As more and more of Jack’s hardness fell away, the more Daniel was losing his control over his crew. They both knew it, as did some of the crew members still loyal to the man they called Midnight Jack. But he was less Jack and more Daniel these days and that was Katherine’s fault. She had softened him, though that had not been her intention. He would not kill while she was aboard, though in the past, had anyone questioned one of his orders, he likely would have run them through or keelhauled them at the first opportunity. Jack ruled with an iron fist. Daniel did not.
The fact that Daniel took every opportunity to fuck her senseless was not helping, her cries of release echoing through the ship so there could be no doubt as to what they were doing in his cabin. He sought her out even when he should be attending to his ship. Someone on the crew, most likely either Ramsey or Davis, had helpfully spread a rumor that Jack was trying to get a babe on his female prisoner so that he could demand a higher ransom for her and lay a claim to her family’s sugar plantation.
This explanation for his behavior was something his crew believed very easily. After all, it was no secret that Jack was looking to retire. A forced marriage to a sugar-plantation heiress who was carrying his child would fit into his plans nicely. So the more they fucked, his crew reasoned, the more likely it would be that he got her with child.
For all Katherine knew, she might very well be carrying Daniel’s child already.
They had not been careful about such matters, that much was certain. That first time, Daniel had hesitated about releasing his seed inside of her, but Katherine had held him tight inside of her and after that? He had not fought her. Each time he had released, he had done so inside of her body, one way or another.
Katherine also had not donned what she now referred to as her “pirate garb” since the day of Boucher’s attack. Rather, she had chosen to wear gowns, thinking to keep herself safe from the crew. If she looked like one of them, she had reasoned, they might be more likely to believe that she was one of them, and they were free to take what they desired from her. If she looked like a lady, no matter how scandalously cut the gown, then perhaps they would afford her a modicum of respect.
That had not worked so well the other night, unfortunately, when Jack – for when he manhandled her in front of the crew, it was difficult to think of him as her Daniel – had lashed her to the mast and then bared her arse so that he could spank her in front of his entire crew.
Oh, there had been no need to punish her, though Jack had made up an excuse. They had simply been unable to keep their hands off of each other during dinner and Jack hadn’t been able to wait until they returned to their cabin to fuck her. So he had roared at her and threatened and then lashed her to the mast, her hands bound in front of her while he spanked her arse until it glowed red and his crew was cheering him on, all of them watching Jack punish his prisoner with avid interest.
Jack had meant to pretend to fuck her from behind then, but lust and her wetness had gotten the better of both of them and he had, in fact, fucked her in front of his entire crew, so hard and fast that she had screamed out her release to the cheers of his men. Then, when it was over, he had stepped back and spanked her twice more, causing her to release again with an even louder scream, as if her body had not endured enough.
The public fucking had won back some of the crew’s loyalty toward Jack, not that they had ever truly been disloyal. They had, however, wondered if they might be cut out of their share of any bounty awarded for her return to her family. However, as Jack had raged about planting a babe in her belly to claim more bounty for her return as he had fucked her hard and fast from behind, most of the crew seemed to believe that the rumors were true and that a pregnant Katherine held more value than a chaste one – but only if that babe was the captain’s.
Jack had let slip that at some point in the past, he and Katherine had shared a history, so he was known to her family and, if forced, would be able to wed her and claim a much bigger financial prize – which of course he would share with his crew. Whether releasing that information was deliberate or not, Katherine could not say, but once more, the warning that any man who tried to plant his own seed within her would die a slow and painful death had been extremely effective.
As had her own threat to cut of Goddard’s cock with her dagger when he had attempted to corner her, his swollen prick already free of his pants and his eyes fastened on her skirts. Thankfully, Jack had shown up in the nick of time to spare her from actually having to injure the man. When she then promptly turned around and offered her cunt to Jack in front of his entire crew in the middle of the main deck, tugging hard at the Pirate’s Blood necklace as she did so, as if the strand of gems was somehow controlling her, any doubts any of the crew members – save for Goddard, of course – had about her, Jack’s control over her, and her desire to be fucked by one man and one alone had vanished.
It also helped that The Darkness was no longer that far out from Tortuga and Jack had once more promised his crew they could feast upon whatever flesh they liked once they arrived at the haven – male or female – at his expense.
Katherine should have been mortified by both her behavior as of late and her response to what this man did to her body, and two weeks ago, she likely would have been. Ladies did not behave in such a scandalous or lascivious manner, but during her time at sea, Katherine had come to realize that she had never really been a lady. She had always been a bit of a hoyden and this side of her that Jack/Daniel brought out in her was not new. She had simply been hiding this part of herself for the last six years. Since the day Daniel had vanished in the vastness of the Atlantic Ocean.
Now, they were approaching their final destination and Katherine had begun to wonder if she could go back to being a proper lady. Or at the very least, the sort of lady she had been the day Midnight Jack had swept her off a beach on Barbados and onto his ship. She wasn’t certain she could. If she couldn’t? What then? For Daniel was determined to leave Midnight Jack behind. But what if Katherine was unable to leave her new persona behind? Would he still want her? She had no idea.
