The Infamous Rogue

Alexandra Benedict

To Suzy and Steve

Chapter 1
London, 1825
C
aptain James Hawkins struggled with the cravat, slipping a finger between the stiff linen and his throat. The infernal noose! What he wouldn’t give to be rid of it. But if he ripped the knotted material in public, it would only confirm the
haute ton
’s suspicion of him: he was a barbarian.
James maintained a distance from the revelry. He had arrived late to the ball, one of the last of the London Season. Hosted by Maximilian “Rex,” the Earl of Baine, the tedious affair attracted the most affluent members of society, for the earl’s “kingly” taste in decor was much gossiped about.
The ballroom was a glittering spectacle: smooth, white marble columns with soft gray veins, rich yellow drapery flanking each of the dozen windows, a pale blue fresco with gold filigree on the ceiling, gilded sconces on the walls, crystal chandeliers…
James considered it all garish rubbish, like too many sweets sitting deep in the belly, so heavy and uncomfortable.
Blood hastened through his veins. It was a subtle, warm shift, too discreet for an unwitting mind. But two decades at sea stalking—and being stalked—had conditioned him to be more sensitive, and he scanned his surroundings in pursuit of the pair of eyes he was sure were watching him.
Slowly a creeping set of hands rubbed his calves, stroked the stiff, meaty muscles of his thighs before circling his hips in an intimate embrace.
James was sure no one had touched him, and yet the kneading fingers moved across his chest in a salacious manner, making his heart thud like booming cannon blasts. Sweat gathered between his shoulder blades. He pulsed with a long-forgotten energy…a yearning.
James slipped his hand into his vest pocket and removed the fob watch. He stroked the damaged timepiece, the glass face shattered. The hands didn’t keep time anymore, but he still guarded the cursed piece of gold. He rubbed the bauble’s underside, stroking the biting inscription:
May you rot in everlasting hell.
He stuffed the watch inside his pocket again, expression grim. The ghostly fingers still traced the hard edges of his face in a sensual way. The movement was familiar, soft and stirring. But soon he cringed to feel the sharp nails dig into his cheeks.
The ballroom was alive with movement. He dismissed the glaring ensemble of skirts and black tails to search the miens of unfamiliar faces. Soon he lighted upon a quiet creature seated a short distance away from him.
His innards lurched. She was a spindly-looking thing, pale with fair hair: an ideal woman by the aristocracy’s standards. He loathed her kind, so cold…cruel.
You don’t belong here,
she said with her eyes.
He fisted his palms and folded his arms behind his back, sick with the thought that
her
creeping regard had aroused him in such a profound way. He was sure…
James dismissed the thought. He stared at her instead. She looked away from him. She appeared aloof, but her taut posture betrayed her anxiety. Did she fret the big barbarian might think she was flirting with him? That he might ask her to dance?
He noted the way her fingers trembled. He took great pleasure in her discomfort. She thought herself his superior. How quickly she would be humbled if she knew she disgusted him, that she made him ill with her superficial, scornful nature…however, she needn’t be privy to the truth just yet.
She peeked at him once more.
He smiled.
James withheld a mordant laugh. She was flushed, a shine across her moist brow. He approached her. It was only a step, but the movement startled her. She wanted to skirt away, he could tell. But etiquette restrained her. She couldn’t dash off without causing a potential scene. And rather than risk the stigma of a social blunder, she remained in her seat, sweating and twisting her fingers in her lap.
He took another overt step toward her, and observed with wicked delight as she flexed her fine jaw. But he wasn’t satisfied; he wanted to disturb her even more.
He started for her.
“Is something the matter, James? Why do you look so murderous?”
William Hawkins advanced. He was thinking like a proper lieutenant, reading the captain’s expression for warning of approaching danger. But the only pro spective threat was that of James losing his temper and dragging that haughty bitch onto the dance floor for a twirl.
“Nothing’s the matter, Will. I’m just having a shit time, is all.”
