Gentle Rogue (23 page)
So she told herself, but in truth, she tried not to think of their parting, which was inevitable. That would only ruin the here-and-now, and she didn’t want to do that. She wanted instead to savor every minute that she spent with her “reprehensible rake.”
She savored him right now, leaning back against the rail on the quarterdeck with nothing to do but watch him. He bent over charts, discussing their course with Connie, for the moment ignoring her. She was supposed to be there to carry messages for him, though he rarely sent her off to do so, merely relaying such messages to Connie, who would in turn
boom them across the deck to whomever they were intended for.
She didn’t mind being ignored right then. It gave her a chance to calm down from James’s last glance her way, which had been so heated and full of promises of what he would do to her as soon as they returned to his cabin, that anyone else who looked at her would have thought she’d had too much sun that morning, she flushed so with pleasure. Morning, noon, night; their lovemaking followed no schedule. When he wanted her, he let her know in no uncertain terms, and no matter the time of day, she was most willing to comply.
Georgina Anderson, you have become a shameless hussy
.
She merely grinned to her conscience. I know, and I’m enjoying every minute of it, thank you.
She was, oh, how she was, and how she loved to just watch him like this, and experience her “nausea” to the fullest, knowing that he’d soon cure it in his special way. He’d discarded his jacket. The wind was brisk but warm as they neared Caribbean waters, and it played with his pirate’s shirt, as she’d come to think of those full-sleeved, laced-up-the-front tunics he liked to sport, and made him look so wickedly handsome in combination with his single gold earring, tight breeches, and knee-high boots. The wind loved him, caressed those powerful limbs of his, as she wanted to do…Was she supposed to be calming down?
In self-defense, just so she wouldn’t be tempted to drag
him
off to their cabin as he’d done so many times to her in recent days, Georgina turned seaward and
saw the ship in the distance at the precise moment that the warning came down from the crow’s-nest. Well, there was nothing unusual in that. They’d passed several other vessels at sea. They’d also had another trailing them as this one was, though they’d lost sight of that ship after a brief storm. But this one was different, according to the next information shouted down by the lookout. Pirates.
Georgina stood very still, gripping the rail, hoping the lad above would call down that he’d made a mistake. Her brothers had all had encounters with pirates in one way or another over the many years they’d been sailing the seas. But she did not want to make it a unanimous family custom. And dear Lord, James carried no cargo, just ballast. Nothing could get bloodthirsty pirates angrier than to discover their prize had an empty hold.
“Obliging, ain’t they, to give us a little diversion?” she heard Connie remark behind her to James. “Do you want to play with them first, or come about and wait?”
“Waiting would only confuse them, don’t you think?” James replied.
“Confusion has its advantages.”
“Quite so.”
Georgina turned around slowly. It wasn’t just the words that shocked her, but the calm nonchalance in their tones. They both had spyglasses trained on the approaching vessel, but to listen to them, neither seemed the least bit concerned. That was taking English imperturbability a bit too blasted far. Didn’t they realize the danger?
James happened to lower his spyglass then and
glance at her, and in that second before he schooled his features upon noticing her upset, she saw that he wasn’t nonchalant at all. The man had looked eager,
delighted
even, that a pirate ship was bearing down on them. And she realized that it had to be the challenge that inspired him, an opportunity to pit his seamanship skills against an adversary, regardless that that adversary might be out to murder him if he lost, rather than wish him better luck next time.
“Actually, Connie,” he said, without taking his eyes from Georgina. “I think we’ll just take a leaf from young Eden’s book and thumb our noses at them as we sail away.”
“Sail away? Without firing a single shot?”
The first mate sounded incredulous. Georgina didn’t glance his way to see if he looked it, too. Her eyes were caught by bright green ones that wouldn’t let go.
“And need I remind you,” Connie added, “that you almost killed that young pup Eden for thumbing his nose at you?”
James merely shrugged, still with his eyes holding Georgina’s, and his words going right to her center. “Nonetheless, I’m not in a mood to play…with them.”
