Taken by You (31 page)

“I’m no witch,” Luca challenged as her bodice slipped past her shoulders. “I’m your wife, Morgan. Witchcraft is sinful and wicked.”

“Aye, sweetheart. wife,” Morgan agreed as his lips slid down the slender column of her neck. raining gentle kisses against the upper portion of her breasts. “My wicked, sinful wife.”

A sound of strangled pleasure escaped her when he peeled her corset and chemise away and took her nipple into his mouth. She was panting by the time he tugged her remaining garments from her body and knelt before her, stroking her bottom with consummate tenderness, nipping and licking her exquisitely sensitive nipples. When he had satisfied his hunger for her breasts, his mouth blazed a trail of fire across her stomach. Before continuing his downward path, he looked up and gave her a wicked grin. Then he lowered his mouth to the shiny nest of ebony curls below.

Luca shuddered violently, clutching his head in an effort to stop the sinful thrust of his tongue. “Morgan, no!”

“Aye, sweetheart, let me do this for you.” Holding her tightly against him. he spread her legs slightly and inserted a finger into her slick sheath.

Luca thought she would die of rapture as he brushed his lips and tongue over her most sensitive flesh while creating a delicious pressure with the thrust and withdrawal of his finger into her intimate channel, She felt herself drifting, spiraling out of control, and suddenly her legs could no longer hold her. Morgan sensed the moment that weakness overcame her, and he swept her from her feet. Luca cried out in deprivation when his hands and mouth left her, but he crooned into her ear, telling her he’d not leave her, that he’d give her the pleasure she craved. Then he placed her on the bed and tore off his clothing. He joined her before Luca could fully appreciate the masculine beauty of his aroused body, but she felt him. full and heavy and hot as he pressed her down into the mattress.

Her arms came around him. wanting him inside her, raising her hips to give him free access, but he ignored her silent plea as he slid down her body and hooked her knees over his shoulders. Then he lowered his head and feasted on her with bold strokes of his tongue while his hands roved demandingly over her thighs, breasts, and bottom. She bucked wildly, but Morgan held her tightly, anchoring her against his mouth as she moved against him. Soft sobs shook her. He sucked her deeply, relentlessly, until she cried out her climax.

Releasing her knees, he watched her face. Her mouth was open. her eyes glazed. her body rosy with shattering ecstasy. With splintering insight he realized they shared something special. If not for the Spanish blood she carried in her veins, he could readily give a name to those feelings.

Luca looked into Morgan’s eyes and recognized his confusion. But she saw something else. Something deep and abiding and caring. She smiled dreamily and opened her arms to him. “Come into me, Morgan.” Her fingers curled around his distended staff, bringing him to the very portal of her softness.

Morgan groaned out his eagerness, lifted her hips, and slid full and deep inside her. The pleasure was pure agony. He was heavy and hard and throbbing. He felt her incredible heat squeeze and surround him, felt her tilt her hips so she could take him deeper, felt her arms clasp and hold him, and he gave himself up to the magic of their joining. He filled and stretched her until she was taut, ready to burst with throbbing pleasure.

Hot ecstasy flooded Luca’s senses as Morgan suddenly shifted positions, sinking even deeper inside her as he brought her atop him. “Ride me, sweet Luca,” he urged, pounding into her with wild fury. She sobbed her delight, threw her head back, and let her instincts guide her.

Heat and friction combined to drive her inexorably toward another powerful climax. It was heaven, it was Hell, it was the most perfect paradise Luca had ever known. Love such as she had never imagined welled up in her heart at the sounds of Morgan’s groans and cries, pleased that she was giving him the same kind of rapture he was giving her. She moved against him wantonly, offering her aching breasts to the hot possession of his mouth. He licked and sucked greedily, tasting paradise. Then he was soaring, breaking free of his earthly bonds, taking Luca with him as he drove into her with deep, riveting strokes. She cried out her climax. He absorbed the sound with his mouth, adding his own piercing cries to the melody of love.

Tears blurred Luca’s vision. Morgan’s loving had touched her profoundly, and she feared he didn’t feel the same about her. With a grim sense of recognition, Luca realized Morgan couldn’t accept her love. Revenge was like a slow poison, filling his heart with hate and resentment, D
ios!
Was there no hope for them? She gazed at Morgan, wanting to ask him if he felt anything for her but lust, yet fearing she wouldn’t like the answer. They were still joined intimately; Morgan held her tightly against him, as if reluctant to release her.

Suddenly he opened his eyes and met her searching gaze. He brushed a wisp of dark hair from her damp forehead and gave her a wry smile. “I missed you.”

Luca gave a snort of disbelief. “Is that why you sent me so many endearing messages?” She tried to disengage their bodies, but Morgan seemed content to have her resting atop him.

“You can’t possibly understand what drives me, or imagine the pain I suffered at the hands of your countrymen. You’ve seen the marks I carry on my back. They’re not a pretty sight.”

“Morgan, I…”

He continued as if he hadn’t heard her. “Do you think it is easy watching your entire family being wiped out by murdering bastards insensitive to human suffering? Spanish bastards, Luca. You are the first Spaniard for whom I’ve felt anything but intense hatred. Wanting you the way I do confuses and angers me.

“Lord knows I’ve tried my damnedest to work you out of my system. Admitting my weakness for you is excessively painful. I don’t like feeling this way about any woman. I always thought I’d have children one day, but having children with Spanish blood sickens me. God forbid that you should quicken with my child, for I don’t know if I could accept that. That’s one of the reasons I left you in the country. Out of sight, out of mind.”

