Master of Seduction (8 page)

“What do you want?” she asked.

He just smiled a smile that lifted her heart in spite of her. Without comment, he took a step forward and gently placed his hands on the tops of her shoulders. With a tenderness that astounded her, he massaged her cramped muscles.

Lorelei closed her eyes against the pleasure of his touch. His hands worked like magic, unlocking the tension and relaxing her.

“Better?” he asked.

“Hmm,” she breathed, enjoying his expert touch too much to say anything more.

Jack delighted in the softness of Lorelei’s skin as he rubbed the stiffness from her neck. The wind blew stray tendrils of her hair around them and the setting sun shone in her eyes.

But all he could really focus on was the small white buttons down the back of her dress. Buttons he could imagine opening with his fingers as he bared more and more of her flesh to his touch.

How he ached to run his lips over every inch of her, savoring her scent, her skin.

“Tell me, Lorelei,” he whispered in her ear. “What were you thinking about when I approached?”

“Justin.”

Jack ground his teeth in frustration. If it was the last thing he did, he would drive that man’s name from her vocabulary.

“And now?”

“I’m thinking how much Justin would want to kill you if he saw your hands upon my neck.”

His first inclination was to remove his hands, but damned if he’d do that and let her think he feared Justin Wallingford. It would be a cold day on the equator before he feared a milksop pup like that.

“And would you weep if he killed me?” he couldn’t resist asking.

“For you?” she asked with a short laugh. “Why I’d…” Her voice trailed off and, to his surprise, her gaze changed to a soft welcoming look. “Why yes, Captain Rhys. I would weep for you.”

It was a game she played. He knew it as well as he knew his ship.

Still, the words resonated inside him. But not as much as the truth that should Jack Rhys perish, no one would ever weep for him.

“What a gifted liar you are, my lady. I shall have to remember that.”

She stiffened at his words and pulled away. “That makes two of us then, Count Arnaulf Hapsburg.”

“Ah yes, the good count,” he said with a laugh. Then he cloaked his voice in the count’s aristocratic accent. “But tell me truly,
milovidnost
, had I asked you to elope with me that night, would you not have followed me to the ends of the earth?”

“I wouldn’t have followed you to the end of the corridor.”

She was so quick to retort. So challenging to try to thwart. He’d never known a woman so sharp of wit and he adored that part of her personality.

“Lorelei, Lorelei, Lorelei, when are you going to admit that you liked me as a count. If I were one of your pasty-faced nobles, you’d have tripped over your own feet to be near me, just like all the other little chits at your party.”

She arched a brow at him. “Would I? I seem to recall you’re the one who sought me out.”

She probed him with her stare, as if trying to see deep into his soul. “And why was that?”

“You were adorable.”

Surprise flickered across her face. “Adorable?”

“Aye. Vibrant and ethereal,” he said, tucking a stray piece of hair back into her braid. “Like some fey mist seeking refuge from the woodsy floor where it was trapped.”

“I beg your pardon?”

Jack leaned against the railing and spoke the truth he’d noticed about her that night at the party. “You were running from Justin. I saw you.”

“I was running from Justin’s boots, if you must know. Not from him.”

“His boots?”

She cleared her throat and dipped her head down so he could no longer see her eyes. “He was trampling my toes.”

He arched a brow at her disclosure. “That’s why he told me you don’t like to dance. How very noble of you to save his feelings,” he scoffed. “Do you, by the way?”

She looked up. “Do I what?”

“Do you like to dance?”

She didn’t say anything, but the look in her eyes spoke loudly. She did.

“So, you would condemn yourself to a lifetime of crushed toes to possess the title of Mrs. Wallingford?”

Her face glowed with conviction. “I would condemn myself to a lifetime of crushed bones to possess Justin.”

Now that stung. Much more than it should have. “And what did dear Justin do to provoke this unwavering loyalty?”

“He makes me laugh.”

“Laugh?”

“Aye. Laugh. He is my friend and my confidant.”

“You know,” Jack said, leaning down toward her, “confidants make poor lovers. They know all your secrets.”

“I wouldn’t know anything about that.”

He traced the outline of her ear with the tip of his finger. “I could easily educate you.”

“I’m sure you would like to try. But as you can see, I have no interest.”

