Читать книгу Seducer - Kayla Gray - Страница 14

The captain had escorted Madelaine to his cabin, taken some clothes from a built-in wardrobe and then left her alone. He hadn’t spoken except to tell her that her supper would be brought soon.

Madelaine freshened up, washing her face and finger combing her wind-tossed curls. She tried to pin the fallen tresses back up, but some strands refused to be tamed, and she had to be content to let them frame her face.

Her stomach growled in anticipation as three young sailors brought in tray after tray of food. The wiry tall one moved a small round table to the center of the room and set it as expertly as the most tutored butler, complete with a brocade linen tablecloth, silver candlesticks and exquisite red-and-gold-patterned china. The others set the trays up on a rolling buffet, and then the young men politely excused themselves, saying the captain would be joining her soon.

The door swung open and Captain Angel walked in, hanging his overcoat on a peg behind the door. He had changed into a white shirt, open at the collar, revealing his chest. The shirt was tucked into fawn-colored breeches that were tight enough to show off the cords of muscle beneath. Ending at the knee, the breeches met the tops of his high, black, polished boots. His dark hair hung long, the candlelight creating a shine on the damp strands. He had shaved, and now his masculine face held a mischievous, boyish expression as he caught her staring.

“Good evening, love.”

“Stop calling me that.”

“Why?” he asked gruffly. “Is that what Hugh calls you?”

“That’s none of your business,” she replied hastily. If she was going to continue with this ruse she would have to steel herself against the lies she would have to tell. She crossed her arms and tried to forget the way his lips had made her body burn. “Is it your intention to starve me, or is this food to be eaten?”

His light brown brow rose in annoyance, but he came around to pull out her chair. She avoided his hand on her back, dropping into the chair before he could assist her. But she couldn’t stop him from grazing her neck with his fingers, pulling a loose curl aside to clear a place for his lips. The kiss was chaste enough, but his mouth was warm and firm and somehow still managed to make her stomach flip.

“What is this?” he asked, his voice tinged with anger. “These are bruises. How did you get these, Madelaine?”

She immediately remembered Geoffrey’s cruel fingers closing tightly on her throat. She remembered not being able to breathe, the light in the room going dark, then sparks of light flashing in front of her eyes.

“Madelaine,” he said, his voice indicating his displeasure. “Did Hugh do this?”

“No!” she said in a rush. “No, he didn’t.”

He didn’t look convinced. He already hated Hugh for some mysterious reason, and she didn’t want to get Hugh in trouble for something he didn’t do. “You must believe me. If you don’t believe anything else I ever say, you must believe that Hugh did not cause these bruises.”

“Then tell me how you got them.”

“I’m not inclined to follow any more of your orders,” she said matter-of-factly.

The corner of his mouth lifted slightly, though she knew he wasn’t amused. Without a word of reprimand, he took her plate and went to the buffet. She got the uneasy feeling that he had taken her comment as a challenge.

“Why do you hate Hugh so much?” she asked, hoping to turn the subject away from herself.

He paused and turned, giving her an unobliging scowl. “He isn’t the man he appears to be. You’d do well to remember that in the future. Would you care for a taste of everything?”

“Yes,” she answered, actually looking forward to her first hearty meal in months. He placed her plate in front of her and she thanked him as he picked up his own and filled it with chicken and potatoes.

“Why should I believe what you say about Hugh? It seems like you only want to hurt him.”

“I want him to feel the depth of loss he brought on me.”

“He took a woman from you?”

He gave her a hard look. She doubted he would answer, but the answer was plain enough in his pained expression.

“Yes.”

“So you’re going to take his woman from him,” she said quietly.

He simply looked at her and swallowed a bite of food.

“I don’t see how that’s fair to either of the women involved. Have you even considered that? Do we matter at all to either of you?”

“You should consider what I’ve told you a gift. Now you know the truth, and if you choose to stay with him, you have no one to blame but yourself.”

He seemed so sincere, and she started to wonder how much Olivia knew about the man she wished to marry.

