Within a Captain's Hold (16 page)

She rested her head on his shoulder, brushing soft lips across his neck “I couldn’t have guessed it would be this way. If I ever speak with our maids again, I’m going to tell them they were wrong.” She traced his ear with the tip of her nose and toyed with his earring.

The brush of her warm breath had him thinking a month would still not be long enough. “Wrong about what?” Jaxon laid a line of kisses along the pale sweep of her shoulder.

“Quite a few things. I’d been told mating was a dutiful chore one must endure. I should simply lie back and count the minutes until it was over.”

He cupped a breast and gave a gentle squeeze, earning him a seductive sigh and the arching of her back. “Ah, and what do you believe now that you’ve had nearly four days experience?” His thumb swirled over a tight nipple.

Annalise gripped him between her thighs, squeezed him with her legs and whimpered. “Perhaps they…failed to do it properly.”

Jaxon bit at the tender flesh along her collarbone and lowered his touch. “Perhaps.” His fingers searched lower still and found another firm tip. He teased the slick flesh surrounding it.

She grabbed the back of his shirt. Her nails scrapping through the linen to his skin. “They were f-fools.” She gasped. Her hot sheath pulsed around him. “Ah, oh, Jaxon.”

He swept an arm across the desk, scattering logbooks and maps to the floor, then laid her back. Her knees fell wide. The new angle of her hips sent a rush to his loins. Seeing her lost in the throes of her pleasure drove him deeper. His fingers circled and teased at their joining. Anna hung on to the edge of the desk with one hand while her other grasped at her breast as she arched against him again and again.

Jaxon increased the pressure on the swollen flesh beneath his fingertips. His own need forgotten, his only goal was to bring her the same pleasure she’d given him these last four days. Their breath came in pants as his thrusts became shorter, faster, stronger. Sweat slid between his shoulder blades. “Are…you…counting…the minutes…Annalise?”

“Oh God.” She cried out. The muscles of her belly contracted. She blindly grasped at his arm, his hand, his fingers, pressing them harder to her as her body shuddered and bucked against him. The inner walls of her sex squeezed and flooded as her orgasm rippled through her, carrying him with her. “Ohhh. Jaxon.”

Later, as their heartbeats and breathing returned to normal, Annalise sighed beneath him. “When we get to port, perhaps, along with a proper ring, you’ll buy me a clock? I keep losing all track of time.”

Jaxon smiled as he released her and righted his trousers. He helped her up from the desk and handed her those damnable breeches. “I promise when we reach Port Royal, I shall get you a ring, a clock, and have a dozen dresses made for you more fitting for the wife of a captain than a pair of pants stolen off a powder monkey.”

“Don’t you like your women in breeches?” She turned, giving him a sassy shot of her luscious backside. With her naked to her waist, he was tempted to tear them off and make them both lose track of time again. Instead, he captured her for another searing kiss.

Two quick taps rapped on the door. It wasn’t Cookie’s signal of three slow knocks. Blast. Jaxon could see in his haste, he’d fail to latch the lock and was too far from the door to keep it from opening.

“Captain Steele, sir, I need--” Robbins stopped dead in his tracks. “
Bloody hell.”

Jaxon pulled Annalise behind him and glared at the boy, “Shut the door.”

“But--What?”

“Dammit, lad,
shut the door.
”

Robbins closed it with a slam.

Anna scrambled to pull her shirt on. She clutched at the lacings and struggled into its sleeves.

The color drained from the boy’s face as he pointed a shaky finger. “That’s not a ghost.”

“Nay. She’s my wife.”

“Your wife? But a woman can’t…I thought…you let me think…you can’t have a woman on the ship.”

“Robbins.”

Anna slipped past him. “I can explain. Robbins, is it? I’m Annalise. You have to believe me when I tell you none of this is Jaxon’s fault. I’m the guilty party. He knew nothing about me being here until we were too far from port to turn back. Didn’t even know my name. I stowed away in a horrible hold, and it is only because of him I am still alive. I beg you have mercy. Don’t tell the crew about me.” She looked back at Jaxon. “He is innocent in this. Please don’t let them hurt him.”

“Annalise, don’t defend me. I knew what I was doing. Robbins has a duty.”

Robbins gaped back and forth between him and Anna. “But you’re his wife?”

“Yes, and only because I forced him to marry me. You see, there’s this duke…” She fidgeted with her fingers and then ran her palms down the front of her pants.

“My britches.”

