Szereto, Mellanie - Two Pirates to Treasure [Bewitching Desires 4] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) (5 page)

Then the splintered lengths of wood, the rain, and the gale were gone. No evil shifter leapt at her. She rested upon the plush rug that covered most of the sitting area of her suite, the spicy scent of ginger teasing her nose. A flame flickered above a white candle on the coffee table. Water dripped from her hair to roll down her cheek.

A groan brought her focus to the men on either side of her. Grant’s hold on her hand was loose, and he seemed to be asleep.

Ethan stared at her with wide eyes, and her fingers had grown tingly from the tightness of his grip. “What happened? Where are we, Orshy?”

She leaned in to kiss him then turned to do the same to Grant. “We’re home.”

* * * *

Pulling on the clean clothing Orshy’s sister-in-law had brought to her room, Ethan tried not to watch himself in the enormous looking glass above the washbasin. Where was he that a bathing room had flowing hot and cold water with the turn of a handle?

Her family was wealthy even by Black Sam Bellamy’s standards. The private room for seeing to one’s personal needs had a
toy-lette
, allowing its owner to urinate in the porcelain bowl rather than traipsing to an outdoor privy or pissing in a chamber pot. Light came from strange wires and bulbs instead of oil lamps and candles. Stacks of washing and drying cloths filled a large cabinet next to the
shou-her
.

He studied the odd metal pieces where a row of buttons belonged on his borrowed trousers. A small tab stuck out near the bottom of the placket. Giving it a tug, the tab slid upwards, catching the tender skin of his cock in the teeth-shaped parts.

“Son of a bitch!” He gingerly eased the tab back down. “Damned new-fashioned trousers!”

With water dripping from his hair, Grant peeked out from the
shou-her
. “What happened?”

“The fastener on these breeches almost cut off my prick!” Shoving the breeches down his legs, he stepped out of them and threw them in the corner. He picked up his damp towel and wrapped it around his waist. “I have no need of clothes anyway. Our unfinished business with Orshy is my only want. I am certain we’ve found the treasure we sought.”

Grant grinned as he made the water stop spraying from the pipe. “I’m of the same mind. After a satisfying tumble in the sheets with her, we can discuss over a meal how the hell we came to be here.”

Nodding, Ethan crossed his arms over his chest while his cousin used a cloth to dry. “The man who looked like you—she called him Kazmer. His appearance was changing as we...left the ship. He had the hands of a very old man, and Orshy sounded frightened when she said his name. If he hadn’t been trying to accost her, I’d suspect he was responsible for sending us here. Do you believe he is the magician?”

With his towel much the same as Ethan’s, Grant frowned. “I believe he is. If we hadn’t returned to the cabin when we did, I fear he would’ve hurt her. And had we not traveled from the ship, our lives were at risk from the flying debris as well. Logic tells me not only that the
Whydah
ran aground, but our destiny has arrived as well.”

Orsolya’s confusion over the name of Bellamy’s three-master took on new significance in Ethan’s mind. Had the storm made widows of all their shipmates’ wives? They had no way of knowing since not only had they instantly moved from sea to land but also to a place with amazing items not yet invented in Europe, Africa, the Caribbean, or the English Colonies. “Let us postpone this speculation for now. I wish to make certain Orshy is well and unharmed.”

“And I.” Grant opened the bathing room door and gestured for Ethan to enter the bedroom area of her apartment.

Her tentative smile greeted him as she rose from the couch.

A white-haired woman remained seated, her unwavering stare making Ethan stand up straighter and very aware of his state of dress. “Accidents never happen in these matters, daughter. Accept what you have been given.”

Orsolya seemed to consider the old woman’s advice. “Great Grandmother, meet Ethan Whitmere and Grant Templeton. Gentlemen, may I introduce Romána Macska, the matriarch of the family. Um, didn’t the jeans and shirts fit?”

Grant stepped forward, guiding the way past the bed to enter the sitting area, evidently comfortable with his unusual attire. “Ethan had a bit of trouble with fastening on the trousers and opted not to wear them. I’m honored to make your acquaintance, Mrs. Mach-ka.”

Dark brown eyes brightened. “Ah, zippers can be tricky. You may call me Romána.” She aimed her steady gaze at Ethan as he inclined his head. “Welcome, gentlemen. I’ll have a meal brought up in a couple of hours. You’re in need of a rest after your adventure, I’m sure.”

Ethan offered the matriarch his hand as she began to stand. “Your hospitality is greatly appreciated, Romána. Would you care for an arm to lean upon?”

“Thank you, but no. You have more important matters to attend to.” She walked at a steady pace to another door with her spine straight and her bearing regal. “Until tomorrow.”

Grant forced his mouth to remain closed while Orshy’s grandmother exited the apartment. That she hadn’t scolded his and Ethan’s lack of clothing or accompanied them to other accommodations shocked him. The guardian of an unmarried woman didn’t allow men in her private chamber without an attendant to protect her virtue. What was this strange place?

“Zipper problems?” Orsolya’s mischievous smile brought his cock to full attention. She perched on the edge of the seat and folded her hands in her lap. “I don’t think Great Grandmother believed that excuse for running around my suite mostly naked.”

“It tried to bite me!” Tearing the towel from his hips, Ethan strode the couch and pointed his dick at her face. “Look what the contraption did to me!”

She seemed to study his appendage. “Shall I kiss it and make it better?”