Connie finally followed his gaze, then snorted. “You could think of the rest of us. We don’t have our own personal diversions aboard, you know.”
He sounded so disgruntled that James laughed, but it didn’t stop him from grabbing Georgina’s hand and heading for the stairs. “Just lose them, Connie, and try to do it without me, will you?”
James didn’t wait for an answer. He was off the
quarterdeck and moving briskly down the next set of stairs before Georgina could draw breath to question his intentions. But she should have known what they were. He pulled her inside his cabin and was kissing her even as the door slammed shut behind them. He’d found an outlet for the blood-rushing excitement that had briefly flared when he’d contemplated battle. And he found this outlet just as pleasurable, and went after it just as ruthlessly, as he would have waged the battle.
The battle? For God’s sake, there were pirates in their wake! How could he possibly think of making love
now?
“James!”
She pulled her lips away from him, but he didn’t stop kissing her. He just changed locations. Her neck. And then lower.
“You would have challenged pirates!” she said accusingly, even as her heavy vest dropped to the floor behind her. “Do you know how foolhardy that is? No, wait, not my shirt!”
Her shirt was gone. So were her bindings. So swiftly! She’d never seen him this…this impassioned, impatient.
“James, this is serious!”
“I beg to differ, love,” he said as he lifted her so his mouth had direct access to her breasts while he bore her backward to the bed. “That is a nuisance.
This
is serious.”
His mouth closed over one breast to leave her in no doubt as to what
this
was, nor did his mouth leave her as he stripped off the rest of her clothes, and his own. He had a wonderful mouth; God, did he have a
wonderful mouth. No one could say James Malory wasn’t a magnificent lover who knew exactly what he was about. Well, not everyone could know that, but she was in a position to know at the moment, a very nice position to know.
“But, James,” she tried one more time, weakly though, to remind him about the pirates.
His tongue was dipping into her navel when he said, between laves, “Not another bloody word, George, unless they’re love words.”
“What kind of love words?”
“‘I like what you’re doing, James. More, James. Lower…James.’” She gasped as he did move lower, and he added, “That will do, too. Ah, love, you’re already hot and wet for me, aren’t you?”
“Are…those your…love words?” She could barely speak, the pleasure was so intense.
“Do they make you want me inside you?”
“Yes!”
“Then they’ll do.” He caught his breath as he entered her, swiftly, deeply, his hands cupping her derriere, bringing her up to take all of him. “For now.”
Fortunately, the pirates were left far behind, but Georgina couldn’t have cared less anymore.
“Y
our carriage just arrived, James,” Connie announced from the open doorway.
“There’s no hurry. With that congestion out there, I’d just as soon wait until the wagons loading that American vessel in the next berth clear off the quay. Come join me for a drink, old man.”
They’d docked several hours ago. Georgina had packed James’s trunks that morning, but he hadn’t told her yet that she would be staying at his plantation. He wanted to surprise her with the grandeur of his island home, and then tonight, over a candlelit dinner of Jamaican delicacies, he was going to ask her to be his mistress.
Connie crossed the room to stand next to the desk, looking out windows that showed a clear view of the American ship and the activity going on as it prepared to set sail. “She looks familiar, don’t she?”
“Perhaps one of the Hawke’s prizes?”
Connie grinned. “I wouldn’t be surprised.”
“Then it’s just as well she’s about to leave.”
“Why?” Connie asked. “The
Maiden Anne
never sailed under her own name. And since when wouldn’t you welcome a little diversion, such as being accused of piracy when there’s no proof to back it up? You passed up the opportunity for a little sport at sea—”
“With reason,” James reminded him. He wasn’t
about to put his little Georgie at risk for a mere few hours of stimulating adventure. “And actually, I’d rather not be bothered just now, either.”
Connie turned as he accepted his drink. “You
are
looking rather complacent. Any reason in particular?”
“You’re looking at a man about to commit himself, Connie. I’ve decided to keep George around for a while. And don’t look so bloody surprised.”
“Well, I bloody well am surprised, and with reason. The last woman you sailed with…What was her name?”
