Devil of the High Seas, page 18
“Please, Gavin. Please, stop teasing me.”
He let go of her nipple and grinned. “Begging for me? I like that, wife. Now tell me what it is you want.”
“I want you inside me.” She blushed wildly at the admission.
“You wish to be taken by your husband?” His coarse words sent her desire shooting even higher. How did he know what to say to make this moment even more deliciously carnal?
“Say it, wife. Beg me.” He kissed the spot between her collarbones, while one of his hands cupped her bottom and squeezed. She tightened her thighs around his hips.
“Please,” she gasped. “Please take me, my husband.”
He groaned at the word husband and lifted her up, settling her on the ledge. She braced her hands on the rocks at the edge of the pool. Gavin positioned himself behind her, his knees bracketing hers, and he gripped her shoulder with one hand while he used his other to guide himself into her. They both shared a groan as he sank deep.
“Oh yes,” she whimpered as his hips pressed into her bottom, sending him as deep as he could go.
She arched her back, and he moved one hand to her neck, fisting her hair, while the other hand cupped one of her breasts and gently squeezed it. He withdrew and thrust back in.
“Tell me you are mine.”
“Yours.” Josephine could only pant the word as she fell through a waterfall of pleasure into a sea of colored stars.
Gavin began to move faster and harder. He made her climax go on for what felt like forever before a second one chased it. She couldn’t even scream. Her eyes rolled back in her head as the songs of the parrots above them serenaded her through peaks of pleasure while warm water cradled her body. The thrust of his hips made soft splashes, and she could only take what he offered and bathe in the beauty of what he made her feel. Josephine’s body sang with pleasure. Her channel would be sore from his vigorous claiming, yet it was beautiful to be so wild and free, to let herself feel every second of her love for him.
When she thought she could bear no more, he withdrew from her and switched the positions of their bodies. Now he sat on the underwater rock ledge and she was straddling him. He impaled her on his cock, making her cry out at the sensitivity, and silenced her with a kiss before he raised her up and down on his body. He let her ride him while he sucked at one of her breasts again, letting her feel the blissful sensations of him inside her and the tug of his mouth at the same time.
A softer climax rolled through her, and she knew she was crying as tears dripped down her face to her chin. Gavin kissed away each tear and murmured soft words of comfort that she could not comprehend because she was too overwhelmed by her love for him.
Soon, she drifted to sleep in his arms, his shaft still deep inside her. When she woke much later on, she found herself dressed and being carried in his arms. He was walking back through the forest toward his home.
“Gavin?”
“Yes?” His low voice carried an indulgent tone she’d never heard before.
“I . . . I don’t actually know what I was going to ask you,” she admitted.
He chuckled. “It seems I wore you out, my darling. I want to sleep in our bed. I have plans to make this evening.”
She didn’t like the sound of that. “Plans?”
“Yes. I want to take the Pixie to Sugar Cove and find a vicar to marry us. I assume that’s all right?”
“Yes,” she said, a little surprised. “Shouldn’t I go with you? Wouldn’t that be easier?”
“No, I want you to stay here—for two reasons.”
Now she was the one who chuckled. “You and your reasons. Very well, let’s hear them.”
“First, I wish to marry you here, on our island. And second, if I have the misfortune to run into your brother or mine, I don’t want them to take you from me. If you’re here, I stand a better chance of getting back to you without losing you. Not even Dominic knows I live on this island.”
“Oh, well, that does make sense. When will you leave?”
“Tomorrow, if I can.”
Disappointment pricked her heart. “So soon?”
“The sooner I leave, the sooner I can return to you.”
They reached the house, and a smiling Jada met them at the door, holding it open for them.
“I hope you actually showed your wife the island,” she teased.
Embarrassed, Josephine struggled to make Gavin put her down, but he ignored her attempts.
“Don’t fight a man when he insists on carrying you,” Jada said with a chuckle. “I’ll send dinner up for you two. I imagine you still have much to discuss.”
