He stood, wearing only the tight trousers that outlined his magnificent body. "You did not enjoy our time together, did you, Dominique?"
"I do not want to make you feel inadequate, but I have been with better men." She looked at him innocently. "I did not hurt your pride, did I?"
It was all he could do to keep from laughing out loud. "Perhaps you should reserve your judgment." He raised a finely arched eyebrow. "I believe I can change your mind."
She shrugged as if it was of no consequence to her.
When he started to remove his trousers, she turned away discreetly until she heard the water splash.
"Hand me the soap there, will you, Dominique?" he asked, pointing to where it had dropped on the floor. Of course, had she watched as he lowered himself into the bath, she would have seen him drop it deliberately.
She retrieved the soap and gave it to him, and had turned to leave when she felt his hand wrap around hers. He pulled her forward until, being thrown off balance, she fell into the tub right on top of him.
She sputtered and choked. "You did that deliberately," she accused, very aware of the warm, naked body beneath hers.
"Yes, I did," Judah admitted, tugging at her wet shirt and tossing it aside.
Her face was flushed and she trembled as she waited to see what he would do next. He deftly untied her trousers and they soon joined her shirt on the floor.
When she was naked, he turned her so she was sitting in his lap, and she thought she would faint right there in his arms.
Dominique reminded herself that it was the wooing and not the final act that stirred her body.
Even so, she clamped her lips together tightly to keep from groaning in pleasure as his lathered hands gently slid down her shoulders and cupped her breasts.
"Have other men done this to you?" Judah whispered.
"No." It was almost a sob. "No one has."
With a strength that surprised her, he turned her over, fitting her to his body. "I am glad."
She looked into his eyes and saw fire reflected there. His hand slid over her hips, her buttocks, pressing her tighter against him. Then he lifted her just enough so he could penetrate her body, and she bit her lip as he slid into her.
Something wildly passionate took hold of her and she waited for him to give her further guidance, for she did not know what to do next.
This time there was no pain when he moved deeper inside her. Instead, an explosion of excitement filled her body. With some part of her mind, she thought it must be improper to feel such delicious pleasure.
Judah's lips were moist from the steam that rose from the tub and he ran them across her mouth. He pried her lips open with his tongue and it darted inside, and wilder sensations rocked her all the way to her toes.
She did not know the joy that was yet to come because Judah had merely rested inside her, kissing and caressing, slowly deepening his penetration, until she squirmed around and then gasped, as he sensuously stabbed deeper.
Judah threw back his head and bit his lip, attempting to keep from giving her his whole length. He never wanted to hurt her again.
Her eyes were wide with amazement as he grasped her hips and slid her forward and back rhythmically. With wild abandon, she rode the high wave of passion that struck at the very essence of her being.
He played her like a crescendo, spinning, turning, filling her, and then withdrawing. She had no substance of her own outside the man who pumped his life into her body.
A tide of sensations, one after another, wove their way through her, and she had no control of her movements.
Her hands sliced through his dark hair, then down his back, across his taut buttocks.
Arching her head back, she allowed him with his ravenous appetite to control her every move and dominate her every thought. When he dipped to catch her nipple in his mouth and play and gently tug at it with his teeth, she cried out his name.
How foolish she had been to think the act of love was only for a man. He brought her such pleasure, such intense bliss, that it left her breathless. How effortlessly he played her body as if he were the master and she the finely tuned instrument.
Lips met, hands clasped, and they breathed as one. The union of their bodies was so powerful that they clung to each other, trembling. Lips sought lips as they found boundless delight in each other.
And finally, Dominique collapsed and lay limp and breathless against his chest.
Judah's strong hands ran up and down her back. "Did I redeem myself?" He smiled against her ear, knowing the answer. "Did I?"
In answer, she could do no more than press her lips against his chest.
But he knew what she was feeling, and he also knew that he would have her again and again and go on having her. She touched a place inside him that no woman had ever been allowed to reach. She was like an angel who could heal his tortured soul and save him despite himself.
In that moment, the love Dominique felt for Judah grew until the beauty of it was almost more than she could endure. She closed her eyes, listening to the thundering of his heart.
She buried her face in the curly black hair on his chest, wishing she could die rather than betray him—but betray him she knew she must. Otherwise, she would be trapped there forever, with a lie between them that could destroy them both.
Judah gathered her close to him, closing his eyes and pressing his lips against her cheek. God in heaven, he had not wanted this to happen. He had not wanted to care so deeply about any woman—especially not this one.
Ethan came up beside Judah and was silent for a moment, wondering how to say what was on his mind. "You have taken Dominique into your cabin. Do you think this was wise?"
Judah gave his friend his reluctant attention. "I do. I need to keep her where I can watch her movements."
"Why is that?"
"I discovered the identity of our spy."
Ethan looked confused. "What has that to do with Dominique? Surely you cannot think it is she?"
"Dominique Charbonneau is the spy. The evidence was there for me to see all the time, but I just was not looking."
Ethan was clearly disturbed. "Why don't you just send her away?"
