Ocean's Justice (11 page)

I glanced around, but both William and Captain Foster had disappeared. I took a deep breath and summoned a smile for the sweet boy. "Yes, dance."

He seemed incredibly nervous as he stopped and faced me. I felt his arm inch across my back as his clammy hand fastened tightly over my fingers. He counted us in and promptly entered some sort of jerky fit, a grotesque parody of the reel I'd danced earlier with William. I glanced around, but no one seemed to find this unusual.

Charlie grinned. "It's the Charleston. You got to shake your arms and legs about, like this." He demonstrated, letting his arms and legs fly everywhere. A painful kick to my knee made me cry out and his flailing movements ceased as he buried me in a waterfall of apologies.

Seeing my way out of this confusing situation, I hobbled back to the bench with Charlie trailing behind me. After several seconds, I indicated that I would like a drink and he dashed to the now unmanned drinks table to procure two cups. He presented these to me with unnecessary ceremony, but I smiled and thanked him, all the same. A surreptitious sniff told me it wasn't water, so I carefully set it on the bench beside me. I'd had enough alcohol for one night, if not the next year.

Charlie tossed his back and I realised from his flushed cheeks that this wasn't his first drink of the evening. I fervently hoped he wouldn't be sick again. Perhaps he saw the pity in my eyes, or maybe he'd simply been summoning the courage to act, but the next moment his lips were crushed against mine and his tongue prodded my lips as if he thought I'd grant it entrance. I turned my head away and felt the damp muscle slide along my cheek to my ear. "What's wrong, Maria?" he said thickly. "Haven't you ever been kissed before? You're my first, too."

I leaned back and turned the full force of my pity on the poor boy. I needed to get these words out right so he'd understand. "I...love William." It came out as barely more than a whisper, but he reacted as if I'd shouted.

Rearing back, he stumbled away from me, hurt. "Maria," he whispered, then bolted out the door to the darkness.

Seventeen

Alone in a room full of people, I drew my knees up to the bench beside me and closed my eyes, listening to the music from the gramophone. I longed for William to return and hold me again, so I could tell him that he had a place in my otherwise empty heart. Sleepily, I sang along with the melody, so faint I could barely hear my own voice as I thought of William. Not knowing the song's words, I sang my own – calling him to return and claim me.

"Maria."

The unfamiliar voice made me jerk my eyes open. A forest of hands extended toward me as the assembled crew all asked the same thing – requesting that I dance with them.

No. This wasn't possible. They couldn't have heard me – how could they have known what I wanted, from the one man who wasn't among them? I jumped to my feet and shrugged off their pleas. William – where was William? I couldn't see past them to find him.

"No. NO!" I insisted, trying to push through them. I could see the door, but there were too many men in my way. I stumbled on anyway, shoving through them and stepping on my sarong skirt. My knee got caught in the fabric and I fell heavily to the deck. The men seemed to hesitate, before a clamour of voices rose again, offering to help me up. Every man's hands seemed to want to assist, like a million tentacles curling around my body. Between them, they lifted me to my feet, but the sarong had somehow come untied, so it slid to the deck and almost tripped me again as I struggled to escape their kind but misguided attention. I fought my way free from its folds and hurried to the exit. I wanted to scream at them to leave me alone and not touch me, but I didn't know the words.

I almost made it before a dark shadow barred my way. Two more hands grasped my shoulders and my tears of fury spilled over. "NO!" I cried, trying to push the man out of my way.

"What's wrong, Maria?" William asked gently, taking in my messy appearance. When his gaze reached my bare, bruised knees, his expression tightened. "What happened? Where is your skirt?"

Now the tears had started, I couldn't seem to turn them off. Faster they fell as I tried to pull out of his grasp so I could go hide in my cabin. I'd had enough revelry and dancing for one night – for all my nights.

"It's all right, lass," he said. I cried out in alarm as he swept me up in his arms. My feet grazed the bulkhead – the passage wasn't wide enough for this.

"McGregor," the captain began. I hadn't seen him standing in the shadows beside William. Had he witnessed my weakness, too? I struggled to be set on my own feet again.

Looking hurt, William gave me my freedom. "I swore I'd keep her safe and I won't break my promise. It's your ship and they're your crew – you sort them out. All I'm worried about is Maria."

Captain Foster sighed. "Take care of her, then, and find her some clothes. God only knows what happened this time and she surely won't tell us. Go on." He waved his hands in the direction of the sleep cabins.

Cautiously, I took William's hand. I took two steps toward our cabin, but he hadn't moved, letting my arm stretch out behind me. One more step and I'd have to let go. I didn't want to. "No hurt," I said slowly. "No more dance." I laid my cheek on the back of my hand, as I'd seen him do when he slept, and closed my eyes. "Rest."

Perhaps in the morning I'd have the courage to tell him the secrets of my heart.

Eighteen

I turned over in my narrow bunk, hoping to find some spot that was more comfortable, but it was no use. It wasn't the music I could still hear from the party in progress keeping me up, either. No matter how I lay, I still felt the grasping hands on my body, wanting more from me than I was willing to give. How had a ship full of sane men suddenly become one crewed by lust-crazed monsters? I wanted the comfort of William's arms around me to drive away the sensation of his shipmates' assault. Peering down at the bunk below me, I wondered if I could persuade him. His soft snores told me I'd have to wake him first, or slip into his arms as he slept and hope that would be enough.

