Other Oceans: Book Two of the Hook & Jill Saga (42 page)

“I mean no insult to you, Mr. Cecco, but from our arrangement I expect only a moderate degree of contentment. My heart is otherwise engaged.”

“You think perhaps to compensate for your compliance? To deny yourself in honor of your late lover?”

Jill blinked. “I didn’t realize you were so versed in the ways of women.” He had guessed exactly what she planned— to give herself only so far, making up for her physical infidelity by withholding her passion, as if she could somehow shield herself and reserve her innermost recesses for Hook.

“A noble intention, to sacrifice your pleasure. But I tell you as a man. Such dishonesty can only dishonor him.”

Considering his meaning, Jill realized she had deceived only herself. Cecco’s words were true, and she swiftly understood. Cheating this man would not gain her absolution. She could acquit herself with honor only by accepting Cecco honestly, completely. In dissembling, she might in actuality earn the stipend he had granted. Better to be his partner— in every endeavor— than his prostitute.

And she was struck again by the thought she had had earlier on the companionway— How cleverly and how quickly he divested her of her armor!

Jill looked down. “Aye. You speak the truth.”

Gently, his fingers applied pressure under her chin. “You will please humor me, with the proper form of address.”

As she looked up at him, the ghost of a shadow passed over her face, but she acquiesced.

“Aye…Sir.”

“So we are clear.”

“We are.” The hollow within her ached again as, under his vigilance, she awarded Cecco the title she longed to hold for Hook. “Captain.”

“And now all that restrains me is my courtesy, which you will find I hold in abundance— if we continue to agree as we have done so delightfully this evening.”

Jill controlled her expression, but at this velvet-gloved threat, doubt spilled inside her. “I will do my best to maintain harmony between us.” Had she been wrong about Cecco after all? Had he merely been biding his time until he could take revenge for his whipping? She searched his eyes to determine how he might back up his warning, but found only warmth and confidence there. Captain Cecco was, apparently, very sure of himself.

“You look for reassurance. And you wonder, perhaps, how I know so much of your feeling?”

Again, he had intuited her thoughts. Although hesitant to confirm his supposition, she nodded.

“I am naturally understanding of women. And you I have watched closely every day. Sometimes to my cost.” He threw off a shrug, indicative of his shredded back. “You took such pleasure in displaying your devotion to your former master. I remember every little touch and courtesy you lavished upon him. And your insistence that I be punished for his sake— a grand gesture!”

Jill drew back. Was Cecco expressing resentment, or adoration?

“It is my dream that I will move you to the same level of devotion.”

“And if not? Sir?”

“Let us not dwell on the improbable. It is enough that I have learned much of your inclinations, and can easily guess at your…disinclinations.” His even teeth showed in an indulgent smile. “You are far too intelligent to serve me other than satisfactorily.”

Jill ignored the rising panic. “I am anxious to learn more of your inclinations, that we may stand on an equal footing. I hope you will be patient with me.”

Cecco’s posture relaxed now. His compact, muscular frame seemed to Jill to melt a bit. “Madam. I doubt that patience will be necessary. I am not a difficult master to please! And I will be honored to please
you
. Perhaps in ways you have not experienced before.”

“Sir…” The panic would not be ignored, after all. It wrapped around her heart.

He stepped closer. “You never shared yourself with a man before our captain made you a woman. You have not yet partaken of the pleasure of two hands serving you.” Cecco placed his hands on her shoulders. “I will improve your appreciation.”

With tender force, he turned her around and began working the knot of her scarf. Under his ten supple fingers, it came loose. He pulled the scarf down to free her hair at last, and with it, a burden lifted from her shoulders. Jill was satisfied she had done her duty to Hook. From this point on, Hook’s order to guard the ship required only that she retain Captain Cecco’s trust and good will. Judging by his sigh of pleasure as he gathered her hair in both his hands, she thought doing so likely to prove easy— if only the emptiness didn’t pain her so much.

Combing her hair with his fingers, Cecco took his time, appreciating it. He ran his hands through her hair, over and over, and breathed deeply. “So silky. And scented like the sunshine.” The play of his fingers set her scalp to tingling. Obviously, Cecco’s boast was accurate; he was a man who understood women, or, at any rate, how to please them. At least one. Jill had sensed his gaze following her many times, but she hadn’t realized just how close, how flattering, his scrutiny had been. Tired of the heavy hurt within, she did as she had done when Mr. Smee attended her. Entranced, she closed her eyes and succumbed to her senses.

