Nobody's Angel

by Patricia Rice

  “I have Cesar's van. That should confuse them a little while longer until I can come up with a better idea.” He peered around the corner of the next building, and apparently finding it all clear, pulled her into a darkened parking lot where the looming shadow of the van waited.

  He threw open the door and all but pushed her in. Confused, Faith bumped her sore knee, cursed, and clambered into the high seat as the door slammed behind her. The champagne high was rapidly fizzling into something less pleasant.

  “What's going on?” she demanded as Adrian yanked open the driver's door and slid in.

  “Nothing we can't handle,” he assured her. “Let's just pretend it's all part of your birthday celebration.”

  She'd like to pretend that, but she had a sneaking suspicion that Adrian didn't play games lightly. She sat silently as he maneuvered the van out of the alley, into the street, and turned toward the interstate instead of Cesar's apartment. “I never liked Blind Man's Bluff, and this is beginning to feel like Pin the Tail on the Donkey. I think maybe you'd better explain the rules.”

  In the faint light from the dash she could see his jaw tighten. She knew she wasn't going to like this. A streetlight glinted against the ring in his earlobe, and she took a deep breath. He looked more like a pirate than ever.

  “Someone's been through the apartment. They tossed your suitcase and my duffel. They took Cesar's laptop. That means they'll have those letters you wrote and know what we're doing.” His hands clenched on the wheel as he glanced over at her. “They took that little bag of jewelry you had, with the pearls in it.”

  Faith forced herself to face the facts calmly. “It's all costume jewelry. Admittedly, the pearls cost a couple hundred, but they're not worth crying over. What about my vase and photos?” she asked anxiously.

  He jerked his head toward the back. “I picked them up and put them back there with our clothes.”

  “Then it could be just a regular thief, a crack addict looking for quick cash?”

  “It's possible. I don't think it's likely. They tore through everything as if they were looking for something. I'll admit, you relieved me tremendously when you said the pearls were fake. I didn't know how I would replace a fortune in pearls.”

  He was doing the same thing as she, trying to sound normal. He was probably doing a better job of it, but then, he'd had more time to accept this new violation. She tried to assemble all the pieces of the puzzle flitting around, but champagne bubbles and weariness and panic kept careening off each other and colliding with the walls of her mind.

  “We could always live out of the van, I suppose.” Adrian interrupted her tired struggle to think. “I'd rather trap the bastard and wring his neck.” He took an exit ramp and seemed to be aiming for a well-lighted hotel.

  When he steered into the turn lane and bumped into the parking lot, Faith clutched the purse in her lap. “Why are we going here?”

  “Because it's your birthday, and I'm not taking you to a cheap motel this time.”

  That made about as much sense as anything. She said nothing as he parked in front of the office and climbed out, leaving her behind. They didn't have credit cards. He'd have to use cash. Did hotels still take cash?

  Her mind was wandering, avoiding the memory of that star-spangled kiss of earlier, of the teasing laughter, the warm looks, the hot dancing. Adrian could not be thinking what she was thinking. She had made herself perfectly clear on the matter. Surely he could find a room with two double beds in a place like this. They would take the night to think about what to do next.

  But the deep dark recesses of her brain didn't buy any of this. In the fermenting murk of her fertile mind, other ideas coalesced, frothed, and emerged like little amoebas from the river of life. This was her birthday. Adrian would give her anything she wanted. She wanted a child.

  That was the one thing he would refuse to give her, for very good reasons.

  As Adrian emerged from the office carrying a key card, Faith fought the war between need and honor, but paranoia won. She didn't want sex unless she could have a child.

  Adrian would never let her walk out carrying a child of his, and just the thought of Adrian permanently in her life had her staring over the brink into insanity.

  Faith gaped at the king-size bed dominating the center of their assigned room.

  “They didn't have anything else?” she asked, incredulous.

  “That's what I asked for.” Adrian locked and bolted the door, then yanked the draperies closed. “I'm relieving you of any need to make a decision by kidnapping you. This is my pirate's cabin, the ship's set sail, and you're mine to do with as I will. I distinctly remember you telling me that's what it would take.”

