A Pirate of her Own (21 page)

He loved her intrepid spirit.

He loved her lips, her humor, and especially the look she got in her eyes right before she started one of her infamous tirades.

Part of him wanted to cry it out, but for his life he couldn’t bring a single word past his lips.

Nay, he was a man of action, not words. He would show her his love.

He scooped her up in his arms and headed toward the stable.

“What are you doing?” she gasped.

“What I should have done a long time ago.”

Serenity stiffened in his arms. “Where are you taking me?”

“To my ship.”

“Why?”

“Because that’s where I want you.”

Morgan stared at her as they entered the stable and he headed toward his horse. The look he loved so very well darkened her eyes and he knew he was about to receive a scalding lecture.

“You, sir, don’t—”

He stopped her words with a kiss.

She fought for just a moment and then surrendered to him. Morgan groaned in pleasure as she opened her lips and let him taste the sweetness of her mouth.

Aye, tonight she was his.

But not in a stable.

After setting her down, he reached for his horse. He didn’t even bother to saddle the stallion. Instead, he quickly bridled the horse, then swung himself up.

He leaned down over the horse’s back and extended his hand. “Come with me, Serenity.”

He held his breath in expectation of her answer.

Serenity hesitated. She knew what he wanted. Had listened to Kristen go on at great lengths about what happened between a man and a woman.

If she went with him, she would be forever changed.

Nay,
she corrected herself. She was already forever changed. He’d already shown her things she never thought she’d see. Made her feel things she’d never known existed, and there was only one thing left.

Walk away, Serenity.

But she couldn’t. Let the gossips hound her forever. Tonight there would be no shame. Tonight there would be only them.

Swallowing the fear in her throat, she reached her hand out to him.

Morgan wanted to shout in triumph as
Serenity’s soft hand closed around his. She felt like warm velvet and smelled of delicate roses and night mist.

Without hesitation he pulled her up in front of him and set his heels to the horse.

At long last, she was his. This was a night he would savor like no other.

A woman he would savor like no other.

Serenity sighed as she leaned her head back against him and listened to his heart race beneath her cheek. The sweet ocean air mingled with the scent of Morgan, and she felt as helpless against him as a damsel confronting a dragon.

His arms held her close while the horse thundered across the beach, raising water in their wake. High overhead hung a full moon that cast mystical shadows against Morgan’s face.

He was beautiful, her pirate. And for this one night, he would belong to her and her alone.

The nagging voice in her head warned that tomorrow would separate them.

But she didn’t listen. She would deal with that on the morrow.

Tonight she would listen to her heart. Her heart that wanted him more than it had ever wanted anything.

When they reached the small rowboat, Serenity giggled.

“What?” he asked, reining the horse to a stop.

“You’re certainly going to a lot of trouble.”

His face serious, he stared down at her. “You’re worth every bit of it.”

“That’s not what you told Stanley.”

He slid to the ground, then pulled her from the horse. His hands bit into her waist as he slowly slid her down the front of him.

Her body burned in response, tingled all over.

His look was dark and deadly. “I don’t
ever
want to hear another man’s name on your lips.”

“But Stan—”

Again he kissed her.

Serenity smiled while they kissed. She had just learned a trick. Say Stanley’s name and Morgan would kiss it away.

She filed that away in the back of her mind. It could definitely come in handy.

With a groan, Morgan tore away from her lips and carried her to the rowboat. He set her carefully down before setting it adrift, jumping in and picking up the oars.

“This is the longest trip of my life,” he murmured.

She laughed at the desperate note in his voice. Her body throbbed from her longing and she watched his muscles ripple as he began rowing them out to his ship.

Moonlight danced across his face, shadowing his eyes. Even so, she could feel him looking at her. It made her body even hotter.

Morgan stared at her and listened to the magic of her laughter. With her dress tucked primly around her and her hair in wild abandon, she looked like some captured nymph. A nymph he would devour fully before this night ended.

He rowed faster.

When he reached the boat, he carefully helped her climb the ladder to the deck. And this time, he enjoyed the sight of her garters and other under-things as they swayed above his head and undulated in a rhythm that made him ache all over. Soon he would taste that part of her.

He couldn’t wait.

He helped her over the side, then swung his legs over.

Ushakii came out of the corner of the poop deck, where he’d been posted to watch over the ship. “Who goes there?”

“Captain Drake.” He swept Serenity back up into his arms.

“Welcome aboard, Captain, Miss James,” Ushakii called, then returned to his post.

“You can put me down, Morgan,” Serenity said as he began carrying her across the deck.

