Paid to the Pirate by Una Rohr

Chapter 6

Charlotte

“You don’t remember the way to a captain’s cabin?” Colt taunted, grabbing my bicep and yanking me back too hard. Pulling me too close to his body.

“We did acquire a new ship in your absence, but I doubt you’d find a cabin in that direction on any vessel. The Dark Blade is gone, traded to another captain. Miss her?”

Every passing minute confirmed the unavoidable. I’d been on a ship for months, years perhaps. But in what capacity? As a prisoner? Crew? God forbid, as a … companion?

That couldn’t be. Women were considered bad luck upon ships. And the way I was being treated told me my consent wasn’t entirely given, if at all. In some manner, I must have existed unwillingly aboard Colt’s ship. Perhaps blackmailed? Maybe this cold-hearted captain knew my parents and threatened them. Maybe I’d agreed to stay aboard his ship to spare them pain, or death.

And I’d finally managed to escape… but had somehow lost my memories.

Whatever had happened, pretending I was too far removed from the experience, too above it all, seemed to be serving to cover the amnesia.

I planned on clinging to my act. My life might very well depend on it.

I’d started hopelessly, however, marching aft when instructed to Colt’s cabin. Above the briny scent of the sea, I could smell him -- curiously clean for a pirate, though tinged with something spicy, musky. I gulped. Manly.

“Have you forgotten your way around a ship?” he repeated, eyes narrowed with suspicion.

Towering monster. He must be six feet tall, or more. I had to look up to meet his eyes, when my height allowed me to meet some men with a level stare and to look down upon the shorter ones.

Throwing myself into the safety of my pretend-act, I declared with exaggerated haughtiness, “I am a lady.” The night wind whipped loose strands of my hair about my face, and I tucked them behind my ears, trying to muster all the dignity I could, clad only in my chemise in front of at least two dozen swarthy men. “I’ve never been on a ship in my life. This one, or your old one. I’m afraid if you want me to do something you’ll need to give precise instruction.”

“You’re in luck. I plan to do precisely that.”

I shivered at the thinly veiled threat.

One side of Colt’s lips turned up into a sardonic grin. “I see you remember some things, don’t you?” Roughly, he turned me by shoulders to face the main mast. “You’re familiar with the post used for whipping insolent crewmen, aren’t you?”

My eyes rounded and I gulped.

“Ah, but a lady would never find herself bound for the lash. Would she?”

The emphasis Colt gave the statement told me he referenced something from my past -- but what? His head, tilted back, forced his hooded eyes to peer further downward, lending him an even more arrogant look. I found his haughty manner unusual for a pirate -- not that I’d come into contact with many of his kind. But the carriage and mannerisms of this particular captain were surprisingly measured, giving them an air of… if not civility, certainly intelligence.

Yes, cunning. I needed to be wary of what he saw with those dark eyes -- and how he processed information in his dark mind.

With his large hand caging my arm, I had no choice but to follow the captain up a short flight of wooden stairs from the main deck onto a higher, smaller one. With quick, long strides Colt half-dragged me through a tight hallway until we reached a door at the end.

His private chambers.

Mrs. Penningham said he wouldn’t rape me, I assured myself. But why else were we headed to his cabin?

Thrusting me inside, Colt slammed and locked the door behind him. I quickly took stock of the room as I spun around to face him. The far wall bore a series of paned windows and scarlet curtains. Elevated from the rest of the floor, a desk and chair sat before it. The wooden desk was littered with all kinds of books, maps, and documents. Almost in the center of the room stood a dining table large enough to seat six or eight. On the tabletop and jutting from sconces, candles glowed, long tapers freshly-lit.

On one side of the room a bed was built into the walls. It too bore deep red curtains, though they’d been tied back with gold, woven cords.

Keenly aware of my state of undress, I moved away from the bed, toward the large table near the room’s center. One step backward.

Colt matched it with a step forward, boots thumping ominously against the floor.

I took another step, in reverse.

He took one more in my direction.

Seeing the fruitlessness of my retreat, I stopped, grabbing the table’s edge to steady myself. Colt’s eyes missed nothing. He looked down at me like game to be hunted and roasted. Or as if I’d already been ensnared and prepared and all that remained was to spear me with a fork and eat.

Mrs. Penningham said he wouldn’t kill me. Said he wouldn’t rape me.

What did he want with me? Why was I here? Who was I to this cruel captain?

His eyes were black, impossibly dark and enthralling to the point of sucking prey right into that molten pitch. Black eyes don’t exist, my mind insisted. They must be the darkest shade of brown. Yet I couldn’t discern the difference. Candlelight reflected menacingly off his pupils -- indistinguishable from the irises themselves. His hair and clothing were equally as dark.

