by Ayla Ruse
“But pirates are supposed to ravish women. Aren’t you going to take me? I am naked.”
He laughed, the sound rich and deep and so unexpected that her anger grew.
“A feisty, naked virgin. I have to say, this is a first for me. And yes, you are tempting, but my goal is higher, sweet one.” He stroked her cheek then, the action she’d yearned for minutes ago now made her lip curl.
“No. You have to ruin me.”
“I do?”
“Yes. I cannot leave until you make love to me.”
His chuckle grew grim and he stepped close. “Your uncle mentioned you were headstrong, sí? But here, I make the rules. And the rules are, one, you will get dressed or I will carry you out of here as you are. Two, I don’t make love. I fuck my women. And the women I fuck are just that—not little virgin girls trying to be more than they are.”
His face showed no emotion while delivering the insult. What had begun so promising was falling apart. But she had to ignore his words and remain true to her goal. She may have lost this round, but he was taking her prisoner. Her battle was not yet over.
Raphael de la Torres, commonly known as the pirate El Angel, stood outside Lady Elise’s door, trying his best to calm his rock-hard dick. Never had he been presented with a body as luscious as Lady Elise’s unless he’d been in a brothel—and it’d been years since he’d visited one. Even though he’d not lain with a woman in some time, it didn’t mean he’d lose control over one mere slip of a girl. He wasn’t as rash as he’d been as a young man. He was older, wiser, and willing to let that life be behind him. Soon.
For now, he was a pirate who lived for the ransoms he collected from stolen cargo. Be that drink, silks or people. The young women especially gained him a nice purse. When he’d heard that an earl’s daughter was crossing the sea, and when he’d discovered her uncle to be the governor of Carolina, he’d made plans. He had approached the uncle and tricked the man into believing he already had the girl. This deception had let him discover on which ship the girl had sailed, and which girl to take. Then it was a matter of navigating the waters to intercept the ship.
He prided himself on a ruthless reputation when it came to ransom negotiations. And when he did ransom a woman, he made sure she was very frightened of him. It kept her in her cabin and away from his men, and it kept him from the temptation to sample her and spoil the enormous rewards.
Especially as Lady Elise represented his last act of piracy. Many men he knew had already died, others disappeared, and still more were begging pardons from both sides of the sea. This ransom for Lady Elise would not only give extra lining to his pockets, but it would allow him to get close to his murdering cousin—a supposed confidant to the governor—and end his life once and for all.
A grunt followed by a curse met his ears and he forced himself not to look into the room. She was a feisty one, all right. And from what he’d seen and touched so far, she presented his biggest challenge.
When he’d pushed past Paulo to see her lush curves presented as if for his enjoyment, he’d hoped he hadn’t drooled.
All pale skin, deep curves and dark hair piled on top her head. Huge blue eyes fringed with thick lashes had stared back at him and he’d felt trapped. The instant her blonde friend had started yammering, he’d snapped into focus.
Touching and teasing Lady Elise had been a bad call, but she was a forbidden, ripe fruit his mouth watered to taste. It’d been too long since he’d enjoyed sharing the bed of a woman for anything other than slaking his own needs. He sensed Lady Elise was one he could savor, taste and truly enjoy.
The fact that she seemed to want him alternately surprised and worried him. She was supposed to fear him, fear what he could do to her. Instead, she’d stood up to him and demanded he make love to her. He coughed out a laugh. Make love. Like that was even a reality. What he did to women, the releases he gave them and himself, were raw and involved very little emotion. He didn’t do cuddling or mushy phrases. He fucked his women. Hard and fast.
“And why am I even thinking this?” he muttered. “It’s not like la chica even warrants my attention. I don’t take virgins and I don’t ruin my ransoms. Especially this one.”
His pep talk served to remind him, in no uncertain terms, that this particular ransom would be the hardest one yet to attain.
Luck was not on Elise’s side. Being stuck inside a cabin with orders to ‘stay put or else’, from one of the pirate crew only made her more irritable.
