With a low whistle, Niall waggled his brows at Thomas. “That be Shaw’s blood in ye. We take what we want, whether it be gold or women,” Niall laughed, and looked down at Katherine. “’Tis a shame ye found her first. Knight or Pirate, ye have me respect.” Thomas felt a sense of pride for his heritage and though he did indeed feel torn between two roles, he decided to simply embrace what came, never minding what titles others gave him.
Niall extended his hand and Thomas clasped forearms with him. “Yer hospitality is appreciated. We will be on our way come the morn.”
“Very well. Safe travels and I wish ye good fortune on yer hunt. My men said they saw the bastard Bingham upon the seas only yesterday, so ye may have a battle on yer hands.”
A smile spread across Thomas’s face and he could not help but grip Katherine closer to his side. “I relish the thought. Nothing would please me more than to take that sorry sack of shite out of this world.” Katherine stayed quiet and he wondered what she was thinking. Her husband wished her father dead and he was certain she would fight him on it eventually. For now, he knew she stayed quiet so Niall did not learn her identity. Smart lass, even when deep in her cups.
With a nod, Niall pushed a door open on the right and walked away, his footsteps echoing down the hall. Katherine stepped in first, Thomas right behind her. The room already had a fire burning in the hearth. Niall must have made certain to ready their rooms a while ago, for it was surprisingly warm. A large four-poster bed took up much of the room, elegant red silk drapes hanging from the ceiling and trailing down the posts of the bed. It was beyond sumptuous. The sheets were also of crimson silk and Katherine stepped forward, running her hands along the soft coverlet with a purr.
“I have never felt anything so lovely,” she whispered.
“Ye are a lady. Have ye nay silk fabrics?” he asked, stepping closer to her, drawn to her for some inexplicable reason. The fire cast shadows across the room, settling in the overflow of her bosom. He licked his bottom lip and urged his eager cock to behave. Being alone with her in this room… a room Thomas was most certain had been meant for pleasure, was pure torture.
“Nay. I never accepted such things from my papa. I always told him to use his coins to help his people. I always thought he did. I wonder what he did with all that money.”
Thomas knew exactly what he did with it. He sent some back to England to appease his queen, and the rest likely was sent to his wife and daughter for safe keeping. But that would hurt Katherine to hear, so he said nothing on the matter. He did not wish to speak of her father or to even remember she was his blood.
Her body swayed slightly and he watched her, wondering what she was thinking. “This dress…” she murmured, reaching around to loosen her laces, “is much too confining. I feel as if my breasts have been crushed by a wall all day.” Her fingers continued to fumble with the laces, but he resisted the urge to help her. She seemed to be doing a fine enough job of removing it herself. Soon the fabric was loose enough, and she pushed it down her shoulders, creamy skin becoming exposed inch by inch.
Her breasts sprang free and Thomas caught his breath. “Kat… yer underdress. Ye are removing it along with yer gown…”
“I know,” she giggled, shimmying her hips as her garments slid over her waist and down her legs, pooling on the floor. She sighed, then turned away from him. Her perfect, heart-shaped arse glimmered in the firelight and he cursed himself for not being able to look away.
“What are ye doin’, Kat?” he grumbled, watching as she climbed onto the bed. The pink petals of her womanhood showed through her thighs when she bent over and climbed up and he groaned, finally looking away. The lass was sotted. “Katherine. Are ye out of yer mind?”
“Nay!” she rolled over onto the bed, running her arms and legs over the sheets. “I have always wanted to feel silk against my bare flesh. It feels so wondrous. Ye should try it, Thomas.” He blinked rapidly, watching her spread her legs open and closed repeatedly, her arms above her head, pushing her breasts up higher. Her tight nipples begged to be in his mouth. He cursed again. What was he supposed to do with this lass? She was his wife. He could remove all his clothes right now, climb on top of her and take from her what he knew she would willingly give… and then what? They would awaken at dawn and she would hate him for taking her innocence while she had mead and whiskey in her veins.
