The Pirate and the Puritan (16 page)

“I see.” She wondered what wild
ways Drew had that even pirates had to justify. To think, she’d actually hoped
to join the ranks of his romantic casualties.

“That’s how I know you’re his
woman. He likes women, and especially pretty ones like you.”

“I’m not his woman.” She was torn
between being flattered that Hugh considered her pretty enough to be one of
Drew’s women and furious that he had so many. Hugh’s revelations did what her
hours of prayer hadn’t. She wouldn’t continue to be willing prey.

Hugh stared at her, a worried
expression pulling down the corners of his eyes. “Don’t be mad. Did I do
something to make you mad?”

She forced her tight lips into a
smile. “I’m not mad.”

“Captain Drew said women get mad
for no good reason sometimes. That’s why we’re not supposed to have any on the
ship.” He paused, looking confused. “Are you Captain Drew’s wife?”

“Oh…no!” She doubted her adamant
denial would have convinced anyone but a child that she found the thought
preposterous. The rush of yearning brought about by Hugh’s simple but
farfetched question flustered her. It wasn’t that she wanted a rake like Drew
for a husband; it was just that it had been years since anyone had thought of
her as a possible bride to a man so desirable.

“Wives are different. Not like
the women the crew sneak on the ship sometimes. But you’re not like them, I can
tell.”

“Thank you.”

“You’re nice and pretty too.
Pretty woman aren’t nice sometimes.” Hugh closed the book of maps.

“More words of wisdom from
Captain Drew.” She couldn’t keep the sarcasm from her voice, even for Hugh.

He raised his wispy eyebrows.
“But you’re different, like my Mama and Laura, or Captain Drew wouldn’t have
brought you onboard. You’re the only one he’s ever brought onboard. I just
heard about the others. I didn’t see them.”

The clearing of a masculine
throat caught both of their attentions. Hugh twisted in his seat. Felicity
glanced over the boy’s head. She had no idea how much Drew had heard, but his
eyes glittered with amusement. As if his sudden appearance was not enough, his
state of undress stole her breath.

He stood just inside the open
doorway, the portrait of a pirate. Barefoot, bare-calved and bare-armed, he
braced his hands on his hips, challenging everything and everyone. He still
wore the same clothes from last night, minus the white shirt and boots. In
addition to the multicolored vest and breeches reaching just below his knees,
he had added a red sash at his waist, complete with the hilt of a
vicious-looking short sword jutting above its wide band.

He looked more tanned than
yesterday and his skin glowed with perspiration, as if he’d just been
performing heavy labor. A thick muscle jumped in his right biceps, reminding
her that she stared. When she glanced back to his face, she found him assessing
her with the same intense regard. His humor had vanished. Their gazes held and
her pulse quickened, as if he had touched her physically. She wondered if he
was also recalling last night’s encounter. There were reasons she should turn
away from him, not let him see the effect he had on her, but she couldn’t
remember them at the moment.

Hugh’s nervous babbling returned
her to the present. “I was just putting your tools away, Captain Drew. You
should have seen your room. Felicity made a big mess.”

The man turned his attention
toward Hugh. “You two seem to be becoming well acquainted.”

Nodding his head in agreement,
the boy smiled with strained enthusiasm. “She was asking me all sorts of
questions and I was very helpful. She doesn’t know anything about being on a
pirate ship.”

A muffled groan indicated Drew’s
displeasure at that information. “Hugh, you were asked to stay away from my
cabin. You have other duties to perform, and my guess is those duties are being
neglected.”

“Anybody can untangle the
berthing lines. I know why you and Papa don’t want me in here, but Felicity
isn’t bad. She’s nice.”

Drew crossed his arms over his
chest. “Perhaps Felicity wants her privacy.”

Hugh glanced at her. She couldn’t
help but smile reassuringly in the face of his anxious expression. He turned to
Drew with renewed confidence. “Oh, no. She likes me. We talked about all sorts
of things.”

Drew slammed the door shut, then
strode toward them. He spoke to Hugh, while his gaze bored a hole through her.
“I can only dare guess at the topics you two discussed.”

