by Bobbi Smith
"It was my decision to go to sea, but then there was never really any choice. Even as a boy, I longed to captain my own ship and to name it the Scimitar." Vague and distant memories of a hand-crafted toy boat with the same name drifted through his mind. Giving himself a mental shake, Serad brought himself back to the present. He was doing exactly what he wanted to be doing right now, and nothing else mattered but that. As determined as he'd been to enjoy the evening with his lovely captive, though, Serad found his mood sobering.
"You must be very pleased that you have achieved your dream. It is a shame that your goal was to be a predator and steal what others have honestly earned."
"The strong and the fast survive." He shrugged, then added, "You would be wise to mind your tongue, Tori. I have stolen nothing from you yet."
"You have stolen my freedom."
"A woman is never free. She goes from her father's house to her husband's. She is bound from the day she is born to servitude of one kind or another."
"You're wrong."
"Am I? This man you are to marry. Did you choose him?" He knew immediately by her expression that he'd been right. "You see? A woman belongs to a man. Either daughter or wife, the woman is the man's to do with as he pleases. It is the way of life."
Tori was seething. "I am, and always have been, my own person. I have never done anything that I did not want to do."
"Oh? So you care for this man of your father's choosing?"
"I love him," she blatantly lied, not about to give Serad an inch in any confrontation. "He's a wonderful man. Unlike men of your culture, he's kind and gentle and respectful of women," she said pointedly, letting him know by her tone that her betrothed was everything he was not. "I can't wait to return home and marry him."
Her singing of praises for her English fiancé irritated Serad. He was glad when Mallah returned with the tub and hot water right then, interrupting their conversation.
Chapter Nineteen
Tori looked on with barely concealed eagerness as Mallah and the men who had come with him set up the tub and then filled it with the hot water. The thought of a good soak was heavenly to her, and she couldn't wait to wash the grime from the past several days from her body.
Serad had been watching his crewmen as they went about setting up the bath. He glanced over at Tori, and seeing the happiness shining in her eyes, he felt pleased with himself over having granted her this small pleasure. When he looked back at Mallah and the others, he discovered that they'd finished their task and were now openly regarding his captive with avid interest. The thought of their eyes upon her in this intimate setting bothered him, and he ushered the men from the cabin.
"Your reward is set," Serad announced once they were gone.
"Thank you," Tori replied primly, hoping against hope that he was going to leave, too. "It's good to know that you're a man of your word."
"There was never any doubt of that. I keep every promise I make and I take no vows I can't live up to," Serad told her firmly. His smoky gaze held hers for a moment, as if to add emphasis to his words, then swung back to her waiting bath.
The wooden tub filled with warm water looked very inviting, and Serad wondered what his English beauty would do if he chose to bathe with her. The idea intrigued him, but he dismissed it for now. There would be other baths in the days to come. It was far better to share a bath with a willing woman than a fighting she-devil. He would give Tori whatever time she needed to completely accept her fate. He wouldn't rush or force her. That wasn't his way.
Serad suddenly realized that he had to get out of the cabin. He turned to go, saying only that he would be back.
Tori was tremendously relieved when Serad left. For a little while, she'd been afraid that he'd meant to stay while she bathed, and she'd had no intention of undressing in front of him. With almost pagan delight, she unfastened her gown and slipped out of the soiled garment. Throwing her dirty clothing in a pile, she hastily stepped into the tub to take advantage of every second of her privacy.
There was no preventing the sigh of pleasure that escaped Tori as she sank down in the heated water. As she leaned her head back against the side of the tub, she closed her eyes and let the soothing water ease the ache of her worries. She sighed again and let her mind go blank. She needed the time to restore her inner peace.
Serad, meanwhile, made his way down to the bowels of the ship in search of Tori's trunk. It took him a while, but finally he located it among the bounty from La Mouette. He was definitely not familiar with the way Englishwomen dressed, and he sorted through the huge chest in confusion. After searching through her mounds of clothes, he finally chose a daygown and some other personal things he imagined would be essential to her comfort.
