Pistons and Pistols

PISTONS AND PISTOLS

TONIA BROWN

LYRICAL PRESS

http://lyricalpress.com/

KENSINGTON PUBLISHING CORP.

http://www.kensingtonbooks.com/

This one is for lovers everywhere.

Acknowledgements

Thanks to everyone who helped shape the voyage of the Merry Widow. I have to give a special shout to Stephanie Kincaid for putting up with my constant annoyances, and to Pamela Tyner for bravely battling my laughable love of alliteration, and reminding me that a duvet is not a divan. And of course I have to thank my husband, Tony. Without his support I would have given up years ago.

Chapter 1

Desires and Doubts

In which we wish and wonder, worry and wait

Gabriella lay on her cot, trying her best to sleep, when she heard the undeniable sounds of someone outside her berth. At first she thought it was the indomitable Click on his way from one crewmember’s bed to another. Then, to her surprise, she heard the door open. Not the door of the room beside hers or the one down the way. No. Her door. She couldn’t imagine what Click wanted with her, of all people. Gabriella was set to run the randy cabin boy off when she caught sight of the dark silhouette looming in the moonlit doorway. A silhouette that wasn’t quite tall enough be the Tahitian native. Whether in either fear or excitement, she couldn’t be sure, Gabriella snapped her eyes closed and feigned sleep.

The telltale clack of the door closing reached her ears as she pretended to rest. For a moment she thought her uninvited guest had moved on, but no. She could feel him there, in the darkness, watching her. How uncivil. How gauche. How exhilarating! Gabriella could barely repress the grin that wanted to claim her lips as this stranger stood in the shadows of her room, watching her rest in the pale moonlight.

Yet it wasn’t a stranger. Gabriella knew who was watching her sleep, just as she knew her own heart. There was but one other male aboard The Merry Widow, and while she suspected that more than one of the all-female crew may have been a bit on the sapphic side, she was positive none of them would slip into her room just to watch her sleep.

At least, she thought she was sure.

The more she mulled over the possibility, the less convinced she became. In fact, she was close to asking the visitor to identify himself—or herself—just to clear the air. Before she could open her mouth, the stranger spoke.

“Are you awake, my angel?” he asked.

Gabriella melted into the welcome sound. It was the voice of Atom Loquacious, the Widow’s most recent employer and passenger, and the conqueror of Gabriella Upstairs’s heart. He had hired the ship to help him locate his missing father, the celebrated scientist Doctor Loquacious. Yet Gabriella liked to imagine that he remained aboard because he couldn’t stand the thought of leaving her side.

She would do just about anything for Atom. Indeed, she would do just about anything
to
Atom as well.

Her body tensed with the idea, and she resisted the urge to cup herself through her gown, as she had done for many nights now, in an attempt to relieve the deep ache his mere presence brought her. Just the thought of Atom left her anxious to delve into unspeakable acts, deeds that she had denied herself in the past out of propriety. Now, with him in her room, beside her bed, in the quiet of the night, she burned with unquenched desires.

Despite her cravings, not to mention the fact that their relationship was by no means ordinary, she found this unannounced visit inappropriate.

Turning her head to him, she opened her eyes and answered, “Yes, I’m awake. Why are you here? Is something wrong?”

“No,” he said, lurking somewhere in the inky shadows. “I know I shouldn’t just barge in like this, but…” His words trailed off, as if he were ashamed to say them.

Gabriella was touched by his shyness, then reminded herself that he was the one who had slipped into her room uninvited. “But?”

“I wanted to see you.”

“You can see me in the morning. When I’m not half dressed and in my bed.” Gabriella paused, her lips losing their battle against her grin. “Unless that’s what you came to see?” She spoke in jest, but as soon as the words left her mouth, she knew it was the wrong thing to say. She could have smacked herself for the way it sounded. Imagine speaking like some common whore to the man who could very well be the love of her life. She expected him to leave. She half hoped he would.

But he didn’t.

Atom came to her, his footsteps heavy and sure across the small room, until he stood in the narrow sliver of moonlight that poured from the vent above her door. Gabriella was shocked to realize he was in no less a state of undress than she. The debutante in her wanted to gasp and glance away, but the woman in her craved a closer look. Bare from the waist up, he sported nothing but a thin pair of flannel pants, the slightest barrier between Gabriella and the treasure that lay beneath.

“Came to see?” he asked. His voice was silk on her ears, kindling for her lust. “Why, my angel, you know me so well. That’s exactly what I came to see.”

Gabriella started, stunned from the haze of her desire by his frankness. “Mr. Loquacious! You forget your place.”

