Seductive Wager (34 page)

Kate made an ineffectual attempt to wipe away the tears that were coursing down her cheeks.

“But what I felt for you then was nothing compared to what I’ve learned to feel for you since. You struggled so hard to keep me alive, fought to keep your independence and honor, and never asked for anyone’s pity. Yet after I forced you into this marriage, you still had the courage to laugh, eat at the same table without hating me, even aim your pistol without making me its target. I felt your anger melt and drain away, but I never thought it would turn to love. I didn’t even know I wanted it to become love until I came through that door tonight.”

His infectious chuckle rumbled from deep in his chest. “All I had in mind was a lusty romp in bed. I am aroused by the very sight of you, but then you know that. I thought I knew everything there was to know about love, but I feel like I’m just starting to learn, that all I’ve experienced before had nothing to do with what I feel for you now.” He wiped away some of her tears. “I have to thank you for that, but I’m even more grateful for your presence. I know now that to grow old wrapped in the warmth of your love will be worth the loss of youth.”

Brett enfolded Kate in his embrace and she clung fiercely to him, hardly able to believe he loved her as much as she loved him, hardly daring to allow herself to be convinced by the words she had heard with her own ears. His lips descended upon her mouth, greedily taking kiss after sweet kiss, yet waiting for her to join as an equal participant in this act of adoration. His lips parted and his tongue touched hers, seeking, tasting, probing, inviting, wanting. Kate’s arms tightened around his neck as his lips planted kisses on her neck and cheeks, tickled and teased her lashes on their way to plant a tiny kiss on the tip of her nose. His fingers moved through her silken hair like a comb, making her skin tingle and her body tense with expectation. Yet Brett’s kisses continued to linger on her lips, straying only occasionally to tease and torment her ear.

Kate pressed herself against the length of him, reveling in the feel of his hard, heated body against her soft flesh, wanting his strength to satisfy her desire. Her breasts were pressed tightly against his chest, her legs, trembling and rigid, entwined with his.

Brett paused only long enough for them to slip out of their clothes before his insatiable lips again sought her mouth, traveled over the exquisitely sensitive skin of her neck and shoulders and down the length of her arm. Cradling her hand in his, Brett kissed each finger, turned it over to plant several kisses in her palm before doing the same with the other hand. Then, placing her palms against the soft mat of black hair on his chest, he allowed his lips to sink to the excruciatingly tender tip of her breast. Kate gasped for breath as his tongue gently laved her inflamed nipple until her whole body squirmed and her other breast cried out for identical attention. She arched against him, brought her knees up on either side of his body as though to draw him within her, but his hands could not be deflected from their caressing of each breast nor his lips from the impassioned attention to each nipple.

Kate moved more strongly against him, but still his attention was not diverted to the part of her anatomy which was torturing her with spasms of intense yearning. First one hand and then the other roamed over the skin of each leg, covering it with goosebumps of desire, setting her on fire with an urgent need, but he continued to slowly feed the fire in her body until Kate was sure she would perish in the flames.

But when his hands did seek out the sweet agony between her thighs, their lovemaking took on a new and unreal quality. There was no rush, no urgency, no violent surges. Despite the convulsive shudders that periodically shook her body for its whole length, Brett continued to carefully tend the fires of his passion, inviting her to join him in a union which aimed toward the future, not just the pleasure of the moment. Gradually the desperate need for release left Kate and she felt herself being wound tighter and tighter, lifted higher and higher, until the admission of Brett’s driving heat deep into her hot, moist flesh became a continuation of the surging ecstasy.

He moved in her with a delicate restraint which served to excite her in a way she had never experienced before. Instead of consuming her, fiercely demanding satisfaction of her, it seemed to invite her very being to become a part of his fulfillment, and Kate’s heart was filled with such an overwhelming sense of love she feared she might break into tears. She clung to him, longing to feel as one, to move as one, to
be
as one in this consummate expression of their love.

