I laughed.Like Charlie, Finn always made me feel happy and he adored mycooking. He saved my life when I first came aboard, and he was myfriend. I’d miss him dearly when I left.
“I couldmake some fish and brewis,” I told them, “We have a big sack ofhardtack left.”
Henry peereddown at the spot Finn suggested and paused thoughtfully as heconsidered it. Then, a wicked grin flashed across his face and helooked to me as he spoke. “Yes, we shall stop there for the night.Set a course, Finnigan, we should meet landfall by dawn. And leaveus, I need to speak with Dianna.”
The two mennodded and left the room, shutting the door behind them. My breathcaught as I watched the leather-clad pirate saunter toward me. God,he was beautiful. Like a tall, broad, and rugged angel. I’d neverget used to it, and I hoped I never had to. I wanted the image ofhim burned into my brain, to carry it with me back to the future.To revisit it whenever I wanted to dream of the once-in-a-lifetimejourney I’d had.
Henry stoppedat my feet and leaned down, hovering over me as he placed two handson the arms of my chair. “Do you wish to have an adventure,Dianna?”
The nearnessof him made my head light and my heart race. His breath tickled myface. “I’m sorry, but I thought I was already having one?” Ireplied with a playful grin. “Sailing ships, danger,” I tugged atthe collar of his coat, pulling him closer so our lips brushedagainst one another, “a devilishly handsome pirate. What more couldI ask for?”
Henry’s lipsmoved against mine as they spread wide with a grin. He moaned,taking my mouth and engulfing me in a kiss that could surely devourme whole. I pulled away, desperate for air.
“Howabout treasure?” he asked, boasting a playful smirk.
“What?Are you serious? Like, real treasure? Pirate treasure?” The small child in me camealive and I prayed he wasn’t kidding.
Henry laughedand slid his massive hands under my bottom, scooping me up. Iwrapped my arms around his neck and let his little bit of facialhair tickle my skin, sending goosebumps scouring down my body.
“Ofcourse,” he answered. “What other kind of treasure isthere?”
I shook myhead, and replied, “I have no idea.”
My legssqueezed tightly around his waist and I kissed his beautiful mouthin a slow, tender way. I let my tongue trail along the underside ofhis upper lip, fishing for that deep growl I longed for.
“I canthink of one kind,” he whispered against my face.
Those eyes,those otherworldly black holes bore into my soul, relentlesslysearching for something. I wanted to protest, to tell him he had tostop. I no longer worried for his broken heart alone. The closer wegrew, the more I knew my own heart was on the line and the idea ofleaving Henry seemed more impossible each day. Returning homequickly became a painful desire.
“Theplace we’re stopping at. I’ve been there. I stole a chest from Maria’squarters aboard The Burning Ghost. While she and Eric slept oneevening, I rowed ashore and hid it in a cave.”
My eyeswidened. “That was very brave of you.”
“Yes,well, I would have returned it to its owner, eventually. But I’d noidea where it came from.” He paused thoughtfully as he carried meover to the bed and laid me down. I watched with delight as heremoved his heavy leather coat and climbed in next to me. “After Itrapped them in the bottle, I made it my mission to sail around andcollect all the stolen goods they’d poked away. It took years. ButI did it. And I returned it all to the crown, or to the families ofpeople she’d murdered. That’s how The Devil’s Heartbegan.”
“How didFinn and Gus come into the picture?” I asked and mindlessly twistedmy fingers in his blonde locks.
“The ageof ruthless piracy was changing, I could see it before most.” Hischest heaved with a long sigh and began to trail his fingertipsalong my arm that crossed it. “I sought out like-minded men whowere growing tired of ravaging the seas and wanted a better life.Gus came first. I found him pickpocketing in Harbour Grace while waiting for a spot ona pirate crew to open. It took some convincing, I even had to sharesome of my experiences aboard The Burning Ghost in an attempt tosway him. It turned out, Gus had captained his own ship once andThe Cobhams raided it. Killed his crew and set it ablaze. Luckily,Gus is a strong swimmer. He jumped off and swam ashore.” Henrystopped to let out a slight chuckle. “Now that I think of it, Ibelieve he’s most likely the only known survivor of a Burning Ghostattack.”
I moved myhand to cup his cheek and turn his head toward me. My body movedcloser, and I stretched my neck to kiss him. “Aside from you.”
“Huh,yes,” he agreed, letting that sink in, “aside frommyself.”
“AndFinn?”
Henrychortled. “Finn is one of the finest sailing masters I’d ever met.But no ship would have him on account of… his, uh–”
I balked atthe idea. “Because of his sexual orientation?” Henry lookedconfused by my words and I rolled my eyes. “I mean because heprefers men?”
“Yes,that. I wasn’t aware you knew. He swore me to secrecy.”
I shook myhead. “This era, I swear…” but caught myself before I could finish.Henry didn’t seem to catch my reference to the past, so I veeredthe conversation back on track. “So, how did you get this bigship?”
“Ah,that was a gift from the crown for my services.”
“Services? You mean as a privateer?”
I watched hiseyebrows raise in surprise. “Well, you know more than you let on.And yes, you’re correct.” His beautiful face twisted into adevilish smirk. “In a way.”
“What doyou mean?”
“Wordbegan to spread of what I was doing, sailing around on a smallone-man boat to collect what I could from The Cobham’s raids. Thecrown awarded me The Devil’s Heart in exchange for continuing whatI was doing, but going further and seeking out what they robbed ofthe Crown and other rich bureaucrats.” He paused to shoot me a slygrin. “But they said nothing about raiding other
