Romancing the Pirate 01 - Blood and Treasure (21 page)

“I got it, Blade.”

“You should go to her.”

“Aye.”

Blade held out the bottle, but Zane shook his head. Blade shrugged and pushed off the rail. He got as far as the hatch when Zane called out.

“Sorry about striking you earlier.”

“I would have done the same thing, amigo.” With that, he disappeared below deck.

Zane mulled over what Blade had said. Like it or not he had to treat this as if he were attacking an unsuspecting quarry. He had to be decisive. Lure the quarry in. Then take his prize.

CHAPTER 11

The bastard. The cold-hearted bastard
.

Lianna wrung her hands and paced around the cabin, berating the captain with an arsenal of curses.

Call me a hypocrite will he?

She had taken inventory of everything in his quarters not nailed down. His shaving kit, cross-staff, a couple of engraved rapiers on the wall, even his writing quill all provided good choices for a sharp weapon. In keeping options open, an astrolabe, his heavy drinking tankard and bronze hourglass were within reach, as well.

Princock. Dirty louse.

She heard voices outside the door. Snatching up a liquor vessel, she lobbed it at Zane as he stepped through the threshold. It shattered across the door facing beside him, just missing him as he ducked.

“Ooh.” Lianna hurtled herself at him.

Zane kicked the door behind him shut, grabbing for her, but he was unable to avoid her right fist. She then jabbed him in his gut and followed that with an upper thrust of her elbow under his chin.

“Shit.” He grimaced. “Stop. Lianna.” He caught her forearms. “Stop.”

“You’re an odious scoundrel!” She took to kicking at his shins.

“Belay!” He shoved her to the floor, latched the door secure and turned. Blazing eyes stared down at her. She yelped as he grabbed her by the hair, bringing her to her feet. “You will stop this madness.” He tugged her to his bed, throwing her to the mattress. She sprang back to her feet but he promptly forced her back down. “Stop this madness, now, Lianna.”

He filled the room with his voice, his shadows. His very being filled every breathable space. She should cower. She should shrink from him. She wouldn’t.

“You have no rights to me!”

“No. I don’t.” He stood directly above her. She had nowhere to go. “But you
will
listen to reason.”

“I doubt that I will find your reason as anything more than trifle since you have proven the like of your character thus far.”

“Which is?”

“Domineering.” She shifted to sit on one leg, her arms crossed, jutting her chin outward.

Zane’s laughter dissolved his frightening, augmented presence and her perception of the room retreated to normal. She could breathe again.

“You’re a wildcat,” he said. “Your spirited tantrum makes you all the more charming. You can’t blame a man for taking advantages when faced with an adversarial woman like you.”

“And I suppose with Sadie it’s just convenient. No worrying with the details. Just get straight to the heart of the matter.” Huffing, she smoothed out the bed covers she sat on. She didn’t know why she was in such a fuss over the whole matter. ’Twasn’t as if Zane promised her anything other than safe passage and double entendres. It had been her own interpretations of his intentions that had been her undoing. She felt ridiculous.

Rubbing at the back of his neck, he must have let her insult bounce off. She noted that he struggled with some inner feeling. A demon perhaps.

“I hate that I’m in this…” He hesitated. His mouth tightened as his gaze dropped to the floor then back to her face. “I hate what you have witnessed.” He exhaled irritably. “I hate that I am at task to smooth things out. I don’t blame you if you don’t believe me. If I had seen you kiss Blade in the manner that Sadie kissed me, well, I would find it difficult to overcome, too. But I’ll try to explain, anyhow.”

Did she want to hear what he had to say? Could she handle more desertion? She didn’t want to feel this crestfallen and lonely.

“Sadie is a selfish person with no loyalty to anyone other than herself. She will abuse and ruin anyone she can if it furthers in accomplishing her goal. What you saw tonight was Sadie attempting to manipulate me.” He sat down on the bed next to her. “She failed. I can’t be influenced by her. Whatever her designs, she won’t be able to use me.”

Of course!
Lianna’s customary stupidity returned. It made complete sense now. She shouldn’t have jumped to such weighty conclusions. Had she been thinking with her head instead of her heart, she would have realized the awful little vixen was weaseling her way to Zane. Just as she said she was ought to do.

“And what of her cabin?” Curiosity badgered her. What would his explanation be for keeping her room like a favored mistress? “If you are not influenced by her as you say then why do you fill her quarters with fresh flowers?”

“Mourning the loss of someone I once loved, I suppose.” He sighed and suddenly his features sagged, drained of vigor. Just speaking of Sadie seemed to age him. “You must understand my relationship with Sadie. ’Tis complicated. I know it seems Sadie and I were once lovers. But that is far from the truth. She was lost in a dangerous game of vengeance over her father when I found her. I was saving her. At least that is what I thought.”

Lianna looked from Zane to the floorboards. She ran the gamut of raw emotions—frustration, hurt, hope.

“I treated her as my little sister,” he continued. “I loved her like she was kin, of my blood. I tried to change her, teach her the value of life.” He sighed again, “But I was wrong about her. She is capable of nothing but destruction.”

Sister? This explains quite a bit.
No wonder Zane acted with the patience he did.

He gently cupped her chin, turning her face to him. “I am truly sorry for the hurt she has caused you.”

Lianna wasn’t about to appear as if she were a jaded courtesan. Those kinds of women she pitied with much contempt. They driveled and groveled for their lovers and were usually rejected as pathetic outcasts when they became too much of a chore. Lianna would never let herself sink to that depth. She’d rather shake it off and walk away a better person than to feel disparaged, especially by way of some vexed she-devil. No. She was not to be commiserated. “I assure you my pride is intact.”

