Page 27

The sight of her scampering away awakens an instinct inside me and I can’t help but smile to myself, always loving the chase.

She’s at the foot of the stairs when I catch her. She falls onto the stairs with a cry and I’m flipping her over so she’s on her back.

“You’re a monster!” she says, struggling against me, but I quickly pull her arms up over her head, securing them with the rope that I’ve already attached to my waist. Can’t be too careful now.

“A monster?” I repeat, pressing my body against hers until she can’t even move an inch. “Tell me more, darling. I always fancy a compliment.”

Her eyes flare with outrage, flashing to a luminescent teal for a moment. She’s mesmerizing up close, the milky quality of her skin, the freckles across her delicate nose, those radiant eyes of her framed by thick black lashes, eyes that don’t hold anything back. I swear I could read her like a book just by staring in her eyes. And right now, all she wants is to kill me.

I don’t know what it is about a woman that wants me dead, but I swear nothing gets me harder.

“I saw what you did to Daphne! She’s dead!”

Her eyes water for a moment and I almost feel sorry for her.

“I didn’t kill her,” I say calmly. Her anguish radiates outward, enveloping us.

“She said you were monsters! She looked like cattle waiting for the slaughter.”

“I still didn’t have anything to do with her death.”

“But you would have, wouldn’t you?”

I don’t say anything to that. I get up and pull her to her feet and drag her along to my quarters, her hands now bound at her front. “I’m very sorry you lost your lady-in-waiting, Princess. I had no idea the bonds between the upper-class would be so strong.”

“That’s because you know nothing!”

“Aye, that’s what my father used to say,” I concede and bring her into my chambers, kicking the door closed after us.

She’s looking around wildly for an escape, her gaze going to the windows, then to the weapons, but she’s not getting very far this time.

“You do realize that even if you escape, there is no hope for you,” I say as I pull her towards the cage in the corner. “This ship is going at a clip to leave our assailants behind. Soon you won’t be able to see land. Nowhere to swim to, lass.”

She plants her heels, trying to stay in place but it’s no use. I’m forcing her in the cage and then, before she can try anything, I’m fastening both her hands and her feet to the bars with more rope.

“You’re tying me upina cage?” she cries out, pulling at the restraints.

“There’s a point to it,” I grumble. “You’re going to want to stand as still as possible.”

She turns her head to face me, wild-eyed. She’s breathing hard, her chest heaving against the bars. “You think ravaging me is rescuing me? Just because it’s by you and not that other man?”

I bite back my smile and come around behind her. I press myself against her backside until she’s pressed against the cage, my cock already stiff against her arse, and I brush her loose tangled black hair from her shoulders and lean in until my mouth is at her ear. “You sayravishingas if it’s a bad thing,” I whisper, my voice thick. “Apparently you’ve never been ravished properly before.”

Then I pull back. “Alas, you need a hot bath and some time with a bar of soap before I’d even think about ravishing you. You smell something awful, Princess.”

The gasp of shock that comes out of her mouth makes me chuckle. Nothing will insult a lady more than telling her she smells.

“Then what are you doing?” she asks, and I lean down and gather the hem of her dirty ragged gown pulling it up until its gathered at her waist. She gasps again, her legs now completely exposed.

“Marking you as mine,” I tell her. Then I yell for Lothar. “Lothar, I’m ready!”

“No, no,” she starts to say.

“I told you you’re my property now. Do you think that word means nothing to me? I have to claim you if you want to be safe.”

“Safe?!” she cries out.

“Aye, you may not understand our world much, but when something is yours, it belongs only to you. I have a special brand for occasions such as these.”