Paid to the Pirate by Una Rohr

Chapter 7

Charlotte

Bare. No man had ever laid eyes on my naked backside. No woman or child, for that matter, had ever seen what Colt now freely eyed. Except Daniel, of course, as he’d discovered me washed upon the shore. But he’d been a gentleman and quickly averted his eyes before covering me with his waistcoat.

I felt the air behind me change, move. To my relief, Colt didn’t lay a hand upon me -- at least not yet. He seemed to be still, staring. Above my own panting, I could hear his hard breathing.

I pressed my already-closed legs even tighter together.

“Please. What are you doing?” I cried the stupid question. Colt already made his intent clear. I just couldn’t believe it.

I could tell him the truth and stop this horror, I thought. Tell him I have no memory of the past.

But then I’d lose my chance at capturing him, as well as expose myself to be manipulated into whatever story he wanted to concoct.Who knew if he wouldn’t take advantage of me? Lie to me about my past, knowing I couldn’t tell the difference?

I heard the awful sound of a belt buckle jangling.

What had I ever done to deserve this? Surely God, in all his mercy, couldn’t allow a good Christian woman to be abused by a criminal.

I must have muttered something to the effect -- a prayer whispered in desperation -- but I didn’t even know I’d done it.

It was only the bark of Colt’s laugh that jarred me.

“It’s too soon for prayers. I suggest you save the begging for later. And pray only to the man who holds your fate in his hands. Me.”

His smug statement did send an initial flash of fear through my belly… but anger quickly followed. Strengthening my resolve, I vowed, beat me if you must, but I will not break. I will never break. I hate your kind and perhaps God has given me this chance to see all your necks in the noose.

As if he sensed my courage, Colt wedged one boot between my knees and kicked my legs apart, making me gasp as the act revealed all of my feminine charms to his filthy gaze. Before I could snap my thighs shut, he growled, “Keep your legs spread or I’ll call someone in to hold them apart. Do I make myself clear?”

I could only whimper as I struggled against the urge to close my legs. My muscles tensed, fighting instinct.

Dear God, this can’t be happening. What could he see?

“Spread. Wide,” Colt declared. “If you close your legs, I will call every crew member in here to watch as I belt you. Do I make myself clear? Answer me!”

Tears of fear and humiliation fell as I blinked. Shaking, I breathed, “Yes. Yes, you make yourself clear.”

Something made the area between my legs feel warm… maybe it was the heat of this devil’s gaze, but it felt as if it came from inside me as well, low in my belly and working shamefully downward.

The snap of a leather belt made me jump, but no pain followed. He’d only done it to taunt me.

It worked.

“Sir, captain, please,” I begged.

I can stop this. Just tell him the truth. Whatever I was in the past, whatever made him feel he could do this to me, I do not remember.

Stubbornly, I folded my lips between my teeth.

“Your new lady act has you begging sweeter than you ever begged before. Excellent. I’m going to punish you harder than I ever punished you before.”

My stomach dropped at his promise.

Colt leaned down, his warm breath against my ear. “Let’s see what other sounds we can wring from your lips, shall we? Let’s hear you scream, Miss Charlotte. Your screams will be a balm to my soul.”

I shivered. He noticed.

Still against my ear, Colt whispered, “Scared? I’ll give you one last chance. If you’re ready to talk, I’ll untie you. We can sit at the table and if I’m satisfied with what I hear, I’ll reconsider your punishment. This is the last opportunity I’m going to give you. Think carefully. Once I start your belting, no prayers will make me stop.”

A storm of emotions rose and clashed within me. Fear from his threat, from the imminent pain. Rage from him wielding superior power and strength over me. Fury at my helplessness under it. And still that strange warmth tingling in my lower half.

Colt’s lips were close enough they almost brushed my ear. I noticed, with alarm, that new, tingly sensation was in my breasts, too.

All I had to do was submit to a child’s punishment and this would all be over, I reasoned. I would win. I could continue my charade and use my time aboard this Godforsaken ship to learn their pirate ways and bring them down.

Bravely, I pursed my lips again.

Colt’s breathy chuckle tickled my neck. “Think you’ve won?” he taunted, almost reading my mind. “I was hoping you’d defy me. For two years I’ve been fantasizing about striping your arse. You’re giving me exactly what I want. And when I’m through with you, you’ll be begging to tell me anything I ask.”

I gulped as Colt rose.

The first blow of the belt came quickly and stung enough to make me reconsider everything. Like a branding iron, a line of fire erupted across the full center of my backside, making me yelp. The room melted away. Colt commanded my full attention as I braced for another lash.

It came, followed by a third so quickly the pain of the second hadn’t even fully set in. I threw my head back, pulling desperately at my tied wrists.

Living up to his name, the fourth and fifth lashes landed cruelly on my thighs, wrapping around to my delicate inner-flesh and making me wail. Instinctively, I snapped my legs shut.

