He realized he had just brought her to o.r.g.a.s.m.

"Shh," he whispered at her ear, smiling to himself as he caught her, steadying her as she went limp with a groan. Such an apt pupil. She leaned against the cannon until he turned her around and gathered her into his arms.

He held her for a long moment, ignoring the stampede of l.u.s.t inside him, for he was moved beyond words at the innocence of her release. So artless and pure. Her helpless surrender bespoke a blood-deep trust. But wasn't that what she had given to him from the start? Her words had stayed with him, haunting him from that first day in the jungle.

"I trust you, Jack."

That someone as pure as Eden Farraday could see good in him shook him to the core.

He lowered his head, cupped her delicate jaw in his hand, and kissed her. She wound her arms around his neck and returned his kiss with an earnest wholeheartedness that made him ache.

I trust you, too, Eden, he thought. As much as I am able to trust anyone.

She was still trembling with the aftermath of ecstasy, overwhelmed; she felt a bit thrown off balance, for she had not expected any of this to happen, at least not today, after all they had been through. Jack's rich pa.s.sion flowed over her and wrapped around her, a sweetness and exquisite security.

As she kissed him slowly, savoring his mouth, she let her hand travel in a cautious exploration across the broad, warm swells of his chest, where his dressing gown had fallen open.

He quivered under her touch. She ventured further, fascinated, molding her palm against him as her hand glided down the intricate musculature of his carved belly. His velvet skin heated under her caress. He breathed out a low, needy moan against her lips, and Eden realized abruptly that although he had brought her to climax, he was still on fire.

His touch running down her sides brimmed with searing need. His hungry kiss urged her lips farther apart, and then he tasted her again with a deep, slow stroke of his tongue on hers.

She raked her fingers through his hair, caressed his stubbled jaw, and played with his neat, low sideburns.

Jack cupped her nape and drank of her kisses still more deeply; Eden gladly acquiesced. She knew she was playing with fire, but she could not stop, enthralled by the firm, delicious pressure of his mouth slanting over hers with such hot, masculine greed. Her fingers dug into his powerful shoulders as though with a will of their own, clutching, claiming a man she knew she'd never tame.

His tongue swirled and danced in her mouth, thrusting in and out, as his fingertips stroked her neck and throat. The effect it had on Eden shocked her to the core: Again, he stirred the glowing embers of her desire alive with new and still hotter flame.

There was no point arguing with a six-foot wall of male muscle as he began backing her toward his bed behind her, kissing her all the while.

She stole a brief upward glance at his face from under her lashes. His aqua-blue eyes glittered harshly with the fever, his taut expression that of a man who would not be denied.

"Jack?"

"Yes, darlin'?"

"W-What are you doing?"

"Seducing you," he whispered very smoothly. "I told you I would." He lifted the borrowed shirt she was wearing off over her head, then glanced down at her naked body in starved appreciation.

He stole another kiss and kept inching her back toward the bed.

"Y-You said I would be willing."

"Aren't you?"

"I-I don't know. This is-maybe we should think about this."

"Let's not."

"But Jack." Thrill and fear and need-hesitation, distress, and longing brewed up a potent concoction of primal response in Eden as she realized he could not hold himself back any longer. She was about to be ravished.

"Yes, my sweet?"

The backs of her legs b.u.mped up against his bed behind her. "I didn't think you wanted me."

"Oh, but I do," he vowed, slowly shaking his head. He took off the long, luxurious robe, letting it spill off his shoulders to pool behind him on the floor.

Eden gulped at his magnificent body towering before her in the candlelight.

"So very much." He pressed her down gently by her shoulders until she sat on the edge of his berth. He descended with her, sinking to his knees between her legs. "Would you like me to show you how much, Eden?"

"Um-"

His hot, wet mouth left her lips to travel down around her chin; along the side of her neck, entrancing her; and down into the valley between her b.r.e.a.s.t.s. "Oh, G.o.d." She sank back onto one elbow on his mattress, and Jack had easy access to all of her.

He stroked her body everywhere until she was breathless from his ministrations. She knew if they did this, there was no turning back, but her heart already belonged to him, and her body delighted under his hands. When he touched her like this, in long, hypnotic strokes, there could be nothing in the world to fear. Her mind felt numb and blissful, as though she had ingested one of those strange jungle plants the Waroa used in their religious ceremonies.

He cradled her head with his other hand and nuzzled her earlobe, his heavy breathing raspy by her ear. "Delicious thing," he purred in dark seduction as he glided down by her navel, "I want to eat you."

