by Lynn Patrick
“You’re a problem, all right,” he muttered, but she thought his meaning more complex than it sounded.
He stepped closer, looming over her. His back to the moon, she couldn’t read his expression. “I thought you couldn’t wait to get back to land. Why are you objecting so strongly to getting off this ship?”
“I don’t want to leave you,” Caitlin whispered, then tried to amend the statement. “I mean, I’d rather not go until I’ve decided what I want to—”
“You don’t want to leave me, Caitlin?” he murmured huskily, steadily following her retreat until she was stopped by the rail. “Care to elaborate on your statement? What would you like to do with me?”
When he drew her into his arms, she made no protest, only raised her willing mouth and wound her arms tightly around his neck. Kissing him back fiercely, she strove to banish the knowledge that soon they’d have to part. She pressed herself tightly against him, losing conscious awareness of their surroundings until he gently broke the embrace.
“Why don’t we go to my quarters?” Bryce whispered, his face tense with desire.
Following him willingly, Caitlin let him lead her past the men at the gathering and discreetly shield her from view. But the crewmen’s attention was centered on Carlos’s guitar strumming, allowing the two lovers to reach their destination without notice. Bryce took her in his arms again as soon as they entered the cabin. What had once been Caitlin’s prison became a protected haven for their love.
Chapter Twelve
A soft breeze wafted through the open windows of the captain’s quarters, smelling of salt spray and seaweed. Standing on tiptoe as Bryce kissed her, Caitlin gave in to the delicious sensations that coursed through her like swirling, white capped waves. When he moved his lower body against hers rhythmically, she could imagine that they were true creatures of the eternal, elemental sea itself.
“Finally,” he whispered against her mouth. “I thought we’d never get to make love again.”
Because he’d planned to take her to St. Vincent?
Returning Bryce’s deep kisses with fervor, Caitlin sought to captivate, to anchor him to her, sending her tongue to meet his in a seductive, passionate dance. His beard felt delightfully prickly as it rubbed against the softness of her face. Sliding her palms along his powerful shoulders, she locked her arms around his corded neck and arched her back.
“Caitlin.”
Taking a deep breath, he pulled away to slip her dress farther off her shoulders, gently pulling the garment down to her waist. She helped him remove her arms from the sleeves, all the time aware that his attention was drawn to her sweetly exposed breasts, their rosy tips hardened buds aching for his touch.
“Come here, milady,” Bryce demanded, eyes smoky with desire as he guided her to the bunk.
Sitting on the edge, he drew her between his knees to trail tiny kisses along her throat and down to the tender valley between her breasts. Then, first circling each taut nipple with his warm, wet tongue, he suckled gently until Caitlin thought he would draw her very soul from her. She closed her eyes and moaned as deep, throbbing currents rose from her very center, flooding her entire body with warmth.
Untying her belt, he pulled the dress over her slim hips, taking her briefs with it, sliding the two garments down her legs to the floor. She stood completely naked before him, her willowy body as startingly revealed, as she was sure her emotions had been when she’d said she didn’t want to leave him.
One callused hand caressed the side of her hip; the other cupped the fragile curve of a breast. “You’re beautiful, Caitlin.”
“So are you,” she replied, and let him lower her to the bed.
Her hungry eyes feasted on the rugged outline of his nose, the strong planes of his high cheekbones, the classic cut of his chiseled lips. Her gaze moved lower, stopping at the sight of the T-shirt and jeans that hid his body from view. Impatient, she nestled against him as they kissed, slipping her hands up beneath his shirt to explore his muscular chest.
When her fingers inched down inside the waistband of his jeans, he groaned and rolled her onto her back. She forgot all about continuing her caresses as he bent to gently nip her stomach and rain moist kisses across her abdomen.
She gasped as his bold, seeking hand found the secret heart of her passion. Instinctively parting her legs for his skillful fingers, then the intimate touch of his lips and tongue, she arched her hips as intense sensations spiraled through her. How much longer could she bear the delicious torture? Caitlin felt she was drifting helplessly, whirled along by surging, swelling breakers.
