"Captain, may I have this dance?"
He knew she'd never asked a man to dance before. She'd never needed to. Men had to have been around her all the time, begging for her attention, just as his crew did, all whining for another dance.
He considered himself honored. "My lady's will be done."
He took her into his arms and they moved to the music. She fit him so well, neither too tall nor too short. His hand fit her waist as though he'd been made for her and her for him.
Her eyes held his. He didn't dare believe he saw longing in her wonderful eyes. Did his own eyes hold such aching want?
As the last note died in the air, they stared into each other's eyes, saying with a look what could not be spoken aloud.
He took a step back from her, bowed low over her hand, letting his lips linger on her soft skin for a moment more than he should have, but he needed that touch.
"Thank you, my lady."
"Thank you, Captain Merritt."
Doing what he had to do, Hal turned and walked away.
* * * *
Elspeth watched him go. She yearned to call him back. Her hand burned where his lips had touched her.
"Let's turn in, men," George ordered.
With a start, she realized the crew had been watching, avidly no doubt, while she had been begging Hal for...
"Shall I walk you to your cabin, my lady?" George asked.
Since he wasn't the man she wanted, she shook her head. "No, thank you, Mr. Ross. Good night."
Elspeth replayed in her mind the expression on Hal's face. It had been more than desire. It was longing. She imagined his expression had been the twin to her own.
She turned back to George. "Mr. Ross, when do we land in Jamaica?"
"With good winds, we should be there in two, maybe three days."
"Thank you."
Two more days. Maybe three. Then she'd leave him. She'd never see him again.
It was foolishness to feel crushed by that. It wasn't a surprise after all. She'd known the day would come when she'd have to leave the life she'd found strangely agreeable and return to the corseted, petticoated, straight-laced life of being Lady Greymere.
Chapter Twenty One
The next day after luncheon had been served-Elspeth had cooked and served it herself under Cole's supervision-she sat under the shade of a tarpaulin which Hal had ordered hung on the deck. Since none of the crew seemed in danger of sunburn, she knew he had done it for her.
Another kindness from his hand to treasure.
"Raise the mainsail."
His voice boomed across the deck, vying with the crash of the waves against the bow and the wind whipping the water to froth.
She couldn't keep her eyes from seeking him out. There. Her breath caught in her throat as he scurried up the netting, fleet as a squirrel on an oak. His crewmen couldn't keep up as he reached the boom and-
She jumped to her feet. "No!" Her cry flew from her mouth before she could stop it. Hal heard her, he must have, for he stopped. Stopped in his walk along the boom to the far end where he would untie the ropes holding the mainsail in place. All the others leaned over the boom and inched their way along, sensibly.
Her pirate waved and bowed-the infernal idiot-and continued strolling on the narrow wooden beam to the end, narrower and thin and weak and-
Elspeth hid her eyes. She couldn't bear to watch him fall off into the sea where God-only-knew-what manner of creature would be waiting to devour his flesh.
"Look, Countess!"
She obeyed, her will not hers any longer. She didn't want to look, yet she couldn't take her eyes from him.
Casually as at a party, he sat down on the boom. Even from this distance, she saw him smile. The deep creases in his nut brown skin enfolded his full lips and the sight stirred a wild desire in her belly.
"I must be sunstroked." Elspeth stomped over to the water barrel and dipped a cup full. With dainty flicks of her wet fingers she dampened her face. She almost felt calm again.
Until the thud of the huge mainsail made her jump.
"Damnation!" she muttered.
Hal's booming laugh mocked her as he watched from his perch. "Scare you, Countess?"
"You did that on purpose, didn't you?" Her accusation seemed to have no effect on him, which only made her angrier. "Are you some kind of cretin? What if something happens to you? How will I get home?"
Hal stood on the boom again and grabbed a rope. Then he jumped. Her eyes followed him with horror as he swung over the side to the sea, then back again across the deck and over the other side, grinning like an ape the whole time.
