Read Online Duke by Day, Rogue by Night by Katherine Bone - Free Book Online

stood, he glanced back at the bunk, and then to the floor. He was in no condition or frame of mind to sleep on the floor. He needed a real bed, no matter that it was already occupied. The fact that he’d have to share it with Simon’s niece pricked his conscience. But the opportunity to share his body heat with someone who could reciprocate, especially if that person was a beautiful female, was irresistibly appealing.
    What would Lady Constance do if she awoke and discovered him lying naked beside her? She already thought him a monster, a debaser of women. He chuckled softly. As captain, he had rights. Rights he was more than eager to exact if his moral compass allowed him.
    Constance shivered. He slipped under the covers and pulled her against him. She shifted, positioning her upper leg over his. The intimate gesture ignited his senses, filling his loins with undeniable fire.
    Sleep would elude him — again.

CHAPTER FOUR
    Percy lay awake for four torturous hours, ever mindful of the slightly shivering form at his side, Lady Constance, the untouchable female that helped him understand the error in baiting a dog. Except, he was the dog and she was the tempting morsel.
    He lay there in the stillness agonizing over each breath she breathed, feather-light, tickling hairs on his chest where her head relaxed against his skin. The seconds felt like hours as they ticked slowly by. Every now and again, her fingers would flex, grazing his stomach, shooting sparks of pleasure from the top of his head to the tips of his toes. Still, he lay there, unwilling to move should the leg, draped over his lower regions, make him all the more eager to sample her angelical flesh. He was hungry. Hungry for what he could not take. Hungry for what every ounce of his being knew he could not have. He was not used to waking up next to a woman or, for that matter, sleeping with a woman of rank. As a general rule, his dalliances had been quick, impersonal. Here, in his arms, however, lay the conundrum. Constance made him face the truth. He was a man with needs and vengeance had denied him the one thing a man should have at his side — a good woman.
    Under Simon Danbury’s service for nearly ten years as a member of Nelson’s Tea, Percy could not fault his commander for the predicament he found himself in. Simon was an excellent leader, well-known, especially to those who defied the law. Under his tutelage, he’d become a force to be reckoned with. Indeed, he owed Simon his utmost allegiance. And he’d shown it. For Simon’s sake, for Lady Constance’s sake, he’d killed Frink, severing ties that lead him to those responsible for Celeste’s death. Though he’d been chastised for pursuing Frink’s benefactor for nearly a year, he’d also been given the authority and leave to do so. Simon backed his mission. He trusted Percy’s instincts even though he did not approve of the risks Percy took to find absolution.
    Now, in this bed, within his arms, he held the one person Simon cherished above all others. Though he wanted to wake her, seduce her, make her his, to do so meant destroying Constance’s future and fracturing Simon’s trust. But, he was just a man. A man who’d followed men into hell. A man who’d mutinied and jeopardized the lives of his men for a blonde-haired angel. Didn’t he deserve a reward?
    Constance moaned against him. Percy glanced down at her tussled mane and touched her golden hair. The filaments streamed across his chest and entwined within his fingers, foreign as silk, reminding him that he knew nothing at all about the lithe woman in his arms, but her name.
    Who was Lady Constance Danbury? What led her to lie about her name? What made her think pretending to be Admiral Duncan’s daughter would spare her life? And what had she been doing on board the Octavia without protection?
    The stubborn woman couldn’t even swim. In fact, she was afraid of the