by Chloe Harris
For all she knew, she could even be carrying Connor’s child. What would her husband say to that?
Shuffling along the coast as they did now under the present weather conditions, the Coraal would make it into Georgetown in three days. Connor let the pair of compasses drop on the map, rolling his shoulders to ease the tension.
Three more days he could spend with Jaidyn.
Three days left to come up with a solution to the problem of not being hanged as soon as he landed in Georgetown.
His fingers dove into his hair. Had he been seriously thinking of a plan to avoid his untimely demise?
No, unfortunately not. He’d been sure that by now Jaidyn would have opened up to him completely and would have agreed to permanently become his mistress. If she had, it wouldn’t be a problem to sail into Charleston, send a letter to his brother Kieran to tell him to meet him there. But it wasn’t meant to be that easy.
In the last few years he’d sailed undercover to ports close by, but never directly home. None of those trips had ever been comfortable. Each time he took a huge risk to keep in touch with his twin brother. Most often they met in Charleston, the crowded port there providing additional cover. Although their relationship was strained, Connor felt he still owed his brother the courtesy of keeping in touch as best he could and doing what little he could for the family business under the circumstances.
Being a rich merchant, and his neighbor a breeder of horses who was willing to lend him a mount whenever the fancy struck him, Kier didn’t have a problem with traveling to Charleston and back. Very few people outside of Georgetown knew that Connor O’Driscoll and Kieran O’Connor’s wanted brother were one and the same. As long as his visit to the Carolinas was brief and well planned, it stayed that way.
Georgetown. It was still hard to believe that’s where they were headed. Whether or not she’d agree to be his mistress was moot if the authorities in Georgetown got hold of him.
With Kieran’s aid, they’d create a diversion and Connor would accompany Jaidyn to Georgetown disguised as his brother. He’d assist her in doing whatever she obviously needed to do there and get out with her as soon as possible. Then Connor would start a new life with Jaidyn by his side. Provided his brother was in the mood to help Connor, which he never was these days. Usually, blood was thicker than water–just not in this case.
Stretching, Connor leaned back in his chair, crossing his fingers at the back of his head and leaning it into the cradle of his palms.
Now here he was, mere days away from home where everyone knew him and certain people wanted him hanged. If he could make it into port, the only logical thing to do–the only choice he really had–would be to stick her in the ship’s boat with a few of his crew and sail away as fast as the wind could take them.
Too bad there was no way he was going to do that.
Jaidyn held something back, and time was running out. He was still no closer to keeping her after they reached Georgetown. And for the life of him, Connor couldn’t figure out how to approach the subject yet again.
He wasn’t at all happy with the process he’d made getting Jaidyn to agree to be his mistress. The sad truth was that although he felt that connection with Jaidyn growing deeper with every passing moment, there was this core inside her he couldn’t reach. Something serious was holding her back and for the life of him, he couldn’t figure out what it was. With only three days left, it drove him to the brink of desperation.
One thing was for sure. It wasn’t anything they did in the privacy of the captain’s quarters. Jaidyn responded to him. So much so that she had him completely tied in knots. She was an apt and attentive pupil. There wasn’t any delight he’d introduced her to thus far that she hadn’t reveled in.
They were not just a perfect match in bed. She was fascinating beyond that. Every time he knew she didn’t see, he greedily soaked up all of her: her scent; her delicate, freckled porcelain skin; her stubborn chin; her graceful neck; the elegant slope of her body. Everything about her was perfection come alive.
There was something about her that hit him squarely in the chest when she just looked at him, or had him completely hard when he just heard her voice, that smoky, low hum that seemed to come naturally to her. And when she smiled, Connor felt ready–eager, even, to hand her his heart on a silver platter.
But what was she hiding? How could Connor get that last door she’d barred deep in her soul to open for him? What did he do wrong that she didn’t trust him with the most guarded of her secrets?
Getting up, Connor put the pair of compasses away, rolled the map, and stored it away also. Then he started to restlessly pace the cabin.
