Nor the fact that the imbecile’s gaze kept drifting to her cleavage.
He inclined his head to Captain Fathead. “Captain Fairley,” he said, his voice deep and strong as he battled the urge to rip the man’s eyes out.
At least the fellow had the God-given sense to remove his hand from Serenity’s elbow.
“My name is Fairhope,” he said, flashing a pair of those dimple things that were appealing in a woman, but looked ridiculous on any man.
This man was definitely a fop. Only a fop would have dimples.
Kristen offered Morgan a drink. After he declined, she returned it to the servant’s tray, then moved to stand beside Serenity.
“I’ve heard so many things about you, Captain Drake,” Fairhope said. “Allow me to shake the hand of the man who defeated Wayward Hayes.”
So, the interloper thought he could pander to him. No chance, that.
Reluctantly Morgan extended his hand. “I heard from a couple of sailors you had a run-in with pirates on your way here.”
A light of humor sparkled in Captain Fathead’s eyes. “Why yes, as a matter of fact I did. Devilish beasts, those pirates. Why, some good captain should obliterate each and every one of those repellent—”
“Captain Fairhope…”Kristen began, interrupting the man’s idiotic tirade and looking meaningfully at Morgan, “has graciously agreed to escort Serenity home personally to her family’s door.”
Now he truly hated the man.
Graciously offered, indeed. He had little doubt about what motivated the man to make such an offer.
Well, no one was going to lay a hand on his Serenity.
Not without a fight.
“How nice of you, Fairley,” Morgan ground out. “But I have already made that offer.”
“Yes, and I told you no,” Serenity said.
She linked arms with Stanhope, or whatever his name was. “I’d hate to be a burden to anyone, but the good captain here has made such a compelling case that—”
“She’ll attempt to take over your crew,” Morgan blurted out like an imbecile.
The man gave a milksop smile to Serenity. “Fine then, she’s already taken over my heart.”
Serenity blushed.
Had her cheeks always been that rosy?
Her smile so stunning?
“Why, Stanley,” Serenity cooed, “you say the most scandalous things.”
Morgan saw red. How dare she speak to that man like that.
He wanted blood. Captain Fathead’s blood.
Stanhope Fairley looked offended.
Good. Let her shred him the same way she shredded Morgan. That would teach him not to trespass on a man’s woman.
“Miss James,” he said in a breathless voice, “I assure you, I’m most committed to you. Would you have me declare my feelings for the benefit of all?”
Serenity stepped back with a frown. “Excuse me?”
Fairhope looked positively moonstruck. “I mean what I say, Miss James.” He took her by both hands and knelt upon one knee before her. “I wish for you to marry me.”
Her eyes widened and her mouth flexed.
Morgan waited, knowing his little vexation wouldn’t disappoint him.
Aye, she would send the interloper packing with a few choice insults. His little vixen wouldn’t tolerate such ridiculous stupidity.
“Captain, I don’t know what to say.”
“Well, you’ve never been at a loss for words before,” Morgan snapped before he could stop himself.
Serenity turned to face him with eyes of fire. “Fine then. Captain Stanley Fairhope, I accept your offer.”
“You what!” Morgan roared.
The fop stood, holding her hand like some treasured object against his chest. He stroked her wrist. “Miss James, you’ve made me the happiest man in the world. I knew the moment I saw you that you were the only woman for me.”
“He’s a fop!” Morgan snapped. “You can’t marry a fop. Why, you’re more of a man than he is.”
The room fell as silent as a crypt.
It was only then that Morgan realized what he’d said.
Serenity’s face turned the color of a bright cherry an instant before she let him have her wrath fully. “Just who do you think you are, Morgan Drake? How dare you say such a thing to me! You don’t own me, you don’t even want me. All you’ve done is cry out what a burden I am to you, and now that I’ve found someone who can make me happy, you dare stand there and make insults. You’re vile, Captain. Loathsome. But then, I suppose I’ll forgive you your rudeness, since you’re only being yourself.”
Enraged to the point of murder, Morgan looked at Fairhead. “See!” he said in triumph. “Generally speaking, she’s always generally speaking.”
He should have taken warning the moment he saw her eyes narrow, but he didn’t.
Instead, he blurted out, “Do you really want to spend the rest of your life with that?”
Her shriek of outrage could have splintered glass. As it was, it made an indelible impact on his eardrums.
“If I were a man, I’d call you out,” she snapped before gathering her skirts and storming from the room.
And it was only then that Morgan realized he’d seen tears starting in her eyes.
Tears, he thought, momentarily stunned. From Serenity? Surely he was wrong.
“You are a pig, Morgan Drake,” Kristen said, rounding the settee to stand before him. She looked at him as if he were the vilest creature alive. “I’m ashamed to have ever called you brother.”
Before Morgan could respond, Robert and Jake entered the room.
Robert paused an instant and stared at Fathead. “Stanley? Why on earth are you wearing that getup?”
Color stained the man’s cheeks.
Suddenly everything became clear. Serenity’s dress and acquiescence. Fathead’s declaration of love.
