Bad Boys Ahoy!

around her sleeping back. At the first touch of her skin, he became erect and fully aroused, aching for the comfort of her body. He lifted her leg over his hip and she roused, but made no protest. He dipped his hand between her legs, feeling his thick cream coating her sex and inner thighs. Like the beast he was, he found deep satisfaction in the primitive claim.

'Do you wish-' she whispered.

'No.' He buried his face in her hair, inhaling her scent. 'Yes. But you're sore. I can wait.'

'I don't want you to wait.'

'But you will. Soon enough you'll be begging me to cease my constant demands.'

'I'll never tire of you, my lord,' she assured him in a sleep-heavy murmur that caused him to press against her with a groan. Olivia spooned against him, nuzzling her luscious derriere against his enflamed cock with a trust that left him breathless.

His stomach clenched. She'd entrusted him with her life, and he'd endangered it already.

He had to put as much distance between them as possible and at the soonest opportunity.

'Who is she, Dominique?' Pierre asked, staring after the vanishing ship.

'The Countess of Merrick. What would you wager that Phoenix has gone to ransom her for a fortune we won't get our share of?'

'I don't make bets with you. You always win.'

Dominique smiled. 'And we'll win this time too.'

'How so?' Pierre asked curiously.

'You'll see, brother. You'll see.'

Chapter Four

Sebastian stepped onto the deck and turned completely around before spotting Olivia. Sitting on a barrel at the foredeck, she looked pensively over the water. He deliberately made his steps heard so as not to startle her. He smiled as she lifted a bottle to her lips and drank from it. 'Care to share, love?'

She passed him the wine. 'How was your dinner with the captain?'

'I'm not certain. I was distracted.'

'Oh? With what, may I ask?'

'With visions of you, naked in bed, eating supper without me.'

'As if I would ever eat naked,' she scoffed. 'And in bed no less. I, for one, do not relish crumbs on my linens.' Her mouth curved in a contented smile. 'Do you never think of anything other than sex?'

'Certainly. Just this afternoon I wondered what you were doing in the West Indies.'

Her smile faded.

It was the first time either one of them had broached the subject of their pasts. There had been a silent agreement between them to live only in the moment, but they approached England far too quickly. Soon they would present themselves to the world as Lord and Lady Merrick, yet they were hardly more than intimate strangers. He knew her body in minute detail, but her past and visions for their future remained a mystery.

Olivia sighed. 'My father maintains a plantation there.'

'And you prefer it to London?'

'I enjoy the freedom.'

Sebastian frowned. There was something she wasn't telling him. 'And what of the Season? You are a diamond, my love. Your popularity is assured.'

Even as he said the words, his gut clenched. Men would swarm around his wife like bees to honey, her marital status making her even more desirable. The thought of other men drooling over Olivia while he was at sea made him murderous.

She looked out over the water, avoiding his gaze. 'In the past, I've enjoyed the Season. I simply didn't feel up to it this year.'

There was more, he knew, but Sebastian hesitated to press her further. Their time on the ship had been idyllic, and he didn't wish to ruin it. Harsh reality would intrude soon enough. 'And now that you've wed, do you intend to make England your home?'

That comment brought her gaze back to his. 'Of course. Your home is my home now.'

'My home is at sea.'

Olivia nodded her agreement without hesitation, causing a sharp pain in his chest.

What had he expected? That she would cry and beg for him to remain with her? Hadn't he capitulated merely to sate his lust, with the added bonus of acquiring the wife and heirs his cursed title demanded? Simply because he'd found his desire unquenchable and his need of deeper origin than he'd realized, did not mean his wife was experiencing the same.

He placed his hand on her shoulder and absently stroked the side of her throat with his thumb. 'I shall visit you often.' He felt, rather than heard, her deeply indrawn breath.

Olivia leaned into him. 'How often is 'often' to you?'

'I should pose that question to you, sweet,' he replied, passing the decision to her, while in truth he knew he would crave her and seek her out like a thirsty man would water. 'We are in this marriage together.'

She hesitated before speaking. 'Should you decide to come home at least every six months, you will be able to ascertain if I am breeding or not.'

Sebastian stilled. 'Breeding.' Good God. He could imagine it, picture it clearly-Olivia increasing with his child.

'You're hurting me,' she whispered, her hand prying at his fingers on her shoulder.

'I'm sorry.' Dazed, he handed her the bottle and began to rub the marks left by his fingertips. 'You startled me.'

'So I gathered. But it was you who said that one of my duties would be to bear your heirs.'

Duty. Not pleasure. Heirs. Not children.

Suddenly there was a distinction between them, one that irritated him and made him restless.

He reached for her hand. 'I should like to retire.'

Turning, she searched his face. He could feel the air altering around them, shifting even as their relationship did. What was happening? Sebastian stood rigid under her scrutiny. What did she see in him with those dark eyes that bored right through him?

He was profoundly relieved when Olivia placed her hand in his and followed him to their bed, where heady pleasure and drugging forgetfulness awaited them.

Sebastian stared up at the ruby red velvet canopy and sighed with contentment.

Olivia's heated breath puffed across the head of his cock. 'What are you thinking?' she asked.

He glanced down to where his wife lay prone between his legs. She'd spent the last hour in studious examination of his member, tracing every vein, caressing every bit of his hard length with her hands and mouth, purring her delight like a cat with cream. She made him feel supremely masculine; a man appreciated completely by his mate, her admiration a welcome salve after a lifetime of feeling insignificant. At least in this one endeavor, that of being Olivia's husband, he had not been found lacking. 'You,' he answered. 'This bed. Our marriage.'

She crossed her hands on his upper thigh and rested her chin upon them. 'Do you have regrets?' she asked in a steady voice, even as her expressive eyes showed her worry.

He reached down to caress her tumbled hair. 'No. Come closer.'

Olivia rose to her hands and knees, her full breasts swaying as she climbed along the length of his body. She'd become quite comfortable with her nakedness over these last weeks, and he appreciated their growing familiarity.

She purred with pleasure as she draped her body over his. He reached up and pulled her hair to the side so he could nuzzle her throat unhindered.

'Sebastian.'