Page 53 of Pirate's Intent
“Actually, Luke got this one,” she provided primly before she offered a saucy grin and winked at his quartermaster. “Not to say I would not have taken him down easily enough if given the chance.”
Hardened pirate that he was, Robert leaned against the threshold, offered her a goofy, smitten grin, and settled in to flirt. “I know ye could, poppet, and better than the lot o’ us.”
“Go see to the men,” Luke ordered his quartermaster. “I’ll be up in a moment.”
“Hell if ye will.” Robert snorted, not believing him. “The whole bloody ship heard ye two over the storm, and we all agree, ye’re a might gone on this one, Cap’n.”
“Go,” he warned. “Or ye’ll hear a might more than my lustin.’”
Robert chuckled, winked at Hannah, then swaggered away before Luke cleared his throat, and his quartermaster strode back.
“Aye, Cap’n,” he grunted as he dragged the body out.
“Tell me,” Luke said softly, redirecting his attention back to Hannah.
“Tell you what?” she said innocently.
“What you were going to say.”
“I am not sure what you mean.”
“Is that so?” He stepped close, tilted her chin until their eyes were aligned, and used the tone that made her talk. “You refused to let me get killed whenwhat?”
“Hannah,” he prompted, sterner still when she hesitated. “I will not ask again.”
“Oh, fine,” she whispered. Her chin might be notched stubbornly, but her eyes were misty when she said words he’d waited most of his life to hear. “I refuse to let you get killed.” Her mouth wobbled a little. “Because I love you, Luke.”
ChapterEleven
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BLAST IT, HE HAD Away with her, didn’t he? Hannah eyed the door with uncertainty after Luke left to see to his crew. Talking about love was not something they did. It was not supposed to exist in what they shared. Or so she had always assumed.
How could their dark desires co-exist with such a holy emotion?
She gazed around his cabin, just like she had when she was strapped to his bed. The walls contained various contraptions. Each and every one, she realized now, made to fulfill various fantasies she had written about. Heat flared beneath her skin at the thought of doing them all with him.
Of revisiting the games they used to play, then playing new ones.
She licked her lips and looked at the bed again. The ropes and rings. They truly were just as she had described them, but the actual act far exceeded her expectations. That said something, because her fantasies about him finally taking her had been profound.
She tingled with anticipation of more.
Of having him back inside her.
She put a hand over her womb, wondering about things she should not wonder about. It sounded like his feelings about sharing a child with her had not changed. She dared a small, whimsical smile then shook her head. If love had no place in their dark desires, how could children? Because they would have to stop these practices if they meant to raise little ones, would they not?
She opened the trunk and eyed its contents. They were all there. Every last scroll. She was about to shut it when she spied a ribbon and picked it up.
“He kept it,” she whispered, staring at her ribbon. The one he had tied her hands back with on the chair by the river. She had wondered where it got off to.
The door opened, and Luke’s gaze went to what she was holding.
When he remained silent and shut the door, she spoke instead. “Why did you keep it?”
Even as she asked it, she knew. She had known since the moment the pirate held a knife to her throat, and she saw the look on Luke’s face.
“You should not,” she murmured, answering her own question. “We should not.”