Kristen’s manipulative personality.
The look in Martha’s eyes…
“You mean he’s not a captain?” Morgan asked.
“No,” Robert answered. “He’s the local smith.”
“Kristen!” Morgan bellowed, moving toward her.
With a squeak, she ran from the room.
“Congratulations, Captain Drake,” Fairhead said with a snide grin. “You’ve managed to clear the room.”
Morgan turned on the menace who had ruined his night. “At least I wasn’t a dupe for a knottypated scheme.”
“No,” Fairhead said, picking an imaginary piece of lint off his cuff. He looked up at Morgan, his glare hostile. “You were a royal jackass. Between the two, I think I’d much rather play the dupe.”
Serenity maliciously pulled the pearl-tipped pins from her hair, taking comfort in the pain as she walked through the garden with no destination in mind. She just needed to get away. Be alone for a while until she could assuage the wounds of her heart.
“This was so stupid,” she snapped, wiping angrily at the tears on her cheeks. “You knew he didn’t care for you. You should have never listened to Kristen.”
Hurt beyond her heart’s tolerance, Serenity reached into the pocket of her dress trying to find a kerchief.
Of course one wasn’t there.
“Oh, bother anyway,” she sobbed, wiping her face with her hand.
“Here.”
She froze at the sound of Morgan’s deep timbre. He stepped out of the shadows with a crisp linen kerchief dangling from his right hand.
“What do you want?” she asked, her voice harsh. “Haven’t you insulted me enough?”
Taking the extended cloth, she dabbed her eyes.
Morgan cleared his throat and looked away as if embarrassed. “I never meant to hurt you.”
“Well then, if you do this much damage unintentionally, I hope to goodness you never set out for harm.”
He reached for her. “Serenity…”
“Go away!”
Morgan took a step back and stopped. He couldn’t leave her like this. She looked
so frail in the moonlight with her white satin dress and her hair hanging about her shoulders in delicate curls. She’d laced her dress up tightly and worn a corset that lifted her breasts high. She wasn’t as endowed as the women who typically drew his notice, yet he found her figure breathtaking.
Delectable.
Had she done all this just for him?
In one way, he was flattered. In another way, he wanted to strangle her for putting him through the whole charade.
In one night she had turned him completely inside out. Had made Morgan Drake, pirate captain and man who knew the world and how to tame it, a babbling, bumbling jackass.
And for what?
Because she’d dared touch another man?
He flinched. That was ridiculous. What did he care if she touched someone else?
What did he care if she did run off with Fathead?
But the truth was, he did care.
He couldn’t deny it. The truth stood before him, just like the stone wall of the garden.
It was then he realized he loved her.
He felt as though he’d been struck.
Nay, he argued, he couldn’t possibly. She pushed him to the brink of murder. He couldn’t love a woman who delighted in tormenting him.
And yet he did.
He loved the challenge of her. Matching wits against a woman who could hold her own.
He loved her intrepid spirit.
He loved her lips, her humor, and especially the look she got in her eyes right before she started one of her infamous tirades.
Part of him wanted to cry it out, but for his life he couldn’t bring a single word past his lips.
Nay, he was a man of action, not words. He would show her his love.
He scooped her up in his arms and headed toward the stable.
“What are you doing?” she gasped.
“What I should have done a long time ago.”
Serenity stiffened in his arms. “Where are you taking me?”
“To my ship.”
“Why?”
“Because that’s where I want you.”
Morgan stared at her as they entered the stable and he headed toward his horse. The look he loved so very well darkened her eyes and he knew he was about to receive a scalding lecture.
“You, sir, don’t—”
He stopped her words with a kiss.
She fought for just a moment and then surrendered to him. Morgan groaned in pleasure as she opened her lips and let him taste the sweetness of her mouth.
Aye, tonight she was his.
But not in a stable.
After setting her down, he reached for his horse. He didn’t even bother to saddle the stallion. Instead, he quickly bridled the horse, then swung himself up.
He leaned down over the horse’s back and extended his hand. “Come with me, Serenity.”
He held his breath in expectation of her answer.
Serenity hesitated. She knew what he wanted. Had listened to Kristen go on at great lengths about what happened between a man and a woman.
If she went with him, she would be forever changed.
Nay, she corrected herself. She was already forever changed. He’d already shown her things she never thought she’d see. Made her feel things she’d never known existed, and there was only one thing left.
Walk away, Serenity.
But she couldn’t. Let the gossips hound her forever. Tonight there would be no shame. Tonight there would be only them.
Swallowing the fear in her throat, she reached her hand out to him.
Chapter 18
Morgan wanted to shout in triumph as Serenity’s soft hand closed around his. She felt like warm velvet and smelled of delicate roses and night mist.
Without hesitation he pulled her up in front of him and set his heels to the horse.
At long last, she was his. This was a night he would savor like no other.
A woman he would savor like no other.
