by Eliza Knight
Pleasure won out. She writhed with his ministrations, shifting between clutching the mattress and his hair. He growled against her throbbing flesh as he quickened his pace. And she thought she must have died, sunk to the bottom of the sea and been captured by a god.
“Och, lass, ye taste so good.”
“Dinna stop, please,” she begged.
“I willna.” And he didn’t, even when her body broke apart into a thousand shards and his tongue completely obliterated her with pleasure.
She lay limp on the bed, her breaths sharp, face hot, legs shaking, and then he was hovering over her, a smile of pure male satisfaction on his face. “Permission to board, lass?” His smile turned teasing, and Alesia couldn’t help but burst out laughing.
“Aye. Board me, pirate.”
He slid up her body, kissing her with demanding force, her scent on his lips fascinating. And then she felt him probing.
“Have ye…are ye…?” He seemed to struggle with his question.
“I’m nay a virgin, Thornley. Please. Dinna make me wait.”
With his forehead pressed to hers, he said, “Guide me in. I want this to be completely your choice.”
Keeping her gaze locked on his, she did as he asked, her fingers wrapping around his solid, velvet length. He gritted his teeth and let out a groan.
“Will it end now?” she asked.
“Not if I can help it.” There was such determination in his voice, such passion.
Alesia guided his thick member to the place where she wanted him to part her, consume her, own her.
Beads of sweat formed on his brow, and the muscles in his neck strained from the control he worked to maintain. The sight of that, besides sending another frisson of deep wanting to her core, also made her smile.
Eyes heavily lidded with passion met hers. “Tell me when, leannan troda.”
“How long can ye wait?” Oh, she was wicked, teasing him like that.
His strong legs trembled, pressing to hers, the hair tickling the sensitive skin of her inner thighs.
“Forever.”
“I canna, Thornley. Dinna make me wait that long.”
“As ye wish.”
She let go of his shaft, and he surged forward, filling her up. She waited for the inevitable pain of his invasion, but there was nothing beyond a sharp need, a hunger for more pleasure, that ultimate climax. Alesia grabbed hold of his muscular arms, clinging to him, wrapping her legs around his hips.
“Mo chreach, leannan troda. Am I still alive?” He pressed his forehead to hers and kissed her gently on the lips.
“More than alive, else I, too, am dead.”
“Died and gone to heaven.”
“Is that allowed for us?”
“Aye. Neither of us deserves the fires of hell.”
“Let us not talk about the afterlife. Let us just enjoy this life.”
“Och, aye, we’ll enjoy the hell out of it.”
Alesia giggled, slid her hand up around the back of his neck and tugged him down to kiss her. Kiss her he did, at the same time he started to move within her. Sliding out at a slow, delicious pace and then thrusting back inside, hitting a place deep within that sent showers of pleasure along her limbs.
“Move with me,” he whispered against her ear.
“I dinna know how.”
Thor gripped her hips, and as he withdrew, pushed her rear into the bed, but as he thrust forward, he tugged her up, so that her pelvis met his with a pulsing force. She moaned, quickly catching on to what he wanted her to do and moving with him.
His pace was slow and steady, then hard and fast, bringing her to the brink of that marvelous explosion and then pulling back. Torturing her, is what he was doing. Sweet, delicious, sensual torture. When she could take it no longer, she hooked her ankles at the small of his back, dug her nails into his shoulders and demanded he continue.
“I need…it. I want…it.” She panted. “Dinna stop. I beg ye.”
Thor growled something unintelligible, though she did pick up on one of the curses. Apparently, she was tormenting him just as much.
“God, I hope ye’re close.”
“Aye, so close. Dinna stop.” She leaned up, tugged his lip between her teeth and plunged her tongue into his mouth, delighting in the way his kiss mirrored his arousal.
Acquiescing to her demands, he drove into her with abandon, their pelvises creating a delicious friction with each gyration, until a climax more powerful than the one she’d experienced before took hold, shoving her off that precipice. She rode the waves of pleasure, crying out his name, burying her face in his shoulder and soaking up the shuddering of his body.
