Jerusha Swain almost loses everything when her father is killed in a shipboard accident. She and her family have been raised at sea. To be forced to leave the whaler Naiad by its new captain Roland Chase is to be sent from the only home she has ever known, and forced to try to make a living on land.

Jerusha loves the sea, and knows she has all the skills the D and S Starbuck Whaling Fleet needs aboard a ship. But she possesses something even better: an uncharted whaling ground as rich as a goldmine. She promises to show Roland her secret place, if only he will let her and her siblings remain aboard ship.

The secret whaling ground is vastly tempting for the handsome and ambitious new captain, but even more alluring is the feisty Jerusha. Roland has a business proposal of his own: marry him, and become his mate in every sense of the word!

Roland was just heading back up on deck with his foul weather gear when he saw his wife come out of her cabin.

“Where are you going?”

“They’re calling all hands.”

“Don’t be silly. Stay with your brother and sister. Everything is fine. There’s no sense in you getting soaked.”

“I don’t mind. You have to do it,” she pointed out.

“I’m the captain. It’s my job.”

The bow of the ship pitched forward, and he caught Jerusha around the waist. In the near darkness he could see her eyes shining up at him, and as the ship rolled to port, he felt himself press up against her intimately as her back slammed against the wall.

“Are you all right?” he asked breathlessly, her sudden nearness practically choking him.

“Fine.”

With only a moment’s hesitation, he lowered his mouth to hers, and began to kiss her with all the pent-up longings he had tried so hard to subdue.

He wedged his hands on either side of her under her arms to keep her from falling, hardly daring to touch her exquisitely rounded body.

Jerusha was too stunned to do anything other than let him kiss her. The pressure made her go weak at the knees and she trembled and clung to the wall, her palms flat against the wood panelling.

This was like nothing she had ever imagined, and the unspoken question in his kiss was not one she was sure she had an answer for. It was all just too great for her to comprehend, or even contemplate when she knew so little of the world of men and married life.

Yet the kiss promised a bounty of delights, if only she dared to let go of her mind, and let her body follow her heart’s desire…