My Dangerous Duke (42 page)

Her mesmerized gaze followed her hand as she inched a caress over the muscled swells of his chest, and lower, to his chiseled abdomen.

She heard his ragged exhalation. Then he gripped her forearm with a touch that would brook no denial and drew her silently into his cabin.

She thought again of refusing as he closed the door, but when she saw his thoroughly determined stare, she knew there was no point. She knew that look. The warrior. He was going to have her, and heaven help her, she wanted wholeheartedly to give in.

God, had she no pride? She was wet for him before he even touched her, lifting her chin softly with his fingertips. She closed her eyes, parted her lips, and surrendered to his feverish seduction.

The next thing she knew, she was in his arms, pinned against the wall. They were kissing roughly. She raked him with her nails, he nipped her with his teeth. She clutched his hair as he left her lips to ravish the curve of her neck, his hands working feverishly to wrench aside the bodice of her gown.

He dropped to his knees with an animal moan and proceeded to suck on her nipples like he would pleasure her for an eternity. Kate thrust the tip of her pinky between her teeth to keep from crying out.

Rohan was shaking as he rose again, freeing his rigid member from the placket of his black trousers. She skimmed her fingertips along his silken length, but his need overtook him. In no mood to play, he lifted her striped satin skirts. His breath was harsh and rasping by her ear, panting in the darkness.

He picked her up and leaned her back against the wall; she wrapped her arms and legs around him and buried her blushing face against his neck as he penetrated her.

The soft groan of sheer relief that escaped him once he was buried to the hilt inside her was the stuff of a harlot’s dreams. Oh, to have the power to make him moan like that. It was beyond intoxicating. Perhaps he could corrupt her so she would just take his gold and his body and be content without his love. She caressed his powerful arms, and whispered,
“Yes, I know what you need.”

There was barely room to move, but the cabin was just large enough for what they had to accomplish. His athletic body grew damp with sweat as he made glorious use of her, heaving her up and down as if she weighed nothing, impaling her fast and vigorously on his mighty shaft.

The second she whimpered in pain when he went too deep and hurt her, he instantly slowed and withdrew a little, letting her set her feet on the wooden rail of the cot built into the opposite bulkhead.

Kate shivered, poised between pleasure and pain.

“Better?”

She nodded, her eyes closed, all of her awareness absorbed in him completely.

“Kate—I’m sorry,” he whispered. At first, she thought he was only apologizing for her momentary discomfort due to his great size. But his kisses turned soulful as he began making love to her again, whispering to her with haunting desperation. “I am so sorry, Kate. Forgive me. For everything. I couldn’t keep my hands off you. I still can’t. All I want is to be fucking you, constantly.” He closed his eyes as if he could retreat from her, even though they were one. He went motionless, still deep inside her body. “Help me, Kate. I’m drowning.”

“Oh, darling, I know.” She encircled his broad shoulders in her arms and held him. “I’m here. It’s all right.”

“No, it’s not. The last thing I ever wanted was to hurt you, but I know I did. I can’t—I
am
the curse.”

“That isn’t true!” she whispered, cupping his cheek in tender chiding. “Look at me. Sweeting, you must fight this darkness. Don’t despair,” she cajoled him in the most intimate whisper. “There is hope for you.”

“I doubt it.”

“You always doubt, but I believe. That’s why you need me, whether you can see it or not.”

“I’m beginning to.”

“Look at me,” she ordered softly as she leaned her head against the wall behind her.

Slowly, he obeyed. Lifting his lashes, he gazed into her eyes. “Keep looking at me, Rohan.” She held his stare as he continued making love to her. “I love you. God, I love you, past all reason.” She felt him trembling with emotion, but she needed him to know here and now that this was not a liaison with just anyone.

This time, he was with someone who loved him beyond the point of all reckoning. A woman who’d fight for him, who, she feared, would even die for him, gladly, if it came down to it. “Yes,” she breathed as she petted him, soothing away his grief. “Give it all to me, darling. I can take it. I know who you are.”

She saw the torment and the heavy haze of pleasure in his eyes, still holding his stormy gaze as he reached his climax.

