“I was ten when my mother died,” Moira responded. “I tried to care for her too, but she wasted away despite my efforts.”
“You did? Where was your sister or the healer?”
“Lizzie was already being Lizzie. She’s three years my senior, but she’s been turning boys’ and men’s heads since very early on. My mother held a tight rein on us until she fell ill. Then Lizzie turned wild, and I became the responsible one. I’d been the one my mother fretted about. I learned the lessons she taught me about comportment and grace. I learned what I could about being a chatelaine from her. But the moment my lessons were through, I fled. I’d go riding or fishing or for walks along the cliffs. I’d come back filthy, with rips in my stockings and twigs in my hair. When my mother fell ill and it was obvious no one in my family would tend her, there was no choice but to leave my childhood behind.”
“You became chatelaine when you were ten?” Kyle was incredulous.
“Not really. I mean, our cook and our head of house continued my lessons about keeping home and hearth in one piece. Our seneschal continued my lessons in reading and maths, so I learned to mind the ledgers. At fifteen I was still naïve, even though I had taken on all the duties as lady of the keep. When Aidan started paying attention to me, I was awestruck. His visits allowed me chances to leave the keep, the walls, and do the things I missed. He’d take me for walks and out on his dinghy to fish. We’d go riding for hours. It seemed natural when he pressed for more. I thought he loved me. I thought it meant he wanted to marry me. I didn’t notice that he never actually talked about love, and he never mentioned marriage. Ever.”
Moira paused, unsure if Kyle wanted to hear her tale of woe. But his encouraging nod had her drawing a breath before she continued.
“Once Lizzie discovered what we were doing, she decided she wanted Aidan for herself. She announced to everyone in the Great Hall how I was hopelessly besotted with Aidan and thought he would propose soon. She was right, of course. Aidan laughed harder than anyone until he saw my face. He tried to explain that he’d made no promises, and I agreed. Before I finished speaking, Lizzie slid into Aidan’s lap and reassured him they could continue on as they had, and that she would never be so foolish as to expect him to marry her. I learned he was already bedding her. Within a year, Sean was born. I had Aidan’s son to care for just as I’d daydreamed, except he wasn’t mine.”
“Was learning that you were no longer a maiden what made Dónal mistreat you?”
“Sort of. He’s been a bully all my life. I’ve always been small, so he took advantage of it. He’d do little things to intimidate me while our father was alive. But once he was chieftain, and there was no one to stop him, he began to pinch my arms or push me. Lizzie revealing what started as a secret and became my greatest shame let Dónal think he could forever berate me about everything. Fighting back wasn’t worth the fear of a more severe beatings, so I remained quiet, did what I was told and what I had to, and kept out of sight most of the time. That’s why I didn’t meet you until last year. Once things went sour with Aidan, I avoided being around him. I avoided being around any of my brother’s associates. Once bitten, twice shy.”
“Did you run away? Is that why you were a stowaway?” Kyle pressed, but he regretted it as soon as he did. He watched Moira withdraw, and he wanted to kick himself for pushing when she’d already told him she didn’t trust him. But she’d confided so much already, he assumed she was willing to tell him more. “Did you know I have a twin?”
Moira frowned as she tried to follow the abrupt change of topic. She shook her head but tried to imagine what it would look like to have two men standing side-by-side with the same appearance. She knew Ruairí and his cousin Rowan were so close in appearance that many mistook them for twins.
“Keith. We don’t know which one of us is the elder. Our mother said she could never tell us apart. To this day, we’re not sure whether either of us has the correct name.” Kyle attempted to laugh, but he feared it sounded brittle. He wasn’t sure why he was sharing things no one but Keith knew. He’d never even told Ruairí that. But he felt he owed Moira something secret since she’d shared hers. “Our father abandoned us when we were bairns. Mother said he couldn’t stand the sound of two squalling bairns when they’d only married because he got her with child.”
Kyle paused, lost in a memory. Moira watched him until he turned a soft smile toward her. She nodded, encouraging him to tell more of his story.
