The Pirate's Duchess: A Regent's Revenge Novella by Katherine Bone Page B

and unclasping his ring. “This belongs to you.” She reached for his hand and placed the ring on his finger. “With this ring, you can be whole again.”
    He smiled sadly. “Only you can do that.”
    Like the storm that had overtaken them on the plateau, she glanced down at his ringed hand before giving in to passion and wrapping her arms about his neck, pressing the contours of her body against his. He needed no further encouragement. His mouth covered hers hungrily, ravishing her, shattering all thoughts of the past, tumbling them into oblivion. Blood pounded in her brain, leaped to her heart, and made her legs tremble.
    He turned her toward the stern windows and sat down with her on his lap. “I cannot live without you,” he said, nuzzling her ear, trailing kisses down to her throbbing pulse at the nape of her neck.
    “Then don’t,” she said breathlessly. “Promise you will never leave me again.”
    “I won’t.” A low growl rumbled from his throat as he explored her mouth with his tongue. He drew back with heartrending tenderness. “Never.”
    “Even if you are caught and—” she suppressed a shiver of delight as his fingers moved toward her breast, glorying in every inch until he reached her nipple “—tried as a pirate?”
    Laughter rumbled from his chest. “Is that what you’re worried about?”
    Her stomach churned with anxiety and frustration, mixed with need and desire. “One of the things.”
    “There’s no need to worry. I have planned for every eventuality.”
    Anxiety shot through her. No one is that proficient. “You didn’t plan on me and Basil.”
    “No,” he said agreeing, kissing her softly. “But if it will help you relax, I will promise you one more thing.”
    The heat between them pulsated in the silence like a living thing. “What?”
    “If the trap Markwick and I set for Underwood succeeds, I will hang up my cloak and come home.”
    She stared at him, riddled with suspicion. Was he mocking her?
    “I’m serious. I’ll come home for good.”
    Good God, he’d managed to shock her and please her at once. “You’ll cast aside the Fury for Blackmoor?” Her pulse quickened. “You’d do this for me?” A delightful shiver swept through her.
    “Aye, if we succeed in putting Underwood out of business forever.”
    She licked her lips, feeling the slender, delicate threads of forgiveness quicken inside her. She’d lost him once. She couldn’t bear to lose him again. They could be together. Live as one. Start a family. It was more than she could possibly take in. It was everything she’d wanted and more, overwhelming her with feelings almost too powerful to control.
    “There isn’t anything I want more.”
    He silenced her mouth with his kiss, a kiss so galvanizing that it sent a tremor into her core. He strummed her like a proficient musician bringing a neglected harp to life, producing music so joyous it took her by storm. And oh, how marvelously she wanted to be thrummed! Her pleasure soared when he swept her up, weightless, in his arms and carried her to his bunk. He laid her down on the black sheets, then joined her, molding his body to hers.
    His uneven breathing felt hot against her cheek. He was all male, so bracing, strong, and considerate as he inflamed her senses, stroking, pleasuring her, eager to share what they’d both been denied for so long. And still it wasn’t enough.
    “Don’t make me wait, Tobias,” she said, tearing at his cravat, tugging him down to her quivering lips.
    He kissed her again, then nibbled her ear. “I cannot wait even if I wanted to.”
    Prudence arched into him, the merest pressure of his body on hers awakening a response deep within her that practically drove her out of control. He pushed her closer to the edge when his fingers brushed over her thigh. The slightest touch drove her wild, making her want him to unleash the captive inside her as he moved higher and higher under her gown to the home she wanted him to inhabit.