Captive to a Pirate Read online

  “Jesus Christ, woman!”

  Spinning her around, he pushed her face into the wall and took the bandage she’d used for binding her breasts, then quickly tied her wrists together as she swore and fought and scratched at him. She still had her feet and teeth and head and whatever else she might decide to use as a weapon, but at least he had control of her hands. Even tied, he still didn’t trust her, so patted over her hips to find all of her knives and toss them aside. Feeling the curve of her hips and the firm roundness of her ass, he had to marvel at how well she’d hidden her body beneath baggy male clothing.

  Once he was fairly sure she was unarmed, he leaned in against her, closing his eyes as he inhaled the scent at the back of her neck. She’d found some way to bathe herself on the ship, but there was a faint hint of the right scent there. She could be O’Cullane’s daughter. He shoved her back around to face him again, but this time pressed his body in close against hers so that she had no room to kick him. Her squirming and the jiggling of her bared breasts were having an unwanted effect on his body and when she abruptly went still and her pale cheeks turned bright red he could tell she’d noticed his arousal. Distractingly, he felt her hips shift forward to press against him in a purposeful movement.

  Liam took a deep breath and then let it out to center himself, as he had more important things to worry about than a redhead wriggling on his cock.

  “Start talking, luv. Tell me why I should believe you’re Donny’s and what you know about this map you claim I have.”

  She fumed with her face downcast for a moment, then lifted her chin defiantly, glaring at him through narrowed eyes as dark and blue as the depths of the sea. Again, he was dismayed that he’d been so stupid as to not see through her disguise. Most people saw what they expected to see, but he should have been better than that. He had more than human eyes to rely on.

  “My name’s Brigid O’Cullane. You sent a letter to my mother telling her that my father died on the twenty-seventh of June and you lacked the decency to come and tell us in person. He was the first mate on the Nightbird’s Journey, a privateer for Britain and working against the Spanish. He took you under his wing when you were twelve and he’d be ashamed of you now, working as a pirate.”

  “You’ve been pirating as well.”

  “I’m just here because of you,” she countered. “The map would have been among his personal belongings. It showed an island which looks a bit like a turtle with one flipper missing. It is mine and I want it.”

  Liam was quiet for a moment, resting one arm against the wall and leaning into it as he looked Brigid over, contemplating what she had said. The resemblance to Donny was clear enough—though the older man had lacked that fine pair of breasts, Liam noted to himself wryly—and she knew things no one else should have been able to tell him. The trouble was that he had no interest in giving up the map. He’d been working for weeks on figuring out which island was shown on it, since the crafty old bastard hadn’t given coordinates. Donny’s widow and daughter would have a house full of things to remember him by and all the wealth he’d been sending home for decades. Liam had memories and a map. Was it really too much for him to keep?

  “So, say I have this map,” he began, lightly tracing one finger down the center of her chest. He saw her shudder as she leaned into the touch, which made him grin. Well then. He had been wondering why a lad would always blush and avoid his eyes when they were alone. Knowing the lass beneath the disguise was attracted to him changed everything. “What would I have to gain by giving it to you?”

  CHAPTER THREE

  IN THE ARMS OF THE PIRATE

  BRIGID narrowed her eyes, trying to ignore the shivers he was currently eliciting. A difficult task when she could feel his hips settled against hers, the hard heat of his cock prodding her. All she wanted to do was press to him and feel him places no one had ever touched her. “You’d know you’d done right by someone you claimed as a mate. It’s the decent thing to do.”

  “Mm, funny thing that.” Liam’s callused hand cupped one of her breasts and she made a soft, involuntary sound as she automatically leaned into the touch, feeling her nipple harden against his palm. Deep inside, her body clenched and a wave of heat collected between her thighs. “It assumes I’m a decent man to begin with.”

  “The map’s useless to you. He never marked where the island actually is.”

