by Connie Mason
“Your mother is dead?” asked Adam, startled by her disclosure. “I … I didn’t know. But that still doesn’t excuse her. She led my father on, made him fall in love with her, knowing there was no hope for him, for your father would never let her go. How … how did she die? An accident?”
“I … I’m not sure. All my father would tell me was that she died suddenly fifteen years ago. I don’t even have a picture of her. I thought it was because he loved her so much that he burned everything that reminded him of her.”
“It matters little.” Adam shrugged carelessly. “However she died my father is gone because of her and your father. I made a vow to avenge his death one day by depriving your father of something or someone he values highly.” He stared at her pointedly.
“Me!” breathed Alexa. “You’re punishing me because of something my parents did fifteen years ago! It’s so unfair! How am I to be punished for the sins of my father?”
“You won’t be hurt, Alexa,” Adam assured her stonily. “I don’t abuse women physically.”
“Then how …? Oh, no,” she gasped, her violet eyes dark with horror. “Fox was right, you do plan on … on ravishing me. But if that’s what you intend why didn’t you just do it and let me go?”
“There’s more to it than that, milady. I intend to keep you with me and make you my mistress until I tire of you. Your father has already been given a message outlining my intentions. He knows that you are being held by the son of Martin Foxworth, the man who stole the heart of his wife. How do you think he’ll react to the information that his innocent daughter is being corrupted time and again by the son of the man whom his wife loved?”
Alexa could only stare at Adam, amazed at the amount of hatred stored within his tall frame. Fifteen years of hate. All directed at her father, and indirectly at her. Adam expected to hurt her father but it was the daughter who would ultimately suffer.
“My father won’t let you get away with this,” Alexa declared, lifting her small chin belligerently. “No doubt he has already informed the king and you are being hunted down this very minute.”
Adam smiled complacently. “Looking for whom? No one knows that the newly created Lord Penwell is Adam Foxworth. In my note I identified myself only as the son of Martin Foxworth. It will be like looking for a needle in a haystack. Besides, we’ll soon be far from London and I’ve been careful to leave no clues as to our destination.”
“If you think I’ll give in to you without a fight, you’re sadly mistaken,” Alexa informed him, eyeing him warily from beneath lowered lids.
Adam chuckled, vastly amused. “Your reluctance does not overly worry me,” he told her with typical male conceit. “The fact remains that in my own good time I will bed you and make you my mistress. In due time you will be returned to your father no worse for the wear. Every time he looks at you he will be reminded that I have had my revenge for my father’s death. Two women he loved were taken from him and used by the Foxworths, both father and son.”
“You’re mad!”
“Of course. You would be too if you were forced to wait fifteen years for vengeance, your hate festering with the passage of time.”
By the set expression on his hard features Alexa could tell he was implacable. Nothing she could say or do would change his mind. Would he ravish her now? she wondered desperately, slowly backing away from his salacious intent.
But Adam’s only reaction was a thin-lipped smile, bleak and derisive. “Have no fear, milady,” he informed her with cool hauteur. “I’ll have you in my own good time, when and where I choose.”
“Monster! Cad!” she shot back hotly. “I’d rather bed … Fox!” The moment she said it she was sorry, clapping a hand to her mouth. Adam’s face wore a stunned expression as his mouth dipped into a deep frown and his eyebrows shot up in amazement.
“Is that so, milady?” he mocked.
Alexa found a perverse pleasure in the challenge as she nodded vigorously, eyeing him with cold contempt. She would not be cowed by this brute! she vowed silently.
Their eyes met and a vaguely sensuous light passed between them. His power and self-confidence were awesome and Alexa fought against his charisma. Her wild emotions were quickly eroding her courage and she looked away. Adam chuckled, enjoying her struggle to capture her composure.
“We reach our destination tomorrow, Alexa,” Adam informed her, using her name for the first time. “We will leave the ship together.”
Before Alexa could find her voice and question him further concerning their destination, he was gone.
