The days passed in much the same manner. When she would wake he would often be gone and completing duties. She and the dog would eat their breakfast that he left for her and shortly after she was done eating and had dressed and freshened up, he would return and allow her time outside. She would be escorted by him and occasionally he would have Hugo escort her while he completed his duties as captain.
Hugo always maintained his distance and followed her a few paces behind, a disgruntled look on his face. She was becoming accustomed to his surly manner. He was never outright mean to her, he just looked grumpy all the time and was extremely quiet. She began to talk to him even though he never gave her a response. Once though, she did get him to grunt at her. And she took that as a good sign of progress. Next she thought he might actually say a whole word to her. This amused her so much that she endeavored to make him laugh someday.
Later in the late afternoon Danielle, Rani, and Perra would eat dinner and then later they would adjourn to his quarters and sleep in the same bed.
One day he surprised her by telling her that they would be reaching the next destination soon. He told her that they were heading for a place called "Port Royal". He explained that it was a dangerous place because it was filled with many pirates. He could not chance leaving her onboard unprotected and so had concluded that she was to come with him. She was thrilled. She remembered reading about Port Royal in a book onboard the cruise ship. In her time it had been a sunken city that collapsed beneath the water when a massive earthquake had hit the island. Archeologists and historians only had an idea of what the city looked like before the sinking, but she would be seeing it in it's original state.
In telling her of their intended plans, Rani had breached the question of her suspected connections to Henry "Blackheart" Kirkland again. He pressed her hard about it, trying to draw out what he wanted to hear. But she disappointed him, once again only telling him what her truth had been. He became frustrated and it made her frustrated too. They were again at a stalemate.
The next day she stood next to Rani at the helm, Perra was left in his quarters. When the shore line was visible the ship became very busy with crewman running back and forth and up and down the ropes performing their duties. The anchor had been dropped while the ship remained out to sea
A small group of the crew, Hugo, Rani and herself had descended onto the water aboard a small boat that was attached to the side of Rani's ship and lowered to the sea. The crew had rowed the small boat to shore.
Danielle was in awe of her surroundings. It was a busy port with men and women going about their business. There were also several ships all along the outskirts and she was able to see the different styles and preference each one had. The people themselves were also something to behold. So far her only real interactions had been with the crew of the Venganza but now she saw people of all statuses. Some of the men wore extravagant hats and beautifully tailored outfits. Some of the people looked like they wore rags. She stared all around her taking it in as they walked along the streets. The crew members had left them and all that was left was Hugo, Rani and herself.
They entered a tavern which was crowded. Several men and women stood outside of the establishment. She even saw a few men passed out in random places all about. The 2 men flanked her on either side, both with an air of seriousness and determination.
"What are we doing here?" She asked Rani.
"The taverns are good places to hear news of what other ships are doing, where they are going, and how many men or ships any specific captain may have." He answered without looking at her.
Several of the men cat called her whistling and hooting their pleasure. Some of the women looked at her with spite while others in curiosity. One beautiful woman who had her large breasts stuffed in a corvette that looked much too small for her bust slunk her way towards Rani draping one arm possessively over his shoulder. She glanced over indifferently at Danielle. The spoke in Rani's ear.
"Rani my sweet. You've come back. I did not think it possible but you look even more enticing than before. Take me up to a room will you?" She said in a smooth and sultry way that made Danielle's lip curl. Her finger was running down the length of his jaw line.
"Lizzie. Just the woman I needed to see." He said pulling her arm out from around his shoulder and grabbing her other hand to pull her towards a couple of stools. Rani scanned the room.
"Interesting crowd today." He remarked his eyes seeing something Danielle could not.
"Rumors are getting louder. Is it true then?"
"Awe baby. All work and no play? We can trade answer for pleasures." Lizzie said smiling devilishly at him.
He laughed and slipped her some money. She tucked it between her breasts. Danielle wondered where she found the room.
"Perhaps." Lizzie conceded "Some of the men have been talking of it being almost as large as Guerra's cargo." She lowered her voice. Then she spun and leaned into Rani's body and whispered in his ear. "Do you see that man there dressed like a peacock?" She asked.
Rani's eyes fell on the man, he gave a slight nod. "He is known as Billy Morgan. His purse has recently been fattened, bragging all over town that he successfully raided a single merchant ship."
She paused.
"He claims it was only 1 out of the 3 that he encountered that are currently en route to Portugal."
Rani's eyes widened "Three?" He said quietly.
Lizzie giggled and kissed Rani's neck peaking back at Danielle who's jaw tightened.
"That's right. I suppose they are down to two ships now. Still a kings ransom worth." She said.
"Foolish man." She remarked sighing dramatically.
Rani's brow rose questioning.
