Her Gentleman Pirate (High Seas & High Stakes Book 2) (5 page)

Stephen swallowed the bile that rose in his throat. The venom in which she’d spoken only proved that she believed every word she said. Yes, he’d had to choose a certain way of life, and maybe it wasn’t what he should’ve been born to do, but it was the only option open to him. The fact that her father now owed him funds that were imperative to secure his and his men’s future only coiled the anger inside him tighter.

He was asset rich, but coin poor and the repairs required to his estate were substantial. Once his life on the high seas was over, he’d planned on living in Scotland and enjoying the rest of his days in peace and above the law. Arabella’s father and his lack of payment had already delayed him by a year. Everything cost something, and it was about time Lord Hester came to realize that fact.

He gritted his teeth. “Well, my dear. I look forward to proving you wrong.”

She patted his chest, the gesture patronizing. “Don’t tax yourself. It’s not possible.” She walked over to the makeshift table on which dinner was being laid out and sat.

He would look forward to the challenge.

A
rabella spooned
up the fish soup, a soup that would’ve tasted nice should it not contain fish. She tried to hide her shudder of revulsion and failed. How people could live months on end, day after day of this type of diet baffled her.

The stars were out this fine night, not a cloud to be seen and it was as if she could reach out and hand and pick one from the sky. The water lapped at the ship’s side as it forced its way through the waves. It was truly beautiful. She adjusted her seat and enjoyed the freedom of movement her breeches afforded her. How wonderful it must be for men, to be able to wear such clothing always.

But it was all a rouse, for sitting at their table was their captive. A woman here against her will and they all knew it. Picking up a dried piece of bread, she broke it in two and took a bite, watching the captain as he spoke to his crew at the opposite end.

His hair was ruffled, his shirt partly open and exposing the light dusting of hair that feathered his chest. One arm lay lazily before him on the table, while the other was slumped over the back of his chair. She shook her head. It wasn’t a pose she was used to seeing at table. No one ever sat so relaxed, certainly not in her world. The captain threw back his head and laughed and Arabella had to admit, she enjoyed this ease of speech and meal more than the one she grew up having.

She turned to the man sitting beside her. “How long will it be before we make England?”

He choked on his brew and punched his chest to clear his airways. “It’s a six-week trip, miss. I should think we’ll not see London for another four and a bit weeks yet.”

Arabella nodded having figured the same. “Will the captain not stop for supplies along the way?” If they docked, she could try to escape. It was worth the risk. The captain joked with one of the deckhands and drew her attention to his lovely mouth. A mouth that had kissed her beyond thought only hours earlier, leaving her with emotions so conflicting she’d not known what to say or how to react ever since.

Without thought she licked her lips just as he caught her eye. His mouth lifted into a knowing grin and her palms started to sweat. She shouldn’t be attracted to him and had in fact protested to the very infuriating man that she never would be. But she was. Never had she found a man more attractive in her life. The reflection infuriated her as much as it excited her.

She was on a ship, in the middle of the Mediterranean, could she throw caution aside and do what she wanted for the first time in her life? Such actions went against everything she’d been brought up to believe, to think and act, but what was life without a little adventure or so others had said.

Of course, it would mean she would have to tell the captain she wanted adventure, to live free until the time came that she was returned to her father, especially if she wanted him to kiss her again. Or maybe she’d just let him try and seduce her and let him think it was entirely his idea. Such a ploy would certainly save her pride, and yet, could she wait so long for him to kiss her again?

What a fool she was. Had she not just argued with him that she would never allow him to kiss her again? And here she was, with a little wine in her belly, moonlit night and a handsome captain at the end of a dinner table and she’d succumbed to the romance of it all.

Arabella let her gaze travel over his form and noted his hand was fisted on the table. She caught his heated, intense gaze and held it. What she was contemplating was wrong, scandalous in fact and ruining. Should she be caught, her good social standing would be a thing of the past. Her betrothed would turn away from her in disgrace.

