Taken by You (15 page)

The sons of Eduardo Santiego were hot-tempered Spaniards eager for blood. They had just received word from Havana that the
Santa Cruz
had been sunk and Luca abducted by El Diablo. Both Luca and her dowry were missing. Now the brothers were not for Morgan’s blood and for revenge.

“Let’s not be hasty. Perhaps we should wait for a ransom demand,” Don Eduardo suggested.

“We cannot wait that long,” Arturo spat. “While we sit here doing nothing that bastard is defiling our sister. Don Diego will no longer want her, we all know that.”

“Surely the pirate knows how valuable our sister is,” Cordero, the more levelheaded of the pair, said. “It is possible that he will not take her virginity, knowing that it will reduce her value to us. That’s why we must act swiftly and strike when he least expects it.”

“Si,”
Arturo agreed eagerly. “Give us a ship and fifty men and we will rescue Luca and deliver her to her bridegroom in Havana, with her dowry intact,” he added.

“What about her reputation?” Don Eduardo asked. “Don Diego might no longer want her even if by some miracle El Diablo has spared her innocence. There will be rumors and gossip about her abduction that not even the governor-general will be able to quell.”

“Double the size of her dowry,” Cordero advised. “We will take it with us. Don Diego is too smart to turn down so great a fortune.”

“Are you sure you can find Andros?” Don Eduardo asked sharply.

“Give us a captain who knows the area and we will find it,” Arturo assured him. “We will slip in on a moonless night and strike when he least expects us.”

“Hmmm, it could work,” Don Eduardo mused after giving the matter careful thought, “if he’s on Andros. But instead of killing the bastard, take him to Havana. The pleasure of killing him should be left to Don Diego. Luca is his intended bride; he is the one most affected by her abduction.”

“Si,
Father, we will do as you say,” Cordero concurred. “I feel certain he is still on Andros. He won’t leave until a ransom demand is delivered or an answer received. When may we depart?”

“I will make all the arrangements. The Santa Maria is in port now. Give me a day and a night to provision her, find the men you require, and gather additional funds from my coffers to increase Luca’s dowry enough to make her still palatable to Don Diego.”

“We will not fail, Father,” Arturo promised. “We will rescue our sister and deliver her to her intended.”

Andros Island, the Bahamas
Three weeks later

Spreading her thighs with his knees, Morgan pressed into Luca, filling her with his strength, bringing a soft sigh to her lips. His mouth took hers, fevered, urgent, as he moved his hips in seductive invitation. Luca responded by arching against him, bringing him deeper into her honeyed sweetness. Morgan groaned, the taste and heat of her making him wild for release. His bronzed shoulders glistened with sweat, and his face was drawn into stark lines that bespoke the high degree of control he was exerting.

What was there about Luca that made him want her so desperately? he wondered, not for the first time. He never tired of thrusting into her tight sheath, making her his again and again. He had merely to look at her to want her. Once he had discovered her real identity, she had taken to wearing her own beautiful clothing, and sometimes the sarong Lani had given her. He loved her best in the sarong, with her feet and shoulders bare, her magnificent breasts unhampered by bone and steel. Even with her shorn hair she was an outstanding beauty. And though he tried desperately to deny the spell she wove around his senses, his body reacted in typical male style.

Moaning softly beneath her breath, Luca felt herself spiraling out of control. Morgan’s lips moved from her mouth to her breasts, licking and suckling her nipples, bringing her closer and closer to that moment of ecstasy toward which her body strained. She no longer feared that suspended moment of splendor when she exploded in shattering climax. She was not the innocent she once had been, for her virtue had been thoroughly compromised. Morgan had seen to that. Despite her inexperience, she knew beyond a doubt that Morgan was an incredible lover. An insatiable, demanding lover who held her spellbound in the web of his seduction.

Morgan lavished tender care on Luca’s nipples, loving the way she moaned and arched against him. He raised his head from his succulent feast, watching her face intently.

