“It looks like you two should repair to your cabin,” Richard Allen said with a roguish grin as he came up beside them. “Want me to take the wheel?”

“Nonsense, we"re not newlyweds anymore,” Drew began, but Gabby had turned around to hug him close and he groaned, “Actually . . .”

She laughed and tickled Drew out of that thought. She could tease, too, but she didn"t usually get away with that kind of teasing because she tended to get carried away whenever she was this close to her husband.

“Just yell if you change your mind,” Richard offered, adding with a chuckle before he headed down to the lower deck, “I know I would!”

Gabrielle stared after him. Her dear friend had lived nearly half his life in the Caribbean, at least the half that she knew about, and obviously he was feeling the same chill in the air that she was. He was wearing a greatcoat! Where the devil had he got such an English-looking garment as that?

Tall, excessively handsome, a daring young man—maybe a little too daring—but so charming in his humor . . . it was a wonder that Gabrielle had never been attracted to Richard and that they"d become close friends instead. He wore his black hair so long he had to queue it back. A thin mustache gave him quite a rakish look, and his green eyes usually sparkled with laughter.

Richard had been much slimmer when she first met him four years ago. But now at twenty-six his body had filled out and become more muscular. He kept himself meticulously clean.

From his hair to his clothes, right down to his polished high boots, he"d always stood out among the other pirates.

He"d joined her father"s pirate crew not long after he"d arrived in the Caribbean from—no one knew from where. Most pirates never said where they hailed from, just as most of them used fake names, which they changed frequently. Jean Paul was the fake name Richard used most often, and for the longest time he"d been practicing a French accent to go with the name and always sounded so funny using it! It had taken him a long time to master the accent, but as soon as he did, he stopped using it and the French name as well. He just hadn"t been willing to give up until he"d got it right, then he"d happily set it aside as something he"d accomplished.

Her father hadn"t been a typical pirate though. He"d turned more or less into a middleman who took hostages from other pirates and ransomed them back to their families. The hostages whose families couldn"t afford the ransom, he simply let go. In the interim, he"d hunted for treasure!

But after spending months in the dungeon of a real pirate last year, Nathan no longer associated with his old comrades. Gabrielle"s marrying into a legitimate shipping family who considered pirates their enemies might have influenced that decision, too. He still hunted for treasure though, and occasionally took a commission of cargo from Skylark, the shipping line that Drew"s family owned—if the cargo was to be delivered in the direction of whichever treasure clue he was currently chasing down.

Deep in thought, she hadn"t noticed Richard walk over to the rail on the lower deck. But she saw him there now, staring in the direction of England. Once he"d stopped using that silly French accent, it had been obvious that he was an Englishman. But then she"d long ago guessed as much because of all the times he"d slipped with “bloody hell” or other notable English expressions.

But even though he now sounded like a true Englishman, he"d never admitted he was English, and she"d never pointedly asked—for one good reason. Men who became pirates were usually hiding from something in their past, sometimes from the law, and Richard had been uneasy about going to England with her last year. He"d put a good face on it, had been his usual carefree, teasing self, but when he hadn"t known she was watching him, she"d sensed his

. . . what? Worry? Dread? Fear of being hauled off to the nearest prison over past deeds? She had no clue. Then he"d met Georgina Malory, and Gabrielle’s worry had taken precedence.

But looking at him now, she couldn"t miss the sudden change in his demeanor, the profound melancholy that surrounded him. She suspected he was thinking of Georgina again, and all the doubts that Gabrielle had been having since they set sail returned tenfold.

“How did we let him talk us into bringing him along to England?” She said it to herself, but Drew followed her gaze and snorted. “Because he"s your best friend.”

She turned around to assure Drew, “You"re my best friend now.”

“I"m your husband, he"s still your best friend. And you let your other best friend, Ohr, convince you that Richard isn"t really in love with my sister. You know, Gabby,” Drew abruptly added with a narrowing of his dark eyes, “you have too many male friends.” She laughed at her husband"s flare of jealousy, which took her mind off Richard and the dilemma he presented. While Drew was looking down at her, even with that scowl, feigned or not, she couldn"t resist leaning up to kiss him. She loved him so much, it really was hard to keep her hands off him for long, and he felt the same way about her.

“Stop that,” he warned huskily, “or I"m going to have to take Richard up on his offer to man the wheel.”

She grinned. That wasn"t such a bad idea. Cuddling up with Drew in their cabin was certainly preferable to thinking about Richard walking into a death trap in England.

But that death trap continued to loom in her mind because Drew said, “A better question would be, how did you talk me into letting those two come along on this trip?” She turned back around so he wouldn"t see her wince over that. As much as she loved Ohr and Richard like family, she regretted letting them come along.

But she reminded Drew, “It was a spur-of-the-moment decision and you know it. I"d told Richard no all those months ago when we started talking about this trip and he asked to come along. But then my father broke his leg right before we sailed, which is going to keep him and his crew at home for a month or two, and you know how a crew can get in trouble if they"re landlocked too long with nothing to do.”

“Yes, but those two could have found something to do—admit it, your father wanted them to come along as your watchdogs again. He doesn"t trust me to take care of you yet.”

“You don"t really think that when he"s so delighted with you as his son-in-law? Besides, he didn"t ask me to bring them along, though he probably would have if he"d thought of it. He does worry about them, you know. They view my father as family and he feels the same way about them.”

“I know, one big happy family.” Drew chuckled. “I married into it, didn"t I?”

