“Would you be willing to take me back to Boston? Maybe I have family that I can find.”
“Cassy, ye may stay with us for as long as ye like. Ye have proven yerself to me crew and meself,” William explains.
“Thank you. I think I’ll dress and check on the men. I could use some fresh air.” I stand and look for some clothes. “Do you know what happened to what I was wearing?”
“I had one of the men clean the blood out of them. I have something that ye can wear.” William stands and walks to the trunk at the opposite side of the room and finds a burgundy and black strapless dress with a black floral design woven into the burgundy. “Ye can wear anything that’s in this trunk. They tend to be a bit too fancy for a ship. We can find more clothes for ye in port.”
“Whose clothes are they?”
“We be pirates and we thought we had come onto some booty. It wasn’t until we made it back to the ship that we realized they were women’s clothing. Normally, I would have tossed them overboard, but something made me keep them. Maybe it was a sign that ye were coming.” He hands me the dress.
I examine the detail of the dress and then hold it up. “It should fit. Will you help me with the corset since this one laces up in the back. I swear I’m not sure how women back in the day ever got dressed alone.” I drape the dress over the bed.
“Women who wear these types of dresses usually have sisters or servants to help them. Of course I will help.”
I stretch my arms over my head, pulling the shirt off as I go. “God, I could really use a bath.” Before I can cover it with the dress, William steps up to me and latches onto my freed breast with his mouth, sucking the nipple until it becomes a sensitive peak. Running his hands around my waist to my butt, he squeezes me closer to his growing bulge. It has been so long since I’ve had a boyfriend that I’m more than willing to let William explore my body. I think he craves me as much as I crave him.
Moaning as he possesses my mouth with his, I bite his lower lip then pull away. I look into his hazel eyes, black with his desire. I move in and kiss his neck then moving up to his ear, I whisper, “What are you going to do with me now, Captain?” I continue to suck on his neck while running my hands over his broad shoulders and down his tight pecs.
William spins me around so I’m facing the bed and bends me over the mattress. Before I know what he’s doing, he is buried deep within me. The feeling is unbelievable. I can’t remember any of my exes ever filling me the way William does. He leans over me and bites my ear. “Ye like me in ye don’t ye, Lass.” He pulls back slowly, taking my breath with him. Then he dives back in, hitting me in just the right places. He repeats this a few more times and I feel my climax building from my toes up. He feels it too and stops all movement.
“William,” I moan.
“What do ye want, Lass?”
“Fuck me,” I beg. That was all it took for him to slam back into me several more times. I climb high until I fall over the edge, screaming his name. When he finishes, he collapses over me, holding me close as our breathing returns to normal. I can feel his heart beating fast against my back, beating in rhythm with my own.
“I really should check on the wounded.” I complain but know that I need to make sure that everyone is on the mend.
Reluctantly, we stand and he hands me the dress. Slipping it on and placing the corset over it, I watch while William tugs his britches back on.
William walks up behind me and runs his fingers down my neck and across my shoulders. “When we get to port there is a place that ye can bathe if ye want,” he whispers close to my ear before he grabs hold of the cord and begins to thread up the corset for me.
“I’d like that.” A shiver runs down my spine from his words and the heat coming off him.
“Hold on to the post so I can pull the strings.” I grab hold of one of the posts on his four-poster bed and lean toward it as he pulls on the strings. I gasp.
“Too tight?”
“A bit.” He loosens the strings. “Better.”
William continues to tie me up until I’m bound in place. He takes my hair up in his hand and drags it across my right shoulder and begins to kiss my neck. I tilt my head to the side to allow better access. “Ye smell of wild flowers and the ocean. It’s intoxicating.”
I spin in his arms and smile. “Come on, lover boy. I need to check out everyone’s wounds, starting with yours. Sit so I can change your bandage.”
