Once a Mistress Read online

  “I thought you said profit was a pirate’s goal.” She turned her head to glare at him, tendrils of fiery hair blowing across her face. “There is no profit in keeping me here. I demand you return me to my father.”

  He burst out laughing. “This is my ship, my lady. No one makes demands but me. Should I choose to keep you, there is naught you could do about it.”

  She bared her teeth, and he moved his hand just in time to avoid being bitten. “I will make your life miserable,” she vowed.

  “Of that I have no doubt.” He turned her to face him. “I should let the slave traders teach you some manners. But even they do not deserve such punishment.”

  “I would prefer slavery to lying with a jackal like you!”

  He arched one dark brow. “Your judgment fails you once again, my sweet. ‘Tis an honor to share the captain’s bed.”

  “Such honor would gain me naught but dishonor. Again, I reject your offer.”

  “‘Twas not an offer but a command.” He traced one finger along her ear. “You are mine.”

  “The devil I am!” She slapped his hand away.

  He grabbed her hand and held it in a grip she could not break. “You have little choice, hellion. Marcus claimed before all and sundry that he took your innocence. Whether he lies or not, he will be believed. Unless you wish to whore for my men, you will do as you are told.”

  “He lies, and well do you know it!” she spat.

  “I know nothing of the sort.” He looked her up and down as if considering the matter. “And neither do my men.”

  “What sort of captain cannot control his own men?”

  He barely flinched at the barb, though it struck its mark. “I can control them…if you give yourself into my keeping.”

  She gaped at him. “You are truly despicable.”

  He mockingly bowed his head. “Thank you.”

  “I see you do not deny it.”

  He raised an eyebrow. “Never. However, I must add that I would not give you to the men, but did I let you roam this ship unprotected, it would not be long before one of them took what he wanted. At least as my woman you will have my protection.”

  “I cannot fathom this. You would not stop them, should they attempt to…to…” She jerked her hand from his grasp, and he let her go. “This would never happen on one of my father’s ships. Any man who even looked at me wrong would be flogged within an inch of his life.”

  Alex scowled. “Well your father is not here. And I am not in the habit of punishing my crew for acting like the men they are. The only protection I can offer you lies with the duties of a mistress.”

  “I will not share your bed.”

  “Oh, but you will.”

  Considering the matter settled, he turned away. McBride lurked nearby, awaiting further orders. Alex was halfway across the deck when her voice rang out loudly enough for the whole ship to hear.

  “‘Twill be a cold day in Hell before I share any man’s bed against my will, captain. Your commands mean naught to me.”

  Alex halted and turned to face her. She stood with her hands on her hips, her hair whipping about her like a wild thing as the wind kicked up. A triumphant smiled played about her lips as she tilted her chin in defiance.

  Disbelief at her foolishness quickly turned to anger. By challenging his authority, the little fool risked the very treasure she would guard. As captain he would keep her safe to the best of his ability, but he could not be everywhere. Without the protection afforded the captain’s woman, she would soon find herself on her back with some horny fool taking his pleasure between her thighs.

  His temper rose like a hungry beast seeking prey. She had forced his hand. With a certain perverse pleasure he approached her, his strides measured, aware that all ears and eyes on the ship were focused on them. Her smug smile faltered as he drew even with her.

  “So you will share no man’s bed against your will, eh, my sweet?” He stood close enough to see the frantic pulse beating in her neck. “Well then, I will simply have to make you willing.”

  His seductive words stirred something primitive deep inside her. Part of her wanted to flee his presence, but the other half was drawn to the sensual spell he cast. She grew frightened at the strength of her own emotions and once again took shelter in that which had always protected her—anger.

  “You will not succeed,” she answered with bravado, eyeing him as if he were a snake about to strike. “Better men than you have tried.”

  “I will,” was his soft response. With a contemplative expression, he took a lock of her hair between his fingers as if to test its softness. She yanked her head back, but he held tightly to his prize. Tears formed in her eyes at the sting of her scalp. She reached up and snatched the hair from his hand.

