by Merry Farmer
Every inch of my body ached for his touch. My nipples hardened beneath my shirt as I pressed against him, chest to chest. His hips nestled into mine, the hardening length between us promising pleasure. I shuddered in anticipation. He dropped his hands to the back of my upper thighs and gripped them hard as he devoured my mouth, giving as well as taking in a mad frenzy. I moaned. His hands moved higher. I rocked into his length with abandon as he cupped my rear, learning the shape of me through my breeches. His thighs tensed beneath me and we rolled, Milton taking control and pressing me into the mattress with his seductive weight.
When my head hit the pillow, it squirmed and yowled. A flash of calico fur scrambled to escape from beneath the fat pillow, raking me with his claws as he went. The sound and the pain doused me like cold water.
I pushed Milton away, rolling him onto his back as I scrambled off the bed. My fingertips and thighs ached as I struggled to stand on weakened knees. Mon dieu, did I ache for him. What did I almost do? Milton lay passively on the bed, his chest rising and falling in pants. He made no move to recapture me, but the look in his eye left no secret that he’d like me to return. Entirely unselfconscious, he reached down to adjust the bulge tenting his tight breeches. My eyes followed the movement, widening. I squirmed as I remembered his length pressing into the seam of my breeches. It felt so good…
“Jeanne,” he growled.
Breathless, I asked, “Was that enough of a gesture for you?”
He didn’t answer, his face still wild with unsatisfied passion.
I crossed my arms over my hardened nipples. “Where is Tamara?”
He groaned, blowing out a long breath. As he stared at the ceiling, the cat on the edge of the bed licked his paw with menace. He looked ready to murder Milton for disturbing his nap.
What I wanted to do with him was just as passionate, and just as forbidden.
His voice still gravelly with desire, Milton answered, “The crew fled on the rowboats. The captain goes down with the ship, so I ordered us to contain those left on board. We only arrested two, your friend Tamara and her first mate. The rest lost us in a series of gullies when we weren’t quick enough to follow.”
I struggled to breathe through the sudden catch in my throat. Only two? He had only captured two. The bulk of the crew must still be alive. Tamara’s crew were resourceful women, even if she wasn’t there to look after them. She had capable officers, even without her first mate.
Her first mate, Evelyn. Evelyn had a son.
“Only two? Both women?” My voice emerged as a croak.
Milton pushed himself onto his elbows, looking curious. “Were there men on that ship, but not on yours?”
“Where are they?” If he didn’t know about Evelyn’s son, I wasn’t going to enlighten him.
Milton passed his hand over his face, but it didn’t quite hide his grimace. “By now, they’ve probably reached Dover. They’ll be kept in a prison there until arrangements are made for a transport to London. There aren’t many pirates left this far north, and your fleet is notorious.” He shifted onto his elbows again, raising one of his eyebrows in challenge. “Did you know there’s a ballad about you?”
I could care little for what people had to say about me, as long as they left me in peace. “Dover.” I had to believe that Tamara and Evelyn were still there. London was far too inland for me to take the ship, but Dover…
Dover, I could reach.
Somehow, Milton must have sensed me preparing to leave, because he rolled to his feet and planted his hand on the door. It brought us uncomfortably close again. The air charged between us, the temptation of his lips altogether too close.
“You should take me along.”
Should I? I’d kissed him in part because I wouldn’t have to face him afterward. Now that I’d lost myself to passion in his arms…his nearness, the heat of his body, called to me, hot and alluring. I wouldn’t be able to sleep, not so long as he was on the ship, ready and willing.
Accepting his help would be a bad idea.
Milton insisted, “I have connections. We can barter or bribe their freedom without bloodshed.”
“Isn’t that illegal?”
“I’d rather that than somebody gets hurt.”
In that, we saw eye to eye. I held his gaze a moment longer, even though I’d already made my decision. However much it tortured me, I could use his help.