“Ye must cease, Kat.” Walking over, he pulled the silk blanket down from beneath her body, trying to pull it over her. Instead, she scrambled to her knees and grabbed his tunic, pulling it over his head.
“Come. Lay down. Feel the silk, Thomas.” Her warm hands reached around his neck as she tried to pull him down with her.
“Nay, I cannot.” He whispered gently in her ear. “Ye must rest, love.”
“Why not?” she pouted, and with her plump lips so close to his, it took all his strength to not kiss that frown off her face.
“Because ye are not in yer right mind. Here, put on yer nightdress.” He tried to move away to collect her garments, but she tugged him harder, refusing to let go.
“Nay. I usually sleep naked and I plan to do so on this night.”
“A lady does not sleep naked.” What had he gotten himself into with this woman?
She giggled and began to bounce on the bed on her knees, her breasts swaying with the movement and her legs partially spread in a straddling position. “I am nay lady, Thomas. Ye knew this from the moment ye met me.”
Damned if she was not telling the truth. Still, as badly as he ached to touch her, to taste her, to lay her down and take all of her, it would not be right. “Ye are making this hard for me, Kat.”
“Oh, aye?” she said, looking down at his groin. “How hard?” Before he could move, she lunged forward and grabbed his shaft in her tiny hand. “Oh… Quite hard indeed,” she whispered.
He pushed her off him and stepped back. “What the bloody hell is the matter with ye? Ye are no innocent, are ye?”
Suddenly, all her playfulness disappeared, and she slouched onto the bed. “Aye, I am! Do ye know how many companions I have had in my life? None. How many men come to court me? None! I have lived a sheltered life, Thomas! Only a pirate port, a spyglass, and one cursed book have kept me company! I long to feel a man, Thomas! I am twenty-two years old. Ye were my first kiss and now ye are my husband. Can ye not touch me? Make love to me? Am I so disgusting to ye, because of who my father is, that ye cannot even look at me?”
Shame and guilt washed over him for dampening her spirits. “’Tis not that lass. If ye want out of this bind, allowing me to take ye is not the way to do it. Once I take ye, ye are mine. Forever.”
“That is not so. Ye know very well that under Irish law we can separate at any time.”
“My honor is my own! If I take yer innocence, I shall never give ye up! Never! Once my seed touches yer womb, ye are mine!”
Her eyes widened at his words and she blushed. “Have I no say in any of this? Ye just steal me away and then decide to ignore me for days while on the ship, and now ye will turn me away once more? Ye do not want me, do ye, Thomas?”
Taking a deep breath, he stepped closer to her. “I want ye more than ye understand. I have since the moment I saw ye. Why do ye think I was so disgusted with myself when I thought ye were my sister? Ye have caused me so much trouble, lass, and yet, I cannae help but want ye.”
“Then, take me, Thomas.” Her eyes glittered with need and her cheeks flushed, not with embarrassment, but with lust. She licked her lips slowly and leaned in. Gods help him, he moved in to meet her halfway, feeling energy ignite him when their lips touched. Every time he touched her, he felt this same force pulse throughout his entire body like he was meeting with the second half of his whole. No woman had ever felt this good, and he had only ever kissed the lass.
It was dangerous and he knew he should stop. She was not in her right mind, even if she was begging for it. She may have been an innocent, but he knew she knew what happened between a man an
d a woman. Pulling away, he put his hands on her shoulders and put his forehead against hers. “Ye tempt me to no end, lass. But I cannae touch ye, not until I am certain ye willnae hate me in the morning.”
She snorted and pushed him away. “Och, I already hate ye, Thomas. Ye have been awful to me. That does not mean I do not want to bed ye. Funny thing, that.”
He almost laughed at her declaration, for it was unexpected and bold, much like she was. Yet, he had been awful to her. Four days on the water and, aside from checking in on her wounds, he had treated her like unwanted cargo. “I am sorry, Katherine. I was a bastard to have stolen ye away to ruin ye. Then I was a bastard to bind ye to me even when ye said it was mad. Then I was a bastard to ignore ye once ye had no place else to go. I do not deserve what ye offer.”