As Serad made his way back to his cabin, a major battle waged within him. A part of him wanted Tori to be done with her bath and already dressed in her dirty clothes. The other side of him, the less civilized part, wanted her to still be in the tub.
When he reached the cabin door, Serad paused for a moment, then entered without preamble. Having been gone nearly half an hour, he'd honestly expected Tori to be finished. To his complete surprise, and pleasure, she was still in the tub. He stopped just inside the closed door to feast his eyes upon her. Her back was to him, and he relished the view of her slender, bare shoulder and the sleek fall of her wet hair. Heat rushed through his entire body, then settled with a pounding vengeance in his loins, leaving him aching to have her.
Tori had just finished washing her hair when she heard the cabin door open. She gasped in shock as she realized just how much time had passed and that Serad was back. She'd been enjoying herself so much that she'd forgotten she should hurry. Nervously scooting lower in the rapidly cooling water, she drew her knees up and then crossed her arms protectively over her breasts to shield herself from his eyes. "Serad, wait! You can't come back yet. I'm not done."
Serad was not about to be denied this moment. He smiled as he moved confidently forward. His gaze was riveted on the tantalizing curve of her shoulder, and he had an almost uncontrollable desire to press a kiss to that sensitive spot.
"This is my cabin, Tori. If I want to stay, I will," he said in a soft but determined voice.
The sight of her enthralled Serad. He longed to take her in his arms and lift her, wet and dripping, from the water. He wanted to lay her upon his bed and make passionate love to her. He wanted to bury himself within her and keep her for his own. He fought for control. He was normally a man of action, a man who took whatever he wanted, and it required a superhuman effort on his part to restrain himself. With outward calm, Serad merely crossed the room to stand beside the tub so he could feast his eyes upon her.
Tori was aware of the burning intensity of her captor's regard. She knew this could very well be the moment of reckoning . . . the moment she'd feared from the first. With all the courage she could muster, she raised her eyes to meet his. She said with dignity. "I did not mean to sound as if I were trying to order you about, I merely needed a few more moments of privacy to get dressed. If you could just leave the clothes and step outside for a moment, I could . . . "
"But what if I said that I liked you this way?" he asked, leaning down to trace his fingertips along the sensual line of her collarbone and then lower . . . His gaze followed his hand and he didn't stop until he reached the barrier of her crossed arms.
Serad's touch was like an open flame on her skin, but somehow Tori managed not to jerk away from him and risk exposing even more of herself. She deliberately ignored his leading question as she asked in return, "I take it you're not going?"
"No," he answered, still smiling as he drew back to stand over her. "I think I'll stay and enjoy the view." He found it amazing that even though he had her cornered, she refused to surrender to his superior power. She was a beautiful, spirited woman.
Tori reasoned that she had absolutely nothing to lose by brazening it out with him. Serad seemed to respect bravery more than any other attribute, so she gave hi
m a look of pure disdain as she politely requested that he hand her the towel.
Serad eyed the towel, then Tori, and finally did as she had asked. His reward was a glimpse of one pale, rounded breast as she reached out to take it from him. Hard put to keep the tight rein on his growing passion, Serad decided to move a safe distance away from her. Sitting behind his desk, he tried to relax and look casual while watching her attempt to rise. It was not an easy task.
Tori wrapped the cloth around her as she sat in the tub and then stood in one smooth motion. She thought she managed quite well considering the circumstances, but in truth, her action in wetting the towel only made her look all the more seductive. The damp material clung like a second skin to the sweet curves of her body.
From where he looked on, it took all of Serad's mighty willpower to remain in his seat. Tori appeared the goddess rising from the waters of the deep. She was a natural-born temptress, for none of her actions had been deliberately designed to entice him, yet no learned odalisque's play could have aroused him more.