There was time enough to worry about that later, however. Today, Daniel was meeting with an old friend named Reginald and Katherine had decided that, despite his protests, he would not go to the supposedly deserted island alone. So for the first time since Boucher’s attack, she had dug into the pile of clothing she had stacked in a corner and donned the same black leather breeches and white shirt she had the day the French pirate had come to kidnap her from The Darkness.
Since she wasn’t in so much of a rush this time, Katherine took a long moment to stare at herself in the mirror, for if she walked out the door in these clothes, she would be making a statement, both to Daniel and the crew that she was not to be fucked with – figuratively or literally. She would finally claim the power that Daniel insisted was inside of her and, truth told, it felt rather good.
She wanted this. She truly did. But that did not mean she wasn’t afraid. She was. Very much so.
Still, Katherine had to admit that, at the very least, she looked the part she was about to play.
The leather pants still clung to her hips and arse as they had before, but Rupert, who was quick with a needle, had helped her adjust the breeches so they were more to her liking and fit her hips a bit better. Jack had also provided her with a pair of boots, likely from somewhere deep in the ship’s cargo hold. They were a bit big, but they were clearly boots made for a woman and not a man and would help her keep her footing, especially when they arrived on Tortuga.
Katherine had left her hair unbound but she had added a pair of blood-red ruby earrings to match the necklace she still wore. For a lingering moment, Katherine fingered the center ruby in the necklace. Larger than the others, Davis had mentioned that the gem had the nickname “the Pirate’s Heart,” as it had once been part of a necklace that had been gifted to a West Indies pirate queen in a time even before Captain Kidd. Or possibly stolen from an Indian raja first before th
e gifting. No one was quite certain, but that did not make the precious stone any less impressive.
The gem now dangled down from the center of the necklace, falling just between her breasts. It looked lovely around her neck when she wore a gown but clad as she was today? It made her look…dangerous. There was no other word for the woman staring back at her from the mirror.
The white shirt Katherine had selected that first day still billowed open almost to her waist but she no longer cared. Nor had she bound her breasts as Jack had once suggested, allowing any man – or woman, she supposed – to look at her, and the Pirate’s Heart, all they liked. And no matter what Daniel said when he saw her in a few moments, she would not bind her breasts again, even upon his orders. She had no desire to do so, for this was the image she wished to project, at least for now.
Her mother had once said that clothes made a woman and that the choices a woman made regarding what she wore often spoken more than any words ever could. One could pretend to be something they were not, so long as the clothing they wore matched the attitude they wished to project and that the wearer embraced the role they had chosen to play. At the time, Katherine hadn’t understood what her mother had meant. Now? She did.
Now, Katherine was claiming her power. She was becoming a woman fit not only as a mate for a duke but a mate worthy of the most powerful and feared pirate in the West Indies. She was a mate fit for both Daniel and Jack. Two sides of the same coin. Just as she was.
“I would tell you to select a different shirt, or at the very least, bind yourself, but God knows, I can’t when all I want to do is lay you down and fuck those luscious tits of yours.”
Katherine had heard the privy door open and she had seen Daniel approach her via the mirror. Or rather Jack had approached. Clad as he was just now, he was every inch Jack and not a bit Daniel.
In the beginning, his ability to change from one person to another had bothered her. Now? It no longer did. She had come to accept that both personalities were a part of him, just as this pirate queen looking back at her from the mirror was as much a part of her as her ladylike side was.
Coming up behind her, Jack snaked his hands inside of Katherine’s open shirt and cupped her tits, thumbing her engorged nipples with the pads of his thumbs. “My seed on these lovely tits of yours, Duchess. I need to see that. I need to see you.”
For a moment, Katherine thought about reminding Jack that they had someone to meet, but then she reached behind her and felt the thick ridge of his erection straining against his pants and changed her mind.
“As my captain wishes,” she purred as she strutted to the bed and lay down, opening her shirt wider until her breasts fell free. The twin globes felt heavy just now and though she’d never had her tits fucked, she had no doubt that it would feel every bit as delightful as everything else this man had done to her.
Jack was astride her quicker than she expected, his cock already free of his breeches before she was even settled. “Hold those delightful breasts together tightly, Duchess, and be prepared for I am at my limit already. Jack. Not Daniel. Not this time.”
Then Jack was there, his cock sliding between her tits. He had grabbed a handful of oil before he straddled her and she could smell the familiar scent of him now mixed with the musky scent of sex.
At the first slide of his cock between her tits, Katherine moaned loudly. This felt even better than she had imagined. When he reached down and twisted her nipples almost painfully so that she screamed out her pleasure immediately, she knew they would have to do this again.
With each thrust of his hips, she felt an answering thrust of her hips upward, urging him on. He was hot and velvety smooth in contrast to the cool of her own skin and the sensations sent tiny shocks ricocheting through her body. When she felt him stiffen above her, she knew he was close and then he was releasing, his thick, hot seed spurting from his engorged tip and spraying all over her still swollen tits.
Jack leaned over to kiss Katherine deeply, their tongues tangling now as they did every time they kissed, for there was no such thing as chasteness between them any longer.