  His thumb began dragging back and forth over her erect nipple, making her whimper. Her knees went weak, but he must have felt it as well. His body pressed to hers harder to keep her in place against the wall and she moaned at the feel of his cock working against her through her breeches. Her arms pulled uselessly at the cloth knotting them together behind her back.

  “Are you a navigator, lass?” he murmured beside her ear, his warm breath making her shudder.

  “No.”

  “Then how would you ever find the island either?”

  “I went there with him. I’ve seen it.”

  “And I know where he’s sailed. I’d find it eventually.”

  His thumb was now working in agonizingly slow circles. As her eyes fluttered shut, she wondered if using her body to distract him might be to her advantage, but she doubted it. He was far too in control and flustering her too well for that. Every little shift of her legs made her aware of the slick dampness collecting between them and the way his achingly hard cock was pressed to her.

  “You don’t know about the traps. Or how to get there safely,” Brigid said.

  “Traps, hm?” His lips slid over hers, a soft teasing brush that made her breath freeze in her throat. “Map doesn’t mention any traps.”

  “Of course not. He didn’t want anyone but me to find what was there.”

  She expected him to find some new way to counter her. Instead, he kissed her again, his lips caressing hers in slow, languorous strokes. Brigid was still for a moment, unsure of how to respond. When she felt him catch her bottom lip to suckle at it, she moaned involuntarily and leaned forward to press her lips to his. His tongue slipped past her lips to explore her mouth, sending shudders down her spine and making fresh heat throb in her sex. As his lips and tongue and teeth coaxed responses from her, both of his hands moved to cup her breasts, his thumbs teasing at her nipples.

  One of his thighs insinuated itself between her legs, pressing up against her and rocking there. Every movement made her shudder in response as rough fabric slid against her aroused flesh. She squirmed between him and the wall, frustrated with her hands being bound. After she threatened to shoot him in the head, she could understand why he’d keep her wrists tied behind her back, but it was difficult to trust him at all when he had made a threat of his own regarding the brig and still refused to hand over the map. And then there was the matter of him not simply sending it home to her mother in the first place.

  Liam drew back from the kiss, scraping her bottom lip between his teeth and suckling before placing a gentle kiss on it. “You tell me where the island is and about all these traps, I’ll get us there safely. We can split whatever he left on the island eighty/twenty, in my favor.”

  Brigid made a sound of disgust as she leaned as far back into the wall as she could to look him in the eye. “It’s my map. You wouldn’t do anything useful for me.”

  “Luv, you don’t even know where the map is. Without me, you have nothing.”

  “And you’d be all right with that? Depriving your dead shipmate’s widow and daughter of what he left for them?”

  “I’m a pirate. Did you expect honor?” he asked, smirking. “In Donny’s memory, I suppose I could go down to sixty/forty.”

  Before she could argue further, he was ducking down her body. His tongue dragged down her throat, making her skin burn where he touched her and then feel chilled once he had passed by. A wet trail moved down over her pulse, then followed her collarbone before moving down her chest. He drew a circle with his tongue around one breast before coming up from below. His tongue teased at the underside of her nippl
e before he drew it into his mouth and suckled. In spite of herself, she moaned and leaned into the touch, her eyes closing once again. The gentle tug and pull of his sucking made her body tighten and she was certain she had to be soaking through her breeches with arousal. The press of his thigh against her was welcome and she rolled her hips against him, working herself against his thigh.

  “I’ll give you five percent,” she said, her voice tight around the words.

  He chuckled against her breast, his breath chilling the damp skin. “Fifty.”

  “Ten.”

  “Forty or you’ll just have to go wander that island alone without a map.”

  She grit her teeth, mentally debating how likely it was she could steal the map from him once he let his guard down. There seemed to be no way to get it honestly without giving away a massive amount of her inheritance. “Fine,” she said, with all the spite she could muster.

