Temptation Released (3 page)

But…she eyed the bed across the room, it may be enough of a deterrent for her
not
to be caught by some random crew member.

She practically ran to the bed, eager to ease the ache in her body. As she did, she pulled the pins from her hair and let the long locks fall down her back and over her shoulders. She sighed, massaging her scalp, and made herself a promise that with her freedom—which she’d gain by ruination one way or another—she’d never wear her hair up if she could help it. The tight coifs every day made her head hurt.

With another sigh, she lay on the bed, welcoming the surprising softness. She really wanted to remove the dress, but she wasn’t sure how long she’d have here alone. Instead, she rucked the skirts up to her waist and shifted the neckline across her chest to free her nipples.

Touching her body was not a new experience to Elise, but every time she gave into the wicked treat, she gloried in the bliss that would follow.

Chapter Three

Raphael stalked over to the wall separating his cabin from Elise’s and leaned his back against it. It was awfully quiet over there, and he wondered what she was doing. He hoped she wouldn’t prove trouble for the crew. They were used to women being on board—he ransomed two or three a year, easy—but they’d never had anyone like Elise. Stubborn, defiant, deliciously lush and inviting.

He frowned. She’d told him, nay, demanded that he ravish her. But did she want him, or any man? Would the little minx proposition his crew? He’d already spoken with his men, but they were pirates after all. If the woman showed her nakedness to them, he couldn’t blame them for taking what would be offered.

He had shared willing women with his crew before, but the thought of Lady Elise being passed around made his skin crawl. No one had the right to touch her. No one but him.

He grimaced.

No, not even him. If anything prevented this ransom exchange, he might not get another chance to get this close to his cousin, Miguel, and slit his throat. He’d vowed, at the feet of his dying mother that he’d hunt down the bastard who’d turned them away when his mother had been deathly ill. She may have lived if he himself had been older, and his cousin had actually had a heart.

Raphael glanced down at his white-knuckled fist and forced himself to relax. One of the major conditions of Elise’s return, he’d been instructed, was that her virginity remain intact. The bastards would use a doctor to check her virtue. Even though Raphael thought the act barbaric, he was simply the delivery person, after all. What happened to her when she left his ship was not his concern. His only concern meant that she remain in her cabin, away from all of them. After all, her temptation-filled body wasn’t enough to make him lose everything he’d worked for.

A soft moan from the other side of the wall had him tensing. He turned his head and pressed his ear to the thin wood.

There it was again. Was she hurt?

He almost left to go to her, but waited instead. When her breathy moans met his ears, his cock twitched, recognizing the sound as one of lust.

No. It couldn’t be. She is a lady.

But… “No,” he said this time aloud. “A lady would never touch herself in that way.”

His gaze strayed to the dagger sticking out of the wall to his left. In between a cabinet and his bed, his quartermaster had stuck it in the burl in the wood after he’d cut around the piece. As a reminder of where the peephole was.

Raphael snorted. He’d not touched that dagger in all the years it’d been there. He wasn’t into spying on his captives.

A deep groan came through this time, louder than before.
Damn.

Moving carefully, and telling himself the whole while he was checking to make sure she wasn’t injured, he grasped the dagger’s handle and pulled. The burl came out silently. The hole was oblong, and no wider than his thumb.

Holding his breath, he set his eyes to the opening and peeked into her room.

It took him a moment to orient his vision, but there across the room was Lady Elise. He blinked and his cock went to full mast. She reclined on her bed, her skirts up above her hips and her neckline dipped so that her breasts rested high, tipped with nipples so tight his mouth watered to taste them.

She had one hand on her breast, teasing the tip as he’d done a short while before. The other hand was against her pussy. He cursed the angle of his view and that her knees were bent as he couldn’t see how she was pleasuring herself.

When she let out a breathy sigh, he matched it.

