They scrambled out of the rubble into the face of the battle. Gavin in his fury gave the order to open full gunfire against their attackers. “Aim for their rails, then bury the bastards.” Both rows of cannon were run to port and with practiced timing and precision they fired one after another with little time between each loading and firing in perfect rhythm. Their target could not begin to defend themselves. Greed and inexperience had brought them in too close. There was no chance for Crown’s Curse to retreat before the unrelenting cannon fire blew them to bits.
In the melee, he’d lost sight of Alice. Through the rush of men and clouds of smoke, he couldn’t find her.
* * * *
Alice crawled out from beneath the ruins of the forward mast. Her cheek burned and the tender flesh under her eye was beginning to swell. She spotted Bump and nearly cried with joy at the sight of him. Gavin was ordering the guns to fire. A bruised cheek meant nothing as long as they were alive.
She didn’t think when she saw the top of the mast careening toward them. There hadn’t been time. It was only by luck the sail brought her down rather than wood or iron.
Sweat and blood ran down her cheek as she grabbed Bump’s hand and skirted the rush of battle to get them below. Her heartbeat pounded in her ears, and the rush was making her dizzy. Stopping with the boy, she pointed repeatedly to her chest and to the hatch. “My quarters. Go.” He scrambled down the ladder way ahead of her. Through the swirling smoke, she tried to pull in deep breaths to clear her head before rushing to follow him down.
Hitting the deck below, Alice had only taken two strides when strong fingers latched onto her arm and swung her about. Gavin’s hand plunged into her hair and pulled her lips to his in a crushing kiss. The battle raged above as he pinned her against the wall and ravished her mouth. Shock entangled with passion as the depth and intensity of the kiss overtook her.
Gavin broke the kiss as quickly as he’d started it and stared into her face. “You could have been killed.” His chest heaved as he wiped at the blood on her cheek, but his words weren’t edged with anger. He appeared stunned. Grateful.
Alice laid her hand over his. “I wasn’t going to lose you both.”
“Lock yourselves in your cabin so I know you’re safe. I’ll come for you when it’s over.” He stared deep into her eyes before kissing her hard again and leaving.
Alice placed shaking fingertips over her lips. Her head still spun. He wasn’t pushing her away or railing at her. I’ll come for you. For once, his words weren’t a threat; they were a promise. A tender promise that filled her heart. On shaky limbs she made her way to her quarters.
“Wasn’t that sweet….” Jessup spit as he stepped out of the dark. The blade of his cutlass caught the light. “Still playing Quinn’s whore.”
Alice froze to the spot. She didn’t see Bump. He must have made it past Jessup. Without Bump as his shield, it was just him and her. Alice liked those odds. She notched her chin. “Jealous?”
“Ha. Like I’d stick my dick in the likes of ye. Rather dip my wick in some barnyard sheep than fuk a conniving, backstabbing bitch like you.”
Alice pulled her sword. “Poor sheep.”
“Shut yer mouth, whore, before I cut out yer tongue.” He shook his head. “Too bad yer a stubborn bitch. Didn’t Capt’n tell ye te stay below? Hadn’t been topside, ye’d ne’re gotten killed in the battle.”
She snorted. “I’m not going topside.”
Jessup stared her down. “Figure I can drag yer scrawny carcass up them stairs after I’m done killin’ ya.”
Alice braced herself. She never blinked. “I doubt you could drag your ass the length of your dick.” She held up her free hand, indicating a short distance between her thumb and index finger.
“Bloody bitch,” Jessup growled and swung wide. Alice stopped his blade with her own. The force of the blow radiated up her arm. “I’m goin’ split ya in two.” His next blow came from above. Alice dodged to the left.
He backed her into a corner. Adrenaline pumped through her. His blows were too strong. Too fast. She cursed herself for not pulling her pistol first, but she was still so slow cocking the hammer, she’d be dead before she aimed.
Jessup sneered at her as he pinned her cutlass beneath the power of his. “Nothin’ more to say, bitch?”
Alice struggled against the force. “B-behind you.”