The guests close enough to overhear the exchange gasped and moved off.
“Lower your voice, James. And curb your language! We’re not aboard the
Bonny Meg
.”
James bristled. More blasted constraints!
“Look at Edmund and Quincy,” said William. “Can’t you muster up some charm, like them?”
James observed his handsome brethren, dancing in step to the lively music. At ages twenty-three and twenty-one respectively, Edmund and Quincy were nearly half his age. He was already forty, William two years his junior, and indisposed to change.
“I don’t belong here, Will.”
“You don’t want to belong here, you mean. You aren’t even making an effort to fit in.”
“I’m wearing a blasted noose!”
“You might dress like a gentleman, but you don’t behave like one.”
With considerable ire, James growled, “And just how should I behave?”
“Well, don’t stand like that.”
“Like what?”
“Like you’re prepared to clobber the first guest who dares to speak to you. And your expression! Can you look more cross?”
James frowned. “I can try.”
“Oh, that’s very sporting of you, brother.”
He sighed. “I’m not going to pander to the nobs.”
“I’m not asking you to, but can you be polite?”
“No.”
“Blast it, James! You really
don’t
belong here, do you?”
No, he didn’t. After four years of formal suppers and tiresome parties and posh maidens, James considered it more and more an encumbrance to feign interest in the customs of the
ton
. “I need air. Keep an eye on Edmund and Quincy.”
“Aye, Captain,” William said dryly.
James moved away from his kin, deliberately approaching the same woman who had treated him with such disdain, as if he might ask her to dance. He swaggered past her instead, her gasp of relief burning his ears.
He marched with purposeful strides through the ornate passageway, the shimmer a distraction. The more he glared at silk-paneled walls and fine wool rugs and hand-painted Oriental vases, the more the bile churned in his belly.
He escaped the palatial house at last. The moment the warm summer breeze greeted him, he cooled his heels. In a still leggy yet more leisurely gait, he wended through the well-manicured hedgerows and stepped into the blooming garden.
It was a small garden, for the earl’s city home was in the heart of Mayfair. And so James glanced from side to side to ensure he was alone before he rent the noose from his neck and stuffed it into his pocket. The air was sweeter without the cravat, and he inhaled the perfume-fragrance of roses. It was not the tang of the salty sea, however.
James yearned to be back aboard the
Bonny Meg
. There he was in control and respected. There he was home. But instead he had to wear the dreadful mana cles of “respectability.” He had to try to fit in with the rest of the
haute ton
for the sake of his sister. He could not disgrace her with his sinful past. He could not shame her with his crude behavior. He had promised.
James stiffened.
A sharp blade pricked him in the back.
“Why aren’t you rotting in hell, Black Hawk?”

Sophia Dawson pressed the tip of the knife more firmly into his spine. He was every bit as towering and robust as she remembered, and her heart fluttered at the hot stab of longing that welled in her breast.
She quickly quelled the spurt of unbidden desire. Her palms sweated, and she gripped the bejeweled knife with greater strength. “Answer me, Black Hawk.”
Slowly he turned around. “Be careful how you address me in public.”
The low drawl of his voice stirred her senses to arousing life, and she clenched the muscles of her midriff to tame the wild flutters in her belly.
The man’s gaze lighted on her. Even in the shadows of the garden, those hard and commanding eyes struck her soundly, ensnared her. She knew they were a rich blue; she remembered. She remembered all the nights he had set fire to her passions with those sexy eyes.
“What
are
you doing in public, Black Hawk?”
He grabbed her wrist and hoisted it closer to his chin. The short steel blade shimmered in the moonlight, the silver light bouncing off the pools of his livid eyes.
“I’m not Black Hawk anymore.”
The touch of his fingers burned her flesh. The heat seeped into her blood, warming her arm, her breasts, sinking into her toes.
With a quiver in her voice, she said, “And who are you now?”
“Captain Hawkins.”
“You joined the Royal Navy?”
