A Pirate's Bounty

by Eliza Knight

  She opened her mouth to speak, to shout out, but she couldn’t find her voice. And even if she did, the sounds the woman was making would surely drown out any pleas she could issue.

  Where was the captain? Hadn’t he promised her freedom? Safety? Had he lied?

  She pulled at the ties but that only seemed to make them tighter.

  She glanced around frantically. Trying to see something, anything—what she wasn’t sure of. She did know that once she saw whatever it was she was looking for, she would know.

  The woman shrieked one last time, her body quivering for what seemed like minute upon minute upon minute, and then she stopped and the man leaning over her stopped thrusting.

  “Oh captain, my captain, you still know how to pleasure a woman,” the queen crooned.

  Captain? Had she truly said captain? Was it Noir who’d pleasured the queen? Faryn’s eyes widened as her gaze roved over the man whose face was turned away. The dark hair matched his but truly that was all she could recognize, for she’d only ever seen him clothed, and this man…was most definitely not clothed.

  But then she saw him, standing across the room. Captain Noir. He was not the one who’d been with the queen after all. His low voice rumbled as he spoke. The black cape and linen shirt he wore had been removed, and his back was to her.

  His shoulders and arms rippled with muscle. His back bulged and flexed as he moved, and the way he stood, she imagined as no lady should, that beneath the tight breeches the most beautiful, muscular, round, hard halves of a male’s buttocks were waiting to be discovered. He could have been forged from one of the many godly statues and paintings she’d gazed on. His legs were long, lithe, and strong.

  She swallowed hard, belly quivering.

  Captain Noir was more than a man. And that was only her impression from seeing him from behind. If he were to turn around… If he were to stand before her and she could see his chest…

  Her heart pounded. Her breaths were shallow. Her mouth was suddenly dry. She wouldn’t mind at all if Noir, this god were to do the same to her that the other captain had done to the queen.

  Was there room to hope? If the queen were insistent that Faryn’s virgin’s blood be taken… Could it be…? Could he be the one to see to the ghastly farce of bedding her before one and all?

  She shook her head, as if doing such a thing would force her thoughts to flit away. There was no hope in this place. Only hedonistic torment it would seem. Besides, she couldn’t think of enjoying his body, not when he’d be taking what belonged to her betrothed. Not when she was a lady who shouldn’t want him. When she shouldn’t desire the pleasure that tingled just beneath the surface of her conscience.

  ’Twas this place. It was getting into her head.

  Aye, she couldn’t think of garnering pleasure from this pirate. Nay! She should be outraged. Yet, she was not. If anything, her blood heated. The place between her legs thrummed with need. Ignoring all of her logical thoughts.

  Indeed, she would secretly enjoy it if the captain were to climb atop her and thrust himself between her thighs.

  She whimpered before realizing the noise had escaped her.

  Noir turned from his companions then and, dark stormy eyes locked with hers. His gaze moved over her face, pausing at the lip she had tucked between her teeth down to her rapidly rising and falling chest. Her nipples tingled, already hard and begging for his mouth to clasp the flesh between his teeth, to lick and suckle her.

  Her emotions must have flitted across her face, as the captain smiled at her in a devilish and inviting way. He slowly stalked to ward her, standing at the foot of the bed. The front of him was even more impressive than his back.

  His chest and stomach were sculpted into ridges and valleys tapering down to his navel, where the sprinkling of his chest hair came to a line that led directly beneath his breeches.

  “Welcome back, lass,” he said smoothly.

  Faryn nodded, tugging at the ties.

  Her body might have pulsed a tune of anxious anticipation but her mind screamed nay. She couldn’t allow this to happen. She had to stall for time. Time for her to figure out a way to escape. She tore her gaze from Noir’s magnificent body and stared at the impossibly high ceiling.

  Tears pooled in her eyes again. She’d only been in Orelia’s lair for a few hours and already she was changing. Already her morals were leaving her. Everything she valued tossed to the wind. Everything she believed in—gone.

