It was then Jun noticed Will’s book resting next to the opposite cushion. Giving a quick peek down the garden path, she reached around the table and picked it up. The burnished silver latch was unlocked and yet, she hesitated opening the fine leather-bound logbook. Jun traced the detailed corner caps. She’d meant to ask him about looking at it, but her intentions had gotten lost somewhere between Qi and gifts and kisses that continued to rob her of rational thought and sear her from the inside out.
Jun gave another glance down the path. A small glimpse wouldn’t do any harm. She raised the wick on a nearby lantern.
Cradling the log, it fell open to midway through the pages where the place was marked by a small square of red sail cloth. Jun recognized it at once. The rough edges had been neatly trimmed, but it was the bit of sail Will had retrieved from the wreckage on the beach.
Jun fingered the cloth’s rich color and tried to picture Will’s ship. She’d forgotten its name. Didn’t know what type of ship it was, but could imagine it with its fine red sails bowed, riding the tips of the waves. Jun could imagine him, too, standing at the helm. Legs astride. The spray of the water. The bite of the wind. Sunlight gleaming off his dark skin. He would have made a striking pose.
She set the scrap of sail in her lap and lifted the book closer. His handwriting was a bit difficult to decipher in ink. Jun raised the wick of the lantern once again and read:
I became a member of the Scarlet Night crew sometime between the ages of four and five. Having no knowledge of the day of my birth, this is as good a guess as I can make. Pulled from the gutters of Port Royal, Jamaica, I made my mark to the Ship’s Articles and began my life as a privateer in the year 1685 as a cabin boy.
Jun’s eyes shot up the path. Of course…I knew he had to be more than a simple merchant seaman. Bloody hell…He’s a pirate. Somehow that bit of information made him even more attractive. And impressive. A deaf merchant was one thing, but a pirate who couldn’t hear? How had he survived a life filled with battles and raids, not to mention two score years of storms and living a life at sea? It certainly explained the scars on his back, as well.
She kept reading:
My first weeks were hellish. Seasick and unfamiliar with life aboard ship, I was always where I shouldn’t be at all the worst times. After a swinging block nearly cleaved my skull in two, and a whipping rope flayed open my forehead, they gave me the nickname of Bump. A name that would follow me through most of my life. Few knew my given name of William, and not even I knew of my surname. Quinn was gifted to me by the woman who helped raise me and kept me alive for more years than I deserved. Alice Tupper Quinn, known to the crew of the Scarlet Night as Tupper.
Jun continued to read Will’s accounts of Tupper and her husband Captain Gavin Quinn. How they battled the vile slave trade flowing from the African coast and fought side by side until… that horrible day. June 7, 1692 when the sea rose up and swallowed the earth.
Will recounted in gruesome detail the great earthquake that hit the island of Jamaica on that morning. He’d felt the tremors. Had some intuitive warning of what was to come, but couldn’t make anyone understand what he was sensing. Then it was too late. Will stood in the aft of the ship and watched a great blood red cloud rise above the city of Port Royal as the ground seemed to dissolve before his eyes. He witnessed buildings sinking. Ships being dragged down by their anchors. People on the beach…he’d seen them scratching for the sky before the waters rushed from the land only to return with a great wave of vengeance. It wiped part of the world away and erased all the life that had been there. He’d seen it all.
His words were so raw and poignant. Jun could picture everything. It broke her heart. Will had been a young boy when he’d lost Gavin Quinn in the earthquake, by his accounts they’d lost most of their crew as well that day. What touched her most was his sense of guilt. That somehow, he could have saved them. Warned them in time. He still carried that burden of regret and responsibility to this day for something that was completely beyond his control.
Jun cradled the book to her chest. There was more to read. He was telling the story of his life. Part of her felt strange, peering into his personal writings, but it explained so much. Now she understood the depth of his anguish over losing his ship and his crew. They were more than that. He’d lost his family. His home. First the man who held the place of his father all those years ago, and now his “mother.” And the weight of being the one in command of the Scarlet Night when the ship was lost? To a man who held duty and responsibility to such a high degree. No wonder he’d been so devastated.
And it was also no wonder he was so concerned with the teaching of a small child. He was trying to save Qi as Gavin and Tupper Quinn had once saved him. Given him a life, even one amongst thieves and villains. They taught him how to survive the challenges he faced. How to fight in battle and live another day. But more than all that, they taught him about honor, duty, and love.
Jun’s heart swelled. Had she not already been completely captivated by him, these revelations would have led her there. William “Bump” Quinn was a good man. And a fierce bloody pirate to boot!
At the crunch of shells in the walk, Jun startled and rushed to return Will’s book to where it had sat. Her heart pounded at the threat of being caught prying into his personal writings.
Coming out of the shadows, the sight of him reaffirmed all she was feeling for him. He’d slipped his pants back on, but carried the rest of his belongings over one arm. Jun drank in the seductive sight of him. The span of his chest and the way the lantern light shone on his beautiful skin as it rode the play of muscles beneath.
