His lips moved to her cheek, her neck, and then lower, sucking on her right nipple over her shirt. Her knees wobbled. He continued down until he knelt before her.
What did he plan to do in that position? His moist breath drifted over her thighs and settled on her womanhood. Surely not…
Tumultuous feelings overwhelmed her, and she almost screamed. She dug her fingers into his hair and hung on tight. Tension built, coiled, and spiraled.
She exploded. With glittering white lights sparkling around her, she transcended this world. Her legs gave way, and she collapsed.
Morgan caught her and cradled her in his arms like a precious baby. “Are you warm now, my love?”
She smiled. “Pleasantly so.”
He hugged her to him and kissed her passionately. She could taste herself on his lips, and her need for him built again. She cupped his manhood, and he groaned in delight and frustration.
“Not now,” he protested through clenched lips.
“I want to give you the same pleasure I experienced.”
“You have done so by allowing me to please you.” He spread his tense fingers over the back of hers and removed her hand. “I would let you continue if we were on the
Sea Dragon
, but Harry is waiting at the mouth of the cave and pirates are pursuing us. I’ll survive without you reciprocating.” He paused. “For now.”
He released her from his loving arms. “Now stand up.” Morgan helped her rise and then pulled up her pants and buttoned them. He placed his hands on either side of her face. “Are the effects of the alcohol wearing off?”
Arianna nodded. “My head is only a little foggy. How can men drink that stuff night after night and call it having a good time?”
“It makes them feel superior. The most handsome, the greatest lover, the wittiest conversationalist…”
For a while that evening, a wonderful haze had taken away her problems, and even the liquor tasted delicious. But the lingering effects were not worth it, and she preferred to be in command of all her senses at every moment. She smiled. Except when Morgan’s hands and mouth worked their magic. Then, she lost all control and did not regret it.
He intertwined her fingers with his. “Let’s get out of here before you catch a chill, again.” He halted. “Although, I do love warming you.”
Morgan tugged her after him before she could comment. She enjoyed his solution, but she could never voice the words to tell him. She tightened her hand within his in response.
Harry stood beyond the cave entrance, a brave sentinel. Morgan shouldn’t have sent him away so they could share a moment of passion. As they exited, Harry turned and his gaze drifted over them. A hot blush rose into her face, and she lowered her eyes. Surely, he knew what they had done. Jerking her hand from Morgan’s, she slipped behind him and speared her fingers through her hair and straightened her wrinkled, dirty clothes.
She spied the wet stain on the shirt over her breast, and the fire heating her face intensified. Her embarrassment knew no bounds. The evidence was in plain view. How could she hide it?
She bumped into Morgan, and he spun to face her. “What are you doing behind me?”
Harry laughed.
She bit her lips, swollen by Morgan’s kisses.
“I think she’s embarrassed.”
With his brows drawn together, Morgan stared at her, and suddenly realizing the truth, he scowled at Harry. “You’re not helping the matter.”
“Morgan, my shirt,” Arianna whispered.
“What is wrong with your shirt?” He yanked it down into place.
“It is wet. H-he’ll know we—”
“That I kissed a beautiful, sensuous woman. That I could not help myself.” His gaze drifted to her nipple. “It will dry. And my brother is a gentleman,” he said louder, so his voice carried to Harry. He slipped his arm around her waist and guided her to reluctantly stand beside him.
She folded her arms across her chest and attempted to act normal. Everything that went along with sailing she had dealt with many times, but what Morgan had taught her and the sensations involved were all new. She liked the intimacy, passion, and the eventual explosion of emotions and yearned to continue it with him for as long as she could. But society’s views differed from hers, and until she was more sure of herself, she didn’t care to flaunt what she shared with him. She wanted it to remain a special secret between Morgan and her, to hold and store in her heart because when they returned to Boston… She paused, and her heart flipped. If they returned to Boston. They would part. They each had a life that would lead them in different directions. And she, a mission to accomplish.
But Morgan had already shown her more than she ever hoped to learn.
Morgan escorted her to his brother, who now watched the pirate ship. She couldn’t meet Harry’s eyes.
“Have you seen any sign of the pirates?” Morgan asked.
“Not since you saw them rowing to shore.” Harry whirled to face his brother. “I’ll see if I can find where they’re headed.”
“No, I’ll go. You stay with Arianna.”
“I’m not staying here,” Arianna protested. “I’m going with you.”
“No, you’re not.”
There he went again, trying to tell her what she could and could not do. “You cannot order me.”
“Hold on, both of you. Morgan, I am the one who got us in this trouble.”
“Harry—”
“No.”
Morgan’s eyes flashed his displeasure at being cutoff, but he remained silent.
“All my life you have taken care of and rescued me from the troubles I’ve gotten into. Now it is my turn. You have to let me help. I am quite capable.”
“Capable? These pirates captured you.”
“I allowed them to, and my plan would have worked if you hadn’t come looking for me. I would have sent word where Shark could be found or taken care of him myself. And I did get you off the ship. You don’t realize it, but I’ve grown up.”
Morgan’s tense muscles seemed to relax and the harsh contours of his face softened. “I guess you have. Go on but be careful. I do not want to lose you.”
Determination and a new respect for his brother spread over Harry’s face. “They will never know I am watching.” He turned to Arianna. “Take care of him.”
Morgan scowled. “I can take care of myself.”
Harry chuckled before he sauntered down the hill.
Morgan’s eyes remained riveted on the spot where his brother disappeared.
“You’re worried about him, aren’t you?”
“For most of my life. Ever since my father left us. I can’t stop now.”