With all the intensity but lacking the frenzy of previous nights, they rose smoothly to a passionate conclusion. Their bodies tensed, arched, and became rigid as the final release erupted from deep inside them, but there was an extra dimension of satisfaction, a kind of fulfillment that had not been there before. It was as if they had only been friends before, partners in a voyage of pleasure. Now they were truly united and every part of their being rejoiced in their newly achieved completeness.

Kate was jerked awake by the sound of a bell ringing wildly in the crisp cool of the hour just before daybreak. She turned frightened eyes to Brett, but before her lips could form words to ask the questions in her mind, he was out of bed and staring through the porthole for the cause of the alarm. There was nothing, however, to be seen in the expanse of blue sea except tiny, whitecapped waves dancing about under the encouragement of the last breath of the night breeze. In the distance, a bare tracing of coastline lifted itself above the horizon, giving support to the captain’s promise that they would be in Algiers before noon.

“That’s a general alarm,” Brett said as he left the window and jumped into his clothes with none of his usual regard for neatness and elegance. “We’re either under attack or threatened by some kind of danger. Stay in the cabin and lock the door. No matter what happens, don’t open it for anyone but me.
No one,
do you hear? I’ll send Marie to stay with you if I can, but we may need him.” He jammed his feet into his boots and grabbed his sword and a large knife he had been using only the day before for target practice. “Ill be back as soon as I can.”

“No,” Kate cried. Her stunned immobility ended, she bounded out of the bed and clung to Brett. “Don’t leave me alone.” For a brief moment Brett’s eyes softened as he enveloped Kate in a short embrace.

“I don’t think there’s any immediate danger, but I’ve got to know what’s happening. I’ll only be gone a few minutes.” Kate’s grip on him slackened and she watched with fearful eyes as he backed away from her and went through the door.

For a brief moment she stood still, listening to the hysterical ringing of the bell and the pounding of running feet as the crew prepared to meet this unexpected danger. What could it be, she thought? We can’t be sinking. Could the French Navy have mistaken them for an enemy ship? She hadn’t heard any gunfire.

Then she remembered the group of small boats, and cold fear clutched her heart. Could they really be pirates? Could that absurd nightmare really come true? She wanted to reject the idea as too ridiculous to even consider, but she had a horrible feeling it
was
true. Somehow she
knew
that somewhere out there a pirate ship was coming after her. She knew it just as surely as she knew she would take her own life before she would let herself be despoiled.

Kate dressed quickly in her ugliest dress – a high-necked gown of dark apricot with long sleeves and a full skirt trimmed with lace and ruched at the sleeves. She hid her hair under an oversize cap and slipped her feet into a pair of light slippers. As she looked around trying to decide what to do next, Brett threw open the door.

Kate’s heart sank when her eyes flew to his face. For a second he stood framed in the doorway, his skin ashen and his eyes wide with a fear she knew was not for himself. He stumbled into the room and enfolded Kate roughly in his arms.

“There’s a large ship bearing down on us from the rear. It’ll be upon us within half an hour.” He took her face into his hands, and she could see his eyes were moist with unshed tears. “The captain is certain it’s the flag ship of a bandit called Raisuli, the most feared pirate in the Mediterranean.” He paused to clear his throat. “His usual practice is to sell his captives at the slave markets of Damascus.”

Kate felt her knees start to give way. “Do you mean me?” she asked, petrified of the answer she knew he must give.
I
will be sold as a slave?”

“You’d be a bigger prize than all the rest of us put together.” He took her by the hands and pulled her down on the bed. His voice was steady, but the pallor of his skin betrayed his dread. “He has a very large force, and there’s no chance we can drive them off. He’ll probably try to capture us with as few injuries as possible—unmarked slaves bring higher prices—and that just might give us a chance to escape. We’re already within sight of the coast. If we can find some way to prolong the fight, maybe someone will come to our rescue.”

“What are our chances?” Kate asked.

“Not very good. If I didn’t know better, I’d swear he was after you.”

“But how could he know I’m here?”

