Care and Feeding of Pirates (26 page)

"A long time ago." His voice took on a note
of acceptance, letting go of the past.

"The point is, you let James win."

Christopher's sun-colored brows tilted upward
again. "Did I?"

"Do not smile at me as though you've done
something clever. If you think you can mislead James or outrun him,
you're wrong. He
will
find you and sink you as he
threatened, and he will not much care whether I'm aboard or not.
He'll think it no more than I deserve."

Christopher rested his broad hands on the
bunk on either side of her, his breath touching her face. "You
smell nice," he said. "Did you enjoy your bath?"

James's gift of water had given them enough
to spare for a sponge bath. Honoria had tipped a little dried
lavender into the bowl and reveled in dragging the scented water
all over herself.

Christopher's eyes darkened. "I'm sorry I
missed it."

Honoria began to be sorry too. She imagined
him drawing the dripping sponge across her naked body, tracing the
path of the droplets first with his fingertips then with his
tongue.

A bead of perspiration rested in the hollow
of his upper lip. She wanted so much to lick it away . . .

Honoria drew back. "You are deliberately
distracting me."

"Am I? Distracting you from what?"

"We were speaking of James, and why you gave
in to him."

"Ah. I thought we'd finished with that."

"I still do not understand why you agreed,"
Honoria said.

Candlelight played warmth through
Christopher's eyes, but behind the warmth was a glint of something
Honoria could not identify.

"You find it so difficult to believe that I'm
willing to give up the gold?" he asked.

"Yes, I do."

"Why, because I'm a pirate? Who will do
anything for a few pieces of silver? You read too many books."

"It is gold, not silver." Honoria tried to
give him a stern look. "What I do not believe is what you told
James, that you'd give up the treasure for
me
. That's why I
asked if you loved me."

"What I said was I'd give it up for you and
for my freedom," Christopher corrected her. "I think both those
things worth a pile of gold."

"Romantic of you."

"No, practical. I'm not willing to die for a
cave full of ingots. I have enough money. What I haven't had enough
of is you." His smile started to warm her again, stirring the fires
he'd already ignited.

"Manda and Mr. St. Cyr seemed to capitulate
easily enough."

Christopher skimmed his fingers over her
upper lip. "You aren't going to give this up, are you?"

"I only want to understand."

"No, you don't. You are angry because I
didn't tell your brother to go to the devil." Christopher drew his
finger back and pointed it at her. "
You
have a feud going
with him. I don't."

"James arrested you and took away everything
you had!"

"Sweetheart, in my line of work, you learn a
few simple rules: Stay alive, don't succumb to greed, and let go of
past mistakes. I need to be alert at all times, which I can't be if
I'm brooding about revenge or fixed on too big a prize."

"Like the Mexican gold."

"Like the Mexican gold. Not worth the
effort."

Honoria rested her chin on her knees. "You
are still very forgiving."

"I thought you understood. I
wanted
Ardmore to arrest me back then. I had three ships. I sent Manda and
St. Cyr off in different directions and ran a little slower so your
brother would pursue
me
, not them. It worked. Manda and St.
Cyr got away."

She stared at him in surprise. Christopher
spoke in a matter-of-fact voice, dismissing a long chase through
black waves, his ship sinking under him as James blasted cannon
shot through it, his capture, being condemned to death. He'd been
saved from the hangman by a whim of James's, then had to claw his
way back to existence, braving thieves, brigands, and God knew what
else in his long journey home.

"You were ready to die for them," she
said.

"Of course I was. As they were for me."

The ache in Honoria's throat tightened. He
spoke so casually about his willingness to sacrifice himself for
Manda and his friends. Not many men would face death for anyone,
let alone shrug and say,
Oh well, it worked out for the
best.

"You let James catch you all those years
ago," Honoria said, starting to understand. "And you let him catch
you now." She brushed her thumb across his cheek, gently forcing
him to meet her gaze. "What are you protecting this time?"