Three slow knocks sounded at the door before Cookie poked his head inside, his eyes were screwed shut. “Are ye decent there, Capt’n?”

“Yes, for Christ’s sake, come in.”

When Cookie opened his eyes, he jerked back at the sight of Robbins standing just inside the door. He looked even more surprised when Robbins balled his fist, hauled off, and punched him square in the face.

Annalise gasped.

Cookie hit the wall but stayed on his feet. “Good hit, lad.” He spat blood and what resembled a tooth onto the floor. “Ye owed me that, son, ye did.” Cookie rubbed his jaw. “Ye swing like a pulley block. Nice job.”

“Ye bastard had me thinkin’ I’d done lost me mind. Spirit my arse. Ye’ve been tipping me rum. Ye stole me pants.”

“Aye, that I did, all of it, but I had good reason.”

“Blast ye and yer reason. Blast all of ye,” Robbins shot back at Jaxon.

Jaxon held the boy’s glare before looking at Cookie. There was something in the man’s eye that superseded all the rest. He knew what it was before he asked.

“What did you want, Cookie?”

“Came down to tell ye, Quinn’s spotted the
Sea Dragon
.”

Robbins gasped at the name, “Bonchette.”

Jaxon’s gut twisted. “Call all hands to battle. Drop every yard of red we have. I’ll be up in a minute.”

“Aye, Capt’n, don’t be long.”

Jaxon gave Cookie a curt nod. Robbins was shaking his head with wide eyes.

“A woman aboard
and
Bonchette on our gunwales. Today, I’m gonna die.”

“Robbins, wait for me on the other side of that door.” The muscle in his jaw ticked.

“Bonchette.” Annalise looked at him with panic in her eyes. “He’s come to kill you.”

Jaxon pulled two pistols from his desk and added them to his baldric. He’d grab more powder and shot on deck. “He’s come to try.” He slipped an extra dirk into the band at his waist.

“Jaxon.”

He made the mistake of looking at her. Tears shimmered in her golden eyes. He reached out to her and tried to still the trembling of her lips with the pad of his thumb before lowering his mouth to cover hers. He kissed her as if he’d never have the chance to do so again.

Annalise began to speak, her voice caught, and she laid a gentle hand to his cheek. “You have to know, these past few days, I’ve come to--”

“Don’t.” He placed two fingers across her lips. “Don’t say it. Not those words, not now.”

“But, if--”

“No. I can’t hear them. Not now.” Crushing her to his chest, he buried his face into her hair. He pulled the sweet scent of her deep into his lungs, wrapping her around his heart.

A sob racked her body.

He tightened his hold. “Tell me tonight, when I’m holding you like this in our bed. Tell me then.” He kissed her again.

Her tears washed his cheek.

“I have to go. You need to be brave. Hide yourself and wait for me.” He brushed the wetness from her face.

She drew in a shaky breath and nodded. “Tonight. I’ll be waiting.”

Jaxon stopped at the door.
God help me, don’t look back at her
. He closed his eyes against the deep ache in his chest.
God help us both
.

Steeling his resolve, Jaxon left the cabin and found Robbins waiting a few paces down the corridor.

“Robbins, you owe me more than a punch in the jaw, and I’m not going to waste time trying to justify my actions. The ship heading at us means to see everyone on board the
Scarlet
dead before they’re done.
Everyone
. If we are lucky enough to survive the day, then it’s your right, nay, your duty to turn me over to the crew. But Annalise is the innocent one here, not me.”

The boy’s mouth was nothing but a thin line.

Jaxon’s jaw tightened. “If we’re not the victors today, if the ship is taken, Bonchette will serve her up to his crew on a platter.” His belly twisted at the image and bile rose in his throat. “I need to give you one last order as your captain. No--strike that. I’m going to ask you to do something for me, man to man.”

Overhead, the shouts of the crew and the running of feet thundered. The battle was upon them.

“I want you to stay below. Here.”

“Here?” Robbins shook his head. “I got me duty. I ain’t afraid to fight.”

“I know. Let me finish. I want you to stay here. If I fall, if Bonchette wins.” Jaxon handed a small pistol to the boy. “I want you to have mercy on my wife. Take her life before that depraved bastard has a chance to annihilate her. He’ll kill her in the most evil way possible. Please, promise me she’ll die at your hand instead. Quickly. Humanely.” The sound of distant cannon fire sent cold fingers down his spine. He grabbed the front of Robbins’ shirt. “Please.”

