A Captain and a Rogue
Between the devil and the deep blue sea.Captain Benjamin Forrester’s mission is clear:To Do: travel to the Greek island of Melos and recover a mysterious statue.Not To Do: evoke the wrath of pirates by sailing away in the dead of night without the statue but with a tempting and yet completely forbidden stowaway!Thessa Cherroll desperately needs Ben’s help, so with the wind at their backs they set sail for the horizon. But at such close quarters can either resist the temptations that surface during those long, hot days – and nights – at sea?
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Without his will, his hand cupped Thessa’s cheek, pulling her to face him.
‘I am baiting the trap,’ he said, and knew the words were merely appeasement for what he was going to do.
The feel of her cheek against his palm took him from being a captain to being a man looking into the eyes of his beloved. Every time he gazed into her face he saw something that made him forget how a man was supposed to act and start thinking of those treacle-laden words that made a woman smile.
Touching her, he realised he’d completely erred in thinking Thessa had any resemblance to the stone statue. She was far more appealing.
She watched him just as intently as he looked at her.
His lips closed over hers, tasting, letting her femininity caress every part of him. The kiss fired up his spirit. Erased the memory of what she’d forgotten to tell him. The touch of her lips cloaked him in armour and told him such beautiful things.
Captain Benjamin Forrester first appeared in my novel SAFE IN THE EARL’S ARMS, and almost instantly I knew I wanted to tell his story. I saw him as a man without a care in the world except for a love of the sea and a deep fascination with mermaid lore. For months I looked forward to writing the first scene in this book.
But Captain Forrester’s personal story didn’t unfold in the way I expected.
During my research I read about some of the hard-ships a Regency sea captain would have experienced. Voyagers could take several years before returning to their home port, and every day at sea was much the same—except for when something happened to make things worse. If tempers flared no one could immediately leave or be let go.
To live in such conditions, and to be able to return to them, would take a very strong man—particularly if he had a privileged life that would have welcomed him back.
The day after I’d finished the story of this captain I missed writing about him—much in the same way you’d miss a good friend who’d moved out of your life.
I hope you see Benjamin Forrester the same way I do.
LIZ TYNER began creating her own stories even before she decided on the lofty goal of reading every fiction book in her high school library. When the school gave her a career assessment they came up blank—they double-checked and still came up blank. Liz took it in her stride, because she knew that on the questionnaire she’d ticked an interest in everything but scuba diving. She believed the assessment proved she was perfect for becoming a novelist.
Now she and her husband live on a small acreage, where she enjoys strolling her walking trails and wishes the animals she shares the trails with wouldn’t visit her garden and fruit trees. She imagines the wooded areas as similar to the ones in the children’s book Where the Wild Things Are. Her lifestyle is a blend of old and new, and in some ways comparable to how people lived long ago.
Liz is a member of various writing groups, and has worn down the edges of a few keys on her keyboard while working on manuscripts—none of which feature scuba divers.
A CAPTAIN AND A ROGUE
features characters you will have met in Liz Tyner’s debut novel for Mills & Boon>® Historical Romance SAFE IN THE EARL’S ARMS
To my mother, who is making heaven an even better place for the angels to be.
Contents
‘Capt’n. There’s yer mermaid.’
At his first mate’s words, Benjamin’s head snapped around and his eyes locked on the form slicing through the Aegean Sea.
Benjamin took two steps closer to the edge of the craggy rocks overlooking the water. The sea air took some of the rotted-egg smell of the island from his lungs and the shape reaching the shoreline took all thoughts from his head.
He reached to his side and took the spyglass from the hanging sheath, and peered. His movements must have caught her attention, because as soon as her head appeared in his eyepiece—she treaded water. Her eyes locked on his, capturing him.
Then she turned, long arms finishing the swim quickly. Everything else in the world disappeared but the vision in his spyglass. His breath caught. He’d truly found a mermaid.
‘Ah, she saw us,’ Gidley grumbled. ‘Now she’ll go and turn into a reg’lar woman. Blast the luck. Once a mermaid sees a man, she sprouts legs. Happens every time.’
The woman stepped on to the sand. Benjamin grunted in disappointment, realising he’d been lost in a fantasy.
He tipped the end of the glass downward to ascertain she did have legs. She wore a chemise, but the thin, wet garment viewed through a strong imagination left little covered. He braced himself, keeping his knees from giving way, while he leaned forward, trapped in his thoughts.
