Chapter Seven
Her resistance to him was in danger of crumbling.
Though she attempted to remove herself from his embrace, he wasn’t having it and continued to claim her lips in a move that screamed possession as his grip on her upper arms tightened.
A half moan half protest left her throat, for kissing was too personal, and she never let her clients do that to her.
Yet with Buckthorne, it was glorious and different; it put her right back into that world she’d lived in ten years ago, and she temporarily lost herself to that.
I’m such a weak, silly goose.
Barely aware of what was happening, when the captain ripped her nightdress straight down the middle, she gasped and pulled away. “What are you doing?”
“Rendering you naked, of course.”
“I have no other clothes here.” As the garment fell from her form to the wooden planked flooring, she gave into a shiver as the ambient cool air wafted over her skin and tightened her nipples.
“Then you’d best acclimate to being nude.” Once more, he yanked her into his arms and brought his lips crashing down on hers.
Though she planted her palms against his chest and tried to shove him away, it was much like pushing a brick wall, for he was quite strong and hard in all the right places.
If she were honest with herself, she wanted to welcome him back into her life, yet she wasn’t convinced, didn’t want to offer herself up to hurt.
Quickly, he wrenched away to hold her gaze with his. The intense desire in those blue eyes stole her breath. “The men you take into your bed, do you let them come inside you?”
“No.” Surprised at the question, Hannah shook her head.
“It is much like kissing, which is too personal to allow my clients, and I’m selective, besides, for I don’t want to contract a disease.
” She forced a swallow into her suddenly dry throat.
“They either must finish outside my body or wear a sheath. Why?”
His hungry gaze slid down her body, and she shivered again. “I wondered how you avoided pregnancy.”
“Oh.” Unexpected tears welled in her eyes. A veil of grief fell over her as she thought about the child she’d lost. Would she ever have that again? With him since he didn’t appear to wish to abide by her rules? “No, that hasn’t happened with any of them,” she added in a soft voice.
“Ah.” After a look of speculation, he encircled one of her wrists with the fingers of one hand. “Come with me.”
To her horror and curiosity, he led her to the corner of the room where the manacles dangled from the chains threaded through rings on the ceiling. “What are you doing?”
“Restraining you for the festivities ahead.” With his gaze on hers the whole time, Evan fit one of her wrists into the manacle and then slid the pin home. “Is that too tight?”
With a frown, Hannah moved her wrist. Thank goodness they weren’t rusty. “No, but—”
“Good.” Then he did the same to her other wrist. Once secured, her toes brushed the floor, and with her arms above her head, her breasts were thrust forward and left her whole body on display for his perusal. “Lovely.”
A chill raced down her spine but left odd tremors of need behind. “Why are these manacles and chains here?” she asked as she glanced up at the ceiling.
“For prisoners.”
“Oh.” There was so much she didn’t know about him or his life while he’d been away.
Before she could ask another question, the captain removed his breeches then tossed them toward the chair.
“Heavens,” she said in a breathless sort of way as she swept her regard over his body.
He was simply perfection even with the mélange of scars, wounds, as well as a couple of tattoos on his back and one on his shoulder.
None of which she’d seen last night, and she wished she had time to explore them or look closer at them.
“I’ll wager it’s not often you are rendered speechless by a lover?” As he spoke, he slipped behind her. The way she was positioned, she faced into the room opposite the bunk.
“Not often. In fact, in the past few years, that sort of thing has paled. There is no excitement there any longer.” Why did she admit that to him?
“Interesting.” A few breaths later, he danced his fingertips along her back in a clear bid to begin his seduction.
“Never in my travels have I encountered a woman with curves or red hair like yours.” He wrenched the bit of leather from the end of the braid she wore her tresses in for sleeping.
Once he tossed it away, it undid the plaiting and then buried his fingers into her hair.
“It’s like glowing embers of a fire, and so unique. ”
She huffed while trying to remain stationary in the face of his touch as well as the precarious position she’d been put into. Though the manacles tugged at her skin, it wasn’t overly harsh, but it did constantly remind her that he was very much in control.