Before he could answer, she licked a path up the length, only stopping when she pressed her lips to the head. “Ah, Orshy. No teasing.”

“I’m not teasing. We were very rudely interrupted earlier.” Her tongue flicked out to lick a drop of fluid from his slit, making him suck in a breath. “Mm. Tasty. I’m ready to finish what we started.”

Grant sat down beside her and smoothed her hair away from the side of her neck. “Your grandmother doesn’t mind that we shall compromise your reputation?”

She frowned. “Compromise my reputation? I don’t understand.”

Tipping her chin up to meet her gaze, Ethan saw the lack of comprehension in her eyes. “Any man who discovers you’re no longer untouched will refuse to court you. By allowing us in your room with no one else present, people will talk, assume you’ve been deflowered. That it will be true is beside the issue.”

“What an archaic attitude! Sex is a vital part of being human.” She shook her head, sending her hair cascading down her back. Her jaw tightened. “You didn’t care about any of that when we were on board the
Whydah Galley
. I was about to suck you and fuck Grant. Now you’re worried about ruining me for another man?”

She pushed past Ethan, her arms swinging as she marched toward the bathing room. When she reached the doorway, she turned to glare at him and Grant. Her gray eyes had turned stormy, and her lips were pursed.

Ethan stared at her, too shocked by the answer to her question to respond. Not once in his twenty-eight years had he experienced jealousy at the thought of someone else touching a woman he’d slept with—until this one. While he didn’t mind sharing her with his cousin, another man would have to fight him to the death for the privilege of making love to his Orshy. She had to be the one they’d searched half the world to find.

“Confounded men! You want me, but you don’t want me. I can’t have you because some other man might decide I’m worthy of him. You know what? Sex with a man isn’t worth the aggravation. You’re just like my brother. Overbearing, overprotective, and...and...Oh, never mind!” A tear trickled down her cheek as her shoulders slumped. “I can’t even send you back since your stupid ship sank.”

Distracted by the flush of color above her heaving bosom, he almost missed her last words.
Sank? The
Whydah Galley
?
How did she know what had happened to their ship?

“Send us
back
?” Grant stood, bracing his hands on his hips. “
You
brought us to this place, Orshy?”

“Ohhh.” Sliding down the wall behind her, she sat on the floor with her face buried in her knees. “I messed up everything.”

Unable to bear seeing her distraught, Ethan crossed the room and knelt in front of her. While he and Grant had to be sure of her identity, he didn’t care for upsetting her. “Don’t cry, love. Please don’t cry.”

“Don’t patronize me. I always cry when I’m angry.” She swiped at another tear and gave a dainty sniff.

Joining them on the floor, Grant reached for her hand, grasping at it until she surrendered to him. “Did you bring us here?”

She nodded, looking more miserable by the moment.

“Do you have the ability to return us to the place we came from?”

She shrugged and looked away. “I don’t know.”

“Were you among the accused at the Salem Witch Trials?”

Jerking her hand from his, she scrambled to her feet and crossed her arms under her breasts. “No. I wasn’t alive over three hundred years ago. Besides, those people were innocent. Real witches do
not
consort with the devil, nor do they—”

“
Three hundred years?
” Ethan stood, fighting a bout of lightheadedness at the sudden movement—or perhaps from the realization that he might be in the twenty-first century. “The trials ended little more than a score of years ago.”

Grant frowned, still sitting on the floor. “The Colonies’ Puritans are as judgmental as the European counterparts from which they wished to escape. Misunderstood oftentimes means condemned. I will not judge you, Orshy. Are you a witch?”

Chapter 5

All the air rushed from Orsolya’s lungs. First, she’d accidentally spelled herself into the past. Then she’d brought two pirates back into the future with her attempt to escape her family’s deadliest enemy. Now, she had to choose between telling the men she wanted as lovers the truth about being a witch or lying to protect everyone in the mansion.
What do I do?

If Ethan and Grant had shown any interest in becoming her permanent mates, she could’ve rationalized being honest with them. If they’d cared about having sex with her as much as they seemed concerned about keeping her desirable to other men, she might’ve thought she had a chance at an orgasm. They hadn’t. In fact, they’d all but told her that no man would want her after they’d finished with her. Did every woman have to tolerate men’s fickleness to find a suitable mate? Or a simple sex partner?

“No, I’m not a witch.” The words tasted bitter coming off her tongue. She’d finally gained some skills in the craft, and she had to lie about it. Pacing to the window, she considered transporting herself down to the gardens, where she’d try to forget she had ever met her pair of pirates.
No, not mine.
“I know someone who can send you back.”

Picturing the print on the final page of the chapter about Black Sam Bellamy and the
Whydah Galley
’s shipwreck made her stomach cramp. If Great Grandmother returned Grant and Ethan to the moment they’d come forward in time, they would die like their crewmates. Their mutilated bodies would wash up on the shore during the night, to be found tomorrow morning—nearly three hundred years in the past.

Why do I feel like I’m losing part of me when I’ve known them only a few hours?
Orsolya forced her mind toward finding another man to take their places. Having learned her lesson well, she wouldn’t consider two again. One male would probably cause enough problems. Unfortunately, she couldn’t leave the estate again to search. Somehow Kazmer had known where she was. Stepping outside the estate grounds would be suicidal. She’d been right—sex with a man wasn’t worth risking her sanity or her life.

Whispers hissed behind her, but she didn’t bother looking at the men. More than likely, they were discussing whether or not to believe her denial.