Read Online I Kissed an Earl: Pennyroyal Green Series by Julie Anne Long - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Julie Anne Long
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here?”
Her silence seemed more reluctant than stubborn. She wasn’t quite certain how to go about telling him. Very well. He would drill it out of her.
“Are you fleeing an arranged marriage?”
“No.”
“Are you with child and intend to cast yourself off the side of my ship out of remorse and shame and a misplaced sense of drama?”
“No!” She didn’t blush, though she sounded appropriately horrified.
“Excellent. So the option of throwing you overboard remains.”
“I—”
“Has anyone in your family beaten or in any way mistreated you, such that you fled pell-mell to the docks to board my vessel, after calculatedly bribing my man in order to take his place?”
“N—”
“Have you fallen in love with Lavay and intend to follow him to the ends of the earth?
“No!”
Though her eyes darted interestingly here.
“Were you perhaps dared by one of your female friends to board this ship?”
“No.”
He glared at her so fiercely, so pointedly, he was astonished a smoking hole didn’t appear between her eyes.
“As much as I’m enjoying this guessing game, Miss Redmond, my time is valuable and I’m needed to command this bloody SHIP.”
Well, then. His temper got hold of him on the last three words. Her eyes widened. Her hands clenched reflexively, he noticed. More impressed with his temper than afraid of it.
Give her time.
Splendid color, he noticed. Those eyes. Crystalline blue, a bit like sunlight glancing off a foaming sea. In the grittier context of a ship, splendid things, grace notes, stood out in stark relief. And introducing feminine splendor and grace into a ship full of splendor-deprived men could spell chaos, if not disaster.
“Miss Redmond.” Heavy as an anvil with irony, those two words. “Do you intend to tell me why you’re on my ship?”
Again, her silence was more recalcitrant than considering. She was still working out her rationale. Women.
“Very well. While you contemplate how to begin telling me your story—for I assure you, you will, and you will tell me the truth—allow me to tell you a few things. Do you have any idea what the presence of a woman such as yourself can do to a crew of men deprived of female companionship for weeks and months at a time, and I do mean ‘companionship’
euphemistically? You’re not precisely ugly.”
Only a blink betrayed that she might be a trifle taken aback.
“Surely flattery is unnecessary, Captain,” she said mildly.
“Oh, I wouldn’t dream of flattering you. I’ve never seen the necessity of flattery and I’m not a frivolous man. The Fortuna is on an important mission, one that will likely be dangerous. I’ve a slim crew of hardworking, skilled men, each of whose full physical and intellectual capacities are needed each minute of each day. And each of them—as they are men—are disposed both to gallantry and, shall we say, animalistic behavior when confronted with a woman and the competition of other men for her attention and favor, regardless of this woman’s family name or the status of her virginity.”
He waited for her to go scarlet.
She did not. But her jaw tensed and there was a definite tightening of the skin about her eyes. Admirable fortitude, or more than her share of bloody cheek. He wasn’t certain which it was.
“The wrong woman could tip the balance disastrously. You, I assure you, are very much the wrong woman. Your appearance could therefore jeopardize my mission and wreak havoc upon my crew, none of whom deserves havoc, or deserves the disturbance of his peace of mind. I thought I would share this on the off chance you possessed a conscience, if not a brain.”
She listened to this, her face going tauter and paler. And she swallowed. Good. Not entirely without a conscience, then.
But he was wrong about the source of the whiteness. He was indeed intimidating. But Violet was angry now, too. And when she was angry, she was reckless.
“Have you so little control over your men,
Her silence seemed more reluctant than stubborn. She wasn’t quite certain how to go about telling him. Very well. He would drill it out of her.
“Are you fleeing an arranged marriage?”
“No.”
“Are you with child and intend to cast yourself off the side of my ship out of remorse and shame and a misplaced sense of drama?”
“No!” She didn’t blush, though she sounded appropriately horrified.
“Excellent. So the option of throwing you overboard remains.”
“I—”
“Has anyone in your family beaten or in any way mistreated you, such that you fled pell-mell to the docks to board my vessel, after calculatedly bribing my man in order to take his place?”
“N—”
“Have you fallen in love with Lavay and intend to follow him to the ends of the earth?
“No!”
Though her eyes darted interestingly here.
“Were you perhaps dared by one of your female friends to board this ship?”
“No.”
He glared at her so fiercely, so pointedly, he was astonished a smoking hole didn’t appear between her eyes.
“As much as I’m enjoying this guessing game, Miss Redmond, my time is valuable and I’m needed to command this bloody SHIP.”
Well, then. His temper got hold of him on the last three words. Her eyes widened. Her hands clenched reflexively, he noticed. More impressed with his temper than afraid of it.
Give her time.
Splendid color, he noticed. Those eyes. Crystalline blue, a bit like sunlight glancing off a foaming sea. In the grittier context of a ship, splendid things, grace notes, stood out in stark relief. And introducing feminine splendor and grace into a ship full of splendor-deprived men could spell chaos, if not disaster.
“Miss Redmond.” Heavy as an anvil with irony, those two words. “Do you intend to tell me why you’re on my ship?”
Again, her silence was more recalcitrant than considering. She was still working out her rationale. Women.
“Very well. While you contemplate how to begin telling me your story—for I assure you, you will, and you will tell me the truth—allow me to tell you a few things. Do you have any idea what the presence of a woman such as yourself can do to a crew of men deprived of female companionship for weeks and months at a time, and I do mean ‘companionship’
euphemistically? You’re not precisely ugly.”
Only a blink betrayed that she might be a trifle taken aback.
“Surely flattery is unnecessary, Captain,” she said mildly.
“Oh, I wouldn’t dream of flattering you. I’ve never seen the necessity of flattery and I’m not a frivolous man. The Fortuna is on an important mission, one that will likely be dangerous. I’ve a slim crew of hardworking, skilled men, each of whose full physical and intellectual capacities are needed each minute of each day. And each of them—as they are men—are disposed both to gallantry and, shall we say, animalistic behavior when confronted with a woman and the competition of other men for her attention and favor, regardless of this woman’s family name or the status of her virginity.”
He waited for her to go scarlet.
She did not. But her jaw tensed and there was a definite tightening of the skin about her eyes. Admirable fortitude, or more than her share of bloody cheek. He wasn’t certain which it was.
“The wrong woman could tip the balance disastrously. You, I assure you, are very much the wrong woman. Your appearance could therefore jeopardize my mission and wreak havoc upon my crew, none of whom deserves havoc, or deserves the disturbance of his peace of mind. I thought I would share this on the off chance you possessed a conscience, if not a brain.”
She listened to this, her face going tauter and paler. And she swallowed. Good. Not entirely without a conscience, then.
But he was wrong about the source of the whiteness. He was indeed intimidating. But Violet was angry now, too. And when she was angry, she was reckless.
“Have you so little control over your men,
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