Not the Man She Thought Read Online Free Page B

assured the
other woman she would stop by if she needed anything. Which she just might. All
she had on her was the dress she was wearing and whatever was in her purse. Of
course, Karsten would probably say such meager living served her right for
sneaking on board his ship.
    Laken’s lip curled as she thought of the man. Her bottom was
still tender from the spanking he’d given her, damn him. Just who the hell did
he think he was, putting her over his knee like that? Wait until she told
Mallin. He would be furious. He might even call Karsten out. She couldn’t help
but smile at the vision of Mallin knocking the arrogant captain off that high
horse of his.
    But for now, at least, she would have to deal with Karsten
herself. She wasn’t afraid to stand up to him, but she didn’t want to get
another spanking, either. The best way to avoid that was to stay out of his way
altogether and give him no reason to make good on his promise to put her over
his knee again if she did anything he didn’t like. That shouldn’t be too
difficult on a ship this size.
    With a sigh, Laken walked over to the wash basin and gazed
at her reflection in the small mirror above it. After her run-in with Karsten,
she’d been half afraid to see what she looked like, but apart from her long
hair being a bit tousled and a smudge of dirt on her cheek, she looked none the
worse for wear. She wished she could say the same for her bottom. She reached
back to rub the offended area with her hands. Brute. What kind of man spanked a
woman, for heaven’s sakes?
    Running the water, she splashed some on her face to wash off
the smudge of dirt, then ran her brush through her hair before giving herself
another look in the mirror. Satisfied with her reflection, she left the cabin
and headed for the mess.
    Devorah’s directions were easy enough to follow, but when
Laken got there, she hesitated outside the door. The whole crew was inside from
the sound of it. Her stomach churned a little at that. She wasn’t usually
nervous when it came to meeting new people, but this wasn’t exactly a normal
social setting. Being a stowaway wouldn’t endear her to the crew, which meant
she was going to have to work extra hard to win them over. Hopefully, they were
a lot nicer than their captain.
       Smoothing her dress, she took a deep breath and stepped into the room.
Besides Devorah, there were five men at the table, and Laken sighed of relief
when she saw the captain wasn’t among them. No matter what she had told herself
about standing up to him, she didn’t feel like having him glare at her across
the table the whole time she was eating. As it was, Finn was eyeing her with
about just as much welcome.
    Laken forced a smile to her lips. “I hope I’m not
interrupting.”
    Devorah shook her head. “No, of course not. Come on in. I
saved you a seat.”
    Laken was extremely aware of the crew’s gazes on her as she
walked over to the long table and pulled out the chair between Finn and
Devorah. As she sat down, the other woman reached for one of the bowls in the
center of the table and ladled a thick brown stew into it, then set it down in
front of Laken.
    “Let me introduce you,” Dev said. “Finn, you already know.
And that’s Keir, Jorn, Vance and Kamran.”
    Each man gave her a nod as Dev made the introductions.
Except for Finn. He didn’t acknowledge her at all.
    “Dev didn’t tell us you were so pretty.” Keir sat back in
his chair and flashed her a smile. Good looking with blond hair and blue eyes,
he was the youngest of the men.
    “That’s because she’s spoken for,” Dev said. “Not that such
a minor detail would stop you from putting the moves on her, I’m sure.” She
grinned at Laken. “You’ve got to watch out for him.”
    Across from her, Keir laughed, as did the rest of the men at
the table. Laken dipped her spoon into the bowl of stew. “I’ve never been on a
cargo ship before. It’s different than I expected.”
       “It’s
just