William sits at his desk so I can remove his dressing with ease. My eyes roam over his strong shoulders to his washboard abs. Continuing down, I see the bulge is rising again, I sweep my eyes back up to his mouth and see him smirk.
“Like what ye see, love?” he teases.
“You are insatiable.”
“Aye.”
I clear my throat and gently remove the dressing and look at my handy work. “You pulled on the stitches. No more heavy lifting. You look pretty good otherwise, but I need to put a new bandage on. You should keep the stitches in for at least a week or two. I’ll keep an eye on it to make sure you don’t get infected.” I walk over to where the rum is kept and move bottles around until I find the gin.
“What are ye doing?”
“I need to keep it clean. It’s the best way to keep infection away.”
“We will run out of gin if ye keep using it like this. I’m fine. If ye see that I need it then ye can use it. But until then, save it. We must ration.”
“Fine, but if it starts to get sore then you tell me right away.”
“Yes, milady.”
I wrap a new cloth on his arm. “I’m off to see the other men.”
Before I leave the room, William pulls my wrist and tugs me back to him. “Ye tell me if any of me crew step out of line. Savvy?” I nod. “They should leave ye be, but I do not know the prisoners. Be wary.” He pulls me in for a kiss before he sends me on my way.
Chapter 5
Feeling Alive
Leaving William’s quarters, I step out into the sunlight and take a deep breath. Sleeping with him may have been a mistake, but God it felt good. I’m not even sure how I’m here in the first place. I may have set myself up for heartache, or this may be some kind of crazy, sometimes pleasurable, dream that I’ll wake up from. I look around and see that some of the men I worked on are out and about doing their daily routines.
Demetrius approaches me at a fast clip. “I think one of the men may have an infection. He’s with fever. I was about to tell the Cap’n.”
“Tell me where he is.” He points me in the right direction. Gathering my skirt, I hurry down the stairs, below deck, where James is tending to the man. “What are his symptoms?” I ask.
“The fever has set in. I’m not sure how long he has left.” James wrings out the wet cloth and places it on the man’s forehead. He’s wet with sweat and appears to be sleeping.
I take up the patient’s wrist to check his pulse. It’s a bit elevated but not bad. I feel his head and he’s hot to the touch. I hear footsteps coming down the stairs and see William and Demetrius have joined me.
“James, has he spoken to you at all or has he just been sleeping?”
“He collapsed as I came into the room.”
“Demetrius, is there a big enough tub that he could lay in?” I ask.
“Aye.”
“This is what we need to do: get the tub filled with the coldest water you can get. We need to remove most, if not all, of his clothing and get him into the tub. This should bring his temperature back down to normal.”
“Aye.” Demetrius grabs a few men and begins to prepare the tub as James and I start to strip the man of his clothing.
“William, we’ll need to lift him into the tub.” He calls a few of the men over to lift the man up and place him into the tub that Demetrius has brought over.
Once the man is settled in the tub and the coolness of the water does its trick, the man opens his eyes, startled. “What’s happening?”
“Shhh. You have a fever and
we’re helping you. How do you feel?” I ask.
“I don’t feel as hot as I did before. How did I get in here?”
“We had the men put ye in. Yer lucky that the lass seems to know tricks that I do not,” James adds.
I feel his head again and his fever has already gone down. I check his pulse and it is back to where it should be. “We need to remove some of this water and bring in more cold water. What is your name?” I ask the man.
“Patrick.”
“Patrick, I’ll have some broth brought to you. We need to keep you hydrated.” He gives me a strange look. Remembering this is not my time, I explain, “You need to drink the broth to keep your strength up.”
He nods as I stand. “James, keep an eye on him. When he feels cool to the touch he may get out of the tub and dress. Change the water again if it becomes warm. If anything changes, send someone to find me. Patrick, you’ll be fine, but you should take care to not overwork today. If possible, when you get out of the tub, sleep.”
“Me thanks,” Patrick says.
I follow William back up onto the deck. “How did ye come about yer knowledge?”
