His to Hold (Regency Scoundrels Book 1) (12 page)

“Say that again?”

“I said you are falling in love with me.”

“No, not that. The last bit. What am I to you?”

“You are mine to have and to hold, and you belong to me.”

“Get away from me!” she cried out, her face mottling with fury. “To think that I actually had a smidgeon of regret in regards to your so called passing!” She wrenched her hand out of his grasp, and slid to the other side of the bed. “I, sir, belong to no one least of all you!”

“Oh, but you do. And one day, you will discover that not only do you belong to me, but that I belong to you as well.”

He smiled serenely at her, as she let out a frustrated groan. Daggers flew from her eyes, and she sat up haughtily in bed, and raised her nose up into the air. Ah, how he loved her passionate nature.

“You are falling for me, Elizabeth.” His voice was filled with seduction, and he could see her shiver in anticipation. “You cried for me, and mourned me. It shall only be a matter of time, before I’m completely beneath your skin. And when that time comes, you will find that you can do nothing else but think of me.”

“Yes, and pigs fly.”

“It will become easier for you to come to terms with your emotions. Right now, I realize that you are in a vulnerable state. So, have it out, come here and tell me everything that bastard Antonio did to you.”

“Are you out of your mind? I shall not confide in a man that sees me only as his chattel. You, sir, may remove yourself from this room.” She had her arm out, pointing toward the door.

“I would love to obey your command,” he murmured, with a chuckle in his voice. He raised his eyebrows, and raked her with his eyes. “Except there is one minor problem. You are in my bed, and you are in my cabin.” He watched with delight, as fireballs exploded inside of her eyes.

“You, sir, shall be the death of me,” she said, in her dramatic way.

“Aye, but it shall be a slow and wondrous death,” he murmured, grinning broadly. “You may have my word on that, I promise you,” he dropped his voice to a caressing murmur, and grinned, when another shiver coursed through her.

He had his one miracle given to him. Elizabeth was alive! Now, all that he had to do was convince her that she was madly in love with him. Then he had to ruin her, wed her, and take her fortune.

For the fate of the St. Martin legacy hung in the balance.

Elizabeth blinked her eyes unbelievably at him. She was quite literally stunned. She didn’t know what to do. She was in an untenable situation, and she had no idea what to do to escape.

“I should have expected no less from a scalawag like you, why you’re no better than a scurvy dog,” she pronounced, as he chuckled in that distinctly husky way of his.

“I am delighted to see that you haven’t lost your fire and tenacity.” His eyes glowed with warmth, and Elizabeth felt her cool skin becoming hot beneath his gaze.

“There can be no future for us.” She stared at him earnestly willing him to comprehend what she was trying desperately to convey. “Don’t you see? Even if you do ruin me, and take my fortune, you and I shall never be truly happy. I don’t love you, and without love, there is nothing binding us together. A marriage without love is misery, Rafe. I’ve seen it with my own eyes. My Mama was in a marriage without love, and it ended very badly for her.”

“Do not think that you can placate and convince me so easily, Elizabeth. You feel an inkling of love toward me, and you can’t deny it, for you said that you mourned me when you believed me dead. Or was that confession a complete and utter falsehood?”

“I, sir, am a woman of my word, and I stand by everything I say. But you misconstrued my meaning. In light of who I was kidnapped by, you were a veritable angel. And I was sad to see that a man such as Captain Blood could beat a man like you.”

“Good heavens,” he said, putting his hand up to his ear. “Was that a compliment that I just heard you utter?”

“In relation to Captain Blood you are far more desirable.” She blushed at her choice of words, and watched as he nearly beamed with gleeful indulgence. “I did not mean that to come out in quite that manner,” she mumbled, as her words ran together in her haste.

He raised her hand to his lips, and kissed it gently.

“You needn’t fret, my love. I know what you really mean.”

She bristled even further, and puffed her chest out. He was the most arrogant and egotistical man that she had ever met. She regarded him steadily, and sighed when she felt heat beginning to scorch her cheeks.