"One becomes a dangerous target when they cannot learn to keep their mouths shut. But alas few men ever know what their mouths should be used for." She pouted in mock sadness. As they noticed several men in the tavern steal glances at Billy Morgan who already had 2 women hanging off of him, flashed a gold ring and gained the company of yet another tavern woman. Lizzie laughed and it caused her chest to bounce and jiggle in perfect view for Rani to see. Danielle bared her teeth menacingly.
Rani seemed oblivious and slipped her more money. "I need you to find out more about this cargo."
Lizzie sighed and tucked the money again. They watched as the woman expertly made her way toward the man, stopping short but within eye sight of Morgan. Lizzie gracefully bent down lifting her gown hem, she reached down the length of her thigh to her knee and pulled her white stocking up and allowed the elastic to snap back. The man literally began to drool. She didn't have to move any closer to him, as Billy Morgan practically threw the other woman off of him and stalked towards Lizzie. The other women pouted and tried to regain his attention grabbing at his hand and pulling at him but he ignored them. When he approached Lizzie he didn't even look her in the eyes, he was entirely lost now in the jiggle and fullness of her very full breasts.
Rani and Hugo exchanged knowing glances.
Hugo stood up and exited the tavern.
Danielle and Rani watched as Lizzie seduced Morgan and led him up the tavern stairs to a room, the man was already undressing on the way up eager for her time. As the patrons around them went about their businesses, Rani put a finger to his lips telling her not to speak and then slowly led her up the stairs and outside of the door Lizzie and Morgan went into. Rani pressed up against the wall at the side of the door while Danielle stood behind him.
Danielle leaned back on the door of the neighboring room and found that it had not been fully closed. The door gave way and she ungracefully fell through the doorway and into the room flat on her back. She was on her back looking up towards a very naked older man. The man wore nothing but a bandana on his head.
"Well ye must be one of the new lasses. Pretty lil thing aren't ya'" he grinned at her and she could see several teeth missing as he stalked over her and giving her a look at places of the man she wished she never saw. He shut the door near her feet and then faced her. She scrambled backwards towards a window struggling to gain distance between her and the naked man.
"Oh don't be afraid lil un'. It'll be fun for me I promise. No guarantees for ye though." He pulled her up by the shoulders and threw her on to the bed. She gasped kicking and clawing at him. She was just about to scream when he covered her mouth with one very dirty hand.
He laughed and said "that's a good un'. I like when they fight. It's be'er that way." He straddled her now and held her hands in one of his big palms while his other hand covered her mouth.
The door was kicked open and both she and the naked old man looked up to see Rani cross the threshold and swiftly landed a bone crunching punch straight into the nose of the dirty old man. The man went flying off of her and into the bedside table with a loud crash. The man reached up to his broken and bleeding nose and yelled "OY!"
Suddenly at the open doorway another man half naked and much younger than the old man said "Da!" And then he lunged at Rani's middle knocking him hard back against the window. She heard the shatter of the window as the back of Rani's head made contact.
Danielle quickly looked around her. There leaning on the bed headboard she saw a glint of metal. It was the old mans sword. She lunged across the bed for it. The old man had grabbed her foot and with a flick of his wrist tossed the foot backwards causing her whole body to turn so that she was on her back again under his disgusting gaze. He crawled up her as her fingers grazed the hilt of the sword. His movements was causing the bed to bounce and the headboard to rattle which knocked the sword to the ground. Rani's foot slammed into the old man's side and he was knocked off of her to the other side of the bed. She rolled over onto the ground and seized the sword, standing quickly to face the old man.
Rani had been fighting the younger man and was winning, the mans face was bloodied and when Rani kicked at the mans sword hand his weapon went flying out of the broken window. Rani reared back and punched the young man so hard in the face that he crumpled to the floor.
Meanwhile the old naked man was on hands and knees on the bed eyes narrowed at Danielle who held the sword up in a defensive stance. Rani turned towards the old man putting his own sword to his neck and positioning himself between the old man and her protectively.
"Is she yers then?" The old man asked in a growl.
"Yes." Rani said instantly.
Danielle meanwhile had responded before thinking. She saw movement at the corner of her eye, her sword came up instinctively and when she saw the younger man had now held a small knife between his fingers and was rearing back to find it's mark in Rani's head she lunged forward embedding the tip of the sword into the younger mans hand. His scream of agony followed after. Rani pulled her firmly behind him, she had become frozen from what she had done. He held her behind his back as he backed them both out of the room with sword still at the ready and eyes on both men.
"Leave then ye bastard. Ye and yer witch!" The old man said springing off the bed to help his son.
Rani swiftly shut the door between them.
Once the door was shut Rani turned around to face her. He saw the look on her face and instead of speaking he pulled her towards him his hands holding her face. Shushing and soothing her, gently stroking her cheeks. Danielle didn't realize that she had been trembling. Never before had she ever hurt someone in such a way. Although she hadn't killed the man, she just knew that she very nearly came close to being forced to kill someone.