Serenity sighed as she leaned her head back against him and listened to his heart race beneath her cheek. The sweet ocean air mingled with the scent of Morgan, and she felt as helpless against him as a damsel confronting a dragon.
His arms held her close while the horse thundered across the beach, raising water in their wake. High overhead hung a full moon that cast mystical shadows against Morgan’s face.
He was beautiful, her pirate. And for this one night, he would belong to her and her alone.
The nagging voice in her head warned that tomorrow would separate them.
But she didn’t listen. She would deal with that on the morrow.
Tonight she would listen to her heart. Her heart that wanted him more than it had ever wanted anything.
When they reached the small rowboat, Serenity giggled.
“What?” he asked, reining the horse to a stop.
“You’re certainly going to a lot of trouble.”
His face serious, he stared down at her. “You’re worth every bit of it.”
“That’s not what you told Stanley.”
He slid to the ground, then pulled her from the horse. His hands bit into her waist as he slowly slid her down the front of him.
Her body burned in response, tingled all over.
His look was dark and deadly. “I don’t ever want to hear another man’s name on your lips.”
“But Stan—”
Again he kissed her.
Serenity smiled while they kissed. She had just learned a trick. Say Stanley’s name and Morgan would kiss it away.
She filed that away in the back of her mind. It could definitely come in handy.
With a groan, Morgan tore away from her lips and carried her to the rowboat. He set her carefully down before setting it adrift, jumping in and picking up the oars.
“This is the longest trip of my life,” he murmured.
She laughed at the desperate note in his voice. Her body throbbed from her longing and she watched his muscles ripple as he began rowing them out to his ship.
Moonlight danced across his face, shadowing his eyes. Even so, she could feel him looking at her. It made her body even hotter.
Morgan stared at her and listened to the magic of her laughter. With her dress tucked primly around her and her hair in wild abandon, she looked like some captured nymph. A nymph he would devour fully before this night ended.
He rowed faster.
When he reached the boat, he carefully helped her climb the ladder to the deck. And this time, he enjoyed the sight of her garters and other under-things as they swayed above his head and undulated in a rhythm that made him ache all over. Soon he would taste that part of her.
He couldn’t wait.
He helped her over the side, then swung his legs over.
Ushakii came out of the corner of the poop deck, where he’d been posted to watch over the ship. “Who goes there?”
“Captain Drake.” He swept Serenity back up into his arms.
“Welcome aboard, Captain, Miss James,” Ushakii called, then returned to his post.
“You can put me down, Morgan,” Serenity said as he began carrying her across the deck.
He tightened his grip on her. “If I did that you might run away.”
She trailed her fingernail down the length of his stubbly jaw, raising chills all over him. His shaft grew even harder, pulsing with his need.
“I have a feeling you would catch me,” she said softly, her voice doing the most wicked things to his body.
“Be that as it may,” he said in a ragged whisper, “I’d much rather have you where I want you than have to worry.”
He carried her to his cabin.
He positioned her to his left, then opened the door.
Serenity smiled as they entered his cabin. It looked just as she remembered it, clean, cozy. And her lopsided curtains still hung where she’d placed them.
Embarrassed, Serenity averted her gaze and realized the door had also been repaired. “You fixed the door.”
> Without a word, he leaned back against it and closed it.
This time when his lips met hers, she could taste the passion, feel the heat of his longing.
He allowed her feet to slide to the floor, but her legs were so weak from his kiss that she could barely stand. Instead, she clung to him, needing to feel as close to his body as she could.
There was heaven in his touch, she’d known that since the first time he’d kissed her.
He brushed his hands through her hair. “You are so beautiful,” he whispered against her ear.
Serenity smiled. It was the first time in her life a man had said that to her, and it was worth the wait to hear it from Morgan. Her pirate.
He dipped his head and pressed his lips against the skin of her breasts while his hands lifted her skirts from behind. His hands ran over her bare buttocks, pressing her hips closer to his so that she could feel just how swollen and ready he was for her.
Chills shot through her, and deep down her little voice told her this was wrong. They weren’t married.
All her life she had been told to save herself for her husband. But at her age she knew that day would never come.
She wasn’t a young miss waiting for her husband to deliver her. She was a woman full-grown whose heart had been stolen by a pirate.
And now she had a choice to make. Walk away from him right now, virtue intact, or follow her heart where it led.
Tonight it led her to Morgan’s arms, and that was exactly what she wanted. If this was to be her mistake, then let it. She’d been a dutiful, practical daughter all her life. For once she would do as she pleased and face the consequences, whatever they might be.
He moved his hands to the back of her gown and began unfastening the long row of buttons.
“Are you afraid?” he asked.
“Terrified,” she answered honestly.
Morgan’s gaze burned her with its intensity. “I won’t hurt you.”
Serenity bit her lip to stifle the comment that he already had; that he could only hurt her more tomorrow.
He’d been jealous over Stanley, there was no denying that. He might even, in his own way, love her. But he would never commit to her, and that knowledge cut her straight to her soul.
“Hold me,” she whispered, needing to feel him close.
A Pirate of her Own Page 21