Sexual Hunger
Page 25
A sly smile overtook her face. As they approached the shanty door, her mind raced. “Prove it, pirate!” she teased. “I’ll not be your princess or your prisoner until you make me give in to the demands of that monstrous cock!”
“Aaaargh! Yer askin’ fer it now, girlie-o!”
Maria ran, laughing so hard it was no contest. But what did that matter? She had no traction in the loose sand, and no real reason to evade him anyway. It was enough to be playing with her man again, chasing around the beach wearing the scantiest of—
When Jason caught the loose edge of her camisole, the lace gave way with a wicked whisper. He whirled her around. Ravished her with a lewd gaze, his eyes afire as he roughly cupped her breasts. “Where’d ye get such flimsy clothes that—”
“Your mother and sister chose them! For my trousseau!”
“—any man can rip ’em off ye?” He let out a piratical laugh. “Yer not foolin’ me fer a minute! Yer a tramp and a trollop, and ye’ll be disciplined fer yer wicked ways!” With a yank, Jason deftly removed one of the ribbon laces from her camisole. He whipped it around her wrists before she could wiggle free—not that she tried—and then led her to a sapling beside the shack.
“Please, sir!” she pleaded in a melodramatic voice. “I promise I’ll behave like a lady, if only you’ll—”
“And wot the hell would I do with a lady?” He fastened her to the tree’s slender trunk with the other lace, then tested the knot’s tightness. “In this rugged outpost, a woman’s gotta have grit to get by—unless, o’ course, she bares her ass at her man’s every whim!”
Maria could hardly talk for giggling. “And didn’t I do that fer ye just an hour ago? On account o’ yer bein’ such a nancy-boy I had to show ye how it’s done?”
“Ye’ll not be callin’ me names, missy. I can see there’s no hope fer yer wicked soul save to spank yer pretty arse—like so!”
Whap! His palm landed on the fleshiest part of her backside.
She cried out in protest, yet this sounded so familiar! Jason had reverted to the script they’d often used before he disappeared! “Oh! Oooooh!” she wailed pathetically.
“Do ye repent of yer lewd and lascivious ways, girlie-o?”
There it was again: a hint of good times past, shared in his bedroom. Maria did her best to control her excitement as she played their little game. “Nay! I’ll never repent fer the likes o’ you, Darington! Yer a pirate, and nothin’ good can come of ye!”
Smack! Smack! His hand met her backside as his laughter mingled with hers.
“Apologize, I say! Or ye can assume the position and take whatever punishment I force upon ye!” he replied gruffly. “Yer obviously too high toned fer yer own good, wearin’ the likes of them stockin’s—teasin’ every man in sight with yer naked white thighs!”
“Hah! You love my thighs! Don’t deny it, boyo!”
“There’s no help for ye, then! Plunder and pillage it is!” he crowed. “Open up—I’m comin’ in!”
Maria bent lower and shook her backside at him.
“Spread yerself! Give me sword enough room to plunge in and—”
Together they cried out as Jason entered her, filling her full of his relentless erection. Maria felt delirious at both ends: her mind reeled with all the similarities of this little skirmish, while from behind she was being pillaged with the finest sword of all. What else could she do to coax his memory back? He was so close to being the Jason Darington she’d gone to the altar for. Already so close to ecstasy, she writhed faster to catch up to him.
“Dammit, woman, yer gobblin’ me up!” he muttered hoarsely. “How’m I s’posed to make ye pay fer bein’ such a wicked wanton, if ye get me so fired up I can’t—I can’t hold back!”
With a grunt, he rutted like a crazed dog, grasped her hips to center himself. Her breasts jiggled lewdly and Maria thought he might jar her memory out of kilter.
And it felt glorious, didn’t it? To have a man—this man—so crazed for the feel of her, the ecstasy only she could deliver. Hell, even if he never came to himself, she’d found him and she would never let him go. Maria gripped him tightly with her inner muscles, allowing the rest of her body to move loosely with his.