“All of that has put me out of favor within the ton, for none of those looks are popular or sought after.” To say nothing of the freckles that liberally sprinkled her skin.
“Every man who has rejected you for that is an idiot and should be drawn and quartered.” The warmth of his breath skated over her nape and cheek. “You are wild as if you’ve run out of the woods and I happened to stumble upon you.”
“Ha.” Needing a distraction from the exquisite sensations his touch invoked within her, Hannah wrapped her hands around the chains, but that didn’t help much.
Her toes brushed the floor while need throbbed between her thighs.
Trembles played her spine, for she was ready to beg for him to visit her breasts.
Instead, he merely continued to caress his fingers with the lightest pressure over her back, her sides, the inside of her arms, her neck. Each trail he blazed left her panting with desire and squirming for his attention.
“Once you are the duke, you will need to marry.” The only reason she spoke was to keep him talking in the hope that she wouldn’t shatter just from his teasing.
“I am not interested in that. Over the years, I have learned far too well how to keep people at arm’s length.
” He glided his palms against her nipples, chuckling when she involuntarily moaned.
“I don’t wish to care about anyone, because loss is forever and it hurt too damned much to have that person wrenched from one’s life. ”
“Yes.” Was that in agreement to what he said or what he currently did to her?
“And forming attachments makes a man weak, leaves him vulnerable. For too many years, I couldn’t take the chance.”
Good heavens, they were very much the same in their thinking. She didn’t want that; she wanted to stay angry with him, but that was rapidly slipping away. “Why are you doing this to me?” Need tangled in the words, leaving her voice smokey and low.
“Boredom?” He gave her nipples a quick, light pinch. Pleasure streaked through her veins, and she whimpered. “Perhaps I want to revisit the connection we used to share?” Then he licked the crook of her shoulder. “Or perhaps I need to clear my head while I form a plan to kill my brother?”
The danger and mystery he represented kept her spellbound as much as his hands on her body did. “Why do you hate him beyond him stealing your title?”
“My father played us off each other for years. When I couldn’t abide by it any longer, I joined the Navy, which my father forbade.
For the first time in my existence, I had a taste of freedom, could chart my own course without admonition or chastisement.
” His words stopped briefly when he pressed his lips to her spine, licked her skin and set her ablaze.
“I also fully believe that James hired people to kill me, to ensure I never came home, over the years.”
“Tell me,” she gasped out in an effort to not let this seduction pull her under its waves.
“Not tonight.” And still he drew his fingers over her skin, both touching and not touching her body, but it drove her near insane all the same.
Wild tingles shot up and down her spine while liquid heat made itself known between her thighs. The way he pleasured her was unbelievable. It made her remember when they’d first got together, and he’d given her quite the carnal education.
That had both ruined and ignited her life.
Her breath came in short pants. “How many other women have you entertained in this cabin?” Struggling for purchase with her toes and having the manacles bite into her skin added drama to the experience, and drat the man, it enhanced every feeling and sensation he gave to her.
“A few over the years, but generally if I wanted to bed a woman, I sought one out in port.” He pinched her nipples again. “Females on a ship are still considered bad luck, and sailors are a suspicious lot.”
The world he lived in was fascinating. “Did you use the chains on them?”
“No.” When he rolled her sensitive nipples from the root to the tip, she feared she would pass out from the feelings.
“The chains and manacles are mostly there to torture prisoners for information. And yes, it happened on a regular basis while I was a privateer.” Then he took her breasts in his hands and kneaded them only to release them to bedevil her nipples all over again.
Dear God. What sort of man had he become over the years? It made her both fearful and curious about him. Seconds later, she ceased to think; the effort of forming thoughts was beyond her, for she downed in blissful sensations.
Was it possible to achieve release from a man merely playing at her breasts? Oddly, she wanted to discover if she was capable of it, but sadly, he left off only to slide a hand down her torso, past the swell of her belly and then between her thighs.
“Oh…” Already, she drooped in the restraints even though her toes barely touched the floor. She shook with need. “I haven’t let myself feel anything for so long…”
After kissing her nape, he blew on the spot, and the contrast between cold and hot nearly became her undoing. “Why now?”