He smiled, but his eyes hid whatever thoughts
he didn't want her to see. "You, angel."

"Because you love me?"

"We've been through that."

"How do you know you love me?"

His smile began to fade. "Honoria, don't you
think we've talked about our feelings long enough?"

"We haven't even
begun
to talk about
our feelings."

He rolled his eyes. "Bloody hell. You mean
there's more?"

"Of course there's more. You are avoiding the
subject."

His strong body pressed her into the pillows.
"You must know I love you. I haven't thrown you out the window like
I did the bedding, no matter how many damn fool questions you ask
me."

She held on to her courage. "That is not an
answer."

He pounded fists into the thick quilts, his
temper finally cracking. "Damn you, Honoria.
This
is why
women drive men insane. You accuse us of avoiding your questions,
then you never believe us when we do answer."

"I simply want to know."

"All right." He held up his hands in defeat.
"All right, I'll tell you how I know I love you. I know because
when I was half dead, thousands of miles from home, you were all I
could think about. I thought of you last thing before I went to
sleep and first thing when I woke up. I thought about the way you
looked at me, like I alone existed. I thought about how green your
eyes were, and how sweet your lips taste. I thought about the
lovely noises you make when I'm inside you."

He leaned to her again, resting his hands on
the wall behind her. "I stayed alive to find you again. So I could
look at you and taste you and feel you taking me into you. I stayed
alive because of
you
." He pressed her down into the bed, his
lips an inch from hers. His breath smelled of the brandy he'd drunk
with James. "That is how I know I love you. So, for God's sake,
stop asking questions and let me have my husbandly way with
you."

*****

Chapter Twenty

Honoria gazed up at him, lips parted, her
heart pounding. His declaration stunned her, yet at the same time
gave her a wash of joy.

Christopher had thought of her, he'd worked
his way back to her, he'd wanted her. Honoria hadn't quite been
able to believe he'd returned for anything but the gold and to find
Manda, but the hard light in his gray eyes now told her
differently. He'd wanted everything, as he'd said, but he truly
wanted Honoria.

"It isn't fair," she whispered.

He climbed onto the bed, ducking under the
low ceiling. "I just gave up a fortune in gold to your brother. I'm
no longer interested in what's fair."

Before Honoria could explain what she'd
meant, Christopher gathered up her nightdress and ripped it from
her body.

She knelt there, shivering, while he tossed
the nightdress away and looked her over with possessive eyes.

Honoria wasn't certain what excited her more,
Christopher slow and teasing, or Christopher abrupt and wild.

He wrapped her hair around his fists as he
pulled her to him, and did not bother to gentle his kiss.
Christopher angry was dangerous, yet he excited her. He held his
strength in for her, and it was that tension, a volcano choosing
not
to explode, that made Honoria's heart beat swiftly with
exhilaration.

Christopher pulled her legs out from under
her and landed on top of her full length on the bunk.

No teasing this time. He yanked open his
breeches, pressed her legs apart, and entered her, full and hard,
without waiting to bring her to readiness. No matter, Honoria was
already plenty ready. She held him with tight fingers as
Christopher drove and drove into her.

She shouted her climax a second before he
shouted his. Christopher kept going, showing Honoria indisputably
that he was her husband and that she belonged to him.

After things quieted, Christopher stayed
inside her, kissing her with lips gentled for her, the frenzy
winding down. She basked in it, her body happy and tired.

Long after the moon had moved across the
space of the window, Christopher eased out of her, tossed his
breeches away, and dragged the quilts up over both of them.

Honoria turned her head on the pillow and
kissed his lips. "Christopher," she whispered.

He growled low in his throat. "No more
talking," he said, and he went to sleep.

Or pretended to. The snore was a bit
unconvincing.

*** *** ***

The wind remained fresh, pushing the ships
ever westward. Honoria scowled into the obliging breeze, wishing
the sky would not remain so fair, the sea so annoyingly calm. A
good storm could send them way off course, or perhaps separate the
ships enough so that James would lose them in the darkness of
night.