"This does not concern you, Ethan," Judah said, glaring at his friend.
"And I say it does. I care about what happens to her. I will not allow you to—"
Judah's brows met in a frown. "You will not allow me to what, Ethan? The last time I looked, I was captain of this ship, not you. While you are aboard the Tempest, you, like everyone else, will do as I say. Is that understood?"
To Judah's surprise, Ethan spoke softly and without anger. "I have known you all our lives, Judah. I knew you wed Mary without loving her. And I watched you bury your heart with her because you were eaten up with guilt."
"I am warning you, Ethan. Do not say any more about Mary. We both know that if I had remained at home as she begged me to, she would still be alive."
"We do not know that, Judah. Mary was not strong to begin with. I'm a doctor, I know." He gripped Judah's shoulder and made him look at him. "You are not going to like hearing this, but I insist you listen to me anyway."
"I'm listening."
"Judah, I never told you that Mary came to me the week after you had taken ship for Tripoli."
"Why would she do that?"
"She begged me to give her something to ... to make her lose the baby."
Judah looked disbelieving. "I do not understand." His shoulders slumped and he shook his head. "Did she hate me so much that she did not even want my baby?"
"You never understood her, did you Judah? She loved you obsessively. She did not want to share you with anyone, not even a baby."
"What are you saying, Ethan?" Judah asked in a ragged voice.
"You want to talk about guilt, Judah. When I would not help Mary get rid of your baby, she went to some woman who gave her what she asked for. I had hoped I would never have to tell you this, but I must." He took a long pause before continuing. "Mary
died because the medicine the woman gave her not only killed the baby, but also poisoned her. I know this is the truth because she asked her doctor to send for me. She seemed to take great pleasure in telling me what she had done, and why."
Judah turned so the cleansing wind would hit his face and hopefully rid him of the sickness he felt inside. "My God, was she mad?"
"Perhaps. But it seems she won anyway, for she has had you more in death than she ever had you when she was alive. In your remorse, you closed your heart to everyone and everything."
Judah was silent for so long that Ethan started to walk away, but his friend's next words made him pause.
"You cannot guess the guilt I have carried with me. I blamed myself for her death because I knew she had blamed me as well. Can you imagine for one moment what that feels like? I have had thorns in my heart, ripping at me every day since Mary died. Not because I loved her—but because I did not."
"I can well imagine what you have felt, because I have had to watch you suffer and keep my secret. You will have to understand that, at the time, I thought that the truth would be worse than the lie you believed. I was wrong, and for that I am truly sorry."
Judah looked up at the sky that was studded with millions of stars. Years of guilt seemed to melt away and he felt free at last.
"Perhaps all women practice deceit, Ethan?"
"I'd like to think not. I know my mother and sisters are kind and truthful."
"Ah, well, there is always that, the relatives," Judah said without humor. "My mother was something of a paragon, herself. I doubt that she ever had a selfish thought enter her mind." Ruefully, he smiled at Ethan. "Perhaps a son views a woman differently from a husband or . .. lover."
"What are you going to do about Dominique?" Ethan asked, determined to close the book on Mary's death.
"Find out the truth of what she has been trying so hard to hide from me. And what she is really doing on my ship."
"Judah, do not hurt her. I feel she has already known great turmoil in her life."
Judah closed his eyes for a moment and then opened them, glancing at his friend. "I believe our little French spy has her lovely claws in me, more surely than Mary ever could have. Perhaps you should be concerned lest she deal me a mortal wound."
Judah turned and walked away, leaving Ethan to ponder his words.
17
Dominique was a woman desperately in love. No matter how carelessly Judah touched her, it sent her heart soaring.
At the moment, he was seated at his desk, his quill dipping into ink as he made his entries in a logbook, while she lay across the bed, pretending to read, but secretly watching him.
Judah was a man of contradictions. She had seen him in battle and had witnessed the destruction he wrought upon his enemies. He controlled his unruly crew with an iron hand and easily bent them to his will. But she had also felt the gentleness in him and he had touched her soul.
In a time when a little corporal had become the leader of France, why did a man such as Judah reach no higher than piracy?
He glanced up and smiled at her. "You were staring at me so intently, what were you thinking?"
Dominique marked her place in the book she had been reading and sat up, resting her arms on her knees. "I was merely speculating on why you took to a life of piracy."
He lay aside his quill. "Were you now? And what conclusion did you reach?"
"You are a very intelligent man, Judah. You could be anything you wanted to be."
"Is this to be one of those reprimands that women are always giving a man, urging him to mend his evil ways?"
"No, it's not that. I just think it's a waste of aspiration. You are obviously a man of education and intelligence. Why a pirate?"
"It is a profitable enterprise." He walked toward her and sat on the bed. "One might say the same about you. Why did you choose your profession?"
It was becoming increasingly difficult to pretend to be a strumpet. She ached to confess the truth to him, but Judah would probably not believe that she had never been with a man before him.
She avoided his interrogating glance. "As you said, it is a profitable enterprise."
