Page 98 of A Prince Among Pirates
Captain Reggie Sharpe stands in the doorway, staring at me with his deep brown eyes narrowed and a smug little smirk on his face. He’s adopted a casual pose, leaning against the doorjamb with one leg bent. But I know him far too well, and his limbs are just a bit too stiff for him to convince me.
He wears the blue silk ribbon in his hair once more, and my heart skitters excitedly at the sight of it. I told Thomas to give it to him, or at the very least to leave it with the innkeeper for him, and that he’d know what it meant. I’m so glad he did.
I let out a breath and wipe tears from my cheek. “I was afraid you weren’t coming.”
“And miss the chance to watch the bastard Prince of Wales turn to a life of piracy,on purposethis time, right before my eyes?”
I laugh at that, and then he steps forward, and I surge intohis embrace, throwing my arms around his neck. I don’t give him the chance to ask me permission, nor do I concern myself with Thomas’s sensibilities. I lean in and crush my mouth to his, and my captain gives a startled little moan but cups the back of my head and deepens the kiss, holding me tight to him.
When we finally break away, we are both panting—and though I am crying, Sharpe is laughing softly. He wipes my cheek with his thumb and kisses my temple. “Your kohl is smudging,” he murmurs.
“Is that what it’s called?” I ask with a laugh.
“Yes. And you aren’t wearing it correctly.” Then we both laugh, and he kisses me again, before leaning back to look me over. “Your mother’s earrings,” he notices, and I love him for remembering them from her portrait. I nod, and he combs his fingers through my hair. “Very dashing.”
“They hurt terribly,” I say, laughing through my tears.
“That’ll pass,” he promises with a smile.
“I’m so sorry,” I whisper, drawing in a breath that hitches in my throat. “I should never have—”
He brushes my hair back off my forehead, silencing me. “You’ll do better.”
I give a stiff nod. His faith in me is undeserved, but I love him for that, too.
“Reggie.”
With me still in his arms, Sharpe turns to face Mr. Tydes, who looks annoyed that we’re wasting so much time.
“What’s our heading?”
“Portsmouth, to get our men,” Sharpe says.
Mr. Tydes nods and glances at Thomas, lifting a brow and then rolling his eyes, before he steps out of the cabin and begins to bark orders at the ship’s skeleton crew.
I turn in Sharpe’s arms to glance back at Thomas myself. He’s standing beside the bed, holding one of my jackets and juststaringat Captain Sharpe and myself. Maybe I was wrong to ignore his sensibilities. I carefully pull away from Sharpe and turn to face Thomas.
“There’s still time for you to disembark,” I tell him.
Sharpe follows my gaze, as if he hadn’t noticed him there before. He says nothing, though—just waits for Thomas to answer.
Thomas straightens his back and squares his shoulders into perfect posture. “I have no intention of doing that.”
I make my way over to Thomas and take the jacket from him. “I won’t consider it disloyal if you do,” I say to him, my voice low. Though it would pain me to see him leave now, I don’t want him to be uncomfortable. I don’t want him to hate this choice.
He looks at Captain Sharpe and then back to me. “Your Highness, if you think I am shocked by your inclination towards men… I must tell you that you are a great deal less discreet than you think you are.”
Captain Sharpe laughs from behind me, and I whirl to shoot him a silencing look. He smirks at me and saunters farther into the room, instead of cowering away like heshould. I turn back to Thomas, ignoring Sharpe as he begins to rifle through my things.I can see Thomas is staring at him, and I tap his arm. “Ignore him,” I say. “He’s trying to get a rise out of you.”
“It’s working,” Thomas says.
I smile at that. “If you really aren’t bothered by it, I would very much like for you to stay. But I’m not sure you should keep calling me Your Highness.”
“I won’t call you Kit.”
“We can do battle later,” I say with a chuckle. “For now, I think Captain Sharpe owes us a tour of his new ship. And we’ll need to find you a room.”
“Mynew ship?” Sharpe asks with a smirk.
