The Pirate Prince Read Online Free PDF Page B

if she is still virginal?”
    “If you’re asking whether I took her maidenhead, no, I did not, though it was a struggle not to. Her beauty is luminous, her body lush and ripe. I would have ravished herhad I not come to my senses in time. Ibrahim will be pleased with her.”
    Mustafa chuckled. “I’m surprised you were able to control yourself, master. It has been a long time since either of us tasted a woman’s sweet flesh. ’Tis good we are returning to Lipsi. Where will you keep Ibrahim’s woman?”
    Ibrahim’s woman
. Somehow the words bothered Dariq. “Willow will reside in my harem with Safiye. She will be safe there until she is placed in Ibrahim’s keeping.”
    “Who is going to keep her safe from you, my lord prince? Or from Safiye, for that matter. Your concubine will not welcome another woman to the harem. She has had you to herself too long.”
    “Do not imagine trouble where none exists,” Dariq groused. “Safiye will abide by my wishes once she realizes I have no sexual interest in Willow.”
    “As you say,” Mustafa said disbelievingly.
    Willow paced the cabin, searching for a weapon she could use to defend herself. The washbowl and pitcher offered possibilities, as did a heavy globe and letter opener sitting on the desk. She hoped there would be no need for violence, but she didn’t trust the pirate prince. While his lips said one thing, his wicked silver eyes promised another.
    Though her situation seemed hopeless, she hadn’t given up. If Dariq could be believed, she had several weeks to change his mind about sending her to the sultan.
    Willow paced to the large set of windows overlooking the stern of the ship and gazed at the gentle waves slapping against the hull. Her thoughts traveled backward to Marseilles, remembering the wonderful weeks she had spent with her mother, and how she looked forward to returning home to her father and friends in London. Hercozy world had shattered when a vile pirate had captured her ship and taken her and her maid prisoner.
    She thanked God that they hadn’t been hurt physically. She and Kitty had hovered together in the small cabin they had been given until they were dragged out and sold to a slave master in Algiers. It still hurt that she and Kitty had been separated soon afterward. Though Willow had learned her fate early on, she hadn’t known what had happened to Kitty, until Dariq told her.
    Willow knew nothing about the island of Lipsi. In fact, she’d never heard of it. But one thing she did know. If there was a way to escape, she would find it.
    That night a young cabin boy brought Willow’s dinner on a tray. When she attempted to speak to him, he lowered his eyes and quickly departed. It was obvious he neither understood nor spoke English.
    Willow picked without appetite at the spicy rice and lamb dish, and then went to bed fully clothed. Though she tried to stay awake and watchful, exhaustion conquered her good intentions. She was sleeping soundly when Dariq entered the cabin.
    Dariq walked to the bed and stared down at her. Moonbeams streamed through the stern windows and fell across the bed. He sucked in a quick breath. Willow’s hair, gilded by moonlight, was spread across the pillow like a golden cloak. She had shifted in her sleep, exposing her breasts above the low neckline of her vest.
    Dariq’s thoughts ran amok when he saw two coral nipples peeking out at him. His first inclination was to take a succulent bud into his mouth and suckle it. His head lowered and his mouth opened. Fortunately, his wits returned and he started to back away. Willow chose that moment to open her eyes. She gave a little shriek and scooted upinto a sitting position, unaware of the fetching sight she made with her breasts bared.
    “What do you want?”
    “Naught,” Dariq replied. “Go back to sleep.”
    Dragging his gaze from her rosy nipples, he continued on to the small room where he intended to sleep during the remainder of the voyage.
    But sleep eluded