Page 56 of The Pirate Lord
Raking his hands through his hair, Petey nodded wearily. “I know. But I feel like I’m failin’ you somehow.” His voice softened. “You and Ann.”
Sara chewed on her lower lip. Ann was another matter entirely. “You know she’ll wait for you.”
“They won’t give her that choice.” His expression grew so woeful that Sara laid her hand around his bony shoulders to comfort him. “I’d take her with me if I could, but the cap’n would never allow it. Besides, it’d alert him that I been lyin’ about you and me. In any case, she’s told me she can’t go. She’s a criminal now. If I go back to England, like I have to, she’ll be in danger of being caught again and somethin’ worse happenin’ to her. So I got to leave her here for the moment.”
“Don’t worry,” Sara said, wishing she could sound more hopeful. “I’ll do what I can to make sure none of the other pirates has her to wife.”
“I can’t bear to think of her bein’ forced into it?—”
“I know. It’ll be all right; you’ll see. You concentrate on getting away from here and bringing back help, and I’ll take care of Ann.”
To her surprise, Petey suddenly threw his arms around her and clutched her in a bone-crushing hug. “Oh, you’re too good. I’ve failed you every step of the way, and here y’are, lookin’ out for me and the one I love.”
“Stop saying you’ve failed me. You haven’t. You’ve done everything humanly possible and then?—”
Whatever she might have said was drowned out when the door to her cabin swung open and slammed against the wall. She and Petey sprang apart, but it was too late. Gideon was staring at them with thunder on his face.
“You and I had a bargain, Hargraves. And it appears you aren’t keeping your end of it.”
Though the blood drained from Petey’s face, he pulled himself up straight. “It wouldn’t have been right to leave without sayin’ good-bye. An honorable man wouldn’t have done it.”
“An honorable man wouldn’t have sold her out for gold either. Did you tell her that? Did you tell her you were more than happy to take wealth over her?”
When Petey merely shrugged, the look of fury on Gideon’s face made Sara’s heart skip more than one beat. The man was truly terrifying when he was angry, though she wasn’t quite sure why he was so angry about this. It wasn’t as if he hadn’t seen her and Petey together before.
“Get out,” Gideon added in a threatening voice. “Get out of this cabin and off my ship. You’ll get your gold, though I ought to toss you to the sharks. Be on that sloop tomorrow, or I swear I’ll do just that.”
Casting her a quick, apologetic glance, Petey sidled between her and Gideon, then fled. For a moment, she felt paralyzed by terror, but she recovered her composure quickly. It wouldn’t do to let him know she was afraid of him. He’d take advantage of that.
She took a deep, steadying breath as she crossed her arms over her chest to cover her trembling. “I suppose you think you’ve won now. You’ve gotten rid of Petey, so you assume I’ll just fall into your arms.”
With an inscrutable look, he entered the cabin and closed the door behind him. “I know better than to assume anything where you’re concerned. You never concede defeat easily. But at least I’ve eliminated your best ammunition.” His eyes roamed her with a familiarity that brought flame to her cheeks. “And I promise, sweetheart, I can handle anything else you throw at me.”
He took a step toward her, then stopped. A grim purpose showed in his face as the lamp lit him in an unholy light. Stretching out his hand, he stroked the line of her jaw, leaving fire behind wherever he touched. Just this morning, he’dtouched her like that, making her blood sing, dragging cries of pleasure out of her.
But he was different now. She couldn’t put her finger on how. He was just different. In his steely eyes shone the same cold calculation she’d seen the first day of the capture. This wasn’t the Gideon who’d held her while she cried. This was a Gideon who wanted only her body, who would take her without a jot of caring.
Though she found this Gideon as seductive as the other, this one terrified her as the other hadn’t. And this one had the power to destroy her.
Backing away from his outstretched hand, she whispered, “What happens after the battle is over, Gideon? You marry me? Is that what you want? For me to choose you as husband?”
At once his expression grew shuttered. Tucking his thumbs in his belt, he stared at her, a sneer forming on his lips. “Are you saying youwouldmarry me? A disgusting, blood-hungry American pirate?”
“That’s not the question, is it?” She thrust the heavy weight of her hair back over her shoulder, and his eyes followed her movements hungrily, making her regret the gesture. Tucking her hands beneath her arms, she hastened to add, “You haven’t saidyou’dmarryme,an English noblewoman.”
“Why don’t we skip discussion of our impending nuptials until we see if we suit each other?” With a sudden lunge that took her by surprise, he grabbed her around the waist, pulling her into his embrace. “Unlike Hargraves, I like to sample the goods before I pay the price . . . milady.”
He spoke the last word with such sarcasm that her heart sank. He only called her “milady” when he wanted to remind himself of how much he hated “her kind.” And the rest of his crude words, meant to demean her, were more of the same.
“You won’t be sampling anything of mine!” She shoved against his chest. “Release me at once, you . . . you?—”
“Despoiler of women? Wicked ravisher? Come now, Sara, say what you like, but we both know you want me to make love to you. This morning?—”
“This morning you were different,” she blurted out. When his gaze burned into her, she added quickly, “You cared about me. And yes, I wanted you to make love to me. I admit it. But not now, when you’re like this. Not when you detest me so.”
“Do I act like I detest you?” He ground his hips against her until she felt his arousal. “Do Ifeellike a man who detests you?”
She shoved her hands against his chest, now almost frantic to get away from him. “I’m not talking about what you think of my body. I’m talking about what you think ofme. I’ve heard the contempt in your voice when you speak of my position in society. I’ve seen how you look at me sometimes, with anger and resentment, as if you hate me for being English and . . . and privileged.”
