Tethered Read Free Page A

blue kerchief, her dark braids, her grin.
    Perfect.
    Dizzy and out of breath, he reached
Lady Nergüi’s
docking station. An Amazon in a sharply tailored jacket and trousers waited beside the cargo lift, her black hair cut short and exposing a neck like an Egyptian queen’s. His final partner, then—but as he spun toward her, her look of absolute horror made him pause. When her gaze flicked upward, he understood.
    He stopped and held out his hand in invitation, his grin wide. “So you are not a mythical Amazon, but Adèle Vashon, our new quartermaster?”
    She looked to him, to the crowd behind him—which had been shouting encouragement all the while—then up to theairship again. A hint of panic had widened her brown eyes. “Yes.”
    “Your new captain watches,” he said, his hand still extended. “Do you dance like a fool, or snub her husband?”
    The Amazon closed her eyes. “I snub you.”
    “Good choice. My life would be nothing if she caught me with my arms around another woman.” He heard the rasp of a rope overhead, and his racing heart skipped in anticipation. The laughter and clapping around them quieted. “And here she comes now.”
    And what a woman. Lithe, strong, Yasmeen slid down the rope as easily as a dancing man took a step. Like the quartermaster, she wore a short aviator’s jacket, but had brightened the dour blue wool with a crimson sash that cinched her waist. Cold steel glinted at her thighs, where her daggers were tucked into the tops of her tall leather boots. With barely a flex of her hand, she stopped ten feet above the boards.
    She looked down at the quartermaster. “You are welcome aboard, Mademoiselle Vashon. Strike the chains when you’re ready, and they’ll start the lift. I’ll meet with you in my cabin as soon as I’ve gone back up.”
    “Yes, Captain Corsair.”
    “Captain Fox,” she corrected. Her gaze fixed on Archimedes, and he saw no limit to the warmth there. Slowly, with her thighs clenched on the rope, she turned upside down—her cat-green eyes even with his, her hair hanging in a thick curtain. Her voice softened. “And after creating such a spectacle, what do you have to say for yourself, Mr. Fox?”
    He placed his hand over his heart and sank to one knee. “I’ve come to ask you to marry me, my gentle captain.”
    Laughter lit her expression, and was matched by the sound in the crowd. “My current husband might object.”
    “Do you care what he thinks?”
    “Perhaps not. But I ought to warn you—he’s a jealous man. And quite dangerous.”
    That description pleased Archimedes to no end. “I will fight him for your hand.”
    “Only my hand?”
    “All of you. But if your hand is all that I can have, it wouldbe far more satisfying than what I have without it: my dreams of you…and my own hand.”
    “I won’t cry for you, Mr. Fox. I know how satisfying your hand can be.” Her wicked grin took his breath. Her gaze held his for a long moment, then flicked up…
down
his length. “I like your daggers.”
    “I found them at the silversmith’s.” His hands went to the new weapons sheathed at his hips, and he stroked the scrolled guards with his fingertips, watching her face. “As soon as I saw the crimson grips, I was lost.”
    So was Yasmeen, as he knew she’d be. “Are they for me?”
    “I chose something else for you. But I’ll sweeten my offer of marriage by allowing you to touch them now and again.”
    “With an incentive such as that, I
must
accept.” Her full lips curved, and her eyes met his again. “Shall I be called Captain Fox-Fox now?”
    “You shall be called nothing but my wife.” He looked to the crowd and called out, “She agreed!” Over her laughter and the cheers, he turned back to her and asked, “Now, will you dance with me as they did?”
    He knew it wasn’t a simple question, and he anticipated her refusal. Yasmeen lived by her reputation, and although they’d found that they could express their affection onboard,