Not that the former would bother her much. Lord Montague hadn’t taken much interest in her even after the notices were posted about their forthcoming nuptials. Too interested in his friends and the enjoyment of her island life that he could experience. But Captain Blackmore was interested. And by the hooded, lazy gaze as he took his fill of her, his seduction of her would be whenever she allowed it.

The sound of her dinner companion’s voice jolted her back. “The captain has enough supplies to last us until we reach England. No point trying to escape, miss. You’re as stuck here on this ship as much as the rest of us.”

Arabella nodded. “I thought as much.” She turned toward the deckhand. “Have you ever kidnapped a woman before or am I the only lucky one?”

He laughed. “We’re not even really pirates. We ship contraband, smuggle sometimes into England when toffs like you require goods. The cargo has always been menial fare that wouldn’t hurt a fly. So when the captain discussed taking you onboard against yer will we were all very against the idea. But the funds that are due to the captain will enable him to leave for Scotland and his crew to start a fresh life wherever we want. ‘Tis only fair the amount is paid.”

“And you too believe that my father owes this money?” She thought back on her papa and his penchant for gambling. It wouldn’t surprise her in the least that he’d smuggled goods into England to make a profit, whether it was against the English law or not. Where there was quick blunt to be made, her father normally sniffed it out like a beagle. But to not pay a debt seemed to go against the character she thought she knew so well.

“He does. I just hope for your sake he can pay it. The men here never wanted to pull you into this mess, but the captain having seen you one day wouldn’t hear sense. It was as if he–”

“Miss Hester, it’s time you went back to the cabin.” The captain cut into the deckhand’s speech and left Arabella grappling to know what he was going to say.

“I’m not ready to go below decks. I’m having a lovely conversation with Mr…?”

The deckhand grinned. “Call me Joe.”

“I’m having a lovely conversation with Joe. You retire if you wish, but I’m staying here.” Arabella took a sip of wine and squealed, dropping the beverage over the table when the captain picked her up, threw her over his shoulder and started to storm toward the cabin’s door. She clasped his back and realized her mistake as soon as she felt the corded muscles that ran down his spine.

The warmth of his skin penetrated his shirt, and her stomach tied into knots. He was so strong, virile that it was overwhelming. She didn’t say anything else. Instead, she waited for him to place her back onto her feet so she could look at him in the eye when she gave him a proper set down.

“How dare you treat me like a piece of meat? It has been many years since I’ve been made to go to bed like an errant child. I may not be a Duke’s daughter, but I am a well-bred, respectable woman. Does that mean anything to you?’

“I know exactly who you are.” His words were low with a savage edge and the pent up desire she read in his gaze sent her heart to pound.
He was going to kiss her…

Arabella gasped as he took her lips, using her shock to deepen the embrace. This was madness. An addictive disease that no matter how destructive, one she didn’t wish to be cured of.

He nipped her lips, suckled the bottom one before pulling away. Her body wanted to melt into a puddle at his feet. Instead, she grasped his shirt and wouldn’t allow the distance to go any further. “And who is that?”

He clasped the collar of her shirt and slipped it off her shoulder, revealing a good portion of skin. “The woman I want in my bed, tonight and for as many nights to come for as long as she’ll allow it.”

“You know what you’re asking of me.” Arabella cleared her throat, even to her, her voice sounded husky and nothing like the forthright, determined voice she usually sported.

His eyes darkened in determination. “I do. And yet I’m still going to ask.”

He swung her into his arms and carried her over to the bed. Could she actually do this? Throw her virginity away and possibly her future? He nuzzled her neck, his breath sending delicious shivers down her skin.

Oh yes, she could throw it all away if only he kept making her feel like this.

Special, needy and expectant, like she was the only woman in the world.

The captain clasped the hem of her shirt and ripped it off. Arabella sank into the bedding and watched enthralled as he came down over her before she realized something imperative. “Somehow this seems wrong when I don’t know your first name.”

He clutched her waist and idly ran a finger over her stomach. “My name’s Stephen.”