I leaned closer, pressing my finger into the wall of muscle of his chest. “You can stay, but if your connections don’t help or if you do anything to jeopardize their safe return, I will trade you for the others. Make no mistake.”
His gaze dropped to my lips. “I promise not to underestimate you again, Quickblade.”
I shivered. His voice grazed along my skin like a touch, awakening desires best left buried. Without another look, I left before I did something I would regret.
Chapter 8
Monopolize on your Advantages—or Create Them
The silence in the wardroom was as oppressive as the steady tick of the grandfather clock. My heartbeat drummed as I stood, tense beside Milton, the only other person in the room. I strained my ears for sounds of someone boarding the ship, but we were too far nestled in the stern to hear anything save for the gentle lap of waves against the hull. The ship was anchored in a small cove not far from Dover, as close as I dared go with the British Navy swarming the city. Hours ago, I’d dispatched Aludra and two members of the crew to deliver the message from Milton to his contact in the town. If they were willing to meet and take bribes in exchange for Tamara and Evelyn’s freedom, then my task would be complete. And the only person I would have to answer to would be the man at my side.
I wasn’t as confident in this plan as he. Therefore, long after my officers had left us, I continued to work my way through another plan in case this one went awry. My plan would be more aggressive, infiltration rather than bribery. No matter what, I would not abandon Tamara to rot in jail.
However, even the air streaming in through the open porthole didn’t lighten the atmosphere in the room. Night after night, I had relived our kiss while lying on this very table, struggling to fall asleep. Every time, the memory lit me on fire. And now I was staring at that very table, next to the man who had stoked that desire so high. It was difficult to concentrate.
On the table, rough maps littered the surface. Over the past several days, Milton had sketched them from memory, aided by Lexi’s precise eye. He had visited the jail before while delivering prisoners of war. He had some familiarity with the house, but didn’t know its exact layout, nor who would be guarding the prisoners save for the keeper. I had only his word, and I wasn’t certain how far I trusted him.
I’d tried to get more information out of him over the past week. I was a pirate—I wasn’t above surrendering to passion. I didn’t outright kiss him again, but whenever possible I stood near him. I indulged the desire to touch him with small brushes to his hand or the back of his neck. His skin was warm. Without anyone here to witness us, I was free to touch him without restraint.
At least, no restraint save for the one I placed on myself. With my hand across his arm, I pointed across his body to one corner of the house detailed in the nearest map. “Do you think that room is the most likely place they will be holding Tamara and Evelyn?”
Whenever I touched him, his body stiffened like he forgot to breathe. It never failed to send a thrill skittering through me, quickening my heartbeat.
Milton cleared his throat. “I cannot say. I’m not certain how many others are in the jail at the moment. It’s small and not able to accommodate many prisoners. Tamara and Evelyn would have been tossed in alongside the other women currently in residence. The prisoners I bring in for holding and transfer are usually men.”
I fisted my hand before dragging it away from the table and back to my side. I didn’t move away from him, not wanting to relinquish the distraction that he presented. Without focusing on him, on the attraction bubbling between us and h
is nearness, I would have nothing to keep me from envisioning the horrible, cramped conditions that Tamara and Evelyn must have endured for the past few weeks. No fire at night, no clean bedding, crusts of bread and water, unless the women happened to have been wearing jewelry when they’d been captured. The keeper accepted barter in exchange for the luxuries other people took for granted. But if they had been hurt during the arrest? If they needed physicians, but had no money…
I didn’t realize that my hand was tightening on Milton’s arm until he pulled it from my grasp and turned to face me.
His expression was solemn. “I wish I had a better answer for you, but I don’t. The keeper is paid a pittance. His profits come from brokering transactions with the prisoners. I’m certain it wouldn’t take much money for him to lose two prisoners in the shuffle.”
That sounds safe for the populace at large. Sarcasm aside, if it helped to free Tamara and Evelyn, perhaps I shouldn’t be so critical.
