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.”