“I am going to make you want me.”
She raised a brow. “What kind of lesson would that be?”
“What makes you so sure of yourself, Daniella?” He threw the knife to the floor and slid his way down her body until his chest rested against hers. His delicious weight pressed her into the mattress, her hands over her breasts and his pelvis digging in. He ground his erection against her softness. The two layers of fabric may as well have been non-existent for the exquisite friction his movements created.
This is what had seen her thrown off her father’s ship. The wanton within her who couldn’t help but yearn for completion had corrupted until her life was ruined. Jimmy had been dropped off the side of the boat to swim his way to the nearest island and she had been dumped on her brother’s doorstep in London. If she gave in to this thing that grew between her and James, her father would likely have them married at the point of a sword.
“As enjoyable as this might be, we must stop.”
“You think words will save you now?” he asked. “If you flee my protection and a band of ruffians comes upon you, how will you get away? Saying please and thank you won’t help.”
“I’ll use my dagger. I can fight.”
“You don’t have your dagger,” he pointed out with a flick of his head in the direction of the discarded weapon. A long lick to the side to the side of her neck, from her collarbone to her earlobe, sent a thrill right through her.
“Stop that,” she warned him.
“You’re in no position to give orders, Daniella. If I was a ruffian, your skirts would be up over your head by now. You should be grateful I’m somewhat of a gentleman.”
“Not this minute, you’re not!”
“And you’re still not getting it. Men are stronger than women; it’s a simple fact. Try to buck me off. Try to unseat me. Show me you can fight for your life.”
“I’ll hurt you,” she said.
He smiled. “You cannot.”
His eyes closed to her investigation, his head lowering so slowly she wondered what he was about. Then it hit her. She only had to call his bluff.
Daniella reached up as though to push him away but at the last sank her fingers into his soft hair and pulled his lips down to hers. Her tongue delved into the warmth of his mouth with a groan. He tasted of liquor and man, of risk and danger, of heat and pleasure. His growing stubble rasped her skin and she felt the pull all the way to her sex.
When his iron grip closed about her wrists, she let her head fall back as he slammed her arms onto the coverlet and pinned her where she lay, his panting breath harsh in the silence, warm against her nose. “You mean to play games with me, Daniella? How do you know this is one you can win?”
“This—” she wriggled her hips “—has naught to do with games. And you would do well to remember you started it. The question is will you finish it?”
“Have you any idea what you ask of me?”
“I’m not asking, James.” She smiled. “It is inevitable now.”
“You think me that weak?”
“I think you are a man. I offer my surrender as a woman.”
“Complete surrender?”
She smirked as she leaned up and nipped his lip, wanting more of his taste on her tongue but knowing this was indeed a game. One only the gentleman in him could call a stop to. “Only in this.”
He sat up, straightening his shirt and dusting himself off. “I was hoping for more, but I’ll take it.”
*
James enjoyed seeing Daniella realize he had duped her. Her green eyes opened wide and her hands fisted.
“Take what?” she asked, both eyes narrowed, the promise of pleasures and playing fading quickly now though her lips and cheeks betrayed what had happened between them. “You thought you could drive me to the edge and then pull back? Humiliate me? You’ll never have my full surrender.”
James sighed and let his gaze drop to the twin globes of her breasts, magnificent in the pale moonlight. He damned his self-control to the deepest depths of hell. Why could he not just let go? Take what he wanted? He went to the candle and lit it. “You are a better actress than I thought.”
“Thank you.”
“For all your bravado, you can’t do this alone. If you were to arrive alone on your father’s doorstep—or gangplank in this case—he would have you back in your brother’s home with a larger dowry and more desperation than ever to marry you off. We have to work together rather than against one another.”
She sat on the edge of the bed now, a coarse brown blanket over her shoulders clutched tight in her grasp. Good. He couldn’t bear to look at what he’d done to her dress all in the name of teaching her a lesson “You know I’m right,” he continued. “No more joining in fights or climbing out of windows.”
Her head tilted, her eyes searching his. “For a moment you were scared. That I would get away?” A hint of triumph ghosted across her swollen lips.
“I was scared you would break your neck.” And he didn’t mind admitting that much.
She laughed then, surprising him as usual. “I first climbed the rigging when I was four years old. Probably six times higher than your highest tree. I was perfectly safe.”
“And if you’d fallen? Hobson, Willie, Patrick and I would be right now burying your body in an unmarked grave.”
She scoffed a little, then relented. “All