He held her in a crushing embrace, looking helplessly into her eyes as he filled her body with the life-giving liquid of his seed. His massive thrusts in release caressed her core so deeply that she, too, achieved her climax, succumbing to the mind-melting wonder of their total union.

Moments later, she took him into her arms and held him as they rested against the wall, panting in mutual relief.

Rohan laid his head on her shoulder, burying his face in her hair and into the crook of her neck, as though, just for a moment, he wanted to hide from the world.

She gave him the shelter he sought, not asking any questions, unable to think of any good advice to help him carry the countless burdens that he bore. All she had left to give him in the silence was her love, even though he had claimed he didn’t want it. She stroked his hair and comforted him with her touch as best she could.

He lifted his head at length, gazed into her eyes, then pressed the sweetest of kisses to her lips.

She captured his face between her hands and gave him one just like it in return. He withdrew slowly from her body and steadied her as he helped her step back down onto the floor.

He fastened his trousers as Kate righted her dress, but without a word, he drew her into his arms again and held her for the longest time, just hugging her, lost in his thoughts, tenderly stroking her hair. She sighed in contentment with her head against his chest.

“Am I evil, Kate?” he asked at length. “You must decide it for me. I can no longer tell.”

“No, of course not. You are not evil, and you are not cursed. But I suppose … I do fear for you, if you continue to ignore your heart.”

“My alleged heart,” he drawled in a low, world-weary tone. “If you must know, it’s all but broken by the darkness of this world.”

“Then let me mend it.”

“I’ve been trained since I was just a small boy to fight this evil your father speaks of. But I have not been untouched by it.”

“I know, darling.”

“Do you?” He stopped her from embracing him again, looking somberly into her eyes. “What you saw tonight was not unusual for me.”

“I realize that. I’m not naïve. You’re a warrior, Rohan. You come from a long line of them. It’s in your blood. That doesn’t scare me.”

“It should. I’m a killer, Kate.”

“No. If men like you did not exist, who would oppose the wicked? Besides, I have firsthand knowledge of your true honor.”

“You still find me honorable even after I lured you into a devil’s bargain so I could justify seducing you?” he murmured, studying her.

“Oh, Rohan, silly duke.” She laughed softly at him and cupped his face in her hand. “I know full well you did it to protect me.” She shook her head at him. “I have to go.” She turned around and crossed the tiny room in two steps, reaching for the door.

“Kate,” he whispered.

She paused, but did not look back. With her hand on the door, listening to him with every fiber of her being, willing him now to, please, God, let him say he loved her.

“Those other women, they never even knew me. Not like you do.”

She glanced back at him with a guarded smile that hid her disappointment. He stared at her, his expression somber. Struggling for patience, she gazed at his fierce pale eyes, and the scar above his eyebrow, and his irresistible lips. He was so amazingly good at some things and a walking disaster at others.

But she must find the strength to be gentle with him. It wasn’t entirely his fault he was like this. He’d been taught from an early age to keep the world at bay. At least he was trying. “I’m glad you let me know the real you,” she finally answered.

He slid his hands into his pockets like a rueful schoolboy and shrugged. “I can’t believe you didn’t run.”

“Perhaps I should have.” She cast him a wan half smile. “But, unfortunately, we were stuck in that castle together. And before I knew it, I found out you weren’t half-bad. Good night, my love. I daresay you should be able to sleep now.”

His smile flashed white in the darkness. “Like a babe.” When she turned to go, he ran his finger down her back, sending dangerous shivers through her that could almost tempt her to stay. “Good night, sweetheart.”

She sent him a heated glance over her shoulder, but gathered her resolve, and stepped out into the passageway.

Where the first thing she saw was her father waiting for her to come out.

Kate froze. She felt the blood drain from her face and her stomach plummet all the way down to her feet.

Gerald Fox was leaning across from Rohan’s door with an ominous scowl on his face, arms folded across his chest.

Kate began stammering, but he ignored her.

“Warrington,” her ex-Marine, ex-pirate father growled.

“Er, Captain.”

