Lady Pirate (19 page)

“So do I,” Valoree muttered dryly, stripping her gloves off her hands as she crossed the entry to the salon.

“What you need is to give your feet a good soak, Meg,” Henry commented, following Daniel in and closing the front door.

“Oh, that does sound lovely.” The older woman sighed, then shook her head. “Mayhap later. We should—”

“There's no better time than now,
wife
,” Henry argued firmly.

Pausing by the sideboard, Valoree glanced over in time to see the man catch Meg by the arm, drag her around a startled Daniel, then pull her out of the salon.

“Henry, what are you doing?” Meg gasped, struggling to free her arm. “I cannot soak them now. Valoree cannot be left alone with a gentleman caller. It is not proper.”

“It ain't improper if no one knows about it. 'Sides, she can take—”

The door closed behind the older couple with a firm snap.

Valoree and Daniel were both silent for a moment, staring at the closed door; then their gazes met.

“Well,” he began with a smile, “I would guess that means that I have your
uncle
's approval.”

“Aye,” Valoree admitted, then frowned and glanced back to the sideboard. She busied herself preparing a drink, then asked politely, “Did you want refreshment, my lord?”

“Please.” The sound of his voice right behind her made her start slightly in surprise. Forcing herself to ignore him, she finished pouring two drinks, drawing it out as long as she could before picking up both and turning reluctantly to face him.

“Here you are.” She held one glass out.

“Thank you.” His voice was deeper than usual, softer as he closed his hand over hers on the glass. “Now perhaps you could tell me something?”

Valoree glanced up to meet his gaze, amazed to find herself suddenly nervous. “I…What would that be?”

“What it is I have to do to convince you to reconsider.”

She didn't play dumb. She knew he was referring to her considering him as a potential husband, and her lips tightened slightly in self-defense. He was a tempting package. Especially when he stood this close, his body and lips a hairbreadth away, his hand gently warming hers around the cool drink. She took a deep breath to try to clear the effect he had on her senses, but it just made things worse as she inhaled the scent of him.

“I told you, I do not reconsider,” she began almost desperately, but he interrupted, finishing for her.

“Unless there is a part of the equation that was left out. And there is, you know.”

Valoree paused in surprise, her head cocking to the side. “What?”

Taking both glasses, he reached his arms around her to set them both on the sideboard. Then he caught her shoulders and drew her toward him, whispering, “This.” And then his lips covered hers, warm, soft, and seductive.

As before, Valoree was lost at once. Opening her mouth beneath his even before he issued the invitation, she sought the heat and excitement she had experienced in his mother's garden. She had been yearning for a repeat performance since that night, and was honest enough to admit it, at least to herself, as she wrapped her arms around his neck, arching so that her breasts pressed tightly against him through their clothes.

Muttering a sound of surprised delight into her mouth, Daniel thrust his tongue inside, his hands slipping down her sides to grasp her waist. He inched forward, pressing her back until a sword blade couldn't have fit between her and the sideboard, or her and himself. When his mouth left hers to trail down her neck, she tipped her head slightly to the side, releasing a murmur of pleasure. Then she shuddered and brought her head back around to press a kiss to, suck, then nip at his neck in return, enjoying the slight roughness of his skin against her lips and tongue.

“Vixen.” Daniel chuckled breathlessly, raising his head to kiss her lips again as he grasped her by the waist and lifted her to sit on the sideboard. But then his kisses became more teasing than satisfying. He alternated between brushing his lips lightly over hers, then nipping at her.

A growl of frustration slipping from her throat, Valoree caught her hands in his hair to hold his head still. Covering his mouth with hers in mute command, she
thrust her tongue into his mouth and dared him to a duel. It was a dare he met with enthusiasm as his hands moved to busy themselves with the fastenings of her gown. He wasn't fast enough for Valoree's liking. Releasing her hold on his hair, she slid her hands between them, undoing the laces herself and tugging her gown shamelessly open, arching and gasping into his mouth as he tugged her chemise down and closed his hands over her aching breasts.