“Blood and bones,” he muttered against the side of her neck, sending her body into a riot of shivers. “That was…incredible.”
“Ye were right.” She nuzzled his shoulder, breathing in his scent, which was now combined with her own.
“About?” He traced a line along her face.
“Ye said ye’d make it last…and I…I had no idea it could be like this.”
“Truth be told, neither did I.” Thor rolled to the side, tugging her with him and stroking her hair down her spine.
Her hand lay over his still heavily beating heart, her leg over his warm thigh, and she thought nothing had ever felt so right than being in his arms.
“Give me a few minutes and we can do it again?” He winked, a devilish smile on his face.
A shiver of anticipation rushed through her. “Oh, aye. I’m not sure ye’ll ever get me out of this cabin. Forget the crew. Forget Santiago. This bed is my whole new world.” She giggled, and he tickled her naked ribs, leaning down to gently bite her on the hip, his beard tickling her skin. They wrestled for a few moments until they were both breathless with laughter.
“Lass, ye’re a wee devil. Ye’ll fit right in with the crew.”
“A place I finally belong,” she murmured.
The thrill of lying with him, the bliss, the subsequent calm, the feelings of trust were enough to make tears of joy come to her eyes, which also made her feel weak. And she’d just confessed, without thinking, that she felt like she belonged. Why had she allowed herself to get ahead of the situation? Nothing good had ever happened in her life. What made her think that this was any different?
Chapter Fourteen
After making love for the third time, Alesia fell sleep. Dark lashes fanned over flushed cheeks, and her wild raven hair spread out over the pillow in disarray. She looked thoroughly ravished. Gorgeous. Sensual. Thor kissed her gently on her slightly swollen lips. Having slept beside her for the previous three nights, Thor could tell this sleep was particularly deep. He’d worn her out. Hell, she’d worn him out, too.
He lay back against the pillows, one arm beneath her soft body and the other over his eyes. Edgard had seen that food was delivered to them at one point and everyone else had left them alone without question, but now he needed to get back out on deck. He needed to speak with his men about the upcoming battle they would no doubt engage in with Santiago.
While it had been a decadent, sensual foray into paradise, Thor could not remain abed forever, as much as he wanted to. He was captain of the vessel, and the principal leader of the other ships that followed. While Shaw and Con outranked him within the brethren, they had both decided this was Thor’s mission, and he should head it.
Which meant he had a job to do.
Sailing the ship to the meeting point would be easy. It was afterward that was concerning. Without a doubt, he knew he could not allow Alesia to walk across a boarding plank onto Santiago’s ship and out of his life. Not even if he planned to rescue her later. She had to stay on the Leucosia where she would be safe. Every man in the brethren would protect her with his life. That was the case the moment he’d brought her on board, but now that they knew she was his, their efforts would be doubled.
He needed to formulate a better plan than the one he had. One that would ensure a payout for the brethren but also ensure her safety
.
How was he even going to tell Santiago about Alesia? The very thought of it turned his stomach. The Spanish captain was a bastard of the first order. If he had even an inkling of how Thor felt about Alesia, the man would no doubt, attempt to exploit it. Both he and Alesia were used to hiding their feelings, their reactions, but this was so new, so powerful, was it possible they would be as well put together as they normally were?
He couldn’t risk it.
Ballocks! Thor cursed silently and gently removed himself from beneath the lass, tucking the covers around her body to keep her warm from the heat he’d taken away. She sighed and rolled to her side, as peaceful in her slumber as he was all tied up in knots.
He dressed quickly and then made his way out on deck. The sun was starting to set, showing pink on the horizon, and a gentle breeze blew off the sea. They’d made love all day. Discovering each other. Memorizing every line and curve. Every spot that tickled. Every touch that made the other gasp. Thor had never spent a day like that with a woman. Aye, he’d had plenty of bed partners in the past. Plenty of women he’d explored, but never any so intensely, and never had he allowed them the same pleasure at discovering him. This had been completely different. Mind altering, earth shattering. He felt like a new man upon the sun hitting his face.