“We do?” Josephine asked as Gavin started up the stairs while he still held her in his arms.
“We certainly do, wife. Namely, how many times I can make you come apart in my arms.”
She gasped. How could he talk so openly about something so scandalous?
“Mrs. Castleton, you saved me from a deadly squall—tell me you are not so timid now?” He smiled at her teasingly just as they reached what she assumed was his bedchamber.
“It’s just . . . Oh, never mind.” She sighed as he deposited her on the bed.
It was a long while later when Jada brought them a tray of food and the two of them ate naked in bed. Josephine was enjoying this new side of Gavin, the teasing playfulness that was so gentle, combined with his fierce passion when he made love to her.
“Must you really leave tomorrow?” she asked as she lay atop him. Their bodies were still joined intimately, and neither of them moved. He stroked her hair back behind her ears and smiled softly.
“I must. We need a vicar for our marriage to be official.”
“What happens after?” She nibbled her bottom lip with worry.
“After what?”
“After we’re wed. What of the Siren? Aren’t you worried about your ship?”
Gavin’s eyes darkened for the first time in days as his contentment seemed to vanish.
“I am, but I want to marry you first. Once I’m certain you are my wife and not Griffin’s, I will go after my ship and return the Pixie to your brother.”
Another woman might have thought Gavin’s comment about marrying her first was a matter of sibling rivalry, but Josephine knew it wasn’t. He wanted her not because of her belonging, at least by contract, to Griffin, but because she wanted Gavin. Their mutual longing had deepened into true love, despite how quickly it had formed.
“I wish you didn’t have to go,” she mumbled.
He tipped her chin up so that she looked at him. “I will hurry back with the wind full in my sails.”
His sweet promise hung in the air, while outside the birdsong faded into the gentle Caribbean night and the breeze and rolling of the waves became a pirate’s lullaby.
Gavin slipped out of bed just before dawn and paused to stare down at Josephine as she slept. Never could he have imagined the night he first met her that he would be here with her now and would see her as his other half.
The ocean could give a man her mysteries, but there was no greater or more wonderful mystery than the heart of a woman. He thought about Charity and Brianna, two women who were much like Josephine in some ways. He’d loved them both, despite how the relationships had ended. Now he saw those relationships not as failures but as practice. He hadn’t been ready or worthy to love a woman like Josephine then. Now he knew what he wanted from life and what love truly meant. In just a month and a half, he’d found something more precious than silver or gold. He had Josephine’s heart.
He bent and pressed a soft kiss to her brow, then quietly slipped from the room. Jada was waiting for him downstairs by the door. The pale morning skies lit her brown eyes. Those eyes of hers had seen all of his secrets, no matter how much he wished to hide them.
“You will give it up for her, won’t you?” Jada spoke softly. She’d never judged him for his unlawful activities. Jada saw the best in people, which never ceased to amaze him, given that she’d been taken from her home in Africa, destined to be sold on an auction block before the Siren had intervened.
“Yes, I suppose I will,” he agreed. He hadn’t thought about it until now, but he would have to. A pirate’s life was dangerous. He was a wanted man in many waters. It would be hard enough to stay out of the noose even after he left pirating behind him. He was thankful that the island provided enough to live on, and he did have some money set aside in a few banks on the other islands, as well as banks back in London. It was why he returned to England at least once a year, to add to his investments.
Jada nodded. “That is good. Love her and you will heal your soul.”
He embraced Jada. “Take care of my lass until I return?”
She chuckled. “Of course. Go on, Ronnie is ready to leave.”
Ronnie was waiting for him in the shallows with a few sailors who had a boat ready so they could return to the Pixie.
He climbed aboard, and the crew started to row. He turned back, staring at the island, at his home, picturing the woman he was leaving behind. It made him want to hurry all the more.
“This is the first time you’ve ever looked back,” Ronnie mused.