His fingers cleared a path on the back of her neck. Soon she felt his lips traveling along it, and his tongue just touching her. Now it was Jill who seemed to melt a bit. The sensation was inviting, a release from her tension. Sensing her pleasure, her new lover prolonged it. And she was sorry when he stopped at last, and sorry when he relinquished her hair, sweeping it over her shoulder. She stood still, waiting shakily, and listening to his adoring accents.

“Beautiful lady. No need for your little girl to come to you tonight. I will see to your needs, lovely one.” Adroitly, he loosed the lacings Liza had tended that morning. In no time, the scarlet taffeta relaxed its hold. “And whatever service I cannot render, your Miss will have to perform. I will share such tasks with no other man.” Cecco flattened his hands, such warm hands, on her back, then he slid them under her bodice and slowly pushed the gown over her arms. Jill twisted her shoulders to shrug it off. It was a natural impulse, but she would have followed it in any case. She was resigned. It would all happen, either way. The only issue left unresolved for Jill was exactly how much pleasure she and her new captain would take in their partnership.

Cecco smiled as he unhooked her petticoats. The symbolism of the act was not lost upon him. Jill thought of it, too, and felt increasingly vulnerable as, with every move, Cecco detached her further from Hook. Instinctively she glanced at the wall beyond the bunk. It was bare. No strings of jewels bobbed their enticement, no golden chains lay waiting to ensnare her. Most disappointing of all, the plain metal hook, which had held her captain’s claw each evening, hung empty.

And then her gaze caught an object on the bed shelf that Liza had neglected to clear away. Jill’s heart leapt. The empty water cup stood, placed there by Hook’s hand last night, and it triggered her memory. The surgeon’s sleeping draught! Should she use it? The unopened vial lay in the drawer beneath the bed. Would it really work as the doctor prescribed? Just one night might allow Hook the time he needed to return to her, wherever he was, and this exercise of fidelity through faithlessness could be avoided. Did she dare buy that time by turning the potion against Captain Cecco?

But Jill trusted the doctor less now than on the night he so seductively pressed the drug into her lap. The slippery amber liquid might prove to be poison, after all. And to harm Cecco now, when she depended on him for everything— her safety, the ship’s disposition— would be a foolish mistake, indeed. A reckless violation of the terms of accord that would only serve to destabilize the company. And exactly what the surgeon needed to work his ends.

No, from such a betrayal Jill could only earn Captain Cecco’s punishment. Or worse. She must follow what she could salvage of her original design. Calming her heartbeats, she submitted again to his amorous voice as he unhooked the last fastening.

“You see, although I am your captain now, I have not too much dignity to wait on you. And you will do the same for me?” It wasn’t really a question. The mellow candlelight glowed upon her flesh, becoming warmer. Her petticoats fell to bunch in a circle around her feet. With soft scrapings, they brushed her skin as he turned her to face him. His eyes fired as they assumed their first possession of her loveliness. He didn’t hurry.

After taking in the sight of her, he gestured to her hand. “I want you always to reach out to me. I will never touch you before you indicate that you wish me to.” He waited.

He cocked his head. “Lady?”

Unashamed of her nakedness, she cast her eyes down only in grief. Her voice was dull. “You don’t want to break your oath, even though you believe Captain Hook is— dead.”

“It is always wise to be cautious. We gypsies are superstitious.” He bent his head to capture her gaze. “But also, a very beautiful people, and full of the appreciation of life.” The intensity of his regard confirmed his words.

“But what of
my
oath?”

“If Hook lives, Lady, you have already broken it with your scar-faced ‘lover.’ If not…” He held out his hand once more, expectant.

“You must know that if Hook lives, you will die.”

“I acknowledge the possibility. But do not underestimate me, Madam. And of course, I would on no account allow him to punish
you
.” His white teeth gleamed. “I see that you smile at my chivalry.”