He tightened his grip on her. “If I did that you might run away.”

She trailed her fingernail down the length of his stubbly jaw, raising chills all over him. His shaft grew even harder, pulsing with his need.

“I have a feeling you would catch me,” she said softly, her voice doing the most wicked things to his body.

“Be that as it may,” he said in a ragged whisper, “I’d much rather have you where I want you than have to worry.”

He carried her to his cabin.

He positioned her to his left, then opened the door.

Serenity smiled as they entered his cabin. It looked just as she remembered it, clean, cozy. And her lopsided curtains still hung where she’d placed them.

Embarrassed, Serenity averted her gaze and realized the door had also been repaired. “You fixed the door.”

Without a word, he leaned back against it and closed it.

This time when his lips met hers, she could taste the passion, feel the heat of his longing.

He allowed her feet to slide to the floor, but her legs were so weak from his kiss that she could barely stand. Instead, she clung to him, needing to feel as close to his body as she could.

There was heaven in his touch, she’d known that since the first time he’d kissed her.

He brushed his hands through her hair. “You are so beautiful,” he whispered against her ear.

Serenity smiled. It was the first time in her life a man had said that to her, and it was worth the wait to hear it from Morgan. Her pirate.

He dipped his head and pressed his lips against the skin of her breasts while his hands lifted her skirts from behind. His hands ran over her bare buttocks, pressing her hips closer to his so that she could feel just how swollen and ready he was for her.

Chills shot through her, and deep down her little voice told her this was wrong. They weren’t married.

All her life she had been told to save herself for her husband. But at her age she knew that day would never come.

She wasn’t a young miss waiting for her husband to deliver her. She was a woman full-grown whose heart had been stolen by a pirate.

And now she had a choice to make. Walk away from him right now, virtue intact, or follow her heart where it led.

Tonight it led her to Morgan’s arms, and that was exactly what she wanted. If this was to be her mistake, then let it. She’d been a dutiful, practical daughter all her life. For once she would do as she pleased and face the consequences, whatever they might be.

He moved his hands to the back of her gown and began unfastening the long row of buttons.

“Are you afraid?” he asked.

“Terrified,” she answered honestly.

Morgan’s gaze burned her with its intensity. “I won’t hurt you.”

Serenity bit her lip to stifle the comment that he already had; that he could only hurt her more tomorrow.

He’d been jealous over Stanley, there was no denying that. He might even, in his own way, love her. But he would never commit to her, and that knowledge cut her straight to her soul.

“Hold me,” she whispered, needing to feel him close.

Suddenly she wanted to see him as vulnerable as she felt. With a boldness that astounded her, she unbuttoned his waistcoat and pulled his shirt free from his breeches. She tore his shirt off so fast that the cravat stayed wrapped about his neck. Morgan laughed before he untied it and added it to the growing pile of clothes on the floor.

His chest bare before her, she drank in the warm sight. His refined muscles rippled with every move he made. There was one jagged scar about three inches long that ran along one collarbone. Reaching out, she traced its path, her fingers brushing against his warm skin.

Morgan lifted her fingers and placed a gentle kiss on her palm. Serenity smiled at the tenderness in his eyes and sighed happily.

He trailed his kisses up her arm, bit by bit until he reached her throat. His lips were soft and firm as they played upon her flesh, raising chills and turning her will and body into mush.

Closing her eyes, she leaned her head back, savoring the feel of him, the scent of him.

He was a man like no other.

Morgan drank in her sweetness. Never in his life had he tasted anything better than the salt of her skin. She ran her hands over the flesh of his back, raising chills in their path.

Groaning, he picked her up one last time and carried her to the bed, where he carefully laid her down.

He stared at her, her hair spread out over his quilt. Never before had he taken a virgin, and if he admitted the truth, he was afraid.

He didn’t want to hurt her. Didn’t want to taint her, but there was no way he could walk away from her now.

He needed her as much as he needed to breathe.

He would deal with whatever repercussions on the morrow. Tonight there would only be them.

He removed his pants.

Serenity gulped at the sight of him. Her face flaming, she couldn’t stop staring at his…

“It’s huge!” she gasped before she could stop herself.

Morgan gave a low rumble of a laugh. “Only for you it is,” he whispered, crawling onto the bed beside her.

He took her hand then and placed another kiss on her fingers before he led her hand down…there.

Serenity gulped at the hard velvety feel of him in her hand. Closing his eyes, he let out a half growl, half groan, and she reveled in her power over this man who feared nothing. Who answered to no one.