She squeezed one full breast and pulled her taut nipple between her fingers. Then she rubbed over the other breast, this time tugging and twisting the nipple until it turned bright red. Her head lay against the pillow with eyes closed. His gaze trailed over her delicate cheeks, across her full lips she bit so enticingly, and he remembered how sweet her skin tasted. He regretted now not kissing her as he’d been so tempted to do. Her long neck begged for his touch and what she was doing to her body, it was all he could do to remain in his cabin.

So instead of taking her as his body begged, he did the next best thing. He put the chunk of wood with the dagger handle on the floor, then he set his forearm on the wall above the hole and rested his head there. Spreading his legs, he unlaced his breeches, pulled out his cock and imagined he was in there with her.

First he’d kiss every inch of her skin. Then he’d take her nipples and pull them into his mouth, rubbing the hard little tips against the roof of his mouth and nipping them to make her yell. Just a little.

“Oh, Angel,” she moaned and Raphael squeezed his cock. He liked hearing her call out to him.

“I want you to fuck me, captain. Yes, like that,” she murmured, her hand moving faster between her legs.

He shuttled his hand over his cock, trying to match her rhythm. All the while he started to doubt. Could she not be a virgin? If so, he could take her with no worries. But what if she simply had a fertile imagination? He’d not come across many virgins that had such desires, but they were out there. Few and far between, sure, but he wasn’t one to pigeonhole anyone.

The more she rubbed, the more she moaned and cried out his name, the faster and tighter he did himself.

Her lips pouted and her eyes squeezed shut. She was close, he could see it in the way she tensed and moved faster.

“That’s it
cariño
,” he whispered, the tingling sensations in his drawn up balls telling him he was just as close. “Faster,” he urged, “imagine my hard cock pounding into you. Imagine me making you come.”

“Yesssss,” she moaned, as if she’d heard and answered his plea.

His breathing grew harsh and he had a hard time keeping his own moans quiet.

“Come on, Elise. I can see you are close.
Vamos
,” he whispered. He pulled hard and fast on his cock, the actions mixed with watching her, imagining her, sending him higher until he couldn’t hold back. With a curse at his ill-timing, he thrust hard into his fist and came.

He forced his eyes to remain open on her, even though his breathing stopped and hot cum jetted over his hand and splashed on the wall.

His reward came when seconds later, she found her release. His cock jerked in his hand.

Her body arched, tensed, stilled, then she thrashed her head, calling out his name. “
El Angel!”

He wanted to hear his given name on her lips. Her yearned to hear her sigh, “
Raphael
.”

She bit her lip, probably to quiet the cries she couldn’t hold back, but her pleasure was palpable. He could still hear her, and the muffled sounds tore through his body with a satisfaction that made him gasp. When her body relaxed back into herself, Raphael picked up the dagger stuck in the burl, and closed the hidden hole.

Virgin or no, he knew he shouldn’t have her, but her innate desire was a temptation he couldn’t resist. He removed his shirt to clean himself and the wall then pulled out a new one to put on. By the time he’d crossed to his desk and poured a drink, his cock was hard again in wanting her.

He glared at the dagger in the wall. Besides being the handle to the now convenient peep hole, it also served to remind him of what he was.

He was a pirate, damn it.

And pirates took what they wanted.

He threw back his drink and twisted his lips.

And this pirate wanted Elise.

So he couldn’t take her virginity—it would destroy his life’s goal—there were plenty of other ways to take her.

A devilish grin spread on his lips. His cock twitched in agreement and he absentmindedly dropped his hand to stroke the turgid length through his breeches.

He wouldn’t jack off again like that, watching her from a damned hole. Not now, when more desirous plans of plundering were in the making.

* * * *

Elise’s stomach growled and she wondered if they planned on feeding her. She wasn’t sure how long she’d been in the room, because after she’d imagined her and the captain together, she’d fallen asleep and had woken only a few minutes ago.

She rose from the bed, straightened her gown and ran her fingers through her tangled hair. As she did so, she studied the room and frowned. She could have sworn, when she’d been in the bed earlier, that she’d heard someone, or something. A creak of wood. Harsh breathing. But that could have been from the rocking of the ship and her own ragged breaths. She’d personally locked the door so there was no way anyone could have seen her.