  The mattress moved beneath her and from her peripheral vision she watched the queen stand and saunter toward the captain.

  “You have one hour to prepare her for what is to happen. I will be most disappointed if she doesn’t open her legs for you willingly and equally disappointed if she doesn’t enjoy it.”

  Faryn closed her eyes, though she couldn’t close her ears.

  God help her, she would be ruined.

  Yet, she didn’t have much choice. Be ruined, or forever a slave in this place.

  Faryn chose ruined and free.

  Chapter Four

  Desire had filled the innocent depths of the Faryn’s eyes as she’d greedily taken in the sight of Wraith’s half-nude body. Just as quickly fear, anger and hurt had replaced it and she’d turned away.

  He’d seen the calculation in Orelia’s eyes as she’d watched the interplay between them. She’d seen a way out of her bargain. A way to keep the girl, who he was sure she wanted for herself.

  One hour.

  Was one hour enough for him to convince the lass to be willing, to make her pleasure known? Noir was not at all in doubt he could give her pleasure, but asking a shy virgin to show it in front of others was a whole other difficulty.

  He pulled on his shirt, hoping that by covering his naked chest he would be able to quell some of her fears, have her listen to and concentrate on his words.

  She still stared up at the ceiling and now he could see moisture on her cheeks. She was crying. Pulling a thin sheet from a chest against the wall, he walked slowly forward and sat down on the bed beside her. Gently, he covered her with the sheet, and relief flooded him when she turned her gaze toward his, the hate gone from her eyes.

  “Thank ye, but why did ye do that?” Her voice was small, and he hated that.

  He hated that she was scared. That this woman who’d come at him with a flashing tongue could be cut down to something so small. Hated that when they’d raided Ireland, she’d been rounded up and tossed below decks. Hated that he’d not even bothered to see who had been taken, and only come to see her when she was being whipped at the mast nearly a month later. He wasn’t idiot enough to flatter himself that the would have rescued her for something better had he gone below to the slave hold to see their newly acquired flesh, but he liked to think he might have.

  “Ye looked cold,” he murmured with a smile.

  “Ye lie, Captain.” Her words were filled with mirth and accompanied by a small smile. “Ye seek to comfort me. But ye needna do such a thing. I know what I must do, and I promise I will do it. Ye shall have me, ye shall have my family’s coin. And I shall be free.”

  More than her fear, he hated the fact that he would bed her only because she wanted freedom. He wanted her to desire him. He wanted her to beg him. But with a woman of her stature, her moral code, such a thing would be impossible without marriage. Marriage was not up for bargain.

  But perhaps he could hint… and that would help to assuage her.

  “Leannan,” he sighed. “I know ye to be of noble birth. And while a pirate may not be who ye’d thought would take away your most valued possession, it is so. If it pleases ye—”

  She rolled her eyes and chuckled, shocking him into silence.

  “Captain Noir, please dinna tell me ye are about to humble yourself and offer marriage to me?”

  He couldn’t speak, only stared.

  “Ye can if ye wish, but know that I will deny ye. I am betrothed already and he is sure to find us upon the open sea for my wedding date is set to be ver
y soon, and rain holy hell down upon ye.”

  “Do ye love this man?”

  She crinkled up her face and snorted. “Does any woman ever love the man her parents have chosen for her to marry because it will strengthen both families’ place in the realm and their coffers?”

  “Nay,” he said flatly, his lips thinning.

  “I sense from your response that perhaps ye were at one time betrothed?” She shifted on the bed, the sheet sneaking down to expose the tops of her breasts.

  Why did that bit of flesh entice him more than seeing her nude had? He could imagine every inch of her breasts. Imagine pulling the sheet away with his teeth to nip at her tender flesh.

  He snapped his gaze back to hers. “I was once. But ’twas long ago and in another lifetime.”

  “Truly?” Her eyes narrowed as she tried to read him.

  The little imp. “On my honor.”

  At that, she laughed aloud. “Captain, ye have no honor. Ye’re a pirate set to steal ladies from their beds and plunder their riches.”