Should she tell him that he could quite possibly be jeopardizing the very reason as to why he had kidnapped her in the first place? If she was not present when her father died, then everything could possibly be lost. Granted, she had her grandfather’s money. But none of it even came close to the fortune she would inherit when her father finally passed. She did feel herself softening toward Rafe and, aye, she was exceedingly happy that he was alive, but she wasn’t certain if she wanted to share the rest of her life with him.

“I have to tell you something.” She began moving toward him. She dropped her hand onto the covers when a flash of tiredness nearly overwhelmed her. She yawned, and blinked her eyes at the extent of her unladylike behavior.

Rafe’s eyes widened, and then his mouth slanted into that delicious smile of his. God, she desperately wanted to throw herself into his arms, and allow him to ruin her.

He was just about to say something, when a loud knock sounded at the door. “Blast it, does this ship not know how to run itself without me?” he demanded.

His eyes flashed with fire, and he raked his hand impatiently through his hair.

A smile crooked at the corner of her mouth, and she clutched the bedclothes to keep herself from laughing out loud at the ludicrous expression that pervaded his features. Her heart thumped against her ribcage when he pierced her with his brilliant blue eyes. She groaned, and rolled her eyes.

Rafe stood up and walked toward the door. She turned her head and tilted it to the side, expectantly waiting for Rafe’s wrath that was just about to explode out of him. He wrenched the door open, nearly ripping it off of his hinges.

Ethan popped his head inside and grinned. “Sorry to interrupt.”

Rafe still had one hand on the door, and his other hand rested on his cutlass.

“This had better be important.”

Ethan’s eyes dropped to the hand that gripped the hilt of the cutlass. “If it isn’t as important as you want, are you going to run me through with that?”

“To my disappointment, I do not think that I can afford to rid myself of you.”

Ethan laughed, and then sobered.

*****

Elizabeth watched the strange exchange carefully. Obviously, something had happened that Ethan did not want her to know about. She was sick and tired of being sheltered. She wanted to know what was going on. She threw the covers back and scooted toward the edge of the mattress. She was just about to stand up when Rafe whirled about and riveted his eyes upon her.

“You, miss, are in no shape to be up and about.” His voice held a distinct commanding tone, which only served to raise her ire.

“I, sir, shall do what I bloody well choose, please and thank you.”

“Do you see what I am forced to contend with?” he sighed, and turned back to a slightly amused Ethan.

“A great many men would die to be in your boots,” Ethan remarked, glancing toward Elizabeth. Startled, she hastily slipped back underneath the covers, and pulled them straight up to her chin.

“As always Ethan, you are quite correct,” Rafe chuckled, and Elizabeth scowled and narrowed her eyes to barely discernable slits.

Tonight, if he dared to return to this cabin, she would box his ears for sure.

“I do not wish to pull you away from such an enticing creature, truly I do not,” Ethan said, “but there are matters that have arisen that require your attention.”

Even though Rafe’s back was toward her, she could almost see the frown that was most certainly pulling at his features.

“Please tell me that Seamus didn’t nearly blow up the galley again.”

“No, nothing as simple as that,” Ethan answered, causing Elizabeth to snort indelicately. “Let’s just say that a certain someone has made a rather uncalled for encore performance.”

Elizabeth wanted to jump out of the bed and ignore Rafe’s orders. But in truth, she simply did not have the energy. She was still quite fagged, and knew that she wouldn’t be recovered for at least another day or so. Besides her exhaustion would work to her advantage. At least it would keep him from ravishing her.

“Let us be off, then,” Rafe muttered. Just as he was about to step over the threshold of the door, he turned back and stared at her with an abnormally unguarded expression. “Take care.” He winked, and then he was gone.

