Springing Jack

Suzanna rushed over to the ship’s rail, taking in the bustle of the port before her. Despite being a bit dizzy from the kiss and her anticipation as to where the rest of the day would lead, she had hastened to dress and gone out to see what he was up to.

Jack recognized her step before he saw her and swirled around, “Oh good. Welcome to the fair port of St. Lucia, known for its fish stew, it’s exquisite sweets, and several infamous taverns of the most entertaining variety. I’ve a wee bit of business to attend to this morning, and then I promise to return to give you the grand tour.”

“And why can’t I come along on this little business trip?” She hoped he wasn’t going to start getting protective and difficult now that they were doing...whatever it was they hadn’t actually done yet.

“Ah, well, I have some associates here who are very much the nervous sort, luv. A new face would spook ‘em, and such a pretty one at that would lead to all sorts of questions I’ve not a mind to answer right now. On top of that, this is a French island by rights, but for some reason there’s a British flag flying over the fort, which means the tug of war must have gone in a different direction just in the past 3 months. I promise you, luv, I’ll take care and I won’t be long. And later I’ll show you every hell hole you’ve a mind to look into so you won’t feel you’ve missed out on a moment of salacious, sensational, pirate behavior, alright?”

He wasn’t asking permission of course—he was walking down the gangway during the last sentence.

“I’ll hold you to that promise, Captain,” she called and with a flourish of a bow and a longing look of farewell, he was off into the town.

Suzanna amused herself for a while by observing all she could of the busy port. There was the usual collection of shops and taverns, some more disreputable looking than others, and she could see a line of houses working its way up the hill. As with most islands, the houses got grander as they moved further up from the waterfront. The babble of voices she heard on the docks was a mixture of languages, predominantly French, but she also caught moments of Spanish, English, and a more discordant sounding tongue she imagined to be Dutch. As she stood there, one of the crew members, Mr. Bellaye, approached her hesitantly. “Excusez moi, madame. Would you like to ‘ear some of the histories of this place? It is my lieu de naissance (birthplace), and I would be ‘appy to tell you about it if you are interested.” He was one of the youngest men on the ship, Suzanna would say he hadn’t yet seen his 18th birthday, and she was pleased that he felt comfortable enough to talk to her.

“Bien sur, monsieur, ca sera mon vrai plaisir. Et est-ce que vous preferez a parler en Francais?” (Certainly sir, it would be a real pleasure. And would you prefer to speak in French?)

“Mais comment ca, une femme haute Anglais que peut parler comme une fille de notre pays? (But how is it possible that a highborn English woman speaks like a daughter of my country?)

Ma mere etait de Bretagne. C’est la langue de ma lait. (My mother was from Brittany; literally, it was my milk tongue.)

Mr. Bellaye was delighted to have the opportunity to speak French with Madame Harcourt and very much looked forward to going out and about once Mr. Gibbs okayed it. He had been born on St. Lucia and was anxious to share some of his birthplace with her. Suzanna asked his indulgence while she fetched one of her journals from the cabin, and then proceeded to give him her rapt attention.

“Something that you may find interesting about this place for your histoire is that it is one of the few islands actually founded by a pirate, Francois le Clerc or Jambe du Bois (wooden leg). Le Clerc as he came to be known, sailed from over there,” Bellaye pointed to a small island she could just make out against the horizon on the starboard side of the ship. “That is the Isle de Pigeons and it was Jambe du Bois’s Isla de Muerta, his home berth. Of course, that was long before I was born. My family came here 20 years ago. My father was a master carpenter, and he was hired by the French Indies Company to help build their settlement. He helped to build most of the fine houses you see up on that hill.”

“They look lovely from here. Far more open and airy than most of the English houses I’ve seen.”

“Well, you know, we feel that the English are buttoned up too tight in general, so it makes sense that their houses would also be, but we French are more ouvert (open) to life in general. If you will permit me, madame, I think you must take more after your French mother, to be here on this ship.”

“I don’t doubt that you are right about that, Mr. Bellaye,” Suzanna replied smiling. “And you, monsieur, how did you come to leave this place and find yourself a sailor on the Black Pearl?”

“It is not a glamorous tale, madame, but it may be interesting to you regarding your Captain. But before I go on, can I ask that that you call me by my right name? It is Jean Claude Belloeuil. The English it seems cannot pronounce it, and I have given up correcting them.”