  In lightning quick reaction, he took her chin in his hand and tilted her face, studying her features with careful scrutiny as if inspecting horseflesh. She pulled herself loose of his grasp, only to have him wrap his arm around her waist.

  “What are you doing?” she spat, squirming to escape his embrace. She strained away from him as he cupped her cheek.

  “You’re a hot-tempered morsel,” he commented. Then he pried open her mouth and made a show of looking at her teeth.

  A strangled sound of fury escaped her throat. What was the rogue doing? She was no slave to be picked at and pawed! She snapped her teeth, hoping to catch his finger, but he was too fast for her and escaped unscathed.

  “Good teeth,” he announced, as if she had not just tried to relieve him of a finger. Ignoring her growl of outrage, he continued, “Nice skin. No pock marks. Soft hair, but that blinding color…” He shook his head.

  “You lily-livered excuse for a—”

  Alex clamped a hand over her mouth and sent an amused look across the deck. Diana followed his gaze and realized that every crewman aboard watched the entertainment.

  “She has a sharp tongue,” he announced, his voice carrying easily to the leering audience. “But even the sharpest tongue can be put to good use!”

  Shouts of laughter answered his bawdy comment. Diana stiffened. Rage rose up and flooded her body. Though she did not know the exact meaning of Alex’s remark, she did understand that he mocked her. Without thought to the consequences, she kicked her captor hard in the shin.

  “Bloody hell!” Alex inhaled sharply and released her to grab his leg.

  “Who gave you leave to touch me?” she demanded. “I am no slave to be—”

  “Silence.” Fury dripped from the word. Straightening, he gripped the back of her neck and forced her gaze to his. “You are whatever I say you are, you bloodthirsty wench! And from this moment forth I say you are mine, God damn me for a fool.”

  Despite her growing fear at the anger that blazed in his eyes, Diana responded, “You are mad. I belong to no man.”

  “On that we disagree, my sweet.” He took a step back and swept his gaze over her body, from her bare feet curling into the deck, over her borrowed clothing and torn shirt and up to her face. “You are a beautiful woman. My woman.”

  Before she could protest he whirled her around and pulled her back against his body, as if displaying her for the crew’s enjoyment. Stunned, she stood frozen as he slid his hand from her shoulder and past the side of her breast to rest warmly on her hip. His long fingers splayed over her sensitive belly, the heat of his caress making her tremble even through the soft, velvet breeches.

  Alex enjoyed the surge of heat that sliced through him as he staked his claim on her. It had been too long since he had been with a woman, he thought, but this one fit against him as if she had been made for him. Boldly, intimately, he ran one hand possessively down her curves while he anchored the other around her waist to hold her against him. Ignoring her struggles to avoid his touch, he cast a commanding look across the ship. Every man on board understood his actions, but he spoke to reinforce his authority.

  “Captain’s share, lads! Which leaves more gold for the rest of you!” A boisterous s
hout went up at his words. Alex allowed himself a slight smile. Now that he had claimed Diana as his share of the booty, no man would dare trespass on what was his.

  Diana was horrified. Captain’s share? Was this her fate? Doxy to a pirate? She jerked from Alex’s relaxed hold and came around swinging. Her fist connected with his jaw with such force that his head snapped hard to the side. He stood frozen like that for a moment, as if he could not believe that she had actually struck him. Diana rubbed her stinging knuckles against her thigh as he slowly turned his head back to face her. She dared not move when she saw the look in his eyes.

  The laughter of the watching crew faded to silence as they all waited to see what their captain’s reaction would be.

  “McBride!”

  His voice cracked out like the lash of a whip. She flinched at the sound of it.

  The first mate appeared at his elbow as if from the air itself. “Captain?”

  “Set the course we discussed.” Alex grasped Diana’s wrist. “I’ll be in my cabin.”

  “Very well, captain.”