“I love your nipples.” His voice was raspy, his desire rampant against her. “All plump and rosy, just begging for my attention. You’re exquisite, Luca, I couldn’t ask for a better mistress.” He thrust deeper, withdrew, in and out Sweat dripped from his face onto her breasts. “Now, sweetheart, now!”

Luca barely heard his words. She was already reaching for that high plateau of pleasure only Morgan could give her. She was convinced that no other man had the power to raise her to such aweinspiring heights. Somewhere along the way her traitorous body had betrayed her high ideals. Her sins compounded each time she lay in his arms, reveling in his lovemaking. The day would arrive, she knew, when she must repent her sins. And face the fact that Morgan was merely using her. He was a sensual, lusty pirate who took women when it suited him and discarded them just as easily, as he had discarded Rouge.

Suddenly Luca’s thoughts scattered as Morgan’s hips pumped vigorously, sending her over the edge. She clutched his shoulders and screamed, her body shuddering as wave after wave of pure bliss washed over her. When Morgan had wrung from her all she had to give, he raced toward his own climax, releasing his seed in a violent rush toward ecstasy.

Several minutes passed before Morgan eased himself to Luca’s side. He didn’t speak; he couldn’t. As always, making love to Luca affected him in Ways that alarmed him. He could recall no time since reaching adulthood that a woman had such an impact upon his life. Yet even as he listed the many ways in which Luca inspired and aroused him, he knew she would be leaving soon. Stan Crawford would return with the ransom, and he would send Luca on her way. No matter how many oceans separated them, he’d never forget the Spanish woman who aspired to sainthood but settled for paradise.

Luca felt Morgan withdraw from her and turn away. She felt his rejection keenly. She was astute enough to realize that he wanted her physically while utterly rejecting who and what she was. Nothing could change her Spanish heritage, or the fact that she was her father’s daughter. She chose not to break the tenuous peace between them, so she turned her face to the wall and gave herself up to sleep. Sometime during the night Morgan pulled her naked body into his arms, holding her close, as if he feared she would be torn from him.

The
Santa Maria
sailed into the cove under the cover of a moonless night. Andros lay sleeping and secure. No one stirred on the beach. The ship anchored a short distance from shore, and two longboats were launched by a landing party of armed men. Arturo and Cordero led the party ashore, the oars slipping noiselessly through the water. They beached the boats and pulled them into the protection of brush and trees.

Arturo led half the men in one direction while the rest followed Cordero in another. Since little was known about Andros, each group was to search for El Diablo’s lair. The Spaniards found no ships in the small cove, which could be either a good or a bad omen. It could mean that El Diablo was no longer on the island, which was bad if Luca was with him. If they were lucky it meant that El Diablo had dispatched his ship without himself at the helm and was sleeping soundly in his house. Finding the beach unguarded puzzled the brothers, but it did not stop them from pushing forward into the interior of the island.

Arturo was the one who found the path leading through the trees. He led his men quietly through the murky night and was rewarded when a rambling house loomed before them in a clearing. No guards were visible, and Arturo thought El Diablo stupid for not protecting himself against invasion. But then, how could he nave known that the Santiegos would invade his island to retrieve what had been stolen from them? Andros was off the beaten path and rarely visited by ships.

Arturo found the door unlocked and motioned his men inside, scoffing anew at such carelessness. Slowly he negotiated the stairs, his men close on his heels. They were very quiet, very careful. A branch of candles that Lani habitually placed on a table at the top of the stairs each night lit their way. Arturo opened the first door he came to and looked inside. The hinge squeaked, and he froze. The room was empty and he moved on.

Arturo cracked open a door further down the hall and peered inside. He saw a shadowy figure in the bed and slammed the door open with a resounding bang. One of his men had removed the branch of candles from the hall table and now thrust it into the room, providing enough light to see two naked bodies intimately entwined on the bed.

“Bastard! Rapacious bastard! You will pay for dishonoring my sister!”