“Mother was sickly for as long as I can remember,” Kyle continued. “One village woman or another was always shooing Keith and me out of the cottage to let her rest. We played with some other children, but most parents didn’t want us near their weans. They feared we’d give them bugs or the ague, since we always seemed to have a runny nose. When our mother died, a neighbor took us in but soon decided that two seven-year-old lads ate too much but couldn’t do enough work. She turned us out.”
“Merciful saints,” Moira breathed. She suddenly felt shallow, complaining about thwarted love that never was and obnoxious siblings when Kyle grew up with nothing. He reached out and covered her hands with his.
“Don’t feel guilty because your life wasn’t what mine was. You’ve had more burdens on your shoulders than you should have, too.” Kyle squeezed her hand and was prepared to pull his back when she turned her hand over. Their palms rested together as Kyle continued. “There was no poorhouse in our tiny village, but we did odd jobs for scraps of food and cast-off clothing. Keith and I stole when we had to, and I’m certain people turned more than one blind eye because we were always polite. We learned early that minding our Ps and Qs let us get away with mischief. But Laird MacLean learned of the twin urchins when he visited the spring after Mother died. He refused to allow us to remain homeless and penniless. He sold us into indenture instead. We would run away every time someone would threaten to separate us until Laird MacLean finally grew too fed up. He dumped us on the coast and said we would sink or swim, but we were no longer his problem. That night we were pulled from the crates we hid behind and brought on our first ship.”
“You were only eight?”
“As best we ken. We might be a year older or a year younger,” Kyle said with a shrug. “Just as with our indenture, we fought and ran away any time a captain threatened to separate us. We even fooled a captain for three moons into thinking there was only one of us.” Kyle grinned, and Moira couldn’t help but return it.
“How did you come to be on the Lady Charity?”
“Actually, we were on the Lady Grace. That’s Keith’s ship now. We joined the crew the autumn before Rowan and Ruairí joined in the spring. We were about five-and-ten, so Keith and I are close in age to Ruairí and Rowan. Rowan had barely healed from being deathly ill, and while both were experienced sailors, neither had been on our type of ship.”
“Pirates, you mean.”
“Aye. Keith and I kenned from the start what type of men took us. Rowan and Ruairí were duped into thinking they were joining a merchant ship. After a few years, the captain had to trade Ruairí to another ship when he killed a man in a tavern brawl. It was the other captain’s right to replace his fallen man. The son of a bitch was worse than any man we’d ever sailed for. Rowan inherited the Lady Grace from the previous captain, and his crew voted to keep him on as captain. Ruairí led a mutiny on his. Once he had command, he reunited with Rowan, and the captains gave Keith and me the choice of becoming first mates. I came aboard with Ruairí, and Keith stayed with Rowan.”
“You must have missed your brother terribly once you were on separate ships. After all that time fighting to stay together.” Moira snapped her mouth shut when he realized what her comment implied. Kyle tugged at her hand until she crawled toward him. He settled her beside him with his arm beneath her neck.
“I did. But Rowan and Ruairí had fought hard to stay together, too. They were only apart for a few months before Ruairí became captain. Most of the time the Grace and the Charity sailed together. A
nd when we didn’t, we were rarely apart for more than a moon or two.”
“But what about Keith now?”
When Kyle didn’t answer immediately, she rolled over to look up at him. She didn’t understand his bright smile. “Lass, the Lady Grace is to the starboard side. That’s why you can’t see her. I spotted your ship first, so Keith had to let me have it. My brother and I always sail together. We’re strong alone, but we’re invincible together.” Kyle watched a cloud pass over Moira’s face as she nodded before looking away. “What is it, sweet one?”
“No one is invincible, Kyle. My father thought so, and he died for his arrogance. Dónal thought so, and nearly didn’t return home from Lewis.”
“Dinna fash, lassie,” Kyle said with an exaggerated brogue. “Ye Irish think ye can spin a yarn, but ye dinna ken what a Hebridean or a Highlander can do. Ye have naught but bedtime stories compared to us.”
“Prone to exaggeration. Is that what you’re trying to tell me?” Moira rolled back onto her side and cupped Kyle’s cheek. “You are who you are. I think I’d like you to stay alive long enough to remain that way.”
