Free Dawson Bride (Wolf Brides Book 3) by T. S. Joyce Page B

of a vial of ink and small box of charcoal clung to the bottom. I drew back the thin, wooden cover and writing was sprawled across the first page in heavy, hurried hand.
     
    Luc,
    I’m sorry I wasn’t there in time today. I wanted to surprise you with this but when I looked up, you were gone. I found the drawings you did of your brother in Doc’s house and thought you could use something to take up time while you’re on the ship.
    Gable
     
    He’d seen the drawings I’d done of Bryant? When? Had he looked at them while I was sleeping in Doc’s cottage? I wanted to feel violated, but he’d given me a gift as a direct result of his findings. I reread the letter. That’s where he’d gone off to earlier. Gable hadn’t abandoned me. He was purchasing a meaningful gift and everything went wrong in a bout of impeccably bad timing. I touched my lips with the tips of bare fingers. He’d kissed me because he cared about me. Not because of what I looked like or how prominent my name. The wolf sat down and cocked its head to the side.
    “What’re you looking at?” I grumbled, turning away until my back was to him.
    The cool wood of the ship pressed against my cheek and I hugged the little book to me. His thoughtful note and gift would get me through the trials to come. I wished I’d given him a token of my affection back, but something told me he didn’t need it. He’d unwaveringly called me his woman since the day he met me. I didn’t have a clue what that meant, but he felt strongly enough about me that he’d risked everything to save my miserable life, to break me out of that jail, and get me aboard a boat safely.
    I wasn’t alone anymore thanks to his letter.
    I had a piece of my stranger.

Chapter Eight
    Lucianna
     
    Every time the boat rocked, my hammock would come terrifyingly close to the wolf’s cage. He waited with his muzzle through the bars like I was a pig in a blanket dangled temptingly above him. The sleep I did manage involved dreams of him gnawing off my arm while I slumbered. All in all, it was a relaxing first night on the Anna Gale. Was it too soon to start marking off my days with white chalk against the wall of the hull?
    It had taken a significant amount of time to figure out how to pour my stiffened body into the hanging cocoon in the first place, and getting out of it proved just as difficult. My hands and knees hit the unforgiving floorboards and I yelled out. I rubbed the sore spots but it didn’t help like I’d hoped. The wolf only stared with one side of his lip drawn up enough for me to see a few of his weapons. He jerked his head well before a shadow thieved the early morning light from the doorway above.
    “Hello,” Captain Kelley yelled down. “Are you decent?”
    “Yes,” I called.
    “Pity.” He jumped over the last three stairs with a thud. “Cook made breakfast and I wrangled some away from the men before they ate it all. Here.” He set the plate on top of one of the boxes of wine. “Find me when you’re done and I’ll give you the grand tour of my Anna Gale.”
    “Thank you for coming to help save me last night.”
    “Don’t mention it. No really, don’t. I have a reputation to uphold. Besides, I haven’t had that much fun in a week, at least.” He frowned at the snarling wolf. “Gable was always fun to find trouble with.”
    Salted pork and fried eggs covered the plate and I ate them quickly in my rush to see the ship. A quick look in my small mirror and a splash of canteen water over my face and I was ready to brave walking past the wolf in my journey to the steep wooden steps that would lead me to sea air soaked daylight. I didn’t have to worry about wearing my hat on the boat. I couldn’t hide my hair when the wind would steal the covering from me the first chance it got to throw a hefty gust my way.
    The deck was awash with the furious movement of working sailors. One man sat on the deck with an awl and repaired a ripped sail, while another slid down