  Liam kissed his way up from her breast, his stubble scraping at the tender skin of her throat when he nuzzled there. She shuddered at the touch and tipped her head back slightly to expose more of her throat to him, which he took as an invitation to bite down on the side of her neck, bringing his body close against hers. His hands were working her belt open, his teeth torturing her flesh and all she could do was whimper, thoughts of her father’s gold falling away. When his teeth left her throat, she made a soft sound, the pain seeming somehow sharper in the absence of his bite.

  “We have a deal, Brigid. ’Tis a pleasure doing business with you,” he said before his lips crushed against hers. The kiss was demanding this time as he plundered her mouth, claiming her. All she could do was give herself up to it, responding to savage hunger as his tongue stroked over hers and explored her mouth.

  Her belt finally came undone in his hands and she felt his fingers slip inside of her breeches. She had sewn a few pairs of simple linen hose to wear under the breeches, for added protection from prying eyes when her clothing became wet and clung to her skin. His fingers slid over them, perhaps confused by her alterations to her undergarments, but once he found the knot keeping them in place he deftly opened them with one hand. The first touch of his fingers against her soft mound of red curls made her gasp and stiffen, her heart pounding so hard she was sure the vibration had to be visible through her skin. He either didn’t notice her response or didn’t worry about it; his hand only moved lower.

  His middle finger slid along her slick lips, teasing at them as it glided back and forth. Her hands clenched into useless fists behind her back and she shuddered and struggled between him and the wall, moaning. He ducked down abruptly, abandoning her lips, and brought his kiss to the breast he’d neglected before. Just as he began suckling there, she felt his finger press between the folds of her sex, the tip of his finger circling her clit. Her hips jerked forward at the sensation and she whimpered, squirming in frustration. Tied as she was only heightened every little touch from him, because she was unable to touch him in return.

  That single finger flicked and teased against her with expert precision, circling around the sensitive nub before brushing directly against the tip. His tongue at her breast mimicked the movements of his finger, though there was the addition of his teeth lightly nipping and the pull of his suckling. After a moment, she felt him slide two fingers against her arousal, lightly rubbing on either side and gently applying pressure between them before sliding against her directly again.

  Brigid whimpered, her hips thrusting forward against his hand in search of some last bit of contact she craved but couldn’t describe. “Fuck,” she breathed.

  His mouth abandoned her nipple for a moment, to allow him to speak. “In good time, luv.”

  Those two fingers between her thighs slid forward, his thumb now taking their place working against her clit. His teeth caught her nipple to tug as he sucked, his fingers pushing inside of her at the same time. She cried out at the unexpected yet welcome feeling, then bit down on her bottom lip to try to silence herself. If he had come back to the ship, others might have as well.

  Liam’s fingers thrust into her steadily, his thumb working back and forth against her clit. He kissed and nuzzled his way across her chest to catch her other nipple between his lips, scraping it between his teeth. A sudden shudder wracked Brigid’s body and she arched between him and the wall, hissing through her teeth. Her hips rocked reflexively, the muscles of her stomach fluttering with the tremors of her orgasm. His fingers continued working inside of her, his thumb drawing delicious circles.

  As some of the tension began to ease, she felt him leave her breast, kissing his way back up her body. His lips slid over hers before he nuzzled at her cheek, brushing it with more kisses. “You’re very sensitive.”

  She made a soft sound in response, unsure of what to say or if she could even form words at the moment.

  His hands moved to hold her by the hips, turning her body against the wall. She moved pliantly with his urging, wondering if he meant to untie her hands now. Instead, she felt him pushing her clothing down off of her hips and then mold his body against her back. There was the sound of his belt unbuckling, followed by the feeling of hot, hard flesh against her naked ass, making her body tighten in fresh hunger.

  One of his hands brushed her hair over her shoulder, exposing the back of her neck, and he stroked his lips over the freshly bared skin. “Do you want me, lass?”

  “Yes,” she said, the words barely a whisper.