The question riled him even more, for he gritted, “I’d sooner hang!”
The man had not changed in seven years: in opinion or manner. He still loathed the Royal Navy for pressing his father into service. And he was still boorish in behavior, befitting his rank as the most notorious pirate captain on the high seas!
His thumb brushed across the pulse at her wrist, thumping quick. “There are no accounts in the paper about Black Hawk. Did it ever occur to you I might not be a pirate anymore?”
Heartbeats swift, she dismissed the rising pressure in her skull to curl her lips into a sardonic smile. “I assumed you dead.”
She could hear the breath rush through his nose. It warmed her fingers, stirring the fine hairs on her arm. “You have a cold heart, woman.”
She angled the blade to fit snugly under his chin. “Release me, Black Hawk.”
He let her go, and she took a shaky step back.
“You’re right,” he said. “Black Hawk is dead.”
Dead? The wicked corsair wasn’t dead. If he was dead, the man standing before her wouldn’t have such a devastating pull over her senses. She would have the pluck to slice his gullet and walk away from him before he ruined all her carefully orchestrated plans.
But she didn’t have the mettle to gut him. The rough sound of his voice, his sensual eyes and stalwart grip filled her head with potent memories. Memories of crisp, white bedsheets tangled together with limbs soaked in sweat.
She banished the pleasurable thought with a sharp breath and glared at her target. But the vim in her blood only swelled as she observed the faint flutter of black hair that caressed his temple.
He maintained an unfashionable long mane, tied in a queue. One wayward lock dropped over his temple and curled under his eye. The impulse to sweep back the rebellious tress gripped her. But she refrained from the whim, for the same dark curl emphasized the man’s glower, bringing her back to her wits.
“You still look like a pirate,” she charged. He had shaved his beard—hence his newfound role as Captain Hawkins. He was unrecognizable to the guests at the ball, whose jewels, surely, he had robbed at some point during his long pirate career—but he was still wicked and dangerous; she sensed it. “If you don’t captain the
Bonny Meg
anymore, what do you captain?”
“I captain the
Bonny Meg
,” he said slowly. “But she is a merchant vessel now.”
“You retired from piracy to become a tradesman?” He had the heart of a pirate, the disposition of a scoundrel. Give up his wicked ways? “Why?”
“I had to protect my sister.”
“Mirabelle? Is she here?” Sophia offered him a scornful look. “Will I make her acquaintance at last?”
Even the sinful Black Hawk had conformed to some traditional standards of behavior, for he had never introduced his sister to his mistress.
“Mirabelle is at home, nursing a new babe…she is now the Duchess of Wembury.”
Sophia snorted. So that was why he’d retired from piracy, to keep from besmirching his sister’s respectable reputation. How very noble of him.
The hypocritical knave! He had once declared matrimony a sinister institution, a form of unfair imprisonment. It was called wed
lock
for a reason, he had contended. However, it was wholly proper for his sister to marry. Wedlock was only a sinister captivity if
she
wanted to be the bride.
Her blood burned with the haunting memory of taunts and snubs. She had suffered the stigma of being Black Hawk’s mistress. She had struggled against the disdainful looks of the island’s inhabitants. But she would suffer no more.
“If I had known you’d climb the social ladder,” she said in a flirty manner, “I wouldn’t have deserted you.”
He took an ominous step toward her.
She lifted the knife to ward him off. “Stay back, Black Hawk.”
“Damn you, woman!” He lowered his voice to impart, “Don’t call me that.”
“And what should I call you?”
“What the devil is wrong with ‘James’?”
“Too sentimental…I only ever called you that in bed.”
There was a plain shift in his posture; more rigid. His voice was a dark timbre, too. “What are you doing here, Sophia?”
He said her name with such heat, her bones trembled. “I’m about to be married.”
“To whom?”
“To our host, the Earl of Baine.”
He scoffed. “Maximilian Rex asked you to be his wife?”
She bristled at the derision in his tone. Slicing his gullet seemed a more tempting thought.
