The Captain's Caress

by Leigh Greenwood

  “But I don’t like you.” Summer gave Brent a provocative smile. “I don’t deny that you are pleasant enough to look at, but I would much prefer to be sitting down to dinner with Smith, or even Caspian. At least then I would be sure that Juanita’s food, and not I, would be the main course.” She slipped around Pedro to escape Brent. “Careful,” she warned, “or you’ll overturn the table.”

  “Someday you’ll be strangled and your body hidden under a bush.”

  “I cry peace,” she said merrily, and allowed Brent to help her with her chair.

  “Eat, you vexing female. For the present I’ll do my best to behave like Smith.”

  “Oh, please don’t try,” Summer protested. “I’m persuaded the effort would derange you.” The presence of the dour Pedro and the entrance of two girls who were bringing in the first course prevented Brent from sweeping Summer up from her chair and inflicting his own particular brand of torture on her. But she smiled at him in such a devastating fashion that his legs grew weak, and he sat down quickly. There would be time to exact punishment later, when he had gotten his quivering limbs under control.

  Chapter 29

  It was a perfect dinner. Pedro served them from trays brought from the house to insure their privacy, and Summer felt that nothing could ruin this night. The terrace was bathed in the light of a full moon, its pale gold rays augmented by lanterns placed on walls or hung from trees. These glowed like lesser moons against the dark shadows of the house and the gardens. On the table, candles glimmered within globes, wrapping them in an aura of warm, lustrous light.

  A medley of sounds and smells filtered to her. The murmur of rustling leaves, the chirping of frogs soothed her senses. Odors of decaying leaves, freshly turned earth, and salt sea air became lost in the heavy perfume of the flowers that filled the terrace and surrounding lawns, some growing on plants in huge pots, other on thick borders, tall shrubs, or rambling vines. The extravagance of Nature’s bounty made Summer feel almost drunk.

  Filled with the soft, life-giving moisture of the sea, the night air fell on Summer’s shoulders like a velvet cloak, enveloping her in its soft warmth. It promised peace and plenty, and it eased the tension from her body, allowing her to luxuriate in this paradise that must have been intended for the gods.

  Dinner began in a bantering mood, but during the course of the evening, the atmosphere changed, slowly at first, and then quite dramatically. When they finally rose from the table, their easy informality had vanished. In its place was pent-up excitement, intense concentration on each other. Their conversation slowed, became halting, and then virtually stopped. The few words they spoke were separated by long pauses.

  At first Summer tried to sustain the faltering conversation. “We haven’t been very talkative tonight.”

  “No.” It was an unencouraging reply.

  “I didn’t expect to be entertained every minute, but neither did I anticipate having to talk to myself.”

  “I was thinking,” Brent said unhelpfully.

  “Are your thoughts private, or am I included?”

  “You’re very much included, but I’m not sure I want to share them yet.”

  “Sounds mysterious.”

  “No, just damnable!” he said with explosive fury.

  Summer pushed her chair back. “In that case I’m glad you won’t tell me. Maybe a change of scene will help you think of something more pleasant,” she said provocatively. Brent rose quickly to help her with her chair as she gathered up a thin gauze wrap. “The moon is so bright I can walk about as if it were day. You may come along if you like, in case I stumble or lose my way.”

  “I’ll trip you at the first step.”

  “I should never give you permission to lay a hand on me,” she said, striving for a light tone. “You never neglect any opportunity.”

  “I never could stand the temptation of being near you without touching you.”

  “Did you every try?”

  “In Havana, but I couldn’t get you off my mind,” Brent said. “Those were the worst weeks of my life.” Summer halted and turned to face him, angry now.

  “How can you say that when you pursued dozens of females right under the noses of half of Havana?”

  “You know I wasn’t interested in any of those women.”

  “Do you think I believe that?” she asked.

  “It ought to be obvious.”

  “Well it’s not. Explain it to me.”

  “You really don’t understand, do you?”

  “It’s about as clear as the ravings of a madman.”

  “I am a madman. I have been for the last several months.”

  “I must have had too much wine. I don’t understand a word you’ve said.”

  “You haven’t had enough, or your feelings would tell you that I made my interest in the marquise and others obvious to keep anyone from guessing that the person I was really interested in was you.”

  Summer merely stared at him.

  “I was sure you knew.”

  “No,” she said, helplessly. “I never guessed.” A soaring joy threatened to dismantle every bit of control she had.

  “It was a mistake to bring you to Havana. With my reputation, the only way I could think to protect you was to let everyone see that I was interested in others.”

  “Are you trying to make me believe that your interest in the marquise was assumed?” There was a dangerous tone to her voice.

  “Not entirely,” Brent admitted. “I had known her before. Dallying with her is not without its rewards.”

  “So you lost sight of why you were playing at cat and mouse and proceeded to collect your reward every night.” Summer stepped angrily away from him. “Maybe you decided it was more fun to capture the cat than to protect the mouse.”

  “I didn’t collect anything from Constanza, unless you consider the privilege of talking to her husband a just reward for fidelity.”