It was this realization of her artless and guileless nature that ultimately stopped Serad from acting on his growing desire for her. He knew the last thing Tori wanted to do was to purposefully stir him to passion. She'd made it clear from the first that she wanted nothing to do with him. Yet, Serad found that he wanted her as he'd never wanted another woman in his life.
For a moment, he considered acting on his desire. He thought about taking her in spite of everything, but something his aunt had said to him in the distant past echoed through his being. Above all else, you must be a man of honor. Serad could hear her words as plainly as if she stood beside him, and he knew he could do no less than what Aunt Rabi expected of him.
"May I have my clothes?" Tori was asking as she stepped from the tub and walked proudly toward him, her hand out to take her garments from him.
Serad watched her as she crossed the cabin, her head up, proud and unafraid. She was a magnificent woman. A muscle worked in his jaw as he struggled with himself, and he suddenly knew that he had to get out of the cabin in a hurry.
"Here." Abruptly, Serad stood up and dropped her things on his desktop to avoid touching her hand. Without saying another thing, he rushed from the room, not trusting himself to look back.
Tori watched Serad go and couldn't believe her luck. He'd left her alone! Perhaps he wasn't the ogre she'd been making him out to be. Her spirits were high as she sorted through the few things he'd brought to her. She was pleased to find that along with her daygown and comb and brush, he'd also retrieved one of her nightgowns from the trunk. Tori donned the high-necked, long-sleeved cotton garment hastily for fear that he might return at any minute.
Once dressed, she managed to relax a little. Facing Serad nearly naked had almost unnerved her, but now, covered from neck to wrist to feet she felt as safe as she could. She moved about the room constantly anticipating his return. After a while, when he didn't come back, she gathered up her blanket from his bed and spread it on the floor again. She turned down the lamp to a low glow, then lay down for the night.
Up on deck, Serad stood alone. His hands grasped at the rail so tightly that his knuckles turned white. He was lost in troubled thought. He wanted Tori and yet he was denying himself. It made no sense, but then it made complete sense. At that illogical conclusion, Serad swore under his breath.
"Serad? What are you doing up here?" It was Tariq's voice that sounded from out of the darkness, startling him.
"I just came up for a breath of fresh air before going to bed."
"It's hot in your cabin, eh?"
"Very," he answered, and then, needing to be away from his friend, he bid him good night and disappeared down the companionway.
Tariq watched him go and smiled as he thought of who was waiting for him below.
Serad returned to the cabin to find Tori already asleep on the floor. Knowing how completely miserable she had to be lying there, he was tempted to pick her up and put her in his bed. He stopped himself, though. So far, he'd kept himself under control, but there was no telling what he might do in a weak moment if she was actually in the same bed with him. Leaving her to her solitary rest, Serad blew out the lamp, shed his own clothes, and lay down. The night proved very long as he wondered just what he was going to do with her.
The British ship, the Sea Maiden, bound for London, came upon the wreckage of La Mouette and the one survivor clinging to the wreckage shortly after sunup. Every effort was made to rescue the wounded man from the sea, and when he was brought on board, many wondered if he would live through the day. By late afternoon, the sailor had recovered enough to talk, and he told the Sea Maiden's captain of the pirate attack. He told them the identity of the captives who'd been taken and of his own fruitless attempt to rebel against the corsairs. He explained how he'd been cut down and left for dead on deck just before the ship was sunk. At full sail, the British vessel rushed on to London bearing the news of the fate of the French ship.
When Tariq came on deck early the next morning, he was amazed to find Serad there.
"Your night was a short one. I'm surprised you're already at work," he observed, joining him at the rail where he stood gazing out across the endless blue-green waters.
Serad almost gave a sarcastic laugh at his statement. If anything, he felt as if the night had lasted forever. It had certainly seemed that way when he'd been trying fruitlessly to sleep. Every fiber of his being had been aware of Tori slumbering on the floor nearby. He'd never been so glad to see a sunrise in his life.
