Master of Seduction (23 page)

She should be home right now, planning her wedding. And though he hated the very thought of her sharing her life with Justin, he would rather she do that than perish on a raft out in the middle of nowhere.

Raking his hand through his hair, he cursed himself. He should have never brought her into his life. She was too fine and precious to ever share a moment with a man like him.

Jack clenched his teeth, angered at himself and at the fickleness of fate.

It was strange, but looking at her just now he could almost believe in love. At least for the first time in his adulthood, he found himself wanting to believe in it. To believe that maybe she could love him.

He reached out and touched her tiny hand. It was so small in comparison to his and yet she possessed a strength of spirit that could crush him as easily as he could crush her fingers with his grip.

Jack looked up at the clear sky above and the scorching sun that was beating down on her delicate skin.

“Lord,” he whispered, the words stinging his parched throat. “I’m rather sure you haven’t much care for the likes of me. And even though You and I are strangers, I would be deeply obliged if You could spare her.”

He glanced down at Lorelei who slept almost peacefully. “I would make a deal with You, Lord, about how I’d never pirate again or that I’d give up the sea or something ridiculous like that, but we both know I’d never keep it. So instead of lying to You, I would just rather be honest and ask that Lorelei survives.”

Even if it was without him.

He just didn’t know if he could survive without her.

Not that it mattered. He hadn’t been lying when he told her of his dream. He was going to die there. He just hoped she didn’t die before he did.

Looking out at the sea, he tried to see any sight of one of the boats or of Morgan’s ship. But all he saw was endless waves of blue.

Leaning his head into his hand, Jack waited for a miracle that he was fast beginning to doubt.

A
fter Lorelei awoke, they didn’t talk much that day. Each one was lost in their own thoughts and regrets while they sought to preserve their dry throats.

When night finally fell and gave them a welcome relief from the fierce heat of the sun, they curled up together to fight the sudden chill.

Sometime after midnight, they both slept.

Lorelei woke first to the bright morning sun. Her mouth was drier than the worst drought and her stomach rumbled for food. Wishing she could sleep through the misery, she lifted her head to search the waves yet again.

Through bleary, scratchy eyes, she saw…

Trees?

She jerked upright.

“Jack!” she shouted, shaking him. “Jack, there’s land!”

Jack sat upright so quickly, they bumped heads.

“Ow,” she snapped, rubbing the tender spot below her temple. Jack didn’t pay her any attention as he looked in the direction of the island they were approaching.

“I’ll be damned,” he said under his breath. “Come on, let’s swim for it.” He rolled off the raft and splashed into the water.

Too delighted and relieved not to obey, she followed after him. They weren’t that far from shore and it only took a couple of minutes to make it to the small beach.

For several minutes, they lay in the surf, allowing the water to splash over them as they enjoyed lying on something that didn’t rock beneath them.

It was land! Lorelei thought gleefully. Solid, wonderful, beautiful land. There were trees with shade and if her throat wasn’t so dry, she would laugh out her surging giddiness.

Jack was the first to find enough energy to rise. Lorelei rolled over to watch him climb the tree nearest them and drop two coconuts to the ground.

She pushed herself up from the surf and went to pick the coconuts up. She rubbed the coarse husk, wishing for a way to break it open. “How are we going to eat these?”

He pulled a dagger out of his boot.

“With relish,” he answered, taking one from her hand and slicing it open.

He handed her one half. Lorelei drank the milk, too hungry and thirsty to care about the fact that she actually hated coconut. At this moment, ’twas the best food she’d ever tasted.

In no time at all, they finished off both coconuts.

Jack wiped his dagger off on his wet sleeve, then returned it to his boot. “Now we just need to find a small stream and some meat.”

“Aye,” she agreed. “Water would be wonderful.”

Jack lightly touched her burning face. “I need to find some aloe or another plant that’ll ease your burn.”

Before she could respond, Jack removed his dagger from his boot, then scraped the leftover pulp out of the coconut shells. “Do you know how to dig oysters?”

“I grew up in Charleston,” she said. “Of course I know how to dig oysters.”

“Good.” He handed her his dagger and the two bowls he’d just made. “Go dig us up some while I find water. You can put them in this and I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

Taking the dagger and shells, she headed toward the beach to complete her task.