That evening Mac brought Alexa a tempting tray and bid her good-bye, telling her he would be busy the next day and wouldn’t see her before she left the ship. “Where am I being taken, Mac?” Alexa asked anxiously.
“Adam will tell you, I’m sure.”
“Adam!” Alexa scoffed derisively. “How could you condone what he is doing when you know what he intends?”
Mac had the grace to look embarrassed, his face nearly as red as his hair. “I won’t interfere, milady. I couldn’t even if I wanted to. No one meddles with Adam when his mind is made up. He has promised me you won’t be mistreated and I believe him.”
“What do you call rape? It is the worst kind of mistreatment.”
Shifting uncomfortably from foot to foot Mac refused to meet her gaze. “I’m … sorry, Lady Alexa, truly I am. But my hands are tied. In parting I’d advise you to allow Adam his way in this. He’s not as bad as you seem to think. Many women would envy your position.”
“Then let them have him! I just want to go home and marry Charles.”
“You still can marry your Charles after … after …”
“After Adam tires of me, is that what you’re trying to say?”
“Good-bye, Lady Alexa,” Mac said, flushing darkly. “Perhaps we’ll meet again.” Then he was gone.
Once again Alexa was alone with her thoughts. If they were to reach their destination the next day surely they weren’t too far from London. They could be going to France or some remote section of England where no one would think to look for her. Raging at the unfairness of it all, Alexa readied herself for bed, stripping to her brief chemise and climbing between the sheets.
Glancing toward the porthole she noticed that it was another moonless, starless night and she shuddered when she thought of what had nearly happened the night before. As long as she was aboard The Gray Ghost she was physically threatened not just by one man, but by two. Breathing deeply and trying to forget her predicament, Alexa finally fell asleep.
The door slid open noiselessly but the sound of the key turning in the lock startled Alexa into wakefulness. “Who’s there?” she called out, her voice trembling. “Go away, Adam!” For some unexplained reason she was certain her intruder was Adam. A raspy chuckle soon disabused her of that notion.
“Fox, my God, what are you doing here?”
“You fooled me, milady,” he whispered hoarsely. “You told me it was Lord Penwell you preferred when all the time it was me you wanted.”
“No! No! I didn’t mean it! I want neither of you!” Her eyes narrowed suspiciously. “How do you know what I said? Were you listening at the door?”
“I know everything that takes place on this ship.” The huskiness of his voice mesmerized her. “I have my ways of finding out. I’m here to grant you your wish.”
Before she could protest the mattress sagged beneath his weight. Immediately her hands flew to his face and she wasn’t a bit surprised to find that the inevitable mask was missing. Her fingertips found his mouth which was spread in a wide grin. When they slid down his torso she was shocked to discover he was bare to the waist.
She opened her mouth to protest but his lips robbed her of reason and thought. His tongue surged between her lips, exploring the velvet recesses of her mouth in a way that sent her pulses racing and filled her with a strange excitement in the pit of her belly. Her skin registered the slight roughness of his fingertips as they traced the delicate
knobs of her spine through her shift. Her breasts surged against his chest begging to be freed to the feel of his hands. Eagery he obliged her as he lifted her shift and drew it over her head.
“Alexa,” Fox groaned huskily. “You set me afire.”
His words seemed to bring her out of her trance and she realized she was about to lose her virginity to a pirate, a rogue and an enemy of England. She began to struggle, pushing against the solid wall of his chest, lightly furred with thick curly hair.
Searing the soft skin of her neck with his lips, he slowly stroked it with his tongue. Roving downward he found a rosy nipple and sucked it into his mouth, nipping it gently with his teeth. Alexa knew the only reason she did not cry out was because she was holding her breath, helpless to halt the yearnings that washed over her. When he slipped his fingers between her thighs, a shiver of protest gripped her, but his rhythmic stroking soon quieted her as she spiraled higher and higher, searching for something … something …
Suddenly his weight left her as he struggled to cast off his trousers. Then he was back and she felt something hard and hot probe at the softness between her thighs. It managed to wedge itself a little ways inside, and she squirmed uncomfortably, trying to escape it. It prodded at her again, harder this time, and she arched to escape it, thereby aiding Fox as he broke through her maidenhead. Pressing his advantage he slid into her so far she was certain she would die of the sweet pain.
