A Pirate's Pleasure Read online

  “If it were up to my father, which it may very well be if you do not let go of your stubbornness and accept me as your bride, I will no doubt be wed to a gouty old man with one foot in the grave, or a patronizing bastard who hasn't a thought in his brain.”

  She paused, feeling angry tears begin to prick the backs of her eyelids, and it was then that Adrian pulled her close and pressed a kiss to her forehead in an effort to calm her. She released a steadying breath and glanced up at him.

  He was grinning without even a hint of remorse for her predicament. Reigyn felt a growl begin in the back of her throat.

  “You're quite determined, aren't you,” he said in such a way she knew it was more statement than question, and so didn't bother answering.

  “But so am I. Which leaves us with only one alternative.”

  “And that is?” she pressed when he did not elucidate.

  “We shall have a wager.”

  “A wager.”

  “Yes.”

  “And what exactly shall this wager of yours entail?” she asked, stepping out of his embrace.

  “You winning me over, of course. It's rather simple. You do everything in your power to convince me to marry you. At the end of the three days you have left, I will give you my answer.”

  Reigyn scrunched up her nose. “This doesn't sound like a fair wager at all. If I lose I--”

  “--still have two options open. A gouty old man who will probably not live to see the wedding night, so you'll be saved that at least, or the brat, who is surely the lesser of the two evils.”

  “You do know this is probably going to end very horribly for you, do you not?” Reigyn asked, arching one gently curved brow.

  Adrian grinned at her mischievously. “I wouldn't be too sure about that, Reigyn darling. I'm not the one who has everything to lose.”

  Chapter Four

  Everything to lose.

  Those words sounded quite ominous to Reigyn, considering her luck and her meager experience with attempting to win a husband. She so enjoyed her time with friends, she had never really put any effort toward the pursuit at all.

  Now, here she was with only three days remaining to turn the man she considered to be her best friend into a devoted lover – and she hadn't a clue how to go about it.

  Adrian said she had everything to lose and he was right because, in this game he had waged, the only thing of importance she could lose to him now was the one thing that counted for unwed females on the marriage mart.

  He had long ago won her heart, but… did she have enough courage to offer him her body – before the vows were spoken?

  Reasoning with him would not work. He had barely listened while she had been trying to explain her plight. Blasted man. Still, it was clear to her he anticipated very much enjoying her attempts to win him over.

  Her problem was, she did not know where to begin. She had already wasted too many of the past several days trying to make him jealous by dancing with other men at various balls, sitting with them at the theater, accepting their calls instead of racing off to Hyde Park to join Adrian and their mutual friends on Rotten Row.

  As her last resort, she'd decided to play at being a bold and brash lady pirate captain, kidnap him, and have her wicked way with him, making him so enthralled with her he could not possibly say no when her father demanded he do the right thing.

  But now she had him aboard the ship, she realized her experience in the 'having ones wicked way' department was severely lacking, and Adrian wasn't helping.

  “If I were a real lady pirate captain,” Reigyn whispered to the empty cabin, “what would I do?”

  “Tie me to the bunk, of course. An attempt at which you have already failed. But then,” he pointed out and then went on. “Had you been a real pirate lady, you would have been in that bunk with me when I woke instead of leaving me to my own defenses.”

  “I would?” Reigyn asked. “Why?”

  Adrian grinned. “To ensure I had too many other things with which to occupy my time to think of untying myself, of course.”

  Arching a brow, she asked, “Such as?”

  Adrian's eyes skipped from her gaze to her feet and up again before he answered. “Come now, Reigyn. Surely you don't expect me to spell it out for you?”

  Reigyn considered for a moment, then nodded slowly before moving to stand in front of him, her palms pressed lightly against his chest. “Yes. Yes, I do, Adrian. Tell me. If you had awakened with me in that bunk, what would we be doing?”

  “That would depend,” he countered.

  Reigyn tilted her head and peered quizzically at him. “On?”

  Adrian's lingering grin turned wicked. “On whether or not you were wearing clothes.”

  Reigyn couldn't keep the blush from rising to her cheeks, though she tried to pretend a greater degree of comfort with the subject than what she was feeling.