Robbins stared at the pistol in his hand then back at the door. He looked Jaxon square in the face, and it seemed as if the lad matured before his eyes. A simple nod from him gave his promise. Jaxon swallowed the lump threatening to choke him and he slapped Robbins’ shoulder. “You’re a fine man, Mr. Robbins. I’m honored to know you. You’ve earned more than my gratitude this day.” Jaxon paused a second more to glance at his door before heading toward the stairs.

“Captain Steele?” Robbins called after him, “Don’t be losin’.”

* * * *

Jaxon’s pulse quickened as the
Sea Dragon
barreled toward them. Stripped for speed, she sat high in the water. They’d never outrun her. Good thing Jaxon never ran.

The crew was near fever pitch as cannons were loaded and swords were drawn. Men crawled into the rigging, yelling and hollering, whipping each other into the frenzy he knew they’d need to fight what headed their way.

“Drop the Black Bones.” There would be no mercy shown today. Jaxon shouted above the din, “Take no prisoners, men. Give no quarter.
Raise the Red!
”

The crew roared as the warning flag rose. It signaled to Bonchette that no soul would be spared. A fight to the death. As a single cannon round sounded from the
Dragon
, the cry went up through the crew to beware. Jaxon braced for the assault. The shot was a direct hit with chain shot. It shattered the forward mast. Splintered wood and sail crashed to the deck. The ship jerked beneath him. From the quarterdeck he looked down to see men struggling to pull bodies from under the wreckage.

Jaxon bellowed above the din, “Hard to port. Starboard gunners, fire!” The
Sea Dragon
cut through the waves toward them. The
Scarlet’s
cannons overshot.

“Level the guns. Hit the bastards square on.”

The
Sea Dragon
turned and countered. Cannon balls smashed through the rails. Bodies and wreckage flew across the deck, killing several of his men.

“Fire!” The second volley hit its mark, rocking the
Sea Dragon
. The two ships were locked in a macabre dance. Through the haze of smoke, Jaxon saw many of Bonchette’s crew lay dead and injured on their deck.

“Traverse.” Those left in the rigging screeched and howled like demons. Men leveled grappling hooks and swung wide on ropes over the open space between and rained down upon the back of the wounded
Dragon
.

Jaxon drew his cutlass and rushed to join the battle. He fought one man, felled him, and turned to fight another. Steel clashed as bloody combat ensued. A second and third man fell at the slash of his blade.

He spun once more, coming face-to-face with Blood-Eye Bonchette. The man flashed a vicious smile of gray, rotting teeth. His eyes were wild like something feral and rabid.

“Captain Steele, nice of ye to come aboard. I been waitin’ fer ye.”

“So you’re ready to die? You picked a fine day for it.”

Bonchette laughed. A hideous laugh that ended with him coughing and hacking up a wad of phlegm he spat at Jaxon. “I’ll not be the one dying today. That’d be ye, Mr. High and Mighty. Thinkin’ yer better than the rest of us, do ya? Thinkin’ cause yer father’s an earl it earns ye the right to look down yer nose at me. Well, ain’t ye in for a surprise?”

“You need to stop drinking whatever’s rotting your brain.”

Bonchette spat again and kept rambling. “He’s the one ta put a price on ya. Had a man sent to me.
Me.
Knew I was the one could do the deed. Told me ’imself. Yer own father wants ye dead.”

“That’s no surprise.” The battle raged around them, but Jaxon never took his eyes off Bonchette.

“Fifty thousand gold pieces is what yer head’s worth. Long as it ain’t attached to yer bloody neck.”

“Fifty thousand?” Jaxon laughed. “You can’t count that high. My father’s sent you on a fool’s errand. You’ll not see a farthing of his precious gold. You’re already dead.”

Bonchette’s blade swung at him. Jaxon crowed as the man’s next attack hit nothing but air. Bonchette screamed and lunged forward. The blade of his sword sliced across Jaxon’s upper arm. Dark blood bloomed down the sleeve of his shirt.

Jaxon spun and slashed a deep, mortal wound across the man’s chest, bringing Bonchette to his knees. A crimson flow soaked his front. Bonchette stared at the blood upon his hands and fell back with stunned disbelief upon his face. The gash was gaping and his life was quickly draining from him.

Blood and bodies littered the deck of the
Sea Dragon
as Jaxon turned away from the dying man. He started to shout the order to return to the
Scarlet
when the fine hairs on the back of his neck stopped him. As he turned, he saw the flash of powder a second before the gun exploded and lead shot ripped into his side.