“God, Duchess, you amaze me,” he breathed when he was finally able to pull away from her. “And we will do that again. Make no mistake.”
Katherine reached down and scooped a large droplet of Jack’s seed, which was already drying on her tits, onto her finger before popping it into her mouth. He groaned at the sight and she knew he would want more than just a tit fuck the next time.
“I am ready when you are, Jack,” she teased, not bothering to wipe the rest of his seed from her breasts. If she were to go out and face his crew like this, then she would go out marked as Jack’s woman as well. His property. His to do with as he pleased. And she would feel no shame in it. “I simply want this to be over so we can get on with things.”
“As do I, Duchess. As do I.”
And when Katherine looked up into Jack’s eyes, she knew that it was Daniel looking back at her just then. And that he was extremely pleased.
Chapter Seventeen
He had fucked her tits. He, Daniel Montgomery had fucked Katherine Sedgewick’s tits. And she had liked it! More than that, she had reveled in the experience!
He had been dreaming of doing that since he had been fifteen and there was still enough of the young boy left within him to be amazed that she had allowed him to debase her in such a fashion. And that she was willing to allow him to do so again.
He also wondered what else she was willing to allow, especially clad as she was in her pirate queen’s attire. For this was a side of her that he had never seen before, but one he liked very much. Probably far more than was wise.
Before the landing party had departed The Darkness, Daniel had once more mentioned to Katherine about binding her tits, but she had seemed unconcerned and, given everything that had happened over the last week, she probably truly was unconcerned. She hadn’t so much as uttered a peep of protest when he’d bound her to the mast and fucked her in front of two of his crewmen. Or when he had taken her on the deck in front of another small group of his men. After that? Bare tits were probably the least of her worries.
Katherine was finally claiming her power, just as he had hoped. Perhaps too well. For once they returned to England, then what? He had been counting on her to be the one to keep his wild proclivities in check but if she was just as morally lax as he? Then what? What sort of duke and duchess would they be? Not very proper ones, he suspected.
That matter was for another time, however. Especially since they both had to live to reach England in the first place. That happy day was, at best, months away. Today, Daniel needed to meet with Reginald and find out if there were any surprises waiting for him and his crew on Tortuga.
Black Heart Cay lay just ahead of them. Daniel, Katherine, and Davis were aboard one of the small skiffs they had commandeered from Boucher’s attack. While Daniel’s first inclination had been to leave the tiny boats behind, the more he thought upon the matter, the more he decided they might have a use after all.
“Almost there, Captain.” Davis was rowing hard and using the oars to steer the small craft toward what looked like the only bit of beach large enough to make landfall. “But I don’t see no other boats.”
“You won’t.” Daniel scanned the shoreline as well. “Reginald is careful.”
Sometimes too careful, in Daniel’s opinion, but then, that was part of what made him an excellent source of information. How the man had managed to operate for as long as he had and not get caught was something of a mystery, but as long as Reginald was willing to pass on information for the right price, Daniel had long since decided he didn’t need to know the particulars. It was better for everyone that way.
When they approached the shore, both Daniel and Davis hopped out and pulled the skiff onto the rocky sand.
“My lady.” Davis offered Katherine his hand, and she accepted. Daniel wanted to protest, but he didn’t. The crew already suspected he was soft on her, despi
te the fact that he had fucked her nearly night and day for the last week or so. A bit of distance or some indifference might not be a bad thing, at least not when they were around others in such close proximity. Even though Daniel suspected that his first mate knew the truth of their relationship. Or at the very least, suspected.
“Thank you, Mr. Davis.” Katherine’s manners were ever proper, even though her attire was anything but, and Daniel wanted, not for the first time, to put out Davis’ eyes as he salivated over her tits. Though to be fair, Katherine was more than blessed in that regard. She also didn’t seem to mind people staring at them.
“My pleasure.” Davis grinned at her. “Very much my pleasure.”
Daniel growled in response, but his reaction lacked heat, especially after he saw the cheeky grins Davis and Katherine were exchanging. They liked each other well enough, but that was it. There was no desire between them. Daniel could tell, and once more, he wondered if Davis’ sexual proclivities lay elsewhere or a mixed manner as some of his other crewmembers did. Not that it mattered, really, though it did make entrusting Katherine to Davis’ care easier, should such a thing be necessary in the future.
“Let us get on with things,” Daniel grumbled as he glanced back at his ship. “With Boucher possibly about, I do not wish to be away from The Darkness for too long.”
“Agreed.” Davis, too, scanned the empty stretch of beach. “We’re far too vulnerable out here. The sooner we return to the ship, the better.”
“That is all well and good, both of you, but where is your contact, captain? That, I think, is a greater concern just now.” Katherine bit her lip, her gaze scanning the beach as well. “I thought you said he was prompt.”
Daniel frowned, becoming more worried than annoyed now. “He usually is.” This was not like Reginald, for by now the man should have popped out from behind a tree or some such. A feeling of unease crept up his spine. “Something is not right.” He didn’t want to say those words, but the longer they were here without Reginald emerging from the deep undergrowth, the more nervous he became.
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