“Jesus…Jesus…” The strained groan told her it was mere moments until—
“Holy mother of God! Maria! Mariiiii-ahhhhh!”
Maria stifled a sob of joy as she gave in to the all-consuming ache he’d inspired. She curled in on herself and grabbed the tree, allowing the waves of delicious tension to claim her once again. Because Jason had claimed her! He knew! He knew her!
His corded arms encircled her heaving rib cage. They leaned against the tree trunk, straining to breathe, to regain full consciousness…to find the words that expressed what had just happened. Jason nuzzled her bare shoulder, kissing her skin so lightly a butterfly could have been lighting. “What have you done to me, woman?” he whispered. “It was as though a wall crumbled, a wall I’d been dancing behind—trying to climb—for, well I don’t even know how long!”
“Weeks,” she murmured. “Endless weeks of empty days and nights gone unfulfilled.”
“And suddenly I…I was inside you, Maria.” He sounded incredulous, yet overjoyed. “And at that moment I was home. Where I belonged, instead of hiding out on this island, evading those who pursued me. I—I’m not even sure who they were or why they were chasing me.”
She wanted to swipe at tears, but her hands were still fastened to the tree. “Who am I, again?” she asked, testing him. No sense in letting her hopes soar if this moment didn’t last.
“Maria,” he replied prayerfully. “Maria Palladino. My Maria Palladino, thank God.”
She nodded, too moved to speak.
“I don’t know how you found me—”
“Rubio did.”
“—and there’s time for hearing the whole story,” he continued breathlessly, “but I need your assurance, Maria. I need to see your face—your beautiful brown eyes—as we discuss it.” He reached along the length of her arms to untie her wrists, rather than give up his hold on her. When he straightened to his full height, to turn her gently, Jason looked like a changed man.
“You’re back,” she whispered. “Oh, thank God, you’re back!”
He rested his forehead against hers. A moment of utter, absolute understanding passed between them as the world around them went still.
Jason broke the reverent connection with a sigh. “Tell me you’ll love me, no matter what I must confess to,” he pleaded. “While I’m aware of some details, parts of the story—pieces of the puzzle—elude me still.”
“It’s all right,” she said, taking his face between her hands. “We do have time, and between the three of us—you, me, and Rubio—we’ll fill in all the blanks. What matters most is that you’ve come back to yourself, and that I love you. We can complete our mission and take you home.”
“Yes. Home.” His eyes closed as he smiled blissfully. “I’ve missed you so badly, sweet Maria. Yet all I could do was lie awake nights, unable to put an image of you with an indescribable need I couldn’t name. Will you forgive me if things come to light that—”
He stiffened. Wrapped his arms more tightly around her, with one hand protectively at the back of her head.
“Jason? Are you all right?” she whimpered. He was nearly smothering her as he held her against his chest and bare body.
“Don’t move, love. There’s a man crossing the beach. He’s pointing a pistol at us.”
Maria peered beneath Jason’s arm. Saw the familiar uniform and hoped this was another instance of the fortuitous timing Rubio often spoke of. “Officer O’Keefe! Eric!” she called out. “This is not the time for target practice! Everything’s fine! Really, it is!”
O’Keefe stopped a short distance away, holding the gun steady. “It was one thing to watch you cavorting on the beach, Miss Palladino. But when this man tied your wrists and took you prisoner, I thought the tides might have turned—”
The arms around her tightened when she tried to face O’Keefe. “So you did come with the law?” Jason muttered. “If this is some underhanded ploy to—”
“No, Jason! This man, Chief Officer O’Keefe, is the reason we could sail to Ocracoke to find you. Captain MacLeod refused to—oh, it’s rather complicated!”
“And considering the way he’s looking at you—gawking at you, Maria—I will require an explanation!” Jason exclaimed. “Who is this man?”
She closed her eyes, exasperated. Why were men sometimes so lackadaisical about details, yet so damn dense and insistent at others? Not five minutes had passed since Jason recalled who she was, and he was already in a jealous snit! “If you’ll let me step inside—and if you’ll fetch my clothes from the beach,” she said in a strained voice, “we’ll have our proper introductions so the truth can come to light.”
