The Red Drifter of the Sea: A Steamy Opposites Attract Pirate Romance (Pirates of the Isles Book 3)

by Celeste Barclay

  Five

  Moira felt Kyle’s gaze upon her, but she kept her head bowed. She didn’t want him to see her gloating, and she sensed that the longer she remained kneeling, the more he approved. She’d given up seeking anyone’s approval once her mother died. She’d failed each time she tried, but something about Kyle suddenly brought the need back. She longed for it, craved it. Squeezing her eyes shut, she chided herself for being ridiculous. She was physically attracted to the man, and he was satisfied with having her in his cabin. They’d both gotten something from their time together. Moira reminded herself that only hours earlier, he had been set to kill her. Now she was bowing before him.

  But if he can make my body feel like that again, I might sell my soul to the devil.

  Moira’s head jerked up when Kyle pulled her to her feet. With her feet no longer tethered, he commanded her to step out of the leggings. He adjusted the bindings around her wrists, and Moira thought she was getting a reprieve from how the coarse material bit into her skin. She balked when Kyle pulled her back to where she’d stood before. She flinched when he pulled the rope over the hook in the ceiling, but he didn’t pull her arms over her head as she feared. Since her hands were no longer connected to her ankles, the rope was slacker. Her wrists hovered in front of her face, but her arms didn’t strain.

  “You don’t trust me, Moira, so I would be a fool to trust you. Until you tell me the truth, you will remain here. Your choice,” Kyle warned.

  “I didn’t survive my brother by giving up,” Moira muttered. Kyle tipped her head back and gazed into her blue eyes, which were the color of cornflowers.

  “But you never desired your brother and what his cock can do for you.” Kyle pressed a brief harsh kiss on her mouth, intending to pull back and leave her wanting. But Moira opened to him, flicking her tongue against his lips. Lust gathered in his groin and made his cock swell yet again. Frustrated with himself as much as he was with Moira, his fingers bit into her sore backside until she yelped and pulled back. “I can give you pain, and I can give you pleasure.”

  He stalked to the door, but Moira’s soft voice made him freeze. “And if I want both?”

  He glanced back at her, uncertain what to make of her expression. He forced himself out of the cabin before he turned back and ravaged her with a savagery he’d never felt toward a woman. With the door closed behind him, he slid against the wall and leaned his head back. If she wouldn’t have heard, he would have banged it.

  What is she doing to me? What is it about her that goads me, entices me, satisfies me? How can one look, one sound, one touch or taste make me want her so damn badly that I’m ready to burst again? Again! No woman has sucked me like that, and yet, I want to march back in there and thrust into her. I almost don’t care if I hurt her. Not if I can be inside her. Not if I can feel her.

  Kyle clenched his fists and his jaws. There were few things he and his twin brother Keith weren’t willing to do, but they’d never intentionally attacked ships with women aboard. They’d agreed upon that when they each became captain of the MacNeil cousins’ ships. They avoided any boats they thought might carry female passengers, only raiding slavers and freeing men and women.

  But if I’d known a woman was aboard, I wouldn’t have Moira in my cabin. I wouldn’t have felt her cunny squeeze my fingers as she climaxed. I wouldn’t know what it feels like for her to swallow my entire bluidy cock. But she won’t tell me the answer to such a simple question as why she left Dunluce. I don’t even care who she’s bedded. I need to know why she left home. How can I protect her if I don’t know?

  Protect her? Daft sod. You should put her off at the first port you find. Give her some coin to get to wherever she headed, then wash your hands of her. Women aboard ships bring nothing but foul luck. Even Senga brought her fair share of trouble, and she was like no other woman I ken. Kyle turned his head toward his door and opened his eyes for a moment before shutting them again. She’s like no other woman I ken. I never desired Senga, but Moira. Ha, ha. Moira will get into my blood if I don’t watch myself. I need air.