Stephen… It suited him. He unclasped the buttons on her buckskin breeches before touching her where no one had ever touched before. Arabella closed her eyes and reveled in the delicious friction he created against her flesh. Fire burned through her blood, a delicious ache settled between her legs and she moaned as fingers delved within her. Unable to stem her need, she lifted against his hand, wanting more of his touch.

His rumbling chuckle against her lips tickled. “You like that, do you not?” His touch shifted to her most intimate of places she gasped.

“Very much so. Tell me what you’re doing to me.”

“I’m kissing you. Letting you feel with my tongue, with my lips.” He took her mouth in a searing kiss, dragging her further into a world she’d often wondered about, but was forever elusive. “How much I want to take you and make you mine.”

Arabella slid her hand under his shirt and pulled it out of his breeches, dragging it over his head. The muscles of his shoulders flexed, his pectoral and abdomen rippled with the movement. Her mouth dried.

Magnificent
.

Taking a chance, she kissed her way down his chest, before teasing a nipple with her tongue. She heard his intake of breath and stopped. “Have I hurt you?”

He pulled away, kneeling between her thighs. “Not in the way you think.”

Arabella laughed as he ripped her breeches down her legs and threw them absently to the floor. His intense gaze branded her as his as he settled back over her. His hard member pushed against her mons, rubbed along her slickened heat. The friction from the soft yet rigid appendage did odd things to her insides. Her stomach twisted in delicious knots. “Yes. Keep doing that.”

The tip of his member entered her and she slipped her legs up around his waist.

“You make me so desperate I can scarcely breathe.”

Arabella bit her lip, loving that she could make him lose a little control. His breath was ragged and she undulated beneath him, wanting more, needing Stephen to make her his. “Is this what I’m supposed to do?” He pushed a little further in and a slight sting dampened her desire.

He nodded, rolling his hips a little as he pushed some more. “It’s very good. Too good,” he said, before thrusting once and taking her fully.

Arabella froze as the width and length of him wasn’t what she’d expected. Deep inside, she felt full, sore, but also impatient to see what else he could do for her. She wanted to experience it all, and now wasn’t soon enough.

“I’m sorry.” He kissed her, swooped her into a void of need before slowly, with each thrust of tongue, matched the stroke with his hips. “I didn’t want to hurt you.”

The sincerity in his voice made her heart thump. “I’m well.” She wrapped her arms about his neck and smiled. “Please proceed.”

* * *

S
tephen chuckled
, but took each stroke slowly. He was large, probably too large for a virgin of her petite frame. But women like Arabella were rare and the thought of her future husband taking her in such a way, consummating their marriage wasn’t to be borne.

The fop she was betrothed to wouldn’t be gentle. Why, he’d more likely turn her over and sodomise her instead.

She undulated beneath him, her breasts rocking with their lovemaking, and he felt sure his choice to have her was right. Maybe not morally right, but for Arabella he’d done her a favour in showing her what it was supposed to be like for a woman when laying with a man.

Heat, the slap of skin on skin, moistness and moans were what was supposed to be heard and felt when a woman was in the throes of passion. Not silence, whimpering like he instinctively knew she would endure with Lord Montague.

“Have you ever found bliss, Arabella?”

She opened her eyes and he lost a part of himself to their crystalline beauty. “What is that? I’ve seen women with men before and they seem to enjoy it, but I’ve never done anything like this before.”

“The fact that you do not know is all the answer I need.” He rolled onto his back and pulled her to straddle his waist. He’d not thought she could be any more beautiful, but above, him, in control of their enjoyment, she was magnificent.

She braced herself on top of him, her hands idly feeling the hair on his chest. “Is this position even possible?”

“Absolutely. Just lift yourself as if you’re riding a horse, but bring yourself down on me. Nice and slowly, but continuously. I promise you’ll enjoy it.” He clasped her hips and helped her, as the first few movements were awkward. It didn’t take her long before she’d mastered the sexual position.

Stephen bit the inside of his lip as she rode him, her hips swaying slightly that matched her bountiful breasts. He shut his eyes not needing to see the stimulating picture she made. He wouldn’t come until she’d found her own pleasure, and by the increased pants and slickness between them, it wouldn’t be long.