He’d been in a hurry to find her. She could tell because he’d forgotten to button the top two buttons on his fitted trousers allowing them to ride below his waist. Offering her a tempting view of that ridge of muscle riding over his hip. The effect was devastating. How had she ever mistaken him for a simple merchant? If any man looked and strode with the confidence of a pirate, it was Will.
Her fingers curled in a desire to touch him as Jun realized she still held the bit of red sail in her lap. She scrambled to her feet and shoved it into her pocket. How could she get it back into the book without him catching her?
Jun smiled hoping to disguise her rush of guilt from shining like a beacon on her face. One hand held firmly around the evidence in her pocket while the other pressed at the sudden flock of birds trying to flap their way out of her stomach.
When Will reached her, he returned her smile before dropping his things on top of his book. Her heart followed the drop of his clothing. How would she return the bit of sail now?
He lifted a bit of honey cake and popped the morsel into his mouth. A second piece he fed to her, then licked the sweetness from his fingers as he watched her mouth work. Between the warm smell of his skin so close, and the seductive way he looked at her, parts of her anatomy began melting faster than the honey on her tongue.
Her body trembled with her insatiable need of him. To hell with the guilty evidence held in her pocket. She’d figure out how to return it later.
Then Will made the small gesture of tapping his fingertips together. Jun searched through the sensual fog clouding her brain. Wasn’t that one of the signs he had taught Qi? It took her a moment to remember.
‘More.’ He was asking if she wanted more.
Oh, yes, please. She clumsily signed, ‘Yes, I want more.’
His pleasure at her signing was obvious, but when he reached for more cake, she laid a gentle hand on his arm and made the sign for ‘No.’ She pushed the cake away and guided his hand to cradle her cheek.
‘More.’ She made the sign then tapped her lips. Will gave her a smoldering stare as the corner of his mouth lifted before he dropped a single chaste kiss upon her lips. ‘More.’ She ran her palms over the muscles of his chest and stopped to tease the flat disks of his nipples with a sweep of her thumbs.
Will pulled in a great breath swelling his chest beneath her touch. The tips of his nipples hardened under her strokes. His eyes drifted closed. Fine goose bumps disturbed the smoothness of his skin.
When he opened his eyes, he made another series of signs. Most of which Jun had never seen before, until he got to the last. She recognized the sign for want. It was almost a desperate grasping gesture. Was he telling her he wanted her, or asking if she wanted him?
Jun skipped her fingertips over the ridges of his abdomen before hooking one into the open waistband of his trousers. She watched his throat work. When she brushed the tip of his erection, his lips parted with a small gasp. He stood perfectly still.
Leaning forward she whispered against his lips. “Yes, I want. I want all of you.” She slipped another of his buttons from its home. She smiled at the obvious effect she was having on Will. It was her turn to make him tremble. Sliding her fingers lower she grasped the full width of him. “Seems I can’t get enough…”
With her free hand, she guided Will’s touch to her breast before kissing him again. All the while, she played in long slow strokes over the firmness of his cock.
Will kneaded her breast in the same slow torturous fashion. His body practically hummed with steeled restraint. He was holding back. Letting her be the seducer. Giving her the lead, giving himself over to her, and she was reveling in the sense of power it gave her.
He pulsed in her hand. It was Jun’s turn to gasp as a damp rush to her own sex echoed his desire. She bit his lip gently before pulling away. Now, she wanted him now. They both were breathless with need.
Jun took Will’s hand from her breast and tugged him toward her bed chamber. As he headed in that direction, Jun was quick to slip behind him. At his questioning glance, she pointed to the lantern that still burned high. She snuffed out the light, and in one covert rush stuffed the square of red sail back between the pages of his book. Where it fell, she didn’t care. All that mattered was she was back leading him to her bed before his eyes could adjust to the darkness.
Inside she lit a single candle casting gentle shadows throughout the room. As in the garden, Will held himself in check allowing Jun to play the seducer. The muscle in his jaw told her just how restrained he was being when she took her time stripping him of his only article of clothing.
Buttons slipped from their holes, one after the next, exposed him. Jun moved closer, pressing her chest to his as she slid her hands over his hips and under his waistband to skim his trousers off the curve of his taut backside and push them lower.
Will’s breath fluttered the hair at her temples. When she lifted her gaze to his, the intensity of his stare ratcheted her own breathing. Dropping her chin, she gave him her most seductive smile and tugged at the ties of her robe. Instead of the garment joining his trousers in a cascading liquid puddle of silk at their feet, the belt knotted and held fast.
Jun bit her lip and tried again with the same result. She groaned in frustration and dropped her gaze to the stubborn tangle. “Damn it. You touch it and it practically dissolves. I try and it locks so tight, I’ll have to find a dirk to cut the bloody thing off me.” Her fingers plucked at the disobedient silk.
Will stilled her hands, and captured her gaze again. She shook her head and held her hands to her sides in surrender. “You can try, but a blade may be the only—”
The robe slipped to the floor.
“How…?” She lifted her eyebrows in surprise. Will tipped one corner of his mouth as he lifted his hand and blew on his fingertips as if they were hot.
