It had been easy to talk to Birk of seducing Alex, she thought as she laid the satin raiment across the bed. But now that the plan required action, she found herself hesitating. She had no qualms about sacrificing her innocence to save her father’s life. Yet she had always expected that when she gave herself to a man, he would at least be her husband, someone to whom she had made a commitment.
She sighed. Slowly she untied the sash of Alex’s robe and let the garment fall to the floor. She was attracted to Alex. Admitting that to herself made her task a bit easier. Yet to actually lure the man to her bed in exchange for services rendered smacked of harlotry. He had named her his mistress before all the crew, and now she would become so in truth.
She stepped out of Marcus’s breeches and kicked them aside with pleasure. Naked, she ran her fingers through her tangled hair and then looked down at her unclothed body. She knew she was beautiful. Yet was she attractive enough to entice Alex? She smoothed her hands over her hips. There was only one way to find out. She picked up the chemise. From this moment on, everything would change.
She managed to dress by herself, though the lack of a corset made the garments fit uncomfortably. The laces in the back of the bodice would not meet, and the ones in the front were false laces, for decoration only. The skirts hung long without the petticoats to hold them up. Still, anything was better than Alex’s robe. Even though she couldn’t lace up the back, she felt proud of herself. Never before had she gotten dressed without Maude’s help. She tried not to breathe too deeply for fear of losing the bodice, and she left the laces dangling, thinking to ask Birk’s help with that small duty.
Her hair proved a difficult task, and she now understood why Maude tended to mutter beneath her breath while dealing with it. She could not duplicate any of her normally fashionable hairstyles, but she managed to brush the tangles free and tie it back in some semblance of order.
Once finished, she stood a moment and contemplated what she was about to do. The moment she stepped out of the cabin, she would become a pirate’s mistress. She gave up her virtue and her reputation without any misgivings out of love for her father. Yet part of her feared what would happen when she sacrificed her virginity to El Moreno. Would he be gentle out of care for her maidenhood? Or would he rend her like a beast and devour her for his own pleasure?
She prayed that the flirtations she had learned from society would be enough to entrance him, that he might approach her as a lover and not a conqueror. But if it saved her father’s life, she would endure even that.
With a small sigh, she opened the door and went to meet her fate.
Alex watched over the repairs with a critical eye. They would arrive at Besosa late tomorrow afternoon, where they would repair the hole in the hull…and put Diana ashore.
He closed his eyes to avoid thinking about his comely captive and her outrageous offer. Instead he inhaled the sea air and listened to the creaks of the timbers and the snap of the sails in the wind, reminding himself that this was his idea of heaven.
“Good morning, captain.”
His eyes flew open as Diana made her way across the deck, with Birk following her like a protective duenna. Daintily she sidestepped the men scattered about mending sail, apparently immune to the stares and leers of the crew around her. She had donned the dress he had meant for his mother, but it did not look quite as he had expected it to.
While the saffron silk looked wonderful with Diana’s vivid coloring, and the black lace trim enhanced her very fair skin, the gown was cut lower than he remembered. Diana’s bountiful bosom looked as if it would fall out of the top that she held to her chest with both hands. The breeze blew her skirts against her, clearly outlining her legs and announcing to all and sundry that the woman wore not a petticoat underneath. Knowing he had purchased the proper undergarments for the gown, he wondered what the devil she hoped to accomplish by marching about his ship half naked.
He glanced at Birk. His good friend shrugged and rolled his eyes, indicating his total helplessness in the face of Diana’s will.
“Do you not even say good morning?” she chided as she came to a stop before him.
“When it is a good morning.” He scowled.
“I see the foul humor of last night plagues you still, captain.”
“Aye, there’s a plague about, a red-haired plague.”
She clucked her tongue. “Captain, how unkind.” Her voice carried the teasing lilt he had often heard in ballrooms. She smiled, her gray eyes warm, and desire stirred his blood.