A cry rose in her throat but was lost in the depths of Fox’s mouth as his tongue darted inside like a rapier to pierce her resistance. He stilled his hips, savoring her while she grew accustomed to his size before moving in the age-old rhythm of love.
“Alexa, Alexa,” Fox murmured throatily against her breast. “you are so sweet. Come with me, my love.”
Alexa moaned, tossed on the waves of her own surrender. This couldn’t be happening to her. Only her lawful husband had the right to possess her, not a man who hadn’t the courage to show his face. And then his forceful thrusts were carrying her away on a spinning cloud and she was too weak to fight him. A trembling began in her thighs as something fluid and mysterious began to build in her.
Smiling to himself Fox was aware of Alexa’s excitement and the pleasure he was giving her despite her initial reluctance. As he surged into her moist, silken sheath, he felt waves of ecstasy encompass her, and she cried out rapturously as he branded her flushed face with his kisses. Only when she was still did he allow his own passion free rein as his huge frame shuddered convulsively and he joined her in paradise.
Alexa came to her senses first, pushing at Fox until he raised himself and shifted his weight to rest beside her. “You’re incredible,” he sighed breathlessly, running his hand possessively along the rise of one slim hip. “Virgin or not, you have more passion in your petite body than a woman with years of experience. You’ve given me something precious to carry in my memory for years to come.”
Alexa was stunned by her response to Fox and his lovemaking. Never in her wildest dreams had she imagined making love could be so pleasurable. Of course she had her romantic musings, what girl didn’t? All she really knew of sex was what she read in romance novels she bought without her father’s knowledge. And they stopped far short of full disclosure. Quite often she had tried to envision what it would be like to make love with Charles but the thought usually left her cold and depressed. From all she had overheard or been told she assumed it was a duty she must perform perfunctorily, giving her little pleasure. But Fox had just proved otherwise.
“Why so quiet, love?” Fox purred in a low, raspy voice. “Have I disappointed you?”
“Oh, no, I mean, oh, I don’t know,” Alexa answered, confused. “I should hate you but I’m not certain how I feel.”
“Did I give you pleasure?”
“You know you did.” Alexa admitted, blushing. She was glad the cabin was too dark to make out her features.
“Then don’t feel remorse at what we did. What you felt was natural and right.”
“Will I feel the same with anyone?” Alexa asked curiously.
“I hope not,” Fox teased, bending his head to press a kiss on her trembling mouth. “But any man worth his salt has the power to bring a woman to climax and give her pleasure.”
Alexa said nothing but seriously doubted another man could give her the same pleasure as the mysterious Fox. At that precise moment thoughts of Adam Foxworth were so far removed from her mind as to be nonexistent, for Fox’s hands and lips were once again carrying her into a world where no one existed but the two of them.
Before she fell asleep she heard him whisper huskily, “We are far from finished, my lovely Alexa. We will meet again.”
A persistent knocking roused her from a dreamless sleep and Alexa immediately looked to the pillow beside her, knowing instinctively that she was alone. No doubt Fox had risen long before dawn to return unseen to his own cabin. “Who is it?” she called out sleepily.
“It’s Adam. We’ve arrived. As soon as you’ve dressed and had breakfast meet me on deck.”
Alexa was out of bed like a flash, gazing out the porthole. She gasped in delight at the awesome panorama spread out before her. The ship appeared to be anchored a short distance from shore in a small sheltered cover. Above her on three sides rose steep gray cliffs stark against a cloudless blue sky. Atop one majestic outcropping hung the outline of a castle, magnificent yet bleak and forbidding with tall turrets pointing skyward in splendid artistry.
Catching her breath in wonder Alexa hurried into her clothes and rushed topside to the small wardroom where Hayes, grinning toothlessly, served her breakfast. She reached the deck just as a longboat was being prepared to be lowered into the sparkling blue water. Adam was waiting for her.