“Beautiful,” he murmured, tearing his mouth away and lowering his head to suckle at one hardened nipple.

Moaning, Valoree shifted, closing her legs around his hips and drawing him nearer as she wrapped her arms around the top of his bowed head. She pressed one cheek to his soft hair.

“More,” she said softly by his ear. Daniel chuckled against her breast at the urgency in her voice, then straightened and pressed a quick kiss to her eager lips.

“More, hmmm?” he murmured against the side of her mouth. His hands dropped to grasp her ankles, then slid slowly upward over her calves, pushing her skirts before them.

Shuddering, Valoree nodded and sought his mouth with hers, but he evaded her, pulling back slightly to watch her face as his hands crested her knees and eased up the insides of her thighs.

“How
much
more?” he asked huskily.

Suddenly unable to catch her breath, Valoree met his gaze, her mouth parting and her tongue darting out to wet dry lips she then bit as his hands met in the middle. Eyelids dropping slightly, she stiffened under his touch, her posture suddenly perfect.

“All of it,” she managed to get out in a raspy voice, then glanced down to see a slow, satisfied smile creep over his face.

“You will not be sorry,” he assured her gently, mov
ing in to give her a brief, passionate kiss as he continued his caresses. Pressing a trail of kisses across her cheek to her ear, he added, “I shall make all the arrangements. You need not worry about a thing.”

“Arrangements?” That was really the only word that made it through Valoree's passion-soaked mind as the tension inside her mounted.

“For the wedding.” He laughed, nipping at her ear.

“Oh, that.” Shaking her head, she insinuated her hands between their bodies and began to tug at the buttons on his shirt. “I did not mean
that
. I meant I wanted more of what you are doing,” she said with a snort. Her head snapped up in surprise, her eyes searching his face as he suddenly removed his hands from under her skirt and stepped back. He crossed his arms and glared at her. He was angry, she realized with surprise. “What?”

“Do I understand you to say that you have not changed your mind about marrying me?”

“Nay, of course not,” she said, surprised that he would think so. Taking in his grim expression, she realized he was quite upset. Sighing, she slid off the sideboard and moved forward, placing her hands gently on his crossed arms. “Do not take it so. I like you and am attracted to you, but nothing has changed. We simply would not suit.”

Uncrossing his arms to avoid her touch, he propped his hands on his hips and said in disbelief, “You mean you are letting me touch you and make love to you like this when you have not decided to marry me?”

“Well, sure. And why not?”

“Why not?” He gasped in horror. “Mayhap things are different in the
Caribbean
; but here in England,
ladies
do not behave so with just anyone. They save themselves for their husbands.”

“Really?” Valoree asked. She heard his doubting emphasis on the word
Caribbean
, but ignored it as she
had the way he seemed to emphasize
uncle
when he spoke of Henry. She was gathering that he didn't believe their cover story, yet for some reason she was more interested in this new bit of information at the moment. It seemed more relevant, since her body was throbbing and aching with desire for him. Too, she found what he said hard to believe. Men didn't seem to wait to have sex until they were married. The members of her crew certainly didn't. Every single one of them had been with almost every willing woman there was in the warmer ports, and no doubt those on leave were having a good go at those here in London at this very moment.

In fact, Valoree was the only one on board the
Valor
who hadn't been with a member of the opposite sex. She had not even been kissed until Daniel. But, living a lie as she had, it was only because the opportunity to do so had never come up. Valoree had no interest in women, and she could hardly have brought men on board to satisfy any baser needs she might have had. Besides, she really hadn't had any until now. An oddity, that, she thought. None of the men, not One-Eye with his charming smile and ways, or even Bull, who was pure muscle and handsome as hell, had made her feel the way she felt with Thurborne. She supposed it had something to do with growing up with them; she thought of those men as family. But whatever the case, now she no longer needed to hide the fact that she was a woman, and she was attracted to the man before her—why not have him?