  Moira knew Kyle stopped outside his door. The walls were thin, and she’d heard booted footsteps earlier in the day. She strained to hear any voices, but there was nothing there for so long that she wondered if she imagined him waiting outside the cabin. Then she heard one thump against the wall, as if someone hit it, then the clomp of boots headed toward the ladder well. She twisted once again, so she could look out the porthole. Her arms ached, but the scorching pain from earlier had abated. With her hands before her face, she studied the rope and knots. She tried to picture how she could uncoil the bindings, and she even considered trying to use her teeth. But what would she do once she was free? She could sit in the chair Kyle had occupied earlier, perhaps throw her feet up onto the table and wait for his return. Mayhap she would strip off the leine and recline on his bed, the invitation clear.

  As much as those ideas appealed to her, she felt a deeper need to remain where she was when Kyle returned dominated her thoughts. She wanted him to be pleased that she’d obeyed at least one command. She’d challenged him on the others, but she didn’t want to push too far. And the kiss. The power she’d felt when she enticed him into the kiss with only her lips at her disposal. The restrained power in Kyle’s body that could have easily crushed her with no way to defend herself. For whatever reason, to some degree—at least with her body—she trusted him. And she wanted to repay that trust by at least offering some submission to his demands.

  She’d touched herself plenty of times over the years. It was the only way to find the release she’d discovered by being with a man. When Kyle touched her, the need intensified even as he soothed it. Her body reacted to him on an elemental level she’d never imagined. She’d thought she’d been in love before, and yet, it had held none of the same compelling need that she felt with Kyle. She had no way to apply reason to the situation because it defied it. She only gave herself a headache while she tried. She resigned herself to waiting until their next round of cat and mouse.

  As the hours ticked by and the sun moved closer to the western horizon, Moira wondered if Kyle intended to starve her into compliance. She questioned whether he would return to the cabin that night or find reasons to avoid her, to torment her with loneliness and uncertainty. She wanted to believe that his desire for her equaled what she felt for him, and that need would drive him back. But she’d already learned once that men did always reciprocate her desires.

  Moira’s eyes were dropping shut when she heard the door open. She didn’t turn around, instead waiting to find out would come next. She heard something set on the table before hands slid beneath her leine and around her waist. One hand traveled up to her breast while the other cupped her mons. She pressed her hips back, knowing it was Kyle without looking. She recognized his touch, his scent. She recognized the bulge that pressed back against her.

  “Are you hungry, sweet one?” Kyle murmured as he nibbled along her neck, which strained as she granted him more access. She recognized the seduction, the manipulation, but she cared not while he continued to touch her. “I didn’t hear you, Moira.”

  “Yes,” she rasped.

  “And what would you like to feast upon now?” Kyle asked as he pinched her nipple.

  “You know I would do it again,” Moira confessed.

  “Do you ken what my favorite food is, Moira?” Kyle whispered as he rubbed her tiny bundle of nerves that lay hidden in the thatch of dark curls his hand covered. She shook her head then turned her neck, trying to press the skin to his lips. “A very special kind of honey. A kind that has only one source.”

  Kyle twirled Moira to face him before sinking to his knees. His shoulders pushed her legs apart as his tongue flicked out to brush against her nether lips. Moira bucked her hips when Kyle slung one of her legs over his shoulder, then wrapped his arms under her thighs and over her hips, pinning her opening to his mouth. He laved her swollen lips before sucking her nub into his mouth, grazing
his teeth along it. He reveled in her taste as he listened to her short, shallow pants.

  When Moira couldn’t stifle a moan, Kyle slid three fingers into her, pulling his mouth away, which earned him a whimper from Moira. He worked her core, sensing that she was drawing closer to release. He flicked his tongue over her bud and felt her body tense. Releasing her, he stepped back. Moira looked at him in shock as she struggled against her bindings. He knew her body ached with unspent lust. Just as he wanted.

  “You found your release without my permission earlier, Moira. Then you refused to admit you had,” Kyle pointed out.

  “But I tried to make it up to you,” Moira gasped.

  “And you did,” Kyle kissed the tip of her nose. “But in nearly the same breath, you refused to answer my simple questions. Give me the answers I seek, and I will give you the pleasure you crave.”

