Bad Boys Ahoy!

'Oh, please,' she muttered. Staring out the window, she heaved a disgusted sigh. 'You do not know how to love. You merely desire your allotted conjugal visitation.'

'My conjug-' he sputtered. 'Bloody everlasting hell! What the devil are you talking about?'

'Oh, I apologize,' she replied in mock innocence. 'Did I shock you? I meant your breeding rights.'

'My 'breeding rights'?' He crossed his arms over his chest. 'This is ridiculous.'

'You would think so.'

Sebastian sat in an agony of confusion. He had gone directly to their townhouse from the docks, only to discover her out for the evening. Learning from the butler that she had gone to the Dempsey ball, he'd changed quickly into evening attire and hastened to find her.

He'd been torn about making his belated first appearance as Lord Merrick at such a large gathering, and truly, the silence of the ballroom upon his arrival had momentarily flustered him. Then he'd found Olivia, and everyone else had ceased to matter. He would deal with the rest of the world tomorrow. Right now all he wanted, all he craved, was his wife's lush body pressed against his and her dark eyes warm with pleasure at his return.

'What have I done to anger you so?' he asked softly.

'I cannot believe you even have to ask. You left me here alone,' she snapped. 'In the midst of the vultures, after you promised me you would stay at least long enough to see me settled in Society. You could not even muster the courage to tell me good-bye. Well, my lord, if you cannot honor your promises to me, I am not bound to honor mine to you.'

'Hell's teeth,' he muttered. 'It was in my keeping of that promise that I was forced to leave.'

Her eyes narrowed.

'Aren't you going to inquire as to what I was doing?' he grumbled.

'No. It's far too late for that now. You should have discussed your plans with me before leaving.'

Sebastian gazed upon his wife's luminous beauty, and he wanted to howl. She could not have stopped loving him. He would die if she had. 'You love me.'

Olivia snorted. 'You flatter yourself.'

'You do,' he insisted. 'And by God, you'll admit it!'

'I will do no such thing!'

'You will!' Oh, he sounded like a child, and he felt like one, chastened and eager to win back the love that made him whole. No one in his life had ever loved him besides Olivia. Well, perhaps his mother had, but what good did it do him when he couldn't remember it?

The carriage came to a halt, and before he could move, Olivia stumbled down from the carriage and ran into the house. Sebastian gave chase, startling the footman, who moved to lower the step. She ran past the gaping butler, who held the door open, and flew up the steps.

'Olivia!' he bellowed. He almost caught her, but he tripped on the runner as he rounded the corner, and the extra steps required to prevent falling on his face cost him. She reached her bedroom and slammed the door, ramming home what sounded to be a very substantial bolt. With an oath, he turned and entered his own suite.

Lock him out, would she? He'd just see about that. He strode toward the adjoining door that had no lock.

And realized the portal no longer existed.

She'd sealed the damn thing up and covered the wall with taupe damask so that no trace of it remained. Damnation, that was the final straw!

Sebastian exited to the gallery with angry strides and kicked the door to his wife's room as hard as he could, yelling a curse when it budged not one whit.

'It won't work!' she shouted through the door. 'It's barred.'

'Barred?' he shouted back, incredulous.

'Yes, barred. Now go away!'

His chest heaved with furious indignation. 'Olivia…' he began warningly.

'Go away!'

Olivia sat on the edge of the bed, her heart pounding, her arms wrapped around a pillow, as she stared apprehensively at the door. Long moments of silence passed, and still she fretted that Sebastian would return.

She was stricken to realize she had underestimated the power of his attractiveness. In the four months of his absence, she'd managed to convince herself that their passion would fade eventually. Now she knew it would never fade. Her love for him wouldn't allow it.

Still, she was grimly satisfied that she'd managed to thwart his amorous intent, if only for this evening. She was barely surviving every day, her heart aching with his loss. He certainly deserved whatever discomfort she could throw at him.

After a time, Olivia relaxed, somewhat deflated that he had given up so easily. With a sigh, she stood, tossed the pillow aside, and began to undress herself, no easy task with the row of tiny buttons running down the back of her gown. She was doing a fine imitation of a contortionist when impatient fingers brushed hers away. Startled, she screamed and spun to face her husband, who gazed at her with ravenous hunger and barely tempered frustration.

'How did you-' She glanced around his large form, spying the very top of a ladder resting against her balcony railing. 'Dear heaven. The audacity.'

Arching a brow, Sebastian tugged at his cravat. 'I am a pirate by trade, wife. A barred door is no deterrent to me.'

'Wh-what are you doing?' she cried as he deftly removed his waistcoat, tossing it over his discarded jacket.

'I've conquered. Now it is time to claim my booty. In this case, you.' He yanked off his shirt, revealing his powerful torso and rippling abdomen. He had become darker in the weeks they'd been apart, his skin was now a beautiful mahogany. Her mouth flooded.

Good grief, she was going to drool.

'Put your clothes back on!' she snapped, clutching her loosened bodice to her breasts. 'I'm furious with you!'

He grunted. 'I've gathered that.' He tore open the placket of his breeches and shoved them to the floor.

'Oh hell…' she muttered as his raging cock sprang free, hard as steel and massively engorged. Her nipples hardened instantly. Olivia forced herself to meet his gaze and saw the masculine satisfaction there. He knew damn well the effect his bare body had on her.

'Ah, see how much I've missed you, sweet,' he purred in his luscious voice. 'It's been too long since I was last inside you.'

She swallowed hard. 'I don't want you.'

'Liar.'

'I'm angry,' she complained, her resistance melting as Sebastian took his cock in hand and began to stroke the silken length.

'This is how I've spent my nights, Olivia.' His fingers curled around his shaft and pumped hard. 'Visions of you had me begging for a release that was denied to me. Sleeping in that bed where we'd spent so many pleasurable hours making love was torture.' His eyelids grew heavy as he pleasured himself. 'Every night I would bring myself relief with pictures of you in my mind. Didn't you miss me as well?'

Olivia licked her lips, her gaze riveted to the dark hand that stroked his cock. She wanted him so badly she ached. She loved him. Despite everything, she still loved him.

'This changes nothing,' she whispered. 'It is only sex.'

His grin was triumphant, and it pricked her pride. Sebastian might think he'd won this encounter, but she would prove differently.

She crossed the short distance between them and dropped to her knees. Grasping his straining erection, she pulled it down to her mouth and sucked it inside, swirling her tongue around the plum-sized head. His hiss of pleasure followed by the convulsive grip of his fingers in her hair betrayed her power. A few quick thrusts of his hips, and his thighs were straining with the effort to remain standing.

'Poor, sweet,' she murmured against the wet head of his cock. 'Perhaps you should lie on the bed before you