Gritting my teeth, I walked around him, but I couldn’t resist leaning my body against his as he moved to examine a different map, this one of the street where the jail resided on the south side of the marketplace. When I glanced up at Milton, I found his eyes dark and his expression tight with need. The craving struck me as deeply as it did him. I clenched my thighs together, wanting to give into this thing between us while at the same time knowing that I needed to focus on the more important matter at hand.
I returned my attention to the hastily scrawled map beneath my fingertips. “There will be watchmen.”
“Undoubtedly.”
I glanced up again, and his expression hadn’t changed. “You haven’t studied the routes?”
He passed a palm over his short hair. “There’s no need. This will work, Jeanne.”
Will it? I wanted to believe that more than anything. The lives of two people rested on my shoulders.
Tamara had known the danger of following me to sea, but she had chosen to join us anyway. From the moment we stole the ship, my dowry, we’d been labeled criminals. I’d held out some vain hope that possession of a ship of the line would endear us to the British Navy enough to earn us a privateer’s license. I’d thought them fools to squander the offer of a warship when they had so few. However, I’d long since relinquished that dream. We fought against the French because it was the right thing to do. Because Napoleon took the lives of people under him and twisted them. Like in Sainte-Domingue, where I had been born. He was killing people there, people the French Republic had just granted freedom. Somehow, the fact that Napoleon tried to stamp backward over the country’s progress made his atrocities all the more vile.
Craving the heat of Milton’s body, I sidled closer. My arm brushed his. He groaned under his breath. In a swift movement, he shoved the maps to the far edge of the table, clearing the wood in front of us.
“What are you—”
He faced me, bracing himself against the bolted table in a deceptively casual pose. “If you don’t take prisoners…”
I bristled, thinking again of Napoleon. “I would never. I don’t take prisoners, and I don’t take slaves.”
And when in doubt, I had Aludra to keep me honest.
The expression on Milton’s face was not accusing, however. If anything, it was yearning. “Then I imagine you don’t torture them either.”
“Of course not—”
He straightened, looming over me in the most delicious way. The air between us crackled with so many things left unsaid. As I gasped for breath, my breasts brushed against the lapels of his navy jacket.
His eyes half-lidded, he leaned down. “You’re torturing me, Jeanne.” His voice was rough. His breath teased the shell of my ear as he pressed his body closer to mine. When he spoke again, tingles swept through me from crown to heel. “Do you know what I think of when I’m lying in the bed that smells like you with your damned cat purring in my ear?”
I bit my lip hard. When I turned my gaze up to his, I found it molten. At any moment, he would confess to the same wanton thoughts I had night after night. Damn if I didn’t want to give into them.
“That is a candle compared to what I think of on this table.”
His gaze flicked toward the table, then back at me. The craving in his face was stark. My breath quickened. I caressed the rough stubble lining his jaw. His hand bracketed my hip, drawing me closer as he lowered his mouth—
The door banged open. A calico blur flashed across the room and jumped on the table. Papillon head butted Milton with an insistent glare. I sprang back, my fingertips aching as I pressed them against the wall of the room.
Hannah entered after the cat, but for once she didn’t look in a teasing mood. “Aludra has returned.”
I straightened. “And?”
Her tone of voice was all the answer I needed, but she shook her head nevertheless. “Sterling’s contact doesn’t believe the letter is from him. Apparently, the man heard he was lost at sea. We’re going to have to do this the hard way.”
I stepped around Milton, this time scraping against his body without meaning to. I gathered up the maps, folding and stuffing them beneath my arm.
Milton rounded the table and planted himself in my path. “Wait. Take me with you. I can help.”
I hesitated. Milton was the enemy. He was the reason my people were in jail, the person who had put them there. The look in his eye was earnest, but…
This endeavor would be illegal, and he was a man of the law.
Thus far, he hadn’t given me reason to doubt him. In fact, he’d been entirely respectful, helpful, and forthcoming during our journey to Dover. Much to my chagrin, I hadn’t had to seduce the information out of him once. Nor had he tried to take advantage of our arrangement. In my darkest fantasies, I’d been searching for a reason to succumb, someone to blame for the indiscretion other than myself. He’d been too honorable to give me that, too.