  Kyle watched as Moira fumed. Her nostrils flared with each inhale, and her chest rose and fell as she struggled to maintain control. She narrowed her eyes at Kyle but remained silent. Kyle shook his head and turned to the table where he sat and lifted a bowl of soup to his mouth. He sighed as the warm broth slipped down his throat, chasing the chill of the early evening air from his bones. He watched Moira as he lowered his bowl and picked up the other. He stepped to her side and brought the soup to her mouth. She looked at him with such distrust that he nearly reconsidered his plan. He nodded, and she slipped her lips around the edge. He held it to her mouth until he sensed she needed a moment.

  When she finished her soup, he brought a heel of bread and a sizeable chunk of cheese back to her. He broke off pieces and fed them to her. She licked his fingers with each bite, sucking them into her mouth. Lust reflected in their gazes as Moira ate each item he brought to her. When she could eat no more, she watched as Kyle ate. Despite his taunting at the beginning, he’d fed her each bite and forewent his meal until she was full.

  “I don’t understand you,” Moira blurted as Kyle chewed the last bite of bread.

  “What is there to understand? I am captain of this ship and in command of all who are on board. Obey me, and you shall be content,” Kyle explained with a diffident shrug.

  “No.” Moira shook her head. When she didn’t elaborate, Kyle came to stand beside her. She gazed into his eyes, and for the first time in years, she felt tears threatening. She saw the doubt flicker in Kyle’s eyes when he realized she was close to crying. “That.”

  “What?” Kyle asked in confusion.

  “That. That moment where you want to be kind, but you won’t let yourself. I don’t understand you. You insist upon trying to intimidate and manipulate me as the dreaded Captain Red Drifter, but then you let me see Kyle MacLean. And it’s confusing because I think you’re both men. I just wish I knew how to prepare when your mood shifts,” Moira whispered.

  “You can believe Kyle MacLean still exists, but you will only be disappointed,” Kyle warned, disconcerted by Moira’s perceptiveness.

  “I may not have confessed my secrets, but I haven’t lied to you either. Don’t lie to me,” Moira countered.

  “What lie have I told?” Kyle challenged her.

  “The one you just spoke. Kyle, Drifter, whoever the bluidy hell you want to be called. Perhaps you are the coldest, most calculating man I’ve met. Perhaps you use gentleness and kindness as your weapon against me, silently coercing me. I don’t know because I don’t understand. But Kyle MacLean, the man I met last year, still exists.” Moira closed her eyes and turned her head into her arm, suddenly too drained to argue, to even think. She didn’t open her eyes when she felt the rope slacken, but they flew open when she felt a blade slip under the binding. She watched Kyle free her; just as she had earlier that day, she sagged against him. “I can’t any more tonight. I'm just too damn tired to fight, to keep up with you. Please, just let me sleep.”

  Kyle looked around, realizing he hadn’t thought about where Moira would sleep. He’d held other captives in his cabin before, and he’d kept them bound and standing throughout the night. But Moira wasn’t a hardened sailor or another pirate. She was a woman who had left home with an inadequate guard. He remembered the bruises he’d seen earlier, and in the dim candlelight, he lifted Moira into his arms and sat at the table. He pushed her sleeves up and sucked in a breath, noticing the extent of the bruises. Fingers digging into her petal-soft skin clearly made each set. He feared looking elsewhere in case it was worse, but he forced himself to lift the back of her leine.

  “He doesn’t hit me. Just squeezes my arms,” Moira muttered. “I’m fine. Just tired.”

  Kyle leaned around Moira to see her eyes were open, but her lids drooped.

  “Dónal?” Kyle whispered.

  “Who else? I have no father, and I have no husband.”

  “But you have a lover,” Kyle pointed out.

  “Had. Not have.” Moira looked at Kyle and sighed. She closed her eyes, inhaled deeply, and shook her head. “Had until he left my bed and went to my sister’s only to sire her child, who I’ve raised.”

  “Aidan O’Flaherty was your lover?” Kyle was incredulous.

  “Hard to believe he was, isn’t it? But not so hard to believe he chose Lizzie instead.”

  “Why would you ever lie with a man like that?” Kyle snapped.