He laughed foul breath into her face. “I ain’t fallin’ fer that.”
Neo lifted Jessup like a child’s toy and knocked him to one side. He pulled Alice behind him as Jessup came off the floor swinging wildly. “I’ll kill you, too.”
Neo pulled a short knife, but Jessup caught him and cut a vicious slice across his arm. He came up sharp with an elbow, connecting with Neo’s face. His knife clattered to the floor as he let out a holler and clutched at his nose.
Panting, Jessup grinned at them both. “Ain’t no match fer me, a woman and a stupid—”
“Drop the sword or the first shot goes straight through your skull.” Gavin held two pistols aimed at Jessup’s ear. “Alice, weren’t you headed somewhere?”
“But, Neo—”
Gavin didn’t take his eyes off Jessup. “Neo? Do you need Tupper’s help?”
The man spit a wad of blood on the floor and stood up to his full height. “No, sir. Think I be givin’ ye a hand, though.”
Jessup looked back and forth between the two men. He hadn’t dropped his weapon.
“Alice, go.” Gavin voice was cold as ice.
Her legs shook as she rushed to her tiny quarters. Behind her, she expected to hear the shot, but none came. Locking the door, she crumbled to the floor. Bump was at her side in an instant. Large brown eyes watched her with concern until she smiled at him. Still no shot came.
Bump brought a wet cloth and placed the dripping rag against her cheek. Water and blood soaked her shirt. The coolness was a blessing after the initial sting. Minutes ticked by. Still no shot.
Above them, the familiar din of post battle signaled another victory for the crew of the Scarlet Night. Had Jessup won as well? If anything happened to Gavin…
A pounding on the door rattled the lock. Alice jumped up. The handle jiggled, and her heart threatened to beat its way out of her chest. She pushed Bump to hide under her cot.
“Alice, open the door.”
Gavin. Relief washed over her. She grabbed the back of Bump’s shirt, stopping him before hurrying to open the latch.
Alice flew into Gavin’s arms. He held her tight to him. Pulling away, she looked him over, running her hands over his arms, the tear across his chest. None of the blood on him appeared to be his. He caught her hands. “I’m unharmed.”
Relief bloomed in her heart. “I kept waiting to hear your pistol fire. What happened?”
“Jessup’s dead.” Gavin cupped her cheek. “Neo found Jessup dead at the bottom of the ladder way. He fell sometime during the skirmish with the Crown’s Curse and broke his neck.”
Alice raised an eyebrow at the lie. “He fell?”
“Like a sack of wet sand.”
Bump pushed past the two of them. Habit had Alice calling after him, “Wait.”
“He can’t hear you, remember? Threat’s over. He’ll be fine.” Gavin gently fingered the wounded flesh at her cheek. “Thanks to you.” His thumb brushed the curve of her lip. “We owe you our lives. You could have been killed.” He said softly, “Again.”
The sweep of his thumb across her mouth sent a delightful shiver through her. “You stopped Jessup, we’re even.”
“Neo stopped Jessup.” Gavin’s gaze scanned her face. He tucked her hair behind her ear.
“He was hurt.”
Gavin tipped her chin. “The man has a scratch on his arm and another broken nose. Jessup broke it the last time, too”
“I should go tend to him and thank him.” She didn’t move an inch.
“You’re not going anywhere.” He had a low husk t
o his voice.
“Must we always argue?” Alice shivered as he skimmed the front of her throat with his fingertip. “Couldn’t we talk about something else?”
“How about we don’t talk at all.” Gavin tipped his head and lowered his mouth to hers.
Chapter 16
Gavin took her hand and led her to his cabin having only one more thing he needed to say. Something about her quarters being too small for bilge rats to mate in, and he wanted her “desperately” in his bed. Or something to that effect.
Perhaps he whispered something about how much he wanted her as he brushed her wounded cheek with a feathered touch and showered her face with tender kisses. She couldn’t recall. When he ran the tip of his tongue between her lips, urging her to open her mouth to him, she could barely recall her own name. But then, he sighed it into her mouth.