She tried to think of something
to add to the conversation, realizing all she had done was gape at Drew’s bare
arms since he’d entered the room. With his every movement, muscles rippled
under his tanned skin. She wondered if she’d ever seen so much of a man’s bare
body. Erik had kept on his knee-length shirt during their brief encounter, but
she doubted he looked anything like Drew.

She cleared her throat. “Hugh
enlightened me on subjects I would never have imagined to broach. He’s a lovely
boy.”

Drew grunted his response and
returned his scrutiny to Hugh. “Regardless of your newfound friendship with our
guest, you were told to stay away from my cabin. You disobeyed an order.”

Hugh’s bright features crumpled.
“But I’m a lovely boy.”

The child’s glance toward her for
confirmation of his tentative statement melted Felicity’s insides almost as
effectively as Drew’s presence. “It’s really my fault. I let him in and then
kept him when he wanted to leave.”

“I see. Perhaps you’re the one
who should be punished.” Drew’s wicked grin emphasized the promise in his
voice. Any discipline he doled out to her would be laced with more pleasure
than pain.

Hugh leaped from his chair to
stand next to Felicity. He squeezed the tips of her fingers. “He doesn’t mean
it.”

“Hugh, leave us.” Drew’s stern
command would make anyone question Hugh’s reassurance. “I want to talk to
Felicity alone.”

The boy didn’t seem half as
startled as she. Drew was a pirate, she reminded herself. And the worst
womanizer she’d ever had the misfortune to meet. She stiffened, tightly
clasping her hands in front of her. From this point on, she’d be insensible to
his charm.

Hugh paused beside Drew on his
way out. “Are you going to tell Papa?”

Drew ruined his bloodthirsty
pirate facade when he reached down and rubbed the boy’s head. “You know I have
to. We both promised after the last time.”

Hugh’s eyes glazed with the first
signs of tears. “Yeah, but this isn’t as bad as playing in the ammunition
hold.”

Drew glanced at Felicity. “I
don’t think your father would agree. Now get going before he finds you himself.
I’ll try to break it to him gently.”

Hugh dragged himself to the door
with his head down. Drew stopped him before he reached his destination. “It’s
very important that you tell no one about Felicity.”

“Because she’s your woman?”
Hugh’s whispered words held a conspiratorial tone.

Drew’s gaze again drifted to her,
but lingered several seconds too long. “Yes.”

She held her breath, hoping the
burning in her belly had not risen to her cheeks. Her fortress was breached
with the first heavy blow. No one had ever claimed her as his.

Hugh seemed oblivious to the
other secrets lurking in the room. “And you don’t want anyone else to know
because you don’t want to share.”

The child’s assumption appalled
her, but Drew seemed pleased he understood. “Right. Remember when Smythe and
Red got in that fight last summer? You wouldn’t want the same thing to happen
to me.”

Hugh shook his head, his eyes
wide with understanding. “Red lost an eye and has to wear a patch now, and that
yellow-haired girl didn’t even have all her teeth.”

Drew dropped to one knee and
stuck out his hand. “It will be our secret, then.”

After a vigorous shake, Hugh
dashed from the room. When he stopped abruptly at the door, he almost fell over
his feet. “Good-bye, Felicity.” Hugh waved, then disappeared.

Drew stood, closed the door Hugh
had left open, then strolled back to her. His movements were slow and
purposeful. “Alone at last.”

She gripped the chair in front of
her for support. Her back went rigid with a combination of trepidation and
anticipation. She wondered if he intended to continue their tryst from last
night. Hugh had confirmed a moment before that Drew had no scruples. He didn’t
dance on the thin line between right and wrong—he crossed it. She should be appalled
or at least frightened. Unfortunately, the only thing the pounding rhythm of
her heart acknowledged was that he had called her his woman. How was she going
to be able to resist him?

“You never mentioned you were a
pirate.”

He gently but firmly tugged the
chair from her grasp and shoved it under the table.

“I never denied it.”

Even his admission didn’t make
his deeds seem real. Who was the man who’d nursed her back to health and
ruffled Hugh’s hair? She tilted her chin defiantly. To her shame, it took all
her willpower not to part her lips in invitation.

