ClaimedbytheCaptain (3 page)

The sound of the bolt scraping against the lock grated
against her ears. The door opened. Jason Kane loomed in the doorway, the
blazing sun against the horizon creating an unearthly aura around his
silhouette. The shadow of new beard enhanced his strong jaw. Her gaze settled
on his firm, full mouth. What would it feel like to kiss him again, to feel his
lips on hers, on her skin, on those intensely wanton places that yearned for a
man’s touch? She blinked.
You see through me, don’t you, Captain Kane? I
hope to be strong.
Once again, an image of an utterly seductive Satan
formed in her mind.

“I trust your quarters are comfortable, Catherine.” He spoke
her name like a caress.

“Given the circumstances.”

He sat beside her, tracing her chin with his fingertip with
surprising gentleness. “I understand your fear.” His eyes did not waver as he
studied her face, the restrained heat in their darkness posing a stark contrast
to the soothing tone of his words. “How can I convince you there’s no need to
fear me?”

His hand moved from her face to her hair, stroking her
auburn tendrils as though she were a precious possession. “I won’t harm you,”
he continued. “Why would I harm my prize?”

His fingers laced through her long strands. He drew Cathy
closer to him. “Such a delicacy. I may keep you for myself.”

She jerked her head away, tilting her chin away from him. “I
won’t belong to you or any man.” Her gaze fell to her hands. “Never.”

“You have a fire within,” he whispered as he nuzzled her
neck. “You’ve learned to hide it, but I know…” His fingertips trailed over her
shoulders, his heated touch gentle. He leaned closer, tracing the curve of her
throat with his lips. The stubble on his chin raked her skin, the sensation
kindling a strangely pleasant warmth. Cathy closed her eyes, struggling to
block out the pleasure of his touch. He should sicken her. She should recoil
from each sweep of his flesh over hers. Instead, she fought the instinct to
melt into his warmth, to savor his strength, his power.

His exploration continued, slow and deliberate. His palm
cupped her breast, the tenderness in his touch drawing forth a heated response.
Waves of heat spread through her body, threatening the icy shield she’d erected.
She closed her eyes, listening to the sigh echoing through the chamber,
realizing in a daze she’d heard her own soft plea…not for mercy, but for more
of his touch, more of his kiss. As if caught in a spell, she arched against his
possession as his fingertips caught the bud of her nipple in a caress so
sensual, her toes curled.

“So responsive,” he murmured, his throaty voice rough with
passion. “I’ll teach you to want me, Catherine.”

She dragged in a breath. His scent, the essence of a healthy
male in his prime blended with the salt of the sea and the subtle aroma of
whiskey, filled her with awareness she couldn’t deny. He stirred her senses,
kindling the small spark of desire in her belly to a blaze.

He caught her hand in his, pressing it to his broad chest. A
small shiver coursed along her spine as he held her palm over the hard, melded
flesh and muscle and bone, his heart’s throb steady and strong beneath her
touch. “Feel what you do to me, Catherine? You may be my prisoner. But you are
by no means without power.”

She felt lightheaded, the pulsing beat beneath her
fingertips offering undeniable proof of his words. He drew her hand lower,
guiding it to the thick bulge against the taut black fabric. “Feel my need for
you,” he commanded in a soft growl against her nape. “Feel the power you have
over me.”

Her touch tentative, she pressed her hand to his swollen
shaft. His lips grazed a torturous path along the sensitive curve of her
throat. Tingles shot through her body. Her pulse quickened as her fingertips
explored the length of his arousal. An ache, sweet and intense, radiated from
her womb.

“You have been with a man before?” he murmured as his mouth
trailed over her flesh.

“Yes.” Cathy managed to utter the single word.

Without warning, he dragged her to her feet. “I have no
patience for…this,” he said as he inspected her. “This rag of a dress conceals
your beauty from me.” The corners of his mouth hitched into a wicked smile. The
dark triumph in his hooded eyes provided her only warning as his fingers curled
over her bodice, rending the thin fabric from the neckline to the hem with one
quick, savage motion. His hands moved to what was left of her dress and peeled
it from her body.