By noon, Jack had found water, and they had feasted on oysters, berries, and a small quail Jack had managed to capture. Contented, Lorelei sat next to the small stream that was located about two hundred yards from the beach. Lush trees and flowers kept the area shaded and tranquil.

She bent over the stream and rinsed the salt water from her hair while Jack watched her.

He lay on his side with his long legs stretched out toward her. His shirt was torn where the sleeve joined his left shoulder, and one of his muscular knees protruded from the rip in his breeches. He wore two days’ growth of beard on his face and she couldn’t resist smiling.

“What?” he asked.

“You look like a pirate. All rough and worn. All you need is a peg-leg and a patch.”

He laughed at her. “I’ve always been fortunate enough not to take many wounds to my face and head. Thadeus used to say it was a miracle, since my head was so swollen by stubbornness and vanity he didn’t know how anyone could miss it.”

She joined his laughter as she twisted her hair to drain some of the water from it. “Who is Thadeus?”

His laughter died and a deep sadness came over his face. Lorelei paused combing her hair with her fingers to touch his leg with her hand. “Jack?”

He sighed and plucked a blade of grass from the ground. Twirling it through his fingers, he stared at the stream. “Thadeus was my mentor, and the closest thing to a father I ever had.”

“Was he one of the men at the bordello?”

“God, no.” He looked up at her as if the very thought offended him to the core of his being. “I met him after I killed Baxter. I knew if I were to live I’d have to join the first pirate ship I could find. I figured pirates, unlike a navy or merchant crew, wouldn’t mind the fact that I was wanted for murder. Robert Dreck was about to set sail when I stumbled onto the docks.”

“Robert Dreck?” She remembered Jack mentioning him to her before, but she didn’t recall ever hearing his name from Lord Wallingford or any of the other naval officers she knew. “I’ve never heard of him.”

“That’s because he never wanted fame. He went into piracy simply for profit with the intention that after he made his fortune, he would retire and live a life of luxury.”

What a romantic idea. “Did he?” she asked.

“Yes, he did.”

Lorelei returned to combing her hair with her hands. “So, you met Thadeus on board Robert’s ship?”

He nodded. “I was fourteen and bitter with hatred. Robert wasn’t sure if he could trust me, or trust some of his crew with me either for that matter, so he told Thadeus to take me in hand and show me what I needed to know.”

“I bet he had his hands full.”

“You’ve no idea,” Jack said with a snort. “The man was a paragon of patience. To this day I don’t know how he kept from killing me the first year we knew each other.”

Satisfied she had most of the serious tangles removed, she braided her damp hair. “Why?”

“To say I was disrespectful would be mild. Thadeus was a small man, no taller than you. Bald-headed, with only a few tufts of gray hair left around his ears. He had these spindly arms and legs, and wore a pair of spectacles. More scholar than sailor, I couldn’t imagine why Robert wanted him as part of the crew. I never knew the man to get drunk or curse, and everywhere he went, he toted a book with him.”

“You admired him.” She could hear it in his voice.

“Not at the time. I thought he was a coward who was afraid to stand up for himself. Of course, there wasn’t a man on Robert’s ship who teased him for it, except me. I was too blind and stupid to see what the others knew.”

She cut a small strip from the hem of her shirt to use as a tie for her hair. “What changed you?”

Jack tossed the piece of grass into the stream and watched it drift away from them. “I had gone off with a group of the crew to a local tavern and Robert had sent Thadeus in to retrieve us. There were pirates there from several other ships and when Thadeus walked in they burst into laughter.

“Three of them started poking at him with their hands and swords, and trying to pull his book from his hand. He ignored them and came to where I sat. I wanted to kill the men tormenting him. When I started to draw my sword, Thadeus grabbed my hand and told me that if I killed everyone who annoyed me, I’d soon find myself alone. I was so angry at him. I called him a craven bastard and I said I hoped they did cut his throat.”

His tone was remorseful with a hint of shame in it. She couldn’t imagine the man she knew being so rude to anyone.

Jack sighed, then continued his tale. “When it became obvious Thadeus wasn’t going to play into their bullying, the three men left him. Thadeus had just told us of Robert’s orders to return to the ship when a young woman screamed.”

“It was the three sailors?” she asked.