Elspeth closed her eyes and counted, trying to calm her fright and anger.
"Do you really care what happens to me, my lady?"
"I used to," she replied, only to be rewarded by his laughter.
"I'm having fun, Countess. You might try having some sometime." He swung back over the deck and let go of the rope, falling catlike to his feet before her.
She decided it was the idiot grin she hated most.
"That is fun?" Crossing her arms to keep her fists from beating the stupid man senseless, she added, "Seemed more like juvenile foolhardiness to me."
"You need to loosen your corset, Countess." He strolled away.
"How dare you!" Marching up to him, she grabbed his arm and managed to turn his bulk to face her before drawing back her arm and swinging toward his face. She only briefly admired the bright red print her hand left on his cheek. "A gentleman would not mention such a thing."
He didn't flinch, didn't reach up to touch the spot. "I thought you understood. I am no gentleman. I am an Indian, a savage. I am a pirate. I rob and plunder and take what I want."
Stepping closer, he took all the air around her and she couldn't draw a breath. His eyes burned into hers, as though seeking out her very soul. She stepped back, away from the heat, his alluring scent, his searching, seeing eyes. Hal followed, pressing her against the bulkhead.
"Take care, Countess. Do not play with me."
* * * *
The stars burned with a purity that broke his heart. So perfectly formed, gracing the earth with their light, Hal wondered if there were planets traveling around any of them? Were there people on those worlds whose troubles rivaled his own?
He chuckled at himself. There were people right here on Earth who had more troubles than Hal did. At least that's what Grandfather always said. Remember the man who has only one moccasin.
The scuff of a foot on the decking alerted him. The scent on the air told him it was Elspeth. Closing his eyes, he breathed in air which had touched her, since he couldn't. She'd weaved herself around his heart, roused his manhood as he had never been roused by another. Even now his stupid cock stood stiff, paying the Countess homage.
Fanciful nonsense. She's a woman. That is all my flesh is responding to. Any woman can make a man hard if he's alive at all.
The words were lies. No woman had ever been able bring him to attention with only her presence.
Afraid she would retreat if she saw him, he hid in the shadows of the wheelhouse. She wore her green bodice and full skirt. The breeze molded her skirt to her legs and he could almost see the milky white of her thighs. Her legs were long and lean and he imagined them wrapped around him as he plunged into the warm harbor of her body.
The pressure in his trousers intensified with the too-real imaginings to a pain, but it was a delicious pain, one that promised...
Nothing. She was another man's wife.
She is your enemy's wife. Take her. Take her as he took your sister. Punish him through her.
No! The horror of the image cooled his blood. He physically recoiled and banged into the water barrel.
She jerked and searched the darkness. "Who is there?"
Did he run like a child caught peeking?
Clearing his throat, he stepped toward her out of the shadows. "It is only I, my lady."
Elspeth stepped away. Was she frightened of him no
w? Even on the road at their first meeting she had not appeared frightened. Facing her enraged husband, she had not shown fear. That she would now flinch from him filled him with sorrow.
"I didn't mean to interrupt your musings. I will return to my cabin," she said.
"No." He reached for her and she again drew back. Holding his hand up as a sign of truce-though he had no idea why one was necessary-he explained, "You don't have to go yet, do you?"
She had to have heard the plea he himself had heard so clearly.
"Please," he whispered. "Stay awhile."
"Are you really certain you want me to?"
He thought perhaps she blushed, but in the light he wasn't sure. Perhaps it was the way she tilted her head and glanced away that made him think so. She squared her shoulders and faced him. "I would like to apologize for today, Captain."
He stared. "For what?"
She smiled sadly. "You are kind to pretend, but I was wrong. I should not have ridiculed you in front of your crew. I am sorry."
"Ah." He should have known his Countess, with her deeply set sense of propriety, would feel this way. "You need not apologize, my lady. You were correct. I was showing off and could have hurt myself or others."