What he could plainly see was the small goose-bumps on her skin that his touch caused, and her rapid breathing. Whether she admitted it or not, his touch warmed her.

“Well then,” he said to humor her as he pulled away and straightened up. “Since you’re not interested in me, allow me to escort you back to your room so that you can prepare for dinner.”

“I should like my dinner in my room.”

“And I should like your dinner served at my table.” Or rather, he would like her served up
on
his table, to be more precise. Aye, he could feast on the likes of her flesh for weeks.

“Then I should like to starve,” she said as if she knew his thoughts.

“Don’t be childish, Lorelei. There’s no need to waste away. After all, I’m sure you wouldn’t want dearest Justin to see you bony and frail. You do have to eat or else you’ll lose all your strength and you’ll have nothing left to fight me with.”

“In that case…”

She dutifully took his elbow and allowed him to lead her below.

“How is it you know gentlemanly ways?” she asked as they made their way to her room.

“How do you know I’m not a gentleman?”

“You’re a pirate,” she said simply as if that gave her all the clues to his personality and mettle.

“Not all pirates are base-born,” he dutifully reminded her.

“Are you a gentleman, then?”

Jack wasted no time in setting her straight about his birth. “I am the lowest of the low, Lady Lorelei,” he said, pausing to bow before her as if they were being introduced for the first time. “You see before you the bastard son of a perpetually inebriated prostitute.”

As intended, his words shocked her.

And before he could stop it, the rest of his story came out. “I grew up in the backroom of a sleazy Carribean bordello cleaning up after the whores and sailors.”

Tears misted in her eyes. “I’m sorry. I had no idea.”

Now it was his turn to be shocked as he returned to leading her down the corridor. It was an oversimplification of his past, but it was one he’d never tried to deny. He didn’t hide from what his mother had been. Only from what he, himself, was.

And who his father was.

But her reaction confused him. Never had anyone reacted so…emotionally about his past. Not even him.

“Don’t be. It made me the pirate you see before you today.”

“Then I am doubly sorry,” she whispered. “Given your intellect and talents, I’m sure with a better set of circumstances you could have gone far in life.”

He stopped dead in his tracks, her words biting him deep and raising his anger. “I have gone from one end of this earth to the other. There are few things I haven’t seen and fewer still I haven’t done.”

“But you’ve never loved.”

Jack stifled the urge to roll his eyes. “Back to that, are we?”

“I think whether you want to admit it or not, everything comes back to that.”

“You are a doe-eyed romantic.” He opened the door to her room and stood back to let her enter. “We eat in one hour. I’ll send Tarik for you.”

L
orelei watched as the pirate headed off to his room. The man was infuriating.

And puzzling.

She didn’t know what to make of him. Or even what to believe. He was a study of contradictions.

And deep inside she had to admit that she liked the challenge of the man. Liked the challenge of trying to unravel him.

She stepped into her room, then froze. Someone had been busy this afternoon.

Gone was her small cot and in its place was a well-made, intricately carved full bed. Her chest had been exchanged for a matching wardrobe, and a washstand and dresser had been brought in and placed to the right of the door.

Everything glowed from fresh polishing and the scent of lemon oil stung her nose. Indeed, someone had even put a vase of dried flowers on her dresser.

Closing the door, Lorelei was amazed.

Then she realized the color of the bed and the lace doilies—yellow. The entire room had been done up in her favorite color.

“What are you up to?” she whispered, knowing he was the only one on board who wielded the authority to have her room rearranged.

At least it finally explained Kit’s strange question.

But it didn’t even come close to explaining the pirate’s motivation. First he placed her in here with the shrunken heads to frighten her and now he made it a cozy haven.

Was he playing up to her?

Or was it simply an apology?

She almost laughed at the last thought. Jack Rhys apologizing to her. That was even less likely than him declaring his undying love for her over dinner.

“He’s a crafty one,” she said to herself. Then she spoke louder, as if addressing him through the walls. “But I’m not one of your lovers, Captain Rhys, nor will I ever be.”

Nay, she was the one who would bring him under heel—not the other way around.

Well, she would bring him under heel if she could keep her wits about her. But every time they were together, her will seemed to melt. Her best intentions scattered.