With each passing minute he’d spent with Alesia, he’d fallen deeper.
Into what, he didn’t want to contemplate. To know that he was in deep was enough to give him heart palpitations and make him question every decision he’d ever made, every decision he would consider in the future.
“Captain,” Edgard said, yanking him from his thoughts.
What the hell was the matter with him? How could he have allowed her to distract him that intently?
“Edgard. What is our status?” Thor forced his thoughts from his head—a physical struggle to be sure—and focused on the sea beyond and his crew.
“We’re set to reach the coordinates on time, Captain.”
“Any issues along the way?”
“None.”
Thor nodded, approaching the helm and checking his compass. The air was chilly, crisp, and though there were a few wispy clouds in the sky, he felt confident they’d not be impeded by weather. They sailed at a steady clip, and the waters were smooth.
Trailing behind them were The Sea Devil, Savage of the Sea and The Gaia. Four ships against Santiago’s small armada were good odds. Even if the bastard traveled with half a dozen ships, the brethren would be more than fine going up against him. The Pirates of Britannia had state-of-the-art weaponry, their canons newer, their armor more dangerous. Not to mention that Thor was sailing the precious Leucosia. The ship had previously belonged to Santiago. At the time she was stolen by Santiago from the Dutch, she had been called the Astorga. She was a beauty with her twenty-two guns. Con had rammed the side of the ship several months ago, boarded her and taken control. Santiago had been furious at Con for taking his prized ship, and had been after him to get her back ever since.
Of course, to confuse the Spaniard, Con had passed the Leucosia off to Shaw in one of their endless battles to outwit each other. But even after refitting the spectacular galley to her current condition, including the newly painted ship’s name, Shaw, had known the difference and marked her as the Astorga. Which, Thor had found out, was why they had tussled in the tavern.
No matter. The point was, Santiago would know she was his ship and would want her back. Badly.
Con thought that since he’d spared Santiago’s captain, a man nicknamed Little Devil, in the attack on the Astorga, he would be merciful now to the brethren, honoring a code of mercy, but Thor knew better. He’d seen the bastard and his merciless heart firsthand. Had the scars to prove it.
He touched his face, tracing the long line down his cheek. That had been courtesy of Santiago when he’d captured him several years back. A jagged, curved dagger.
Bloody bones of the devil. What the hell was he thinking putting Alesia in this position?
And what made Thor think she wouldn’t choose her blood over him? What made him think that though he had fallen for her and she’d enjoyed a day of passion with him, that he meant enough to her that she’d forgo the man bound to by blood.
The lass had admitted to not having a family, how she longed to belong. How she felt that she belonged with the brethren, with Thor. But Santiago was most certainly her father. There was no doubt in anyone’s mind. She was a hell of a lot prettier than the sorry maggot, but their coloring and temper were the same. Once she caught sight of him, wouldn’t she feel the pull of blood ties to cross over to the Spanish ship?
“Everything all right, Cap’n?” Edgard stood beside him, looking quite concerned.
“Aye.” Thor turned his attention back to the sea. The sooner they got through with this the better. If only she had been a lad he could have simply tossed into his ship’s dungeon. That would have made all of this so much easier.
But she had to be her. And he had to fall in love with her.
Aye, that’s what had happened. That burning in his chest, the emotional swells and tugs was love. He’d figured it out. The sentiment was intense, and he was disgusted at himself for allowing her to wiggle her way into his heart. Hadn’t he vowed not to love another after having lost all he’d loved as a lad? Hadn’t he vowed his entire existence was to get his revenge on Santiago? Love didn’t play into that. A woman didn’t have a place within his life. And yet, in the span of a sennight, he’d essentially made Alesia the center of his world.
“Take the helm,” he growled.
He had to settle this. Face it head on. He marched to the cabin, banged the door open and startled the lass from her sleep. She bolted upright in bed, but upon seeing him, she smiled languidly. Dark tendrils of wild hair covered half her face, and she gave an indolent yawn and stretched her arms over her head.