  “You’ve seen him. He’s handsome as the devil, dark hair and all. I thought we loved each other, but it was one-sided. And now I realize it wasn’t anything but twisted infatuation. When he realized he could get all the information he wanted from me without marriage, he left my bed and went to Lizzie’s. He can barely stand her, but obviously her talents exceed mine.”

  Kyle sat mute, too stunned to know what to say. He closed his eyes and tried to grasp the one fuzzy thought he could latch on to. “Why would any man choose Lizzie over you?”

  “What man wouldn’t, given the choice?”

  “I sure as hell wouldn’t. The woman may be your sister, but she’s vile.”

  “Maybe. But that doesn’t mean you haven’t bedded her,” Moira said as she turned to look at Kyle, surprised by the shock and revulsion on his face.

  “Those were Ruairí’s fields to plow. Not mine. I never bedded your sister and never will. I’d rather stand naked before the British navy than touch her.”

  “But surely…”

  “Never, Moira. Never. She made the offer more than once when Ruairí and Aidan were too deep in their cups, but never did I accept it.”

  “But,” Moira countered. “I know she went to your chamber the time before last.”

  “Aye. When she slipped into my bed, I thought she was the serving wench I’d flirted with. But even in a whisper, I recognized her voice. I grabbed my breeks in one hand and my boots and sword in the other. I spent the night in the stall with my horse.” Kyle saw the uncertainty, the disbelief in Moira’s eyes. He pressed her against his chest, and her head rested against his shoulder. “Moira, I swear to you, I never bedded Lizzie. I’ve never even wanted to. And given the choice, I hope you’ve already realized the MacDonnell sister I want is you.”

  When Moira nodded, Kyle thought she accepted what he said. But he realized that she was nestling closer to him and was already asleep. With a sigh, Kyle carried Moira to his bunk and tucked her under the covers. He lifted the plaid from the foot of the bed and sat beside the head of the bed. He leaned against the wall, allowing his head to rest on the side of the mattress. He hadn’t realized how exhausted he was until he sat down with a sleeping Moira next to him. He tilted his head back to watch her sleep, reassured by her steady breathing. The only time he’d ever watched someone sleep was when Ruairí or his twin Keith was ill or injured. He found it soothing to listen to Moira’s rhythmic breathing and to watch her peaceful slumber. He drifted off without realizing it.

  Six

  Moira came awake to the sound of soft snores near her ears. She recognized they weren’t Sean’s, but it took her a moment to recall that she wasn’t in the child’s chamber at home. She was in Kyl
e’s cabin aboard the Lady Charity. Despite lying still, she knew within a breath that she’d woken Kyle.

  “I didn’t mean to disturb you,” Moira whispered.

  “Is anything wrong?” Kyle sat up and looked at Moira. He brushed back the hair from her face. She pushed up onto her elbow and started to shake her head until she realized the positions they were in.

  “Have you been sleeping on the floor?” She asked aghast.

  “I wasn’t going to string you up or leave you on the floor. And I don’t have the right to share the bed with you,” Kyle explained.

  Moira huffed and frowned before slipping from the bed and padding across the floor to the table. She felt around until she found the flint and the candle. Once lit, she turned back to Kyle and sighed. She shooed him off the floor and onto the bed. Careful not to reveal too much, she climbed onto the bed and sat cross-legged near the foot while Kyle lay on his side, watching her.

  “I still don’t understand you, Kyle,” Moira admitted. “Why are you so thoughtful one moment and domineering the next?”

  Before Kyle could answer, she held up her hand and shook her head. He waited for her to speak, wanting to reach out and smooth the furrows between her brows. “Kyle, I don’t understand why I trust you with my body as I do. Maybe it’s just desire. Maybe it’s knowing I’m not a virgin and have no reason to fear anyone finding out. Lizzie took care of that by announcing Aidan had left my bed to go to hers. But I’m just not ready to trust you with everything. The more you manipulate me, the more I fear telling you.”

  “I don’t know how to take care of a woman, Moira.” At her skeptical look, Kyle laughed. “I know how to pleasure a woman, but I don’t know how to take care of one. The last time I tried, I was seven and my mother died anyway.” Kyle expected to see pity in Moira’s eyes, but instead, he recognized something he hadn’t seen since Senga was on board: sympathy.