Her gaze shifted back to the flowers and this time she saw the small note snuggled in amongst the yellow roses. Walking over, she pulled it out and read the crisp, flowing script.

“Not on your life!” she snapped. How dare he tell her what to wear. She wasn’t some pup to fetch at his command.

She was…

Lorelei paused as she swung open the door of the wardrobe, which was crammed full of expensive gowns, bonnets, and petticoats. Even so, the green dress he referred to stood out plainly.

It was beautiful. Heavily embroidered with gold and lined with luminescent seed pearls, it was a gown fitted for royalty. In spite of herself, she trailed her hand over it, awed by the rich, deep softness of the material.

Maybe wearing it wouldn’t be so bad. After all, she was supposed to bend him to her will.

Aye. Humor him for the night.

As with a pet, you must make sure you establish from the beginning exactly who is in control
.

And tonight, it was she who would wield the power.

J
ack studied himself in his dressing mirror as he tied his crisp linen stock. He couldn’t wait for dinner tonight. For another match of wits with his captured prize. Imagine a woman like her bound in eternal wedlock hell to a man like Justin Wallingford.

The more time Jack spent with Lorelei, the more intrigued he was by her. He was determined not to see her suffer in bondage to a man who stomped her toes.

What other favored pastimes had she forsaken for the fop? The very thought of it made him seethe.

And for what?

For love. That idea made him nauseous. Why did women delude themselves with such foolish thoughts?

“Oh, but he
loves
me,” Jack mocked to his visage. It was an effort not to puke.

Well, he had no one to blame but his own gender. They were the ones who played into women’s fantasies, and all for a night’s worth of pleasure.

A twinge of guilt pricked his conscience, but he quickly stomped it out. He wasn’t his father. He hadn’t lied to Lorelei, nor had he played into her concept of love. She knew he was out to seduce her—he had stated it clearly enough—and so she was fair game.

“Just don’t let her fall in love with me,” he whispered, his stomach churning.

If she so much as dared breathe those words, he would toss her overboard and let the sharks have her.

He’d never been foolish enough to stay with a woman long enough for her to have that delusion, and he lived in terror of some poor soul thinking she loved him.

“How positively revolting.”

And it was.

A knock on his door distracted him.

“Enter,” he called.

Tarik stuck his head in. “Dinner be ready, Captain. Ya want me to fetch her now?”

“Yes, thank you.”

Jack smoothed the ruffled edges of his stock. Tonight was perfect. He was perfect, and in just a few minutes, he fully intended to charm the very drawers off Lorelei Dupree.

A
s she followed Tarik the short distance to the captain’s dining room, Lorelei couldn’t help but wonder if the Christians of the fourth century felt the same way as they were led to the Colosseum, for surely she was going into the lion’s den.

He was such a clever lion, too. Golden and handsome, mesmerizing and deadly.

And determined to devour her one way or another.

Yet it wasn’t in her to hide from him. Nay, her father had always stressed confronting fears and challenges. The pirate wouldn’t force her, he’d made that clear enough. So long as he abided by that, she was in control.

Now. To make him fall in love with her. No simple feat, to be sure, but if she could get the ever-wandering Justin to propose, then she could certainly have one Jack Rhys down on his knees.

Tarik opened the door for her.

Lorelei stepped into the room and paused. Soft candlelight sparkled against the high polish of the mahogany dining table, which was set with fine porcelain dishes decorated with pale yellow flowers. Romantic dinner music filtered in from the open windows and she wondered at its source. The aroma of roasted duck and squash made her stomach rumble in anticipation.

It was a room perfect for seduction; at least she was certain that’s what the pirate thought.

Well, he would learn.

“So,” Jack said, stepping out of the shadows on her left. It took her a moment to recognize him as he was once again dressed in his elegant black suit, starched white shirt, and cream waistcoat. She’d forgotten just how stunning the elegant count was compared to the earthy and raw Black Jack Rhys.

“You wore the gown after all. I wasn’t sure if you would.”

Reminding herself of the game she played, she smiled coyly and smoothed the gold-laced stomacher with her hand. “It was such a small request, why wouldn’t I honor it?”

He quirked a brow as he approached her with one arm held behind his back, looking very much the noble gentleman. “Well, if you don’t mind honoring small requests, then might I have your hand?”