“Of course, beautiful eye. And you do have those lovely green eyes.”

He blushed. “At any rate, we lived in a small house near the beach with my mother. It was small but, of course, beautifully made by my Papa. The sea here is very generous so with that and our garden, we didn’t want for food and we were happy. My father was teaching me his trade, and I would go with him to work in the afternoons after working in the garden and learning my letters from my mother in the morning. When I was but 12, there was an accident. They were pulling one of the great trees up the hill to use in their building and the lines snapped. My father’s legs were crushed. They soon turned poisonous and he died. Without my father to work, even though he had built our house, we had to pay the company rent for the land we lived on, and my mother had no money. It was one week before the governors were to throw us out of the house, sals cochons (dirty pigs). I had gone down to the docks in search of some way to make money. Captain Sparrow was sitting at that table at the Chez Madeleine, you see the place with the red awning,” he pointed again. “He was celebrating a particularly successful raid and throwing around money like water. I watched him for a long time as he sank into his chair, and I thought he was dead drunk. There was a pile of money on the table. I’d never stolen anything in my life, but I was desperate, you understand. I had my hand over the money when Captain Sparrow’s hand shot out and grabbed my wrist. I thought he would kill me on the spot. But instead he fixed me with one of those looks of his—you know the kind, madame, where you have to answer him with the truth—and asked me why I would risk robbing a pirate. I told him the whole story. The captain needed a ship’s carpenter, his had decided to stay landside on their last stop in Jamaica with his wife, and so he offered me a spot in the crew. He gave me enough money to keep my mother safe for the next 6 months and said he would take it out of my first share of swag. He wouldn’t necessarily want everyone to know this, you understand, but it wasn’t something many men would do. I thought you might like to know, madame, that as fine as the Captain’s taste obviously is, yours is not misguided either.”

“You are obviously a true Frenchman, Jean Claude, with a silver tongue to go with those green eyes of yours. Is there a girl here that you’ll be visiting after you see your mother?”

“Well as a matter of fact…”

Suzanna was startled out of their conversation by the tromping boots and gravelly voice of Mr. Gibbs. “Anna Maria, we’ve got trouble!” he bellowed. “Jack’s gone and got himself locked up.”

“Blast the bloody idiot for the sodding...Now what?!” screamed Anna Maria.

Gibbs explained, “I’m not sure exactly what happened, but two of the men were off doing a bit of provisioning and they saw Jack being held at gunpoint by 2 lobster backs. They followed ‘em to get the lay of the land, and he’s in some jail just down the road here. At least he’s not at the main fort, if we’ve got any notions of setting him on his way...”

“This is why the blasted fool’s always getting left on some bloody island,” argued Anna Maria.

Damned if Suzanna was going to let this all fall apart without a fight. She excused herself from Jean Claude and addressed the first mate. “Anna Maria, if you’ll give me two hours, three at the most, I’m sure I can get Jack out of prison at no risk to the crew or the ship.”

The two women looked each other square in the eye, and a world of understanding seemed to pass between them. “Go,” she said.

Will’s attention had also been captured by Gibb’s announcement and he now interjected,” What do you need?”

“Will, wake up Elizabeth, tell her to put on the best dress she’s got with her and then come to the Captain’s cabin. I’m going to need some help. You put on something pretty as well and that fancy hat of yours. It’s time to play dress-up for the gentlemen of the Crown.”

********************

When Suzanna and Elizabeth emerged from the Captain’s cabin, even the water lapping against the sides of the ship seemed to feel the need to quiet. No one breathed, no one made a sound. Elizabeth looked elegant in a powder-blue dress and the latest fashion of hat. Will wore the clothes he dressed in for Jack’s would-have-been hanging as kind of a good luck charm. But all eyes were on Suzanna. Lady Suzanna Katherine Worthington Harcourt, Duchess of Lancashire, Vicomtesse of Bretagne, and fourth cousin to the King himself stood on the deck of the Black Pearl looking every inch a warrior queen about to lead her troops into battle. In this case, however, her armor was that of expectations, fulfilling the image that she knew the populace had been schooled to expect. Her dress was of the creamiest, heaviest peach satin, with a fitted bodice that caressed her curves and left her neck and shoulders bare, all the better to show off the pink and ivory pearl necklace that graced her enticing collarbones. The bottom of the dress fell to the ground, and she secretly cringed at the thought that she would be dragging it along these muddy streets, but it couldn’t be helped.