  Faith tried to absorb his words while staring at the bed. Her insides were tumbling in nervous flips and she didn't dare look at him. “Pirate's cabin?” Her voice quavered in disbelief, but she had a vague recollection of telling him that it would take a pirate and a ship to persuade her into bed with him. She didn't know which one of them was crazier—she for saying it, or he for remembering.

  “Yup.” He turned on a lamp and glanced at her. “You either share my bunk or I'll throw you to my men.”

  Faith glanced at the “bunk”— a huge bed that would easily contain Adrian and six other people. She gulped and turned to meet dark eyes smoldering with desire. Instead of the pragmatic lawyer she was starting to know, he looked every bit the dangerous pirate captain with silver earring, beard-stubbled jaw, and ponytail. Her subconscious had worked overtime when she'd handed him that suggestion. As she watched, Adrian yanked open his shirt buttons.

  “Take your clothes off,” he ordered, staring at her breasts instead of meeting her eyes, as any good pirate would do.

  She knew he was playacting, but he was very, very good, and goose bumps shivered down her arms. In the semidarkness of the strange hotel room, she could almost believe they were dangerously alone on the deep blue sea. Something primitive stirred within her as Adrian dropped his shirt and stalked closer. The powerful build of sleek brown shoulders and chest held her fascinated gaze. He was all lean grace and animal muscle—and so sexy, her teeth chattered.

  “Me, or my men,” he challenged, his gaze searing through her bulky work clothes as if they were invisible. “Your choice.”

  Except he was taking away her choice, accepting all responsibility for what they both wanted. He'd understood what she hadn't understood herself. She wasn't Tony's protected little wife anymore, but she hadn't been able to step out of that role. She was a horrible hypocrite expecting him to act as enabler. But he'd told her once that he was a desperate man.

  And she was a desperate woman. Afraid she would shatter if she moved too fast, Faith nervously unfastened the first button of the shirt she'd pulled on for warmth. Adrian's avid gaze egged her on.

  “Remember, it's me or my men,” he warned. “A cozy warm bunk or the cold dank recesses of the hold.”

  She could almost believe he would give up on her and throw her to whichever criminals were tracking her every movement. She shivered, and unfastened the next button. She still had a T-shirt on. This was no big deal.

  She could do this. Adrian wouldn't reject her. He wouldn't roll over and go to sleep before she finished undressing. Tony had liked it fast and furious. She'd always been slow. But Adrian seemed ready to watch all night, as if every move she made was a thing of wonder.

  Perspiration broke into little droplets on his brow as she finished unbuttoning her blouse, revealing the outline of her breasts beneath the T-shirt. Nervous, she didn't know what to reach for next.

  “Take it all off,” he commanded in a sandpaper rumble that revealed how close he was to losing it. “I want you on my bed and under me for the rest of the night.”

  Moisture pooled between Faith's legs at the mental image she'd carried with her of Adrian naked. Now her mind's eye could see him naked and on top of her. She gulped, dropped her blouse on the floor and reached for the hem of her T-shirt. He
helped her tug it over her head, then threw it across the room.

  Without warning he reached over and unsnapped the front closure of her bra.

  Her breasts spilled from the lightly padded cups. She'd always been embarrassed by her petite size, and it took every ounce of her courage to keep from covering herself as Adrian's hand brushed hers away. Reverently, his long fingers cupped and nearly swallowed her breasts.

  “Oh, God, you're more beautiful than I imagined.”

  She didn't have time to doubt his praise before he closed his mouth over hers. With his palm heating her flesh, and his mouth to persuade her there was no turning back, any notion of choice disappeared. She melted into his hands, as surely his prisoner as if he held a cutlass to her throat.

  He'd eaten a candy before they'd left the bar, and she inhaled the sugar and spearmint as his tongue plied her mouth with desperate longing. She couldn't catch her breath. It was as if she were oxygen and he was the flame, and a ball of fire engulfed them.

