She laughed. “It was yours.”

“No, as soon as it’s on your body, it becomes yours.”

“Does that include you? I did notice you were a nice fit.”

“Do you really need to ask?”

She grinned at him. “But don’t expect me to be giving you any apologies in return. Nearly three weeks wasted when we could have been having that delightful time sooner if you—” Her eyes flared with sudden realization. “You weren’t going to, were you? Ever?”

“Resisting you has been the hardest thing I’ve ever done, but I actually wanted your father’s blessing—”

“Oh, good God. Now you’re talking about never!” She rolled her eyes at him. “It’s a good thing I forced your hand then, isn’t it? So we’ll have some fun for the duration, then go our separate ways afterward, and you will never think again about doing the noble with my father. Really, he’s not a normal parent by any means, and I don’t want you dead anymore.”

He leaned over and kissed her hard before he got up and walked to the chest at the foot of the bed. “It’s adorable that you think you can control my actions, Jack, but you really can’t.”

She would have frowned at him, but she’d just gotten dazzled by the sight of his bare arse, such a manly shape, nicely rounded, tightly formed.

“Latch the door behind me, change into your usual, then meet me on the quarterdeck for breakfast.”

She huffed as she got out of bed. They weren’t done with that conversation, but they didn’t need to have it today. She rinsed off at the water bowl, then dressed in her clean britches and tossed the pair she’d worn yesterday on the bed for Jackie to wash with the sheets. She stared at those sheets for only a moment, deciding she’d pull Jackie’s ears if he mentioned the blood.

Stepping out of the room a while later, she was just in time to see Jeremy and Percy coming up the stairs from below. Two guards preceded them, and Mortimer and another guard came up behind them. Once they came up to the quarterdeck, the guards stationed themselves at the top of both sets of stairs leading up there. Well, of course it would need to appear that Jeremy and Percy were being let out under armed guard. She glanced across the main deck and saw no pirates on it yet, so she gave the two a bright smile when they reached her.

“Good morning!”

“We shall hope,” Percy replied.

“Join the captain, Percy,” Jeremy said as he put an arm around Jacqueline to detain her. “I need a word with my ‘happy’ sister.” That should have given her a clue, but he added the moment Percy left them, “I know that look.”

“What look?”

“Of a sexually fulfilled woman. I’m going to have to kill him now.”

His expression told her he meant it, but she still snorted at him. “No, you aren’t, since I’m the one who started it, and I’m not the least bit sorry that I did. It’s not going to be the last time, either.”

“The devil it won’t be. The alliance didn’t include you as the spoils.”

She chuckled. “You need to rephrase that since he’s the spoils, not I.”

He narrowed his cobalt eyes, warning her, “You can’t keep him like a pet, Jack. That’s one mutt Father won’t let in the house.”

“Good grief, is that what concerns you? I don’t want to keep him, I just want to enjoy him for a while. There’s nothing permanent about a dalliance. So stop being a hypocrite, or do I need to remind you that I’m our father’s daughter and he was the most notorious rake ever? You were a womanizer of the extraordinary sort yourself. If you think only men can—”

“You know bloody well it’s different for a woman.” His tone was quite angry. “I get called a bachelor, you get called—”

“Don’t say it!”

“And yet there’s a reason why there’s no female equivalent for the masculine term rake. I rest my case.”

She rolled her eyes. “Lucky for me it’s not your decision, it’s mine. So stop begrudging me this little bit of fun, Jeremy, and let it go.”

His answer was to go over to the wheel and punch Damon in the gut. “You should have resisted, mate.”

Damon grunted, bent over. “I tried—and failed, so I’ll allow you one.”

“I know she was the instigator, but there’ll be more’n one if it happens again.”

Jacqueline ran over to them. “You win, Jeremy. For the sake of peace, I’ll stay out of his bed.” She didn’t blush, neither did her brother. But Percy did, which almost made her laugh. But Jeremy was giving her such a doubtful look that she was forced to add in a growl, “You have utterly ruined my mood, thank you very much. And don’t think I’ll forgive you for this interference. Now can we form a plan before Lacross’s men come on deck and try to eavesdrop or, worse, put their own plan in motion?”

Chapter Thirty-Eight

SO DO WE JUST grab them as they come on deck?” Jeremy asked.

“That would be ideal except ever since they started making attempts to get at Jack and I’ve had to fight them off, they’ve become wary of me and Mort. They never trusted me, but now they are fully alert, watching and waiting for me to try something. They might entrench themselves down there in the crew’s quarters if any of their mates don’t return, and we definitely don’t want that to happen. They’ll have cover, weapons, all our food, and they can hold my helmsman hostage. As long as they have him, they can sail the ship without me.”

“So we have to get all of them up here. I see three of them now.”

“Take a stroll with your guards,” Damon suggested. “They’ll stay close to you for the sake of appearances. The pirates need to think you’re only up here for exercise. They should steer clear of you after you took down so many of them in London. Then again, they are an aggressive bunch of thugs and might want a little payback, so be careful.”

“Or I can knock a few out just on principle. I’m due some payback as well.”

Damon grinned. “Feel free to knock out as many—actually, don’t. That could backfire on us. If it looks like you want to fight, they might shoot you before you reach them. Lord Percival, on the other hand, won’t concern them.”