Her Gentleman Pirate (High Seas & High Stakes Book 2) Read Online Free PDF Page B

peeked at him through her lashes. He was lying on his back, one arm acting as a pillow beneath his head. He stared at the ceiling, his face relaxed but contemplative. What was he thinking? Was he hoping she’d crawl up over his chest and kiss him? Slide her hand along his smooth stomach until she hit the apex between his thighs and stroked him harder than he already was. Heat pooled at her core and she inwardly cursed herself to Hades.
    “Goodnight, Arabella.”
    The air in her lungs vanished. Her name on his lips wasn’t anything she wished to hear now or ever. It rolled off his tongue in the brogue she’d heard only once before, eliciting a deep-rooted sense of rightness to spark in her soul.
    Damn the man. “Go to hell,” she replied, rolling over once more and giving him the view of her back.
    Her conflicting emotions were absurd as the situation she now found herself. Arabella clutched the pillow, refusing her body to turn back to the captain and take what he offered. A night of passion, most likely the only one she’d ever enjoy, but she could not. He had wronged her, taken her against her will, damn it. In Malta her life had been organized, planned, her future set and no matter how droll it would be, it was her lot in life. She could not go to her marriage bed ruined.
    Despair washed over her like a wave. Who was she kidding. She was already ruined thanks to the ass beside her. Damn him.

Chapter 4
    A rabella woke in a tangle of arms and legs. A solid heartbeat thumped beneath her cheek and she stilled as realization hit her. She could not be asleep, cuddled up to the most inappropriate man she’d ever met in her entire life.
    His hand slid down her back and she inwardly cursed. The shift she’d worn to bed had twisted about her waist and she couldn’t move. She tried to ease away, not wanting him to find her in his arms like some wanton hussy he picked up in a port.
    “Going somewhere?” His voice sounded husky with sleep.
    Arabella jumped and met his gaze. “I think it’s obvious that I am.” She scrambled back, but not quick enough. He rolled her onto her back, his lower body tantalizingly close to the apex of her thighs. Again, heat pooled at her core and she fought not to let her legs open to him and show him without words what her body desperately craved.
    The touch of a man. Not a boy who ignored her, enjoyed his friends more than his betrothed, but a man who enjoyed women, pleasured them and left them wanting more.
    As if sensing her need he pushed gently against her. Arabella gasped and fought not to give way to him. He no longer looked sleepy but intense. His whole being zeroed in on her, waiting, wanting, asking a silent question she could not answer.
    Not because she didn’t want to but because her voice seemed incapable of function. She cleared her throat. “Get off, you brute.”
    He did as she asked, grinning before he sat up on his elbow. The sheet dipped past his stomach and again she was reminded of his spectacular form. He patted the bed. “I was enjoying our closer arrangement. Perhaps you’d like to remove your shift and come and join me again.”
    Arabella clenched her fists. He was impossible. Impossible to ignore… “I think somewhere along our association you’ve become confused. I don’t want to have anything to do with you. I just want you to get whatever you think is owed so I can leave. This is all.”
    “Did you know that when you slept in my arms, you stroked my chest and sighed? I think deep down in your conscience you want me.” Could he sound more smug? He flipped the bedding back and stood, giving her the first full view of his back.
    Oh, good God . It was perhaps just as perfect as his front. She shook her head as he stretched, even at this distance, his strength and height making her feel miniscule in the room.
    “That’s it. I’ve had enough.” Arabella pulled at her skirts that were caught beneath her bottom; fell onto the floor trying to get as far