Pirates, Passion and Plunder

by Victoria Vale

  “What does it matter?” Surrender sounded loud in her voice.

  “It matters, Nox, because you think I don’t care. I do.”

  “You care? What you care about is if you’ll have someone to bed for the short time we’ve left.” She lifted her head again. “But let me allow you to lay down any pretense without guilt. I no longer want to fornicate or fuck. If you want to get between my legs then it’ll be force you have to use. At least that way I’ll be experienced as to what to expect when I’m left alone again.”

  Mason leaned back, considered only a moment, then scrambling to his feet, grabbed her up, stripped the tarp away and shoved her back on the bed. She didn’t fight and she didn’t flee when he stripped from his clothes and climbed over her. “I’ve never forced a woman in my life and I don’t plan to start with you,” he said taking her chin when she tried to look away. “It’s not me that sees what we do in this bed as some base act. It’s not me throwing out words, like fornication, as some kind of safety line to hold onto so I’m not dragged under.” He softened his tone and bent closer. “I care for you Jane Ann Rutherford. I have from the start. But…” He let his lips brush softly over hers. “If you need something more. If you need to be shown better.” Again his lips brushed hers and he saw her eyes grow heavy. “I can show you, Jane. I can show you in a way you’ll never doubt again that I care and respect you.”

  This time he covered her mouth, working gently, adding no pressure until he felt her tentative response. Leaving her lips he nuzzled her temple, lighting kisses as soft as a breeze where she was bruised, down the side of her face to her ear where he let his teeth scrape the small lobe.

  “There’s nothing about you that isn’t respectable, Nox. I’ve known that the first moment I set eyes on you.” He pressed his lips behind her ear before kissing his way down her neck to her shoulder. He followed the path down to her elbow, then sliding to the side, lifted her hand to his lips.

  “You don’t need to demand or beg for respect.” He kissed the tip of each finger individually. “You earn it with your every act.” He set her hand over her breast, covering it with his then moved to press his lips against her other shoulder. “No one can take that from you.”

  Pushing back he placed kisses on her stomach and hip, skipping her breasts for the ease at which giving them attention could open her to him. “You’re a strong woman. You’re capable.” He pushed back more, not missing the scent of her arousal as he passed by on his way to her knees, where he dropped several kisses on each.

  He kissed his way down her leg to her foot. Lifting first one then the other he placed and held his lips for a moment. The second time elicited a soft moan. When he slipped back up her body her legs spread for him. “You never should’ve had a day of doubt as to how much you’re respected and cared for Nox.”

  He worked his arm under her waist and pulled her closer. On her own she wrapped her arms around him. “I never want you to doubt it again,” he said pushing forward and feeling her lift to met him. “Let me promise you now, you’ll never doubt how much I care for you.” He entered slowly, her low, long moan like a siren song calling him forward. What he was promising he wasn’t sure. Maybe he wasn’t really promising anything. But he wasn’t lying. He cared for Nox deeper than he remembered caring for anyone. His respect never should have been in question.

  And when it happened that he’d stop thinking their bedsport was just that, sport, and had for him become a matter of making love he couldn’t say. Because until this moment he’d either not recognized it or he’d not allowed himself to claim it. Nox’s ability to sate his passions never was the sole reason for either the enjoyment he found in bed or the larger pleasure he took in her company. Admittedly, he’d not tried to show her that before. Now though, as he made each move with deliberate care, as he took time to rock with her in time to the role of the waves around them, he made sure she understood whatever he had to give her he’d give.

  And as she gasped out again and clutched his shaft in satisfaction, Mason held on through the far softer release he felt. Yes he’d told her he only planned to hold her six months, but when her eyes fluttered open and those liquid azure pools sparkled with something more than raw desire, he knew he’d be going back on his word. He and this ship had all she’d ever need. He’d share it with her. There was no reason, at all, she needed to find a port. The sea could be her home, like it was his.

  A smile touched his lips as he pulled her against him and pulled the covers around them. He’d share all he had, all he’d still to gain, even if she never shared the covers. And Mason knew, he’d convince her of this, in time. And if in time she brought his ruin, he’d simply look back at these moments and know he couldn’t have been ruined by anyone better.

  Chapter 15

  Nox barely suppressed the heavy sigh that rose up when Mason stepped into the cabin. She’d submitted to the fact the man completely bewitched her long before she’d become aware of him doing so. She’d tried the last two weeks to resist him. And though he made no demands, gave no orders, she couldn’t stop herself from leaning into his every touch. She couldn’t look away, hold her glare, when he caught her eye. It was impossible to not roll against him, either when he joined her on the floor or when she gave up and retook her place in his bed.

  He’d not lied he never forced her. She could never accuse him of rape. Nothing in the way he gained her willingness, raised her desire, and made her body’s need to know those wicked pleasures, overrule her head, even, perhaps, her heart. Because she knew with little doubt once this journey came to an end, her heart would be ripped from her chest and sail away with him.