“Shall we pick up where we left off?”

I blinked. What did that mean?

Colt stepped forward again, now no more than two feet away.

“Or try something new, seeing as how much time has passed?”

Before I could respond, he invaded my personal space, grabbed the back of my head, and brought his lips to mine. Balling my hands into fists, I punched against his chest in a pathetic effort at stopping him. Colt’s other arm snaked around my waist, locking my body to his, crushing my arms between us as he attacked my mouth.

I’d never been kissed before. Had I?

It wasn’t quite a kiss. Not only because the tips of his fingers dug painfully into my cheeks, but because I didn’t kiss him back.

My mind spun -- he both felt free to kiss me yet implied he hadn’t done so before. What was my strange relationship to this man?

It lasted only a few seconds. Abruptly, the one-sided kiss ended when Colt pulled back and blinked once as if he were the one startled. To my horror, instead of remaining in a state of ardor, the kiss had the opposite effect, and a look of even more menace grew upon his sinister features. It was as if he was not only mad at me for not kissing him back, he was mad at himself for doing so in the first place.

“I want the whole story of what happened that night. And I want every man out there to hear your cries.”

My stomach lurched as he unbuckled his belt and folded it over in an unmistakable threat. “Don’t hold back. I won’t.”

I could barely form words as the room swayed, all courage I’d summoned to board the ship quickly abandoning me.

“You mean to whip me?” I whispered, voice cracking.

Colt threw his head back, roaring with laughter.

“Believe me, I’ve half a mind to tie you to the mast and whip you as so begged. But I’ve got no mercy for you after what you’ve done.”

Mercy? How could publicly whipping me be a mercy?

“You’ll take my belt on your backside until I’ve licked every lie from those lips.”

My heart galloped and an instant sheen of sweat broke out on my brow. He couldn’t be serious.

Colt’s eyes roved my body, blazing with rage. “Take off that slip before I tear it off.”

I crossed my arms protectively against my chest. “You request tribute like a so-called gentleman pirate, but you’re no gentleman!”

“And you think wearing ridiculous dresses and silky chemises makes you a lady?”

I scoffed. How dare he speak to me like that? My dress was anything but ridiculous. Daniel said it was the latest fashion in Paris. Mrs. Penningham said the pink beautifully complemented my honey curls and hazel eyes. How dare he; this dirty, swarthy pirate?

I jutted my chin. “My manners make me a lady. And furthermore, I am a - a godly woman.”

I’d hoped that pronouncement would buy me some protection, but it amused Colt instead.

“Godly?” he mocked. Bright, white teeth flashed against his tanned skin when Colton grinned widely.

“You’ve been pretending to be something you’re not since the day I met you. You’ve been a liar since day I let you live. Do your games ever stop?” He chuckled, darkly. I didn’t know if he expected a reply as he glowered, but I had none to give.

“Well then, it’s as I said. No whipping post for you, lady. You’ll be punished in the manner befitting a woman. With my belt. On your rear.”

A twinge in a region I’d never previously felt such a stirring, alarmed me. The rest of my body understood the danger it was in -- especially my backside, which tingled with anticipation. But the area between my legs felt as if… for the first time in my life… that private region had been stroked, awoken.

The feeling frightened me as much as this man’s leather belt. No, no, not a man. A pirate, a devil. Thinking of him as a man would be folly, lulling me into some false belief he’d have… what did he say? Mercy.

Colt the Cruel had no mercy. I didn’t need the warning; his reputation proceeded him.

Before I could run, Colt’s strong hands grabbed mine and held them together as he pushed me toward the bed. It seemed unreal; I was in a nightmare and I had to wake up.

“Let me go!” I cried and he laughed, he laughed.

“Keep it up, please. I want everyone on this ship to know you’re being thrashed to tears.”

Oh God, why? What had I ever done to him?

“Just save enough of your voice to tell me everything I want to know when we’re done.”

“Please, sir, don’t,” I babbled. “Please, unhand me.”

“It’s captain and you bloody well know it.”

Roughly, Colt threw me onto the low bed and I felt his weight disappear. Before I could scramble, his tall frame covered mine as he brought my wrists together once more, this time binding them with rope while I wiggled. Somehow, Colt tethered the rope to a hitch beneath the bed, tying it securely.

“Stop, stop, please,” I protested frantically, never having experienced such panic in my life. Tears threatened to spill and Colt hadn’t even beaten me yet.

Bent, with my arms secured to the wall, I kneeled upon the cabin floor, torso draped over the bed’s center.

“No, you can’t!” I shrieked, when I felt the cool night air on my skin as Colt lifted my chemise up and out of the way. I had forgotten to be quiet; no longer cared.

I was bare from my waist to the tops of my white stockings.