“He should have never had the chance. I wanted to destroy the filthy pirate. I asked for my own command, my own ship. The navy refused.”
“Imagine that. The navy had priorities other than revenge?”
Nick stood and paced away from her. “I joined the navy to protect and serve. What was the point in staying if I couldn’t do either?”
“And so you left. You became the filthy pirate you hated.”
He moved so quickly, she did not see him coming until he was beside on her on the bed, pinning her against the wall. “I’m nothing like Yussef. Nothing. I don’t kill innocent women and children. I don’t attack innocent ships.” His hands were on her shoulders, digging almost painfully into her flesh. “Men like Yussef deserve to die for what they did to Ralph and—for Ralph.”
Ashley wondered if they were still speaking of Ralph and Yussef or of something else. “And who decides who is innocent? You? Are you a better judge and jury than Yussef?”
He released her, but he didn’t move away. “Yes.” When she would have spoken again, argued further, he placed a finger on her lips. “I’m sensible of your point. We could argue all night, you making thought-provoking statements and I refuting them with brilliant parries.”
She laughed. For a long time, there was a silent peace between them. Then he said, “But I don’t want to spend the entire night that way. Do you?”
“No.” She moved her lips against his finger and the slight friction made her skin tingle. Sudden heat flooded her as erotic images of how the two of them might spend the rest of the evening hours flashed in her mind. She opened her lips slightly and drew his finger into her mouth. It was salty, tasting of seawater. She sucked gently, pleased when she heard his quick intake of breath.
He withdrew his finger and covered her mouth with his, pulling her up and into his lap. His hands cradled the sides of her face as his mouth teased her lips open. The assault was not gentle. Like the pirate he was, he plundered her, took everything she had. He kissed her so deeply, so thoroughly, she could not even catch her breath. When he pulled back to put his skilled lips on her neck, kissing her there and sending shivers through her, she gulped air as though she had been drowning.
And then his lips were on hers again. She’d never been kissed like this, kissed with so much possessiveness, kissed as though this was the last night on earth. Nick’s tongue stroked and teased as his mouth slanted over hers again and again. She tried to kiss him back, but her head was spinning, her breath short. “Please,” she said, her gasps coming quick.
“Do you want me to stop?” he asked, voice husky.
“No. Just slow down. I can’t think.”
“You don’t need to think. You’re impulsive and adventurous. Let your instincts take over.”
He kissed her again, and she had little choice. Her head was spinning, and combined with the rolling of the ship, she could hardly tell what was up and what was down. His lips were her anchor, his body was her lodestone. But every time she thought she found some purchase, his hands stroked her curves or his lips caressed her skin or his hard body moved under her, and she was lost again.
There was nothing for it but to let go. She could not control what she felt, what he was doing to her, and she did not want to. She gave herself up to the feelings, to the tidal waves of emotions. She’d berated herself for falling in love with him, but now she allowed herself to feel the full force of that love. Here, in his arms, her heart was so full of love. Her body raged with desire, and she knew that all of her life she’d told herself lies. She’d said she wanted adventure and the love of many men. But all of her life, this was what she’d been seeking. To be swept away, to love so deeply she could not fathom the depths, to lose herself in another.
She’d been coddled and spoiled, but with Nick she did not think of herself. She thought only of him. She focused on the way he sighed or groaned or shifted when she touched him one way versus another. Her own pleasure was so far from her mind that when he slid into her, hard and fast, she was surprised at the sudden way her body convulsed and tightened around him.
He’d managed to undress himself and pull her on top of him. She arched back when he entered her, gasping at the sensation.
“Ride me,” he ordered her, voice gruff. “Make yourself come.”
“But you—”
“I’m holding back for you, sweet,” he said. “Take me with you.”
She moved her hips, tentatively at first, testing the positions that gave her the most pleasure. When she found it, she succumbed, sliding herself over him again and again until she was spiraling into a bright light bursting with fireworks.
His hands went around her waist, but he didn’t seek to control her. He held on as she took him, and when she felt him swell and throb inside her, she gave him no quarter. She took him completely, giving herself completely as well as until her entire world was only him and the pleasure between them.
Hours later, after they’d both rested, and then he’d taken her again—this time with more patience—she lay in his arms and listened to his soft, regular breathing. She was glad he slept. He would need the rest. She was no sailor, but she sensed an enemy lurked in the darkness beyond the ship. Something waited in the sea, something dark and evil that would do all to tear them apart.
Chapter Sixteen
When Rissa knocked on the cabin door, eager to show Nick the sunrise over the water, Ashley groaned and covered her head with the blanket. Nick left his wife to join his daughter on deck. She held his hand and jumped up and down excitedly. Nick raked the hair out of his eyes and squinted. “You’ve seen a sunrise before, sweetheart,” he said with a yawn. He envied Ashley, still sleeping, warm and snug. She shouldn’t have even been on the Robin Hood, but now that she and Rissa were here, he could not imagine it any other way.
“But I’ve never seen the sun rise on a ship!” Rissa said. Nick picked the little girl up and listened to her chatter as they gazed out at the lightening sky. She felt so small and slight in his arms. Such a sweet, innocent child, despite all she had been through. She was his to protect, his to keep safe. He hadn’t been able to keep his mother from harm, but he could protect his daughter.
Ashley was his to safeguard as well, though she thought she could take care of herself. His mother had thought the same. Thus far he’d been able to protect her and allow her some freedom. That arrangement was quickly coming to an end now that he was hunting Yussef. Ashley would have been quite happy for him to give up the hunt and return to England with her.
He understood her reasons. The past was the past, and nothing he did to Yussef could change what happened to Ralph or to any of the men who’d died that day in the battle against The Snake. If Nick were to die now, what would become of Rissa? Had he even thought of that possibility? No, because he knew Ashley would take care of the child. She was the one who never disappointed, never let anyone down. He hadn’t worried about her or Rissa because he’d known Ashley would care for them both.
They would go on—without him.