She almost moaned aloud in protest when Bryce stopped his ministrations suddenly, kissing her lips before he quickly rose to shed his clothing.
“I don’t think I can wait much longer,” he said, lying down beside her. Turning toward him, she felt his hard arousal graze her inner thigh.
“I don’t want to wait at all.”
Moving over him, she straddled his waist and leaned forward to bite his lower lip and rub her breasts against his chest. Cupping her buttocks, he lifted her up and brought her down again atop him. Her hips undulated in a natural, elemental rhythm as he filled her. Anchoring her with his hands, he thrust forcefully upward again and again.
Now Caitlin was riding the crest of wild waves, long sea-sprite hair swirling and tossing amid kelp and white spray. Opening her eyes for a moment, she saw Bryce watching her, and she centered her vision on the magical, sea-green depths of his gaze.
Their love was mythical, enchanted. He drew her to him like a merman calls his lover to the sea. Intermixed with the splash of waves, couldn’t she hear the tinkling of bewitching bells as the sound carried on the wind? But her focus soon blurred, greens and blues merging and melding, shades blending as the waves crashed inevitably toward land.
Clinging to his solid form, she cried out with rapture and, sinking down against his chest, realized that Bryce had joined her ecstatic release.
Afterward, lying snugly against her lover, Caitlin let her breathing slow and listened to the steady beat of his heart. The natural sound blended with the gentle lapping of the sea and the faint but rhythmic tinkling. Bells? She lifted her head.
Shifting the arm that encircled her shoulders, Bryce brought his hand around to brush a few tangled strands of hair out of her face. His fingers paused to tug at a beaded plait.
“I see you borrowed a few items from Lars’s collection of beads and ribbons,” he said. “Like them as well as his rum?”
“I wasn’t drinking anything but lemonade tonight.” Bryce laughed, the sound rumbling through his chest against her ear. “I heard you tell somebody that you didn’t want any rum punch. Afraid you’d do something provocative again?”
Caitlin gazed into his amused face. “Provocative?”
“You mean you were so tipsy on Lars’s rum, you don’t remember asking me to kiss you, to stay with you in this cabin? You even told me you loved me. Wasn’t that the truth?”
Caitlin gulped. So she hadn’t dreamed it. Lying naked in Bryce’s arms now, it would be ridiculous to claim she’d never wanted to sleep with him. But she wasn’t ready to bare her heart completely. What if he didn’t love her in return?
She tried to feign a sophisticated smile and explained jokingly, “I love anything to do with the ocean—ships, dolphins, chanties, trade winds…sea captains.”
“You’re telling me you’re attracted to my occupation rather than my personality? And after I’ve tried to be so charming?” he remarked as jokingly in return, but she thought there was a definite edge to his voice.
“You’ve been working at being charming? I thought it was natural.” Placing small kisses along the curve of his throat, she felt him relax. He fingered the plait of hair. “And I’m sure such charm comes in handy with all those tourists you’ve been sailing about.”
He stared at her. “Lars told you about my work and the family business? The old devil’s a veritable fount of information.”
“So you guessed I was a real sea captain, eh?” he said musingly. “Okay, I admit it. I’m part owner of White Winds, along with my parents and brother. We take vacationers around the Bahamas.”
“Is that the kind of work you’ve always done?” Caitlin asked, distracted by the light tinkling that now seemed to have come closer.
“My family’s owned ships for a long time, but we didn’t seriously start to ply the tourist trade until six or seven years ago. That was when I became a full captain and—”
“Wait. Do you hear a jingling sound?” Caitlin interrupted, sure that the tinkling had grown louder.
“Jingling? Yes, I hear something.”
“It sounds like tiny little bells.”