  At her choice of words, he too chuckled. He didn’t know why but a piece of the steel he’d surrounded himself with to protect his identity opened. This woman was able to wrench a hole in his armor. “’Tis true of me now but I havena always been Captain Wraith Noir, lass. Everyone has secrets.”

  “Tell me yours.”

  Her gentle demand was alluring. Made him want to open up to her, to tell her his secrets, confidences that had never passed his lips. Get hold of yourself, man! He was about to spill his entire life story in her lap when he should be enticing her to enjoy what they were soon to experience so they could both escape alive.

  “If I told ye, they wouldna be secrets anymore.”

  “So mysterious ye are, Noir. Ye know nearly everything about me, and yet I know nothing about ye.”

  “’Tis not about the knowing. Besides, I know naught of ye.”

  She grunted skeptically. “Then what is it about?”

  She had him there. How to answer her? Wraith sighed deeply. He was no good at this wooing thing. The women he cavorted with came to him, hopped on his lap and demanded a ride.

  He grinned at her and winked. “’Tis about…” He found her fingers and entwined them with his. “This. The sharing. The sealing of one’s fate. ’Tis about opening up the most private part of yourself and allowing another to explore it. ’Tis about my soul touching yours in that one moment when earth shatters and disappears, and we travel up into the stars, melding as one being. That moment when nothing else matters but the person in your arms.”

  “Ye make it sound so… Wonderful.”

  “It can be.”

  She swallowed, her throat bobbing as she did so, and the weariness in her eyes had not yet fully melted away.

  “I promise, lass, that when we finish, I will take ye away from here. And I willna touch ye again, unless ye ask me to.”

  At that promise, there was a tiny melting in her gaze. “How do I know ye mean what ye say?”

  “I ask ye to trust me, but I know ye have no reason to.”

  “Aye.”

  Wraith brought her hand to his lips and kissed her knuckles gently. “I’m sorry for taking ye away from your home.”

  “Why?”

  God’s bones, this was difficult. There were a number of reasons why, but most of them didn’t make sense even to him, so how was he supposed to make sense of them to her?

  “Because, for one thing, we wouldna be in this situation.” He smiled wryly. “But for another, I admit a touch of worry over your betrothed and the supposed holy hell I am to be subjected to.”

  “Ah, aye, ye will be sorry for it.”

  “My men are not supposed to take ladies.”

  “Someone made a mistake then?”

  “Aye. And I will see them punished for it.”

  “Ye would do that? For me?”

  “Aye.”

  “Might I impart some advice, Captain Noir?”

  “Ye can try.”

  She wrinkled her nose. “If your men knew ye were so willing to punish them over me, a mere slip of a lass, they might not respect ye as much as a pirate of your station deserves.”

  “A pirate of my station? Have ye heard of me afore now?”

  She smiled brilliantly, and for a moment, it might have been that they were not here on this bed, but in another place. “Nay,” she laughed. “But I do know pirates are supposed to be ruthless.”

  Wraith ran his knuckles gently up her arm. “I am only ruthless when it comes to battle, lass, and generous when it comes to the lassies.”

  He wasn’t sure which part of what he said exactly made her smile, made the fear slowly ebb, but he was exceedingly happy to see.

  “What would ye consider generous?” There was a twinkle in her eye. “Swaths of gold silk, or sharing your best champagne?”

  Wraith grinned at her choice of pleasures. “Both, lass, and a satisfied smile to go with them.”

  “What would make a lass smile like that?” A spark in her eye showed she had an idea, even if only introduced in the last few hours to it.

  He wasn’t certain, what had changed, but knew she was nearly ready. Her muscles had relaxed, her eyes widened, curiously.

  “Do ye want me to show ye? Before they return?”

  “Aye,” she whispered. Her lips glistened where she licked them.

  Wraith could stand it no longer. He didn’t care if one hour had been reached or not. He was going to kiss her. He was going to make her want him and he was doing it now. To hell with the queen. The way to make this performance a success was to go at their own pace, to make Faryn comfortable, and he knew that would be anything but the case if they were surrounded by everyone.