Although the men had gotten used to her onboard ship over the past few weeks and come to accept her as part of their routine, several of them found themselves spontaneously offering a kind of reverent bow. This was going to set back all the work she’d done to make them feel it was okay to talk to her, and she cursed the thought of undoing all that, but that couldn’t be helped either. As she, Will, and Elizabeth prepared to disembark, Anna Maria and Mr. Gibbs waited at the top of the gangway. Anna Maria had a huge grin on her face as her suspicions were all proved correct, and Mr. Gibbs looked as though his eyes might actually pop out of his head.

Suzanna smiled slyly, unable to contain her amusement at the reaction she was getting. “What do you think, Mr. Gibbs, will I pass muster?”

“Beggin’ yer pardon, ma’am, I think they will surrender the whole bloody fort if you ask them to.”

“Very good then. Let’s see what we can do.” And they set off, strategizing along the way.

When the three arrived at the crumbling-looking structure of the jail, after garnering quite a lot of inquisitive glances from the local populace, she was relieved to discover only two soldiers manning the post, one an obvious long-time veteran and the other a young man she would judge to be no more than 20. They both snapped to attention when she entered the jail, and she rather captured Jack’s attention within his cell as well. Will and Elizabeth walked through the door next, and Jack grew even more curious.

“Good morning, gentlemen. I do hope our visit won’t prove to be too much of a nuisance for you, but I’m afraid I must ask your assistance in a most pressing matter,” Suzanna began.

The older of the two soldiers spoke first. “This area is off limits to civilians, ma’am, but if you find yourself in distress... Please let me find you a chair...” The younger one, in the meantime, was staring at Suzanna in disbelief and staring as hard as he could while trying not to look like he was staring at all, particularly at the considerable cleavage displayed quite beautifully by the gown. He looked as though he might have a stroke. Jack, meanwhile, was watching the scene with great curiosity, doing his best to keep the smirk off his face. Christ, she looks incredible. He didn’t know what was coming, but he was sure it was going to be good.

At this point, the older soldier returned with a chair, and Suzanna reluctantly took it, primarily because it made it easier for them to look down her dress. But she just as quickly popped back up and said, “No gentlemen, I’m afraid I have no business sitting down, though you are both terribly kind, but there is too much at stake to be thinking of myself now. I have come to inquire, though I can now see for myself, if you are currently holding a Captain Sparrow in your custody?”

“And you can now see we are, madam, and a right dangerous character he is,” answered the older soldier.

“Has he assaulted you in some way?” the younger one inquired, looking for all the world as if he would try to rip Jack limb from limb if this were the case. For a moment, Jack wondered if these Swann women wouldn’t be the death of him yet.

“No, no, nothing like that,” Suzanna explained. “The fact is, Captain Sparrow is currently in my employ, it is the most urgent situation, and I desperately need your help....” Her voice trailed off. “Could I have a drink of water please?” she asked breathily, fanning herself with her hand and looking flushed. The younger one scurried off as she bid.

“Oh, forgive me, I am in such a state that I am forgetting my manners.” Suzanna removed a sterling silver card case out of a small silk purse on her arm and presented a card to the older man, a sergeant by his insignia. “Sergeant, my name is Lady Suzanna Katherine Worthington Harcourt, Duchess of Lancashire, and Vicomtesse of Bretagne.”

In his cell, Jack Sparrow’s eyebrow shot up, and if anyone had been paying attention to him, they might have heard a faint whistle. “Your Ladyship!” the soldiers hastened to respond and bowed as deeply as they could.

“Thank you. You see gentlemen, I imagine that here on this beautiful, peaceful island, which no doubt owes its prosperity to the peace kept by you and your men, you may find it difficult to imagine such sad things as I am about to recount. Back in England the court remains full of intriguers, ruthless men who will stop at nothing for more power and the great riches it brings. I am ashamed to say that one of these men is my elder brother. My aunt, the Duchess of Cornwall, has been kidnapped by my mad and greedy brother so that she might be forced to reveal the hiding place of a small family fortune hidden away during an old skirmish. There is a fortune in gemstones in it. My aunt, of course, refused to tell. So he had her kidnapped, and is even now speeding with her to an undisclosed location. She is a woman of substance and will not easily capitulate, so his attention is to capture me next in order to threaten my aunt with my pain rather than her own. That, I fear, will be her undoing. If he is successful, he will steal both the fortune and the titles, and in all probability both my aunt and I will be killed.” She managed to insert a very convincing catch in her throat here, and Jack was glued to the scene playing out before him.