The more I resisted the urge, the more I ached for him until I finally gave in and climbed down the ladder to the floor. I slipped beneath the blanket, cuddling up to his warm body, to find the man slept in a vest and some sort of short pants, instead of naked as I did. After a few minutes, his arms closed around me, just like I wanted, as he seemed to rouse. "Maria?" he murmured.

"Yes, William," I whispered back, pressing my body close against his. I could feel his arousal and I suddenly wanted that, too. A hot, passionate encounter to drive the day out of my mind. I slipped my hands into his shorts, stroking his hard length. I wanted him so badly – I'd never felt such longing for Giuseppe.

Forgive me, Giuseppe, but William is warm and here and you can never hold me in your arms again as you tell me you love me, I thought. And William, William...

William woke and I had no thoughts left for Giuseppe – only for the man beside me, who had ripped his clothing off. He stroked my breasts and belly so hard it seemed as if he wanted to leave bruises beneath his fingers. His hands dipped lower still, setting my thighs on fire as he caressed those, too, parting my legs. His fingers slipped inside me at the top of each stroke, trailing wetness down my inner thighs before stroking inside for more.

I moaned without words for the pleasure he gave me and how much more I craved. He seemed to understand exactly what I wanted. William's hands wrapped around my thighs, his fingers spreading my lower lips wide. He lifted me as he shifted so that I was poised above his hard head, wet and waiting. I tried to squirm down onto him, but all I managed to do was drive his fingers deeper. "Oh, yes," I moaned, wanting more. He slammed me down against him, as he drove up inside me.

"Oh God, Maria," he groaned, drowning out whatever sounds I made. Blissfully, I tried to hold tight to his hard heat inside of me, but he withdrew almost completely before he thrust deeply again. The harder I tried to hold onto him, the more molten my insides seemed to become until a volcanic burst of pleasure made me sob his name. I felt him chuckling, though he still filled me, as he said, "Oh, I can do better than that, lass. Hold tight." He seized my hips and ground me against him with each slow thrust, the steady rhythm building the heat hotter still.

"Oh, yes, yes, William...oh...OH!" When this stunning rush hit, he fastened his mouth on my bouncing breast, sucking so hard I thought he'd take the nipple off. He licked and kissed his way across my chest to the other nipple, suckling gently while I clenched him tightly between my legs. Still shaking, I wanted more of the pleasure this man could give me and I started riding him, like a boat rides a wave. Flying over the crest, then slamming down into the trough, spreading my legs wider to drive him as deep inside me as he could go, my hips rocking as the heat built inside me so slowly I thought I'd scream before it released.

His mouth still wrapped around my breast, William grasped my hip with one hand, grinding me against him again as his other hand slipped between us. I was already full of him – what else did he think he could fit inside me? He pinched something between my lower lips, rubbing the swollen flesh hard between his fingers and I let out a wordless sob as the sensation overwhelmed me. I barely felt the sting of his teeth on my nipple as I screamed his name until I was hoarse.

William kissed me into silence as he flipped our bodies over so that he was on top and my head rested on his pillow. He plunged deep inside me again and I grasped his behind with shaking hands, wanting to push him deeper still. I spread my legs wider, lifting them to give him better access to all of me. He chuckled again and pulled my legs over his shoulders, thrusting so hard and deep I felt him hit a fleshy wall inside me. And again. And again...he pounded me endlessly, not stopping even when I breathlessly cried out his name as yet another rush of pleasure rocked me. Nor did I want him to stop. Ever. Feeling as if I'd explode if I came again, I was helpless to resist as William carried me to the crest before he slowed his pace as if he were teasing me. I clenched every muscle in my midsection, trying to hold on to him as he almost pulled out before plunging inside me again.

"You're close, aren't you, sweetheart? So am I. But ladies must come first. I insist..."

I moaned, arching my back up. His mouth covered mine, taking my voice, my tongue and muffling the scream that threatened to escape when he drove me to peak again. I was so close and I wasn't sure how my body would bear it. None of my time with Giuseppe had prepared me for this.

His fingers slipped between my lower lips again, pinching harder than ever, but he swallowed the sound of my squeal as he teased me closer and closer to the edge. A tortuously slow thrust made me gasp as his fingers circled, rubbing skin so sensitive it felt like my nerves were raw and he played them like the strings of the fiddle we'd danced to only hours before. When I thought only the tiniest movement would be enough to seal my fate, William pulled out of me entirely. I didn't have time to protest before he slammed back in, so hard, rough and fast that I was catapulted into my final, cataclysmic orgasm without warning. A scream ripped out of my throat, but his mouth on mine muffled the sound as I felt him burst inside me, a hot spurt that filled me completely.

He toppled over onto his side, his head hitting the pillow beside me. I tightened my limbs around him, wanting to savour the feeling of him inside me until he inevitably softened and slipped out. But for now, we were one, as we snuggled together into satisfied sleep.