Master of Seduction (18 page)

Her look turned to one of bewilderment. “Why would she say such a thing?”

Lifting his wine glass, he sighed. “It’s true, is it not?” He took a sip of the robust sweetness before he spoke again. “At any rate, I’ve no wish to talk about it.”

She leaned her arms against the table and leveled a probing stare at him. “You never wish to talk about yourself. Why is that?”

“I’m a boring subject.”

“Hardly. You may well be the most fascinating person I’ve ever met.”

“Well, well,” he said with a short laugh. “It looks as if you complimented me after all.”

“And you are avoiding my question.”

He took a deep, long draught of his wine before he set it back on the table. This wasn’t going the way he planned and he wasn’t about to confide in her or anyone else. “Which was?”

“Why don’t you ever talk about yourself?” she insisted with the same tenacity a hunting dog would use to follow its prey. “I’ve spent hours with you and I know very little about you. I don’t even know which of your books you like best to read.”

She gave him a calculating stare. “Are you afraid that by telling me things about you that you’ll give me some kind of power over you?”

He laughed at the absurdity. She stiffened. “It is true, is it not, that knowledge gives one power.”

“Perhaps, but it has nothing to do with my answer.”

“Then tell me.”

Jack sat quietly for a minute. What would it hurt to be honest with her?

He weighed the answer for several seconds before he spoke. “Very well. If you must know, I don’t talk about myself because no one ever cared enough to listen.”

“What do you mean?”

“Think about it, Lorelei,” he said, his tone conveying his boredom over the topic. “How many times a day do you ask someone how they’re doing? Their world may have just shattered and yet they look up and say, ‘Fine, thank you, and you?’ No one cares to hear other people’s problems. ’Twas a lesson I learned early in life.”

“Hide your feelings and move on.”

“Exactly.”

“And if someone did care?”

“I’m sure that someone would not be you.”

“How do you know?” she asked. “If you never reach out, no one will ever take your hand.”

He sneered. “If I never reach out, then no one can ever
bite
my hand.”

“What a frightening world you live in, Jack,” she said, her face mirroring her words. “I can’t imagine never telling people how I feel.”

“I can certainly attest to that.”

Instead of angering her, his words brought a dull glow to her eyes. “One day I’m going to get something personal out of you.”

He curved his lips into a half smile. “On the day I go down on bended knee and declare my undying love.”

To his surprise, she laughed at his words. “You were right. I can’t imagine you ever doing such a thing. You’re far too proud and cynical to ever do anything like that.”

Jack directed his gaze up to the ceiling as if speaking to heaven itself. “At last the lady sees reason.” He looked back at her. “Does this mean I win our wager?”

She paused, as if debating her answer. When she spoke, her voice was low and soft. “No. It just means we both lose.”

Her words hit him strangely and he didn’t know why. He wasn’t even sure what he felt. It was just…discomforting.

They ate in silence for awhile. The night wasn’t progressing as he’d planned. But then nothing that involved Lorelei ever went as he planned. She had a damnable way of turning things around on him.

L
orelei watched as Jack ate his dinner. He really was elegant and proper in his manners.

Wherever had he learned such decorum? He spoke as if educated in the finest European schools and he dressed as if he’d been raised at court.

She took a bite of her roasted chicken. He was such a strong man. Not just physically, but inside as well. He was like steel, and she couldn’t help but wonder what could make someone like him. Surely it would take the very fires of hell to forge someone so strong.

And yet he knew how to give kindness. Somehow in his isolated world, he had learned to be decent and caring.

It was so strange to her that a man who lived his life in violence could ever show compassion.

How she wished she understood him.

Once she finished eating, she leaned back slightly in her chair with her wineglass in her hand. It was only then she noted the tiny gold hoop in Jack’s ear. She couldn’t help smiling.

Jack paused. “What is it?”

“I was wondering about your earring. You’ve worn it the entire time we’ve been at sea. But you didn’t wear it at my party.”

