Juliet froze.
Katherine was horrified—what did he intend for her younger friend? Surely he would not abuse them both? She was on her feet, in front of Juliet. “S-she stays w-with me.”
He raised one of his brows and laughed. “How brave you are, mistress. But you do not give orders upon my ship. Lady, come.”
Juliet did not move, and Katherine gripped her arm, preventing her from obeying him. “What do you intend?”
He held her eyes. “Not what you are so obviously thinking, sweetheart. I have no need of your friend—your charms will occupy me well this night. But unless you wish an audience, the lady leaves.”
Katherine swallowed, her color higher. She did not release Juliet. “C-captain.”
He looked amused.
“You surely think to ransom me?”
His gaze moved from her eyes, to her full mouth, then down to her bosom, flattened by the current style of dress. Katherine’s nipples were tight. From breathing so hard and fast. Did he now notice the shabby state of her clothing, or the charms he had so recently referred to? “’Tis not what you must think!” she cried in a rush. “I am no serving girl; I am the daughter of an earl!”
He lifted one tawny brow slightly.
“I swear upon the cross and all that is holy,” Katherine said frantically, “I am the earl of Desmond’s daughter.”
He said, “Lady Juliet. Do you wish to be removed in a forcible manner from this cabin?”
Juliet shook her head no, freed herself from Katherine’s grasp, and quickly walked toward the pirate. Katherine was panicked, aware that her fate was soon to be sealed. The captain of theSea Daggeropened the door. Macgregor waited there with supreme indifference. Juliet was handed over to the seaman, and then the door was closed and the pirate faced Katherine, a slow smile spreading across his face. He moved toward her.
Katherine lost the last of her good sense. As he came forward she flew toward the door. He caught her easily as she tried to rush past him, and a moment later she was pressed against the very door she wished to escape through. But his huge hands held her shoulders firmly, pinning her to the wood, and one of his thighs was suddenly between her legs, much too intimately. Katherine could not move.
“So foolish, sweetheart. I am not going to hurt you. I would never hurt a flower such as you. Pluck, yes. Hurt, no.”
Katherine tried to compose herself in the face of his soft, seductive tone—no easy task when pressed against his formidable body. “I am the earl’s daughter,” she said desperately. “He will kill you for this trespass.”
“Desmond can hardly kill me,” he said easily. He did not appear to be moved at all by the fact of her parentage.
“Then you do not know him,” Katherine insisted.
“I know him,” he said, and then he touched her face with one hand. His palm stroked her cheek and jaw. Katherine froze, wishing he would cease his butterfly touch.
“And soon I will know you,” he whispered, his mouth coming close to hers. “Soon I must know you.”
Katherine gasped then, for his huge phallus brushed against the joining place of her thighs.
He murmured, “You are a great beauty, mistress, the kind of woman to haunt a man’s dreams.”
Katherine’s gaze flew to his. He had not moved awayfrom her and she was acutely aware of his virility, and what would soon happen if she did not somehow defend herself. And for one single moment, she did not, could not, move.
Abruptly she writhed and jerked against him, but he only tightened his grip upon her. “You have hardly dreamed of me, pirate, for we have just met!”
He grinned briefly. “I am going too fast. That is not my intention.” But he did not move away from her. “Relax, sweetheart, relax. You cannot win in any love play that occurs between us. I am far too experienced. I am not going to hurt you. I am going to please you.”
Katherine was frozen but a moment. “You think to steal my virtue and not hurt me? ’Tis impossible! And a man such as you could never please me—not in any way.”
He laughed. And as he laughed, he slid one arm behind her, drawing her even farther into his embrace. Again he touched her face, his fingertips fluttering across her skin. “Foolish—innocent—green.”
Katherine trembled. His tone was far too soft. “Release me,” she whispered.
“I can—and shall—please you, darling, in every possible way.” His regard held hers.
She could hardly guess at his meaning, but she blushed. Crazy, jumbled images of a man and woman entwined rushed through her mind, the man big and bold and blond.