Bold from the knowledge, she moved her hand lower. Morgan sucked his breath in sharply. “Careful, Serenity. You keep that up and we’ll both be disappointed.”

With a wicked grin, he lay down on the bed and pulled her on top of him. He lifted her skirts until her bare belly touched against his hard hips. She moaned at the strange feel of him between her legs, of his short hairs teasing her nether parts.

She stared at his eyes, which glowed with a deep warmth, and ran her hands over his chest while he loosened her stays.

“Kiss me,” he commanded.

Leaning forward over him, she let her hair fall around them, forming a canopy. Morgan nipped her lips as he removed her corset and chemise, and with one swipe over her head, her gown.

Serenity shivered as the cool night hair hit her skin. She was bare before him. Self-consciously she pulled back, covering her small breasts with her hands.

“Don’t,” he whispered. “Don’t hide your body from me.” He removed her hands and raised up. He covered her right breast with his lips, and chills shot the length of her body as he suckled her gently.

Heat tore through her body, pooling into an inferno between her legs. Instinctively she rubbed herself against his hardness. His shaft pressed against her core.

They moaned in unison.

Morgan pulled back and gave her a desperate look. “You’ve no idea how much I want to savor your body, but if I don’t have you now, I swear I’ll die from it.”

She didn’t understand what he meant.

He gave her a desperate kiss, before laying her down against the bed. He ravaged her mouth as he separated her legs with his thigh.

Burying one hand in her hair, he ran his left hand down her body to the core of her aching. When he touched her at the apex of her thighs, her eyes flew open and she gasped until his fingers began a gentle assault on her body.

She couldn’t stand the remembered pleasure. He plunged his finger deep inside her and whispered in her ear. “You feel so sweet,” he murmured. “So tight and ready.”

And then he slid into her. Serenity tensed at the unexpected feel of him inside her body.

“Did I hurt you?” he asked.

“No,” she answered honestly.

He smiled and dipped his head down to nuzzle her breast. She moaned as he flicked his tongue first over her right breast and then her left. Without thought, she brought her legs up and wrapped them around his waist, plunging him deeper into her.

Morgan moaned as if in great pain.

Slowly he began to move against her hips. She bit her lip in pleasure. Never had she felt the like. He surrounded her and filled her.

With each thrust of his hips against hers, her pleasure built until she was sure she could stand no more, and still he continued his exquisite torture.

“Oh, Morgan,” she gasped, running her hands down his back, to his hips, to urge him faster and deeper into her.

Then just as she thought she would indeed die, her body burst again, just as it had done that night on deck. Serenity screamed out in release as her entire body shuddered and quivered.

A few seconds later, she heard Morgan groan and shudder over her.

They lay abed for hours, exploring each other’s body.

For the first time since he could remember, Morgan felt sated. At peace.

There was no fear, no nagging regrets.

He shook his head and gave a short laugh.

Serenity lifted herself up on one elbow and stared down at him. “What?” she asked, her brows knitted.

Morgan reached up and rubbed away the crease in her brows. “I was just thinking that for the first time in my life I have serenity.”

Her frown returned.

“Never mind,” he said with a smile. “It was a stupid thought.”

She looked as if she doubted his sanity. “Where did you get all the scars on your back?”

He brushed his hand through the soft tendrils of her hair and sighed. “They’re a souvenir from my days in the navy.”

“You’ll never be able to forgive them, will you?”

Something inside him felt freed by her question. As if something had been trapped and her question had released whatever it was. Whatever happened, he no longer felt angry or vengeful. It was like he’d just let go of it all. Like none of it mattered anymore.

“Kiss me and I’ll forgive them all.”

Smiling, she leaned forward and obliged him.

Though it pained him, he pulled away from her. He pushed himself off the bed and held his arm out to her.

She offered him her hand and he pulled her from the bunk. “What are you doing?” she asked.

“Something I’ve dreamt of since I brought you on board.” He led her across his room, to the open windows.

Serenity stared out at the moonlight rippling across the sea. The waves rolled in and out and the ship tilted in a sensuous rhythm of its own. Morgan came up behind her and placed her hands against the frame of the window, then he moved to stand behind her.

“Morgan?” she asked, her face flooding with heat. “What if someone should see?”

“No one can see us,” he assured her. He swept her hair over her shoulder and nibbled against the flesh of her neck. “I want to take you, Serenity. Like this with us looking out at the sea.”

“Morgan—”

“Sh,” he whispered in her ear. “Listen to the music of the night. Of the waves and sea.”