“I should have known. Your manner
proclaims your profession loud and clear.”

He seemed to be slowly leaning
into her, but he abruptly straightened. “Are you talking about last night?”

He looked like kissing her had
become the farthest thing from his thoughts. His disinterest insulted her. He
was a womanizer and she was a woman. Apparently, she wasn’t ready to return to
the black-clad spinster just yet. She’d seen herself with new eyes and sworn he
had too. “You could have been honest with me as you promised.”

“And that would have been better
for you? You wouldn’t have been offended when I declared my intention to prop
you on the dinner table and have my way with you?”

An ember of dizzy heat burst in
her chest and rushed to her limbs. Lord, but if he would only stop talking
about it and...

Drew retreated to the far side of
the table and rubbed his brow as if he had an intense headache. “I’m sorry. I
don’t want to offend you. I promise nothing like that will happen again. I only
came here because I noticed the door open.”

She should be grateful at his vow
to be honorable, but his dismissal of the passion that almost persuaded her to
toss aside years of rigorous repentance hurt. While she had lain awake last night
wanting him, he’d been able to put her aside.

“All I want to know is why you
got involved with an honest man like my father.”

He began to put away the
instruments Hugh had strung-out all over the table. “It’s a long story.”

“I have time.”

“Well, I don’t. I’m trying to
captain a ship, and since I’m a pirate other people want to keep me from doing
that.” He continued with his task, ignoring her.

She grabbed his bare arm with the
intention of yanking him around to face her, not to mention give him a view of
the cleavage even a Puritan minister couldn’t help but notice. “Were you an
indentured servant?”

He didn’t budge at her hard tug
on his arm. “If you insist on touching me, I’m going to have to take back my
promise.”

“Hugh told me you were an
indentured servant and Solomon was a slave. Did you help him to escape?”

Her hand looked pale and small
against the width of Drew’s tanned arm, leaving her with a desire to see how it
would compare against the broadness of his chest. She followed his gaze to the
low-cut neckline of her dress. In the gap she knew he could most likely see
clearly each of her full breasts, including the tips of her dark nipples. They
hardened at his bold stare. Her depraved nature, a weakness she found
impossible to control in Drew’s presence, had always been her worst enemy. Even
a pirate had more restraint than she.

He flicked his gaze back to her
face. “I don’t think you laced your bodice correctly.”

“Oh, and you know all about how a
women’s dress should be fastened? Or should I say unfastened?” She hoped her
show of anger would explain the tremble of desire that shook each breath. “Hugh
knows more about the base appetites of men than I do.”

He dragged his eyes away from her
bodice. “Would you like me to teach you, love?”

She forced herself to meet his
gaze despite his lewd offer. His smooth words mocked his passion of the night
before, but that didn’t stop her from wanting him to show her his skill.
“You’ll say anything to avoid my questions.”

He circled her waist with one
arm, pulling her snugly against himself. “Not true. I Just think it would be
more interesting if you answered mine.”

Through their clothes, she could
distinctly feel his body harden in places she shouldn’t even know existed.
Despite her nagging longing, she didn’t have the courage to answer his question
honestly. “Were you an indentured servant or weren’t you?”

His abrupt release left her
wishing she hadn’t been so blunt. “I was. But I cut my service short. I found
the life of an indentured servant nowhere near as enticing as the handbill had
promised.”

His typically glib response to an
event that had to have been painful aroused compassion in Felicity. She
couldn’t resist touching his cheek in a comforting gesture he didn’t ask for
and probably never would. “I can’t see you voluntarily signing your life away
for seven years. You must have been desperate.”

He stiffened at her touch but
didn’t pull away. For once, he didn’t meet her gaze directly. “At twelve, I was
a little more humble. Nor was my servitude exactly voluntary. My mother died
and my relatives couldn’t afford me. It was better than starving.”

She stroked a wild lock of hair
from his forehead. “What about your father?”

He grabbed her hand and brought
it to his lips. “What about him? I’m sure my departure suited him nicely. He
had a legitimate son and didn’t need his bastard around to further spoil the
bloodline.”