“That’s just it, he can’t. We haven’t stopped anywhere since Gibraltar. I just don’t understand why he’s taking such a big risk for a handful of men who aren’t good for more than a few years of hard labor,” he wondered more to himself than to Kate. “I’m going to put you in one of those unoccupied cabins on deck. If they search the ship, maybe they won’t look too closely at a storage room. Whatever happens, I want you to bar the door and not come out. Even if he takes us, you may still get away.”

“I couldn’t leave you,” Kate cried. “Not to be carried off to some terrible place and made to work until you die.”

“Listen to me,” Brett snarled; fear for her made his voice harsh and he shook her with a sudden and fearful rage until she feared her neck would snap. “It’s quite possible they’ll negotiate for my release, but if they even suspect we have a female on board, they’ll take this ship apart plank by plank. My God, Kate, don’t you understand what will happen to you if they find you? The very
best
would be for them to sell you for a slave or concubine. That way there would be a small chance you might find someone who would care for you. Otherwise your life would be a living hell, continuing until you lost your mind or cut your own throat.”

Kate was limp with fear; her face was white and words wouldn’t form in her throat. All she could do was stare at Brett in disbelief. A loud explosion from somewhere overhead surprised a scream out of her and she flung herself at Brett expecting to see hordes of savages burst through the door at any second.

“Blast the fools!” Brett cursed. “Don’t they know those guns can’t be of any use? Let’s get out of here while we still can.” Brett hurried Kate toward the door, but she suddenly turned back.

“Wait a minute,” she said, going over to the bureau.

“What are you doing?” Brett demanded. “We’ve got to get on deck before they get close enough to see us.”

Kate pulled open the drawer and took out her pistols and knife. “After all the time I spent practicing, I’m not going to leave these behind.”

“Don’t use them unless you have to.” He didn’t have the heart to explain to her why no weapon would be of any use in her hands. “Once they know where you are, all of our weapons won’t be able to hold them off.”

But Kate clutched her weapons tightly as he hurried her along the passageway and out into the morning light. The sun was just coming up over the horizon and the cloudless sky promised another beautiful, clear day. “Keep down,” Brett said as they moved to the right side of the deck. “They can’t see anything on this side yet. Raisuli is approaching from behind, the only direction these useless guns can’t defend. This man, if he
is
Raisuli, leaves nothing to chance. He even knows where the guns are placed.” He pointed to one of the guns as they passed. “Some fool had both of them mounted on the bow where the deck cabins block the line of sight to the rear.

Brett unlocked the door of one of the cabins and thrust Kate in before him. The jumble of trunks, crates, and furniture made the room look like a warehouse. “I’ve told Charles to pack up everything you own and write Wiggins’s name on all the trunk labels. If we can just convince them there is no woman on board, maybe they won’t search too carefully. I still don’t understand why he’s attacking this ship for just a few dozen men.” Brett didn’t really expect an answer. He was thinking out loud, trying to explain away the sickening feeling that weighed more and more heavily in his stomach. No matter what the cost, they must not find Kate.

Mark suddenly rushed into the cabin. His frightened eyes frantically searched the room for some kind of refuge. “I’ve got to talk to the captain,” Brett said to Kate. “It can’t be too long before we make contact. Remember, don’t open this door until you hear my voice, not under any circumstances, do you understand?”

Kate nodded dumbly.

“Mark …” He addressed the nearly witless boy sharply to get his attention. “You’re to stay with Mrs. Westbrook. I’m making you responsible for her safety. Lock the door behind me and push that wardrobe, or anything else you can move, against it. But no matter what, don’t leave her.” Mark nodded his agreement with every word Brett spoke, but his eyes showed no understanding.

I hope he can think,
Brett said to himself,
but I cant wait to find out.

Abruptly Brett swept Kate into his arms, and kissed her with ruthless energy before burying his face in her hair. His throat was too constricted with emotion to speak, and they clung to each other, knowing these could be their last moments together, that the love they gave to each other in these precious seconds might have to last them for the rest of their lives; all the while they refused to let go of a dream they had only begun to savor.