“Is there some reason you have chosen to honor me with your presence this morning, Mistress Covington?” he snapped, irritated by his uncontrollable reaction to her.
“Why yes.” She turned her back to him. “I believe I left my lady’s maid at home. Would you mind?”
He looked at the garment before him, half laced and all but falling off her. He was uncomfortably aware that only one layer of flimsy cloth separated his hands from her bare skin. Torquemada could not have created a better torture. He looked up and glared at Birk.
“You couldn’t have done this?”
“I’ve no wish tae lose my hands fer touchin’ the captain’s woman,” Birk said, all innocence.
Alex sealed his lips against the sharp retort that hovered there. Too many ears listened, and too many eyes watched them. With the grimness of a man forced to perform an execution, he yanked on the laces. He ignored Diana’s soft gasp as the garment tightened around her uncorseted middle and threaded the laces through the holes with grim precision. Each time his fingers brushed the chemise, he could feel the warmth of Diana’s skin through the thin material. He gritted his teeth and kept going. When his knuckles slid over her spine, she made a soft noise, and blood rushed to his loins. The woman was a menace, he reminded himself. She was a spoiled, willful child.
If only she weren’t so bloody beautiful.
Her hair curled over his wrist as he slipped the laces through the last holes. Impatiently he brushed it over her shoulder, only to have the wind blow a few strands back at him. The errant tendrils gleamed with lively fire and drifted over his lips and nose like a spider’s web. He’d be damned if he let himself be ensnared, though. He performed this charade to protect Diana from his lusty crew, and for no other reason than that.
Certainly, he didn’t enjoy it.
“There.” He tugged the laces hard and tied them off quickly, then stepped back from her. She turned to face him, a smile on her lips, and smoothed the skirts of her gown.
“Why thank you, captain. You are most kind.”
Her saucy tone irritated him. “In that you are wrong, my dear. I am not a kind man.”
She laughed, a melodious sound that clashed with the snap of the sails and the slosh of the sea against the hull. Her society airs did not belong here. And neither did she.
“I believe you have wasted enough of my time,” he said low enough for only her to hear. “Either amuse yourself elsewhere, or you will pass the rest of the voyage below decks.”
She stopped laughing, a flash of hurt streaking across her face before she concealed it. “Must you be so harsh, captain?”
He leaned closer. “I know what you are about, mistress. And your coquette’s wiles have no effect on me.”
She tossed her fiery curls and propped her hands on her hips. “Indeed? I am beginning to believe that you are not interested in women at all!”
Alex stared at her. She laughed in his face, a deprecating sound that was at odds with her flirtatious mien of before.
“Do not look so surprised. Indeed, you must think me completely naive, sir. Pray, do not forget that I grew up in Port Royal, one of the wickedest cities in the Indies. Or that I am the daughter of a rather blunt-speaking man. I am not so innocent of the world as you would believe me.”
Birk recovered from his shock before Alex did. “The captain’s no bloody catamite!” he spluttered.
She eyed Alex from top to toes and arched her brows. “Perhaps.”
/>
Alex gave her a predatory smile. “Just because I do not see fit to bed you, my dear, do not assume that I do not enjoy women as much as any other man.”
Her cheeks flushed. “I don’t know what you are talking about.”
He laughed and yanked her against him. Enjoying her discomfiture, he slid one hand down her back to gently caress her bottom. She struggled, but he held her fast. “Now, now, my sweet. Let us not give the game away. You are supposed to be my mistress.”
She would not meet his eyes. “Let me go,” she muttered.
“I do not choose to.” She jerked her gaze to his and glared. He laughed again, long and loud. “So fierce, my sweet? You would lure me with a girl’s pouty looks and teasing comments when ‘tis a woman I want in my bed.”
“All you will find in your bed is rats,” she snapped. “Now release me.”
He let her go so abruptly that she stumbled. “Only little girls tease a man and then pull away in virginal fear. Go play with your toys, little one, and leave the seduction to the women who can handle the reality.”