Alice was swept away at the tender beginnings. This was nothing like the crushing kisses in the hallway. Tossing his baldric aside he removed hers as well before pulling her to him and kissing her deeply. Her heart soared. She wrapped her arms around his neck and returned his kiss, pressing her body along the long length of him, leaving no doubt to the fact she wanted him as well.
Gavin pulled away, breaking the kiss that began sweetly only to reach white hot in a matter of seconds. “There’s no storm tonight.” His chest rose and fell under her hands. “I wasn’t gentle the first time.”
Her lips tingled. The kiss had ignited her longing for him. She couldn’t deny it any longer. Alice reached for him impatiently. “You didn’t know.”
“But now I do.” He eased her long braid over her shoulder and undid the bit of leather at its tail. “Let me show you how it should have been.”
Alice stroked his cheek. “I regret nothing.”
“After tonight, neither will I.” He loosened her hair from its braid and ran his fingers through its length. He was intent on his actions. The thought of what was to come made her tremble. She ran her hand up his arm and down to caress the hard muscles of his chest.
He unbuckled her belt and tossed it aside, lifting her shirt from her. “Beautiful.” He swept his hands over her skin, smoothing and awakening every part of her. Gavin traced the scar about her neck. A sob caught in her throat as he laid loving kisses along the silvered line that had been etched onto her skin by Wolfsan’s evil.
Cupping the fullness of her breasts, he slid his hand to encircle her waist. Her breath came in shorter gasps as each fingertip sparked a trail of delicious warmth along her flesh.
Gavin knelt before her, skimming her behind and down her thighs, before slipping her feet from her boots and stockings. He released the buttons holding her breeches and peeled the snug garment from her.
Alice held tight to the tops of his shoulders so she wouldn’t topple over. His touch was magical. She was on fire as he turned her around and smoothed the skin of her back, her ass, her legs. Gavin’s mouth followed the path of his hands. Grasping her thighs, he laid a warm kiss upon the small of her back. Alice’s knees buckled as the sensation shot straight to her sex.
He stood, sweeping her hair to one side; he kissed her neck as he filled his hands with her breasts. The roughness of his palms teased the firm peaks of her nipples while he tasted the curve of her ear and nipped at its lobe. “Gavin,” she whimpered.
Her thighs trembled when he pulled her back against him. Alice didn’t know how much more of this delicious torture she could take. He hadn’t removed a stitch of his own clothing, yet she could feel the hard, hot ridge of his erection. She moved against him seductively, making him moan deep in his throat as he continued to kiss a path along the top of her shoulder.
“Can you feel how much I want you?” he whispered against her skin.
Alice couldn’t speak. She nodded and gave an anguished sigh. He pulled her tighter against his rigid cock while one of his hands slipped down past the slight curve of her belly to cup the curled nest of hair between her legs. Alice covered his hand with her own, urging him to end his sweet torture. “Please, Gavin.”
She cried out with pleasure as he slid his fingers deeper. “You’re wet for me,” he growled low into her ear. “Does that feel good?”
“Y-yes….” When he pushed two fingers into her, the first waves of pleasure rippled through her. Her legs weakened as her body succumbed to his bold caress and shuddered with anticipation. “Gavin….”
* * * *
He had only begun to make love to her. Gavin wanted to touch and taste and caress every inch of her, imprinting her forever upon each of his senses before he sank his cock into her heat and found his own release. It would be the last time.
Then he would drive her away. Away from this ship and this life. Away from him. He would make her surrender her body and her heart, then set her aside. Force her to hate him. It was the only way to keep her alive and well, and give her some chance at a normal, happy future. But for this day, this night, she was his.
Alice turned in his arms still trembling. She kissed him and loosened the lacing at his neck. Laying a kiss in the dip at the base his throat, she unwound the ruby sash about his waist and let it fall to the floor.
Gavin pulled out of his shirt as she rained quick kisses over the breadth of his chest. Each one a tiny flame. When she ran her tongue over the flat of his nipple, the surge to his cock had him clutching at her hips and grinding her against him.