Suspicious, she hesitated. “For what purpose?”

He paused before her and she caught the crisp scent of sandalwood from him. It was a heady mixture when combined with the sea air and succulent food. “I made a small request. Surely you don’t intend to deny me now?”

She bit her lip to keep from questioning him further. “Very well.” Lorelei lifted her gloved hand.

Even through the soft kidskin, she could feel the heat of his hand as he lifted her knuckles to his lips and placed a chaste kiss on them.

He closed his eyes as if savoring something delectable. “You chose the rose perfume.”

“Does it please you?”

“Very much.”

He brushed her fingers with his thumb and an electric charge rushed through her body straight to the center of her being. She licked her suddenly dry lips and fought herself for control of the swirling emotions he provoked so easily.

She must do something to staunch her attraction for him before it was too late, or more to the point, to staunch his desire for her. As every moment passed she began to wonder if perhaps ’twas she who’d met her match this night.

The captain placed her hand in the crook of his elbow and led her toward the table. “No doubt you’re thinking of wearing the lavender perfume next time to spite me.”

She cocked a brow at his ability to read her so easily. “Perhaps I was thinking of asking for more rose to continue to entice you.”

He held the chair out for her and she dutifully sat down. Once she was situated, he leaned down, and when he spoke, his breath fell softly against the flesh of her neck, adding flames to the already swirling fire inside her. “You’ve already enticed me, sweet. We both know what you really want to do is
repel
me.”

She turned her face slightly to see the devilish look on his face. “Nay, not at all. I said I would make you fall in love with me and so I shall.”

“And I said I would seduce you and—”

Impulsively, she placed her fingertip to his lips to silence him before he made his boast once more. “Shall we make this more interesting?” she asked, thinking that an added incentive might be just what she needed to keep both of them at bay. “How about a wager?”

He took her hand in his and lightly stroked the small buttons at her wrist. “A wager? I thought women profaned wagers.”

Lorelei resisted the urge to close her eyes and savor the gentleness of his touch, which was sending out waves and waves of pleasure to her. “And men adore them.”

“Well then, let’s hear this wager of yours.”

She dropped her gaze to his well-manicured thumb, which was now tracing small circles in her palm. His dark tan stood out sharply from the white kidskin and she noted a pale scar that ran along the top of his knuckles. “Should I win and you fall in love with me, you will cease being a pirate.”

He dropped her hand with a short laugh. “That’s hardly fair.”

Looking up, she locked gazes. “Wagers seldom are.”

“Very well, I agree.” He thoughtfully stroked his chin as if considering something of great import. When he finally looked back at her, she had an eerie chill of premonition. “Now for your consequences. If I win, you will refuse to marry Justin.”

She frowned at his request and at the underlying tone she caught in his voice. “Why does my engagement to Justin bother you so?”

His face stoic, he answered rather snidely. “It doesn’t bother me at all.”

“Doesn’t it?”

He veiled his gaze. “It’s simply a wager, Lorelei. You asked for something preposterous and I asked for something preposterous in return.”

“If you say so,” she said, but still she had a sense that there was more to it than he let on.

“I do.” And with that he took himself off to his end of the table.

Once he was seated and had his linen napkin folded properly in his lap, he rang a small brass bell and two of his crewmen appeared to serve them. The pirates had attempted to dress themselves up in navy jackets and breeches, but one of them still wore a red bandana about his head and large gold hoops in his ears. The other was a bald man of about twenty with a rugged look to his face and two missing front teeth.

“Would ya be liking some rum sauce for the chicken, Captain?” the bald man asked in a thick Cockney accent.

“It’s duck, Kirk. And yes, thank you, I would like some sauce for it.”

Kirk scraped the ladle across the bottom of the dish, raising the hair on the back of Lorelei’s neck. He dumped the sauce over the captain’s food, then smacked it twice with the ladle for good measure. “Duck, chicken, don’t see much difference meself. It’s all for the gullet in the end. Why, when I was a lad, we was lucky to have cabbage soup, much less anything as fancy as all this here.”