When El Angel had stepped from her room on the other ship, she’d put back on the red dress and plumped her breasts so that her nipples fairly popped out. He’d thought her a mere girl, had he? She’d show him.
But the lout had not paid one bit of attention to her. She’d stepped out with her bag in hand, and he’d tossed her over his shoulder and carried her up the stairs. Truly! She’d been passed over to someone else who brought her to the Angel’s Light, where she’d finally been able to stand on her own two feet.
She’d not had one chance to ask El Angel anything because she’d not seen him once he’d passed her off. The crew member who’d set her down had smirked at her, revealing plenty of missing teeth, then he’d grabbed her arm and pushed her into a cabin.
Elise now glanced around the room into which she’d been interred. It was larger than the cabin on the other ship. The bed was not much bigger, but it looked softer, if that were even possible. There were drawers underneath the bed and a small table and chair to the left. There was even a chest to the side on which sat her bag.
One thing was sure, this dress was damned uncomfortable. She scratched at the seams along her ribs. No wonder courtesans didn’t wear these dresses for too long. She itched to take it off. Of course, it wouldn’t itch if her chemise would have fit underneath, but that was neither here nor there, was it?
Hmm…should she keep it on and wait for the captain to show up? This didn’t seem like his room, but surely he would check on her? The thought flitted across her mind to strip, but her nakedness hadn’t tempted him overmuch. Besides, she didn’t want to be nude and have some other pirate come in.
Wait, she stopped her thoughts. She was looking to be ruined, right? Any man could do the deed. Only…
She shook her head. That may have been true a couple of hours ago, but now that she’d seen El Angel, felt his touch, she couldn’t imagine being with anyone else. Her mind played over the scenes she’d read about in the naughty book and she inserted El Angel into those roles. How delicious!
Immediately her nipples tightened and her pussy grew wet. Her nerves were already sensitive from the way the pirate captain had touched her, had spoken to her. It wouldn’t take much for her to go over. Between remembering his touch and putting him in her daydreams, she’d find relief in no time.
She checked the door and found no bolt on the inside, yet when she tried to open it, it wouldn’t budge. She rapped her palm on the door, afraid it was stuck. She heard the slide of a key before the door swung open so fast it almost hit her head.
“You be needin’ something, milady?” the man asked. He was dressed like the other crew member she’d seen—dark, tight breeches, long boots and a loose-fitting shirt. He wasn’t as handsome as the captain, but he wasn’t as homely as the one who’d led her here, either.
“It seems my door is stuck.”
“No, miss. The captain’s orders are for you to be locked in your cabin.”
“For how long?”
“Until we dock. Within a week at least.”
“You cannot mean to keep me here that long.”
“The captain may come to let you out for dinner and to take a walk about the deck if you’d like, but I’ve rarely seen a lady want to leave the cabin. Oh, you’re to know that there’s a bar for you to close the door from the inside if you want. No one will bother you here, and the captain wants to make sure you know that.”
She stared at him, speechless. He must have taken her silence as agreement because he nodded his h
ead, then shut and locked the door once more. Now Elise could see the little bar. Above the handle was a small rectangular piece of wood nailed into the wall. She tested it, and although tight, it slid over to rest on a small peg sticking out of the door. A tiny barrier. She rolled her eyes. With the lock outside, if a man wanted to get in here, this little bar wouldn’t hold anyone from getting in.
But…she eyed the bed across the room, it may be enough of a deterrent for her not to be caught by some random crew member.
She practically ran to the bed, eager to ease the ache in her body. As she did, she pulled the pins from her hair and let the long locks fall down her back and over her shoulders. She sighed, massaging her scalp, and made herself a promise that with her freedom—which she’d gain by ruination one way or another—she’d never wear her hair up if she could help it. The tight coifs every day made her head hurt.