“I am amazed to hear anyone say they’ll not allow James Hook to enforce his will.” And defiantly, she raised her open hand, displaying its vivid color— the deep scarlet of Hook’s blood, and her own. Her jewel blue eyes, so like Hook’s, grew fierce. “If you are not good to me, I swear to you by his blood—
I
will kill you!”

Then she lowered her arm and turned her hand, offering it.

Cecco clasped her hand in triumph, and then he laughed. “Mutiny! But not, I think, until you have learned more of sailing, eh?” But his face lost all levity. “For now, you will learn more of men.” He pulled her hands to his chest and pressed them there, and then he leaned forward as if to kiss her. But he stopped. “No. I want my first kiss to be one you will remember always.”

He slipped his arm around her waist and drew her toward him. Her hands felt the tone of his thick chest muscles, the rise and fall of the breathing that caused his golden necklaces to glint in the candlelight.

“Here is where two hands can serve you.”

She gasped as he cupped her breasts, then he caressed them with his thumbs. He bent his head, and placing his lips on one tinted tip, he kissed her, tenderly. She gazed upon his shoulders as his tongue circled, tasting the kiss. Lingering, he drank her in, and Jill’s lips went dry. She opened them to breathe. When she looked down on his dark, feathery hair, she was tempted. But she couldn’t bring herself to touch it yet. Her fingers moved, instead, on his chest.

Cecco kissed her, dissolving time. And the longer he kissed her breast, the more her mouth hungered for that kiss. She found herself longing for his same touch on her lips. How much cleverer he was, more winning, than she at first understood! She had, indeed, underestimated him, more than once. Truly, this kiss was one she would never, ever forget.

As the fire he had ignited burned below her belly, Jill’s resolve to follow him faltered. Her fingers spread. Her hands pressed harder against his body. She tried to push him away but, effortlessly, the strongest man on the
Roger
overcame her resistance, and she learned how helpless she was. Her physical subjection stirred her doubts. Could she cross wits with him? And she became increasingly uncertain whether she would be able to carry through with this arrangement, or to keep any measure of control over the
Roger
, as Hook had commanded her to do.

But if Jill was a match for a man like Hook, she could match Cecco, too. What choice did she have? Her fingers stopped resisting. Instead, she followed the contour of his chest, moving her fingers up behind his neck and into his hair. She pressed him closer. And through the traitorous haze of her surrendering senses, she wondered again…where was Hook?

And where was Smee? What duty did the bo’sun owe her in this struggle? Her heart would feel so much lighter if this man taking charge of Hook’s ship, the man commandeering Hook’s woman, was her own Mr. Smee. Hook’s Smee. Tears pricked at her eyelids.

And then Cecco banished thought, relinquishing his embrace and placing his hands on either side of her face. He lifted it. His dusky eyes contemplated the open lips that longed for his. He teased her lips with his thumbs, and then with his fingers, and then with his tongue. And when he finally granted her wish, that kiss was like a welcome consummation. Their lips pressed together. His tongue, impatiently awaited, thrust inside, and her own yielded to it.

Cecco’s two hands now slid behind her hair, down her back, and lower, moving in circles and stroking her. He forced her toward him, massaging, insisting, against the eagerness manifest beneath his breeches. Taking hold of her red hand again, he placed it upon his manhood.

“As Hook’s woman, you have consented to all my demands. Here is another demand. The first that I make upon
my
woman. Release me.”

And until she did, she thought she might yet turn back. Even Cecco held his breath. He, too, must sense it wasn’t too late. She could still choose the other course, reject Hook’s admonition and abandon the ship to this man. But it was not for nothing that Jill had joined up with pirates. She had never been a coward. Unblinking, she watched now as Captain Cecco melted again, sighing.

She discovered a band of smooth, rolled metal encircling the base. “Ah.” With hooded eyes, she looked at Cecco, inquiring.

“Yes. Your instincts are true. It is gold. As I intimated at Gao, a ring. For your pleasure, and mine.” And he made her fingers to understand it, and her pulse beat against her skin.

“It is known, Madam, how you lust after precious treasure. You see that, like yourself, I adore jewelry. You will find me to be a more generous master than your first captain. I will delight to grant you any ornament you can remove from me. If you are successful, I will be most happy to replace my jewelry with new, so that you may win it again. In this way, all our desires will be fulfilled.”