"And yet, you have not asked me to pay for the pleasure of bedding you. Why is that?"
She felt sick inside at the thought of taking money from him. "No, I want nothing from you."
He moved to a small chest on his desk and removed a gold piece, then returned to her and dropped it in her lap. "For services rendered."
Judah had not expected her to react with such rage. She bound off the bed and threw the gold piece across the cabin. Then she turned turbulent eyes on him, and took a deep breath.
"As long as you live, never do that again! You made me feel soiled and dirty, and I hate you for it." Tears brimmed in her eyes and blurred her vision. "You do not know me at all. I was not always as you see me now. As a young girl, I had hopes of one day finding and marrying a man I would admire, and who would admire me. Now that can never be, for no decent man would want soiled goods as the mother of his children."
Judah was stunned and it took him a long time to gather his thoughts. This was the first time he had seen Dominique cry. Strange, he thought in reluctant reminiscence, Mary had cried almost daily, and after a time her tears had ceased to moved him, although he never lost the ability to feel guilty and blame himself for them.
But to see tears in Dominique's turquoise eyes was like a pain in his heart. He had really hurt her, and that had not been his intent.
He caught her hands and held them firmly, trying to stop their trembling. "I beg your forgiveness, Dominique. The gold piece was merely meant as a jest."
She turned her back on him, standing rigid, her arms folded, tapping her foot in continuing displeasure.
Judah guided her resisting body down beside him and slipped his arm about her, pulling her against him.
"Will you forgive me, Dominique?"
She shook her head, ashamed of the fresh tears that misted her vision. "You had every right to treat me that way. It is no more than I deserve."
She turned her head and looked at him, catching him unaware, and seeing a tenderness in his eyes that she had not expected.
His lips brushed her cheek and he tasted the saltiness of her tears. "Sweet Dominique, will you not smile for me?" he coaxed.
She nodded and tried to smile, but it came out as a sigh. "1 am sorry for the tears, I do not know what is the matter with me. My grandfather taught me that men do not like to see a woman cry."
Judah tucked a tumbled curl behind her ear. "What else did your grandfather teach you?"
Dominique forgot to be on guard. She missed her grandfather and her brother and it was comforting to speak of them. "My grandfather is a very wise and kind man. He raised me and my brother after our parents died."
The gentle but calculating prodding continued. "Is that your only family—a grandfather and a brother?"
She was still unaware that he was gleaning information about her past. "Like most Frenchmen, grandfather was very romantic. I believe my grandmother was a fortunate woman."
"Why is that?"
"Because he gave up everything to marry her. He left France and never went back. Together they built a life on the island."
"And where would that be—Tobago?"
"It is—" She shook her head, realizing that she had already said too much. "I do not wish to talk about myself. Let us speak of you instead."
Judah nodded, thinking he would steer the conversation back to her gradually. "That's only fair. What do you want to know about me?"
"Have you a family?"
"I have a brother named Jason. He is younger than me by two years. He resides in the Orient at the moment."
She smiled, forgetting her earlier unhappiness over the gold piece. "It is difficult to think of you with a family. Does your brother know that you are a pirate?"
'T confide everything to Jason."
"Will you tell him about me?"
&nb
sp; He took a long time to answer, as if he were compiling his thoughts. "I do not believe I shall. You see, Jason is far too appealing to women, and I would rather keep you for myself."
Dominique glared at him, rising quickly to her feet. "You mistake me if you think me so easily wooed. Just because I allowed you to bed me does not mean I offer myself to everyone else. Your brother would be safe from me."
Judah could feel her pulling away from him. "Dominique, I have been making a poor attempt at humor. Forget about what I said and come back and lie beside me," he cajoled.
She shook her head. "I do not want to."
A fraction of a smile curved his finely chiseled lips. "I believe you are the first woman I have ever known who could keep her own counsel, and I want you to tell me more about your life. I know so little about you."
He stroked a shimmering curl, his eyes lightly brushing her face. "Let me see if I can piece together what I know about you. You grew up on an island. For the moment, we will assume it is Tobago."
"No. I did not grow up there."
"Then where?"
She shrugged. "Another island, not so different from Tobago."
"Your mother was English and your father French. It was your father's father who raised you."
She answered before she thought. "Yes, that is right."
"Then his last name is Charbonneau?"
"Of course." She looked at him strangely. "I told you my real name, Judah." She had to distract him, he was becoming far too inquisitive about her, and far too knowledgeable. She turned to him, pressing her lips to his and drawing a satisfied whisper.
"I have no resistance to you, my little siren."
His hands were gentle as they lingered at the ties across her breasts. Then with one swift tug, the laces gave way and her breasts spilled out, drawing his admiring glance.
Judah dipped his head, his moist lips caressing, his tongue making the sensuous circle around her nipple, urging it into a sharp peek. She tossed her head back and forth as he repeated the same mind-shattering skill on the other breast.
"You tempt me beyond reason," he growled against her ear, his warm breath stirring a lock of hair.
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