Please note that there are some reluctance themes.
Carly moaned softly as the gentle rocking of the boat intruded on her drowsy slumber, and her fingers curled in the sheets. She lay sprawled on the softest of mattresses, her hand nestled beneath her cheek, her limbs free from constriction beneath the clean sheet. Her sky blue eyes fluttered open, and she stretched, feeling a delicious ache between her thighs.
Her heart thudded in her chest as she sat up with a start, hastily drawing the sheets over the creamy swell of her breasts as her gaze flew around the large cabin in alarm. The last vestiges of sleep flew from her mind as her eyes collided with devilish green ones.
He sat with his long muscular legs stretched out before him, his arm looped over the back of the chair turned to face the bed. She swallowed hard at the realisation that he had watched her as she slept, and heat stole up her cheeks.
“You – you bastard. Get out of here!” she hissed furiously. “You’ve taken what you wanted, so leave me in peace.”
He merely smiled as his intense green eyes caressed her face and bare shoulders.
“If it was only your virginity I wanted, little one, no doubt I would oblige you.”
A frown marred her brow as she glared at him, trying to comprehend his meaning. She refused to dwell on the fact that she was naked in his bed, or of how vulnerable and tiny she felt as his tanned muscular body clad in light brown breaches and a cream linen shirt seemed to fill the cabin.
Her eyes widened slightly as she grimly concluded what is it was that he wanted. “The gown I wore belonged to my sis – to my Lady Miriam Montague. I am merely her maid, and of no value should you wish to ransom me.”
He wiped his hand across his mouth at her snooty tone, trying to hide his smile at the picture she presented. Despite being naked as the day she was born, she sat in the middle of his bed as though a queen, her back ramrod straight, her sweet face expressionless. The swollen lips and tumbled golden mane floating over her creamy shoulders told him something entirely different. “Ah,” was all he could managed, and fury darkened the wide blue eyes that gazed back at him.
“What do you mean, “ah”?” she demanded. “Either you will let me go or…” her eyes widened at the possibilities. Quickly she backtracked. “I mean, I’m sure Lord Montague will pay you a modest sum to return me, that it would be worthwhile not to…um-“
“Dispose of you?” he inserted silkily.
She bit her lip, knowing instinctively by the gleam in his eyes that he was teasing her, yet it was too important a matter – her life was at stake! – to treat it lightly.
“Yes,” she replied softly, concentrating on the patterns her fingers traced on the sheets.
Her heart began to pound as she head him shift in the chair and cross the small distance to the bed. The mattress dipped beneath his weight as he rested one knee on the bed and placed a finger beneath her chin, tilting her face to his.
“Then let me make it clear to you, little one. I have no intention of ransoming you.”
“But-“ a finger pressed against her pink lips, still bruised from his demanding kisses of the evening before.
“You are mine. You were mine since the first moment I saw you poring over pretty ribbons in the market place with your sister.” As her lips parted on a soundless gasp, he smiled. “Yes, your sister.”
His head lowered as his lips captured hers, moving over her mouth tenderly as he gazed down into her startled wide blue eyes before slowly withdrawing. She shivered when he tucked a stray golden tendril behind the delicate pink shell of her ear.
“And I don’t give away what is mine,” he promised her.
Her lips parted on a silent gasp as he left her, gently closing the door behind him.
~*~
Carly gave a gasp of delight when she discovered the bowl of fresh water and a small sliver of jasmine soap that rested inside of the door. Beside it rested a neatly folded chemise, and a silver brush. She had just finished dressing when a tall lanky man, almost as tall as Daemon, stood filling the entrance of the cabin.
The breath caught in her lungs as a small figure ducked beneath his arm and hurled itself at Carly where she sat on the edge of the bed running the brush through her long mane. Her arms folded around a sobbing Miriam in surprise as she gazed upon the man over Miriam’s head with loathing. Familiar green eyes glared back at her for an instant before he shook his head in disgust and closed the door sharply on the two women.
Carly stroked Miriam’s hair soothingly as her older sister heaved against her shoulder. Horrid thoughts raced through her mind at what had been done to her sister, and she tried to suppress the outrage that burned through her as she comforted her sister. After what seemed an age had passed, Miriam’s distress eased somewhat, and gently Carly questioned her.