He drew a teasing line down her cheek with one finger. “There are only a couple of bells on the Sea Devil, but they’re not tiny. More likely it’s one of the metal fasteners on a sail—” This time he was interrupted by the pouncing arrival of Calico Jack. “Oof!” Leaping bravely onto the crowded bunk, the cat had landed half on the mattress and half on Bryce’s chest. “What the hell!”
Studiously ignoring the man and keeping out of his reach, Jack scampered over Bryce’s body to lick Caitlin’s face, then curled up at her side and purred.
“At least they’re ringing true this time,” she remarked softly, fingering the red collar around the cat’s neck. “Look, here are those bells I heard. Lars must have put the collar on him for the party. And Jack must have been climbing around the outside of the cabin while we were making love. Isn’t he cute?”
“I’d say obnoxious was a better word for him,” said Bryce, grumbling irritably and disentangling his arm so that he could rise from the bed. He made a grab for the cat. “And he’s going to have to find somewhere else on this ship to have a cute time tonight.”
Awakening from a dream about Caitlin later in the night, Bryce reached for her, only to find the bed achingly empty. Groggy and disappointed, he wondered sleepily if he’d taken her to St. Vincent and forgotten already. Had she kissed him good-bye? Turning over, he caught sight of the windows and let out his breath in relief. An ethereal-looking figure knelt on the trunk.
“Caitlin?”
She glanced over her shoulder and motioned to him. “The sea’s completely covered with mist, Bryce. Come and see. It looks like something out of a dream.”
He rose slowly and went to stand behind her, slipping his hands beneath the partially buttoned shirt she was wearing and caressing her warm flesh underneath. She shivered and leaned back against him.
“Isn’t the mist beautiful? It doesn’t take much to imagine magical beings out there doing mysterious things.”
“It’s just fog,” Bryce told her. “The trade winds must have shifted, bringing up some heat from the south. And I’m afraid the only beings out there are the normal species of fish and bird and human.”
“You’re ruining the fantasy.”
“Only a dreamer has time for fantasies,” he said with a soft laugh. “I learned long ago that I had to curb my imagination in order to live in the real world.”
“Oh? How sad.”
“It isn’t so sad.” He moved her long hair aside to kiss the back of her neck.
“Yes, it is. Dreams can change the world. How would you ever know you wanted to try something different if you never let yourself imagine what that something was? I wouldn’t have come to the Caribbean if I hadn’t followed my dreams about finding adventure here. Those dreams led to reality. They came true.”
“I guess you found adventure, all right.”
“Of course, even in my wildest dreams, I never imagined I’d find romance with—”
“A wild sea captain?” When she laughed, he ran his hands over the satiny skin of her hips and stomach and teasingly threatened her. “Would you like to see just how wild I can be? Come back to bed, lovely lady.” Sliding her off the trunk, however, he stopped when she cried out in pain. “What’s the matter?”
She rubbed her leg. “I hit one of the latches with my knee. Why do you keep this moldy old trunk in here, anyway?”
“I use it for storage.”
Flipping the light above the table on low in order to examine her injury, he found her prying the trunk open, her back toward him. When she lifted the heavy lid, he knelt beside her and peered inside.
“Curious? I guess you must not be hurt too badly.” He removed an item off the pile of clothing inside the trunk and showed it to her. “See the gold braid? This is my official White Winds captain’s cap. I have my fancy dress shirts folded up in here also.” As he placed the hat on his head she looked him up and down and giggled, making him realize that she’d suddenly become aware of his nudity. “Like the rest of my outfit?” he offered. “You have my permission to come closer and examine the details.”
“I can already tell that they’re quite lovely.” Smiling demurely, she quickly lowered her eyes to rummage in the trunk.
Reaching under the other clothing, she soon pulled out a wide-brimmed black hat, complete with huge, drooping ostrich feather. “Wow! Do you sometimes wear this while you work?” She dragged out a long vest and a wide-sleeved white shirt. “And these too? They look pretty piratey to me.”