Gazes locked for several long moments, then their lips brushed one another’s before fusing together. Kyle pressed Moira onto her back, and she pulled at his shoulder to urge him to follow. Finding her hand, their fingers entwined before Kyle raised her arm, allowing him to rest on his forearms. He kept his weight off her, partially afraid he would crush her much smaller frame, and to ensure she knew he wouldn’t force her. He slid his thigh between hers, and she clamped her legs around it. Moira’s back arched as she writhed beneath Kyle, the feel of his thigh against her mound reigniting the unspent lust from earlier that night. Releasing her hand, he pulled the leine down her shoulder until he could free one of her breasts. His tongue flicked her nipple over and over until it puckered, then he suckled as she pressed his head to her chest.
“Kyle,” Moira rasped in desperation.
“I ken, sweet one. I’ll bring you what I denied you earlier.”
With a moan, Moira captured Kyle’s head before he returned to her breast. She guided him to look at her. “Do I have your permission to find my release?”
Kyle stilled for a moment before he launched an assault on all of her senses. Each moan that escaped Moira’s throat drove him to bring forth another. When her fingers bit into his upper arms and her back bowed off the bed, he pulled back to watch her climax.
“Kyle, more,” Moira begged.
“Wheest, Moira. Soon, but not tonight.”
“What? Why?” Moira pleaded.
“Because you’ve been through too much today, and I’ve pushed you too hard. When we come together, it will be solely your choice.”
“And if I choose now?” Moira demanded.
“You said you trust me with your body. Trust me with this. Trust that I want to care for more than just your body.”
Moira stared at Kyle in the flickering candlelight. Just before the candle burned out, she nodded. Kyle wrapped Moira in his embrace and pulled her against his side. It was the first time either of them slept through the night with someone else beside them.
Seven
Moira came awake once more, but she knew she was alone in the bed, in the cabin. As she sat up, her eyes swept the cabin. Someone, assumedly Kyle, laid a tray on the table with more bread and cheese. But as she looked around, she couldn’t spy the leggings he’d stripped off her the night prior. She suspected someone found her sack of clothes while they raided the MacDonnells’ ship. As she climbed out of bed, a groan escaped. She’d slept on her side and stomach all night, so she hadn’t realized how sore her backside was from Kyle's punishment. Heat flooded her as she recalled the feeling of his hands on her—in her. She felt the blush creep into her cheeks, and she was relieved she was alone. She’d given in the night before and been more wanton that she ever was with Aidan.
As she moved around the cabin, still in search of her leggings, Moira was forced to accept that they were missing. She gazed at her calves that showed below the leine’s hem. She glanced around, wondering where her boots were.
Bluidy bastard. He gives me more than bread and watered ale, but not by much. Then, rather than stringing me up like a butcher does a heifer, he’s taken my clothes. He knows I won’t dare leave the cabin without being properly covered up.
Moira squinted her eyes as she glanced at the door. She would give Kyle the time it took for her to eat before she tried the door. She sat down and gobbled the food before her, not aware of how famished she’d been. She shifted her gaze to the door several times, wondering when Kyle might return. When she didn’t look at the door, she looked out of the porthole. She estimated it was midmorning. She never slept that late, but then again, she’d never hidden from pirates, feared for her life, or been tortured by a man she was ready to couple with only hours earlier. She figured she was entitled to being a little tired.
I wasn’t exactly tortured. The pain might have felt like it, but it was more neglect than anything else. I doubt that man Snake Eye realized what he was doing; he was only doing what he’s undoubtedly done many times before. Kyle didn’t know until he finally decided to give me his presence. Arrogant bastard that he is. But a handsome, arrogant bastard at that. I blame my willingness to give in so easily on being distraught. But were you really all that distraught? Not once you realized he wouldn’t kill you immediately. Not once he touched you. But damn it, I didn’t have to give in that easily. Aidan wooed me for months before I gave in. Kyle didn’t woo me at all, and it was a matter of minutes.
Not again. Not unless it’s on my terms.