“You poor, poor dear,” crooned the older man, and then look flustered, “begging your ladyship’s pardon.”

“No,” she replied, placing her hand on his forearm, “You’re too kind…”

“This is my cousin, Elizabeth Swann Turner, daughter of Governor Swann, and her husband, Mr. William Turner. They have been kind enough to accompany me in this race to save my aunt. You see gentlemen, my scurrilous brother hired a particularly vicious privateer named Reynolds. We must somehow anticipate this man’s next moves and then be fast enough to catch him. And that is why I have asked Captain Sparrow’s help.”

“But he’s a pirate, miss!” the soldier cried out in horror. “The worst kind of lowlife scum...oh beg your pardon, milady.”

“I’m sure you are correct, sir, but the point is,” explained Suzanna, “we thought to use a pirate to catch a pirate. Someone whose brain works in the same despicable and horrible ways so that we can anticipate this Reynolds’s next move.” She studiously avoided looking anywhere near Jack.

“The problem is, sir, we have no time to lose. Every moment that our pirate sits in this jail, the bad pirate, well, the worse pirate, is getting away. He will kill my aunt as surely as I stand before you now and then he will come after me. Please, please, can you help me? I know it is asking a great deal for you to release Captain Sparrow, but we have no time to lose.” And with this her sobs caught in her thought. It was all Jack could do to keep from applauding.

“Milady, this Captain Sparrow is a wanted man.”

Jack turned his guffaw into a cough so as not to attract attention. If she’s willing to do all this to get him out, it seems he is indeed a wanted man.

“Yes, he is. I know he is. But I’m begging you, please let him go so that we can rescue my aunt in time. I have no one else to turn to.”

The older solder turned and, to Suzanna’s surprise, looked to Elizabeth. “Mrs. Turner, I had the honor to serve with your father. He’s an admirable man.” He turned back to Suzanna. “Lady Harcourt, I can’t stand to think of something happening to you or your family on account of these men, whatever the circumstances. We’ll release Sparrow to your custody,” and with that she was so pleased, that she reached up to kiss them both on the cheek. They both turned red as beets, and the younger one hurried to unlock Jack’s cell. He gave the soldiers his trademark bow with his hands together, and then bowed more deeply for Suzanna but kept his mouth shut, not entirely trusting himself to speak.

“Gentlemen, I thank you from the bottom of my heart. Oh, and I must also ask that you keep this terrible secret between us,” she added as the others passed through the doorway. “If my brother were to get wind of it, I am afraid it would be the end of us all. Oh and gentlemen,” Suzanna pulled a small fortune in coins out of her purse, “please forgive us for all the inconvenience we’ve caused. I hope you will treat yourselves to a lovely dinner this evening.” The soldiers’ eyes grew three sizes larger than usual again and then their three finely dressed visitors were gone.

********************

They walked back to the ship in silence, as if they were afraid they would jinx things if they said anything before they were safely underway. Back in Jack’s cabin, it was rum all around. Jack was unusually silent, except for muttering something about, “I have the most wonderful escapes from prison with you William,” which made Will smile.

“Actually I have a question,” Elizabeth slurred slightly. Even though she was finally acquiring a taste for the stuff, she certainly wasn’t used to drinking before it was even noon. “I thought when we got all dressed up and you made yourself up like the bloody Queen, you were going to get all high and mighty and demand they release him. But instead you got all flirty and breathy and helpless and the sort of woman you usually detest. So why all that falderal?”

Suzanna smiled. Tipsy Elizabeth was a lot of fun. “Because my father taught me a long time ago that leadership is the ability to make people want to do what you want them to.”

Elizabeth still looked puzzled. Jack got up from where he was looking out the window, turned around a chair, and sat down, leaning his arms on the back. “It’s like this, luv. She did what made sense in the situation. If she’d been all commands and demands as you suggested, they probably would have been too intimidated to turn her down, and they’d have let me go. But as soon as we were gone, they would have regretted it. They’d have sounded the alarm and had someone on our tail before you could say ‘Jack Robinson.’ But by playing the fair damsel in distress, and such a curvy one at that,” he added, eyeing her well-displayed assets, “they were tripping over themselves with wanting to help her. Then she really sealed it at the end. She kissed them both, which was far beyond propriety and made them feel it was all very personal. And then she gave them money, which if all the rest of it wears off and they decide to tell, they’d have a hard time explaining without it looking like they took a bribe. So she wrapped them up in a neat little bundle.”