With another sigh, she lay on the bed, welcoming the surprising softness. She really wanted to remove the dress, but she wasn’t sure how long she’d have here alone. Instead, she rucked the skirts up to her waist and shifted the neckline across her chest to free her nipples.
Touching her body was not a new experience to Elise, but every time she gave into the wicked treat, she gloried in the bliss that would follow.
Chapter Three
Raphael stalked over to the wall separating his cabin from Elise’s and leaned his back against it. It was awfully quiet over there, and he wondered what she was doing. He hoped she wouldn’t prove trouble for the crew. They were used to women being on board—he ransomed two or three a year, easy—but they’d never had anyone like Elise. Stubborn, defiant, deliciously lush and inviting.
He frowned. She’d told him, nay, demanded that he ravish her. But did she want him, or any man? Would the little minx proposition his crew? He’d already spoken with his men, but they were pirates after all. If the woman showed her nakedness to them, he couldn’t blame them for taking what would be offered.
He had shared willing women with his crew before, but the thought of Lady Elise being passed around made his skin crawl. No one had the right to touch her. No one but him.
He grimaced.
No, not even him. If anything prevented this ransom exchange, he might not get another chance to get this close to his cousin, Miguel, and slit his throat. He’d vowed, at the feet of his dying mother that he’d hunt down the bastard who’d turned them away when his mother had been deathly ill. She may have lived if he himself had been older, and his cousin had actually had a heart.
Raphael glanced down at his white-knuckled fist and forced himself to relax. One of the major conditions of Elise’s return, he’d been instructed, was that her virginity remain intact. The bastards would use a doctor to check her virtue. Even though Raphael thought the act barbaric, he was simply the delivery person, after all. What happened to her when she left his ship was not his concern. His only concern meant that she remain in her cabin, away from all of them. After all, her temptation-filled body wasn’t enough to make him lose everything he’d worked for.
A soft moan from the other side of the wall had him tensing. He turned his head and pressed his ear to the thin wood.
There it was again. Was she hurt?
He almost left to go to her, but waited instead. When her breathy moans met his ears, his cock twitched, recognizing the sound as one of lust.
No. It couldn’t be. She is a lady.
But… “No,” he said this time aloud. “A lady would never touch herself in that way.”
His gaze strayed to the dagger sticking out of the wall to his left. In between a cabinet and his bed, his quartermaster had stuck it in the burl in the wood after he’d cut around the piece. As a reminder of where the peephole was.
Raphael snorted. He’d not touched that dagger in all the years it’d been there. He wasn’t into spying on his captives.
A deep groan came through this time, louder than before. Damn.
Moving carefully, and telling himself the whole while he was checking to make sure she wasn’t injured, he grasped the dagger’s handle and pulled. The burl came out silently. The hole was oblong, and no wider than his thumb.
Holding his breath, he set his eyes to the opening and peeked into her room.
It took him a moment to orient his vision, but there across the room was Lady Elise. He blinked and his cock went to full mast. She reclined on her bed, her skirts up above her hips and her neckline dipped so that her breasts rested high, tipped with nipples so tight his mouth watered to taste them.
She had one hand on her breast, teasing the tip as he’d done a short while before. The other hand was against her pussy. He cursed the angle of his view and that her knees were bent as he couldn’t see how she was pleasuring herself.
When she let out a breathy sigh, he matched it.
She squeezed one full breast and pulled her taut nipple between her fingers. Then she rubbed over the other breast, this time tugging and twisting the nipple until it turned bright red. Her head lay against the pillow with eyes closed. His gaze trailed over her delicate cheeks, across her full lips she bit so enticingly, and he remembered how sweet her skin tasted. He regretted now not kissing her as he’d been so tempted to do. Her long neck begged for his touch and what she was doing to her body, it was all he could do to remain in his cabin.
So instead of taking her as his body begged, he did the next best thing. He put the chunk of wood with the dagger handle on the floor, then he set his forearm on the wall above the hole and rested his head there. Spreading his legs, he unlaced his breeches, pulled out his cock and imagined he was in there with her.