  His hand swept down her back, pulling her closer until his zipper pressed against her belly, and she instinctively arched into him, her body demanding more even if her head hadn't quite caught up. He popped the snap of her jeans and pushed them over her hips, stripping her to her panties. The rough brush of denim against her skin warned of where they were rapidly headed.

  As terrified of her arousal as she was of him, Faith tried to ease from his grasp, but the bed hit behind her knees. Thrown off balance, it didn't take more than Adrian's gentle shove to send her sprawling backward, across the comforter, leaving her exposed and naked except for a thin layer of silk. He stared hungrily as he reached for his jeans.

  “We're in the middle of the Atlantic and you have nowhere to run,” he reminded her as he released the snap. “By morning, you'll be my woman and virgin no more.”

  She ought to laugh; he said it with such a straight face, but she knew him too well to be afraid of force. It was a silly game and she had only to say no to halt it.

  She was afraid to say no, afraid he would stop—equally afraid he wouldn't.

  She was naked and trembling in his bed, as much the virgin as he'd proclaimed her. And there was very definitely something piratical about the way he dropped his loose jeans and stepped out of them. His black briefs weren't standard pirate fare, but they disappeared quickly, and what remained was every inch marauding pirate, holding her captive with wonder.

  Had she ever looked at Tony like that? Probably not. Tony had never looked like that.

  Adrian jerked the covers to the bottom of the bed as Faith scooted for the top at his approach. His gaze had become a physical force that scorched her everywhere it touched. Her breasts burned with the heat and rose to hard, aching crests. She was so wet she almost cried out in relief as he stripped off her last vestige of clothing. She did cry out in surprise as his hot hand immediately cupped her there.

  “Virgin territory.” He smirked as he joined her on the bed, trapping her with his length as he leaned over her. “You make this too easy. Want to scream in useless protest? No one will rescue you.”

  Screams lurked on her lips, but not of protest. Or maybe in protest, but not of the sort he meant. She needed his hands and his mouth all over her, and she needed something entirely different where he played now.

  “I'll throw myself overboard,” she whispered in self-defense.

  “You are already in over your pretty head and sinking fast.” He grinned and claimed her breast with his mouth, and she nearly shot off the bed at the sudden heat of him all over.

  She was in way over her head.

  He tugged her down until she was completely under him, pinned beneath his greater weight as he thoroughly explored her breasts with hands and mouth. She grabbed his arms and tried to pull away, to somehow touch him as he did her, and reduce him to the same smoldering ashes and aching need, but it was like tugging on tree trunks. He couldn't be moved. His knees held her captive, and she struggled to reach him, to take him, to force him to hurry.

  “I apologize in advance for this first time,” he murmured, raising his head to trail kisses across her jaw. “I can't hold out much longer.”

  Body screaming for release, she didn't argue as he shifted his knees to part her legs. Opened wide and vulnerable, she surged against him, no longer wanting to play. She wanted the real thing, craving the solidity of him inside her.

  Only when Adrian reached for the condom he'd apparently taken from his pocket did Faith remember how much of the real thing she wanted. She wanted a child almost as much as she wanted sex. Adrian was willing to offer her one. She couldn't blame him for not offering the other.

  “I think it will take a very long time for this ship to reach shore,” he murmured in her ear, just before bending to suckle her breast.

  With a small cry of joy, she arched upward, offering herself to mindless pleasure rather than hopeless dreams. Pleasure was all she needed, she told herself—a few hours of intense, mind-bending pleasure to make up for all those cold, lonely nights.

  Just as she thought she would come apart without him, Adrian surged into her, and thought became a thing of the past.

  He filled her until she tightened around him, and release would have come instantly if Adrian hadn't struggled to prevent it. He wanted her all night, and for the rest of his days. He didn't want to disappoint her this first time. Sinking to the hilt, he tried to stop, to rest a moment and gain control again, but Faith's inner muscles did a little dance that blew his mind, feminine murmurs brushed his skin, and soft malleable breasts beckoned. Giving up with a sigh, he pulled back and plunged deeper, making her scream as he exploded over and over, pushing her into the bed until he had everything of her he'd thought he wanted, and knew it would never be enough.