Gavin realized with some surprise that his friend was right. Before, he’d looked ahead to the next adventure, where the wind would take him, but now he knew where he truly wanted to be. A life with Josie was the only adventure he wanted now.
“We’d best kidnap a vicar, and fast,” Ronnie muttered. “I expect a wee babe will be here before Christmas.”
Christ, he had not even thought of that. Josephine could be with child even now. He’d certainly made love to her enough times that it was a possibility.
“Oh, aye, you didn’t think of that, did you?” Ronnie laughed. “You had better get married quickly, Papa Gavin.”
He kicked Ronnie in the shin, and both men laughed as he took his position with the men and rowed. Even though it felt like he’d left his heart behind, the thought of having children with Josephine filled him with an incredible joy. This beautiful life he wanted with Josephine was within reach. All he had to do was beat Griffin to the altar.
CHAPTER 14
Gavin and Ronnie stared at the man lying face down in the mud of a pigsty.
“I suppose he’ll have to do,” Gavin said.
“Aye, he’ll have to. Sheridan is the only vicar on the island. We can’t risk going anywhere else.”
They had stopped at Sugar Cove, a well-known pirate haven that the navy thankfully hadn’t seemed to have set its sights on yet.
Gavin waved at the sleeping man. “Very well, get the man up.” The two sailors who had accompanied him from the Pixie raised their buckets and tossed cold water on the man lying in the sty. He scrambled to his knees, blubbering, as the muddy water sluiced over his body.
“Oi!” the vicar roared, and Gavin was surprised to see the man was far younger than he’d expected and built more like a man who fought in boxing matches than a man of the cloth. He couldn’t have been more than twenty-five or thirty years old.
“You are the vicar named Henry Sheridan, aren’t you?” Gavin demanded.
“Among other things, yes.” The man swiped the mud off his once fine coat and glanced around for something.
Gavin held up the bottle of rum that had lain just outside of the fence of the pigsty. “Looking for this?” The vicar reached for it, but Gavin turned the bottle upside down and poured the contents on the ground.
“You’ve just wasted the best spiced rum to be had on this side of the Atlantic.” Sheridan shot Gavin a black look that promised retribution.
“Come with us and we’ll pay you enough to buy all the rum in Jamaica. Until then, I need you sober.”
“Sober?” The vicar slowly climbed out of the sty. “You’re not offering me enough for that. What is this task you want me to do that requires the unfortunate state of sobriety?”
“I need a man of the cloth to wed me.”
Sheridan snorted. “No offense, but you’re not my type.”
Ronnie shoved Sheridan hard from behind. “That’s the cap’n. Show some respect.”
“I’ve seen plenty of captains. It’s a coin toss as to how many deserve respect.”
“It’s a highborn lady that I wish to wed,” Gavin said, unfazed. “Are all of your licenses or whatever vicars require these days in order? I need this wedding to be aboveboard.”
“Yes, unfortunately, all of my licenses are in order. I get offers every day to marry the bloody prostitutes to half the pirates on this bloody rock some fool decided to call an island,” the vicar replied sourly.
“Good. Then come with us.” Gavin led the way back through the pirate haven. Dozens of men drank or fought in the street, while prostitutes offered their favors by displaying themselves in colorful but ratty gowns. The vicar paused a moment to let a group of men carrying a drunk man pass them as they tossed the man through an open window into a tavern rather than out of it.
“Huh. Usually they toss a man out of a tavern, not into it,” he said dryly, and they continued on their way. Shouts exploded from inside the room following the sound of knocked-over tankards clattering onto the floor.
“May I ask how a man of the cloth ended up in a place like this?” Gavin inquired.
“I used to be a captain in the navy.”
“A bloody navy man,” Ronnie hissed from behind them.
“Obviously, I’m not any longer,” Sheridan spat. “I pursued a career in the church after I resigned my commission. As a second son, you don’t have many options when it comes to making your own way.”