Rohan stood behind her with his shirt hanging open and his long hair as tousled as her own, and it could not have been more obvious what they had been doing.

“How dare you?” her father uttered, glaring past her at him.
“You blackguard!”

She planted herself in the doorway of Rohan’s cabin, fearing violence. “Papa—”

“Debauch my daughter under my very nose?” His green eyes blazed by the distant lantern’s flicker of light. “You should be ashamed, sir! It will not stand, do you hear me? This is unacceptable!”

“Papa, please. We are both adults. Let’s not overreact—”

“Be quiet!” he roared at her. “Your mother would be appalled at you, acting like a hussy!”

Kate blinked, but Papa returned his furious attention to her seducer.

“For shame, Warrington! You’re supposed to be protecting the girl, not using her for your harlot!”

“I beg your pardon!” Kate’s cheeks flamed as embarrassment flooded her at his words, but her sire wasn’t finished.

He pointed a threatening finger at Rohan. “Your father ruined my life; you will not ruin my daughter’s! I don’t give a damn for your rank. You will marry her, do you understand me?”

“Papa!”

“Stay out of this, girl—”

“No,
you
stay out of it!” she shouted without warning.

He looked her up and down in outrage, but Kate’s temper snapped. “Leave him alone! I’ve managed just fine these past many years without a father, so don’t think you can come barging into my life and immediately tell me whom to marry!”

“Oho, so you do reproach me?” he exclaimed. “I knew it!”

“You sailed off and forgot about me!” she cried.

“I did not!”

“You went on with your life! Your new family. Well, I went on with mine, too,” she flung out as the anger burst from her more sharply than she had intended. “Warrington is my lover. So what? Welcome to the world.”

Incredulous at her cynical words—words she had borrowed from Rohan—her father turned to him. “What have you done to her?”

He was staring at her as he murmured, “I’m not entirely sure.”

“Ugh! I’m going to bed.” Abandoning the doorway she had been blocking, Kate dropped her arms to her sides and slipped past her father, then began marching away.

“Kate—maybe your father’s right.”

She stopped, closing her eyes, for the stoic resignation in his tone caused a great pang in her heart. She turned around slowly.

Rohan had come out into the passageway, and when she saw his face, her fleeting hope sank even lower. His expression was as grim as a man’s who had just been sentenced to a hanging at dawn. He swallowed hard. “Maybe it’s better we wed.”

“You cannot be serious,” she uttered in quiet, flabbergasted rage. “
This
is your proposal?
Now
you would agree to it, just because he says so? Do you think I don’t know how you really feel? No, thank you—Your Grace! Not like this! Never!”

“Kate—”

“No! Do you hear me? Absolutely, unequivocally—
no!
God, I can’t take any more.” Shaking with fury, she started to stride away, but blinded by tears, and not having gained her sea legs yet, she bumped into the passageway, accidentally knocking a life ring off the wall.

With a sound of exasperation, she caught the durable white ring as it fell on her.

“Kate—don’t go storming off.” Rohan had started toward her.

“Stay away from me!” She hurled the life ring at him. “Just—leave me alone! Both of you! I’m not interested in your charity, Duke! Remember yesterday?”

The dolt had surely had not forgotten her hurling his money at his head.

“As for you, Papa, you forfeited the right to pick my husband when you had Charley lie to me and tell me you were dead. So, kill each other if you like. You’re both fools, as far as I’m concerned!”

With a furious sob, she ran the rest of the way to her cabin, leaving the two oddly similar men behind in awkward, stymied silence.

Chapter 19

W
hat have you done to her? Days later, the question still haunted Rohan as he readied himself to face the Alchemist’s Tomb, but the answer, he feared, was unavoidable. He had turned his wild Dartmoor darling into a woman of the world.

He knew his dutiful offer of marriage had been unsatisfactory in terms of sentiment, yet he was stunned by the vehemence of her furious refusal.

She had hardly spoken to him since, and the fact was, he really couldn’t blame her. He barely knew what to do with himself with Kate not talking to him. If this was a taste of what life would be like without her, he wanted no part of it. Something had to be done.