“Did I put up a fight when ye took me, Thomas?” She pulled him onto the bed when he was least expecting it and he fell against the soft mattress, head resting on the long red bolster.
“Ye were too injured to fight me. And I forced ye onto that horse. Ye must have been in so much pain.” He closed his eyes and swallowed hard, never having felt more shame in his life.
“Open yer eyes when I speak to ye,” Katherine demanded, and he felt her straddling his legs. He opened his eyes and looked up at the most beautiful woman, completely naked, towering over him. He had to focus on her eyes else he would be removing his breeches. Once again, she surprised him with her authority. No woman had ever spoken to him that way and damn it all if it did not arouse him. “I came with ye willingly, Thomas. I knew, even then, that I was safer with ye than I was with my father after all I learned and witnessed. Ye are a brute, I ken, and I cannae decide if ye are more knight or pirate… but I dinnae care. Even if this is not to last… tonight, I want ye.”
“And I told ye that once I have ye, I will never give ye up,” he said through clenched teeth. He wondered how he had bedded and walked away from so many other women, but to do so with Katherine would feel like a sin against his own soul.
“That is bollocks, and ye know it.” Her hand came down swiftly and unbuttoned his breeches and before he could so much as blink, she held his rigid flesh in her hand, stroking him with ease, as if she had done this a thousand times before.
He groaned and clenched his teeth while he watched her work his turgid flesh, her breasts suspended above him as she moved. Dear God, he was losing his resolve. She was bloody seducing him and doing a fine job of it. He silently thanked whoever made that book full of erotic images that she had studied so well, for no maiden could ever be so bold otherwise.
Running her tongue across his lips, down his throat, she shifted her weight until she was gliding down his chest, making sounds that drove him wild. His head spun with need. No amount of honor was going to stop this madness. Her hot mouth came down on his cock and next thing he knew, she had him fully in her mouth.
With a curse, he pulled her off. “Devil take it!” Flipping her on her back, he shoved her back onto the bed, his weight coming down on hers. She giggled beneath him and licked her lips.
Then it dawned on him. She was no maiden. There was no way on earth she had not done this before. She was a temptress of the highest order and God knew how many men she had pulled this on.
“Ye want this, Katherine? Ye want me to take ye right now?” he growled, leaning his head down to finally take one of her succulent breasts into his mouth, nipping the tip with his teeth.
She arched and groaned as he switched back and forth, lathing her nipples, sucking hard enough to leave a mark. “Aye! So much it hurts, Thomas! I want ye!” Her legs were already spread before him and he could see with his own eyes how ready she was for him.
With no further questions, Thomas pushed himself into her with a loud grunt, feeling her consume him as she cried out her pleasure. Her body arched, writhed, and begged for more beneath him. A tear trickled down her cheek and he wondered how she could already be so filled with pleasure that she should cry.
He held nothing back, showed no mercy. He had tried to warn her, tried to keep his hands to himself, but she had pushed him over the edge with her clever tongue and boldness. She was so warm and tight, he groaned as he pushed into her, taking her with a force he had never known.
She whimpered and clawed at his backside, demanding him to continue as her hips met his with audible force. “Aye, Thomas…” she whispered, eyes closed tight.
“Open yer eyes when I am taking ye, Katherine. Watch where we connect.”
Her eyes opened, and he saw the blazing passion in those blue depths. It was not the blue of the ocean or even the sky. It was the blue of a fire when it was at its hottest, raging in a hearth, blazing with heat. That’s what she was. Blue fire.
Then her eyes looked down at where he entered her again and again and her gaze hooded as she watched while he took her. He never thought he would think this, but this lass was more than he could handle. She was wild with an all-consuming desire to take and be taken, unlike anyone he had ever bedded.