"My duties to the ship do not cease merely because I have other pleasures with which to occupy myself," he pointed out.
"You're a far better man than I am." Tariq grinned.
"That's generally known, I believe," Serad answered tongue-in-cheek, managing a smile at long last. He liked Tariq and was suddenly very glad for his distracting company. He was very tired of thinking only of the elusive woman who was at that very moment sleeping peacefully where he'd left her in his bed in the cabin below. Turning his gaze back out to sea, Serad asked his friend's opinion of the clouds on the horizon. "It looks to me like we may be heading into a storm later today," he observed.
Tariq agreed, spotting the building clouds for the first time.
"Have the men begin to prepare the ship. We may be starting into it as early as noon."
As Tariq hurried off to spread the word, Serad sought out Mallah. He wasn't sure how long the bad weather would last, but the least he could do was offer Tori a chance to get some sunshine before the storm hit. After finding Mallah, he directed him to give Tori breakfast and then bring her up on deck. Then he, too, began readying the Scimitar to weather the coming blow.
Tori was already up when Mallah knocked at the cabin door with her breakfast. She'd awakened earlier to find herself, once again, alone in the middle of Serad's bed with no recollection of getting there. The softness of it had felt wonderful, but Tori had had no intention of being caught there again by Mallah. She'd quickly risen and donned her clean clothes. After brushing out her hair, which she was forced to leave loose around her shoulders, she took advantage of the time alone to wash out her dirty things in the now-cold bathwater. She laid them out around the room to dry, then busied herself with straightening the cabin once more.
Mallah was glad to find her already up and dressed when he arrived at the cabin. He placed the breakfast tray on the desk.
"Thank you." She was hungry and the food smelled good, so she sat down right away and began to eat.
Mallah silently went about taking the tub from the cabin along with the table and dishes from dinner last night. After making several trips carrying things out, he was satisfied that the room had been straightened to Serad Reis's expectations. He looked to Serad's Englishwoman expectantly as she finished off her meal.
"Serad Reis said that when you finished eating you were to be allowed up on deck for a while," he told her.
Tori was thrilled at the chance to leave the
confines of the cabin, and she quickly got up from the desk. "I'm ready."
"Serad Reis will be waiting for you."
Eager to be out in the sunshine again, Tori hurried past him and up the corridor toward the stairs that led to the deck. As she stepped out into the light, she took a deep breath of the fresh sea air. It seemed like forever since she'd felt the warmth of the sun beating down on her and a refreshing breeze stirring her hair. Turning her face to the sun's radiance, she closed her eyes and savored the moment.
"Miss Victoria!"
Jonesey's shout of excitement jarred Tori from her reverie, and she turned to see her friend trying to maintain her dignity as she hurried from the companionway.
"Jonesey!" Tori openly embraced the little woman as they came together. She didn't know why Serad had decided to allow them a visit, and she wasn't going to question it. She was just glad to see her friend.
"Thank God you're alive! You can't imagine how I've worried!" Jonesey proclaimed. She hugged her young ward to her, then, still holding her hands, she stood back to take a good look at her, her sharp-eyed gaze missing nothing.
"Well, thank God you're all right, too!" Tori returned. Though Jonesey looked tired and unkempt, still wearing the same gown she'd had on the day they were separated, she otherwise seemed to have suffered no mistreatment.
"I'm as fine as I can be given our circumstances. But, Miss Victoria, how are you? I haven't been able to stop fretting about you since that night they dragged me away!"
Tori patted her hand reassuringly. "I'm fine . . ." At Jonesey's skeptical look, she emphasized, "Really, I am."
"But you've been all alone . . . and with Serad . . . Is he still keeping you in his cabin with him?" she asked, thinking of the unorthodox intimacy she was being subjected to.
"Yes."
"And he's treating you well?" Miss Jones's gaze grew troubled as she tried to read Tori's expression to find out if he'd harmed her in any way.
"Very well, considering."
"He hasn't pressed you in any way to . . .?"