Morgan jerked upright. It took a moment for his head to clear, and when it did he cursed himself for a fool. He reached for his sword, which he never left far from his side, but it was too late. More men than he could count were on him instantly.

Luca screamed and tried to pull the sheet up to her chin. She could see the intruders leering at her, and panic seized her. Had the island been invaded by brutal pirates or unfriendly natives? She gasped in recognition when she saw her brother, and she guessed that he had been sent to rescue her.

“Cover yourself,” Arturo snarled, sending Luca a virulent scowl. “What has happened to my innocent sister?”

Then everything happened so quickly that Luca barely had time to think, let alone speak. Arturo’s men charged Morgan, and Arturo dragged her from the bed at the same time. She watched in growing horror as Morgan was pummeled and beaten unconscious.

“Take him to the ship,” Arturo ordered his men. Then he turned his attention to Luca. “Where are your clothes?”

“There’s a trunk in my room.” She pointed to a room down the hallway. “What are you going to do to Morgan?”

“You won’t have to worry about him hurting you again,” Arturo said curtly. “He’ll be safe enough chained in the hold until we reach Havana. El Diablo has corrupted his last woman.”

“Havana!” Luca looked stunned. “Why are we going to Havana? I wish to return to the convent.”

“That is out of the question. You’re to be taken to your intended.” He glared at her through narrowed lids. “What in the hell did you do to your hair?”

“I cut it. But forget that. You know as well as I that Don Diego won’t have me now.” She had expected to feel crushing shame for the sin she had committed with Morgan, but to her surprise she did hot. “You found me in Morgan’s bed. Don Diego will spurn me, he’s a proud man.”

“You did not go willingly to the pirate’s bed,” Arturo said craftily. His expression turned grim when he realized what must be done to save his sister’s reputation. He and Cordero had already discussed what would happen if El Diablo had indeed ravished their sister. “Don Diego will take into account that you are a widow and accept you along with a generous addition to your dowry.”

“A widow? I… I don’t understand.”

“There is no time now for explanations. Get dressed. We must return to the ship before we are discovered.”

“Leave Morgan on Andros,” Luca begged. “You have me, there is no need for further bloodshed.”

“Leave El Diablo behind? Are you mad? Cordero will have my head. There is a hefty reward out for the pirate. He has defiled you, an innocent young girl on her way to her bridegroom. El Diablo will die for his many counts of piracy against Spain. I’m sure Don Diego will make it a slow, painful death.”

He dragged her to her room and pushed her inside. “Hurry and dress. I will wait right here for you. One of my men will carry your trunk aboard the
Santa Maria
when you’re finished.”

Morgan came to his senses slowly, aware of his aching head and bruised body. Santiego’s men had beaten him senseless then dragged him naked to the ship, where he was chained to the bulkhead in the dank, musty hold. It was dark, he could hear rats scurrying about and felt them brush against his bare legs. He kicked out, cursing viciously when one of the rodents sank sharp little teeth into his ankle. His only consolation was that Luca wasn’t suffering. Her brother would never harm her.

Not for the first time Morgan cursed his carelessness. He had been so besotted with Luca that he had never considered the possibility that Santiego would send his sons to invade his stronghold on Andros. Before he had passed out he had heard someone say that the caskets containing Luca’s dowry had been located in a storeroom and were being transferred to the galleon. He didn’t care about the plunder, they could have that. What really hurt was losing Luca before he’d had a chance to tell her …Too late. Too damn late.

While Morgan bemoaned his fate, Luca sat in the captain’s spacious cabin with her head bowed as her two brothers roundly castigated her. A priest, sent along to counsel Luca after her rescue, stood nearby, his expression as disapproving as Luca’s brothers’. All three considered her behavior with the infamous pirate outrageously wanton.

“How could you beg mercy for the bastard after what he’s done to you?” Arturo raged.

“He did force you, didn’t he?” Cordero questioned more reasonably.

“At first… not exactly… it was more like… seduction”

“You went willingly to his bed?” Arturo thundered. “Are you telling me that you were the willing mistress of El Diablo?”