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CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
The late-September winds on the North Sea were fierce but magically generous to them, hastening their passage north along the coast of Scotland. Roderick didn’t ask, but he knew it was Maisie’s doing.
Now that she’d been accepted by someone other than her guardian, she didn’t hide her fey nature as much as sh
e had. Moonlight glittered strangely in her eyes and her magic was all around. As surely as an eerie sea mist it enveloped him, drawing him into her voluptuous spell. Roderick didn’t fight it or reason with it anymore, because she was everything he wanted, and if she would have him, he would protect and fight for her until his dying breath.
Clyde had surely worked his own sort of magic, because the men nodded and welcomed her aboard when the two of them rejoined the ship. The older men adopted a grudging, wary acceptance of her. The younger lads, such as Adam, were more curious, and their eyes glittered with excitement over whispered exchanges. Sometimes Roderick would hear them discussing her in pairs, comparing notes on what they thought had happened and what had occurred by magic. That made him chuckle. None crossed her, and few had words with him on the matter. Brady was the least accepting, inevitably so, and he glowered at Roderick as he went about his duties.
When Roderick spoke with him, Brady defended his view. “How can you be sure she will not turn, once she has safely reached her destination?”
“She will not turn on us. Believe me, if she wished to harm us it would’ve happened long before now. She has not hurt one of us, despite the sorry conditions that were forced upon her.”
Brady pursed his lips, clearly unwilling to concede, even though there was a touch of regret in his eyes.
“She uses her natural powers judiciously and does not mean to hurt anyone.”
“That may be, but I cannot bring myself to trust her.”
“I know that, and I cannot change your mind on the matter. But you trust me, and I will make sure you return to your family in fine health and with a pocket heavy with coins.”
The first mate grumbled beneath his breath.
Roderick took the opportunity to raise a question. “Brady, there is something I must ask you. If I were to leave the ship awhile, would you be prepared to take on the captainship?”
Startled, Brady peered at him. Eventually, he replied. “Aye, I would. But what nonsense is this? Surely you do not mean to leave the ship for a woman?”
“I ask you only in theory, but I need to know.”
The man gave a wry smile and shook his head. “If it happens and I am needed, I will step in, but I’ll tell you this. Dealing with a woman on land is a hard enough task without taking on one such as her!”
Roderick laughed. “I am not certain of my plans, but it sets my mind at rest that you will take my place should it be necessary.”
He grasped Brady’s shoulder, nodded, and they went about their duties. Planting the thought in the sailor’s mind proved to be a useful distraction, but Roderick had done so because he found himself eager to escort Maisie onward to her kin, if she would accept his protection awhile longer. It did the trick, however, giving Brady something else to ponder on, aside from the powerful witch they carried aboard ship. He spent less time keeping track of her whereabouts and more standing at the helm, taking stock, as if preparing himself for what might be. It suited Roderick well.
Meanwhile, he kept the ship within sight of land as much as possible, for he knew it was important to Maisie, who spent hours at the railing, staring at her homeland. Roderick saw that as the reunion with her family approached, she grew more deeply thoughtful. It was a big moment in her life, and he was glad he could help her with it.
He did not quiz her about the man who had taken him on in Dundee, the man she called her guardian. What had been said in that room revealed enough for him to take action, and to know there was just cause. Maisie would tell him more when she was ready. Roderick also had enough sense to know that she had to mourn that person, even though he was a rum lot, an unscrupulous man who’d meant only to use her. She had not offered that man her virginity, and that was good enough for Roderick, for now.
At night, when he held her in his arms, she clung to him and claimed him, requesting his lovemaking in a much more forthright manner than she had before. As if liberated by all that had passed in between, her mood was wild.
It was as if they were stars aligned. Even when the seas grew restless. Every toss and roll of the ship only brought them closer together, every move either of them made in tune with the other. It seemed as if there was a link between them and the restless skies above. It was her, he knew it was. She was like a channel through which he communicated with the wild oceans he had tried for all these years to master. But now it was her he wanted to master.
Her power, her witchcraft, was manifest at these times. She glowed, her eyes alight with passion, her body moving against his as if she were a wild creature and knew no rules about decorum and restraint. Roderick reveled in that, proud of her lusty ways. They were driven, fueled by their deep passion for one another.
Neither of them, it seemed, could get enough. Roderick stayed hard after she found her release, and she rolled him over and rode him, their naked bodies misted with sweat as they shared every morsel of pleasure. How radiant she was, how confident in this, the thing she’d known least of when they met. It made him proud to see her so liberated.
He sat up and stroked her breasts, sliding his hands over the hot, damp skin beneath the pale globes, while she rocked back and forth on his length.
The rhythmic clutch of her body on his cock was almost too much for him. “Maisie?”
She nodded. “It’s like nothing else I’ve ever felt. This makes me burn with passion.”
Her gaze locked with his and her hands twined around his neck as she squeezed his erection, drawing him off again. He sank his head into her neck, his arms enclosing her, locking them together while they both spilled anew.
When they finally rested, she lifted up on her elbow to look at him. “I did not care for Cyrus, not the way you might think.”
“You don’t have to tell me.”