Perhaps she still couldn’t see how serious he was about committing.
Maybe she held back because she feared that someday he’d leave her and then she’d have nothing. She’d be stranded like she’d been in Grenada.
Would it last a year? Or more? Would he grow tired of hearing her voice? Would he still want to make her laugh? Would he still hunger for her touch? Would every slash of her angered words, every biting pain of her dry sarcasm not leave him hard and aching to make love to her any longer?
He didn’t think so. Somehow, somewhere deep in his gut he knew she was different.
Connor stopped in his tracks, staring out the windows. The sun illuminated him, and it was as if that foggy haze in his brain was lifted with the hot rays of light.
The truth was he couldn’t picture himself tiring of her any time soon. As a matter of fact, he wanted her with him indefinitely.
Oh my God. He was in love with her. Truly in love with her. He loved Jaidyn from deep in his soul and with all his heart.
The explanation was so simple and, Connor realized, had been there all the time.
Still, the revelation was shocking. A month ago he’d have laughed about it, called it hopelessly pathetic. He’d have set out to prove to everyone, especially to himself, there was no woman he couldn’t walk away from. But now Connor didn’t feel like laughing at all. Having prided himself on being a lone wolf that no woman could tame, he was finally brought to his knees.
Strolling closer to the windows, he braced himself against the wooden frame of one, staring into nothing.
What the hell would it take to make her understand the depth of his feelings for her?
And what on earth could he possibly do to avoid the authorities in Georgetown?
He wouldn’t trust anybody else, not even a few men from his ship, with her safety simply because there was no way he could protect her then. And he sure as hell was going to protect his woman. She might not see it that way, but Connor surely did.
An idea snuck into his head and made him suck in a deep breath and hold it.
So, disguising himself as his brother was out of the question, but why couldn’t he disguise a Dutch-flagged ship called the Coraal as … say … an English merchant’s ship called … what?
Yes, the Viola! Oh that was good. Very risky, but good.
Under the flag of the Viola he could sail right into Georgetown this time, instead of just sailing close to where he’d grown up.
Connor felt like rubbing his hands and shouting “Eureka!” but he was jolted out of his thoughts as the door behind him burst open.
10
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Jaidyn entered the captain’s cabin, still thinking too much about too many problems she couldn’t solve at the moment or any time soon. She kicked the door behind her shut with her heel, like one of her cousins would and not like the lady she was supposed to be.
She was rather peeved–a very ladylike phrasing for how she felt. Jaidyn was irritated about everything, starting with the fact that her mother’s death had forced her into this situation. She was furious that the man she’d believed to be her father had died and left her to struggle on her own. She was fuming that her maid had betrayed her, and Jaidyn couldn’t quite find the words for how angry she was that it had all come to this.
Truth be told, tho
ugh, she was just disappointed in herself. Disillusioned and frustrated. Being royally annoyed at the world was much easier than facing one’s own failure, though.
A slight commotion near the windows made her jump. Jaidyn squeaked, her hand to her throat. “Connor! I hadn’t expected you here.”
Half of him was cast in shadows, the other half of him caressed by the sun. When he turned to her, it was as if he was surrounded by an aura.
Squinting until her eyes adjusted, Jaidyn took a shaky breath. “I’ve just looked after May Hem. She’s getting fat, but nothing that a little exercise couldn’t remedy. What have you been up to–here? Alone?” Goodness, she was babbling like a wayward child caught red-handed.
“Charting.” He shrugged. “Thinking.”
His black hair was loosely tied at the back of his head with one stray strand of hair tickling his chin. The black shirt he wore gaped open until half of his perfectly defined chest was visible. Those black breeches that hid under those knee-high boots … He looked very much like the devil incarnate. Dark, forbidden, tempting her to hand over her soul. And Connor tempted her very much. In every possible way.
“Thinking about what?”
“You.” He was looking at her with that disconcertingly comforting smile that caused excited butterflies to reel in her stomach.
