"Ye shouldn't be up 'ere on the deck," he grumbled. "The men can't 'elp but ogle ye, and the captain won't be liking that at all."

"I tried to tell her," Maggie muttered as she came up behind them.

"What the devil is he doing?" Olivia cried, loose hair from her plait blowing around her face until she could barely see. "Can't the repair wait until the wind dies down?"

Red shrugged. "Surely. But 'e was already up there, so 'e might as well finish."

As the wind whipped by again, she returned her gaze to Phoenix. She screamed as he lost his grip and was blown free, his body dangling precariously by the rigging. He was suspended there as the wind flew by, and then his hold began to slip. Unable to watch, Olivia turned to Red and buried her face in his chest, her fists clutching handfuls of his filthy shirt. No one could long survive being battered against the mast like a flag.

"Damned stupid fool!" she cried into the pirate's chest as the men on deck scrambled into action.

It was unreasonable, this horrid fear that clawed at her vitals and tortured her mind. Phoenix was a stranger of only hours' acquaintance. But they'd been intimate. He'd touched her in ways she'd never touched herself. He'd made her feel reckless and wild. She'd felt alive-

Warm hands gripped her shoulders and turned her, pressing her face into salt-flavored bare skin. "Hush, love," Phoenix's deep voice purred in her ear, his warm breath fanning across her neck, his hair blowing around them.

Olivia sank into him with relief. Her fingers clawed at his back, pulling him closer. "You bloody idiot!" she scolded.

He chuckled. "Don't swear, sweetheart. I'm fine."

She pulled back and slapped his chest with a smack that tingled her palm. "You won't be when I've finished with you! Are you daft? What were you doing up there in weather such as this?"

It was then that she saw his arm, bleeding and chafed raw from the coarse rope that had saved his life. "Oh… look at your arm." Her hands went to the injury, and her eyes flew up to his.