  Besides, he had a feeling that Orelia would like very much to walk in on their lovemaking, to be a voyeur.

  He leaned forward, one arm bracing beside Faryn to hold him up, and brushed his lips over hers, feeling the warmth of her breath on his mouth as she sighed. She leaned her head up into him, not fighting his kiss at all, and he pressed his lips more firmly on hers. He stayed like that for a moment, breathing in her womanly essence, reveling in the sensation of such a sweet kiss. Taking a deep male satisfaction in that this was probably her first.

  He nibbled her lower lip. Licked the crease between her lips. Slanted his mouth over hers, nuzzling and encouraging her to kiss him back. Her lips parted and her soft, warm tongue shyly came out to touch his. He let her explore his lips with her tongue as he had before touching his own tongue to hers.

  She gasped when their tongues collided, and shuddered beneath him. Or was it he who shuddered? Perhaps they both had.

  He moved to lay atop her, settling his hips between her spread legs, his bare belly to her sheet-clad stomach and his chest pressed against her breasts. The warmth of her seeped through the thin cloth and his shirt, igniting against his flesh, making him burn to tear the thin sheet from her body and feel the delicacy that would be skin on skin. She rubbed her breasts against him, tugged at her restraints. Should he untie her? He wanted to feel her legs wrapped around his hips. He wanted to feel her hands stroke over his back, run through his hair. Aye, he would untie her. And he wouldn’t have to worry about her escape, for she knew what was at stake, and her freedom was important but even more so…the sexy little mewls she was making showed that she too was enjoying his kisses and wouldn’t be so quick to up and run from his touch.

  Perhaps for now he would only untie her arms…

  Wraith continued to kiss Faryn, deeply, carnally, his tongue sinking into the depths of her mouth. Giving her what he’d promised, metaphorical golden silk and champagne. She eagerly returned his kiss, startling him for a moment. She was a natural kisser. No virgin’s kiss was this. Once again, she’d pleasantly surprised him with her inner fire, her spirit. She would be a passionate lover.

  He slid his hands up her arms until he reached the knots that restrained her. Keeping his lips on hers, he untied the bonds that held
her, tossing the silky ribbons to the floor.

  Immediately her arms came around him, rubbing over his shoulders, exploring the expanse of his back. He let her touch him, get used to the feel of his body while he trailed kisses from her lips to her neck, nipping at the lobe of her ear.

  Her head tilted back, eyes closed, Faryn was completely unaware when the air around them grew charged with wanton energy. Orelia had returned and with her the nearly one hundred slaves and servants of the hedonistic castle. They stood ’round the bed and beyond, watching, some pushing for greater view, greed and desire in their eyes. Wraith gave them only a moment’s notice before returning to the task of deflowering sweet Faryn.

  Tenderly he stroked over her ribs, tugging the sheet down and over her breasts. She clutched his shoulders with both hands. He trailed his tongue from the nape of her neck down her chest to the valley between her breasts. He cupped a breast in each hand, massaging the pink tips with the pads of his thumbs.

  “Oh,” she murmured, pushing her chest further into him, her breasts filling his hands.

  “Aye, Faryn, tell me ye like it.”

  “Aye…”

  “Aye, what?” he teased, his tongue snaking out to flick over a turgid nipple.

  She sucked in her breath and crooned her pleasure.

  Wraith flicked her nipple again with his tongue and then flicked the other, back and forth, massaging her breasts with his hands until she panted with pleasure.

  “Please,” she begged.

  He knew what she wanted, but did she know? “Please what?”

  She bit her lip and opened her eyes a fraction, the once-clear depths now cloudy with desire. He’d never wanted a woman more than he did now. And he didn’t think he’d ever seen a woman show so much desire and truth in lovemaking before. All his worries about whether or not she’d be able to pull of this little ruse evaporated. She was a good actress, and she must have realized that the crowd had pushed in.

  “Tell me, sweetness, what do ye want?”