Page 4 of Immortal Pirates

Raine realized his fingers were unsteady as a school boy’s as he drew her closer and fumbled with the leather straps that crossed over the mystery of her breasts. The accoutrements fell to the ground in a dull clattering thump, but he hardly noticed, for she had filled his senses: the scent of her, the sight of her wide, dark eyes and their thick lashes, the softness of her skin, the quiet rush of her breath—quicker now.

His fangs were fully extended, but he realized he wanted something more than to plunge them into her shoulder. He wanted to taste her…in the old-fashioned way.

The way he’d done to a woman before everything changed.

“Let me kiss you, my lovely pirate,” he whispered, and he bent to cover her lips.

Oh, Luce…they were…she was…sweet and soft and lush. Warm and sleek. He groaned softly when she leaned into him, and he pulled her closer, slipping his tongue past her plump lips and tangling with hers—sleek and hot and delicious. Her breasts pressed against him, and he realized with a start she’d stepped up onto his boots to reach him more easily.

His fangs were long and ready now, getting in the way of the kiss. His blood pulsed with heat and need, filling his ears with a roaring sound. He pulled away, breathless, ready for more.

He looked down as he yanked the edge of her shirt from her shoulder, and met her sleepy, glazed eyes.

Except that they were neither sleepy nor glazed.

They were stone-cold sober.

…And he felt that damned wooden stake again. This time, it was poking into his torso from the back.

“I decline,” she said.

2

It took everything she had for Arial to keep her voice steady and her knees firm. Her head was bloody spinning, her breath wanted to come in pants, and the entirety of her body felt as if it had been turned into a puddle of liquid. Hot liquid.

She stepped back, off St. Albans’ boots (how the bloody hell had she ended up stepping onto them?) and let the wooden pike she gripped fall to her side.

The man’s expression was almost payment enough for the pain in the arse taking on his mission was going to be. It was a combination of shock, ruefulness, and lust.

And, she noted with pleasure, his fangs had retracted a little.

“Pardon me?” he managed to say in that smooth, deep voice that made her belly shiver.

“I said, I decline. Your offer of payment.” She smiled and gripped the stake more tightly so as to hide the trembling of her fingers. She settled her other hand on her hip for the same reason. “At least, in that form. Corvindale indicated you’d be willing to pay me—and in cold, hard cash, St. Albans. Not your…er…prowess in bed.” She managed to make her tone sound doubtful, but wasn’t certain she’d succeeded.

Especially when those lethal vampire eyes settled on her once again. She steeled herself against the little tug…the warm furl of desire and supplication that was part of the thrall of the Dracule. It snaked around her insides, curling about her belly, sliding up over her shoulders, and drew her thoughts and self closer.

Or attempted to.

She blinked and the strong sensation evaporated like a soap bubble.

“I’m going to have you thrown overboard if you continue to try and enthrall me,” she said. “Not only is it arrogant and rude, but it’s making me very angry. And clearly, it’s not working.”

He stared at her, and uncertainty replaced the alluring glow in his eyes. “Of course it was. You were putty in my hands. You were just about to let me…” His voice trailed off as she continued to look at him with a knowing expression.

Now the shock was even stronger in his sea-blue gaze.

“You…broke away. You stopped me. It wasn’t working.”

If she hadn’t been so annoyed by his presumption, Arial would’ve felt sympathy for his suddenly lost expression. He looked like a little boy who’d just learned he had to go to school instead of playing pirates. Thank God she’d never had to do that. Everything she’d learned, she’d learned here or on her mother’s ship, through her own reading and studying and a little bit of tutoring when she needed it.

“No, St. Albans. It wasn’t working. None of the three times you attempted to enthrall me worked.”

Then his eyes narrowed. “But you let me kiss you. You kissed me back.”

She lifted a brow. “While fully conscious of that decision.”

Something flickered in his expression, followed by an abashed smile. “Well, that’s something. You appeared to enjoy it.”