t his business why the marquis had requested a pink sail. The money was good, and he’d have outfitted it with black dots had the marchioness liked dots. “She just presented him with an heir. Had the babe been a girl, she might have gotten a tea service.”
    Clearly she didn’t like his comment. “Are you always so unromantic, Mister Blackwell? In spite of the practice of chaining men and women together for financial or social gain, some people do find love and happiness in their marriages.”
    The lovely lady was a romantic. A surprise, for Lady Seymour seemed more of a practical sort. He knew very few couples who had genuine love and grand passion after their weddings, and none since his arrival in London. Most couples tolerated each other and found happiness outside their marriages with