His other hand slipped under her shirt, sliding toward the bottom of her bra. He timed the next roll of his hips perfectly, just as he dipped his fingers under her satin bra and closed over her breast.

The shock of his hand on her flesh exploded through all her senses.

Then he jerked upright, almost completely off her.

“Con.” She slipped her hand behind his neck, pulling him back.

“Someone’s out there,” he said in a harsh whisper. “Outside your cabin. Listening.”

“How do you- I didn’t hear anything.” Except the Niagara Falls of blood rushing in her ears.

He put a finger on her mouth and shook his head.

She forced herself to be perfectly still, to concentrate on the sounds outside her bunk and not on the shadow of whiskers right in front of her, or the pressure of his hard-on, or the bare chest she was surely going to feel against her about-to-be-bare chest.

The knock was hard and swift. He gave her an “I told you so” look and flipped off the bunk in one easy move.

“Lizzie!” Oh God-Flynn Paxton. “We need to find Con! Do you know where he is?”

Before she could formulate a cover for him, Con had the cabin door open.

“I’m right here. What’s the matter?”

“The medallion is missing.”

Lizzie’s heart stopped slamming as she sucked in a breath.

“I hid it,” Con said, blocking the entrance and giving her time to sit up, straighten her clothes, and check her top, soaking wet from his mouth. “It’s in a locked cabinet in the lab.”

She scanned the bed and desk, desperate for anything to pull over when her gaze fell on the cell phone he’d dropped on the table.

“No, it’s not,” Flynn Paxton insisted. “That cabinet is hanging by a hinge and the medallion is gone. Nice work.”

As Con swore under his breath and bolted into the hall, she launched up and made a grab for the phone. The second she slipped it in her pocket, Paxton stepped into her cabin, his glare as dark as anything she’d ever seen.

“I knew he was in here.”

“Good for you, Flynn,” she said.

“So if the medallion’s really missing, we have you to blame.” His gaze dropped over her kiss-dampened T-shirt and he made a smirk, then followed Con down the hall.

With a sigh, she sank on the bed.

If Paxton hadn’t shown up, there was no telling how far that would have gone. Yes, there was-it would have gone all the way.

So if she trusted the man enough to give him her body, shouldn’t she trust him enough to give him her secrets?

It was time to find out.

Con stared at the hole where his padlock had been. Gone. It couldn’t have been shot off-he’d have heard it. Someone just picked it. Totally outsmarted him. He marched to the metal cabinet, which hung from a hinge, having been ingeniously unscrewed from the outside. A trick he’d used many times.

“Fuck!” He slammed his hand on the counter with a thud.

“Perhaps if you hadn’t been trying to do just that, this wouldn’t have happened.”

He spun at the sound of Alita’s voice, her flirtatious smile reduced to an unattractive smirk.

“You’re the only person who knew it was in this cabinet,” he ground out.

“Thank you for the compliment, Con, but I’m not capable of that.” She nodded toward the destroyed cabinet. “Anyway, I told the entire crew where you had it when I went upstairs.”

“Why?”

She shrugged, and he took a few steps forward, using his size and fury to threaten her.

“Why?” he demanded again, in her face.

She met his gaze, unintimidated. “I knew you went to her room.”

“So, what? You were jealous?”

“Of Lizzie Dare? She wouldn’t know what to do with a man if one bit her.”

She obviously didn’t know the power of her competition. Or maybe she did.

“That’s why you advertised the hiding place of the most valuable item on board?” He couldn’t keep the disgust out of his voice.

At least he knew now that Lizzie wasn’t the thief… or not the only one, anyway. While he was busy trying to screw the truth out of her, someone else had screwed him. He blew out another curse, just as Paxton powered in.

“Get out of here, Alita,” he said. “I need to talk to Con privately.”

She speared him with a look, and left.

“There’s a thief on board,” Flynn said.

No shit. “Whoever it is, they’re still on board, and so is that medallion,” Con replied. “We need to search every room, every hold, every bag, every corner until we find it.”

“Do we?” Paxton practically spit out the words.

“As you may recall, you gave me the assignment to secure the treasure this afternoon.”

“And you failed.”

Had he been set up? “Who on this ship has this kind of capability?”

“Plenty of people,” he said. “And if we don’t find that medallion soon, you’re going down as the one who took it.”

Con shot him a look. “You know damn well I didn’t take it.”

“I don’t know anything.” He turned to leave, then paused. “I don’t even know how you got this job.”

He disappeared into the hall, leaving Con to examine the broken cabinet and search for clues that a second-rate thief might leave behind. There were none. An hour later, he’d finished reattaching the cabinet and headed to his own cabin, not bothering to lock the lab.

Paxton had taken all the treasure that day to the mainland, and the medallion was gone. He stepped out into the hall and stopped when he saw Lizzie sitting on the floor outside of his bunk.

She put down something she was reading. “You have a minute?”

He nodded, noticing that she’d showered, changed into a loose, blousy top, and looked even fresher and prettier than when he’d left her.

Standing, she held out a brown notebook he knew he wasn’t supposed to recognize but did. “I want to share something with you.”

Part of him was disappointed. The part that wanted to seduce the answers he wanted out of her.

“Come on in,” he said, unlocking his cabin. “Your reputation’s probably pretty trashed by now anyway.”

“Like I care.”

He shot her an appreciative smile. “Tough girl.”

“Seriously, I don’t care about these people.”

“One of whom is a fairly skilled thief.”

“At least now you know it’s not me.”

“Unless you’re working with someone,” he shot back.

“That was a pretty thorough distraction technique you employed up in your cabin.”

“You think that I planned that?”

“No,” he admitted. “You’re not quite that devious.”

She took the chair, her posture stiff and awkward. Was she nervous? “Don’t be so sure.”

He gave her a quizzical look and indicated the notebook. “What’s that?”

“My father’s journal.”

Lowering himself to the bunk, he leaned his elbows on his knees. “I’ve already got a good book going, so I guess you must have a reason for bringing this in here.”

She took a breath and nodded. “I was going to sleep with you.”

“Did you change your mind?” And what did it have to do with that journal?

“I changed my mind about you. I think you’re… one of the good guys.”

He laughed softly. “That’s what you call them now?”

“I mean, you can be trusted.”

That must have been some make-out session for her. It left him hard as a rock, but trustworthy? He was better at this than he thought.

“Con, I need some help.”

Her tone was dead serious, so he matched it. “For what?”

She held up the notebook. “Have you ever heard of a legendary ship called El Falcone?”

Whoa. He was much better than he thought. “I’ve heard the folklore.”

“Do you know the captain’s name?”

He searched his memory banks and the little information he’d read. Nowhere had a captain’s name been mentioned.

“His name was Aramis Dare,” she said, a look of absolute expectation on her face. When he didn’t respond, she leaned forward.

“Aramis Dare.”

“A relative of yours, I take it.”