Humor danced in his steely gray eyes. “That would have been a dead giveaway to my identity, don’t you think?”

“True.” She took a sip of wine. “Why do you wear it?”

He shrugged. “There’s an old sea legend that says the only way a pirate can get into paradise is to bribe his way in. We wear gold to help pay the fee.”

“Then why is your piece of gold so small?”

“I’ve been told there’s not enough gold on earth to pay my bribe.”

“Is that truly how you feel?”

“I said it was an old legend. I never said I believed in it.”

There it was. That odd note in his voice that denoted he was closing himself off from her. Closing himself off from his feelings. “You’re hiding from me again.” It bothered her very much that he was so adept at it. He must have been practicing the habit all his life to do it so naturally.

The music stopped for a moment, then started back with a slow ballad.

“Would you care to dance?” he asked.

“Yes,” she answered honestly. “I think I would.”

He moved to her end of the table and held her chair while she stood. He took her by the hand and led her to the small clearing away from the table, which was closer to the windows. When he pulled her into his arms, so wonderful and strong, she feared she might faint.

He was really too handsome and delightful for his own good.

And for her own.

She looked up into those guarded eyes that betrayed nothing of his thoughts or feelings and remembered how charming and boyish he’d looked while he slept. The candlelight played in the golden highlights of his hair and cast a soft glow to his skin. His hands were strong and yet gentle to her hand while he led the dance with expert skill.

“You know what I’d like?” she asked.

“For me to take you home to your father?”

“Besides that.”

“I can’t imagine.”

She bit her lip for a moment, testing her courage. Did she dare say it? Before she could cower out, she spoke. “I would like, for one moment, for you to let me inside you.”

His look turned devilish. “Funny, I was thinking the same of you.”

Her cheeks burned. “You’re wicked, Jack.”

“Just beguiled.”

As am I
.

And she was. Being here in this room alone with one of the most notorious men alive, dancing in the arms of a bandit who had more charm than the devil himself, it was all she could do not to give him what he wanted.

What would it feel like to run her hands all over the beautiful body she’d seen?

What would it be like to lie with him and have him educate her in the pleasures of sexuality? To experience all the sensations a man could make a woman feel….

Kiss me, Jack
, her mind pleaded.

But if he did that right now, she might be his.

As if sensing her thoughts, he looked down at her, his eyes fastening on her lips.

“I love when you stand close to me,” he murmured. “I can feel your breath fall against my neck and it sends chills and fire all over my body.”

She should be shocked, but instead his words thrilled her.

Take me, Jack
.

Luckily, the words lodged in her throat.

He dipped his head to her lips and she opened her mouth for his taste. Their breath mingled.

And a loud knock sounded at the door.

Jack’s curse rang in her ears. “The devil take you if this ship’s not on fire,” he roared.

“Ca-Captain?” Kit’s voice stammered through the door. “I’ll come back.”

Jack looked immediately contrite. “Come in, Kit. I thought you were someone else.”

He stepped away from her as Kit entered.

Lorelei swallowed, trying to regain her composure while she shook all over from her need and inappropriate wants.

Thank goodness Kit had come when he had. Another moment and she might have…

She didn’t want to think about what she might have done.

Jack looked at her from over his shoulder. “I’ll be back in a few minutes.”

She just nodded as he closed the door behind him. Her hands cold and trembling, she pulled the small vial of Kesi’s sleeping syrup from between her breasts. Now was her chance to use it, and use it she must. If for no other reason than to safeguard her virtue.

Pouring the concoction into his wine, she stirred it with her finger, then returned the vial to her cleavage.

While she waited, she went to the windows to stare out at the sea. Moonlight splashed against the waves. There was such tranquility out here with the ocean sounds to lull her.

She heard the door open behind her. Turning, she saw Jack watching her.

“Was he all right?” she asked.

“He thought one of those heads had found its way into his room. It turned out to be the head of a wooden horse he broke a few weeks ago.”

She laughed.

Jack came nearer and her laughter died on her tongue. Her heart hammered in fear of what she might do if he took her into his arms again.