Morgan had no idea how profoundly his words hurt Luca. She too wanted children, but in her mind she pictured miniatures of Morgan. If he didn’t want her to bear his children, she could see no future for them. After his candid confession she realized that Morgan would be better served wedded to Lady Jane. Annulling their marriage seemed the only solution, for she could not tolerate the thought of Morgan despising a child of their union.

She had to leave Morgan. If she remained, a child was an inevitable result of their craving for one another. Luca thought it a miracle she wasn’t already carrying his child.

With concentrated effort she drew the shattered remains of her dignity around her, discarding her dreams of a future with Morgan. “Out of sight, out of mind,” she repeated bleakly. “I must leave you, Morgan.”

Morgan’s expression hardened. The play of light from the window made a sinister landscape of his face. “Like Hell! You’re not leaving me, now or ever.”

His arms tightened, and he thrust up into her with renewed vigor. After a few minutes’ rest, he wanted her again. All his conflicting emotions were perversely at odds with one another, but of one thing he was certain: While he was buried deep inside her, the thought of letting her go was a denial of his heart’s desire. The aching need for Luca was raw and bleeding and could be healed by no woman but his wife.

“But what if…”

“Don’t talk, sweetheart, just feel.”

Luca felt. She felt the pain of his rejection and the joy of his need. And she prayed they would not make a child.

Chapter 16

T
he night was still young. Luca lay sleeping in Morgan’s bed as he dressed and left to keep his appointment with Stan Crawford aboard the
Avenger.
When Morgan and Stan were sitting in the captain’s cabin sharing a bottle of brandy, Morgan announced, ‘Luca is in London.”

“You sent for her?” Stan asked, startled by Morgan’s disclosure. “The queen won’t be pleased. I thought you were considering the queen’s proposal to dissolve your marriage and wed the Lady Jane.”

“Hell no I didn’t send for Luca! Besides, an annulment is Queen Bess’s idea, not mine. I tried my damnedest to play by the queen’s rules. You have no idea how bored I am with conniving court ladies and prissy courtiers. I don’t belong here, Stan. Playing the courtier doesn’t suit me. Dancing attendance upon the queen isn’t my idea of a rewarding life. Bloody Hell! Why couldn’t Luca have remained in the country? Now I am forced to introduce her to society and stand helplessly by while she’s shunned and ridiculed. Her Spanish blood will make her an unpopular subject.”

“We could leave,” Stan suggested. “The
Avenger
is fully provisioned and ready to sail.”

“I’m tempted, Stan, but I can’t leave while England has need of my ship. We both know the Spanish Expedition is very real and an imminent threat to England’s shores. I’m taking the
Avenger
to join Sir Frances Drake’s fleet the moment the armada is spotted in English waters.”

“What about Luca?”

“She’ll remain in London,” Morgan said tersely. “I’ll introduce her to the queen and hope for the best.”

Crawford searched Morgan’s face, wondering if his captain knew he was in love with his own wife or if he was just too stubborn to realize it. Crawford thought Morgan a bloody fool to let Luca’s Spanish heritage destroy what could be a happy marriage.

“Do you still believe Luca ordered your beatings in Havana? If you believe she hated you enough to advocate your death, I seriously doubt you’d still want her. Forgiveness isn’t one of your virtues.”

“I have few virtues, as you well know, Stan.” Morgan took a healthy slug of brandy before continuing. “But you’re correct in assuming I no longer believe Luca became del Fugo’s mistress and ordered my beatings. If I did I would have devised a punishment worthy of the crime. If I was to admit…” His words fell off, and he gazed absently into the amber liquid in his glass.

“God help me. I’ve spent my entire adult life hating Spaniards and suddenly I find myself doubting my motives for revenge, my very sanity. I know Luca and I are an unlikely couple, that we’ve been thrown together by fate, but no other woman pleases me like Luca.”

He stretched to his feet, embarrassed that he’d revealed so much about his innermost feelings. He was seldom driven to discuss matters of the heart.

“’Tis time I left. Luca will be awake now, and I still have an errand to attend to. Luca left Scott Hall without baggage, and her wardrobe will have to be replenished before she can be presented at court.”

“Don’t worry about the
Avenger,
Morgan. She’s ready to sail when you are.”

“Keep the men on a tight rein,” Morgan advised. “It will do us littie good if they are all in grog shops when we need them.”

Luca awoke feeling indolent yet strangely content. She stretched languorously and smiled, recalling the rapturous hours spent making love with Morgan. After a moment of blissful recollection, she suddenly frowned, remembering how Morgan had cruelly renounced any child they might conceive. Leaping from bed, she dropped to her knees, fervently praying that no child had been conceived from their tempestuous mating. After a long interval of prayer, she rose unsteadily and began to dress, all the while contemplating her dismal future.

She had no idea when Morgan had left their bed or how long she’d slept, but her growling stomach reminded her that she hadn’t eaten a decent meal since leaving Scott Hall. It had grown dark while she slept, but Luca surmised it wasn’t late for she could hear strains of music drifting through the corridors. She’d heard that Elizabeth’s court was a frivolous place where dances and such were held nearly every night. Is
that where Morgan went?
she wondered.
To dance with his mistress and play the gallant? Did he enjoy hopping from bed to bed?

Another loud rumble reminded Luca of her empty stomach and she decided to find a footman who could direct her to food. The corridor was empty when she stepped from the chamber; no footman was in sight. She followed the sounds of music, hoping to find someone who could help her.

“Lady Scott, how wonderful to see you again so soon. Are you looking for your husband? Don’t tell me he hasn’t returned to his chamber.”

Luca started violently, then relaxed when she recognized Lord Harley. “Lord Harley, you startied me. I’ve seen Morgan, but he seems to have disappeared again.”