“No,” he said as he stepped closer. “I know my place. It’s with you, Gabriella.”

His proximity bordered on recklessness, but everything in her being wanted him to come closer. Yet, even in the face of naked desire, her years of ingrained social decency pushed her growing hunger down to a controllable level. “Please, Atom, this is most unbecoming.”

“I couldn’t agree more. I’m a rake, a rogue, a rapscallion that should be thrown overboard to my doom. I should turn around right now, leave and let you get some sleep.” Despite his words, Atom continued to draw closer, until he was atop her cot. As soft as falling snow, he laid his night-chilled body beside her warmth, right there in her very bed, coming to rest on his side, propped on his elbow so he could stare down at her.

She should have pushed him away, leapt from her cot, shouted at him to control himself and leave her be. While she should have, she didn’t. She couldn’t. The best she could manage was a weak whimper, as if she were some stray lamb under the weight of a slavering wolf.

“You’re beautiful tonight,” he said. “As always.”

“Please,” she begged. “Don’t make this hard on both of us.”

“Too late for that, my angel.” Atom rolled his hips against her thigh.

Her eyes grew wide as she understood the true meaning of his words. Never having felt such a thing in all her life, she gasped, “Atom!”

“Gabriella.” He leaned down and dropped a quick kiss on her lips, then moved in to scoop her into his loving arms.

Gabriella turned away from him, toward the wall, leaving Atom to grasp an armful of bed sheets instead of her. “We both know this is highly unsuitable. I’ll have to ask you to leave.”

Atom pulled himself even closer to her, trapping her. “Then ask me.” He pushed aside her hair to kiss the back of her neck, his lips fluttering a moment before he closed them full on her goose-prickled skin.

Soft kisses across her shoulders made it very hard for her to ask him to do anything. She groaned under his caress, wild thoughts racing through her mind. Delicious thoughts. Wanton thoughts. She wanted his hands on her body, wanted his mouth on her breasts, wanted his desire deep within, with hers, until they both exploded from joy. Gabriella cursed herself for thinking such awful things, but with his lips dancing on her skin she could think about nothing else.

All at once, without warning, the kisses stopped.

“You really want me to go,” he whispered. It wasn’t a question.

“I can’t,” she said, drawing the sheets tighter around her. “This just…it isn’t right. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. I’m the one who should apologize.”

She felt his weight lift away from her as he sat up.

“I don’t know what I was thinking,” he said. “I don’t know what came over me.”

Gabriella turned in place, rolling around so she could see his handsome face, alabaster as a gravestone by the light of the moon. It was a face she felt she could spend the rest of eternity staring. A face that now bore a long look of sorrow.

“I shouldn’t have…” he started, but paused, as if trying to gather his courage as well as his words.

“No, you shouldn’t have.” Unable to help herself, anxious to lay her hands on him, Gabriella reached out and caressed his face. Closing his eyes, Atom sat statue still as she ran her fingers along his cheek, tracing his strong jaw, his regal nose, his trembling lips. His skin was icy from the night chill. How long had he stood at her door before he worked up the courage to sneak inside?

Against her fingers, he whispered, in a weak voice, “I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable. I thought you desired me as much as I do you. I’m very sorry if I offended you.”

Gabriella sighed with frustration. He had misinterpreted her chasteness as frigidity. Where she was trying to be respectable, he read it as rejection. “I do desire you, Atom. I just don’t want you to think ill of me if we give in to those desires.”

Atom opened his eyes and stared at her in horror. “Gabriella, my angel. I could never think ill of you. You are the perfect example of…of… Why, I have never known a woman so gracious in all of my life.”

“Am I gracious?”

His face softened to a dreamy gaze. “Oh, yes. And beautiful. And chaste. And perfect.”

Gabriella was wooed by the simple sincerity of his words. Throwing away all propriety, she pulled Atom to her by the scruff of his neck and kissed him. She slipped her tongue past his lips, just for a brief moment. Atom seemed startled at first, but it wasn’t long before his wet tongue darted past her’s. The feel of him exploring her mouth was indescribable, a delight she never expected to enjoy. They wrestled like this for what seemed a long time before she broke the kiss to catch a much-needed breath. Shame settled on her in moments as she turned her head away. What would he think of her now?

To her delight, Atom took her by the chin, turning her face back to his as he announced, “I love you, Gabriella.” It was just what she wanted to hear, had waited to hear.

Her response was as natural as breathing. Sitting up to meet him eye to eye, she answered his ageless call. “And I love you, Atom. I really, really do!”