He backed away suddenly, withdrawing. Christina peered at him in confusion through the fog of her desire.
“You never felt like this with your lover?”
She shook her head, wishing suddenly she’d never told that lie, but she didn’t want to spoil the moment with the truth, either. “This all feels new to me. So exciting.”
“And you’re willing to take another lover, just like that?” He snapped his fingers. “Even though the last one hurt you?”
“Well, I—yes. You’re different. I trust you.” She frowned. “I thought you understood.”
“I do understand, Lilli. You’ve given absolutely no thought to the consequences and complications of letting me bed you. You were ready to jump into it, just like everything else in your life.” He reached for a fresh shirt. “Me today. Who tomorrow?”
“That is unfair! I just told you I’ve never felt this way. It made me realize how much I have missed by not—” Marrying. But she couldn’t say that. It was too revealing.
“Not taking another lover sooner?” He buttoned his shirt in a furious working of fingers. “I won’t be one of your dalliances, Lilli.” He shot her a scowl.
“And stay away from my crew.”
He stormed to the door. Christina rose from his bunk and grabbed her chemise, covering her breasts with the thin garment.
The captain turned back, anger narrowing his eyes. “Maybe your lover was jealous because you gave him reason to be, Lilli. I’m not about to play his replacement.”
-86-
The Lady and the Dragon
Chapter Six
Drex clapped the irons about Davie’s ankles, trying to ignore the pounding of his head due to the excess drink he’d consumed last night. The pounding in his loins didn’t improve his mood either, since the discomfort only roused a vivid vision of Lilli, half-naked and flushed, in his bed.
“I’ll come back for you tomorrow,” he told Davie. “After that, I expect you to stay away from Lilli. Is that clear?”
“Ye—yes, Cap’n.”
Turning away, Drex inhaled a deep breath of sea air. Davie assisting Lilli in her recklessness didn’t anger him as much as his own regrets. He should have bedded Lilli when she had given him the chance and purged himself of his obsession with her. If he had given in to what she’d wanted, what they both wanted, maybe he wouldn’t still be thinking about the honey perfection of her skin and the tight clasp of her wet sex.
But he had walked away. Drex couldn’t decide whether he should crown himself this century’s biggest fool or accept a medal for sainthood.
He shouldn’t touch her. More each day, he realized the scope of her ability to create trouble wherever she went. She, like Ryan, thought of nothing but the present, of the pleasurable moment in their grasp. Never of responsibility or consequences. Drex wondered if they could not comprehend them or simply didn’t care.
Undoubtedly, if he had become Lilli’s latest lover, there would be repercussions he could only begin to guess at, even if she didn’t realize it. He’d done right to simply walk away.
Too bad his body didn’t understand that.
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Shelley Bradley
Worse, he had no illusions. If she laid herself out on his bed again and invited him to take his fill, Drex knew he would not have the strength to resist.
* * *
Hours ago, Christina had finished her evening mess early, though her thoughts lingered on the captain all day. Her cooking had improved, not to Pauly’s level, but enough to make her smile. She knew now how Aunt Mary must feel, taking charge of her own business, seeing it function smoothly. She looked forward to being equally independent once on Grand Bahama.
Whistling a merry ditty some of the men had taught her, Christina strode into the night air, to the poop deck in search of the captain, and sighed at the thought of his kisses, of his hand on her breast. Even the thought made her tingle.
Independence was a fine thing, but his touch added a zing of spice. Since autonomy and pleasure matched like a fine pair of gloves, Christina saw no reason why she shouldn’t take advantage of their proximity. Besides, having a lover seemed so daring and modern. And the captain, as long as he did not try to control her, would make a dashingly scandalous amor.
According to the crew, the ship should be docking in Grand Bahama within the week. She pushed away an odd notion that she might miss the captain after they separated.
Without warning, crushing fingers closed about her arm. She jerked from the grasp and turned, ready with a sharp tongue.
Talbot hovered over her, his blue eyes boiling with malevolence.
“Release me,” she warned.
He merely laughed.
Wide-eyed, Christina jerked from his grip and backed away. Her back hit the rail. Talbot sent her a cruel smile, and her stomach plummeted to her toes.
Talbot advanced and a jarring shot pain up her spine. “Now that I’ve got ye all alone, bitch, I’ve a mind to teach ye how to treat a man.”
Christina wriggled for freedom. “Leave me alone.”
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The Lady and the Dragon
Talbot laughed. The eerie rumble sent slivers of fear slicing through her skin. “Ye ain’t going anywhere, `cept down on your knees, not until I say so.
You can go after I’ve had a piece of yer uppity arse.”
“I shall scream,” she threatened.
His meaty hands manhandled her shoulders. “I hope so. The watches’ll be changing soon. `Tis doubtful the crew will hear. So those screams will all be for me.”
Talbot’s clammy palms left her shoulders. Christina leapt away from the rail to run. He grabbed the neckline of her dress and pulled her back. Then he turned her to face him. The tips of his fingers pressed into the swell of her breasts, and Christina struggled, but he yanked on her round dress.
She screamed as the sound of rending fabric snapped at her lacerated senses like a whip.
Talbot grabbed her chin between brutal fingers and shook. “Keep yer screams to yerself until I’m fuckin’ ye. Then ye’ll have something to scream about.”
Warning shone in the feral glint of his eyes as he shoved her to the deck, despite her writhing and kicking. Her head struck wood with a painful thud.
She felt dizzy, couldn’t breathe. Panic rose.
Talbot laughed with evil glee as he pulled a knife from his boot and cut her petticoats away.
For the first time in her life, Christina begged. “Please don’t do this. I didn’t mean to pour oatmeal over your head.”
He whisked the blade of his knife to her throat. “`Tweren’t no accident, ye lying wench. Just like it ain’t an accident I waited to find ye without the Black Dragon to protect you.”
His knife glinted a sadistic silver in the moonlight. Christina’s blood roared in her ears.
Talbot stared at her, his ugly face furious, as he held her down with one hand around her throat. With the other hand, he pulled away the remnants of her dress and petticoats. Christina wished fervently she had not sworn off corsets in the name of women’s liberation and the ability to dress herself.
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Shelley Bradley
Other than her chemise, she lay naked to Talbot’s mean gaze.
He pressed his blade to her throat, while his free hand dipped to her thigh.
“Now I’m going to get me a piece of wot the cap’n’s been keeping to himself.”
* * *
Cursing torn sails and unexpected winds, Drex rubbed a thumb and forefinger across sleep-weary eyes. Damn it, he’d spent most of the day seeing to endless details that made his massive headache all the more painful.
Worse, his thoughts had lingered on Lillianne, the feel of her body, the taste of her skin. His growing need to have her soft and wet and welcoming under him.
Drex trudged the last few steps to his cabin. He shrugged out of his vest and crossed the room to Lilli’s cabin, as he did each night. The gentle rise and fall of the blankets over her body somehow soothed and aroused him at once.