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She gave him the only answer she could. “Then I would have to say you’re wasting your time.”
He blew the lantern out, then set it down on the deck and bent close to whisper in her ear. “Am I, Serenity?”
The seductive tone of his voice sent shivers through her.
Kiss me, Morgan! Please, just one small kiss, then I shall return to my room and have sweet dreams of you in a safe world where no one can harm us. Where no one can mock me.
“You are an incredible woman.” He brushed her braid off her shoulder.
Run, Serenity. Run back to your room now before it’s too late!
But it was already too late.
She couldn’t move. Like a lamb trapped by a deadly wolf, she was hypnotized by his voice, held spellbound by his touch.
“A curious woman.” He moved to stand behind her, and she could feel his breath fall against her throat as he ran one long tapered finger down her cheek. “I’m quite sure you’ve wondered what lies between men and women. Why it’s forbidden for them to be alone.”
“Never.”
His rich laughter filled her ears. “You’re a terrible liar.”
His arms came around her suddenly, and holding her tightly against his chest, he rested his chin on her head. Ribbons of pleasure spiraled through her at his touch, and she wanted to lose herself in this one moment in time.
He raised one hand up and gently stroked her cheek. Never in her life had anything felt so wonderful.
If only this could last forever.
But her feelings were just the enchantment of the night. The sight of the stars dancing, of the gentle rippling of the waves, the music of the wind caressing her body in time with his hand. This wasn’t real. It was an illusion. The same kind of illusion that she’d had about him to begin with.
The Sea Wolf wasn’t her noble prince. He was a man with a black past. A past that would mean Morgan’s life if he were ever caught.
Aye, that was the argument she would use to safeguard her heart. The argument she would use to drive him away. “You are a crooked pirate, Captain Drake. I could never give myself to a man who killed for pleasure.”
“And if I told you I never killed for pleasure?”
Serenity closed her eyes, trying to squash the part of her that took delight at his words. She mustn’t listen to that part of herself.
She needed to push him away. To make herself seize her denial.
But the dreadful thing was, she couldn’t lie to herself.
“I don’t know if I could believe you.”
But she wanted to. Desperately. It hurt so much to learn that her prince was a bandit.
He tilted her face toward him and splayed his fingers along her neck. Over her shoulder she looked up at him, and the intensity and need in his eyes took her breath. Never had a man looked at her with such raw, unbridled longing. She was at a loss as to how to deal with him.
With a terrifying need of its own, her body leapt to life under his skillful hands.
“Haven’t you ever done something wrong that you later regretted?” he asked, his voice thick and deep. “Something that made others think terrible thoughts about you?”
“Yes,” she whispered, her voice breathless. “I ran away with a pirate.”
His deep laughter filled her ears, quickening her blood as his smile softened the hard edges of his face. “And is that the worst thing that ever happened to you?”
“Nay,” she said, her throat tight. The worst thing that had ever happened to her was being held right now by a man she knew she could never have. Feeling things for him she knew she shouldn’t feel.
Morgan felt her pulse race beneath his fingertips. Her fear reached out to him, but more than that he felt her hunger. The same hunger that throbbed through his body as he battled himself to keep from taking from her what he wanted most.