“How well do you know Hugh?” he asked, as if reading her thoughts.

From what Olivia had told her on deck earlier, she realized the lovestruck girl didn’t know much about the man she was to marry. She couldn’t answer for her friend.

“That’s what I thought. You’re not betrothed yet. You could still back out of the arrangement.”

“I think I’ve heard enough of your opinions about Hugh. Obviously you would say anything to sway me. I would prefer that you don’t bring him up again, Captain Angel.” She sliced a juicy piece of chicken, hoping he would drop the subject.

His dark eyes narrowed and the dimple in his cheek deepened with his disarming smile.

“Don’t be so formal, Madelaine. I don’t like it. Just call me Angel.”

“We aren’t friends.”

“But we’re going to be more than that soon,” he reminded her wickedly. “You haven’t forgotten, have you?”

She swallowed a bite of chicken, thankful for the sauce that helped it slide down her suddenly dry throat.

“Did you forget that I said I wouldn’t go through with it?”

“I’ve decided to forgive you for that outburst,” he said, licking sauce from his finger. “I’m very much looking forward to sealing our bargain, aren’t you?”

“Certainly not!” she hissed, then lowered her gaze to her plate.

Her denial had been adamant enough, but her traitorous body had reacted to the seductive hunger in his eyes.

“I believe your affable response to me on deck today is answer enough.”

Kane took a sip of the deep red wine and watched Madelaine’s face flush to a similar color.

“Perhaps you would indulge me with an explanation of your kind, Angel,” she said with icy disdain.

He admired her spirit, her fearless abandon to use his name as if it was an insult.

“My kind?”

“Men,” she said, then tasted and savored a bite of chicken.

“What would you like to know?”

“Why do you think it’s acceptable to treat women as if they were no more than figurines in a chess game? You tell us what to do, as if we were children. You protect us, as if we had no common sense. You marry us for what our fathers entice you with, yet then you use us to make your rivals jealous. You act as if you own us—in fact, history has written laws to make sure we are forced to obey. What makes you worthy of all that power?”

“I don’t know, love. Is it so bad, being a woman? Being adored by men and lavished with love and fine things? Children, a home, gowns, jewels.”

“Oh, never mind! You couldn’t possibly understand. Why did I think for a minute—and wipe that silly look off your face before I drown you with this wine,” she threatened, lifting her wineglass. She took a deep sip instead, then dabbed her lips and rose from the table.

He hadn’t meant to upset her this much. She was far too discerning and he was burning to know what she saw in a man like Hugh. And he wanted to know what had happened to her in her cultured upbringing to make her so hostile.

“You’re very fortunate, you know. There are plenty of women who would switch places with you in an instant to know the life that you’ve lived. Even as a woman, Madelaine, you’ve had a much more privileged life than most. And as much as you think you might want to be a man, you should be grateful you’re a woman. God knows I am,” he said, hoping to lure a smile out of her.

She glared at him instead.

“You’re free.”

“Pardon?” The peculiar statement caught him by surprise. He was still entranced with the mystery of what had made her so offended by such a simple though absolute verity of nature.

“You can go where you want, say what you want. You can live alone or have a family if you wish, but you don’t have to rely on anyone but yourself. You don’t require an escort to attend a party, nor would your father force you to—”

“To marry? Is that it? You don’t want to marry Hugh, do you?”

She groaned. “No. No, that’s not what I meant. I drank too much wine, that’s all.”

“You had one glass.”

“Which is too much, considering the distress I’m enduring. You wouldn’t understand unless you’d been kidnapped by a pirate. I take it you have not.”

Kane smiled at her clever excuse. He found his bitterness slipping away. He was seeing her as an intelligent, captivating beauty with a wit to match that of his most sarcastic friend, Jax. He was actually enjoying her company. “No, I have not. But there might be something I can do to ease your distress somewhat. I’ll reveal a secret to you.”