  Alex turned toward the hatch, intending to haul Diana along with him, but she dug in her heels and refused to be led. With a shrug he reached out and seized her up, tossing her over his shoulder like a sack of grain. Her shriek of outrage incited snickers from the watching crew. Lewd suggestions flew after them as he stalked across the deck.

  “Aye, cap’n! Show the wench who her master is!”

  “Teach the uppity piece her place!”

  “She’ll be walkin’ bowlegged for days when the cap’n’s done with her!”

  The laughter added fuel to Diana’s temper. Bouncing ignominiously on the captain’s shoulder, she began cursing, casting aspersions on his dubious parentage and questionable masculinity. He descended with her into the bowels of the ship like Hades carrying Persephone into the underworld.

  Reaching his cabin, he opened the door and strode into the room to drop her unceremoniously on the bed.

  Diana bounced once on the mattress and came up fighting. Leaping to her feet, she glared at him as he went to shut the door. “How dare you tote me about like a cask of rum? I’ll see you hanged for this humiliation!”

  “Indeed.” With a little smile, Alex turned away, apparently ignoring her threat.

  “Oh!” Furious at his casual dismissal, Diana clenched her fists and whirled away from him, struggling to get her temper under control. She looked around the cabin and saw…the bed.

  The walls of the cabin seemed to shrink as she stared across a sea of red coverlet to the elaborately carved headboard. While logic dictated that the bed could not be as huge as she perceived it, especially given the size of the cabin, nonetheless it seemed to dominate the room. She tried to look away. At the dining table with its carved armchairs. At the desk covered with neatly rolled maps and charts. At the flickering shadows dancing on the walls, cast by the candles that had been left burning.

  Against her will, her gaze slid back to the bed. It seemed even bigger than before, like a dragon lying in wait for its next victim.

  Unnerved by the silence, Diana glanced back at Alex. The expression in his dark eyes shook her to her core. No man had ever looked at her in such a way. So…hungrily. He made her feel as if he could see inside of her, as if he knew everything about her. Flutters of excitement danced in her belly, and she sought to squelch the shameless reaction. She could not possibly feel this way for such a man. He was a rogue. A thief. A pirate. He was the wrong sort of man altogether.

  And she found him dangerously attractive.

  “Put this on.”

  She looked up just in time to catch the robe he tossed at her. The black silk slipped through her hands like water, and she marveled at the exquisitely embroidered flowers that twined along the back. It had obviously come from the Far East. She wondered if he had been there or if the robe had come into his hands by illicit means.

  “You can’t stay in that rag.” With a wave of his hand, he indicated her torn shirt. “Until I find you something to wear, my robe will have to suffice.”

  “You are too kind,” she sneered.

  He glanced at her, taking in her appearance with obvious appreciation. “You should be grateful that I decided to garb you at all.” His tone was as smooth as silk and simmered with seduction.

  She trembled, literally trembled at the rumble of desire that darkened his voice. Her redhead’s complexion betrayed her once again as heat crept into her cheeks. For an instant she could only stare at him, lost in those dark eyes where forbidden fires burned, her heart pounding like that of a rabbit trapped by a wolf.

  No, not a wolf. A cat. A jungle cat like the one she had seen once, the pet of a foreign nobleman who had done business with her father. That creature had moved as smoothly as Alex did, its obsidian fur so sleek that her hand had itched to stroke it. She had even reached out to do so when the cat had turned its jeweled eyes on her, green eyes that had reflected the emeralds and diamonds in the collar around its throat. There had been something untamed in that gaze, though the cat had appeared docile, that made her withdraw her hand and back away.

  And she should back away now, she thought, as the tension stretched between them. But there was nowhere to go. Ignoring the trembling in her limbs, she took up her shield of bravado and used it to defend herself against his potent allure.

  “I am only too happy to be rid of these vile clothes. Now please have the decency to turn your back.”