  “I see,” she murmured. Her hands slid downward to capture his. She raised them to her chest. “And these? Would you have kept them to yourself, or would you have put them… here?”

  The feel of his palms against her scantily clad breasts was almost too much for her innocence, but then his face darkened and his brows lowered, and the teasing glint in his gaze disappeared.

  “Reigyn, what are you playing at?”

  A vixenish grin turned up the corners of her lips. She stepped closer to him, pressing against his body with her own. “Winning.”

  * * *

  Adrian bit back a groan.

  He had forgotten teasing Reigyn was akin to playing with wildfire when she had her mind set on something.

  If her current determined bent had been directed elsewhere, had her focus been on winning one of their friends, Adrian knew he would have found the situation quite hilarious... and would have done his part to make it even more so. None of their male friends would stand a chance in the face of his and Reigyn's combined cunning.

  As it were, Adrian suddenly found himself fighting a battle of wills he was not entirely certain he could win. Eyes narrowed, he decided to test her mettle. The minx. He knew her better than anyone, so she was not fooling him with her dangerously seductive play. She was an innocent. But damned if she weren't making him wish otherwise.

  His palms filled with the lush plumpness of her breasts, Adrian made to slide his hands down the soft mounds to the flat plane of her stomach, feeling the muscles of her abdomen clench underneath. Reaching the band of her breeches where the hem of her shirt was tucked in, he began pulling the fabric free, all the while keeping his eyes on her face.

  The fabric free, he gently placed his hands to her flesh. With his thumbs, he traced slow circles around her navel, fingertips grazing the tender flesh along her ribcage, raising goosebumps in their wake.

  She trembled against him. Adrian's eyes, now hooded and dark, lazily drifted to the plumpness of her lips, and suddenly he found himself wanting to kiss her more than anything.

  So he did.

  And she gasped against his lips, and Adrian took the opportunity to slip the tip of his tongue inside, groaning at the taste of her, the shy little flicks of her tongue against his.

  Forgetting her lack of experience in bedroom activities, he slid his hands up her torso, palming her bare breasts, and she arched into the touch, moaning into his mouth, twining her fingers in his hair to pull him closer, which would be impossible. Any closer and they would be one body.

  “Adrian,” she breathed. “Please.”

  Chapter Five

  Hearing Reigyn's voice, so soft and pleading, brought Adrian to his senses. He pulled away abruptly, his breath coming hard and deep into his lungs as he struggled to bring himself under control.

  He took several steps away before glancing back to where Reigyn still stood, her countenance a chameleon of reflected confusion, flushed skin, and a yearning for utter ravishment.

  He wasn't sure the small bit of distance he'd put between them would be enough to keep him from claiming her thoroughly, especial
ly not with her looking at him like she wanted him to finish what he – no, she – had begun, but it would have to do for now. He prayed his self-control held out.

  He had only meant to see how far she was willing to take this silly scheme of hers, and he'd been fully expecting her to call a halt before things could escalate between them. He should have known better.

  Reigyn wasn't one to abort a plan when things were playing out in her favor. She would see it through to the end, and that was what Adrian was afraid of, for if she succeeded, he would be honor bound to wed her. He wanted no such union between them. To be forced by honor was still force, and she deserved more.

  “Adrian?” Reigyn intoned, coming towards him with hesitant steps. “What's wrong? Did I do something I should not have done?”

  Her questions brought a smile to his lips. “Not in the way you are asking, no. You were perfect. But in the eyes of the rest of the world, yes. Yes, you did do something wrong. And you know it full well, minx.”

  Pink colored her cheeks. She glanced away to her left and then back at him. He could tell she wanted to ask him something, but was hesitant to voice the question.

  “Go on, pet,” he uttered, urging her on.

  The pink deepened and she pressed her lips together, then blurted, “Why did you stop?”

  Adrian smiled languidly, thoroughly enjoying her awkwardness. It wasn't often she acted the innocent, though she very much was one. He found it refreshing to see her hesitant to speak her mind. He reached forward to tweak her nose, but she batted his hand away before he could accomplish the task.

  “Enjoying yourself were you?” he asked, just to be a bother.