“The earl hasn’t proposed to me yet, but he soon will.”
If the black devil didn’t foil all the progress she had made with the earl. She had deserted the pirate captain seven years ago. Cleary he was still miffed about the slight. And he wasn’t the thoughtful sort, to keep their past affair a secret—or withhold her true identity as a pirate’s daughter. She suspected him capable of ruining all her dreams in retribution.
“And what have you to offer the Earl of Baine, Sophia?”
He slowly ravished her with his eyes. He let the glossy orbs roll over her limbs in a sensual way, indicating she had only one thing to offer the earl.
“Money,” she bit back.
She had to keep her wrist steady. The impulse to soundly strike the scoundrel across his sneering lips was appealing. But she maintained her composure. She wouldn’t let him unsettle her with his biting contempt.
“Ah, yes, money,” he said. “I forgot you had money.”
“And I have more than enough to satisfy the craving of one greedy lord.”
He smiled in a wicked manner. “What is your price, Sophia? Perhaps I can offer more than the earl.”
The obtuse devil! She wasn’t out to obtain even more wealth. All the pirate gold in the world wouldn’t satisfy her. She wanted the respect the position of a wife offered. And not just any wife, but a titled wife: a countess.
The jeers, the cuts filled her head. She had suffered for the pleasure she had found in the pirate captain’s bed. But she was wiser now. She wanted more from life than passion. She wanted to have a noble rank, and the esteem it commanded. She wanted to make sure no one ever laughed at her again.
“I’m not selling myself to the earl…I’m buying
him
.”
And she had enough coffers of gold to do it, too. After the death of her pirate father, she had inherited his treasures: sinful riches to tempt an insatiable lord.
“And why do you want to
buy
the earl?”
“For his title, of course.”
He snorted. “You belong on the shelf.”
She stiffened. “I’m only seven-and-twenty. I’ve not a single gray hair…unlike you.”
He snatched her wrist once more and dragged her into his arms. Too late she regretted her clipped taunt. The black devil had ruffled her pique. But she was more furious with herself for allowing him to pester her so—and finding herself in his embrace.
“You witch.” He dropped his lips to graze hers. “You think me too old, do you? Too old to be like a lover…and give you pleasure?”
His breath was hot. It tickled her mouth in the most sensuous way, making her shiver with delight.
The pulsing fury in Sophia’s breast was choked by the handsome rogue’s close proximity, a more arousing sentiment taking root. Her thoughts quieted. Even the stirring breeze and the distant cacophony of merry guests were hushed in her head. She was bewitched by the man’s heady scent. He wasn’t doused in perfume like the other men at the ball: there was only the softest trace of vanilla soap on his rough skin, allowing his natural musk to come through and tease her senses.
“Let me see if I remember what pleases you, Sophia.”
Gently he sucked on her bottom lip. A surge of sensation quickly pumped through her veins, so strong she struggled in alarm. But he spread his fingers wide apart and gripped her lower spine, hugging her close.
Sophia’s heart fluttered. The bone-ribbed corset holding her together was suffocating her, too. She was glutted with tantalizing kisses, so soft and steady.
“Do I please you?” he whispered, and nipped at her bottom lip.
Her pulse throbbed in her ears, her breastbone ached under the pressure of her pounding heart. She was caged between his strapping arms, pressed against his sturdy chest…and gripped with a dark need for an even deeper kiss.
He nuzzled her mouth. “Do I give you pleasure?”
She said in a quiet and shaky voice, “No…I feel nothing for you anymore.”
He stiffened at the cutting remark. She was defiant. She didn’t care for the bounder anymore. He still aroused her, though. But she wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of hearing her capitulate, even if she yearned for another sultry buss.
“You feel nothing?” he said roughly. “Not even this?”
She swallowed a moan as he pressed his mouth hard over hers. Her resolve slowly weakened and she let him ravish her with his sinful lips.