“Yes, really,” Daniel said in exasperation and Valoree was drawn back to their conversation.

“Hmmm.” She peered at him doubtfully. “So you're a virgin, too?”

“Too?” Daniel seemed to sag with relief, apparently pleased by the unintentional admission. Then what she had asked sank in, and he frowned. “Nay, I…Only
women must refrain until after they are married.”

“Aha!” she crowed a bit derisively. “Ladies are the only ones who must restrain themselves! Not men! Now, is that not interesting?” she asked. “Who exactly would it be who made up that rule, do ye think? Men, mayhap?”

“Aye, but—”

“Now, why do you suppose that is?”

“So they would know that any heirs born of the union are theirs,” he answered.

“Oh, of
course
,” she said with a sneer. “That
must
be it. It would not be another way to control women. Nay, of course not.”

“Well.” He smiled slightly. “No doubt they enjoy the fact that it also makes women behave a certain way. But the fact is, a man—even myself—does not wish to leave his family estate and name to someone else's by-blow.”

Valoree's eyebrows rose slightly; then she nodded her head. “I suppose I can understand how that might be an issue in the normal course of things,” she admitted, then shrugged. “But nothing about my situation is normal. I am the one with the land and title. I also must produce an heir. And as it is a business deal, whomever I marry will have no rights in the matter of what I do with my body. So…”

Stepping closer, she pushed his undone shirt off his shoulders, licking a path from his right nipple up to his neck as she did. Then she pressed her breasts against his chest, kissed him just below the ear, and murmured, “Help me make a baby.”

 

Daniel was tempted. Oh, dear Lord, was he tempted. He had never been quite so much so in his life, in fact. His body was screaming at him to just do it. Just grab her, drag her down to the carpet, push her skirts up to her belly, crawl between her sweet legs, and thrust
himself into her until he cried out and spilled his seed.

Unfortunately, he wasn't so far gone that his brain didn't still work, and it was pointing out the reasons why he shouldn't. For instance, it certainly would not help him out of his predicament of needing to marry. And if he did have to marry someone, Valoree was his choice. But that aside, if he did go ahead and take what she was offering, and she married one of those other oafs on her list of suitors, he would be imagining that man enjoying her body, and knowing what it felt like to do so. That would be sheer torture. Then again, she might be willing to continue to allow him access to her body after she married one of those other oafs—but he would still know that when she went home at night, another man was enjoying crawling between her sweet thighs. On top of that, what if his seed took? If he did take her as he wanted to, and she did produce a child as she must to inherit, he would always wonder if the child was his, and would have to live with the fact that some other bastard was raising him.

“Thurborne!”

Glancing down with a start as she squeezed his hard manhood through his pants, Daniel stared at her with fascination. She wanted him. That desire was written all over her face. Her cheeks were flushed, her eyes held a mixture of desire and impatience, and her naked nipples stood proud and erect. Aye, she wanted him. Badly.
Hmmm.
Mayhap this was a weapon he could use in his war for her hand in marriage.

Sniffing, he crossed his arms and lifted his chin so that he could glare down his nose at her self-righteously. “Nay.”

She blinked once, then drew her head back in amazement. “Nay?”

“Yes. Nay. I am not helping you have a child that will bear someone else's name,” he announced primly. But then he added, “However, if you would care to
reconsider and agree to marry me…well, then, of course I would be obliged to—”

“All right.”

Daniel paused and stared at her in amazement. He hadn't expected it to be this easy. “All right?”

“Aye. All right,” she repeated, then reached up to tug her gown off her shoulders. It dropped to the floor, leaving her standing in a pool of silk in just a pair of tight black breeches.

Very nice tight black breeches, he decided, taking a step back toward her before catching himself and stopping. This was too easy. He gazed at her face suspiciously for a moment, then asked, “You are agreeing to marry me?”

Her mouth twitched with irritation at his making her clarify, and he watched a struggle take place on her face; then she snapped, “I am agreeing to reconsider.”