She fell back against the pillows, and slammed her fists down upon the mattress when she finally realized that he hadn’t allowed her to confess to him. Now, he would never know that her father was on his deathbed. And this one question begged to be answered, what would Rafe do if he discovered that the heiress he ruined wasn’t an heiress after all? Because if her father’s will was tampered with, she could be set to lose more than a king’s ransom. True, the money she had from her dear Grandpapa would help, but it was nowhere in the sum of what her father commanded.

And, if she allowed herself to fall truly in love with the sea thief, he’d steal more than just her money. He would steal her heart and her soul. She could bear losing her money if that was the hand that fate dealt her, but if she lost Rafe, she would be truly heartbroken.

“Ethan, when we became friends, I never imagined you to be a man capable of wreaking such havoc with my life.” Mallory walked impatiently to the bow of the ship and clasped his hands tightly behind his back.

“When you look through the spyglass and see what I caught sight of, you shall understand perfectly, sir.”

Mallory took the spyglass and held it up to his eye. He felt his stomach fall and swore beneath his breath. “This cannot be possible!”

“Oh, aye, that was what I thought when I first glimpsed sight of it. But to ease your mind, it does seem as if they were sailing toward America instead of Britain.”

Mallory turned away from the rail, and closed his eyes. “Do you suppose she was onboard, or do you think she escaped?”

“I do not understand why you would care either way.” Ethan shrugged his shoulders. “I say good riddance to bad rubbish.”

Mallory nodded his head, and shoved the spyglass back toward Ethan. “We shall send out boats to recover any survivors.”

“I doubt anyone would be able to survive that blast.”

“Nonetheless, we shall be good Christians, and undertake a thorough search.”

“Even if she did survive, what would you do when you saw her?”

“I do not know.”

“Do be serious, Rafe. You cannot muck everything up with reacquainting yourself with that tart. Why she called herself your wife when she was no such thing…”

“If I were you, I would choose my words carefully.”

“Well, I don’t care what you tell me to do,” Ethan said, squaring his shoulders, and lowering his voice. Mallory respected the man’s nerve, but he really didn’t feel like indulging Ethan at this point in time.

“If you do something to jeopardize the relationship you are building with Elizabeth, you will loathe yourself, mark my words.”

“Perhaps.”

“Rafe…”

Mallory turned to Ethan, and fixed him with a stern gaze. “Are you going to have the men assemble into a rescue party or shall I give the orders myself?”

“I shall do as you have requested.” Ethan turned away from him, and before he walked away muttered, “Do not say that I did not warn you.”

“I need no such warning,” he said loudly.

“Then God help you!”

Mallory listened to his words, and sighed heavily. He watched as the jolly boats were dropped into the water, and men scurried down to climb into them. He didn’t know what to think. He had to send out a rescue party. MacLeod would undoubtedly have sent one out if he did not.

Chastity Smith was a woman to be reckoned with. He highly doubted that she would have gone down in the flames that consumed her ship. She was an enterprising woman, and as such she had probably jumped off at the first sign of defeat. Even now, the last standing mast on
The Beauregard
was about to crash into the water and his men were keeping a safe distance until it did just that.

He didn’t have to worry about Elizabeth discovering him in an awkward moment with Chastity because Elizabeth was absolutely exhausted.

An image of Chastity flashed in his mind. Meeting up with her again was not something he needed, nor was it something he could afford. But they shared a rather intimate past, and he could not shrug her off as if she had never existed.

“Penny for your thoughts?” Elizabeth whispered, startling him out of his reverie. He glanced down at her and crooked one eyebrow. She stood with a blanket thrown around her shoulders, and a teacup clasped firmly in her both of her hands.

“I thought I told you to stay in bed,” she sighed, rolled her eyes dramatically, and sipped at her tea once more.

“And here I thought I told you that I cannot be commanded to do anything. Those poor souls,” she mused, glancing toward the burning ship.

“Poor sods more like,” he muttered, glancing down toward the deck.

“Seamus brought me this lovely cup of invigoratingly strong tea, and regaled me with a most interesting story. It would seem that ship is captained by a woman.”