“Aye. They had turned their attention to one of the serving wenches. One of them had pushed her face down on a table and was about to rape her when Thadeus drew his sword.” He gave a bitter laugh. “I couldn’t believe my eyes. Until then, I thought he wore his sword just for show. It amazed me that he knew how to hold one. But what struck me most at the time was the fact that he showed no anger. No emotions at all. He calmly walked up to the group and told them they had a choice. Let the girl go or die.”

Those were almost verbatim the same words Jack had used the night he had saved her from a similar fate, and that told her more than anything else the extent of Thadeus’ influence over Jack’s life.

“The sailors drew their swords on Thadeus?” she asked.

“Yes. The girl ran and I watched, too stunned to move as Thadeus disarmed two of them and wounded the third. He used moves with his sword that I had never seen. And the speed with which he dispatched them amazed me even more.

“It was then that I realized I wanted to be the man he’d tried for a year to make me.”

She smiled. “So, he’s the one who taught you to read.”

“To read, to think, to behave, to appreciate things in this world other than myself. He made me the man you see before you today.”

There was so much love in Jack’s tone, on his face. She could tell he worshiped Thadeus like a father.

“Where is he now?” she asked.

“He died a short while ago.”

“Oh, Jack, I’m so sorry. What happened to him?”

I
t was on the tip of Jack’s tongue to tell Lorelei who had killed Thadeus and how.

The words were almost out of his mouth before he stopped himself. What good would it do Lorelei to know what manner of man Wallingford was? It would be selfish of him to make her hate a man she so admired. And if the truth were known, he didn’t want to see the hurt in her eyes.

Let her have her delusions. He refused to hurt her any further.

“Thadeus died in battle,” he answered, even though the partial lie caught in his throat and his soul screamed for vengeance.

“Was he on your ship?”

Jack shook his head. “He was a Patriot out to save you colonists from the yoke of England. He always told me that there were causes greater than one man. Causes worth dying for.”

By her face he could see she held the same noble thought. She was such a naive dreamer. So different from the earthy women he’d known.

She still had unshattered dreams and hopes.

Except for one. He’d ended her dream of being Justin’s wife. Oh, he could lie here rationalizing his actions, telling himself she was much better off without that spawn of misery, but the truth was she’d wanted Lieutenant Pasty-Face and Jack had taken that from her.

He reached out and gently stroked her reddened cheek.

Lorelei grimaced and flinched from his touch. “No wonder my nurse and father always told me to stay out of the sun. This is terribly painful.”

Jack dropped his hand. At least that was one pain he could soothe. “Stay here for a minute. I’ll be right back.”

He left her and went to find the group of aloe plants he’d seen earlier. He broke a few of the leaves off, then returned to Lorelei.

Kneeling beside her, he squeezed the cool gelatin onto his fingertips. As tenderly as he could, he covered her face with it, then he moved his fingertip over her slightly parted lips.

He could feel her breath tickle against his throat as she gave a contented sigh and closed her eyes, her face a mask of bliss.

Instantly, his body reacted to her seductive look. Fire beat a steady rhythm through his veins. Grinding his teeth against the urge to fall upon her, Jack forced himself to minister to her damaged skin and not to the call of his body.

“That feels wonderful,” she breathed, and it almost undid him.

Unable to respond, Jack moved to place the gel on her throat and then down the reddened areas of her chest exposed by her shirt. The reddened area that dipped down to the valley between her breasts.

Lorelei sucked her breath in between her teeth.

Unable to stand anymore, he kissed her. His heart hammering, he laid her carefully down on the grass.

“Dearest Jack,” she whispered.

Jack closed his eyes, savoring the sound of his name on her lips. Her voice resonated through him like a caress. No one had ever made him feel the way she did. With her, he almost felt decent. Free. Heroic.

Frightening, tender emotions swelled inside him as he carefully unlaced her shirt and exposed her breasts to his gaze. He wanted to tell her how much she’d come to mean to him and how much the thought of her leaving hurt, but the words lodged themselves in his throat.

Why should he give her false hopes for them when he already knew what lay ahead for them. One way or another, Jack Rhys was dead. Either Wallingford would kill him, or one of his men would do it after Jack succeeded in exacting his revenge.

You could run away with her
….

Aye, he could. But to do that would strip her away from her father, whom she treasured. It would deny her everything she’d ever known and all the people she loved.

Not even he was that selfish. He’d taken enough from her, he would take no more.

And if he were half the man Thadeus had been, he’d make her hate him now. Make her glad to see him die. But he couldn’t do that either. The thought of her hating him hurt more than any wound he’d ever sustained.