He nodded once. “Well then, Miss Whitney, I hope we can resume our prior familiarity.” His words were laden with sensuality.

“I’m not going to be some sort of conquest for you.”

“Ah, but you already are.” His tone fell low and his angled features serious.

Lianna squirmed, the bed creaking under her weight. She didn’t like where the conversation headed. Or did she? “I will fight you.” She leaned back, trying for distance, away from his spellbinding blue eyes.

“I count on it.” He moved in.

Leaning further back on bent arms, she nearly laid completely across his bed. A precarious fix to be in, she knew. Yet, an invisible, enticing pull tugged at her to take a chance, to play a hand with this rogue of a man. “I’ll scream.” ’Twas a half-hearted warning.

“Futile.” He crawled over her, straddling above her, taking her in.

Her heartbeat either stopped or sped up out of control. She didn’t know which for she fell numb to everything but his heat. His desire seeped into her, mingling with her own. She parted her lips to say something, a protest, an affirmation, something. But instead she released a long breath and wet her lips.

“It has always been known to me that an angel hath embodies all that is good. I have been grossly mistaken. You. You have shamelessly sabotaged my affections and clouded my present state of being.” A primal urge emanated from him.

“Angel? You are blinded if you seek a virginal subjection from me.”

He bent to her ear, whispering, “’Tis only you I seek.”

He nipped her lobe, setting a febrile fire and her body ignited to life. His golden earring glinted in the lamp light before his unruly hair swept down into her face. She wound her fingers through his black locks to the nape of his neck. “I’m nothing more of an angel.” She caught her breath. “Than you would have me be.”

Zane ravished her mouth, consuming her. “To have you is all.” He growled upon her lips. “I want you badly, so painfully badly.” Kissing her chin, he followed down the slender pillar of her neck.

She rolled her head toward the large paneled window next to his bed. Below them, the wake of the ship swirled and bubbled. The moonlight glittered like diamonds in the darkened waves. ’Twas so peaceful, so mesmerizing. In the distance, lightning flashed silent within inflating clouds. Something was brewing. Something wicked.

Lianna’s thoughts were muddled by his spice. But her senses were sharpened by the scratch of his days-old beard on her tender skin, his weight on her body, his rock solid member against her thigh. Her nipples hardened into buds and the coveted spot between her legs awakened.

She was long gone at his touch. “Then have me you shall.”

He pulled back, his stare soaking her in. She awarded him a tiny smile of assurance and the acknowledgment darkened his needy eyes. He pulled her upright and, planting a smoldering kiss on her shoulder, worked to remove her clothing.

His agility at disrobing her was effortless, and his lips scarcely left her body. She lay nervous under Zane. Licking his lower lip, he let his gaze wander over every inch of her body. Her vulnerability all but dissipated when he looked upon her as if only she could satisfy his insatiable appetite.

As he pulled his tunic over his head, she received a sublime view of the phoenix tattooed across his perfectly chiseled chest. Never had she seen such beautiful artwork, the regal head, the wingspan seemingly made from flames of fire, the way the bird appeared to soar with even the slightest movement.

Zane shuddered under her touch as she traced her fingertip along a wing of his tattoo. “Such intimate wonderment from you is beginning to unravel me.” His voice raked in her ear and he leaned into her. “Every detail about you is witchery. If you have cast a spell upon me, I’ve no wish to break it.” He lowered himself between her legs.

Cupping her breast, he flicked his tongue across her firm nub, squeezing and kissing her. She responded by arching her back, letting an ever-so-silent moan escape. He took her other breast in his mouth, showing it an equal amount of lascivious attention. She watched him as he grazed his teeth on her nipple. Her eyes flittered closed with the indulgence.

Lianna labored in short breaths as Zane left a trail of kisses down past her navel, gripping fistfuls of sheets as he neared her center. Dragging his hands along to her thighs, he spread them. Her body tensed, rigid as she lay there open on display for him to see, taking her in, gazing upon her moist mound. He ran a thumb over her folds. She gasped as tendrils of sensual pleasure uncoiled while he stroked her throbbing nubbin. Her head swam from the effects, the intoxicating control he had over her. Still rubbing her sensitive button with his thumb, he slid his finger inside her core. His hand dug into her hip to hold her in place. She writhed from his masterful twitching touch. He inserted another finger, slowly sliding them back and forth, rubbing them against the top of her slick inside wall.

A grin curled at the edge of Zane’s mouth and she furrowed her brow in outright delectation. Her reddened breasts heaved with tiny moans. “I want to hear you scream, Lianna.” Wild need thickened his voice. “Scream as if pleading for your life.” He dipped his head to taste her, thrusting his fingers as far as they would go.

“Have mercy.” She was desperate for air. “Please.”

Lianna tried to scoot away from his kisses, one hand splayed on the window glass and the other reaching for the struts of his bed, but he held her fast in place. Never had she experienced such intense pleasure. Never had she been given such attention. Never
there
. Surely she would explode if he didn’t stop.

“Zane. Please have mercy.” Her pleas went unanswered. He quickened his fingers, his tongue, to a harmony bringing her to the brink of spiraling insanity until her body trembled in a flood of sheer ecstasy. She screamed, the pleasure too much to bear. But he continued his torture until she shuddered no more.

Zane sat back on his knees. He ran his tongue over his lips, and then licked his fingers slowly, as if savoring her taste, her warm smell. He smiled devilishly in a way that told her he was in no way done with her. Lianna tried in vain to regain her control.