Honoria's fury at her brother had not abated.
She longed to corner him and tell him exactly what she thought of
him.

She eyed the
Argonaut
sailing several
ship lengths astern, a sleek, beautiful ship. Diana was there with
her two children. Diana had softened James a bit, Honoria had to
admit, but it would be a long time before Honoria could look upon
James with anything other than shaking anger.

Honoria's husband proved to be as arrogant
and irritating as her brother in the days that followed. If ever
Honoria tried to continue the conversation they'd begun in the
cabin, Christopher would stare at her as though he had no idea what
she was talking about. Questions about what they would do after
they led James to the gold were met with
I'm-too-busy-to-talk-to-you-now
answers.

Poor Manda also grumbled about men under her
breath. After Henderson's departure, she remained in a towering
fury and was unapproachable by anyone, even Christopher. The
sailors learned to give her and her anger a wide berth.

Christopher endured Manda's biting sarcasm
with indifference. He either had a hide three feet thick, or he was
used to her rages. Honoria, after another brief attempt to draw
Manda into a woman-to-woman talk, decided to leave her alone.
Clearly Christopher's sister did not want to talk about her
feelings. It must run in the family.

They neared Christopher's hiding place
without further adventure--except when Honoria and Christopher were
private in their cabin. There Christopher introduced Honoria to
worlds of pleasure she'd never known existed.

When she and Christopher had first
consummated their marriage four years ago, Honoria had thought
she'd learned what it was to be with a man. She now realized that
their brief encounter in Christopher's cell had been just
that--brief and succinct.

Christopher showed her how he could take his
time, loving her with slow caresses. He'd bring her nearly to
climax, then ease away, sending her down to mere heart-pounding
anticipation, and then do it all again.

He'd tease her for a long while before
finally giving in to her pleas--usually with a satisfied smile--and
taking her fully. In contrast, on other nights Christopher came to
her fast and furiously until Honoria was incoherent with joy.

Christopher also taught Honoria to pleasure
him with her hands and mouth. She learned the heady joy of bringing
him to readiness and even to climax before he could thrust inside
her.

Her newfound skills made her feel a little
bit smug, especially whenever Christopher seized her in his arms
and kissed her as though he could not stop himself.
My pirate
husband,
she'd think.
You have been conquered.

At least, in bed. Outside the bedroom, he
never let her win anything.

*** *** ***

They sighted the island three days after
James joined them. Rising out of the water in a series of cliffs,
the small island spread its arms around a tiny cove too shallow for
the ships.

Through a spyglass, Honoria observed thick
green vegetation and thin silver streams of waterfalls pouring down
cliffs. "Plenty of fresh water," Christopher said. "We'll fill up."
He looked at Honoria. "And my wife can have a bath."

"We all can," Honoria answered firmly. "And
have our clothes washed. And not before time. You should order it,
Christopher."

"Honoria," Christopher began in his warning
tone.

"Well, I am mighty tired of smelling
everyone," she said. "I am now able to identify every sailor or
officer on this ship from his unique odor. If I am to remain on
board, regular baths will have to become mandatory."

Christopher regarded her with a cool gaze.
"Are you trying to incite a mutiny?"

"Of course not. I am trying to preserve the
final shreds of my sanity. And my sense of smell."

Christopher studied her another moment, his
face expressionless. Then he turned to his crew, cupped his hands
around his mouth, and shouted: "New orders! Every man--and
woman--on this ship reports to the springs for a bath. A full bath,
with soap. Anyone shirking this duty gets ten lashes." He looked
back at Honoria. "All right?"

She scowled. "You did not have to take me so
literally."

The men muttered among themselves, then one
said, "I'll bring me mirror and primp!"

Another laughed and sang out in a high
falsetto, "Ooo, I'll put on me best perfume!"