“Here, sister. I’ve been trailing you, to be sure all went well.” Rubio stepped from behind the little shanty with her scarlet skirt and jacket folded over his arm. “We men shall set things straight while you make yourself presentable. Then—just as I’d predicted!—we can start back to Charleston.”
She’d known her younger brother all his life, yet it wasn’t easy to look him in the eye as he handed over her clothing. It was one thing to be naked with Jason; another thing entirely to feel so exposed, knowing Rubio and Eric O’Keefe had witnessed both bouts of their lovemaking. Now they watched her breasts sway between the parted halves of her lace camisole…saw the way her black garter belt framed the dark vee of hair between her bare thighs.
“You had it right,” she said, partly to placate Rubio and partly to return his thoughts to the business at hand. “I’ll leave the formalities to you, brother dearest, since you know both of these men.” Into the shack she hurried, ducking beyond the windows so she could dress in relative privacy.
Outside, Rubio grilled her fiancé. “It’s good to see you again, Jason. Good to hear you and my sister have rediscovered each other—”
“But why are you holed up in such poverty and desolation?” O’Keefe demanded. “You’ve stolen enough cargo from three Darington ships, and probably others, to be living quite handsomely.”
“And why should I tell you that?”
Maria winced as she stepped into her skirt. They sounded like dogs circling with their teeth bared, and a confrontation would erupt if she didn’t prevent it. Without the laces that held her camisole together, there was nothing to do but hold her buttonless jacket over her breasts until she returned to her cabin on the steamship. Her hair felt like a rat’s nest, beyond repair, so she stepped back out into the afternoon sunlight.
“You don’t appreciate such questions, Jason, for they suggest we don’t trust you,” she remarked softly, “but I, too, wondered why you’ve landed in such a…dismal setting. And if we can return the cargo you plundered, the partners in Charleston are less likely to toss you in jail with your brother.”
Jason blinked. He stepped into his pants—an awkward task with two watchdogs looking on—and then scowled. “I have a twin, you say? Oh, wait—” He grimaced, as if forcing his mind to travel backward for such details. “Jude! We look so much alike that you, dear Maria, are among the few who can distinguish us.”
“There! See—he’s coming back!” She smiled pointedly at Jason’s interrogators and then took her fiancé’s hand. “When we got off the steamer in Charleston, your father’s partners seized Jude, thinking he was the pirate in the WANTED poster! The police hauled him to jail, so your mother and Polinsky were to search out a lawyer to—”
“Polinsky? Do I know this fellow?”
Maria glanced at her brother and O’Keefe, wondering how much to reveal: would Jason’s memory withstand so much startling information at once? “He…Yosef Polinsky is a magician and a medium, a different sort entirely from Rubio, and he came along to help us find you,” she hedged.
Jason nodded doubtfully. “So Jude is in jail because I have plundered ships, like a pirate from the days of yore?”
Rubio smiled as he handed Jason a folded paper. “Johnny Conn has led the authorities on quite a chase,” he remarked. “In fact, it was this WANTED poster, along with a telegram from the Darington Shipping partners, that upset your father so…so terribly, that I’m sorry to inform you of his demise. You have my deepest sympathy, Jason.”
The medium paused to let this information sink in; to watch the shock play upon Jason’s features as Maria wrapped her arms around him. “This makes you the new Lord Darington,” she continued in a low, earnest voice, “which means you must stop plundering ships and eluding the authorities, so you can go home to manage the estate for your mother.”
Jason’s mouth fell open and then shut again. He stared at the poster as though the character looking back at him were a complete mystery. “My God, I…I had no idea. So how did I come to be in America? Acting like a pirate?”
“You were shanghaied, we believe. From your bachelor party, the night before you were to marry Maria.”
Jason’s hand fluttered to the back of his head. Then he gazed at Maria in horror. “This explains my terrible headaches…and now I recall a captain whose cruelty inspired a mutiny, and I—I took charge!” he exclaimed as the recollections returned. “I commandeered the Sea Witch, and the others elected me their captain!”