Both Will and Elizabeth looked a little stunned as they heard Jack’s Machiavellian analysis of Suzanna’s plan. “Did I leave anything out? No? More than can be said for some...” Suzanna winced at that. Finally Jack stood up. “Well thank you all for your participation in this morning’s adventure, but I believe that Lady Suzanna and I have some unfinished business and things to discuss, so if you don’t mind....” he bustled Will and Elizabeth out the door.

As the tension rose, Will and Elizabeth were relieved to get themselves out of the room, though they were both a bit anxious about what was coming next. It was clear to anyone with eyes that these two were crazy about each other, but even though Jack was happy to find himself a free man again, how was he going to react to her less than complete portrayal of herself up until now? It remained to be seen.

********************

Jack closed and locked the door behind Will and Elizabeth. He removed his sword and pistol, pulled the cork out of a new bottle of rum, and put it on the table between the two of them. Suzanna immediately took a long pull on the bottle, bracing herself for what was to come.

Jack considered her carefully. “Alright, now its my turn to ask the questions. Everything it said on that card is true, isn’t it?”

“Yes.”

“Any other distinctions that it failed to mention?”

“I’m the King’s fourth cousin.”

“Uh-huh.”

“Jack, I didn’t tell you all this...”

He held up his hand to stop her. “I know why you didn’t tell me all this. Because you were afraid that despite the fact that we made an accord, I’d be thinking about the far bigger ransom we could get for you than what you were paying us. And me being a pirate, you figured that would be too fat a prize to resist.”

She nodded but didn’t say anything.

“And is there really an evil brother who’ll stop at nothing to get his hands on said titles and lands?”

“I wouldn’t say evil. The most disgusting part of it is that he believes he’s acting honorably. Trying to save me from myself and my foolish notions that a female was meant to be anything but a wife and mother. If he knew I willingly set foot on a pirate ship, he would probably have me declared insane, in which case it would all pass to him by default.”

“And I take it from what I’ve seen so far that all this comes with a rather substantial income. So you tell me, if I was going to ask for a ransom, what would you suggest as a minimum demand?”

“Jack, I can’t believe....”

“Just answer the question, luv, and trust me.”

How was she supposed to trust him given what he was asking? But she looked him in the eye and saw...something. “10,000 sovereigns,” she offered.

Jack did his best to keep his face neutral. “So here’s my proposition to you then. You raise our fee for this little excursion of yours to meet that demand, your loathsome brother is none the wiser, and I’m fulfilling my duty as captain of this ship not to pass up an opportunity to make my crew richer, savvy? I can’t let my personal feelings punish them. So,” he stood up, “what say you to that?”

Suzanna stood up as well, slowly, not really sure what she was feeling. Part of her was relieved that they had worked it out, part was horribly sad that he saw her as a way to make money. Just like everyone else did. On the other hand, personal feelings? What personal feelings? “We have an accord,” she said, but for the first time, not quite looking him in the eye.

For the second time, he put his fingers under her chin and tilted her face up, but this time he sought her eyes first, as his hands went around her waist and pulled her against him. “Now, two more things,” his voice was pitched very low and quiet, as it did in those rare moments when Jack got very serious about something. “First, you were bloody brilliant in that jail. You lie as well and use the truth as well as any pirate I’ve ever met, and that’s saying something coming from me. You were willing to do whatever it took, including giving those soldiers an eyeful to get what you wanted and get me out. That young one is going to have a cockstand for a week thanks to you. And as you may have noticed, I’m not in much better shape.”

She’d noticed. And there wasn’t really any good reply to that, except a deep breath. She thought of telling him that there was no better place than court to teach a woman how to be selective with the truth, but she was having that trouble speaking again caused by his body pressed against hers. And of all the possible outcomes of the situation, she hadn’t imagined Jack finding her deception arousing to be one of them. Not that she minded.