Sweat dripped down his forehead as he bit back a curse, struggling not to lose control as she lifted her hips off the bed and used her elbows to prop herself up for a better view. It was like she had never seen anything so enthralling and could watch him push inside her all day. But he couldn’t. He was going to lose himself fast, and not just because she was so cursed beautiful. It was her wild spirit, her fiery temper, and yet a fragile vulnerability he had seen in her more than once. She smelled of honey and citrus and felt like the smoothest silk. She was everything he could ever want in a lass, and in that moment, a moment so filled with lust and need… he found the one thing he never thought he wanted: love.
It struck him like lightning, so hard in the chest that he could actually feel the ache. He had not meant to fall in love with the lass, but he had never stood a chance.
Knowing he would finish any second, he reached between their bodies, stroked her in the one place he knew would set her off, and with the very first stroke, she tilted her head back and screamed her release, her entire body shuddering beneath him, around him. She kept whispering his name reverently and it was over for him. One loud roar left his throat and he gave himself over to her, the first real love he had ever made, the first release into a woman he hoped would actually stick and create life.
Bloody hell. What had she done to him? Collapsing from the impact, he landed beside her, rolling her over on top of him, their sticky bodies panting in unison, her blonde hair sticking to her neck. He scooped it away and ran his hands up and down her slick back and the slight curve of her perfect rear.
“By all the saints, Katherine Esmonde. Ye took my breath away.” He wanted to say how he truly felt, but the lass had said she hated him just before. He prayed she had not meant it, but if she did, he deserved her ire. Still, he would never treat her foully again and cursed himself for ever thinking that this wild-spirited, yet soft-hearted lass could ever intentionally aid their enemy. Now, they shared everything, including a common enemy in her father.
“That was… I have no words, Thomas. Better than I ever imagined.” Her finger spun circles on his chest, playing with the short dark hairs spattered over his muscles and tracing the lines of his battle scars.
“Better than ye’ve ever had, aye?” he chuckled, trying to lighten the mood.
Lines of confusion marred her forehead. “I told ye I was a maiden. Ye think I was lying to seduce ye?” Her finger stopped spinning circles just before she pinched his nipple hard, causing him to wince.
“Ow! I am sorry but ye knew so much. I have never bedded a maiden, but I wouldnae think she knew to put my cock in her mouth!”
Katherine flushed. “I have… watched it happen many times. Remember? Spyglass? The men, especially the ones with the kilts…” Her voice faded off and she turned her head away in embarrassment.
He was shocked at her admission, yet rather amused. No wonder she was so educated. But then, a realization hit him, making the blood drain from his face.<
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“Katherine.” He gripped her and laid her down on the mattress beside him. “I took ye… really took ye. Hard. I thought… Och.” He ran a hand through his hair. “I was not gentle. I am so sorry.”
“Nay. It was perfect. I loved every second of it. It did sting at first, but mayhap it was best that it was over with quickly. I rather enjoyed the rest. Watching you move inside me was the most fantastic moment of my life!”
He chuckled at that. Aye, they would have a lively time in bed. She was just as eager as he was. “Still, I apologize for not believing ye.” He kissed the tip of her nose gently. “I will believe ye from now on about all things. Ye are my wife and I will respect ye always.”
She licked her lips nervously, wanting to say something, but clearly decided against it. He did not want her to hate him. The thought of it made his chest seize up painfully. “What can I do to make this right between us?”
“Let me help ye find the Treasure of Danu. Tell me all about it.”
Chapter Ten
KATHERINE LAY IN bed beside the most amazing man she had ever known, listening quietly as he told her everything about himself. How his mother sent him away as a young lad, and how he became knighted and fought beside Drake against the Armada. The man was truly so much like her, born to one country, yet raised in another. Yet, their loyalties were both to the Irish people and that made their bond only stronger. She wanted to help him in any way she could, to make up for the harm she had caused in the past and prove that she cared. It was about more than this treasure. It was about saving a people.
“Do ye know what is said to be in this treasure?” she asked.
“It started with only three items, said to have been crafted by the gods and sent over with the very first people to settle in Ireland, the Tuatha de Danann. They were a god-like race, made of the gods, keepers of the land until they were defeated and forced to live beneath the earth, now called the Otherworld. It is said the faeries are their descendants.”
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