She straightened her spine and raised her chin in that way that he knew meant a challenge. “I am woman enough for you, El Moreno, if only you were man enough to take what is offered.”
She turned her back on him before he could answer and took off in a flurry of yellow satin. Birk looked at Alex, shook his head like a man disappointed, and followed Diana’s path.
“I am more than man enough for you,” Alex murmured to himself. “That is indeed part of the problem.”
“That man is entirely too involved with himself,” Diana declared as she stormed across the deck. Birk caught up with her and took her arm, slowing her to a walk.
“Easy, lass,” he murmured. “Keep yer voice down now.”
“I don’t want to keep my voice down.”
“If it gets about that ye’ve quarreled wi’ the captain, ye might find yerself in a bit o’ difficulty.”
“What are you talking about?”
Birk jerked her to a stop. Holding her gaze with his, he said softly, “Ye’ve brought a bit o’ attention on yerself, lassie, no all o’ it good. No every man aboard is as honorable as the captain.”
“I have my own opinion of the captain, Mister Fraser, and I assure you that it does not include honor!”
“Now there, hen.” With a gentle but firm hand, Birk guided her to a private place at the rail. “Dinna be so severe on the man. It’s naught but yer pride speakin’.”
“He is so infuriating!” Diana clenched her hands on the rail and turned to look out over the ocean. “How can I seduce a man who does not want me?”
“He wants ye, lassie. More than he would like.”
She glared at him. “He called me a child.”
“He disna like what ye make him feel.” Birk sighed. “He’s no the same man that first went after Marcus. I’ve kent him many a year, and the change in him disturbs me.”
She frowned. “How so?”
Birk’s expression grew troubled. “He disna think beyond makin’ Marcus hang fer his crimes. He forgets that he has a life tae live after that.”
“A fine life indeed if he does away with his greatest rival,” Diana scoffed. “The seas will be his to plunder.”
“There’s more tae it than ye ken,” Birk murmured. “Still, an obsession can be an unchancie thing. It consumes a man ‘til there is nothing left.”
“Your captain is well up to the task,” Diana retorted.
“Ye’re a hard-hearted lassie.” Birk crossed his arms. “Can ye no find a bit o’ kindness in ye fer thon laddie?”
She felt a twinge of sympathy, but her own goals remained firmly fixed in her mind. “The only kindness I can afford is for my father. Alex will not even consider the possibility that Papa is innocent. I need to make him listen to me.”
She glanced across the deck at Alex. He stood with feet firmly planted on the smoothly rocking deck, looking dangerously handsome in his trademark black. Sunlight gleamed off the mane of dark hair falling to his shoulders. She remembered how silky that hair had felt tangled around her fingers when he had kissed her yesterday. And how much his rejection had stung today.
“Ye can make him listen, lassie. It might take a bit o’ time, that’s all.”
“I don’t have a lot of time.” She tore her gaze from Alex to look at Birk. “Each day that passes brings my father closer to the hangman. And El Moreno is the only man who can help him.”
“There’s nae certainty in that,” Birk reminded her. “Ye dinna ken what yer askin’ o’ him.”
“All I wanted was for him to help my father,” she whispered. “To at least try.” Her confident mien cracked, opening the floodgates of humiliation. She recalled how easily he had deflected her attempt at seduction. She felt so helpless, something she had never experienced before. She took a breath that ended on a sob, and regained control with effort. She was strong, she reminded herself. And the hurtful words of one man would not defeat her.
“He thinks me a child. Well, I am no child.” She started over to where the men sewed sail.
Birk hurried after her. “Where are ye off tae?”
“I do not play with toys, Mister Fraser,” she tossed back over her shoulder. “And no longer will I play games with your captain. From this moment on, you will find all of my time better spent.”
Birk sighed as he caught up to her. “Leave it tae a woman tae toss pepper in the stew,” he muttered.
“Did you say something, Birk?”
He gave her a look of total innocence. “Just a wee prayer, that’s all.”