Moira searched and found a small comb on the washstand that she ran through her hair. She’d had it pinned up and under a cap while she was in the hold. Her hair had fallen out of its braid sometime while she waited for Kyle to return to the cabin the first time. She attempted to make herself as presentable as possible before she crossed the cabin and tried the door.
Idiot. He really does believe I won’t leave this cabin without being properly covered. I spent the night in a pirate captain’s cabin. I shred any reputation I might have had the moment I stepped aboard this floating prison. And what do I care about these men and what they think of me?
Taking a deep breath and firming the resolve she pretended to possess, she stepped into the passageway and looked around. She could hear men above her, but she saw no one in the corridor. Seizing the opportunity to orient herself on the ship, she moved away from the ladder well that would take her to the top deck. She tried doors as she slipped along, finding the galley and another cabin. She assumed that was for Kyle’s first mate. When she came to the hatch leading to the hold, she debated whether she should try to slip inside. She opted against it, fearful that she might lock herself below. Instead, she retraced her steps, took another fortifying breath, and ascended the ladder well. She paused for a moment while still out of sight and let her eyes adjust to the dazzling sunlight reflected off the water. Blinking against their watering, she glanced around at what she could see. Furrowing her brow, she gazed at a cloud for several moments before she realized it remained in the same position. They weren’t moving, or rather the boat’s movement was from bobbing in the tide, not from sailing.
Have we sailed at all? He said a few hours when I asked him, but maybe we haven’t gone anywhere. Why are we stopped? Whatever the reason, at least we’re not any closer to the O’Malleys.
Moira continued to observe the crew on the deck. Men swabbed the deck, worked the riggings, and a few slept. She caught sight of Kyle at the helm, but she knew he hadn’t seen her. Why would he? He wouldn’t expect her to appear before him. She took the first step onto the deck, careful not to get a splinter in her foot from an uneven plank. When no shouts went up, she set her shoulders and lifted her chin.
With all the grace she possessed, Moira glided across the deck toward Kyle. His fury was obvious the moment he noticed her. He barked an order to someone she didn’t know and left
the wheel. Moira watched a man of a similar build to Kyle, but a little shorter, dash to take control of the ship. Kyle’s stride was purposeful but unhurried. Moira understood he meant to intimidate her by making her wait, but after years of Dónal’s tantrums, it took more than an angry stride and glaring looks to sway her. She continued forward until they met in the middle.
“Good morning, Capt’n,” Moira crooned.
“Get back in my cabin now,” Kyle hissed.
“But I was lonely,” Moira said innocently. She gave him an expression to match her tone.
“You will go back over my knee,” Kyle warned.
“Promise?”
“Moira.”
“Kyle,” Moira whispered.
Kyle’s arm shot out and wrapped around her waist and hefted her off her feet. He clomped over to the rail and lifted her to sit on it but held her securely with his brawny arm as they both looked at the water. He pressed his chest to her back, his strength more of a reassurance than a threat to Moira.
“I can swim. Besides, you have a woman to bed aboard your ship. You won’t toss me when you have me captive to do with as you like,” Moira reasoned.
“You may be more trouble than you’re worth,” Kyle snarled.
“You won’t know until you try me.” Moira couldn’t believe the words she was uttering. It was as though she’d turned into a stranger. Or worse: she’d turned into Lizzie.
“Painting yourself as a whore?” Kyle slid his free hand along her thigh and under the leine until his fingers brushed the curls on her mons. “Is this what you want? Is this why you’re parading yourself around half-dressed? Or are you offering yourself to my men? Because I’m certain they will accept.”
“If you don’t want me to appear like this before your crew, you should’ve left me my leggings or my kirtles.”
“Or I can be sure never to leave without locking the door,” Kyle retorted. Moira said nothing, but opened her legs wide in further invitation. He slipped a finger inside her sheath and felt, rather than heard, her sharp inhale. With her hands gripping the rail, she forced herself not to let her head drop back against Kyle’s chest. She suspected the men couldn’t see what Kyle was doing with his hand, but they could see if she leaned against him. “Do you like people to watch, sweet one?”
The Red Drifter of the Sea: A Steamy Opposites Attract Pirate Romance (Pirates of the Isles Book 3) Page 5