  “You can’t really expect me to believe the two of you sat around her boudoir discussing the sea while the marquise slept demurely in the background.”

  “I was never in Constanza’s bedroom, and her husband doesn’t know any more about ships than you do, although he’s an admiral of the Spanish Navy. God, he’s an ass! No wonder Spain is losing her empire.”

  “Where did you go then?” she asked, confused. “Everyone knows you didn’t stay at the hotel.”

  “I went back to the ship,” he said, as though the answer were being pulled from him. “Didn’t you guess?”

  “How could I when I never saw you?” Summer was afraid to believe him, but she couldn’t bear the thought that he might be lying to her.

  “I couldn’t have fooled anybody if I’d blabbed to everyone.”

  “I don’t think I qualify as just anyone.”

  “That chattering fool Chichi would have spread the news all over town in less than a day.”

  Summer was forced to admit that was true. “But why did you do it?”

  “You still don’t know?”

  “No,” she replied, in a hushed voice.

  He drew her so near she could feel his hot breath on her cool skin. “It was the only way I could keep my promise not to touch you.”

  “At least you could have told me you weren’t spending every night with the marquise.”

  “I wasn’t sure you were interested.”

  “When I didn’t see you, I thought you didn’t care anymore.”

  “I was trying to attend to the ship’s business.” He laughed humorlessly. “Smith practically ordered me to stop chasing all over the city and spend more time looking after you.”

  “Why?”

  “Because you’re mine.”

  “But you don’t particularly like me, remember?” Summer studied his cravat. “I’m just a body with a pretty face.”

  “I never said anything that foolish.”

  “You certainly did, and a lot more I won’t mention.”

  “You know it’s not true.”

&n
bsp; “No I don’t,” she whispered, more softly than before. “You never told me.”

  “I’ve told you now.”

  “You’ve only said a lot of meaningless words. You haven’t said anything to make me believe you’ve changed your mind.”

  “I brought you here, didn’t I?”

  “You could have brought hundreds of women here for all I know.”

  “I went to the trouble of hiring the most lavish suite in the largest hotel in town, bought you trunkloads of clothes. Everything I did was for you.”

  “You haven’t done anything for me,” she said, wondering what she could say to make him understand. “Everything you did was for you, for your pride in possessing me, your pleasure in admiring me, even your revenge against Gowan.”

  “I don’t understand you,” he said aggrieved. “You’re beginning to sound like Smith. Have you two been putting your heads together to plague me, because if you have I’ll tan your hides.”

  “There you go again, forcing people to your will without even questioning whether they might not know more than you do.”

  “I don’t bend people to my will,” Brent protested.

  “But you do, even Smith. What can anybody else expect when you treat the person who’s most important to you like that?”

  “He’s not the most important person to me,” Brent said impatiently. “You are.”

  “I didn’t know that.” Summer made a noise that sounded like a sob. “How could I when you’ve never bothered to tell me?”

  “But you had to know it.”

  “No I didn’t. Remember, I’m the one who thought you were spending your nights in half the bedrooms of Havana. I’m not in on your little secrets.”

  “It’s not a secret.”

  “What’s not a secret?”

  “That I love you.”

  “You don’t!” Summer tried to keep her turbulent emotions under control. “You’ve let the wine and the moonlight go to your head.”

  “I know what I feel,” Brent said, his voice rising. “If I say I love you, I love you.”

  “Is that an order?” Summer asked. A choked sound escaped her as Brent suddenly swept her up into his arms and crushed her to him.

  “No, you hard-headed spitfire. It’s a declaration. I love you, do you hear me? I love you like a man loves a woman he wants to keep by his side forever. I love you because you’re beautiful, because you have the most inviting body I’ve ever seen. But I also love you because you’re a termagant and I can’t get you and your craggy temper out of my mind. I dream about you, and I spend every waking minute wondering where you are, what you’re doing, and what lucky fool is close enough to reach out and touch you, to hear you laugh, to see the way your eyes sparkle when you’re happy, to watch a smile curve across your lips, or enjoy the way your eyes crinkle when you’re about to say something clever. I’m a man with a raging fever and there’s no cure. The more I’m around you, the worse it gets. But when I’m not with you it’s worse still. I can’t sleep and I can’t eat. My crew had begun to wonder if they shouldn’t start looking about for a new captain. I paced the deck, I lost my temper without reason, I shouted and gave contradictory orders, and worst of all I haven’t been with another female since I set eyes on you.”

  “You really do love me.” Summer strove to keep from giving way to hysterical happiness.

  “That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you for the last half-hour, you adorable little idiot,” Brent said roughly. “I love you so much I ache all over just thinking about it.” Summer threw herself into his arms and covered his face with kisses, laughing and crying at the same time.

  “And I love you, too, you big dumb ox. I’ve loved you almost from the beginning.”

  “Now who’s telling lies?” he said, holding her even closer.

  “Truly, I’m not. I tried to hate you for quite a long time, but I couldn’t. It was your loyalty to Smith that utterly destroyed my resistance. After that I was so hopelessly in love with you that I was jealous of every woman you looked at in Havana.”

  “How could you think I would really look at anyone when I had you?”