First he’d kiss every inch of her skin. Then he’d take her nipples and pull them into his mouth, rubbing the hard little tips against the roof of his mouth and nipping them to make her yell. Just a little.
“Oh, Angel,” she moaned and Raphael squeezed his cock. He liked hearing her call out to him.
“I want you to fuck me, captain. Yes, like that,” she murmured, her hand moving faster between her legs.
He shuttled his hand over his cock, trying to match her rhythm. All the while he started to doubt. Could she not be a virgin? If so, he could take her with no worries. But what if she simply had a fertile imagination? He’d not come across many virgins that had such desires, but they were out there. Few and far between, sure, but he wasn’t one to pigeonhole anyone.
The more she rubbed, the more she moaned and cried out his name, the faster and tighter he did himself.
Her lips pouted and her eyes squeezed shut. She was close, he could see it in the way she tensed and moved faster.
“That’s it cariño,” he whispered, the tingling sensations in his drawn up balls telling him he was just as close. “Faster,” he urged, “imagine my hard cock pounding into you. Imagine me making you come.”
“Yesssss,” she moaned, as if she’d heard and answered his plea.
His breathing grew harsh and he had a hard time keeping his own moans quiet.
“Come on, Elise. I can see you are close. Vamos,” he whispered. He pulled hard and fast on his cock, the actions mixed with watching her, imagining her, sending him higher until he couldn’t hold back. With a curse at his ill-timing, he thrust hard into his fist and came.
He forced his eyes to remain open on her, even though his breathing stopped and hot cum jetted over his hand and splashed on the wall.
His reward came when seconds later, she found her release. His cock jerked in his hand.
Her body arched, tensed, stilled, then she thrashed her head, calling out his name. “El Angel!”
He wanted to hear his given name on her lips. Her yearned to hear her sigh, “Raphael.”
She bit her lip, probably to quiet the cries she couldn’t hold back, but her pleasure was palpable. He could still hear her, and the muffled sounds tore through his body with a satisfaction that made him gasp. When her body relaxed back into herself, Raphael picked up the dagger stuck in the burl, and close
d the hidden hole.
Virgin or no, he knew he shouldn’t have her, but her innate desire was a temptation he couldn’t resist. He removed his shirt to clean himself and the wall then pulled out a new one to put on. By the time he’d crossed to his desk and poured a drink, his cock was hard again in wanting her.
He glared at the dagger in the wall. Besides being the handle to the now convenient peep hole, it also served to remind him of what he was.
He was a pirate, damn it.
And pirates took what they wanted.
He threw back his drink and twisted his lips.
And this pirate wanted Elise.
So he couldn’t take her virginity—it would destroy his life’s goal—there were plenty of other ways to take her.
A devilish grin spread on his lips. His cock twitched in agreement and he absentmindedly dropped his hand to stroke the turgid length through his breeches.
He wouldn’t jack off again like that, watching her from a damned hole. Not now, when more desirous plans of plundering were in the making.
* * * *
Elise’s stomach growled and she wondered if they planned on feeding her. She wasn’t sure how long she’d been in the room, because after she’d imagined her and the captain together, she’d fallen asleep and had woken only a few minutes ago.
She rose from the bed, straightened her gown and ran her fingers through her tangled hair. As she did so, she studied the room and frowned. She could have sworn, when she’d been in the bed earlier, that she’d heard someone, or something. A creak of wood. Harsh breathing. But that could have been from the rocking of the ship and her own ragged breaths. She’d personally locked the door so there was no way anyone could have seen her.
No, no one could have watched her stroke through her swollen lips, or touch her distended nipples or whisper the captain’s name over and over, or seen her come… Her skin flushed at the memory of her orgasm. She’d not experienced a release so hard before. Any other time she’d gotten herself off, she’d only had the brief descriptions of the author to base her fantasy man upon. Now she had a face, a body, a voice to go with the delicious naughty thoughts tumbling through her head.