“Did he hurt you?”
“Yes! Well, no, not really. But he wanted to!” Miriam mumbled against her shoulder.
“You mean he didn’t try to…” Carly searched for the words, not wanting to shock her sister.
“He said I was pretty, and that I had nice pale skin. But he was so huge, and I…”
“You what?” Carly asked fearfully when no more words were forthcoming.
“Oh, it’s all so humiliating. He tried to undress me, and he was kissing me in all these strange places, and it was nice at first. Are you shocked?” before Carly could answer she quickly went on, “but…but when he undid his breeches, I got scared and started to cry, and he got really disgusted and angry with me and he stormed out,” Miriam wailed.
Carly couldn’t control the growing fury as she rubbed her sister’s back. “Shh, it’s ok. It’s ok.”
She held her sister, her chin resting on Miriam’s head and she gently rocked her in her arms. Whether from exhaustion or emotional turmoil, Miriam was soon asleep, and Carly gently eased her down onto the mattress.
~*~
Carly stormed from the cabin, her fists tightly clenched as her eyes adjusted to the light as she stomped up the wooden steps with small bare feet. They didn’t even try to lock the cabin door. Did he think they were so weak that they wouldn’t try to escape? She spotted him almost immediately, the tall muscular frame standing at the helm, his legs braced wide apart. She recognised the instant he spotted her by the way his shoulders stiffened slightly.
Without a second thought she marched right up to him and slapped him hard across the face. Her hand burned as her furious eyes locked with his, and a slight tremour raced through her at the dangerous look in his narrowed green eyes.
“How dare you let that disgusting man try to – to ravish my sister. She is only nineteen, and soon to be wed.”
“The man you speak of is my brother, so tread carefully, little one.” Her eyes widened slightly at the underlying seriousness of his words. “And your sister is older than you, no?” She blushed as his eyes dropped, moving over her body barely concealed in the thin shift that clung to her gentle curves, reminding her of all the wicked things he had done to her body, and of how her traitorous body had melted beneath his touch.
She was unaware of the sun streaming through the material of her shift from behind, outlining the curve of her hips and the sleek lines of her thighs to his narrowed gaze, or of his crews sharp interest.
Carly gasped when without warning he captured her wrist and drew her up against his solid warmth. “I fear you are in need of being taught a lesson, little one. It is not wise to strike a man or to question his authority in front of his crew. Nor is it safe to prance around in skimpy delicates onboard an all-male ship. I fear the sight of your loveliness may incite a riot even I could not control.”
She squirmed against him, but his grip was like iron. “I’ve never pranced a day in my entire life,” she whispered back heatedly, her cheeks stained pink.
“Should you wish to fight me, Carly, I would take great pleasure in it. But such sport is for the bed chamber, so choose your battles wisely, lest you lose and discover yourself on your back beneath me.”
She gasped in outrage. “You bastard! I will never let you do that - that horrible thing to me again!” she declared rebelliously.
Carly squeaked in alarm as he picked her up effortlessly and tossed her over his shoulder, sending the breath rushing from her lungs. His hand was planted firmly on her bottom as he strode across the deck and down the steps, uncaring of the hoots and whistles of his men. His boots thundered along the dark hall until he reached his cabin, and he sent the door to his chamber flying back on its hinges.
“Get out,” he said with dangerous softness to a startled Miriam, and kicked the door close after her hasty departure.
He deposited a pink faced Carly on her feet, and unbuckled his wide belt and slowly withdrew it from the loops of his breeches. Carly swallowed nervously, familiar with the feel of a belt after being walloped often for her impudence by Lord Montague’s wife.
He saw that look of wariness in her wide eyes, and silently cursed as he let the belt fall to the floor. Didn’t she know he wouldn’t harm a hair on her head?
A breath she didn’t know she was holding rushed from her lungs when he dropped it to the floor. She watched in amazement as he drew out a chair and leaned back lazily on its solid frame. Her lips parted on a soundless gasp as his finger beckoned her insolently.