“Jack?” she whispered against his lips. “Is something wrong?”

“No,” he said, silencing her with another kiss as he slid her breeches off her.

He jerked his shirt off, his body demanding to feel as much of her skin on his as he could.

Once they were both naked, he drew her into his arms. Lorelei moaned as he dipped his head and took her breast into his mouth. Her hands caressed his scalp, cradling his head against her as he sampled the very fruit of paradise. His blood seemed to boil in his veins, swelling with a need so great he feared it might devour him.

She moved her hands down his body, cupping his hips and pressing him closer to her.

“I want you inside me,” she whimpered. “Please.”

“Ever as you wish,” he murmured before he complied.

She wrapped her legs about his waist, drawing him deeper inside her. Jack closed his eyes as he thrust against her, needing the comfort of her embrace. And when he moved to kiss her, he could swear he felt their two souls mingling.

For the first time in his life, he felt a bond to someone outside himself.

The thought terrified him.

Lorelei threw her head back and screamed out as she found her release. Jack moaned as her body spasmed around his, and her grip drew tighter on his body. He thrust harder now, needing to find the same peace for his body.

She moved her hands over his back, dragging her nails along his spine while she ran her tongue over the ridges of his ear. Jack groaned as his own body erupted into spirals of pleasure and he barely had time to withdraw from her.

He lay next to her, clutching the grass in one hand and her hair in the other. That had been close, and he shook from the fear of what he’d almost done to her. Never before had he come so close to planting his seed inside a woman.

And if the truth were known, he hadn’t wanted to withdraw from her. In that one instant before he pulled himself out, his body had almost revolted.

Rolling over onto his back, he promised himself that he would touch her no more. She posed too great a danger to him and he wasn’t sure how much longer he could battle the strange feelings she evoked in him.

Lorelei rested her chin on his chest and looked down into his eyes. “You don’t think there’s anyone on this island, do you?”

Her unexpected question broke his line of thought.

He took her braid in his hand and trailed the tip of it across his jaw. There was something vaguely familiar about the beach where they landed, but he couldn’t remember what. Of course, he’d seen many islands similar to this and they all tended to blend together in his memory.

“I have no idea,” he finally said. “It would probably be a good idea to scout around and find out.”

She jerked back from him and quickly pulled her shirt on.

“I didn’t mean now,” he said.

“Well, you can lie there naked if you want to, but I have no intention of being caught in my altogether by a stranger.”

Jack poked his lip out as she finished dressing. “You know, we could be the last two people on earth.”

She paused and looked at him.

“Would you mind if we were stranded here for the rest of our lives?” he asked, not sure where the question came from or why her answer suddenly seemed so important.

“I’m not sure,” she answered honestly. “I would miss my father terribly.”

“Anything else?”

“Agatha’s apple pie and my horse, Samson.”

Don’t ask it
.

And yet he couldn’t stop himself from asking what he wanted to know. “What about Justin?”

She looked him square in the eye. “What is it you want me to tell you?”

“I want the truth.”

She sighed. “If the truth you’re after is whether or not I still love him, then yes. There’s a part of me that will always love him.”

Disappointed fury squeezed his chest so tightly that he could barely breathe.

Well, what did you expect
?

‘
No, Jack, I hate the imbecile. ’Tis you I love
.’

You know better, boy
.

His jaw tense, he pushed himself up and dressed. “Aye, I suppose if given a choice you’d much rather be marooned with
him
.”

She tugged her shoes on, giving him an irritated glare. “I didn’t say that.”

Not one to be outdone by her anger, he jerked his pants on and laced the back. “You didn’t have to.”

Hands on hips, she faced him. “Why are you so angry?”

“I’m not angry,” he snapped, snatching his shirt down over his head. He heard another rending of fabric as the tear in his sleeve widened.

“Yes, you are,” Lorelei accused. “You said you wanted the truth.”

“And you gave it to me.” With both cannons of it blasting a hole in his heart.

Why couldn’t she love
him
?

Jack froze at the thought.

What the hell? He didn’t want her to love him. That would be…

Well…

Wonderful. Wonderful and terrifying and a whole lot of other things he didn’t want to think about.

He started off into the thicket.

“Jack, where are you going?”

“I need to think.”

