Read Online Care and Feeding of Pirates by Jennifer Ashley - Free Book Online Page A

Perhaps that was why every time they
met, she flung herself into his arms.
    "We were speaking of Charleston," she
said.
    He kissed the line of her hair. "We can have
beds there too."
    "We'd live there? You're a pirate. Besides,
everyone in Charleston thinks you were hanged."
    "I'll change my name. People can be amazingly
obtuse, my wife. But we can live anywhere you like. I'll buy you a
house, two houses, three even, in case you get tired of the first
one."
    She touched his cheek, enjoying the feel of
the sandpaper bristles there. "Where I'd live while you went out
pirating again? Until my brother caught you a second time?"
    His face was close to hers, his body heavy
and warm. "I have more imagination than that. You can have anything
you want, your own tropical island if that's what you like. And I'd
be there with you. Every day. Finley retired from pirating, and so
can I."
    "Because he became a viscount. And had a
daughter. And fell in love."
    "I'll never inherit a title, I promise you
that. But I fell in love. As for a daughter, well, that's up to
you."
    "Is that what you want? Children?"
    "I want you . If children come, so much
the better." Christopher traced the pad of her lower lip. "And I
know you want me."
    Honoria swallowed, her throat dry. "How can
you know that?"
    Christopher moved his hand and the clasp
holding her gown came away. He'd distracted her by touching her
lips, and now he tossed away the clasp with a satisfied look.
    He lowered the muslin to bare her shoulder
and one breast, which was already lifting and tightening to fit his
hand.
    "I can feel you wanting me." He slid his
fingers under the loosened gown to her abdomen, his palm warm.
Without meaning to, she arched to his touch.
    Giving a soft laugh, he moved his hand
obligingly over the heat between her legs. "As brazen as I
remember."
    Her face heated, but she could not bring
herself to squirm from his touch. It felt so right. She loved
it.
    "You'd stay with me, just because I want
you?" she asked.
    He smiled a dark smile. "For now. But I get
to try, my wife."
    She barely heard him as his fingers teased
the sensitive folds between her legs. Hot darkness wove through her
body.
    Christopher went on, "I said, it's a long
voyage." He slid one finger firmly inside her, and Honoria
groaned.
    "Every night," he went on, and his fingers
did too. "I will persuade you to fall in love with me. I will try
every method I know, and if that means I seduce you every night, so
be it. By the time we're across the sea, if you still do not want
to be my wife, then I will take you to Charleston and let you go.
But you will give me this voyage."
    He pressed a second finger into her, his
touch strong. Something wild spun inside her. "All right," Honoria
whispered.
    His gaze was intense, pupils swallowing the
cold gray irises. "Excellent. Shall we seal the bargain?"
    "With a handshake?"
    "No." He snaked his other hand to the nape of
her neck, pulled her up to him, and kissed her. A slow, hot kiss
filled with promise of a very exciting voyage indeed.
    As Christopher he finished the kiss, he eased
his fingers out of her. The disappointment was unbearable. "No,
Christopher, please don't stop."
    "You'll hurt your ankle."
    "I feel much better. I think I only wrenched
it."
    He brushed his palm over the join of her
thighs one last time. "I love your fire, my wife. You bury it
behind your proper lady's mask, but it's there."
    "No one but you has ever seen it."
    "Good." He touched his fingers to his lips,
tasted one with his tongue. "Mmm. Sweet as ever."
    He gave her a warm smile, and Honoria's heart
turned over. Christopher stretched out on his side and draped his
arm over her.
    "Tomorrow I'll take you to my ship," he said.
"You'll need to send for or buy what you need. I'll give you the
money for it. Shop to your heart's content."
    "Tomorrow? No, that's too soon. I need--"
    He stopped her lips with his. "It is not too
soon. We've waited for years."
    Honoria's ankle hurt, the pain