Her smile brightened, lighting the whole Universe. "Does the Captain need to show off to impress his crew?"
"I wasn't trying to impress my crew."
Before the words died in the night air, Hal wished them back. He was a fool to express such thoughts.
Electricity sparked between them as Elspeth drew closer.
"For whom were you showing off, then, Captain?"
Her voice was soft and low. She stood only a touch away from him now. So, the flame could also come to the moth.
Should he answer her? Should he lie?
"For you, of course." How sweet to finally admit it, to tell her-
Tell her what? That he loved her? Would she take him for a lover, an Indian, an American, a pirate? A man who preyed upon her own husband?
She softened, her smile warming so he could feel it all the way to his heart, and he thought he saw her eyes glisten with tears.
"No one has ever shown off for me before."
"Never?" he asked in a whisper, afraid of breaking this moment. Elspeth shook her head. Daring to tease her, he asked, "Did no young man ever wish to win your heart by some great feat of daring?"
Her smile disappeared.
"No."
He expected some explanation, but she turned back to the rail and set her hands against it and leaned over, gazing into the sea.
"Why do we always want that which we can not have?"
Indeed, he wondered, why?
"If I knew that, my lady, I would be lecturing at the courts of Europe and Asia, and earning more money than I could ever steal from your husband."
A mistake. At the mention of her husband, she stiffened, but sighing deeply, she relaxed and turned to him. "Please, do not mention that man again."
"Do you mind if I ask you a rather personal question, my lady?"
"I suppose you have the right."
"I do not demand a right, but request a boon."
She smiled again. Again the Universe brightened. "Very well, sir. I grant you your boon."
"What on God's earth possessed you to marry that man? Surely you had some choice in the matter."
"I did choose. Wisely, I thought."
She turned away from the sea and leaned against the rail, crossing her arms underneath her breasts in that disconcerting way she had.
"The Queen ordered me to find a husband since she was being nagged by the Lords." She turned to Hal and grinned. "They don't like a single woman with as much wealth as I have running loose. So Drina told me to find a husband or she would find one for me."
"Drina?"
"The Queen. Her first name is Alexandrina. Her family called her Drina until she started ordering people to call her Victoria." Elspeth smiled. "I'm the only one who refused."
"What does she call you?"
"Ellie. She says Elspeth is an old woman's name."
"Ellie." He tried the name out on his tongue. "I believe she's correct about it fitting you better then Elspeth." Leaning closer he asked, "May I call you Ellie?"
"Yes, I wish you would."
"And I thought we'd agreed you'd call me Hal. No one calls me Captain. It's rather confusing."
Her laugh bubbled over. "Very well, Hal. Anyway, Drina told me I had to marry and so I decided I would select my husband. It isn't as though I was being outrageous in my desires. All I wanted was a suitable, kind man who would value me as a person, perhaps even grow to love me."
Those seemed pitifully low desires for such a woman.
"Were there not men chasing after you?"
"The race was for my purse, not my person."
"Was there no one better than Richard March?"
She turned and regarded him calmly for a long moment.
"I thought not. Alex suggested him. I knew nothing about Richard's temper or his unreasoning need to control. In fact, before our marriage, he was courtesy itself. He was gentle and thoughtful and he signed an agreement that my property would remain in my control after our marriage." She shook her head. "My solicitor assured me it was legal and binding."
"It was not?"
"No, as my dear husband informed me on our wedding night. After that memorable evening, Richard started raiding my funds without my knowledge and taking goods purchased for Greymere to Sandgrove."
"What has Alex March to say for himself?" Hal asked, blaming her stepfather for all her woes.
"He says he's sorry he urged the marriage." Hal waited for her to go on. Instead she pushed away from the rail and said, "I'm keeping you up. I'm sorry. I'd better go in."
It was too soon to give her up.