“Aye, it is,” he confirmed, inwardly cursing Seamus. That bloody Irishman sometimes didn’t know when to keep his bone box shut.

“I wanted to see what kind of a woman she is. That is, of course, if she has lived.”

“Oh, she’ll be alive all right. She’s not exactly easy to kill.” He licked his lips, and stared up at the sky. The day was almost over, thank the lord, and yet he knew that in a few moments he’d definitely have more than what he had originally bargained for. Chastity probably wouldn’t care for Elizabeth.

They were two women that had most certainly been cut from different cloths. Chastity was free-spirited, and a woman of the world. Her morals were something not to be held in the highest regard, and it was said that she had slept with her fair share of the male population, and he was part of that male population.

“Fancy that,” she murmured, staring over at him with wide expressive eyes. “Seamus also told me that she had a penchant for you at one time.”

“Did he?” Mallory carelessly shrugged his shoulders, and coughed. He strained his eyes, and moved closer to the rail when he noticed someone swimming toward them. The rescue boats were quickly filling with various sorts of men, and more surprisingly women.

“Rafe, I do believe that there is someone trying to climb up the side of the ship.” Elizabeth remarked, moving to a safe distance.

Mallory strode over to where Elizabeth pointed, and looked over the side. He was met with a soaked vision of Chastity. She looked like a drowned rat.

“Well, don’t just look at me like that you stupid asshole, give me a helping hand,” Chastity demanded, extending her hand toward his. He reached down for her and hoisted her up and over the side of the ship.

She landed easily on her feet and nearly fell into his arms. She surprised the hell out of him, when she threw herself at him and kissed him hungrily. He pushed her back, but it seemed to have little effect. After a few breathless moments, she stepped away from him and sighed happily. “You are by far the last person I would have expected to come to my aid, Rafe. Oh, my darling, darling boy.” Her harsh, throaty voice caused him to wince. Ethan called him Rafe because Chastity had been the one to give him the moniker in the first place.

“Chastity, you are a sight for sore eyes. I think that I shall have you transferred to
The Red Dawn
.” Chastity stared at him, and slowly curved her mouth into a devilish grin, that made his stomach roll uneasily.

“Oh, but Rafe, I thought I’d stay here and warm your bed for you. I’m better than any old bed warmer.”

He heard Elizabeth choke on her tea, and glanced worriedly toward her. She managed to take control of her senses, and shakily placed her teacup back onto its saucer. Though she did seem quite shaken up.

“Chastity, I warn you, you are treading a thin line,” he murmured, mentally imploring her to fall silent before she gave any more information away to Elizabeth.

“Who is this lady-bird?” Chastity asked, gesticulating toward Elizabeth.

Elizabeth gasped. “How dare you! I am a respectable lady, and this lady can answer for herself,” Elizabeth started, clearing her throat.

“Oh, how delightful, the strumpet can talk. Do you pay more for that, Rafe?” Chastity remarked, turning her eyes on Elizabeth.

Elizabeth raised her head haughtily at Chastity’s nasty remark, and gave her a look that should have struck Chastity down where she stood.

“The question I would like to ask, is who the bloody hell are you?” Elizabeth seemed fully capable of taking on Chastity, and Mallory was going to play the wise man by keeping himself out of the storm that was quickly brewing between the two of them.

“Oh, well, is that all that you’d like to know,” Chastity smiled brilliantly. “Far be it for me to keep you in suspense any longer. The name’s Chastity Morgan, and I am Rafe’s wife.”

“Come again?” Elizabeth asked.

Mallory darted toward her when the teacup she held began rattling on the saucer. Her face had lost of all its colour, and her eyes were filled with despair. Had he not been so concerned about her welfare, the depth of the emotion she obviously felt for him would have touched him. Her teacup and saucer fell to the deck floor. She began slumping forward. He rushed forward, and caught her just before she fell.