L
orelei folded her arms over her chest as she watched Jack trudge away from her.
Men
, she seethed.
You give them what they want and suddenly they don’t want it anymore
.

“Fine,” she whispered. “Go off and pout.”

Wait a minute
, her mind spoke.
Maybe he wanted you to tell him you loved him
.

She scoffed at the very thought of it. Jack Rhys was the type of man who needed no one. He would laugh in her face if she admitted that to him.

Or worse, run for cover.

Nay, to win him, she must make him say it first.

And then another thought struck her. She stood alone in the small clearing on an island she knew nothing about and the only one who had a weapon was quickly leaving her behind!

“Jack!” she called, chasing after him.

She caught up to him a little ways off. The trees and vegetation were much denser now. The sunlight barely penetrated the foliage. The ground under her feet seemed almost alive as she struggled to find the forest floor that wouldn’t trip her.

Foreign sounds whipped through the air, some from animals she couldn’t even begin to identify, and she suddenly remembered reading stories in books of people who found themselves trapped in quicksand….

As if knowing her thoughts, Jack turned around and faced her. “Leaving you alone wasn’t such a good idea, was it?”

She shook her head.

“Come on,” he said, draping his arm over her shoulder. “Let’s see where this trail leads.”

They followed it for close to two hours when suddenly it fanned out into a small town. The buildings were a mixture of huts and wooden and brick structures which reminded her a lot of Charleston. Lorelei gaped as they entered the town.

Men, women, and children bustled all about. She saw a busy smithy at the end of the street. There was a fisherwoman hawking mackerel and shark to passersby, and another man called out for people wanting a fresh drink of water from his cup. At a bordello just to her right, barely dressed women were leaning over the edge of a balcony and calling to the men who passed below them.

The road was filled with carts and horses as people made their way across town.

“I don’t believe it,” Jack said.

“Jack!” a male voice shouted.

Lorelei turned around as a man rode up to them on the back of a black Arabian stallion. The stranger was tall and lean with dark brown hair and laughing gray eyes. The right half of his face was scarred with what looked like a sword wound.

“Ben,” Jack said with a smile as he removed his arm from around her. “I can’t believe it.”

“
You
can’t,” Ben inserted. “Morgan told me you went down with your ship.”

“I did, and I washed ashore on the other side of the island.”

Ben threw his head back and laughed. “Only Black Jack Rhys would have that kind of fortune.” He swung his leg over the saddle’s horn and slid to the ground. Removing his gloves, he offered Jack his hand.

Shaking Ben’s hand, Jack asked, “Where is Morgan anyway?”

“Looking for you.”

Lorelei was confused by what was going on. She understood that they had somehow ended up on the correct island, but she didn’t know whom the gentleman was, or what he was to Jack.

Jack turned toward her. “Ben Gerrit, this is Lorelei Dupree, my current hostage.”

Ben clicked his heels together and bowed low before her like a true courtier.

Instinctively, she raised her hand, which he took, then placed a chaste kiss on her knuckles. “Charmed,” he said with debonair flair.

“’Tis my pleasure,” she returned politely.

Jack rudely took her hand out of Ben’s grip. “Don’t get too charmed.”

Ben laughed. “You know me too well.”

Jack narrowed his eyes on him and turned his head slightly toward her. “Ben is an old enemy of mine,” he explained to Lorelei.

Enemies? They didn’t behave as enemies. Completely confounded, she looked back and forth between the two men.

“It’s true,” Ben admitted. “When I was first appointed governor of
Isla de Los Almas Perdidos
, I swore I’d see this rogue hang. Turns out I was the one who was hanged and Jack here kept the mob from finishing the deed.”

“What?” She was stunned by his story.

“Ben has a way of completely alienating everyone around him,” Jack said with a hint of humor in his voice. “He’d barely been on the island two weeks before he’d passed so many laws the inhabitants revolted.”

Ben cleared his throat. “Yes, well I’m much better at that now.”

“Better at alienating people or being revolting?”

“Jack!” She gasped in surprise at his words.

Ben just laughed. “Pay him no mind. He always was surly. I still don’t know why he saved me.”

Jack folded his arms over his chest. “Because it never hurts to have a public official indebted to you.”

“True enough.” Ben smoothed the front of his shirt. “You two look like you’ve been through a shipwreck. I’m sure you’d like to freshen up. Come along and I shall have rooms prepared for you both.”