“Ye scared me,” she admitted, her lips curled in a sensual smile.
Thor slammed the door closed and backed against it, crossing his arms over his chest as if standing like that would make his heart stay in place. Her smile fell.
“This time tomorrow, the battle will be over.” Every word was like a knife scraping over his throat. “Ye’ll either be dead, or I’ll be dead.”
“What?” Alesia ran her hands through her hair, trying to work through what he was saying and settling her narrowed eyes on him.
“I’m going to get ye killed, Miss Baird. Or ye’re going to get me killed.”
The change in her was instant. The hardness that came into her eyes made his heart clench with regret. “I dinna see how that is possible, Captain Thor.”
Thor cursed under his breath. Not only had she picked up on his formal use of her name, she was tossing it back at him. Banging the heel of his boot hard against the door, he let it all out in a rush before he could pull it back. “I love ye, lass. And I willna be able to hide that fact. Which means Santiago will kill me for loving ye, or kill ye to get back at me.”
The lass’s eyes widened to the size of the rising sun, her mouth forming a similar sized O. “Why should he go to such extremes?”
“Because he—” Thor cut himself off. Aye, he’d already told her his name, something he’d never told anyone else. This was something closer to the heart than his name. He’d told her that Santiago ruined his life, but he never shared the whole story. Fists balled at his sides, Thor stood there frozen, uncertain how to tell her. Uncertain how to even come to grips with the emotions pummeling his insides like the mudslides or avalanches in his Highland home.
Alesia gracefully stood from the bed, wrapped a plaid about her body and walked determinedly toward him. There was no censure in her face. No judgment. No pity in her gaze, which he wouldn’t have been able to stand. Only concern. It was the exact opposite of what he wanted her to show, and irritatingly, just what he needed. When he looked at her, he knew the truth. He loved her. Loved her hard. And there was no escaping that. If only she could have judged him, hate
d him, it would make turning away from her all the easier.
She came to stop a foot or so in front of him. Enough to be close, but not to crowd, waiting for him to invite her the rest of the way into his space. Thor ground his teeth, stared into her eyes and saw his own emotions reflected there. Was it possible that she…loved him, too?
“What happened?” she inquired softly, reaching for his arm and sliding a finger over where he’d crossed them until he let them fall apart. “What has the power to break down the mighty Thor?”
Her words, spoken partially in jest, were stronger than their humor reflected. And spot on. What did have the power to take him down?
Thor reached for her hand, tugging her slim fingers into his grasp. He rubbed his thumb along the knuckles, seeking to absorb some of the strength she seemed to have a boundless stock of.
“He took something from me.” He kept his gaze on their joined hands, unable to look her in the eyes, afraid that if he did, his tongue would dry up and the words wouldn’t come.
She waited patiently, but after a dozen heartbeats, she urged, “What?”
Thor took a deep steadying breath, and finally looked her in the eye. “My mother.”
Alesia’s eyes widened a fraction of an inch as she met his gaze. “Prisoner?”
But he could see the truth of what she knew in her gaze. “Nay.”
No longer waiting for his invitation, she tucked herself against him. Her wild hair tickled his neck, as her hands splayed on his back. “I’m so sorry. Ye dinna have to tell me if ye dinna want to.”
The words tumbled out in a stream of consciousness as he relived those moments, unable to stop himself.
“My father was a Viking. He married my mother, daughter of the MacLeod chief, in an effort to solidify an alliance. But he never meant to keep the alliance. He allied with Santiago, invited the bastard into our home to rob them of everything. But my mother, she was a warrior. And she hated my father. He’d never been kind to her. He’d gotten her with child—with me—and abandoned us all until that day he returned with Santiago Fernandez. It was near Yule. I remember the snow falling clearly, big snowflakes that danced against the torchlights like magic. The ships came. The men falling from the vessels like a horde of ants into our castle. Our warriors fought, but they lost, and when Santiago entered the great hall with my father, the look of betrayal on my mother’s face is one I’ll never forget.”