Stripped to her chemise, Cathy bit her trembling lip. Her
pebbled nipples peaked against the translucent lawn garment. His gaze trailed
lower, lighting on the dark triangle at the juncture of her thighs, but she
made no attempt to cover herself. She watched her captor in silence, her breath
quickening as the ache within her deepened to a demanding throb.

“You’re beautiful, Catherine.” His gravelly voice caressed
the words. His fingers laced through her hair, pulling her against him with a
sensual demand that took her breath away.

His mouth plundered hers as his hand cupped a breast. He
freed her lips, his breath ragged against the curve of her shoulder. “Bare
yourself for my eyes,” he ordered in a low voice.

“I can’t… You can’t expect me to…” she protested, horrified
by the tremors in her voice. She’d resolved she wouldn’t let him see her fear,
but her horror broke through.

“That’s exactly what I expect.”

“No,” she said, her voice little more than a whisper. If he
intended to use her body for his pleasure, she would not offer herself up like
a wanton sacrifice. “I won’t parade myself before you like a trollop.”

He shook his head thoughtfully and without anger. “Perhaps I
can persuade you.” His arm coiled around her shoulders and drew her to him with
the tenderness one would find in a groom who intended to make love to his
beloved for the first time. “Will you deny me what is mine?”

The words washed over her like an icy rain. She steeled
herself against his seductive touch. “I am not yours.”

His long fingers toyed with the lace at the low neckline of
the chemise. “Lovely, yet useless.”

Her breath hovered in her throat as he drank her in, the
filmy fabric providing scant protection from his hungry gaze. She pressed an
arm over her chest as if that would shield her.

“You will not conceal yourself from me. You are mine,
Catherine. Soon, you will understand that truth.”

Ignoring her tiny murmurs of protest, he slanted his mouth
over hers, a slow, deep caress. Liquid heat coiled in her belly even as she
trembled with anger and shame.
I’m acting as though he’s bewitched me. A few
kisses, and I surrender to his lust. I must find the strength to resist.

He caught her wrist and guided the arm she’d positioned as a
barrier to her side. A low moan of anticipation escaped her lips as he caught
the ribbon tie at her bodice between his finger and thumb. With one soft tug,
the fabric spilled open. Kane’s mouth marked a fiery path along the curve of
her throat, trailing lower to her bosom. Capturing the sensitive bud of her
breast, he teased the nub with his tongue while his hand moved lower, sliding
under her chemise. Laying ruthless claim to the core of her femininity, he
mastered her body, stroking, invading, teasing until she dripped with shameless
want.

She arched against him, fighting for control. Her hunger for
Jason Kane threatened to overwhelm her. His touch was intoxicating. Heavens,
how she wanted him. Inside her. Filling her, taking his pleasure, stimulating
her to the brink of madness. But how could she allow herself to be swept away
by a man who’d taken her as an act of vengeance? She had to resist his control.

He buried a finger deep within her warmth. She writhed with
mindless need, welcoming the gentle invasion as he upped the stakes of her
surrender. Sliding another finger within the heat of her slick passage, his
soft strokes created a sweet torment.

“Tell me you want me, Catherine.”

She didn’t answer him. She couldn’t bring herself to admit
she craved his possession, ached to feel his hard cock buried inside her to the
hilt. His touch maddened her, propelling her to the brink of a nameless ecstasy
like none she’d ever known. The fumbling attentions of her first lover had
aroused nothing more than a sense of curiosity and a bit of affection on her
part, but the decadent sensations Jason aroused threatened to shatter sanity
itself.

“You want me, love,” he purred against her ear. “You want
what I can give you.” His attention shifted to the engorged pearl between her
legs. She squirmed helplessly against the mindless pleasure, unable to
surrender yet craving him so intensely, she feared she’d beg him to take her.

“Tell me what you want.”

The words hovered in her throat.
Touch me. Possess me.
Teach me what pleasure is.
She nibbled her bottom lip, unable to give voice
to the decadent thoughts.

Kane gazed down at her, his dark eyes unfathomable. He shook
his head slowly. “I would have given you everything you desire, love, but now,
I think I will not be as inclined to be generous.”