“Not surprising,” Maria said with a grin. “But where are they now?”
He cleared his throat ruefully. “Some of them, like me, were on board against their will and elected to return home. Others wanted no part of my…pirate escapades once the port authorities came after us. So I guess I’m the last man standing, as far as proud, stalwart swashbucklers are concerned.”
“And a fine swashbuckler you are, too,” Maria murmured.
“Wily enough that I didn’t attack those ships you say I plundered.” He gestured beyond the beach to the open ocean. “The Outer Banks have seen many a shipwreck over the centuries because of their dangerous shoals and tricky inlets. I merely teased those crews into chasing me into the shallows, so their ships ran aground.”
O’Keefe’s eyes widened. “So you didn’t engage them in battle? Or otherwise seek to destroy Darington Shipping property?” he asked in a thoughtful voice. “If you can prove that, I shall report it to the company partners. Perhaps get the charges against you waived, if you’ll go before the magistrate or whatever else the men in Charleston ask of you.”
“I can do that. As long as—” He gripped Maria’s hand, looking lost in thought again. “As long as you promise me, Maria, that such revelations won’t dissuade you from marrying me. Does this mean you went to the church, preparing for the wedding and…”
“You were nowhere to be found,” she affirmed quietly. “Your father and Jude searched for you, interrogated your friends. But even Scotland Yard had no idea where you’d disappeared to.”
Jason let out a slow, sad sigh. “I am so sorry. That was never my intent, sweet Maria. I cannot imagine the shame you’ve endured. Not to mention Mother’s reaction.” He fingered the jeweled butterfly then, as if it made more of his memory return. “If you have doubts about my love, my intentions, I’ll remain here as an outcast rather than ruin your chances…to marry a man more deserving of you.”
His contrite tone made her heart beat painfully hard. “Who says I’d be ruined?” she shot back. “If your father’s partners are too pigheaded to—”
“My partners now? This is all so much to take in,” he murmured.
“—believe your story and Officer O’Keefe’s report, then to hell with them!” Maria blurted.
Rubio laughed. “And there you have it! Sent
iments expressed as only my dear sister knows how!” He grinned at Eric O’Keefe. “Shall we inspect those ships? I can’t wait to see the look on Polinsky’s face—and to rub those partners’ beaky noses in it—when we reveal what we’ve found here.”
28
The devastation of three proud ships was a painful sight, even to Maria, as she studied the wreckage from the rail of the Fortune’s Opportunity. The grounded Darington vessels lay on their sides like corpses, with smokestacks, pilothouses, and other parts sticking dejectedly out of the waves. Rubio steered the steamer well to the east of the treacherous shoals in Cape Hattaras, Pea Island, and the Drum Inlet, so O’Keefe could discuss the incidents with Jason.
“Tell me this, Darington,” the chief officer mused aloud. He peered through his binoculars as though he couldn’t believe what he was seeing. “How is it these ships ran afoul of the sandbars and shoals, when their captains were familiar with these obstacles?”
“I have no idea what they were thinking, sir. Once I raised my colors and sailed within spitting distance, they were in it for the sport. And I won.”
Maria chuckled. “After word of the first shipwreck, I’ll wager the subsequent engagements were more to even the score—or so those captains could have the honor of capturing the illustrious Johnny Conn.”
“I know I considered it a contest,” Jason replied with a grin. “And they were so easily led into it!”
“And where was the captain of the Sea Witch? The man who shanghaied you?”
Jason gazed at the wreckage as he thought back. “When we mutinied, we put him off on an uninhabited island to fend for himself. Dunner, his name was…had a cruel streak a mile wide,” he recalled with a scowl. “Nobody talked of it for fear of his vengeance, but we’d heard more than one sailor crying out for mercy during a flogging. We didn’t have as many men complete the voyage as started it.”
Eric O’Keefe lowered his binoculars, considering this. “So, did you stash the Darington cargo, as we’ve been led to believe? Or have you already bootlegged it—”