  She understood perfectly why young women were warned away from men before marriage. Ruined didn’t have anything to do with a physical state of the woman. Ruin came not with the loss of innocence, but with knowledge of what the act could do. It was no longer a question in Nox’s mind why men wanted a woman who’d never lay with another man. It was purely cowardice on the part of men that they may not compare to any past experience. Men like Mason, men with his skill and his want to make bedsport only enjoyable, even when pain was involved, were who common men feared. And Nox knew now, whom women, too, should fear.

  “Are you going to be stormy today?” Mason asked as he stepped up to the end of the bed. His eyes shone with annoyance, but his lips, his damn mouth, that mouth that made her cry out several times last night, even as her ass still throbbed from the fierce application of his hand. That mouth was lifted in a smile that sent a pulse right to the very spot he’d all but worn out.

  She pushed back then folded her arms across her chest. For all the pleasures he afforded her only a few hours ago her backside still ached. Perhaps chaining herself to the bed and then throwing the key out the porthole was childish and reckless, as he proclaimed in several ways as Mr. Anders tried each key on his master ring to unlock her.

  “Nox?” he pressed. His tone taking on just a bit of an edge. A deep breath and her best heavy sigh, she dropped her arms and shook her head. “Jane, answer me.”

  “No, Captain,” she whispered.

  “Good.” His joyous declaration catching her off guard. “Get up, let’s go.” He stepped around to the side of the bed and grabbed her hand. And like a fool she went with him without the least protest. He’d her out the door and back on deck before she even gave resistance.

  “I’m not scrubbing the decks,” she said, though quietly so Mr. Anders didn’t hear.

  Mason stepped to the side laughing boisterously as he took a short length of rope with two iron rings attached at the ends from the very man who religiously assigned her that foul chore. “No, Nox, you’re not going to have to scrub the decks... today.” Still chucking he guided her over to the mainmast and pressing her between it and his body turned her to face the huge wooden post used to hold the largest sheets and help keep the force of the wind more evenly distributed.

  For a moment she feared he intended to tie her up for a whipping, th
ough no such thing had happened on this ship according to every sailor on board. When Mason put the rope around her and tied it off with a bowline hitch she felt a chill run down her back. “Captain?”

  “For shame, Jane. To think I of all people would wield a whip,” he said, but chuckled even as he handed her the rings. She felt a heat in her face. It was quickly replaced by one in her stomach when he pressed his lips to the side of her neck. “Climb.”

  “What?” she asked, turning to look at him over her shoulder.

  “Climb, up,” he said then nudged her. Nox continued to look at him over her shoulder. “Nox, take the rings and place them on the hooks above your head, as far as you can reach.” Fumbling, she managed to do as instructed but then turned to look at him again. “Lift your feet.”

  “What?” What was he asking of her?

  “Lift your feet, test how the rope will hold you if you slip, or tire,” Mason said even as he adjusted the rings so they sat a good bit above her head. Nox picked up one foot. “Trust the rope Nox, and the knot.”

  Cautious, she rose on her toes, then flexed her knee. As she’d learned while on board, the ropes held, the knots didn’t yield. Before she could set her feet down she was pushed against the mast.

  “Climb,” Mason lifted her hand and set it on the iron peg. Her feet found the lowest rungs but again she hesitated.

  “I can’t climb to the top. I tried.”

  “You tried before you were ready. Before you were strong enough.”

  She might really resent him saying that now, given she knew he was her very weakness. “I’m not any stronger now. I’m not, I’ve never been strong.”

  “Shame Jane,” Mason said as he forced her to reach up and grab the next rung. “Shame on you for thinking such a thing. Believing such a lie.”

  She reached on her own for the next rung and stepped up with her feet so she wasn’t stretched like a dock line. “It’s not a lie,” she muttered then felt Mason press against her as he too, started to climb the mast behind her.

  “You’re strong Jane. You’re perhaps the strongest person I know.” She let go of the rung and twisted to look at him only to be forced quickly back. A hand on her tender ass pushing her further upward. “You’ve been strong from the moment you step aboard, I must assume from that that and all I’ve learned of your past, you were strong from the day you were born.”

  “If I’m so strong why did I lose everything?” She was making good progress now. Climbing up this way was certainly easier than trying to go up the shroud.

  “It doesn’t take a lot of strength to hold on to things Nox, it takes strength to get back up and begin again once all has been lost.” He reached pasted her pushing the hatch to the crow’s nest open then moved enough she was able to hook the safety line to the last ring before going through to the very platform she’d wanted to reach for months now. Mason followed then closed the hatch and stood up. He held a hand for her to take, but at the moment knowing how high up she was she wasn’t inclined to take it, or get to her feet. “Come on Nox, you’ve wanted this view for a very long time. Come enjoy it now.”

  “Why now?”

  He actually looked to be thinking over his answer. “Because now I want you to.” He waved his fingers in front of her face.

  What choice did she have? Grabbing those fingers she let him haul her up and then against him. The wind snagging her hair and unfurling it like a signal flag. But she didn’t look. She didn’t take in the view she’d so longed for. If she’d strength like Mason claimed she’d hold onto any bit of her own will she still had.

