The Sea Rose (5 page)

The lovely girl in his arms made a
soft mewling sound, and he altered the angle of his mouth to
plunder it completely. What treasures she held, this sweet Rose. He
pulled her against him, lifting her gently so that she stood on her
tiptoes and his growing erection nestled in the cradle of her
stomach.

Chapter Seven

That sudden awareness of his arousal
brought her slamming back to reality. She placed both her hands on
his chest and pushed hard against him. He immediately ended the
kiss, but he didn’t remove his hands from around her. He slowly
relaxed his grip, loosened his hands on her, and let her move ever
so slightly away from him but still within the circle of his
arms.

“
Have you never been
kissed before?” he whispered.

“
Yes.” She was lying and
surely he could tell. “No. Not like that.”

“
It was lovely, don’t you
agree, sweet Rose?”

Roselyn didn’t answer, but she felt
her face go hot, blushing a color resembling her
namesake.

“
Please release me,” she
asked quietly. Hoping both that he would and he
wouldn’t.

He let his arms completely relax and
let her go. He turned and sat on his chair, leaning back until it
balanced on only two legs. He rested his crossed ankles on the
table in a pose of exaggerated nonchalance.

“
Sit back down, we’ll eat
some fruit and finish our game.”

Roselyn picked up her glass and drank
the last several swallows of wine and immediately regretted having
done it. “My head is swimming. I don’t want any more wine.” Now she
was embarrassed. Obviously, the kiss didn’t affect him at all. She
placed one cool hand upon her flaming cheek and sat heavily in her
chair. “I think that was more than one kiss.”

“
Technically, my lovely,
that was only one kiss. My lips never left yours.” He used a long,
thin knife to slice an apple.

She watched him with fascination, her
head was fuzzy from too much wine and the life-altering kiss. She
sat at the table mesmerized by the knife and the man, and blinked
her eyes sleepily. Roselyn was remarkably tired; deep down to the
bone tired. She was quite sure she had never been this exhausted.
How long ago was it that the merchant ship went down? Three weeks?
Hard to believe it was just the day before.

Jack ate several apple slices while he
contemplated her. He released her from their embrace but he hadn’t
wanted to. More importantly, he didn’t want to think about why.
Piracy was not an occupation that lent itself to introspection. He
only allowed her escape because, when she pulled away from the
kiss, he had seen fear in her eyes. He reminded himself harshly
that women held no sway for him, and this little virgin wasn’t
going to change that. Nevertheless, she was falling asleep at the
table, and regardless of his reputation, he was not a cruel
man.

Jack set the rest of the apple and the
knife on the table and dropped his booted feet heavily on the plank
floor. He rose to his feet, took her by the hand and drew her up.
Like a deer, she looked skittish and about to bolt.

“
You’ve had a very long
day. I have cruelly gotten you drunk, and now you’re falling asleep
at the table.” He gently tugged her hand and she acquiesced. She
followed him slowly, if not warily. “Come on, I won’t bite you. Not
even if you ask me to. Not tonight.” He set her on the edge of his
enormous bed and she sank into the feathers. She blinked at him
with heavy eyes. “All right, my beautiful Rose.” He reached behind
her and started on the row of buttons. “Let’s get this dress off
you.”

“
Thank you for the dress.
I’ve never owned anything so beautiful in my whole life.” She
pressed the dress on her legs and smoothed out wrinkles. “My father
would not have liked this dress, and if he’d seen me in it, he
would have had me reading bible verses on my knees for
hours.”

Jack slid the dress off her ivory
shoulders and pulled her to her feet again. The heavy material
caught briefly on her lovely hips and then fell the rest of the way
to the floor. She plopped back on the bed in her shift and
corset.

“
Well, I am a connoisseur
of beautiful women, and I don’t know what was wrong with your
father, but I love you in this dress.” Jack tossed his leg behind
her and straddled her. She was cradled in his lap, one of his legs
on either side of her. His fingers deftly worked the laces of the
corset he’d tied several hours earlier.

She sat dutifully still. “I wish you
wouldn’t keep saying that.”

“
Saying what?” He
stretched the laces wide and pulled the corset open. Roselyn
inhaled deeply, filling her lungs completely. Jack had the lovely
view over her shoulder of her breasts rising and falling as her
chest expanded. “Saying that you’re not beautiful would be a lie,
and I may be many things but I’m not a liar.”

Jack stood from the bed, deftly
lifting her to her feet with him. He turned her to face him and he
looked into her inebriated eyes. He knew that she probably wouldn’t
remember any of this in the morning. And that was all the more
reason why he couldn’t, why he wouldn’t, take advantage of
her.

Like he said earlier, he was many
things but lecher and rapist were not among them either. He had a
reputation, that was true, but a reputation that he himself had
built and cultivated, and at least ninety percent of which was a
lie. He liked this woman. She was gutsy and brave and charming
besides being beautiful. He hadn’t figured out exactly what her
father had done to her, but he knew how harsh words from a beloved
parent could crush a child’s soul, and he would do his best during
their time together to make her see she was something
special.

“
Look at me,” he lifted
her chin, and watched her try to focus on him. “You are a
beautiful, sensual woman. I want to bed you so badly, I ache.” He
grasped her hand and showed her how much he desired her. “I give
you fair warning that I will continue my pursuit…”

Roselyn looked into the pirate’s rich,
black eyes, and then her gaze slid to his mouth and she watched his
lips as he formed words, but she wasn’t really listening. She
wanted him to kiss her again. Maybe it was the wine–it was
definitely the wine–but she liked the way he looked at her. She
really liked the way his kiss made her feel: both wanted and
pretty. But being pretty was proud, and therefore wicked. Her
father had drilled that into her head her entire life. The concept
was dangerous, she knew, but the inhibitions she had were slowly
drowning, and she liked feeling pretty.