Jun threw back her head and laughed before winding her arms around his neck. “I’ll never doubt your magic fingers again.” She stood on tip toes to kiss him as she backed them toward the bed and pulled Will down atop her.
Spreading her legs, she offered herself up to him and he took her in one fiery thrust. Jun cried out in pleasure as she gripped at his shoulders. Will braced himself above her and pushed into her again. The ends of his hair tickled her chest.
Jun gasped at the strength of his thrusts. Raising her hips to the building pleasure, she released her hold upon his arms to tap her fingertips together… ‘More... More... More….’
Chapter 18
Will was alone when he rose the following morning. The sun was just lightening the sky. He hadn’t slept long, but he was surprisingly refreshed. Perhaps the adrenaline from the late hours of last night was still pumping through his veins.
After Jun had fallen into a sated sleep lying across his chest, he had lain awake, relishing the weight of her body on his. Comforted by her warmth while he tried to sort out the clutter of his thoughts.
Unlike the silk tie of her robe, his mind wouldn’t untangle so easily. He was in love with her. If there was one certainty in all of this, that was it. What good that realization would be, was another story.
He was still a captain without a ship. A pirate without a crew and a price on his head. Other than the clothes on his back, a second-hand pistol, and a handful of coins, he had nothing to offer. His future continued to be one vast, empty ocean with nothing to navigate her by. How could he pledge his love and life to a woman like Jian Jun when her wealth and empire encompassed the entire South China Sea, and his barely filled a pocket?
But last night… he gave her something he’d never given another woman. He’d made love to her with his whole heart. Body and soul. Gave her everything he was beyond ego. Beyond roles. He’d poured all the love he felt for her into their joining, and it had never been so good.
Now all he had to do was figure out how to stay in her life and keep her in his.
Slipping on his trousers, he went in search of her. The garden was empty. Ting and Qi had yet to arrive for the day. Cold tea and stale cake still sat on the small table in the alcove. Had Jun been called away?
He dressed. Slid his feet into his new boots. The stiff leather pinched at his heel. It would take him weeks to break them in. He donned his vest and left his baldric to one side. A bit of red caught his attention. Out of the end of his log book, the bit of sail he’d kept from the Scarlet Night peeked out between the pages.
Will lifted the book. The sailcloth wasn’t where he had left it, and the only one who could have moved it would have been Jun. Had she read the log? She must have done so while he slept in the garden. His clothes hadn’t moved from where he dropped them, so she must have looked at it before then.
That would explain the wide-eyed smile she gave him when he rejoined her last night. She’d been afraid to be caught. How long had he been asleep and more important, how much had she read? Was her seduction last night nothing more than a clever distraction? No, he couldn’t bring himself to believe that.
He fingered the cloth and frowned. She had never pressed him on the details of his past, perhaps because she already knew the truth and it was of no consequence to her. Then why not tell him? The same could be asked of him, however. Fear of her knowing the British had a price on his head was what kept him silent all this time. But if she discovered it on her own, she wasn’t showing any signs of anger that he’d kept the truth from her.
Maybe he was wrong. Could be the book fell and she simply picked it up. If anything, he felt a deeper connection after he found her here last night. Yes, she was a powerful, influential woman, but guile and manipulation did not describe her. She could not have faked what happened between them in her bed. He would have seen it. Sensed it. He was too good at reading people to be blind as well as deaf.
Will flipped through the pages of the log. He was wrong to jump to conclusions, but it did strengthen his resolve. He’d give her the book tonight, and let her read the truth. If he was ever to figure out a way to be with her in the future, he wanted her to know the whole story about who he was.
He ran his thumb over the edges of the pages as he wondered what Jun’s reaction would be to his truth. It was then he noticed several gaps
when he fanned the pages. He opened the book wide. Son of a bitch…
Pages were missing in several places. A half dozen in total. And they had been meticulously, almost invisibly removed, not haphazardly torn from the binding. Someone used a blade to extract them. Will scanned the neighboring pages. What was taken were entries dated back to when the Scarlet Night battled around the Cape of Good Hope. It was his accounting of the discovery of the deep inner channel close to the shore which kept the Night from bearing the worst of the conditions found there.
Certainly, that would be useful if you wanted to find a quicker way into the Atlantic. An unease crept up his spine. If someone wanted to extend the reach of their enormous fleet and set about engaging more ships, amassing more wealth, that would be a tidy bit of information, indeed. And there was only one someone who he’d been foolish enough to let down his guard.
It couldn’t have been Jun, but who else? All this time he’d been wary and watchful of Peng, but perhaps it had been Jun all along. And like a fool, he’d fallen for her and let her lead him around by the cock. Had she set out to seduce him all along, or had she actually developed some feelings for him?
Anger warred with blinding hurt. He couldn’t be wrong about her. About them. Could he? She couldn’t be so conniving. No, he wouldn’t believe it.
He reached for his baldric. There was only one way to know for sure.
By the time his boot hit the tiled floor of the grand hall, Will had convinced himself that there had to be another explanation.
It was still early. The hall was near empty when he arrived. Jun and Peng were talking on the dais.
Within A Captain's Soul Page 13