“Get those legs spread, now,” Colt growled. “Or I’ll tie them apart and call every man on this ship to watch.”

Whimpering, I spread my legs wider than before. The act called to my attention something… sticky… between my thighs. For a horrified moment, I wondered if I’d wet myself. And then, with a flash of terror, I thought the blackhearted pirate had drawn blood. But neither of those substances felt quite right. There had been no urge to relieve myself and I didn’t feel injured in the crevice between my legs. In fact, a sort of hungry ache began.

Another cruel blow struck and more tears welled.

Below, I was curiously inflamed. As if engorged and needing something or someone to touch the throbbing area to relieve the swelling.

Another blow struck where my rear met the tops of my thighs and I jumped as far as the restraints allowed. Instead of giving a moment for the pain to settle, Colt belted me once on each thigh again.

“Please, not there!” I cried. Frantic, I tried scrambling up onto the bed to avoid the punishing snap of leather, but Colt’s strong hands found my back, pressing me into the mattress.

“Stay down, girl,” he commanded. “Back into position. Legs wide.”

Whimpering, I obeyed, offering Colt the area he wanted to punish. A maelstrom of confusing emotions raged within.

“You have the power, Charlotte,” Colt said, low and controlled. “You can end your punishment any time you want. Just tell me the truth about that night and tell me where it is.”

I don’t know where it is! I thought, frantically. I don’t have the power.

“Do you feel like a lady now?” he taunted. “On your knees with your slip around your waist?”

Smack – another blow landed high on my rear, crossing over previous marks.

“Might as well drop the act. It won’t save you.”

More tears streaked my cheeks. I prayed Colt’s arm would miraculously tire before he bruised my rear black and blue, or worse -- broke skin.

Crack, and I shrieked.

Yet I would have to break apart physically because I refused to drop my act. There was no other way to end this. In the battle of wills, we were at a stalemate. My backside paid the price until… until, what? He belted the flesh clear off my bones?

Colt wouldn’t relent. God, this beast of a man wouldn’t stop until he’d broken me.

Crack. I freely sobbed my agony to anyone within earshot.

Colt was too powerful. Too unyielding. Strapping me over his bed. Cruel, just like his name.

Another lash fell and the tip whipped in between my unprotected buttocks to sensitive, forbidden flesh within.

And yet, this wasn’t the same cruelty doled out to insubordinate crew. This was a strange, intimate cruelty just for me. A woman.

Such a funny thought. Such a funny feeling at the thought.

A woman… his woman? But no, he wasn’t familiar with me in that sense. Yet he must have abused me in an intimate manner before. Possibly even stolen a kiss or had been close to it.

What would it be like to kiss him back? To run my hands through his thick, dark head of hair? What an absurd thought to have at a time like this. Why would I imagine kissing a man who strapped me?

I pictured Colt’s strong arms rising and falling. The muscles in his back rippling with the effort. All that power being used to punish me in a manner somewhere between wayward child and headstrong woman.

Too intimate. Too powerful.

Large hands to punish… or to please.

Smack -- another fierce bite of leather against my bare, helpless skin. This time, after I cried, I groaned.

Moaned.

Panted.

My mind clouded with a pleasant fog and I realized my hips were canting, though I couldn’t say how long they’d been doing it. My sex swelled further with that strange sensation of need. Something tantalizing built inside me, demanding I seek it, chase it. I ground my hips faster against the bed’s edge.

It wasn’t quite right, I needed something more. Harder. But my hands were tied and I’d have to make do because the feeling ordered me to heed its call, like a master possessing a servant. And I obeyed.

“Oh God, help me,” I babbled half-consciously, terrified of moving forward in this diabolic possession, yet unable to retreat. The intensity grew to a crescendo and my hips bucked more frantically as I chased, as I needed… release… now --

-- Yes! There it was. Indescribable bliss washed over me as I moaned and writhed a lewd dance against the mattress. My heart raced and an ocean roared in my ears so that I could see and hear nothing beyond the rapture.

In the midst of my madness, I had the bizarre thought.

It was as if I touched heaven. Colt led me to heaven… through hell.

When my breathing slowed, the realization that I’d just done something mortifying in front of the strange pirate captain gradually dawned on me. I didn’t know why I cared. Fierce shame coursed through me, yet I feared Colt too much to snap my legs shut. I tried freeing my wrists but it did nothing other than earn me more scratches.

He’d stopped belting me. Since when? I searched my foggy brain but couldn’t remember when I’d last felt the burn of a leather stroke.

Oh God, what had happened? Had he watched?

Dead silence behind me.

Colt wasn’t moving. I couldn’t even hear him breathing.

Inside, my thoughts ran in all directions, but outside, I felt limp, weak. The belting and… whatever had just happened had stolen all my energy.