“Say one for your captain,” she retorted. “He needs it the most.”
Chapter Ten
“Dat’s a fine woman you got, captain.”
Alex slowly turned to face the speaker. He had to look up, since Mister James, the boatswain, stood nearly a head taller. The enormous black man watched Diana attempt to mend sail with the crew. His face reflected true admiration, and his dark eyes gleamed with respect.
“Thank you, Mister James,” Alex said curtly.
“Real pretty.”
“Yes, she is.” Alex glanced at her, admiring despite himself the way the sun gilded her hair with fire. He was painfully aware of how lovely Diana was.
“And smart.”
“I know.”
“Sweet.” Mister James smiled, revealing strong white teeth that gleamed almost as brightly as the two silver earrings in his left ear. He slapped Alex on the shoulder with one huge hand. “You one lucky man.” Without another word, he turned and stalked off across the deck.
Alex surreptitiously flexed his shoulder to ease the sting. Mister James was the third crewman to compliment him on his mistress. A mistress in name only, he thought sourly.
He scowled at the turn his thoughts had taken. He freely acknowledged that he would like to bed the wench, but he knew she would only agree in exchange for him helping her father. And as much as he wanted her, he would rather have his genitals rot and fall off rather than allow duty to bring another woman to his bed.
Despite all that, no matter how many times he reminded himself of that distasteful thought, he still found himself responding to her physically. At first he had hesitated because of her innocence. Now her father stood between them. He wondered what would happen if she were to offer herself to him out of mutual desire. Would his convictions remain strong, or would they crumble beneath the power of his attraction to her?
Carefully keeping an entire deck between them, he watched her laughingly hand the seamer palm and the needle back to one of the men. Though she had given it a mighty effort, she hadn’t the physical vigor to push the huge needle through the heavy canvas sails. But she had shown strength of character in lowering herself from her higher station to sit with his men and try to forge a bond with them. And that, he realized ruefully, was much more attractive than any of the flirtatious mannerisms that she practiced with such skill.
Birk was there to lend an
arm as she got up from the deck and shook out her skirt. Laughing, she waved to those still mending and strolled with the physician to where three men sat cleaning the fish that had been netted that morning. She watched with a smile of pure delight that he found curious.
He folded his hands behind his back. She seemed to sincerely enjoy what she was doing. Her enthusiasm enchanted his battle-roughened crew. The one-eyed sailor that she now spoke to treated her in a most respectful manner, never once touching her or even looking at her in the wrong way. So it had been with all the men.
Alex frowned. If he wasn’t careful, he too would soon be ensnared in the spell of his own mistress.
“Ye take well tae life aboard a ship,” Birk observed.
Diana flashed him a smile and turned her attention back to the three crewman efficiently filleting the morning’s catch.
“I have always loved the out-of-doors,” she replied. “Papa often allowed me on board his ships when I was a child, but as I grew older he decided it would be more prudent if I remained at home.”
“Aye, I can see the wisdom o’ that.”
“As can I. But I do miss the privilege.” She lifted her face to the sun and smiled as the breeze stirred her hair. Inhaling deeply of the salty, fish-scented air, she opened her eyes to meet the brooding gaze of El Moreno.
He watched her from across the deck, hands clasped behind his back, his face grim in the way of a man who considered a baffling puzzle. She held the eye contact for a moment, then deliberately turned away.
“I used to fish with my father when I was a child,” she said to Birk. “Indeed, I believe he oft mistook me for a son rather than a daughter.”
“He wouldna make that mistake now,” Birk said. “Yer a fine woman, lassie.”
She blushed at the sincere admiration in his voice. “You are too kind, Mister Fraser.”
“Birk Fraser disna lie.”
She gave him a wry smile. “Would that others shared your opinion.”
Without giving him a chance to respond, she squatted beside one of the crewman and admired the way he deftly filleted a fish. He tossed the scraps in a nearby barrel and dropped the fillets into a basket to be brought to the galley.
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