“Oh?” Jaidyn swallowed the sudden onslaught of lust.
Good Lord! It was time she started thinking with the brain God had given her, not with her lust-driven body or her utterly unreliable heart. No matter how much she wished it could go on, the end of their affair was tangible, looming right there on the horizon. She had to rely on her reason alone and not lose sight of her goal.
But she couldn’t deny she always felt a kind of dizzying freedom with him when he reached into her soul and plucked the deepest desires from her. As if he could read her thoughts.
Sudden greed overpowered her to experience that freedom now more than ever. She needed him to take her, to obliterate every thought plaguing her soul. She needed him to push her to the beyond, to where there was only pleasure, release, completion.
Where all that filled her was her love for him, and the rest of the world fell away.
Coyly fluttering her lashes, she stepped closer. “Perhaps I should tell you that I had impure thoughts again about Mr. Parrish.”
She let her gaze sweep over him, lingering on the bulge growing in his breeches. He was still leaning with one arm braced against the window. But Jaidyn could see his body give a subtle jolt of realization.
Goodness, he was making her quiver and itch on the inside, even more so when she thought about him ripping her clothes off, pushing her onto her back, and having his wicked way with her. But he was too much in control for that.
“Impure, you say?” He’d make her beg for fulfillment, Jaidyn could see it in his eyes. Release wasn’t going to find her any time soon–and she was going to enjoy every moment of it.
With an exaggerated sigh, she nodded gravely. “Yes, I’m afraid so.”
A smile flitted across Connor’s face just before he started to rub the corners of his mouth down to his chin. “Well,” he hummed, acting as if deep in thought. “In that case I should probably get you acquainted with my birch rod.”
“Uh …” Jaidyn was taken aback. “Is that what you call it?” She had heard that some men gave their members colorful names, but she’d never believed Connor to be one of them.
Snorting a laugh, Connor shook his head. He opened the chest next to him. Jaidyn knew it contained all sorts of pleasurable toys. Just seeing him reach for the lid had tingling anticipation reel in her belly.
Her eyes fell on the box that held the breast clamps. A shiver skittered down her spine and her nipples instantly hardened as she remembered the excruciating pain they caused. But she also recalled how they thrust her to the precipice where pain and pleasure were completely muddled. Her core clenched and Jaidyn tensed. She looked away, but it was too late. Connor had seen her stare at the case for a heartbeat too long.
“Impure thoughts, indeed.” Amusement frothed beneath the surface of his words. He reached for the case and put it next to the tray of glasses and beverages.
“This,” he explained as he produced a bundle of leafless twigs bound together, “is a birch rod. My birch rod.”
Her lips formed an “oh” she didn’t utter. Jaidyn couldn’t help but wonder what it would feel like. Her body heated up so fast, she had to bite back a moan.
“So …” All expression dissolved from his face. Jaidyn felt stirred by his glance, by that air of intimidating authority that surrounded him all of a sudden. “You admit to having been naughty again?”
“Yes, sir.”
“You know what that means.”
She inclined her head, trying to not appear too eager. “Definitely, sir. But–”
“I don’t like that word at all. You know that.”
Jaidyn thought she could hear that low growl vibrating in his chest. Her mind melted like butter left in the sun, leaving her body a buzzing puddle of ache. “I do, but please let me request most humbly to not be tied down this time.”
“Unless my memory fails me, you’ve always liked being tied down. Last night when I woke you up, for example, you–”
Quivering inside, Jaidyn tried not to think of how completely helpless she’d been to his wicked seduction then. “I would have screamed, but–”
He smirked. “You had your mouth full.”
“True, but afterward–”
“Then you did scream. They must have heard you all the way back to Grenada.”
Jaidyn grimaced.
He narrowed his eyes, and his perusal felt as if he stared right into her spirit. “Very well. I’ll consider it.”
The air in her lungs left her in a rush. “Thank you, sir.”
