Page 37 of Pirate's Intent
They had no time for this.
“We need to go,” he muttered. “Those blasted letters made things riskier.”
She blinked several times, still caught in an erotic stupor before she finally found her tongue and realized how far he had taken her. “Youswine!”
Luckily, any sounds she made could be attributed to the man passed out on the floor. Still, he put his hand over her mouth and leaned close in warning. “You will want to keep your mouth shut until we are in the clear.” He narrowed his eyes. “Do you understand?”
When she nodded, he narrowed his eyes further. “I find that hard to believe.”
Yet he had to remove his hand to untie her bindings.
“You bastard,” she seethed when he left her mouth and untied her feet. “How dare you!”
“How dare I what?”
“How dare you take me against my will!”
He smirked. “That most certainly was not against your will.”
“I did not give you permission,” she stuttered. He masterfully dodged her knees as he untied one hand, catching her wrist before she slapped him.
“You gave me permission aplenty in those letters over the years,” he reminded. “And trust me what I just did to you was but a sampling. One, might I remind you, that you clearly enjoyed.” He untied the other wrist then pinned both hands to the bed before she attacked. “When I do take you, Hannah, you will very much know, and it will not, any more than it just was, be against your will.”
“You were in the wrong, and you know it,” she spat. “Just like you havealwaysbeen in the wrong.”
“Have I then?” He leaned down a little closer and searched her eyes. “Do you remember the things you said to me in Yorktown? The things we did? Then what you have said since in your many letters?” Hell, even now, he wanted to kiss her. Taste her again. Relive those fleeting moments in the woodland. “Because I remember every word. Every stroke. Every lick. How you hated me one moment, then loved me the next.”
“Love?” Her voice cracked with emotion. “Never.”
Yet he knew as her eyes stayed with his in challenge that she felt it back then and did right now. He saw it in the vulnerability that flashed in her eyes and the stark relief she tried to bury at seeing him again.
“Why did you save my letters?” he murmured. “By the looks of it, every single one.”
“Why are they making our escape riskier?” she countered.
“Tell me, and I will tell you.”
“No.”
“Then you shall remain in the dark.”
Their eyes narrowed on each other before she relented. “Tell me, and I will tell you, Luke. You have my word.”
“Which is not worth all that much as I remember.” Yet his need to know got the better of him, so he explained the enhanced risk of their escape. “We wrote about my mother’s brooch. The one Thomas gave Rose.”
Thankfully, he never used his name, so his anonymity remained intact.
“Oh, blast it!” Her eyes went wide as saucers. “My sister has the brooch right now, which means she is very much in danger.”
“No more than any of us.”
He told her of their plan to smuggle the women off the island. Thomas and Rose would leave via ship, and Luke and Hannah would follow after a time.
“Why would we not leave together?”
“Chances are good that when Big Devil’s rats see Thomas departing, everyone will pursue my brother assuming he has Rose.” He shook his head. “Holding back to find me would slow them down. The prize they are seeking is far too valuable.” He shot her a pointed look. “A prize they now know about thanks to those letters.”
She need not know yet that Luke remaining behind might lessen the number of ships pursuing Thomas. That theirs was more of a divide and conquer scheme. Because Big Devil was too thorough not to leave some rats behind. In turn, Luke and Thomas were just as thorough, setting a trap for those rats.
