Enter The Brethren (The Brethren of the Coast) Read Online Free Page A

break.
    Trevor flung the covers aside and tossed his legs over the edge of the bed.  “My dear, sit down.  You are as white as a ghost.”  Stark naked, he walked to her.
    Temptation beckoned, luring her as a lodestone.  In vain, Caroline staged a valiant battle against her own inquisitiveness.  She wanted to look; was compelled to let her gaze travel south of his belly button.
    So she did.
    A one-eyed monster, thick and intimidating, stared back at her.  Jutting, proud and formidable, almost angry, from a nest of brown curls, the mystery of flesh pointed straight in her direction.
    Caroline swooned.
    In her fogged brain, she told herself her reaction was justified.  The only experience she had with the male form was from childhood.  During the summer months, she, her brother, and their friends used to swim au naturel in the pond near her country home.  It had been harmless.  Innocent.  And as far as she could recall, none of the boys had ever appeared so healthy.
    For a moment, she revisited fonder times, was lost in the past.  But the present ensnared her when Trevor hovered.  Emitting a cursed shriek, she cringed.
    “For the love of Christ, would you stop doing that?”  He shoved off the bed and stormed across the cabin.  “One would think I had assaulted you.”
    “I am sorry, but you did bring me here against my will, or have you conveniently forgotten that?”  Discovering she was back on the mattress, Caroline stretched and kept her eyes on his profile, lest she embarrass herself and faint again.  “And I have not agreed to be your courtesan.”
    At his locker, he paused to pull on a pair of breeches.  With unveiled impatience, he raked a hand through his hair and took to pacing.
    “I have met some unwieldy women in my day, but you are a contradiction.”  Suddenly, Trevor marched to the side of the bunk.  With hands on hips he glared at her.  “By your chosen profession, you exist to pleasure men, and I only want to make love to you.  Do you not see that our tale will make you a legend?  How is it that we are at odds?”
    If only she could trust him.
    If only she could tell him the truth.
    “You are so sure of yourself, yet you know nothing of me.”
    “And I could say the same of you, Mistress Caroline.  What am I missing?”
    “I simply cannot give you what you want.”
    “Why?”
    Caroline needed an excuse, but her usual collection proved either irrelevant or inadequate, so she grasped at a straw.  “Because you are a stranger to me.”
    “Since when does a doxy require familiarity with a client in order to spread her legs?” he asked, shrugging into a shirt.
    Resisting the urge to shout denial, she seized the opportunity to advance her cause.  “As you have pointed out, I am unlike most women.  Perhaps, if you shared some personal history with me, I would be more amenable to your offer.”
    Trevor arched a brow.  “Ask me a question I will answer.”
    “Are you a pirate?”
    “Now you insult me.”
    She propped herself on an elbow.  “Well, in light of your behavior, it was a plausible conclusion.”
    “Mistress Caroline, a pirate would not negotiate, as would a gentleman.  A pirate would take you, with or without your permission, and give you overboard.”  He sat to pull on his boots.  “Do you still think me a pirate?”
    “No.”  All right, the threat to her person was not as dire as previously thought.  So how could she resolve her predicament?  The grand scheme she concocted had resulted in disaster, and Dalton’s involvement could taint him, as well.  She refused to sully her lifelong friend in scandal, so she had to devise a new game, one that would see her returned to London with no additional stain to her reputation.  “Then why are you not in the Navy?  That is to say, England is at war.  Why do you not fight?”
    “I served my commission with honor.”  Trevor walked to the washstand.  “But I had enough.  I have done my part for King