“Now kindly get rid of your clothes and step up to the table.”
“Yes, sir.”
In three quick strides he was at the door and locked it. Then, Jaidyn assumed, he went back to get his birch rod. She didn’t know for sure because she was busy opening the laces of her dress.
The lid of his pleasure chest fell shut with a dull thump just as Jaidyn stepped out of her garments. Without looking over her shoulder at him or what he was doing, she left her clothes in a bundle on the floor and padded to the table, leaning over it.
Her blood was rushing through her veins so fast it resembled the sound of the disgruntled sea in her ears. She felt him at her back. Relentless arousal thrummed through her. Anticipation sent a fresh gush of moisture to her throbbing folds.
“Face me.” Connor’s husky voice was filled with the steely tone clad in silk and jewels that he used with her.
When she turned, their eyes met and she forgot to breathe. His mesmerizing gaze was absorbed, intent, his whole body exuding that sensuous and all-devouring hunger, entirely predatory, entirely sexual, as though he knew all the secrets of her desire. Jaidyn couldn’t move. She felt paralyzed by the raw need staring at her. That dark heat he seemed to radiate seeped into her and was like a spark to dry tinder. Longing flared in her body.
Connor lowered his head to nuzzle the underside of her jaw. Her heart quickened when his tongue traced a pattern on her skin right down to her breasts. Then his tongue flicked over one nipple and Jaidyn gasped, her lids suddenly too heavy to keep her eyes open.
His wet mouth claimed her breast, softly sucking it. His teeth played clever tricks on it. A gentle nip. A balmy lave of his tongue. The warmth of his breath cooling the wet trail. Then the cruel bite of the clamp.
Jaidyn groaned and tensed, biting her lower lip to fight the horrendous pain.
His lips brushed her other nipple. A kiss as light as a feather. A quick flick of his tongue. A gentle suck. His teeth nipping. One last lave.
Groaning louder this time as the clamp latched onto her, Jaidyn wheezed in a deep breath. “Please! I can’t take it.”
She heard Connor’s low, knowing chuckle
. “Oh yes you can.”
“No …” Jaidyn’s wail ended in a long moan. Stifling pain gradually turned to searing pleasure. Sweat broke out along her spine as she fought the strange allure, those talons of unadulterated lust that slashed into her belly. More cream surged from her core and wet her already slick folds. Like last time, the lines between pain and pleasure blurred and sent her soaring. Her core clenched, tightened, and sobbed for him to fill her.
“That’s it. I knew you’d learn to appreciate the bite of the clamps. Turn around now.”
“Y-yes, sir,” Jaidyn stammered, blinking her eyes open. Her knees were too weak to support her any longer. As she quickly turned, her hands sought the edge of the table, clasping it to the right and left of her until her knuckles turned white.
Connor wrapped his fingers around the back of her neck and squeezed it hard as he pushed her down. “Lie down. I want your ass high up in the air.”
Her maltreated nipples brushed the surface of the table and a fresh bolt of pleasure-pain shot right to her core.
“Ohmygod,” Jaidyn panted. She was throbbing, she was aching, and she knew she was going to crest right now just because of the intensity of the sensation. Rolling her hips against the table as she instinctually sought the pressure she needed, she gasped, “I’m going to–”
“Hold. It. Back.”
She shuddered as she fought off the climax, whimpering with the lust threatening to drown her. “Yes, sir,” she hissed. “I’m sorry, sir.”
“You’re very talkative. And you’re wiggling your extremely tempting backside a little too much.” His fingers dug into the soft flesh of her buttocks shortly before she felt his right hand traveling down her cleft to bathe in the cream coating her folds there.
Jaidyn cried out. The last thing she needed as she hovered on the brink of a gigantic orgasm was for him to touch her. Wound so tightly, she clenched her passage, moaning even louder as she felt one finger thrust into her. A cascade of desire washed over her, causing her body to quiver with the fresh assault to her already sensitized core.