“Where I’m from, it was my job. I wish I had more answers for you on how I came to be here, but I just don’t know. The last thing I remember was holding that map and coin. Maybe they have something to do with me being here.” I walk to the front of the ship and look out over the ocean. The sea is calm with very little breeze.
William joins me. “I believe ye. Do ye want to go back to where ye came from?”
“To be honest with you, I don’t really know. Back home, I just started a new job and then lost my parents in an accident. I have no family left. Part of me wants to go back to the life I knew.”
“And the other part?”
“The other part wants to know why I’m here. Am I to learn something? Am I to change something? It’s exciting and terrifying at the same time. Books portray pirates as being foul people but I’ve yet to see that here, with the exception of the fight with the other ship a few days ago.”
“Not all pirates keep to the code. It is not safe for ye to be alone on land when we reach port.” We stand watching the horizon for a while in a comfortable silence. “We should be to Port Royal soon.”
“What will we do there?” The fact that we are going to this particular port scares me a bit. The books showed Port Royal as being a rowdy place for pirates to hang out, get laid, and get drunk. It’s not the type of place that I would want to visit.
“We run items from one port to the other. We’ll only stay on land for a short time. Long enough to let the men off the ship and load with things to go back to Boston.”
“Is it as bad as I’ve heard?”
“Aye, but ye will stay with me at all times. If ye are not with me then ye will be with Demetrius.” He turns and takes my shoulders in his hands. “Savvy? Under no circumstances are ye to be alone on that island.”
“I understand. You know I could just stay on the ship until we leave port. I don’t mind.” Although I would love to explore this new exotic place, even if it does scare the hell out of me.
“I have business to attend to and I want ye with me.”
“Okay. I’ll do whatever you tell me to do.” I reach up and palm his cheek. He leans into my touch and closes his eyes.
“Come.” He takes my hand and we walk back toward his quarters. Once inside, he leads me to a padded bench and has me kneel on it before kneeling behind me. “Yer a beautiful woman, and ye make me crave ye in ways I’ve never wanted any other,” he whispers in my ear as he begins to kiss the back on my neck.
I pull my hair over my shoulder before rolling my neck to the same side, reveling in his touch and kiss. “I’ve felt so numb the past few weeks. You make me feel again,” I say on a sigh. It’s true. I’ve felt so lost the past few weeks and this is the first time I’ve felt human again; not just someone going through the motions. I feel whole when I’m in his arms. He’s strong and sexy and I love being with him. I didn’t think I could feel this way about someone so fast.
He moves his kisses down my neck then to my shoulder. Dragging a hand up my side, he begins to loosen the cord on my corset, slowly removing the leather from each grommet until it falls open. He gently removes the garment and tosses it aside. Lifting his hand, he gently grabs my chin and turns my head so he can devour my lips. I open my mouth and his tongue dives in so it can dance with mine. Running his hands around the front of me, he grabs hold of my breasts and squeezes them. I moan as the pleasure he gives runs like hot electricity to my core.
He leans back and pulls his shirt over his head. Leaning back into me, I feel his light sprinkling of chest hair and the heat of his body against my bare back. The feeling is marvelous. Inch by inch, he pulls my dress down so it rests at my bent knees. I move to remove the dress but he stills me.
“I must have ye now.” His breathing is labored. I feel him move his hand down my back until he is at his trousers. He has his other hand holding me in place, dominating me in ways I would never allow another man to do.
Lifting my dress over my hips, he reaches between my legs and drags his fingers through my trimmed hairs, finding my heat. I moan loudly.
“Ye are so wet.”
“Yes.” I sigh. “Take me, William.”
“Aye, milady.” He bends me over the back of the bench and I hug the arm of the bench. Winding his hand around my hair to hold me in place, he grabs hold of his cock and buries himself inside me, pulling almost completely out before plunging into me again and again, over and over until I scream his name. He continues to pound into me a few more times before he climaxes. “Cassy.”