“Would you bring me my wine?” she asked.

He paused.

“I would like to propose a toast,” she said before he had a chance to deny her request.

His look turned suspicious. “A toast?”

“Yes.”

He picked up their glasses and brought them over to her. Lorelei tried to keep her panic down as she stared at the tainted cup. There was only a slight shake to her wrist.

“And what toast is that?” Jack asked.

“I wish to toast the…the sea. May it always be so…so beautiful.”

Jack glanced at her from the corner of his eyes. There was something amiss here and when he took a drink of his wine, he knew immediately what it was.

The wench was trying to drug him! There was no mistaking the taste. It was Kesi’s disgusting brew that she used on wounded sailors when their laudanum supply ran low. A concoction he’d built up a tolerance for years ago.

What could Lorelei hope to gain by rendering him unconscious?

She couldn’t escape him. There was nowhere on board this ship she could run to.

Henri! he thought, his gaze instantly dulling. She was going to Henri.

He froze at the thought, then dismissed it. Henri had more sense than to impose himself on a woman Jack had already claimed. Nay, there was something else she wanted. Something he hadn’t thought of.

But, he would soon find out. Tipping the goblet back, he drained it.

Lorelei swallowed her panic as she watched him finish off the wine.

How long would it take to work?

Jack put his hand to his brow as he frowned. “I feel so strange.”

Had she given him too much?

“Are you all right?” she asked, terrified she might have unwittingly hurt him.

“I…I think I need to lie down.”

Moaning, he stumbled slightly. “Oh, the pain in my head. I need to get to my bed. But I don’t think I can do it alone.”

Please don’t let me have hurt him
, she begged silently. “I’ll summon Tarik to help you.”

“Ooh.” He gasped. “I…don’t know if I can wait that long.”

He stumbled again.

Fearing there was no time to get Tarik, she offered him her shoulder. “Lean on me and I’ll help you.”

Jack draped his arm around her shoulder and leaned against her. “It’s through that door,” he said, inclining his head to the door to her right.

She headed for it.

In no time at all, she had him in his cabin and on his bed. No sooner did he lie down than he was out cold.

“Jack?” she asked, shaking him. “Jack, are you awake?”

Her answer was a soft snore.

Relieved, she sat down next to him. The scent of sandalwood hovered around her and she realized the smell had increased when he flopped down on the bed.

Leaning closer to the spread, she sniffed.

She saw red, and it was not the color of the spread. “You rake,” she accused him as he lay there. “You thought to get me in this bed tonight, didn’t you? Well, who’s the clever one now?”

Lorelei rose to her feet and stared down at him. He was quite exceptional lying there so quiet and vulnerable. She could do anything she wanted to him and he would be powerless to stop her.

The thought sent an unexpected thrill through her.

Yielding to temptation, she ran her fingertip over the gentle curve of his jaw. His skin was so different from her own. It was firm and…masculine.

“I would never do this if you were awake,” she whispered. “But I’ve wanted to do it for a long time.”

She touched his hair and marveled at its silken texture. The honey strands were laced with brown and gold. He was definitely the forbidden object of her desire and she would take great pleasure finishing her sketch.

She smiled at the thought. Until it occurred to her that she couldn’t finish her drawing with him fully clothed!

“Oh, no. You’re still dressed. What am I going to do?” she whispered.

You could undress him
.

Oh no, I could not
!

Why not? He’s not going to wake up and no one would ever know
.

Biting her lip, she wondered if she really had the courage to go through with this.

No, she didn’t.

“I’ll get Tarik to do it.” Yes, that would be the proper thing to do.

“Stay put, Jack,” she said, then went to find his quartermaster.

A short time later they returned. “He was drunk you say?” Tarik asked as if doubting her words.

“He drank a lot at dinner.”

A deep frown drew his brows together into a deep vee. “Drank what?”

“Wine.”

Tarik scoffed at her. “There’s not enough wine on board this ship to make Captain Jack pass out.”