“Second, and most important, let’s have something understood between us. That agreement we just made, that was the captain speaking and doing what he was obligated to do for his men. I’m sure you have obligations that go with your titles, like it or not. But that’s done now. I don’t want your money or the words that come after your name or a fancy house. I want you. I want that mind that’s so quick I feel like we’re racing over the waves together.” His fingertips trailed across her forehead, “I want those eyes that seem to see more of me than anyone else ever has.” He traced along her eyebrow and into her hair. “I want this hair that gives away the truth about who you really are in a way that should never be bound,” and Jack slid his fingers along the back of her neck causing her to shiver violently and then pulled his fingers through her hair until it fell back against her naked shoulders. “I want this mouth...” and his thumb grazed her bottom lip but she didn’t let him finish that sentence before she took his mouth her hers and their passion left them both a little bruised and dazed. Jack’s breathing was ragged as he took a step back from her and did his best to finish what he wanted to say, “I want all of you, Suzanna.” He kissed her mouth again as his fingers trailed down her throat and he followed them with his lips along her collarbone and then his mouth returned to hers, whispering “all of you” before his mouth was on hers again and his fingers flowed across and between her breasts. And with each touch, he repeated those words over and over between kisses, like an incantation, calling her body to wake up and remember.

Then she felt his hand, palm flat sliding against her stomach, and the heat that had been jumping through her like a summer lightening storm seemed to all concentrate in a rush between her legs. The hand on her back slipped lower to cup her buttocks and the one on her stomach slid across the satin between her legs where she ached now to be touched. He pressed just slightly and a groan escaped from her lips that Suzanna would not have thought herself capable of. “All of you.” Jack’s hands slid back around her waist and pulled her to him again, and if he hadn’t, she might actually have fallen down she was so drunk from his kisses and the conjuring of his hands.

She couldn’t help but feel him, hot and hard against her, and with it came another wave of heat. Jack’s eyes bored into hers. “Do you want me, Suzanna? All of me?”

Her reply was a strangled, “God, yes, Jack, yes.” She bit into his throat and licked and sucked at the same time as her hands reached inside his shirt, needing to feel skin. She buried her face in his chest, kissing everywhere, touching everywhere she could reach, feeling smooth skin and hard muscle underneath, biting his nipples, then sucking, then blowing on them. Jack hissed and pulled her up to take her mouth again and took it all, tongues dueling, teeth clashing as it seemed they tried to swallow each other whole.

When they finally pulled away from the kiss to catch their breath, Jack spoke first. “Turn around,” he commanded in a low growl. He spun Suzanna around, his left hand firmly holding onto her hip, pressing her against him, while his right worked the many slippery satin-covered buttons down her spine. He had to work very hard not to be distracted by what he could touch now that the dress was loosening or he would never finish. When he finally did, she stepped out of it and stood before him in the thinnest possible silk chemise that did nothing to hide her body but tantalized him even more. He reached for her but she took a step back.

“Wait,” she gasped. “Can you not touch me, just for a minute, while I free you from some of these clothes? I...I want to see you too.”

After a long moment, Jack put his hands behind his head, fingers laced together like a prisoner surrendering. It took every ounce of self-restraint he had not to touch her. But then he got caught up by the sight of her hands, graceful fingers unknotting his sash and unwrapping it slowly, hands reaching behind his back as it unwound, standing as close to him as she could without touching. When the sash was finally free, his shirt came off with a shrug and nothing was between her and the smooth lines of his chest and stomach. She wrapped her arms around him just as his came down to wrap around her, and they just held each other for a moment, neither of them moving, neither even breathing. His next kiss was lighter, as his right hand moved to the front of her chemise to undo the tiny ribbons that laced up the front, while his left hand held her close at the small of her back and his feet walked her backwards until her thighs hit the edge of the high-platform bed. His hands shifted to push gently on her shoulders to sit her down. Those same nimble fingers went to the fastenings on his trousers now, and Jack kicked off his boots and shucked off the pants in one fluid motion that was utterly feline and Jack Sparrow. Suzanna’s breath caught at how absolutely beautiful Jack’s body was. He really was like a great cat, all this grace and strength rippling below the surface and all this hardness and soft skin on top. She reached out and took him in her hand, loving the feel of the velvet beneath her fingers and the look of utter rhapsody on Jack’s face as she touched him. But then he gently took her hand and guided it back up to his chest as he eased her back onto the bed, kneeling over her and kissing her mouth and along her jaw back to her ear. “Patience, luv. We have as long as we want, and I want this to last as tortuously long as waiting for it has been.”