"Have you never caused injury to someone with a sword seniorita?" He asked softly.
She shook her head.
"But you wield a sword with some skill. How did you learn to do that without causing injury? And what exactly did you intend to do to me when you tried to fight me?" He said humorously.
"I'm a champion fencer. It's a non lethal sport in my time. We use a sabre or foil type sword. It's blade is straight like yours but thin, light and flexible. That's why I had a hard time wielding your sword. The weight and the balance wasn't anything I'm used to. And I was never trying to kill you. I just wanted you to let me go."
He tilted her chin up to look at him.
"Are you better now?" He asked her, his eyes on her lips.
She self consciously licked her lips and saw his gaze turn hungry. She realized that she wanted him to kiss her again. He dipped his head towards her and paused for only a moment, allowing her the opportunity to pull away if she wanted to. She didn't. Then he moved in and his lips met hers. She kissed him back, reaching up and pulling at his hair and running her fingers through the silky softness and tugging. He moaned at that and she felt encouraged to do more.
But he had backed her up against the wall. He pulled back and looked at her. His hands reached up to take both of her hands and he slowly raised them above her head pinning them there with one hand. The other hand he brought down and ran a finger along her jaw and then to the back of her neck and pulling her lips to his with an urgency and need that seemed to match her own, his tongue insistent and slick.
They heard a noise from Lizzies room and he abruptly ended the kiss leaving her mouth swollen and needing. He swiftly made an exit dragging her along with him down the stairs, her hand tightly grasped in his hand. She was having trouble remembering how to use her legs, but remembered in time to not fall down the stairs behind him. They exited the tavern and found Hugo waiting just outside of the doors with the rest of his crew members. Rani pushed her towards Hugo and released her hand.
"Take her back to the boat with you. Get the men and supplies back on board and order them to make ready to set sail. Then you come back and wait for me on the bank. You do not allow her to leave your side." Rani ordered Hugo. Hugo nodded and grabbed Danielle by the elbow to lead her away.
"Wait. Where's he going?" She asked trying to pull away from Hugo. But his grip tightened and he said nothing. When they reached the boat the men had loaded it quickly with the supplies, and began rowing back towards the Venganza.
She overheard the men's conversation as she sat bobbing back fourth and side to side with the motion of the small boat.
"Our captain is always getting the beautiful women." One man said and glanced at Danielle, looking her body up and down crudely. "Si, for sure. And currently Lizzie is givin it to him good no doubt. She's the best. And he always makes it a point to see her. She really knows how to please a man." Another man commented gesturing crudely at his chest area and they all snickered. Danielle turned away from them and tried her best to tune them out. So Rani was just like all the rest of the men she had known then. Mindless assholes who only thought with their penises. She thought gritting her teeth.
When they reached the ship, the supplies and the crew were transported. Hugo boarded the ship leaving her alone on the small boat. He was brief though having to give the whole crew their captains orders. When he returned, as usual he was silent as he rowed them back towards land.
When they arrived to the area specified by Rani, they waited. She sat opposite of Hugo and tried to look anywhere but at him. She gave that up though after about an hour. Hugo had laid back using some of the boats rope as a pillow and he had pulled his hat down over his eyes to shield it from the sun leaving just his nose and mouth exposed.
Danielle plucked a handful of small rocks from the shallow water below. She then started whipping them across the water trying to skip them along the surface as many times as she could manage. A few more hours had passed and Hugo hadn't moved. She had made a pile of small rocks near her and was feeling bored with her game. So she decided to fling them at Hugo. Mostly she missed but every now and then a rock would hit him and he would grunt or twitch at the small pelts against his body. She stifled a laugh when one of the tiniest rocks hit him on the nose and he slapped his own face thinking it was a mosquito.
The sun was just about to disappear below the horizon and her stomach started to growl. Then she caught sight of Rani coming towards them. He had slung several bags over both shoulders.
"Rani's coming" she said to Hugo, who lifted his hat to look at her with one eye. Then he sat up and looked back and saw Rani approach the boat. Rani waded through the water which only reached just below his high boot tops and then tossed his supplies in with a loud clank. He hopped in and rummaged through one of the bags pulling 2 apples and tossing one to each of them. Then he grabbed the oars and proceeded to paddle back to the ship while they ate.
Onboard the ship he abruptly rushed her back to his quarters with a candle for lighting and locked her in. She eyed the door annoyed at him. She got ready for sleep and sat on the bed petting Perra who had made a few messes in the cabin, which she cleaned.
He came through the door carrying one of the satchels he had acquired while on shore. He set it to the side and eased out of his jacket.
"You look tired." She remarked.
He stretched but said nothing, sitting at his desk his hand rubbed his forehead.