  “How was I to know you could live like a monk for weeks on end?”

  “I’ve been going to sea for ten years, my poisoned-tongued Aphrodite. We’re away from port for months at a time.”

  “Tell me again that you love me,” Summer begged.

  “I love you,” Brent declared.

  “Say it as though you mean it,” she demanded.

  “I love you, by God,” Brent shouted, and sweeping her into his arms, he turned and mounted the terrace steps. “But I prefer to show you.” He recrossed the terrace in a few strides, carelessly brushing the table with Summer’s trailing gown and causing the wine glasses Pedro had set out to fall to the flagstones and break into tiny fragments.

  “I can’t wait any longer. Having you in my arms is more than a man can bear. I will do something wild if I don’t make love to you. Tomorrow I may restrain myself, but tonight I’m going to make love to you until dawn.”

  “If you pull the curtains, we won’t know when it’s morning,” she said teasingly.

  “I may not stop when the sun comes into the room.” Brent welcomed the look of invitation in her eyes.

  “Don’t ever stop,” she pleaded. “I dreamed that someday you’d say you loved me. Now that you have I can’t hear it often enough.”

  “I’ll tell you at least once every day.”

  “Every hour,” she said, floating on clouds of buoyant bliss. “I want to hear it when I wake up and when I go to sleep. I want to hear it in the wind, feel it in the air around me. I don’t ever again want to have to ask myself if you love me.”

  “You won’t have any doubts,” he said, placing her on the bed and beginning to unbutton her dress. “I will devote all my time to proving to you that no one in the world means as much to me as you do.”

  Summer helped Brent slide the dress down over her body, and within seconds she lay before him as Nature intended her to be seen. Brent stared at her in awe, unable to believe that anyone could be so beautiful. She grasped his hand and pressed it to her warm flesh.

  “Are you going to join me,” she asked shyly, “or are you going to stand there gawking all night? I thought you were a man of action.”

  “I never refuse a lady.” Brent shed his clothing without regard for strained seams and popping buttons. As he climbed into the bed, Summer enfolded him in her arms.

  He kissed her deeply, and she responded with such burning intensity their bodies were driven to become one. Their limbs entwined, and the heat coursing through their bodies increased tenfold as it flowed from one to the other.

  Brent’s tongue raked her mouth and kindled in her a chord of response deeper than anything she had experienced. She flung herself at him, determined to become so much a part of him that he would never be free of her. Her fierceness had its birth in an unspoken fear that their love, removed from the hard realities of the world and declared in the isolation of the island, was too fragile to last. But something deep within her urged her to plunge into the vortex of this maelstrom, and her stormy passion was all the more compelling because of her desperation.

  Brent met the challenge boldly and recklessly, marveling at the depth of love she was revealing. He loved her more than life, even more than his revenge. He knew he wanted to be with her forever, that he would never feel complete again without her. He was an adventurer who had taken her against all odds; he would hold her the same way.

  They made love with an animalistic frenzy, each attacking the other, driven to insensitivity by the force of their own fevered passion, and their consummation was a brutal release of pent-up desire. Exhaustion only made their need more unbearable, but they were freed of their dammed-up energies.

  They had destroyed the last barrier that kept them apart, and as their overheated senses cooled and the desperate rush to dash themselves on the rock of their passion subsided, they achi
eved a truer perception of the feeling that had come to exist between them. No more would they thrash aimlessly about, trying to search out the seat of their emotional needs in a game of sensual blindman’s bluff. Their urge for physical fulfillment had been tested in the much larger crucible of their love, and had become just a part of a relationship no less powerful because it was complex.

  “I always dreamed of what it would be like to lie with the man I loved,” Summer said softly. “Here, far away from the outside world, with your arms around me, I feel totally at peace.”

  Brent touched her cheek. “I had no idea that two people could feel this way. I don’t think I wanted to, not after seeing how much my mother suffered.”

  “You should have left me on the Sea Otter and sailed away as fast as you could.”

  “I could no more have left you than I could have given up my own ship. I was hypnotized by that first vision of you stepping out on deck so proudly.”

  “I would never have known it from the way you treated me.”

  “Knowing that you were destined to belong to Gowan was a blow I couldn’t endure. I was determined that you would be mine.” Summer snuggled closer to him.

  “Are you always so determined in your pursuit?”

  “I never bothered before. If things didn’t go my way, there was always someone else.”

  “There was never anyone else for me,” she declared. “I had almost resigned myself to spending the rest of my life running the plantation for Father.” She held more tightly to Brent. “I never dreamed that I would be dragged willy-nilly from that ship by a wild-eyed pirate, and held captive in his cabin for weeks. That kind of adventure only happens in story books.”

  “I remember numerous complaints about beasts, bullies, and people who bend the rules to suit themselves.” Brent chuckled.

  “You were heartless, but I never could stay mad at you for very long, even when you were behaving like a medieval warlord.”

  “Every time I looked at you I wanted to take you in my arms and hold you forever. My mind dwelt on the sight of your bare shoulder, the feel of your skin, even your crooked grin when you were up to mischief.”