“Wow,” I say when I find my voice again.
Resting his forehead on my back, he pants, “Ye make me want to worship yer body, Cassy. No one has ever done that to me before.”
“You make me feel alive again.”
Chapter 6
Port Royal
Port Royal is everything I thought it would be. Loud and obnoxious, and we haven’t even docked yet. The noise that’s coming from the island is loud and the smell...oh boy. Good thing I’m up to date on my shots. I shiver at the thought of what kind of diseases are out here. I’m standing alone at the bow of the ship, trying to figure out why I’m here in this time. The more I think about it, the more I think it has something to do with that map and doubloon. But what?
“What are ye thinking about?” William comes up behind me and nuzzles my neck. I’m wearing the same outfit that I wore during the fight with the other pirate ship a few days ago. Somehow the person who William had given them to was able to get all the blood out of it. I found a red bandana and have it tied around my head to help keep my hair out of my face. I’m hoping the outfit will deter anyone from trying anything.
“I’m still trying to figure out why I’m here. Can I ask you something?”
“Of course.” He moves to stand next to me and we both look out at the island as we get closer to it.
“Where does the map lead? I have a strange feeling that the map and the coin have something to do with me being here.”
William takes a deep breath. “I met a man in port one day. The man had a chest with him and told me it had valuables in it and that I should keep it safe. I asked him why he was giving it to me. He said that it was filled with very important things and that someone would find me to retrieve the items. And then he left.”
“What was in the chest?”
“The chest contained some strange objects, things I’d never seen before. I wasn’t sure what they were, but I knew that I needed to keep them safe. I buried them and created the map. That was why I was confused that ye had a copy of the same map. I only made one map and the section that is missing from the parchment is the tattoo ye saw on me chest.”
“Is the treasure far away?”
“About a day from here.”
“Might it be something you would be willing to show me? Maybe I can make out what the obje
cts are.”
“Aye, we can stop on the way back to Boston.” William takes up my hand and kisses my palm. “I must instruct the men to get us to dock. Do not depart the ship without me.”
“I’ll be right here.” He leans in and kisses my forehead before walking away to give his orders.
I wonder what the treasure is and if I will and if I will recognize it.
* * *
Once the Rum Runner drops anchor, we take our leave. I notice that Demetrius and the bulk of the crew departed as soon as we docked. I stay close to William as we walk the streets. He hasn’t said what type of business he has here, but he doesn’t want me out of his sight and I’m grateful for that. Walking around here is worse than walking by a construction site at lunch time. Pirates of all sexes and ages are catcalling me. Many of the things they are saying I’ve never heard before and by the look on William’s face, he’s none too pleased. One guy says something that pisses William off so badly, he pulls his cutlass, pinning the guy to the wall. He brings it up under the man’s throat while getting in his face. “I suggest ye bugger off or I’ll slit yer throat.” He pulls away and the man spits off to the side and gives him a nasty smile. His smile shows disgustingly rotten teeth.
“Ye better be holdin’ onto the wench or ye may lose ‘er.”
William goes for his cutlass that he’d just sleeved, but I stop him. I lean into him. “He’s not worth it and we’ll not be here long enough for him to hold his threat. I won’t leave your side.” Tugging on his arm, we walk away. I glance back at the smelly pirate and he has a grotesque smile as he follows my body with his eyes.
“If ye were not by me side, I would have killed him,” he says through gritted teeth.
“There’s no need to shed any more blood. Let’s get your business done then you can take me back to the ship.” I wrap my arm around his and stay close.
“Aye.”
We walk up a hill following a cobblestone path, past businesses and bars on either side of the street, before stepping through one of the doors. This pub is not as full of people as I thought it might be. I spot Demetrius sitting at a table not far from the door. He spots us and comes over. “Cap’n.”
Raise The Jolly Roger: Somewhere In Time Page 5