“I can understand leaving the navy, but you don’t seem like a man destined for the cloth.”
“’Tis a long story and I’m not interested in telling it.”
“Fair enough.” Gavin was not a man to pry into others’ secrets. Sheridan was a handsome enough fellow, built like any navy man. He still looked more like a captain than a man of the cloth. It must have been something truly desperate to drive him this low.
They had nearly reached the wharf when Gavin saw a familiar face among the men by the docks. Dominic Greyville was there, speaking to the harbormaster. The man shook his head and shrugged at whatever Dominic had asked.
“Blast.”
Gavin motioned for the men with him to duck behind the wall of the nearby tavern. He had paid the harbormaster off when they’d arrived at Sugar Cove for his silence on any movements they made. It was a longstanding arrangement that the harbormaster wouldn’t want to ruin since he was well paid. Gavin had the Pixie circling the island rather than making berth in the port. He was no fool. He wouldn’t dare put the Pixie in the harbor, not when there was a chance of Dominic recognizing his own ship if he visited here.
“What is it, cap’n?” one of the men asked in a worried voice.
Gavin cursed silently. He’d tried to avoid telling the Pixie’s crew that he was a pirate who’d stolen the ship. Thinking quickly, he spun a tale to the two men who’d accompanied him and Ronnie.
“Er . . . it’s an old friend, one I owe money to. He’s not someone I want to see right now, and I feared he’d be here—that’s why I had the Pixie circle the island.”
“Oh, right.” The sailor nodded as if that all made perfect, believable sense.
“Is that Dominic?” Ronnie whispered from behind him.
“Aye,” Gavin whispered back.
“Who’s Dominic?” the vicar asked in a low voice.
“My betrothed’s elder brother,” Gavin replied.
The vicar chuckled and then stifled the sound. “No, really, who is he?”
“My betrothed’s elder brother,” Gavin repeated, sending the vicar his grimmest look.
Unfazed by the pirate’s tone, the vicar simply scowled back at him. “Good Lord, I’m in some sort of Shakespearian farce, aren’t I?”
“We had best get back to the boat before he spots us,” Ronnie suggested.
“Agreed.” Gavin gestured for his small group to head back to where they’d hidden their small boat. It was a miracle that they reached the rocky outcropping on the far side of the island half an hour later without being spotted. The boat was still waiting for them where they’d hidden it, and once they were rolling out to sea, the Pixie appeared around the edge of the island as if conjured by Cornish magic.
Once everyone including the vicar were aboard and the boat was stowed, the Pixie shot out for the open sea, the wind in her sails. Gavin stood at the stern and watched Sugar Cove fade into the horizon. But he did not breathe a sigh of relief just yet. So long as Dominic hunted them, he could not rest, until Josephine was his wife. Even then, Dominic still might try to kill him. Greyville was a good man to have as an ally, but a deadly opponent as one’s enemy.
Griffin stared at the open sea, his heart unsettled. They had stopped at a place called Sugar Cove and sought news of Gavin or the Cornish Pixie. It had been a dead end. Everyone on board was restless. He feared that the chances of finding Josephine in time to save her from whatever his brother intended to do with her grew smaller every day. He knew Gavin wouldn’t hurt her, but he feared he would seduce her and make her fall in love with him before abandoning her. The coldness inside his brother’s heart worried him beyond words.
The previous night at dinner, he and Nicholas Flynn had listened as Dominic and Brianna discussed their theories as to where Gavin could be. Brianna had pointed out that Gavin had knowledge of the small islands in the West Indies and could hide in any number of places. There were rumors that he had a place tucked away somewhere in the vicinity where he kept plunder from all his captured prizes. But Brianna could only guess at its location. Dominic suggested they reach out to the rest of the pirate Brethren and see what they knew of the pirate king’s location. Surely someone had seen him. That was assuming, of course, that any of the pirates would betray Gavin’s location, which wasn’t entirely likely.