  Not stopping to take a breath, he caught her mouth with his, ruined her skin with his sandpaper jaw, and filled his palms with her breasts. Her nipples were still hard, taut points, and within moments she was writhing beneath him as he teased them into aching sensitivity. As he worked his mouth downward, absorbing the splendor of her with his tongue, conquering her with his fingers, he knew he wasn't giving her time to think, time to panic, time to reject what he was and what he never would be.

  They just needed time to work the out-of-control hormones from their systems, he reassured himself as she fell apart beneath his marauding fingers.

  When he had taken her to the sky and back, and he was ready for her again, Adrian dug his hands into her thighs, spread them wider, and drove deep within her a second time, relishing the narrowness of the passage as he grew even harder and she whimpered in pleased surprise.

  Maybe by the time he was done here, she would understand that sex could be just that—sex. A physical release, and a lot more fun than the self-torture of abstinence.

  Within minutes he had her rocking to his rhythm, and her cries were ones of impatience. All that pent-up passion he'd known she possessed spilled into this act that he'd taught her.

  Tony obviously had never wasted time on lessons.

  As dawn lightened the draperies, Adrian blissfully inhaled Faith's delicate perfume and tugged her back against him. It had been so long since he'd had a woman, he'd forgotten how good they smelled. Even her perspiration was sweetly musky. Now, she smelled of him as well as her perfume. He wanted to rub himself all over her, mark his territory like a dog.

  Except she wasn't his to claim. He glanced down at Faith's sleeping figure where she curled against him. She was built on delicate lines, but gentle muscle molded her arms and thighs. She took care of herself. Dancing across a stage several nights a week must do that.

  He'd made her scream every time last night. He'd like to hear her scream a few times more. She had a lovely, musical scream, a lilting scale of tones from chirp to full throttle. He definitely wanted to hear full throttle again before dawn broke and the fantasy ended.

  He hadn't needed the pirate role to be turned on, but the fantasy of having her for as long as he wanted ha
d been good. He'd like to fantasize that she would roll over and regard him through sleepy, come-hither eyes without need of role-playing, that she would come to him readily every night. He'd like to fantasize a lot of things, but he was an intelligent man. He knew what he couldn't have.

  He reached over her arm and caressed the tip of her breast. It responded instantly to his touch. She moaned sleepily as he tweaked her hardening nipple and nuzzled her nape. When she pressed her buttocks back against him, he slipped his arousal between her thighs, branding her with his heat. He could play pirate captain ravishing his victim one more time.

  “I can't,” she whispered in protest as he adjusted her more firmly against him.

  He slid his fingers down her belly and between her legs, caressing her where she needed touching. She was definitely ready. “You can't?” he taunted, sliding one finger inside.

  “Adrian!” She gasped and wriggled as he stroked deeper. “You can't—” But she lifted her leg higher at his insistence.

  She was all silk and scent and too tempting to resist. He knew famine too well. He would feast while he could.

  He caressed her breast again, kissed her warm shoulder, nipped her nape as she attempted to roll from his grasp. She shuddered as he held her still and rubbed against her moisture. He lifted her lovely, slender leg over his and stroked her spine, positioning her gently as he reached her buttocks and explored.

  “Adrian!” she protested again, but it was a weak, breathy protest, asking what he intended more than complaining.

  He wanted her in too many ways to care which way he took her. But he needed to know she wanted him.

  He stroked the tight nub hidden in folds of soft flesh, readied her with his fingers, and slipped partially inside her.

  “The ship has landed and you're free,” he whispered in her ear.

  “This time's for real, then,” she murmured sleepily. To prove it, she adjusted her position and rammed down on him, impaling him to the hilt.

  His thoughts went no further as Adrian accepted her offer with a lusty groan of relief, slamming into her over and over again, until they were both screaming for release.