Rose put her finger across his lips
and effectively silenced him. “Too much talking, not enough
kissing.”

This time she initiated the
kiss.

Roselyn placed both hands on his
shoulders to steady herself as she stood on wobbly tiptoes to place
her lips on his. She didn’t know how to continue since her entire
resume of experience could be summed up in their one previous kiss.
Fortunately, her pirate was there to guide her and his arms slid
around her waist and he deepened the kiss. This time, she didn’t
bolt when he pulled her close and she felt his arousal. Soon
enough, Roselyn’s instincts took over and her hands roamed his
skin, down his strong arms and across his broad, well-muscled back.
She found the waist band on his breeches and, slowly by degrees,
she pulled at his shirt until it came free and allowed her access
to his skin.

Jack was overwhelmed. Her soft hands
glided up his stomach and curled into the soft hair that feathered
his chest. The act nearly ended his resolve. He wanted to have her,
it was true, but not because she was weakened by alcohol. This
woman was a wonder and he wanted her to choose him when she had all
her faculties.

But dear God, it was all he could do
to resist her temptation. She was all passion and eagerness, her
hands never stopped roaming once she discovered how her body
affected certain parts of him.

“
Beautiful Roselyn,” he
whispered into her hair, “how is a man supposed to act like a
gentleman with such passion and loveliness before him?”

“
But you’re not a
gentleman, Jack. You’re a pirate,” she whispered back against his
neck, while her hands found the glory that was his backside and now
she caressed it lovingly.

Jack chuckled at her easy grasp of the
truth. “Ah, but alas, my sweet, I am not such a pirate that I’m a
despoiler of drunken virgins who are engaged to missionary
ministers.” He reached behind him with both hands and clasped her
hands in his. He brought them back around to the front and held
them to his lips and laid a kiss in each palm. She appeared
dismayed that he had put a halt to their passion, so he kissed her
lips briefly again.

“
Rose, it is nearly
killing me not to take your beautiful body right now.” He looked
down appreciatively. He could see all her curves through the thin
cotton of her shift. “But now you need sleep.”

She was clearly much too tired to put
up any serious protest, so when he led her back to the bed and
pulled down the silk covers, she climbed in and sank drowsily into
the feather bed, her head on the downy pillows, and she was asleep
almost instantly. He covered her and blew out the lantern near the
bed. As he stepped away, her hand slipped out and grabbed
his.

“
Come sleep with me,” she
murmured, dreamily.

Handsome Jack looked back at the
sensual, inviting woman in his bed and his groin ached. How much
could his tenuous resolve be expected to withstand?

“
Please,” she said. He was
lost.

He kicked off his boots and pulled his
shirt off over his head. His pants fell into a heap on the floor,
and he crawled into the bed beside her. She snuggled against him
and she fell asleep with his arms around her.

Eventually, Jack fell asleep too, but
it was a long time before he could relax enough for that peace to
find him.

Chapter Eight

Roselyn opened her eyes to the morning
sun streaming through the porthole window. The pirate’s bed was
warm and comfortable and she languidly stretched her arms over her
head and immediately froze.

There was someone else in the
bed.

She carefully turned her head and
found Jack sleeping next to her. She gently turned her body until
she was face to face with him. She didn’t remember everything from
the night before, but she was fairly confident that they had not
made love. However, if her father looked down on her now from
heaven, then she was sure he would kill her himself. It was
entirely possible that everything he’d ever said about her was
true. But, her father was gone and he wasn’t in control of her life
anymore. Unfortunately, soon enough it would be Rupert.

She had taken charge of her life
enough to decide to buy passage to New Providence and seek out her
fiancé, but was she brave enough to scrap that plan altogether? It
saddened her to know that she could never have the life she wanted
with a man like Jack. Pirates did not settle down with minister’s
daughters and get married. She already knew that he had a certain
animosity towards the aristocracy and his family. There was no hope
for the two of them off the ship. This was to be a voyage of
discovery, and afterward she would tuck it away with only the
tender memories to sustain her once she became a minster’s
wife.

Emboldened by that decision, Roselyn
gave herself permission to be a little wanton.

All she knew for sure was that he was
easily the most attractive man she had ever seen. She still had her
shift on, but he had no shirt–that she could see. Everything else
was a mystery.

She dared herself to lift
the sheet and peek underneath. She glanced at his face, but he
still slept, his beautiful countenance peaceful and dreamy. Slowly,
carefully, she lifted the sheet by inches, alternating between
looking at his face to make sure he still slept and the growing
expanse of his skin. A well muscled chest gave way to a flat
stomach as the sheet crept its way down. Just like his mustache,
the hair on his chest looked equally soft, but she feared if she
stroked his skin and hair, he would wake for sure. The sheet
slipped passed his waist and the tan line that so intrigued her
before became visible. She knew she should stop and she
hesitated.
Now or never.
She closed her eyes and exhaled to prepare
herself. Her heart pounded in her chest. Her eyes came open to see
him staring at her.

“
Have you seen everything
you wanted to?” he drawled with a randy grin.

Her fingers dropped the sheet
instantly, the silk fabric fluttered to conceal all that she’d
uncovered. “I apologize,” she sputtered. Her cheeks bloomed in a
bright blush.

He raised both his hands over his
head, “I won’t stop you. Go ahead, investigate at your leisure,”
his voice gravelly and sexy with sleep.

“
Oh no,” she protested and
shook her head. “I’m very sorry.” She rose to climb out of
bed.