  She felt his hand on the side of her face. It worked upwards, threading through her hair at her temples, then back so she knew what was coming and tried to defend against it. Clamping her lips together she still couldn’t quite suppress the moan that rose up when Mason took a fistful of her hair and pulled her head back. The moan might have been soft but the wave of heat was anything but. Still she squeezed her eyes shut in defiance of his want to have her look out over the ocean.

  “Nox,” he called quietly, or maybe it wasn’t quiet but drowned out by the sound of the wind and waves and the pounding in her breast. “Look Nox, open your eyes and take in the world. Look out over everything you can claim as yours now.”

  “I can’t claim this,” she said, though she did peek out from under her lashes.

  “Of course you can. Just look at it and declare it yours.” His grip loosened. “Just claim it,” he said stepping to the side so that he could turn her to look out over the bow and over the beautiful blue waters, sparkling in the sunlight.

  “It’s not mine,” she insisted though the sight beckoned her to try and make it so.

  “It can be Nox,” Mason said pressing against her back. “It can be yours. I can make it yours.”

  Now she had to look away. For all his assurances these last weeks on how she wasn’t in any danger, how no one would come after her because of her association with him. How he’d protect her and keep her safe. How he’d give her whatever it was she needed to live as she wanted. He never once told her, promised her, he’d stand beside her past the end of September. He still meant to put her ashore and sail away at the end of the six months. Shaking her head she moved back and turned to put her arms around the mast. “You can’t, you won’t.”

  “I will Nox, if you ask me, I will.”

  “When we come to the last port you’re going to put me ashore and forget my name and--”

  The breath was knocked out of her when she was jerked hard against his body. “I couldn’t forget your name if my life depended on it Jane Rutherford. And I’d rather die than forget you.”

  “At the last port--”

  “The last port it can just be the next port, Nox. Nothing has to change if you don’t want.” He forced her chin up so she had to look him in the eye. “We will come to port and we will sail back out. Just as we’ve done for months now. But it need not be different. You don’t have to stay on shore.”

  “And what am I to do, then? Spend my life scrubbing boards, waiting for the next time someone you’ve crossed finds me a convenient way to strike back at you. Live life as nothing but your bedsport? What kind of life is this you say can be mine? I’m nothing now, I’ll be nothing still should I stay. And stay or go I’ll have nothing. Nothing of my own. Not even the sea, which you offer with so much hubris your name should be Xerxes.”

  “Tell me what you want then Jane. Tell me and I will obtain it for you.”

  “I don’t know,” she all but screamed as she pulled from his grasp. “I don’t know.” How could she, she’d never once thought about it. She’d never been asked to think about it. All decisions were made for her from the start, and then all those decisions became meaningless when her parents died and her inheritance was squandered.

  “Then why can’t you want this?” He raised his arm and indicated the vast ocean around them. “Why can’t you want me?”

  “I…”

  “Can’t you want me Jane? Can’t you want to stay with me?” He pulled her away from the mast and back against his body. A body she’d become so familiar with she wasn’t always sure they were the same creature.

  “As what?” she asked, stepping closer and setting her head on his chest as his arms tightened around her.

  “I don’t know,” he said causing her to look up. He was staring out over the ocean now. “Maybe just my mate.”

  Before ship life she’d have been completely offended by that offer. But it held a different meaning on a ship. If someone was your mate, they were committed to you. They’d work with you to achieve things, give their life for you in a fight. Maybe it wasn’t marriage. And maybe it wasn’t forever, but it could be the best offer she’d get now that she was ruined for any other.

  “Stay with me Nox, Stay onboard. Be a part of the crew, claim what is out there before you now.”

  “For how long?”

  “As long as it pleases you,” Mason said looking down on her. “
As long as you want. If you ever decide to go ashore, or even go to another ship…Our bargain will stand. Your compensation will be paid.”

  “You’d let me go?” She didn’t really care for that aspect.

  “I will, but you’d have to sit through hours and hours, maybe even days of me trying to change your mind,” he said with that same smile he used right before he talked her into letting him tie her up for the pleasure had in it.

  She couldn’t resist. Laughing, she turned in his arms and looked out over the sea. What could it matter? She’d everything she needed here. She was useful. She was wanted. And not just by Mason. The crew was more like family than she’d ever known. And if in time she came to know what else she might want, nothing stopped her from going after it.

  “Nox?”

  He was waiting for some kind of answer. Stepping back towards the outer rim of the pulpit she took a good look at what was before her. There was perhaps a lot she could claim. Maybe she already owned much. For sure, if she was indeed ruined, as she now understood that to mean, there was nothing worse that could be done if she stayed.

  “Nox?”

  “I don’t want to scrub decks, Captain. I really despise that chore.”

  His laughter rang out and with it her acceptance and embrace of whatever ruin found her with Captain Mason Stiles.

  About Marie Hall

  Award winning author Marie Hall's erotic romance spans the ages—from Medieval, battle-worn knights to adventure-seeking Regency pirates, and rugged lawmen settling the Wild West.

  Her heroes and heroines may be deeply-flawed, but no obstacle can surmount their love.

  Browse Marie’s books on Amazon

  Visit Marie’s website to sign up for her newsletter

  Follow Marie