DEVIL’S EMBRACE by Catherine Coulter

Cassie eyed the small Angelo and hoped that he did not understand English. She felt humiliated and helpless, without choices.

The earl arched a black eyebrow at her and said to the helmsman, “The helm is yours, Angelo. The weather is clearing and your evening should not be too unpleasant.

“Come, Cassandra.”

The short command brooked no refusal. Cassie bit her lower lip and reluctantly placed her arm into his.

As they left the quarterdeck, she was thinking of Angelo and whether she would be able to enlist his support. It seemed unlikely. There was another man, though, the earl’s first mate. Perhaps he would not be so loyal to the earl as Angelo was likely to be. She asked casually, “Who is Mr. Donnetti, your first mate who is ill?”

If the earl wondered about her reasons for asking about his first mate, he gave no sign of it. “A man to whom I would entrust my life, and yours. He is of mixed parentage, as am I. His mother was French. Donnetti became a mercenary in the French army. When it was demanded of him to become a French spy in Genoa, he refused. It was my gain to save him from assassins. However, I was unable to save his wife or child.”

Cassie shivered. Violence in almost any form was alien to her. It was also borne forcibly upon her that Mr. Donnetti, if the earl’s story was true, was very unlikely to help her.

“He will be fit soon, Scargill tells me. Once we reach Genoa, and remove to my villa, he will be captain of The Cassandra in my stead.”

Cassie could not imagine being in Genoa, a place that was as foreign to her as faraway China. And one did not live in a villa; one lived in a manor or a hall, or perhaps an abbey. She felt tears sting her eyes, and she stumbled. The earl’s arms were about her in an instant, steadying her. She hated herself at that moment; it was her physical weakness that ensured his mastery over her. She pulled away from him and hurried down the companionway toward the cabin.

She heard him say easily behind her, “It is my experience that the day following a storm is glorious. If I am proven right, you will be able to see the coast of France.”

Her hand was on the doorknob when he said, “Please remove your cloak, Cassandra, I do not wish the carpet to become soaked.”

She shrugged out of the heavy canvas and pulled off the woolen cap. Her hair cascaded down her back in salty wet ringlets. His hand touched her arm, and she turned unwillingly to face him.

“Take off your wet clothes. I will be along presently after I order up hot water for our bath and our dinner.”

He opened the cabin door and gently pushed her inside. “Please do not shove the furniture against the door. It might put me out of temper.”

Cassie slammed the door closed on his smiling face. She stripped off her wet clothing as quickly as her cold fingers would allow. Fearful that he would return at any moment, she pulled on a dark blue velvet dressing gown from the armoire and sashed it tightly about her waist. She wrapped her hair in a thick towel and fastened it turban style about her head.

She walked to the center of the cabin and stood waiting. Someone had attended to the cabin. Scargill, most likely. The lamps were lit against the dim late afternoon light, the bed was neatly spread, its bright blue cover smoothed. Her tattered gown was gone. She glanced at the clock atop the earl’s desk and saw that it was nearly five o’clock. Without wishing to, she pictured the dining room at Hemphill Hall, festively decorated for the wedding dinner. There would be no garlands and white streamers; there would be only the black somberness of tragedy. Edward, I don’t know if I can bear it. And there would be much more to bear, she knew. She had no doubt that he would rape her again, and she sagged where she stood.

The cabin door opened, and the earl entered, followed by two hefty sailors, each carrying buckets of steaming water. Cassie moved away, watching silently as the copper tub was filled. She heard the earl order the sailors to bring more water and leave it outside the door. He turned his eyes upon her, studying her.

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