Kissing her neck, ribbons now undone, he pulled the chemise down to her hips, baring her breasts to him for the first time. His hands found them without a thought, stroking her nipples with his thumbs until his mouth moved down to taste. He licked and sucked and nipped until she was mad with it, pulling his head into her and only lessening her grip when it was clear he was moving to the other breast. When he took his mouth away, Suzanna let out a little cry but he stretched out alongside her and pulled her to him hip bone to hip bone, reaching around to knead her buttocks while his mouth found hers again. At this moment he imagined he could feel her need even more than his own, and her eyes looked up at him, black with lust in a silent plea. She was beyond words now, and her hips ground into him of their own accord. He slid the chemise the rest of the way from her body until she was all open to him, and brought his hand back to her face and stroked it to calm her slightly, breathing in between kisses, “Shh. It’s alright, luv. Just trust me.” His fingers gave her nipple a sharp pinch and then his hand slid down over her belly into the aching core where her thighs met. Sliding his finger through her folds and up inside her, he was engulfed by heat and satin slipperiness, and again they moaned into each other’s mouths. She was so ripe, Jack could barely think straight. But his fingers knew this rhythm and they drew out the silk, back and forth, dragging over her pearl, adding a second finger while his thumb concentrated on the one spot that all her world had shrunk to now. When she came for him, screaming, her body clenched hard and she moved her hand down to cover his, silently begging him not to leave her. His fingers continued to pulse slightly in time with her spasms, drawing out the orgasm into diminishing waves of ecstasy. Eventually her hand fell away, and Jack dared to move to cradle her in his arms until she was ready for more.

When Suzanna finally returned from whatever land the “little death” had carried her off to, she was amazed to find tears on her face and the words she wanted to say were hard to choke out of her throat. “Never. Before. Like that,” she managed. “I didn’t know it could be...”

Far from the cocky grin she might have expected—and that he’d earned—she found a radiantly smiling and almost humble looking Jack, smoothing her sweaty hair away from her face and crooning sweetly, “You should always have this, luv. You’re beautiful and amazing and any man worth his salt should find pleasure in bringing you yours.”

“That’s not been my experience,” she replied, still without much breath.

He stole what was left of it with another of those looks. “Well it is now,” and with that he centered himself over her and reached down with his mouth to start on her nipples again and with his hand to stroke her thighs with the back of his hand, teasing her. Now that she knew what was to come, her body was even more eager, and she felt him grin against her skin at her eagerness as she strained toward his hand. “Patience my wanton wench,” he teased and she bit his chin hard and he returned the bite with one on her shoulder and then continued his slide down her body. “I need to go somewhere I’ll be safe from those sharp teeth,” he murmured and he slid all the way down until his lips were just inches from her sex and his hands had a firm grip on her hips. Suzanna looked completely startled but her question was swallowed up by her own scream as Jack’s tongue dove into her center. He licked and sucked and lapped up her taste and she writhed as if she wanted to escape his demanding mouth, but only in a quest to get closer. When he could feel her passion start to coil again, like a snake about to strike, only then did he release her hips and move up her body and take her mouth again, demanding now that she taste her own pleasure and share this with him.

Her hands were everywhere, sometimes scratching, sometimes palms flat as she tried to touch him everywhere at once. Finally, she reached to bring him into her, but he would not allow it. He wanted her surrender. He grabbed both her wrists, bringing them up over her head and held them there and just looked at her, his demand clear. She didn’t know until this moment that she longed for this, that she wanted him to take her, and she threw herself into the fire willingly. He pushed himself into her slowly but without stopping, until bone met bone and there was nowhere more to go. Each stroke was agonizingly slow but hard and insistent, and she had a glimpse of just how dangerous this man really was. Just when she felt that he possessed her completely and she was truly lost, he brought her back, letting go of her wrists and breathing into her ear. “Now,” he demanded. “Meet me here.” She wrapped her legs tightly around him and her nails dug into the muscles of his back as she reached up for him with every thrust and he reached inside her as far as he could. It was the most ancient dance, the moon pulling the tide, and the air hummed with magic and desire and blood. Jack felt her fall first, her entire body clutching at his, and she dragged him over the precipice until they both lay in a crumbled heap of limbs and hair and silk everywhere. She wouldn’t let him leave her and even as they uncurled she drew him as close as she could, her body telling him to let his weight fall on her. He was too spent to argue, and relished the feel of her beneath him.

Chapter Six

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