Page 38 of Devil of the High Seas
Gavin pulled his captured prize close to him, and he could feel the frantic beat of her pulse as Josephine gazed up at him with a mixture of desire and apprehension. He didn’t want to frighten her and he certainly wasn’t going to hurt her, but she had to learn to trust him. He had meant what he said about the crew. They weren’t pirates, but that didn’t mean he could trust them, not with an exquisite beauty like Josephine. Not until he knew the men better. He wouldn’t be able to watch her every minute of the day to make sure that she was safe.
She trembled in his hold as he kissed her neck and then gently fisted a hand in her hair and pulled her head back so she looked up at him. Lord, she was beautiful, but it wasn’t simply her features that were stunning. It was the way she looked at him, the way she made him feel. He’d never been more aware of a female and all that she could be in one instant than he was as he held this trembling virgin with the heart of a warrior goddess in his arms. She was brave, and her trusting heart shone through from the depths of her silvery-gray eyes.
Gavin’s next words were going to challenge her to trust him, but he had to push her to her limits, to see what she would accept from him.
He rubbed the back of her neck the way one might soothe a kitten. “You’re going to take off your clothes and lie upon the bed.”
Fire lit her eyes again as she jerked against his arm, proving she was no meek kitten. “And if I don’t?”
“Then I will swat your bottom—your verybarebottom—afterIremove your clothes myself.” He emphasized his words with a wolfish grin. “But if you do what I ask... then I will be very pleased with you, lass.”
“Oh, so this is a request, not a command?” Her rebellious tone made his body burn with heat. She raised her chin and added, “I didn’t hear you sayplease.” A hint of mischief twinkled in her eyes.
A youthful playfulness he hadn’t felt in ages rippled through him, smoothing away the hard edges his soul had acquired over the last several years. Josephine made him feel like a nineteen-year-old lad all over again. He wasn’t mad at her, didn’t want to truly punish her, but he liked the rebellious side she showed him when she wanted to tussle. She was strong and playful too and liked to push him to show his own strength. He respected that.
With a chuckle, he released her and took an exaggerated step back. “Pleasewould you remove your clothes and lie on the bed?”
Josephine combed her fingers through her hair in a way he was coming to recognize as a calming gesture she did without thinking. He made a note to himself to comb his fingers through her hair to put her at ease.
“Very well.” She reached for the back of her skirts, but he shook his head.
“Remove your shoes first.”
With a confused look, she raised her skirts and placed her foot on the sea chest, then delicately removed the blue satin mule slipper. Then she removed the second shoe. The sight of her slender feet covered in white stockings did something to him in the way nothing else had in a long time. He was so aroused he could barely breathe.
Gavin’s voice deepened a little. “Now your stockings.”
She tugged her voluminous skirts and petticoats up to her waist and peeled the stockings off her legs one by one. She bared her beautiful flesh, and he struggled not to make a sound that would most likely frighten her. But this act of disrobing was torturing him far more than her. His cock strained against the front of his trousers, and he was having to breathe slowly to steady his heart.
She removed the second stocking and flung it at him. He caught it with one hand. The filmy white silk was still warm from where it had touched her skin. He adjusted his trousers with one hand, fighting to hide his discomfort, and she watched him, a hint of a smile upon her lips as if the little minx knew exactly what she was doing to him. And he was glad—he wanted her to enjoy that feeling, to know she affected him that strongly.
“Now your skirts and petticoats.”
She bent to remove the skirts, and her hair fell in a waterfall of dark umber waves. She shimmied out of the pannier hoops next and let them drop to the floor, then met his gaze, heat and a hint of fear still in her eyes. Without a word, she presented her back to him, and he came toward her. Gavin’s hands shook now as he fought to control himself. He brushed her hair over her shoulder to see the laces of her bodice. He loosened them with slow and gentle tugs before she slipped out of the garment. Then he tended to the corset, which soon joined her bodice on the deck.
His breath was fast and shallow as he gently tickled her bare thighs while reaching for the bottom of her chemise. He lifted it off her body, baring her completely, finally, to his ravenous gaze. Her full breasts with her pale-pink nipples, pebbled from the chill air, made his mouth go dry. He wanted to kiss and lick a path along her lips, down to her mound, until he’d explored every hill and valley of her body.
“On the bed,” he nearly growled. “Now.”
She moved away from him and climbed onto the bed, giving him an all too perfect view of her heart-shaped bottom before she turned over and lay on her back. He came to her with the ribbons he’d retrieved from the trunk in his hands, grabbing her wrists and binding them together, making sure not to make them too tight.
“Keep them above your head,” he warned, “or I shall tie them to the headboard.”
Josephine settled more comfortably on the bed and raised her arms above her head. He sat down beside her, admiring her. Then with hesitant excitement, he stroked a finger down from the slope of her nose to her mouth. She parted her lips, and he pushed his finger between them and she sucked on it. The feel of her wet mouth sucking on his finger nearly made him come in his trousers like an untried youth. He tried to ignore the pain of his cock throbbing. Then she brushed her tongue against the pad of his fingertip, and he couldn’t stop the moan that escaped him. He wanted to put something else between her lips, but that was not how her first time with him should be. This was about her, her pleasure and understanding. He wanted her to know that anything between them in the privacy of this cabin would always be for her or for their mutual pleasure.
Little tease,he thought with delight. She would indeed be a passionate lover, an adventurous lover, and he was the luckiest bastard in the world to have found her.
He slid his finger out of her mouth and drew patterns around each of her nipples before tracing down to her belly. Her muscles trembled beneath his slowly exploring fingertips before he teased the dark curls between her thighs as he reached her mound. She made a soft, startled sound and her legs clamped tight, trying to shut them out, not from pain or fear, but surprise.
“Open your legs,” he said after a moment, and she obeyed. “Good lass.” His praise made her face glow with happiness. He would remember that, that praising her filled her with joy.
He continued to explore her mound before lightly caressing the tiny pearl of sensations. Her hips bucked sharply in shock.
“Easy, Josie,” he soothed. “’Tis the pearl that gives you pleasure,” he said. “Let me stroke it.”
“It’s too much...” She struggled to put words together as he made tiny, delicate strokes over that bundle of nerves. The more he touched it, the more she reacted. First it was her hips wriggling, then her hands began to fist and uncurl above her head as she struggled to understand what he was doing to her. He kept his eyes on her face the entire time, studying every minute expression, watching for the places and the type of touch that caused her the most pleasure. When he could see she was close to climaxing, he moved his finger down to caress her folds. She whimpered in frustration and then gasped as he pressed his finger inside her. He didn’t penetrate her deeply at first, but enough for her to realize that he was within her now. He withdrew and then pressed the finger back in, causing her to make a soft sound of curious pleasure.
“That’s it, lass, feel me inside you. Now imagine ’tis my cock pushing deep into you.” He painted a sensual picture for her as he pushed a second finger into her. Her hips bucked against his hand, and he urged her back down on the bed with a low chuckle.