Bryce had to grin when she placed the hat on her head and held the vest and wide-sleeved shirt up against her. “That’s my costume when we throw shipboard parties for the tourists. They love playing pirate.”
“I bet you look dashing in it.”
“If you want to see something dashing”—he delved deeper in the trunk—”I’ve got something far more exciting. Here, take a look.” Carefully extracting a pair of curved swords from their cloth wrappings, he pointed to the finely etched blades. “These cutlasses are real antiques.”
“Incredible!” She touched them lightly with her fingers. “Maybe they even belonged to Morgan or Blackbeard.”
“Probably nothing so interesting. It’s more likely that they were worn by ordinary seventeenth-century Spanish sailors.”
“Don’t you know the history of the swords?”
“No, no one does. I bought these from an antique dealer and usually have them hanging on my wall in here.”
“Why did you take them down?”
He hesitated giving her an answer for a minute, not wanting to tell her the truth. “I got tired of looking at them,” he lied glibly, knowing that Caitlin, despite her sympathy, would prefer to continue enjoying her romantic fantasies.
Reality was much less pretty. Why would he want to be reminded of old-time pirates and their legends during the past weeks when he was having to live out the all too unromantic experience of being a pirate himself?
Caitlin hefted a sword. “This is kind of heavy. But it must look very decorative hanging on your wall. I don’t see how you could get tired of looking at it.”
“I’ve had the cutlasses a long time. Besides, I wanted to simplify things, do an overall streamlining of the ship.”
“They weigh the same whether they’re on the wall or in the trunk.” Narrowing her eyes, she inspected the blades of the cutlasses. “I’m sure Captain Morgan went about his many exploits wearing a sword like this. It’s perfect for a pirate. What fun it is to imagine him swaggering around!”
If only she knew. Instead of having a rollicking good time and enjoying legendary exploits, Bryce thought, he’d been taking double watches to ensure that they avoided pursuers, worrying constantly about the dangers to his crew, and coming to terms with the hard fact that he’d have to face unpleasant consequences for assuming a pirate’s role.
Thinking about the latter reminded him that he’d have to take Caitlin to St. Vincent in the morning. He quickly glanced at the cabin clock. Two more hours and
he’d have to go on watch. Six more hours and he’d have to part with the woman he loved.
Suddenly aware that he’d made the silent confession he’d been avoiding for many days, he gazed at Caitlin with new eyes. Had she only been teasing when she’d refused to admit her love for him? Would she be willing to wait for him once she was released from the ship? Or would she grow impatient and want to return to her job in North Carolina? In his present position Bryce was aware that he might have very little to offer her for quite some time.
Unsure and uncomfortable, he reached for the only security he had at the moment—Caitlin’s warm body in his arms. “Let’s go back to bed,” he muttered, rising to a standing position and holding out his hands to bring her up with him.
She inspected the full length of his nude body and grinned self-consciously. “Well, I guess this is how Caitlin the Pirate Queen likes them, undressed and willing.”
Despite her humorous modesty, he could tell that she was titillated by what she saw. “You have no idea how willing I can be,” he challenged.
“Why don’t you show me?” she teased, leaping up out of his reach and placing the hat with the droopy feather on her head.
“Come here, Caitlin,” he ordered.
“Come here, Bryce,” she taunted, backing away.
He followed her, thinking that she was heading for the bunk. But she skirted it and ran for the rear doors. Pulling them open, she turned to face him on the small private deck. Surrounded by misty fog, her hair wild around her small face, she indeed resembled the magical beings she’d told him of earlier.
“I’ll get one of those cutlasses and make you walk the plank if you don’t please me,” she threatened.
“You’ll need a cutlass if you expect to keep me away.”
Desire tightened his loins as he observed the rosy nipple exposed by her half open shirt. He enclosed her in a tight embrace, sliding her body against the front of his own as he slowly lowered her to the deck. Then he knelt and, supporting himself on elbows and knees, lay over her.