  His hands guided her thighs farther apart, as far as they could go with her breeches around her ankles, and then she felt the thick head of his cock pressed to her virgin entrance. Her body tensed in worry, fearful of pain, but he only rocked there, easing himself past her lips. Every tiny movement he made pressed him that much deeper into her and then he drew back again. Just a fraction of an inch at a time he’d slide into her, then pull back. One of his hands skimmed over her stomach before moving down between her thighs, using his middle finger to stroke her clit again. His other hand cradled one of her breasts, massaging it as he kissed along the side of her neck.

  He rolled his hips forward again, pushing deeper into her and she hissed as she felt her barrier give. Instantly, Liam stilled and she felt him draw his face back from her throat. A touch breathless, she turned to look back toward him over her shoulder. His brows were knotted together, a faint frown on his lips, but as soon as their eyes met he leaned in to kiss her. She moaned softly into the kiss, pressing back against him as he worked deeper into her again. There was an unexpected intimacy in their height being so close, their bodies lining up perfectly.

  Bit by bit, he pressed into her until their bodies were flush, his hips cradling the curve of her ass. He rocked their bodies together, making her whimper against his lips, before he drew back and thrust into her. The kiss broke, Brigid gasping for breath and she heard him groan before he buried his face in the side of her neck. Each thrust used almost his entire length, pressing into her until her body was forced forward against the wall. Her hands felt useless behind her, pinned between their bodies and tied together. She squirmed as she moaned, gripping his shirt because it was all she could grasp.

  As he continued working in and out of her body, his thrusts began to come faster, the finger he was caressing her clit with keeping up the pace. The angle he was at from behind her made his cock drag along her inner walls, sending tremors through her body with each stroke. Coupled with the movements of his finger, she thought she might go mad or scream. She had to bite down on her bottom lip again to stay quiet, worrying about biting it bloody. Her hips rolled back to meet his thrusts, though as he went faster it became impossible to match his rhythm. At her breast, his fingers were pinching and teasing her nipple between them, still massaging the soft mound in his palm.

  “That feels so good,” she said, the words strangled on a moan.

  He made a quiet sound, acknowledging that, and kissed his way back up her neck. “Aye, luv. Stop holding back and let yourself enjoy it. No one will hear us down he
re.”

  Brigid wasn’t sure if she actually believed that, but speaking had already broken the dam. On his next thrust, she cried out. Each time he worked into her, she couldn’t stop herself from gasping or moaning and murmuring soft obscenities, all of which seemed to only spur him on. His kisses at her throat grew more ardent, his own breath ragged and the occasional stroke punctuated with a quiet, masculine groan.

  When she felt his teeth dig into the back of her neck in another bite, all of the tension in her body snapped and her voice bordered on a breathless scream. She arched her back as she writhed between him and the wall, rocking forward into the finger that stroked her and then back onto his cock, shudders of pleasure wracking her frame. In the throes of her release, she could feel him bite down just a little harder, his groan muffled at the back of her neck, and he buried himself completely in her heat. The feeling of his hot seed flooding her sent new shivers through her and she trailed off into a quiet whimper, her hands twisting in his shirt behind her back.

  He kept rocking into her even as they both came down from their orgasms. She leaned into the wall heavily, trying to catch her breath. His teeth released the back of her neck and brushed soft kisses there. The feel of him pulling out of her made her hiss softly, though more gentle kisses made up for it. She felt his hands untying her wrists and then he was gone from her back.

  Turning around somewhat shakily, she continued to rest against the wall. Liam had reclined back on the bed and looked out of breath as well as he pulled his breeches back into place and belted them.

  “So when do you want to leave to go find this island?” he asked.

  She was silent for a moment, stunned that he was back on that topic so quickly, not even waiting for them to get their clothes together. Blushing in shame at her own stupidity, she leaned down to pull her breeches back up, then held the torn shirt closed with one hand. He’d tied her up and threatened her with the brig. He refused to give her the map her dead father had intended for her. They weren’t lovers. At best, she was a captive he was using to find his way to the treasure. She doubted he’d let her keep her share, so why should she expect any tenderness now?