Did that mean I could trust him?
I didn’t have time to stand here and deliberate. At any moment, Tamara and Evelyn might be moved farther inland for trial and execution. “Very well. You may come along.” I laid my hand on his arm, the feel of his muscles beneath my palm rekindling the fire in my belly. I lowered my voice as I held his gaze. “But if you do anything to jeopardize this, if you even sneeze the wrong way, I will ransom you in exchange for my friends. Don’t think I won’t.”
His eyes twinkled as he offered me a smile that made my knees weak. “Then I’d better be on my best behavior.”
Chapter 9
Learn the Territory Better Than Your Foes
Thus far, diplomacy had earned us nothing but a stroll in this eerily silent town. Fog misted around us, rendering anything more than ten feet away indistinct. My footsteps sounded ominous. On my left, Milton kept pace with an easy lope, his posture and expression giving away none of his emotions. Was I right to trust him? He might have insisted on coming along simply to betray us. Now that we were in the thick of town, the harbor was too far distant to make out the lumbering forms of ships there, but Aludra had informed us that a single Navy ship was docked. Despite the small number, Dover was far from undefended. The tall shadow looming over the town atop a cliff was Dover Castle, where more military troops were housed in case of French invasion.
If Milton did betray us, I had to account for more than Aludra’s life. Grand-mère had insisted on accompanying us, as well.
On my right side, Grand-mère squeezed my arm. “Relax, cherie, or no one will believe we’ve come to barter.”
Barter, as if Tamara and Evelyn’s freedom was up for auction.
On the corner of the street, I hesitated. Ahead, Aludra’s form faded into the fog, the muffled thump of her heels on the ground almost as indistinct.
“You certain you wish to do this?” I asked Grand-mère next to me. “If you wait here and keep watch…”
She tugged from my grasp. She straightened her worn dress, the one she wore every Sunday, and readjusted her cane. “Tamara is like a granddaught
er to me. I will not turn my back on her any more than you will.”
Her voice was vehement. My grandmother had a heart of steel. No one crossed someone she thought of as hers.
I nodded and resumed the walk. With his hands in his pockets, Milton pretended as if he hadn’t heard. Heat prickled the back of my neck, but I tried to forget his presence. After all, his connections might save my friends.
From the fate to which he had consigned them.
Aludra had already reached the ramshackle house where the town’s criminals were held. It was as unimpressive as the village, the house indistinguishable from the others on the street. Even after studying the blueprints Milton had drawn from memory, I’d pictured an imposing brick or stone building, a structure as impregnable as the castle on the hill. Not something that would go up in flames with the kiss of a candle.
The door opened, and a stooped figure emerged from the building carrying a lantern. The flames danced as he held it aloft with a tremor in his hand. It illuminated the craggy surfaces of his face and the pale, stringy hair falling to his jaw. I stopped with Milton and Grand-mère within the circle of that light but left Aludra to the talking. She’d secured her headscarf across the lower half of her face to conceal it, likely the same way she had approached him earlier.
“Good evening, sir. When we last spoke, you didn’t believe our message was from Captain Sterling.” She gestured behind her haphazardly to indicate us. “Here he is.”
Milton took a step forward. He kept his hands in his pockets. “Hello, Mr. Thatcher. It’s been a while.”
The old man squinted, the wrinkles in the corners of his eyes deepening. “Captain Sterling? I heard you were taken by pirates. It’s all they speak of in the Swan-tailed Dove.”
If word of Milton’s fate had already reached the town, the ship in the harbor must be one of his. Reflexively, I groped for a sword that wasn’t on my hip. Even if it had been, skirts were not as conductive to sparring as breeches. I had reason to avoid the constrictive garments, but tonight we had hoped not to draw undue attention by dressing as expected of our gender. Men oft underestimated women, and we could use that to our advantage.