The energy thrumming through him filled her in return. She had missed the man’s dominant nature and robust vigor. The sensations welled inside her, a throbbing thirst.
The rustle of distant voices wrenched her from the erotic encounter. She nicked him under the chin with the knife, drawing blood.
He pushed her away and reached for his face. He touched the blood. His expression hardened.
She stumbled backward, breathless. “Stay away from me, Black Hawk. If you try to foil my courtship with Maximilian, I’ll reveal your true identity; I’ll see you hang.”
She tucked the short blade into the leather sheath between her breasts, where she always carried it. It had been a gift from James, the knife: a means of protection. Ironic that she now needed it to protect herself from him.
Chapter 2
J
ames glared at the shapely figure skirting away. He reached for the wound on his chin and dabbed at the blood. One look at the dark stains smeared across his fingertips and his head throbbed, his limbs shuddered.
He started after her.
The pressure in his skull blinded him to the trumpery in the house. He moved through the elaborate passageways with brisk strides.
She had cut him, the viper. Did she think he would just curl his tail between his legs and sod off? Not bloody likely.
He reached the ballroom and scanned the frilly heads in search of Sophia. Blood pulsed through his veins; he could feel her stabbing stare. He glanced across the room, and bristled.
She was brilliant under candlelight. The lambent glow kissed the thick curls of her deep brown hair, arranged in a neat and sophisticated swirl. He imagined the long locks wild, spilling across a stark white pillow. He remembered weaving his fingers through the knotty tresses, twisting them in his hands in a moment of profound ecstasy.
His body thrummed with images from the past. He searched for the old Sophia under the layers of copper satin. The light played on the garment, giving it a lustrous sheen. Her clothes, her hair danced with life, but she…
She was prim in manner, poised next to the earl. James knew her true nature, though. He knew the passion she was struggling to repress, the fury—at him—she wanted to stifle to better fit in with the reserved members of the aristocracy. He could see her measured movements: a tight smile, soft brows low, fingers curled together and set neatly against her midriff.
Lies!
It was all lies! She was only acting the part of the traditional, meek lady. He wanted to expose her, to hear the gasps of the
ton
as they discovered there was another impostor in their midst; that he was not the only outcast at the ball.
He thundered toward her…but a hand grabbed him, dragged him back through the arched entranceway and into the quiet corridor.
“Let me go,” James demanded.
“Like hell.” William picked him over with his eyes. “Did you fall into the rosebushes and wrestle with the earl’s dogs?”
With murder in his eyes, James growled, “I said release me.”
“Not looking like a scoundrel. Where’s your cravat?”
James fished for the blasted scrap of cloth in his pocket.
“Give it here,” said William. He snatched the crisp material and set to work, lacing the noose around his brother’s throat once more. “What happened?”
The thoughts in his head still spinning, James muttered an incoherent “She’s here.”
William fixed his eyes on the cravat as he tweaked it. “Who’s here?”
He inhaled a rich breath. “Sophia.”
William paused. “Dawson’s daughter?”
“The very one.”
The one who had deserted him seven years ago without so much as a note of good-bye…only a ticking timepiece wishing him to everlasting hell.
James gnashed his teeth at the dark memory.
“What is she doing here?” said William.
“Shopping for a husband…And she’s set her cap on our host, the Earl of Baine.”
“Shit.” William glared at his brother with stern reproof. “Don’t cause a scandal, James.”
“Watch me.”
William threaded his arm through the captain’s and pinned him against the wall. “Think of Belle.”
His sister’s agonized cries filled his soul, the haunting wails still fresh and stinging. James shuddered at the morbid memory. What was the matter with him? He had never lost control. And yet he had come so close to making a spectacular stir, disgracing himself and every member of his family.
James took in a sharp breath. The fury surging through his bones weakened. William sensed it, too.
“That’s better, James.” He loosened his hold. “I know you’re angry with Sophia, but you can’t disgrace Belle. If you create a fuss tonight, it’ll be in all the gossip papers.”