“You"re the one with a big family who married into an even bigger family. And your brother-in-law might have ignored Richard when they last met, but James had other things on his mind at the time, like rescuing my father from that horrible dungeon. Which doesn"t mean that James has forgotten the promise he made that day when he saw his wife slap Richard in their garden for making an inappropriate overture toward her. James told me without mincing words that if Richard ever came near his wife again, he was going to have to hurt him. I didn"t doubt for a minute that he meant it. You know him better than I and you confirmed he was most likely dead serious.”

“Of course he was, same as I would be if I saw another man trespassing with my wife. I think you"re worrying over nothing, sweetheart,” Drew added as she snuggled back against his chest. “Richard isn"t stupid. And anyone in their right mind would have to be damn stupid to trifle with that particular Malory.”

“Umm, didn"t you and your brothers do exactly that when you forced him to marry your sister? After you beat him unconscious?”

“Sweetheart, it took all five of us to administer that beating. We tried it one-on-one and it just wasn"t working! And I told you, James forced our hand deliberately. It was his bizarre way of getting Georgie married to him without his having to ask her or us, because of some silly vow he made never to marry.”

“I think it was rather romantic.”

Drew chuckled. “You would. But only a stubborn Englishman would go to those lengths to keep his sworn word—about marriage. Had it been about honor, or country, or—well, you know what I mean, it would have been reasonable. But marriage? Remember, that"s privileged information I shared with you, since you"re my wife. Don"t ever let James know that my brothers and I have figured that out. He still thinks he put one over on us. And believe me, he"s much more tolerable when he"s silently gloating than when he"s annoyed and going for blood.”

“I"m sworn to secrecy,” she assured Drew with a grin. “But you"re quite right about Richard. He"s not stupid. But you know how he is. He"s a charming man, humorous, teasing, always smiling—”

“Stop singing his praises!”

“You didn"t let me finish. I was going to say, until he remembers Georgina. Then he gets so melancholy it could break your heart.”

“It"s not breaking my heart.”

“Oh, come on, you like him, you know you do. How can you not?”

“Possibly because he"s in love with my sister. He"s lucky I don"t swab the deck with his face.”

She ignored her husband"s growl. “Ohr says Richard doesn"t really love Georgina. I believe that, or I wouldn"t have let him come along.”

She"d been skeptical about Ohr"s contention until she found out that Richard had had at least three affairs in the last year. That had pretty much been the deciding factor in allowing her friends to enjoy this trip with them.

“That might well be true,” Drew said, “but what difference does that make if Richard thinks he"s in love with my sister?”

“Yes, but Ohr said Richard is a man who wants to be in love, that he wants it so much that he easily mistakes lust for love. And he doesn"t even know that"s what he"s been looking for.

But maybe because he"s never experienced real love, he can"t recognize the difference between the two.”

Drew had experienced the same dilemma and indicated as much when he said, “Exactly, but now you"re suddenly doubting it?”

“No, but I can"t help remembering the things Richard said about Georgina. When I reminded him that she"s a happily married woman, that he ought to forget her, he told me he"s tried, but he just can"t forget about his „one true love." How often does a man call a woman that?!”

“I can count on two, three, a dozen hands how many times I"ve said or thought it—about you.”

She barely heard his reply, though she did swing around again to hug him. But she was remembering a conversation she"d had with Richard back when she"d first realized she loved Drew—and was so sure he didn"t return that love. Richard had put an arm around her shoulder and told her, “It will work out, chérie. He adores you.”

“He adores all women,” she"d replied.

Richard had chuckled. “So do I, but I would give them all up for—”

“Shush!” she had told him in earnest. “Richard, please, stop pining for another man"s wife.

Malory won"t tolerate another trespass. You make me fear for your life by not being reasonable about this.”

“Who said love was reasonable?” had been the reply, which had stuck in her mind. She repeated that phrase now for her husband.

“And look how true that is,” she added. “In your own case, you were an absolutely confirmed bachelor with a sweetheart in every port.”

He didn"t reply and she glanced up to see the steady “waiting” look he was giving her and realized it had nothing to do with her last comment. She grinned and wrapped her arms around his neck.

“Yes, I heard you,” she said. “You can really count on a dozen hands the number of times you"ve called me your „one true love"?”

Mollified, he hugged her back as he replied, “No, I was being conservative in that number.

But as to your last comment, there was a good reason I was a confirmed bachelor. I was determined never to put a woman through the agony my mother experienced, always staring sadly out to sea waiting for a ship that rarely came home. Not once in all those years did I think I"d find a woman happy to sail by my side. I know my brother Warren"s wife sails with him, but I didn"t expect to get that lucky. But you"ve made your case about how unreasonable love can be. It broke down those very firm convictions I had. In fact, it can be so unreasonable that I have no doubt I would have given up the sea for you. God, I can"t believe I just said that, but you know it"s true.”

He crushed her with his next hug, he was suddenly feeling so much emotion, which made her quickly assure him, “You"ll never have to! I love the sea as much as you do.”

“I know, and I know exactly how lucky I am that you do. Now you"ve worried about your friend enough for one day, don"t you think?”

She sighed. “I wish I could stop. I"m just so afraid that when he sees your sister again, he"s going to throw caution to the winds and—”

“He wouldn"t just have James to contend with,” Drew warned. “You do realize that?”

“Yes.” She sighed again.

“I could always throw him and Ohr overboard—with a dinghy, of course. By the time they row to England, we"ll be ready to leave again. Problem solved.” She knew he wasn"t the least bit serious and was just trying to ease her out of her concern, but she couldn"t shrug off the sense of foreboding she felt. Whether from deeds in Richard"s past or threats he"d provoked over a woman he thought he loved, she was afraid something bad was going to happen, and it would be her fault for bringing Richard back to England.