“He’ll be fine.”
“I have to trust he will be.” He turned her toward the cave entrance. “I don’t want you in the open in case they sneak by him and attack us.”
“I can defend myself and think on my own.” Although she hadn’t done well so far. She had wanted to be taken by the pirates to help him but instead had become another person he thought he had to protect. The scabbard tied against her calf shifted. She was amazed Morgan hadn’t discovered the knife when her pants pooled around her ankles in the cave. But only one thing had consumed his mind. And hers. Heat suffused her face, again.
“I don’t wish to argue or stand where we need to test that theory.” Morgan picked up the supplies and strode to the cave where he placed them inside the mouth. Then he sat before the entrance.
She followed and plopped down beside him. “You don’t have to watch over me. I don’t wish to be a burden.”
He turned to her with a quizzical frown. “You could never be a burden.”
“I wouldn’t be if I hadn’t been on that schooner.” She drew lines in the dirt with her finger.
“You had no choice.”
“I should have thought before I ran to you or fought harder to remain behind. They might have figured I wasn’t worth the trouble. But the truth was, I wanted them to take me if they kidnapped you.” She glanced at his bewildered face. “I thought if I was on the ship, I could help in some way. Instead, I got drunk, and you had to rescue me. I did absolutely nothing. I failed.” Her stomach knotted with despair and the truth. Her head drooped.
He placed a finger beneath her chin and lifted it. His intense, soft eyes lightened to a cinnamon shade. “That is not true. How do you think Harry released me from the chains? He got the key from you. You must have stolen it from Turnbull.”
An image flashed in her mind of a glinting key hanging before her eyes and cold metal clasped against her palm. Was he telling the truth?
“And you were the one to find this cave. I missed it.”
“Is it true? Did I steal the key?”
“I never lie.”
His mouth lowered, and his lips slid over hers in a passionate dance, his touch light but firm. “I’m glad you are with me, except now you are in danger. I have never desired that. I have deep feelings for you and intend to keep you safe.”
Her heart soared to the heavens. She searched his eyes. “Do you really care deeply for me?” She spied the truth before he replied.
“Yes.”
Her heart pounded, and her chest rose and fell with shallow, quick breaths. She felt the same way about him. Morgan was demanding, arrogant, and disagreed with her but tender and kind. He listened to her as he had now and given her a chance to prove herself. He didn’t make her feel like a nonentity and didn’t push her aside like a bothersome insect the way her brothers who never had time for her did. He understood and saw her as she wanted to be seen, unlike her mother. She didn’t want to die a nobody in this world, forgotten.
She could tell him things she’d never voice to another living soul. He made her feel giddy and alive. He filled the loneliness within and banished her fears. But unfortunately, all those things would make it so much harder when they must part. But she didn’t care. She would enjoy to the fullest the time she had left.
The pirates sprang to mind. However long or short that may be. She pressed her hand to her calf where the knife lay.
Chapter Fifteen
Why had he told Arianna he cared for her?
Because it was true. Though he tried to deny and fought his need for her, she had slipped into and lodged in his heart. If they didn’t survive, he wanted Arianna to know how much she meant to him. He didn’t want her to think he seduced any available girl. He satisfied his needs with other women, but they were never virgins and understood a long-term relationship and emotions did not play a part in their lovemaking.
He curled a stray strand of hair behind her ear. Arianna’s courageousness, her determination to fight despite the odds stacked against her, and her ability to stand up to him when all others feared to, spoke to him. He spied the vulnerability, loneliness, and fear deep inside and yearned to protect and fill her needs. When he granted her a wish, he loved to peer at her delighted face.
She smacked her lips, swallowed, and then coughed.
“Are you thirsty?”
“I’ll be fine.”
She always said that. He stood and yanked her to her feet. “Drinking can make you thirsty the next day. I think I saw a stream not too far from here. We’ll be back before my brother returns or the pirates venture this far.”
She shot him a look of disbelief. “Are you sure?”
“Didn’t I tell you I am always right?”
She rolled her eyes. “And you never lie.”
“Now that you understand, come on.” He wrapped her hand within his. He loved holding it. The softness, the smallness, the fragile but strong bones inside, just like her.
A light breeze blew strands of hair from her dirty face, accentuating her beauty. He had adored the way the long, blonde mass had swayed with her movements when she left it down, but the short cut suited her, too. Any style fitted her face. He looked up and spied a large bird of prey flying high above them. Its wings spread wide, drifting on the air currents, circling. As he was about to point it out to Arianna, it swooped down out of sight.
“I realize he needs to eat too, but I feel sorry for the animal he captured. I know the feeling.”
“So you did see him.”
“He was magnificent. When I sailed with my papa, I saw many different birds.”
He yearned to offer her adventure, but her desire was an impossibility in this world. After this voyage, he would return to working in his office and wouldn’t allow her to sail on his ships. And no one else’s if he could prevent it.
They reached the small stream, and Arianna fell to her knees, cupped her dainty hands, and slurped handfuls of clear, cool water, her delicate back curved, her graceful head bent. He dropped beside her and also satisfied his thirst.
When she could drink no more, she leaned back, resting on her hands, and stared at him for a long time.
Finding no reason for her intense scrutiny, self-consciousness crept to the surface. “What?”
“Tell me about your life. I have told you about part of mine, but I know next to nothing about you. I don’t even know how old you are.”
He didn’t want to answer. The absent knowledge separated them, and he didn’t wish to bridge the gap. He had to give her up one day. She was not his to keep. But he could not deny her. “I am thirty years old.”