James frowned at the question. “Estelle or Stella. What difference does it make?”
“You decided to keep her around for a while, too. You even allowed her to decorate this cabin with these atrociously mismatched pieces—”
“I rather like this furniture now that I’ve grown accustomed to it.”
“You’re deliberately missing the point. You were well pleased with the wench, generous with her to a fault, but less than a week at sea with her, you turned the ship around to dump her back where you’d found her. Such close confinement with her had driven you crazy. I’d say I was safe in assuming that after all these weeks of being cooped up with the brat, you couldn’t wait to get away from her now that we’ve docked.”
“So George is a much more charming companion.”
“Charming? That saucy-mouthed—”
“Watch it, Connie. This is my soon-to-be-mistress we are discussing.”
Conrad’s brows shot up. “You’re going to go
that
far in committing yourself? Whatever for?”
“Now that’s a stupid question,” James replied irritably. “What the devil do you think for? I’ve grown fond of the little Yank. She might not show her sweet self to you, but George has been decidedly agreeable to me ever since we did away with pretenses.”
“Correct me if I’m wrong, but aren’t you the man who swore off keeping mistresses? Something about their always getting marriage-minded, despite their protests to the contrary? You have faithfully stayed clear of commitments for a good number of years, Hawke, and I might add, without ever once lacking for female companionship when you wanted it. Damned less expensive, too.”
James waved that reasoning aside. “So I’m due for a change. Besides, George isn’t the least bit interested in marriage. I set her straight on the subject, and she hasn’t said another word about it.”
“
All
women are interested in marriage. You’ve said so yourself.”
“Damnation, Connie, if you’re trying to talk me out of keeping her, you bloody well can’t. I’ve given it a good deal of thought this last week, and I’m simply not ready to see the last of her yet.”
“And what does she think about it?”
“She’ll be delighted, of course. The wench is quite fond of me as well.”
“Glad to hear it,” Connie replied dryly. “So what’s she doing over on yonder ship?”
James turned around so fast, he nearly tipped his chair over. It took him a few seconds to scan the deck of the American ship before he saw what Conrad had
seen. Georgina, with the Scot standing behind her. She appeared to be talking to one of the ship’s officers, possibly even her captain. James had the feeling she was acquainted with the chap, especially when the man gripped her arms and began to shake her, then, in the next moment, pulled her close to embrace her. James shot to his feet, seeing that. His chair did tip over this time.
He was heading for the door, swearing under his breath, when Connie remarked, “If you intend to fetch her back—”
“I intend to break that chap’s face,
then
I’ll collect George.”
James hadn’t stopped to reply, was already out the door, so Connie had to shout after him, “You’ll find it a bit difficult doing either, old man! The ship’s already cast off!”
“The devil she has!” was heard from out in the hall, and then as James appeared back in the doorway to stare out the windows at the slowly departing vessel, “Bloody hell!”
“Look on the bright side, Hawke,” Connie said without the least bit of sympathy. “You would only have had a few weeks more with her, until we returned to England. Even if you had considered taking her back with you, from what you’ve told me of her aversion to the motherland, she’d never have agreed—”
“Blister it, Connie, the wench has deserted me, and without a by-your-leave. Don’t talk to me about problems I might have faced, when this one’s knocked me on my arse.”
He ignored Conrad’s derisive short. He stared at the now-empty berth next to the
Maiden Anne
and
still couldn’t believe Georgie was gone. Just that morning she’d awakened him with her sweet lips on his, her little hands holding his face, and what he thought of as her take-me smile, the one she bestowed on him only when they were abed, the one that never failed to stir primitive urges he’d never even known he possessed. Gone?
“No, by God,” he said aloud, then pinned Conrad with a resolute look that made the redhead groan. “How many of the crew have gone ashore?”
“For God’s sake, James, you can’t mean to—”
“I bloody well do mean to,” James cut in, the anger that was starting to rise reflected clearly in his tone. “Get them back while I find out what I can about that ship. I mean to be on her tail within the hour.”