She perked up at that, lifting her luminous face and tilting her head in expectation. She looked as regal as a queen, yet as alluring as a siren. Delicate collarbones curved away from her slender neck, drawing his eye to her ivory skin. Her breasts seemed to struggle against the tight fabric of her dress, the soft green accentuating the sparkle of green in her eyes. His thoughts were drawn back to the vision of her stalking away from him, her hips swaying provocatively beneath the layers of that blasted fabric. Fabric that hid her glorious secrets from him. Though not for much longer.

“I am not a pirate.”

To his surprise, she tossed back her head and laughed. Most women would have breathed a sigh of relief, but not Madelaine. He should have known.

After a moment or two, she stopped laughing and looked at him, obviously waiting for him to say more. He’d meant to give her comfort, not make himself look a fool.

“That was supposed to ease my distress?”

He nodded and shrugged.

“Pirate is just an occupation, Angel. Men are more than what they do to live. Besides, even if I believed you, which I don’t, you still attacked our ship. You still kidnapped us and you’re going to extort money from Hugh. If you weren’t a pirate before, then you certainly are one now.”

“Don’t be absurd,” he said, his ire rising. The woman was stubborn beyond reason.

“I only have my own experiences to go by. If I am wrong about you, Angel, I do apologize. Oh, I suppose your name isn’t really Angel, either, is it?”

He didn’t answer. He couldn’t tell her his name, especially now that she knew his face so well. Damn, this wasn’t going the way he’d planned it at all. He was muddying his well-honed hatred of Hugh with emotions for this woman that were no less powerful.

“Hmm, that’s what I thought,” she said.

“A pirate wouldn’t have bothered to give you a choice in the matter of sharing his bed.”

“Choice? What choice did you give me? Agree, or leave Olivia to the whims of the ocean and the Oxford’s crew for heaven knows how long.”

“She’s a maid,” he said, believing he was being reasonable.

“So, as a maid, she’s not worthy of her dignity?”

He sighed, lifting his palms for divine assistance. “The world isn’t always fair, Madelaine.”

“No, it’s not. And speaking of not being fair,” she said, swallowing hard, “there will be no bargain.”

“What?” His voice was dangerously low, his patience clearly running thin.

“You heard me. As I told you earlier, I won’t honor that devil’s bargain. I won’t share your bed.”

“You dare to think I’ll let you out of your agreement?”

“No, you’re not letting me do anything. I’m doing it all on my own. I’m telling you I will not sleep with you,” she finished, with a toss of honey-colored waves.

Kane tossed his napkin on the table, then pushed his chair back. He crossed his legs at the ankle, trying to appear calm, despite the raging pulse roaring in his ears.

“So be it.”

“You won’t force me?” she asked, in utter surprise.

“I’m not a rapist, Madelaine. I simply negotiated a trade that suits my needs.”

She gasped at his crude appraisal of the agreement she’d made with him. He didn’t care that he was being boorish. He now felt an irrational need to hurt her.

“Your needs are all you care about. What about my needs?” she retorted.

“Oh, you needn’t worry. I’m more than looking forward to seeing to your needs.”

“What I need is for you to leave me alone. Take your ransom and be done with it. It’s not necessary to bring me or Olivia into your business with Hugh.”

“It’s too late, Madelaine. I wouldn’t have come in search of you, but now that you are here, well, it looks like my revenge was written by fate.”

“I won’t allow it. And you just admitted that you won’t force me.”

She was trying to sound haughty but didn’t realize she was twisting the edge of her napkin into a tight spiral.

“And I won’t,” he said smoothly, rising from the table.

She nearly jumped out of her skin when he pressed a chaste kiss on her closed lips. She tasted like the wine, only sweeter. He straightened and she glanced up at him, her eyelids heavy, her lips parted. Now she wanted more. Heaven help him, he was going to leave her alone tonight. But by God, Hugh owed him and he was going to collect.

“Sweet dreams, love,” he said, then left the cabin to cool his raging desire in the evening sea breeze.