No, no one could have watched her stroke through her swollen lips, or touch her distended nipples or whisper the captain’s name over and over, or seen her come… Her skin flushed at the memory of her orgasm. She’d not experienced a release so hard before. Any other time she’d gotten herself off, she’d only had the brief descriptions of the author to base her fantasy man upon. Now she had a face, a body, a voice to go with the delicious naughty thoughts tumbling through her head.

Her nipples peaked beneath the bodice and she groaned, low. “You’ll have to wait until I can make him put his hands on me,” she scolded her impatient body. “One way or another, I’ll get him.”

Elise unlatched the door and went to knock on it, but it pushed against her at the same time.

“Oh! Pardon, milady,” the young man said as she regained her balance. “I didn’t mean to…” His voice dropped off as his eyes ate up the impressive display of cleavage she presented.

She cleared her throat and placed a hand across said flesh. She wanted to entice the captain. Even though it sent a feminine thrill through her to see that the dress had its effect on men in general, there was only one man from whom she wanted such a reaction.

“You were saying?”

“Huh? Oh, yes. Pardon me. Um…right. The capt’n requests your presence for dinner. If’n you’ll follow me, I’ll take you there.”

She followed the young man through the ship until he left her in what seemed to be a small dining hall. A single long table took up most of the space, surrounded by several wooden chairs. The boy ducked away, leaving her in the room alone. Strange. Maybe the boy’d been mistaken and she would eat alone? She almost turned to ask, but the two place settings at the end of the table caught her eye. Well. She would normally wait until she was seated, but as her stomach growled in protest, she notched up her chin and sat down at the setting to the right of the head of the table.

She’d no sooner settled when heavy boot steps filled the air.

El Angel
ducked as he entered the room and Elise could only stare.

“My apologies that I’m late,” he announced, walking toward the table. They looked at each other and a strange sensation shifted over her. He looked at her as though he knew something about her. It excited her just as it made her nervous.

“That’s okay,” she stated. “I’ve just come myself.”

“I know.” The wicked grin he graced her with made her cheeks flush.

She realized, in that moment, she wanted him, for more than a means to her freedom. He exuded confidence and excitement and strength and danger to the point she didn’t know if she could trust him or not. And she
liked
that. She liked that uncertainty. But coupled with this was an underlying promise that whatever he would say to her, whatever he would do or not do to her, she’d love the result.

Her pussy had grown wet again and she shivered, amazed at how much in thrall she was of this dark stranger.

His gaze swept over her, lingering on the swell of her breasts, and she took a deep breath, pushing her chest out. His eyes narrowed and grew hooded and she forced herself to meet his gaze boldly. If she were to have the freedom she wanted, she couldn’t be missish or coy. She had to be bold and daring—just like the pirate stories she’d heard about.

“Well then,” he said, breaking the heated spell. “So glad you could join me. I came from the galley. We won’t have separate courses tonight, I’m afraid. I told him to bring our meal and we’ll eat at our leisure. I hope you don’t mind.”

Eat without courses? It wasn’t something she was used to, but it made sense. Besides, what say did she have in the meal?

“That sounds fine.”

Soon, several crewmen filled the room, laying down dishes of meat and fish and vegetables and fruits, along with a bottle of wine.

She noticed him nod to one of the crew, and when the men left, the last one shut the door behind him.

“I trust you found everything in your room to your liking.”

“It is modest, but yes, everything is fine.”

“
Bien
. You should be onboard for a week. I think you’ll be able to bear up. Luxury on a ship is not too often found.”

“Oh, I understand,” she said quickly. She needed him to see her as a sturdy woman, not one who cowed at the loss of a few lace doilies. “It has all the necessities. In fact, it is finer than the cabin onboard The Star.”

His lips twitched, but he made no comment. He filled their plates, then they ate quietly for several moments. She was famished and didn’t worry that there was no conversation.

Despite her desire for him, she kept replaying the day and couldn’t help but worry about her friend. She’d expected to see Brianna at some point by now and a part of her was upset that the pirate had taken up so much of her thoughts.