“The captain don’t care to hear your woes,” the other sailor inserted. “Blimey, Kirk, can’t you see the man is trying to impress the lady, and here you go off about cabbage soup and gullets. Where’s your mind, man? Use it for something other than—”

“Tommy,” the captain interrupted. “Kirk, we thank you for your service, but I believe silence might be in your best interest.”

“Ach, now ya done gone and done it,” Kirk muttered as he dumped more sauce over Lorelei’s duck. “We’ll be swabbing the decks tomorrow for sure.”

“Me?” Tommy asked in a huff as he poured the wine in Lorelei’s cup. “I wasn’t the one—”

“That will be enough, men.”

The two sailors glared at each other while they finished their various duties.

Lorelei waited patiently while they were served. The captain appeared as grand and noble as the highest, most well-born dignitary she’d ever seen, and she began to wonder if he’d been honest with her about his background. Surely the types of people one typically found in a bordello hadn’t possessed the refinement of breeding the pirate showed so naturally. Nay, someone had trained him as effectively as she herself had been groomed.

But who?

And why?

With a regal wave of his hand, he dismissed his men.

Knowing the captain wasn’t about to trust her with the knowledge, she cut a small piece of the duck and took a bite. She delighted at the delicate flavor.

Their conversation lagged until Lorelei finally found enough courage to mention to him the matter foremost on her mind. “I met your son today,” she said after taking a sip of wine. “But then you know that, don’t you? You sent him to find out my favorite color.”

He wiped his mouth with his napkin before he answered. “Yes. I wasn’t sure if you’d tell me.”

“Why did you want to know?”

He leaned forward slightly, as if about to impart some great secret to her. “I find you fascinating and I want to know all about you.”

“Ah,” she said in full understanding. “Knowledge is power. The more you know about me, the easier I’ll be to seduce.” Like him, she leaned forward and met his gaze evenly. “And will you allow
me
such arsenal?”

He sat back slightly. “Perhaps.”

A glimmer of hope appeared. It was certainly a kinder answer than the rude “no” she’d expected. Fortified, she asked the question that had intrigued her most of the day. “Then tell me, who is Kit’s mother?”

“I don’t know.”

“You don’t know?” she repeated in disbelief. “Sir, ’tis the father who can be in doubt. The mother is surely known, unless you…” Her eyes widened. “You kidnapped the boy?”

“Hardly,” he said, his voice laced with aristocratic disdain. “Kit is my son. That is all anyone ever needs to know about the matter.”

Lorelei watched him in silence. If he hadn’t kidnapped Kit, and Jack was truly his father, then he must have known the boy’s mother…intimately, at some point.

“Was she some passing wench you fancied? Or a lady of short acquaintance, perhaps?”

“She is none of your business and she has nothing to do with me.”

By his tone, she knew the matter was ended. Any further inquiries would only alienate him from her. But oh, how she longed to know the truth. Why was he so secretive about the matter? Had he loved Kit’s mother greatly?

She almost laughed at the thought. Nay, the captain disdained love too much to ever have felt it. Which made the question of Kit’s mother all the more tantalizing.

Changing the direction of her thoughts, she asked him about the next item that intrigued her. “Then tell me why you became a pirate.”

He swirled the wine around in his glass and sighed. “These are all boring questions. I became a pirate to make money.”

“Why not be a privateer, or join the navy?”

“Because I refuse to answer to any man or government. On this ship, my will is supreme.”

And it was. She knew that, had seen it firsthand on deck.

“Now my turn,” he said, returning his glass to the table. “Tell me, other than thinking of Justin, what do you like to do?”

She puzzled over the strangeness of his question. “What do I like to do?”

“Yes. When you’re all alone in your father’s house and there’s no one to disturb you. What gives you pleasure?”

That was harmless enough to answer. He certainly couldn’t use that against her in any way. “Reading.”

His look became one of intrigue. “And what do you like to read?”

“Poetry, mostly. I particularly like Anne Bradstreet.”

He inclined his head to her, then recited one of her most favored poems.

Lorelei smiled at the quote, impressed that he knew it. She continued,

Then together, “‘Sisters we are, yea, twins we be, Yet deadly feud, ’twixt thee and me.’”

“You’re very well learned,” she said before taking another bite of her food.

“For a pirate?”

“Hmmm.”

“I, too, like to read.”