His eyebrows arched mysteriously as he asked coolly, “Did you sleep well.”
Alexa froze in terror as he searched her face. Did he suspect something? she wondered bleakly. What would he do if he knew Fox had come to her bed last night and made love to her? Aware that Adam was waiting for her answer, she stammered, “I … yes, of course I did.”
“Good,” he answered, his mouth twisting wryly. “When I noticed those dark shadows beneath your eyes I thought perhaps you had trouble sleeping.”
Automatically her hands flew to her flushed face, her dark sooty lashes lowering to hide her embarrassment. But she was saved from responding when the longboat hit the water with a splash and Adam gripped her elbow. “Shall we go over the side, milady?” he asked smoothly.
“O-over the side? You mean climb down to that boat in the water?”
“Exactly. Shall we go?”
“No! I can’t!” refused Alexa stubbornly. “This ballgown I’m wearing is hardly suitable for such activity.”
Adam eyed her narrowly, silently agreeing with her. Suddenly he turned and marched her back to her cabin. “Wait here,” he ordered brusquely, “I’ll be back directly.”
Curious as to what exactly he had in mind, Alexa patiently waited for Adam’s return. Fifteen minutes were to pass before he re-entered the cabin carrying an array of sailor’s garb over his arm. “Put these on,” he ordered. “It’s the best I could do on short notice. At least they are clean.”
Alexa grimaced at the white pants and shirt as she held them gingerly between her fingers, but realized they were far better suited to climbing ropes than a ruined ballgown. She began to remove her dress until she suddenly remembered that Adam was still in the room. She looked at him pointedly.
“Soon your body will hold no secrets, milady,” he bowed mockingly. “But if it will make you feel better I will wait for you topside.”
Changing swiftly, Alexa returned topside, glancing around for Mac so she might bid him good-bye. But he was nowhere to be seen. Instead her eyes came to rest on the Fox standing loose-limbed on the bridge, his mask firmly in place. His hand raised in a gesture of farewell and she managed a tremulous smile before Adam came forward to help her over the side. If he noticed her wistful expres
sion he said nothing. And then she was far too busy concentrating on descending the side of the ship without mishap to worry about anything else.
The longboat set them off on the narrow strip of sand below the cliffs and returned immediately to the ship. Alexa gazed about her forlornly, feeling as if she were stranded in another world.
“Come along, milady, Adam urged, pushing her forward.
Alexa eyed the cliffs warily, fully aware that she could not scale those lofty heights. Not even comfortably clad in her sailor’s garb, which surprisingly was a fair fit. The pants were too big in the waist but hugged her hips enticingly while the shirt was a snug but adequate fit if she rolled up the sleeves. The look on Adam’s face when he first saw her dressed assured her that she was not unattractive in her new clothes.
“Adam,” she finally said, exasperated. “There is no way I’ll be able to climb those cliffs.”
“I know,” he smirked confidently. “But there is no need for such tactics. Follow me.”
Keeping close to Adam, Alexa was astounded when he led her toward a small cave whose yawning mouth was completely hidden behind a huge boulder. When he crouched to enter, Alexa obediently followed. Taking a flint from his pocket Adam struck a light to a torch conveniently placed in a sconce on the stone wall and Alexa was surprised to see that the cave was large and roomy, allowing them space to stand erect. Holding the torch with one hand and Alexa with the other. Adam led her toward a small passage to the right of the cavern.
With the torch lighting their path the passage led steadily upward and Alexa panted from her exertions. Suddenly they came to a flight of stone steps which they slowly negotiated. Then another, twisting to the left. Then another. And finally a door set into the stone wall. Adam extracted a key from his pocket, fit it in the lock and the door creaked open, protesting loudly from disuse.
Adam stepped into the room first, bowing low as Alexa crossed over the threshold. “Welcome to Penwell Castle, milady,” he said, his brooding face breaking into a half-smile that did little to allay her fears. “I hope your stay will prove enjoyable.”