  His laughter echoed throughout the cabin, the attractive sound making her pulse skim faster through her veins. “Decency? In a pirate? My dear, my reputation would never survive such a slur.”

  She sent him a look of scorching annoyance. “Hang your reputation! And hang you too!”

  He raised one eyebrow. “A very likely possibility, my dear.” As if he had suddenly tired of the game, he turned away and opened one of the cabinets built into the wall. Ignoring her completely, he poured some brandy into a silver goblet.

  Using the brief respite to change her clothes, she moved behind one of the high-backed chairs and turned her back on the rogue. It was with great relief that she shed Marcus’s shirt and quickly shrugged into the robe. For modesty’s sake, she left on the breeches.

  Alex turned around just in time to see her smooth feminine back disappearing into black silk. He noticed that the only garment she had shed was the tattered shirt. For a moment his hand tightened on the goblet as he considered reaching beneath that robe and relieving her of the damnable breeches as well. Then he relaxed his grip and went to hand her the brandy.

  “You have had quite an ordeal this night. Drink this; it’ll warm you.”

  Diana stared at the amber liquid and wrinkled her nose at the pungent smell. “I don’t drink spirits.”

  Alex stepped closer, intentionally brushing her body with his. “Drink. Or mayhap you would prefer that I warm you another way.”

  After one glance at his face, she took the cup from his hand. She took a hesitant sip, then choked and quickly handed the goblet back to him.

  Alex took the cup from her hand, enchanted by the becoming flush pinkening her cheeks. His body hardened as he considered how she would look wearing nothing except the rosy hue of that blush. Tightening his fingers around the goblet, he tossed back a healthy portion of the brandy, then deliberately ran his tongue over the rim of the cup.

  Diana stared in rapt fascination as his tongue touched the spot where her mouth had been. In that instant, with his black clothing, white teeth and pink tongue, he reminded her more than ever of a jungle cat. He played with her now, and she couldn’t help but wonder if he planned to devour her as well.

  She fought to keep her voice calm. “What do you intend to do with me?”

  He slowly traced the rim of the goblet with one finger as he appeared to contemplate the question. “What do you expect me to do with you?”

  “What all pirates do,” she answered with a flippancy belied by the pounding of her heart. “Hold me for
ransom.”

  “That is a possibility.” He gazed steadily at her, his expression unreadable.

  “I thought that was the purpose of piracy.” She met his enigmatic look with one of her own. “To steal from others to make a profit. Gold is what you want, isn’t it?”

  His eyes took on a predatory gleam. “You have no idea what I want of you.”

  “On the contrary, you vile cur, you have made it quite clear that you want me in your bed. Well, I will fight you until the last breath!”

  “Will you?” An amused smile playing about his lips, he placed the goblet on the table. “Are you so certain then that I want you in my bed? Mayhap I have something else in mind.”

  “After that lewd display for your crew? Hardly!”

  “Some might consider it lewd…but you liked it.” He moved closer to her, crowding her backwards. “You are a passionate woman behind that shrew’s tongue, my dear. A man would count himself lucky to have you in his bed.”

  Her legs bumped the chair behind her. She was trapped. And still he approached.

  He placed his hands on her shoulders and forced her to sit. Then he leaned over her, gripping the arms of the chair with either hand and caging her with his body. “Why don’t you tell me what you want me to do with you?”

  His quiet words immobilized her. She watched him warily as her mind scrambled for a response to his audacious question.

  He gave a slight smile at her confused silence. “Have you no suggestions?”

  The husky purr of his voice slipped into her mind and conjured forbidden images to tantalize her. Out of her vivid imaginings, the memory of his kiss in the darkened garden loomed larger and clearer than all the others. She opened and closed her hands in her lap, remembering how it had felt to touch his muscular body while his mouth had moved on hers. She licked her lips to banish the disturbing memory.

  “Let me go,” she whispered.

  “Ah, my sweet. That is something I cannot do.” He stroked his hand across her cheek. “You are mine. And I intend to keep you.”