She stood and walked up behind him. Hesitating for a moment but then she proceeded to place her hands on his shoulders. She pressed into his back rubbing and massaging the area. He moaned in pleasure.
"Thank you." He said very softly.
"Your welcome." She said just as softly.
A thought occurred to her and she felt a hint of irritation.
"You should have asked Lizzie to include this in her services for you." She said in spite of her efforts to keep the irritation out of her voice.
He cocked his head up.
"I'm just saying. I'm sure you got your moneys worth out of her, but given her affection towards you she probably would have thrown in a free massage too." She said.
He reached up to stop her rubbing and turned his seat so he could see her face. Amusement reached his eyes. Annoyance reached her eyes.
"Do you think I went back to buy services from Lizzie for myself seniorita?" He asked a glint in his eyes.
"Hey who am I to judge. Your crew implied that you had very good tastes and that you are a regular patron for services." She said raising her free hand defensively. His grin widened.
"Well Lizzie is the best I have to admit. She has a way of loosening a mans tongue well." He said.
"Oh I'm sure she's a professional and all." She said not meeting his gaze any longer.
"Yes, and she does like me." He continued.
"Obviously, if her kisses on your neck and constant insisting you take her to bed wasn't enough to let you know." She went on wanting to pull her hand away from his, but he only tightened his grip on it. She was so flustered and annoyed internally that she didn't even realize that he was turning his body even more scooting and repositioning his chair. He jerked at her arm and pulled her down until she was sitting in his lap. She tried to get up but he had wrapped his other arm around her to keep her in place.
"I didn't buy Lizzies services Danielle. Not in that way." He had said her name in a way that made her finally look at him.
"I've never bought her services for myself." He went on. She just stared into his dark eyes, he stared back at her hazel eyes.
"I buy her services for men I intend to gain information from only. She always bates me. But her attempts are halfhearted. For as you say, it is her profession. She" he paused momentarily searching for a delicate word. "Performs for money. And I have never asked for such a performance for myself. I pay her to gain information for me. And then I pay her again to convey gathered information. We have made this arrangement several times. That is all." He finished.
She felt relief fill her and didn't know why but the thought of him only looking to a woman for sex had bothered her. But his explanation made sense and she saw the truth of it all in his eyes.
He was smiling at her.
"You are so beautiful Danielle." His compliment had caught her off guard. She liked when he said her name.
His hand came up to tuck a stray strand of her hair behind her shoulder. She wondered if he would kiss her then.
He didn't. Instead he sighed and rested his head on her shoulder. She didn't know what to say now. A few minutes had passed in silence. Then she noticed it. His body had gone slack and his breathing hollow. The man had fallen asleep on her. She moved to pull his hair free from its leather band.
Rani lifted his head and looked around. She took the opportunity to stand up and pulled him up along side her, and he let her. He really was tired. She pulled his sword off and leaned it on the desk. Next she undid his belt and sash and put them away in the dresser cabinet. Rani pulled at his shirt untucking it from his pants lazily.
She reached for the gun holster but he stopped her hands from touching him further.
"I wasn't going to take your guns to use them." She said defensively.
"I'll do it." He breathed and removed the guns and locked them away in the drawer.
He stumbled forward and she grabbed for his hand. He opened his eyes again and allowed her to lead him to the bed. He laid back and was asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow. She watched him sleep peacefully for a moment. Looking back she also checked on Perra who like her master was on her back snoring loudly. Danielle smiled. It was then she realized that she would have to climb over the man to get into the bed.
She gingerly put her hands on either side of his head and stretched her leg over to the other side of his hip. She felt Rani's hand come up her thigh, she looked at his face but he was still sleeping soundly. She pulled her other leg in and now she was straddling his hips, her arms on either side of his head and her hair was dangling inches from his face. He sighed and then he turned his whole body taking her with him. She plopped on her side of the bed with a thud. She checked his face again but his eyes were still closed and breathing still very steady and shallow.
She was on her side facing him her bottom leg had slipped down and straightened but the other leg was draped over his hip and fully exposed from upper thigh to foot. His hand rest lazily on her naked leg. She thought momentarily about pulling it down and away from him. But she didn't. He was exhausted and probably would not know what was happening. She reached up and touched his face. He didn't move. She traced his jawline, his scar, his nose, and his forehead. Then she gently felt his lips on her fingertips. He was completely out. She dared a little further. Danielle leaned up slowly, very slowly. Her face inches from his. And then she kissed his soft pouty lips gently. He still slept on. She smiled then and leaned back, closing her eyes and drifting off into sleep.
ВИ ЧИТАЄТЕ
Revenge So Sweet
РомантикаDanielle's traumatic past leads her to embark on an adventure she could never have thought possible. When she awakens aboard the ship of a stranger hell bent on revenge, will time allow love to overcome the past? And will a pirates pursuits lead t...