"May I offer you a drink before we retire, Ellie?"
"Some of your excellent port?"
"I didn't think ladies drank port."
"I have been abducted by a pirate. My husband wants me dead, except then he would lose my money, and someone else wants to kill me or sell me into a brothel." She tipped her head and made a charming squint at him. "Don't I deserve some port?"
"Indeed, permit me to fetch your port, my lady."
"Ah," she held up her finger.
"Ellie."
"Indeed, Hal. Fetch me my port."
* * * *
He returned in just a few moments.
"Hold these."
He handed her two glasses and a rather large, full bottle of port. Then he ran up the few steps to the poop deck and flapped a large cloth, settling it on the deck.
"Come on, Ellie."
She obeyed, and saw in the dim light the cloth was a blanket. Hal sat down and leaned against the stern, then held his hand out to her. She placed her hand in his and sat beside him.
When he'd poured them both a full glass, he took his and clinked it to hers. "Salute."
"Salute," she replied. Hal tipped his glass back, draining it in one swallow. She sipped the full-bodied wine, savoring the woody aftertaste. The liquid fire slithered down her throat.
"Why, I feel absolutely decadent. I see why the gentlemen regard port as too strong for ladies."
"But you like it?"
"I love it."
She sipped again, this time more deeply. Catching his appraisal, she raised her glass, draining it empty and holding it out to Hal. He obligingly refilled it for her and watched in admiring astonishment as she tipped it up and emptied it.
Her eyes half-closed and she sighed. "That's so good. More, please."
"Perhaps you should pace yourself, Ellie."
"Silence, sirrah!" She giggled. "Fill it, sailor."
"All right, but don't say in the morning I didn't warn you." He filled her glass and sat back.
Elspeth took a healthy drink, then frowned and lowered the glass. "Warn me about what?"
"If you drink too much you'll be sick tomorrow."
"Pshaw." Pshaw?
She giggled again. "Such a funny word. Though I suppose it isn't a word at all, is it?" Putting on a mock expression of sobriety, she said, "Nonsense. I am a Countess. I shall not be sick."
Her head seemed to float above her shoulders and relaxation spread over her whole body. She felt wonderful.
She turned her head to look at Hal. He apparently sensed her perusal of him because he turned and their gazes locked together.
His long black hair swept over his shoulders as he turned. It glistened in the dim starlight, throwing off sparks and tindering a fire inside her. His almond-shaped eyes of deep brown burned as well. Did she cause such a flame to burn inside him as he did her? Could she expect such a boon as that?
She raised her hand and stroked the side of his face. The words she thought came out of her mouth.
"You are beautiful, did you know that?"
He started.
So, her words had caught him off-guard.
She smiled and, just like that, her decision was formed. Somewhere deep inside, she knew exactly what she would do to obtain her desire. Amazingly enough, whatever part of her mind had kept her from doing it before now was deep in a drunken stupor and safely unaware.
Well enough. Perhaps she could convince herself tomorrow she was drunk and had no control over herself. Perhaps she could even blame Hal for what would happen.
No. She would not. She was a grown woman fully aware of the step she was taking. She would take what she wanted.
She couldn't stop the giggle exploding from her throat.
"What's so funny?"
"I am." She giggled again.
"Share the joke, then?"
"Not yet. Someday, maybe." She sipped her wine again. "Hal, tell me about lovemaking."
"What?" His question seemed loud to her ears. "I don't believe I will."
"But I want to know. How am I ever to find out?"
He groaned. "Ellie, you're drunk. Let me take you to bed."
"Will you?"
"Oh, my God!" He jumped from the deck as though she were the serpent in Eden bound on taking his soul. "No, my lady-"
"Ah, ah. Remember. I'm Ellie and you are Hal." She tipped up her glass but only a drop fell onto her lips. "Oh, my. I'm empty." She held her glass out to him. "Hal, fill me up."
The Ladys Pirate Page 20