“Mmmm…you taste like the sun and the sea.” She continued to suckle and tease his sensitive flesh while her hand reached between them, slipping beneath the waistband of his breeches until her fingers circled him.
“Alice.” He captured her face and pulled her mouth back to his. Her fingers stroked his throbbing cock from tip to base until he thought he was sure to lose himself. He backed her toward the bed and removed her torturous hand from his trousers. “Not so fast, or I’ll be finished before we start.”
“I’m sorry. I don’t know how—”
“No. Don’t apologize.” He laid her on the bed. “I don’t want to rush.” Kissing along her neck, he dipped lower to capture the rosy tip of one breast between his teeth. He sucked it between his lips. “I want to savor every moment. Every morsel.”
Alice arched her back. “I won’t survive,” she drew a sharp breath.
“I promise you will.” Gavin left her only as long as it took him to remove his boots and breeches releasing his impatient cock from its linen prison. He had her back in his arms in an instant reveling in the sensation of skin against skin, pinning her beneath him as he ravished her mouth.
He would make this an experience neither of them would forget. Perhaps the memory would soothe some of the hurt still yet to come. Gavin refused to think about that now. Tomorrow would be soon enough. She was here now. In his arms, in his bed, in all her naked glory, responding like no other to each touch, each kiss.
His hands played across her pale skin. The night of the storm, he’d been in such a hurry to drive his cock into her he hadn’t noticed how soft her skin was. How it was the color of rich cream. A handful of golden freckles sprinkled along her collarbones. Gavin kissed each one.
The firm peaks of her nipples caught his fingertips as he continued his exploration. His mouth followed the trail.
“Gavin….” Alice sighed as she held his head, tugging at a fistful of his hair as she purred her delight. Her body writhed like the swell of the ocean in a slow wave beneath him. He reached lower as he moved down her body, circling her navel with the tip of his tongue, kneeling between her raised knees. His fingers barely brushed the dark curls between her thighs. Her knees fell open as she rocked her hips toward him. “Oh, please…,” she begged.
He looked into her pleading eyes and shook his head. Her chest rose and fell with each pant until she dropped her head back with a frustrated groan. Gavin kept up his sweet torture. He kissed one knee before licking and kissing his way down her thigh. Alice gasped and knotted the bedding in her fists.
&n
bsp; He moved to her other leg, burning a similar path. Then he saw it. Just as she’d said. The scar marring the perfect sweep of creamy flesh. He traced the silvery curve with the tip of his finger while battling past his lust-filled haze to the tidal wave of murderous rage toward the man who’d marked her.
At his touch, Alice went still. Laying his palm over the scar he met her gaze. “He’s lucky he’s dead.” Her eyes shown with a sudden wash of tears before he lowered to kiss the mark away. If not from her skin, maybe from her soul.
Alice let out a sob as she gripped his shoulder. He pressed her legs open wider before putting his mouth to her sex. Her sobs turned to cries of pleasure as he licked and sucked upon her.
“Oh God, Gavin.” She tugged at his arms, but he held firm, pleasuring her with sweeps of his tongue and deep strokes of his fingers until she cried out for him to stop. She pulled him up her body, positioning him, wrapping one leg about his waist. “Please, now.” She pulled him down to kiss his mouth.
He wanted nothing more than to bury himself in her heat and end both their torment, but he ignored her pleas and eased into her slowly, inch by inch. Alice clutched at his back. Her nails scratching his skin. Gavin pulled back and pushed into her tightness again. Sinking deeper and deeper with each plunge.
Alice arched and rocked her hips to meet his thrusts. Gavin dropped his forehead to hers as the building of his release pushed him faster and harder. Alice cried out. She tightened and convulsed around him, pulling him deeper, pushing his body past its zenith until he joined her in an incredible climax. His body poured into her, their souls met, and she clung to him until they both spiraled back to earth.
Gavin brushed at the hair clinging to her damp cheek. Her legs still circled his waist. Still joined, he didn’t want to pull away. He didn’t want this to end and nearly cursed the finality of it. Of them.
Their labored breaths danced between his last kisses until he broke the spell and rolled away from her. Alice tucked into his side.
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