“Stop!” she pleaded, catching his dark hair as he teased her belly with the hot tip of his tongue. Swallowing, seeking breath, she dragged him to her. She pressed her lips passionately to his, then drew away. Tears glazed her eyes. “I cannot! I will not let them hang you!”
His lashes fell, dark over his eyes. “They are not going to hang me, love.”
“What?” she cried. “Oh, Roc! You must not be overconfident because you are Lord Cameron!”
He paused then, and cradled her in his arms. He ran his palms over her naked breasts tenderly, and he thought that he had never seen her more beautiful, more gentle, than at this moment. The trees rocked their branches above. Her nightgown hovered in a soft blue swirl about her hips while the beauty of her throat and breasts and torso were bared to his eyes. Her hair cascaded all about her, sunlight, sunset. Her eyes were all teal, liquid with her love for him.
He had never felt more humble, and he trembled. He had never known what love could be. Now, it was his. It was more precious that life, limb, earth, or country. She was life. His life. Their child grew within her. Their future stretched before them. He had loved the land before; now it was everything. Now it would be shared.
“My God!” he whispered, and his fingers shook as he smoothed away her hair. “Skye, I love you. I cannot say it deeply enough. I love you.”
“I love you!” she whispered, and the tears still stung her eyes.
He smiled, holding her tight, cherishing and savoring the soft feel of her naked chest as he held her against his body. “I’m not going to hang, my love, because the lieutenant governor has been in on it all the time.”
“What!” Stunned, she broke away from him. He was reminded of the daring temptress who had fought him so fiercely on the deck of theSilver Messenger, the very first day he had seen her.
He nodded slowly, watching her flashing eyes. “I was asked to be a pirate, milady. I stole nothing. I tried to learn the plans of the real rogues at their hideaways, and I captured ships, but only my own ships, or imaginary ships, or ships that I captured from other pirates to send on home.”
“But—but—”
He lifted his hands. “Spotswood would deny it, of course. He is a servant of the Crown. But several years ago I had a ship taken and my crew was butchered, and I could not help but want to seek revenge. Alexander and I spent a night drinking and…the Silver Hawk was born.”
“But the place on Bone Cay—”
“I own it. The Camerons have owned it for at least fifty years.”
“Oh!”
“Love, I’m sorry! I could not tell you. You already despised the man you were to marry, and I had sworn to Alexander that I would never divulge the truth to anyone.”
“But Robert—”
“Robert Arrowsmith has always been one of my best friends. I have given him a plot of land connecting ours. He is going to become a gentleman planter now.”
“What of Mr. Soames and Señor Rivas and—”
He shrugged. “They like the Caribbean. And I have no intention of giving up my island. It holds wonderful memories for me, and can be fine to visit in the winter. The pardon you spoke of before has come through. Men in authority have gone to take control of New Providence. The Silver Hawk will seek a pardon, turn his property over to his deserving cousin—Lord Cameron—and then disappear into the pages of history.”
“Then you won’t—you won’t set sail again?” she whispered.
“Alas, no, my love. My pirating days are over. Jack is gone, and Logan is gone. One day Spotswood will have Blackbeard, but I haven’t the heart for that fight, and the lieutenant governor has decided that my usefulness to the Crown is over. I am a changed man, love! I swear it!”
“Oh!” she gasped.
He stroked her cheek, and laid her down upon the pines. “I love this place,” he whispered. “I want our son to grow here. I want it to be the finest estate in all Tidewater Virginia.”
“Ummm,” she murmured.
“Say something!” he implored her. “Will you mind so very much that the Hawk is not to hang?”
She shook her head. She stretched her arms around him and drew him close, loving the masculine hardness of his body as it pressed against hers on their bed of pines. “I’m glad he’s not to hang,” she whispered. “And since he is not…”
“Since he is not?”
“Then I demand that he love me here, in this Eden. Perhaps he is of no more use to the Crown, but his lady shall always demand his time, and his energy.”
“Ah, but the Hawk will be gone! ’Tis Lord Cameron who will give you his life and his love and his passion.”