  Pink bled into red and spread from her cheeks down to her neck, and further still. Adrian could not deny she looked rather fetching like this.

  She cleared her throat and shifted from foot to foot, crossing her arms beneath her breasts.

  “It was pleasant enough, I suppose,” she quipped, and Adrian knew the blushing maiden was fast disappearing.

  “I was just worried you were having some sort of problem continuing is all. Wouldn't want to waste my future on a man who can't carry out his marital duties, you know.”

  Adrian erupted in a fit of laughter, unable to help himself.

  “Trust me, my dear, I have no problems performing,” he said, once he was able to breathe normally. “Everything is in perfect working order, I assure you.”

  “Hmm,” she breathed, pursing her lips. She uncrossed her arms to move her hands to her hips. She tilted her head to the side and gave him a challenging stare. “You've yet to prove it.”

  Adrian smiled. “Ah, but I will.”

  Reigyn cocked her brow. “When?”

  “All in due time, minx. All in due time.”

  * * *

  All in due time turned out to be several months later.

  Reigyn stood before the mirror in the bedchamber she and Adrian would share for the first time tonight – as husband and wife – looking over her wedding night attire with a critical eye. Adrian would be pleased, she thought. He certainly hadn't had any complaints when he last saw her clothed thus aboard the Merry Anne.

  The sound of the door opening and closing behind her prompted her to turn around. Her eyes fell upon Adrian and a smile spread across her lips. Her stomach fluttered and a restless feeling rooted itself in her limbs. Tonight she would belong to him completely.

  His eyes raked a slow path up and down her figure and Reigyn swore she felt it as surely as she might have a physical caress.

  “I should have known,” he drawled, crossing the floor to stand before her. His eyes twinkled with a mixture of mirth at her choice of clothing and with desire for the same reason.

  “Does it not please you, my lord husband?” Reigyn asked sweetly, before turning in a slow circle before him to better show off her pirate's outfit.

  Adrian gave her a telling look. “Any red-blooded Englishman would have to have one foot in the grave to not be pleased by your outfit, Reigyn, and even then, he could probably be persuaded to stay alive just a little longer.”

  His answer brought a chuckle from her lips and then, grinning, he gave her a mischievous look of his own. Releasing a put upon sigh, he dropped his hands to his hips and shook his head, clicking his tongue against his teeth. “I should have known.”

  “Known what?” Reigyn asked, arching her brow.

  Adrian reached out and drew her close, hands resting at her waist. Reigyn shivered at his touch, anticipating both his words and what would come next between them.

  “When I first saw you wearing this months ago aboard the Merry Anne, I knew the end was near.”

  “Oh?” Reigyn breathed. “The end of what?”

  “The end of my days of keeping you at a distance.”

  “Why did you wait so long?”

  “I suppose I was waiting for the opportune time.”

  “And my kidnapping you was that time?” Reigyn asked, amused.

  “Well,” said Adrian, cocking his head slightly. “I suppose I was always waiting for you to truly surprise me.”

  “Adrian, I am not so sure I like where this is going.”

  “Don't be a grump, Reigyn.” He pressed a swift kiss to her forehead. “You stole my heart years ago. I was simply waiting for you to show your true colors, my dear.”

  “My pirate colors you mean?” she asked, grinning widely.

  “Indeed.”

  Reigyn said nothing for a moment, then, “Adrian...if it is not too much trouble, would you be so kind as to indulge your lady pirate wife in a bit of battle? Of the pleasurable variety?”

  Grinning wolfishly, Adrian lifted her in his arms and crossed the room to the bed and laid her down atop the cool sheets. Leaning in to nuzzle her neck, he whispered into her ear, “It would be my pleasure.”

  Reigyn reached to wrap her arms around Adrian's neck. With her fingers sifting through the soft hair at his nape, she raised up to whisper back, “It shall be mine as well.”

  And so it was.

  About the Author

  Tiffany St.Claire - the “Queen of Romance in Minutes”

  Better than chocolate, without the calories!

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  Tiffany St.Claire is a mother and daughter writing team who weave tales of romance from the sweetly heart-wrenching to downright hilarious, warm and cuddly to scorchingly sensual, filled with wit, magic, and lots of love and laughter.

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