A word burst through her haze of desperation. A whisper, so
soft it seemed like little more than a breath against his lips.

“Please…”

His brows lifted at her plea. “You deny me the sight of you,
you deny me your longings.” His arms fell away from her. “You do not wish to
bare yourself before me. I will wait for that pleasure, Catherine. But first, I
believe I will teach you a lesson.”

A wicked smile tilting his mouth, he cupped the warm mound
at the junction of her thighs and began to torture her in earnest. The tip of
his finger found her heat, circling and teasing her with infinitely gentle
strokes until Cathy feared she’d scream from the intense pleasure searing her
flesh. Then his fingers entered her, probing and exploring and tantalizing, his
merciless touch demanding a response until she wriggled wildly against him.

He stopped, releasing her so abruptly her knees threatened
to buckle. Turning away, he crossed the room in a few long strides and removed
a few lengths of cord from the interior of the carved chest beneath the
porthole. Jason returned to her, regarding her thoughtfully for a few moments,
as if debating his next action. With one stealthy movement, his hands seized
her forearms and looped the satin cord around her wrists.

“What… What are you doing?” The words came out like a gasp.

“Hush, love, or I shall have no mercy with you at all,” he
admonished, his voice smooth and coaxing.

Cathy bit her lip, struggling against the urge to beg him to
touch her. Reading the set of his jaw, she knew her pleas would serve no
purpose. She’d been brought to the brink of surrender, and now, he meant to
torture her with her own primal instincts. She closed her eyes as if to block
out her body’s betrayal.

“I will not harm you. You have my word,” he said as he
secured the binding in place.

Cathy summoned enough strength to regard him with disdain.
“Your word means little to me, sir.”

Jason’s eyes gleamed, as though amused by her small
defiance. “A bit of your fight is coming back. Good. I enjoy a woman with
spirit.”

“What you enjoy is none of my concern,” she shot back,
cursing her own weakness as her traitorous flesh pulsed with longing.

“Such rebellion. Perhaps this is why your father hasn’t
managed to marry you off yet.”

When she ignored his jibe, he brushed his lips over her
mouth. Watching her with a guarded expression, he ran his fingers over the
corded rope on her wrists. “I am pleased your father never had the chance to
marry you off to one of his cronies. I will enjoy having you to myself. You are
far too delicious to live your life as the rutting partner of an old,
overweight merchant.”

“Why are you binding me?” She swallowed, forcing defiance
into her tone. “There is no chance of escape. We are at sea. Where could I
possibly go?”

Ignoring her questions, he tugged her arms over her head.
Looping the second cord around her wrists, he secured her to the bedpost.

“Why are you doing this?” She prayed the slight quiver in
her voice did not lay bare the exhilarating combination of fear and arousal
coursing through her body.

His smile didn’t reach his ebony eyes. He cupped her chin,
smoothing the hair from her forehead and cheek.

“Please.” She forced the word from her lips. “Please don’t
hurt me.”

Jason brushed his lips over hers, his caress more maddening
than violent. If only he’d give her a reason to recoil. Instead, the ruthless
yearning he’d aroused throbbed within her, a merciless ache made all the more
torturous by his gentle touch. Cathy blinked back tears, refusing to surrender
to this demon in disguise.

He stepped back, his expression unreadable. “Think about
that, Catherine.”

Her body aching with desperate hunger, she struggled wildly
against the binding holding her securely against the post. With her wrists tied
over her head, she couldn’t ease the craving he’d aroused.

Her need shredded her pride. “Please,” she whispered.

“Remember this when I return.”

The door closed softly as he left her there.

* * * * *

Cathy heard footfalls pause outside the cabin. The door
opened quietly. Jason Kane stepped inside. She wasn’t sure how long he’d been
gone. She knew only that the moon’s rays now streamed through the porthole in
the place of sunlight and that the merciless longing had not abated. If
anything, with each passing moment, with each thought of the dark devil who’d
captured her, the need swelled deep within her.

Jason came to her, silent, wiping the tears of frustration
from her face with a clean cloth. His gentle ministrations soothed her and she
relaxed beneath his touch.

“Open your eyes, Catherine,” he coaxed as he removed her
bonds.