She let out a dazed laugh, thinking that he spoke metaphorically, but she soon realized her mistake when he pressed her legs apart on a wider angle and continued descending along her body, trailing thrilling kisses all down her torso and on her hips as he went. She held her breath and clenched the coverlet in her fists, throbbing with wild antic.i.p.ation.

He reached beneath her and cupped her b.u.t.tocks gently in his big, deft hands. Then he bent his head, nibbling at her inner thighs in teasing play, tantalizing her until she squirmed in needy impatience; his warm, manly lips hovered above her mound for a heartbeat before he slowly licked her most sacred core.

Eden whispered an incredulous expletive-but Jack was only getting started. The light flicking of his clever tongue duplicated the earlier motion of his fingertip; she groaned in sheer abandon. Then his mouth was upon her, claiming her, pleasuring her. She was liquid fire beneath him, like the tropical sun turning the slow-moving river to gold.

Her breath heaved as though she had run a mile. He had her writhing, arching, undulating as she sought the satisfaction of his tongue. He was ferocious in his giving. There was nowhere she could go to escape the pleasure. Starting forward, his mouth consumed her ultra-sensitized center; shrinking back, his pinky finger pressed deep into the cleft of her backside, and all the while, his two fingers glided in and out of her slick pa.s.sage, working her into a lather-again.

Ruthless, this man. Delightfully so.

She raked her trembling hands through his thick, wavy hair, panting as she gazed down at him again. One glance revealed that all of the fierce, single-minded force of purpose in his nature was focused on giving her pleasure, nay, worshiping her body with his own.

Cupping her foot in loving play, he set her leg over his broad shoulder to drink her in more deeply. She cupped his head between her thighs, melting on his tongue like flowing honey.

"Oh, G.o.d, Jack!" she gasped out. "I could die..."

A low, seductive laugh escaped him at her amazement, the deep notes vibrating against her throbbing flesh: She winced and smiled in half-drunken delight as he gave her only a moment to steady herself.

"You won't die. Trust me." He glanced up and gave her a devil's smile with eyes that burned like hot coals. He pressed a tender kiss to her belly and then returned below to finish driving her mad.

In moments, she was wild with pa.s.sion, thrusting herself into his wonderful mouth. "Oh, Jack, I... can't take any more. Make it... stop... please. ..."

Demon that he was, the exquisite torment only intensified in answer to her ragged plea. It sharpened; deepened; and then on the verge of her gasp, it suddenly ceased.

"Oh, no, you don't," he chided in knowing amus.e.m.e.nt even as she cried out at the denial.

He dragged his lips away from her teeming core and dried his mouth against her thigh. He nuzzled the lower curve of her breast as he moved upward once more.

"Jack."

"No, darling, I've got something else for you." Hooking an arm around her waist, he slid her into the center of his bed as he joined her, moving her as easily as if she weighed no more than a cat.

Eden marveled at the rock-hard arms that held her. She trailed her fingertips over the bulky swell of his left biceps, then squeezed the muscle, amazed to find it quite as solid as sun-warmed stone; laughing softly at her experiment, Jack kissed her cheek.

"You're very hard," she remarked, then looked anxiously into his eyes. "You'll hurt me!"

"No, sweet. Never." His expression softening, he reclined on his side next to her. She glanced down in worried awe at his naked body and saw that the light sprigging of brown hair of his chest matched the darker thatch from which his phallus sprung, so large and ready. Even now, it towered over her flat belly.

Good G.o.d.

Jack distracted her from staring before real fear could set in. With a gentle pressure under her chin, he tipped her head back and kissed her with slow, drugging depth. After a moment, Eden wrapped her arms around him while his roaming fingertips glided over her, connecting the dots of her occasional freckles.

He bent over her, delighting her with a little nibble on the tip of her nose, and then kissing his way down her face, rounding her chin. He licked her throat and lightly teethed her neck. She held him to her, running her fingers through his thick, silky hair.

He leaned closer and then moved atop her. "I need you," he whispered.

She searched his face, so unsure, and yet so hungry for him.

Her blood pounded like tribal drums. Her lips throbbed, swollen from his kisses. He cradled her head in his left hand but reached down between their bodies with his right and guided the throbbing tip of his hardness into her love-slicked threshold.

Her heart slammed, but Jack displayed superhuman restraint, advancing no further for a few seconds, letting her get used to him again. This was not much different than what they'd done before beside the cannon, she thought, and felt braver. Sensing her relax a bit, he began to play with her, roguishly, swirling the smooth head of his instrument all over and around her dripping core. He teased her with it until she burned for him; he skimmed her open blossom more deeply with each pa.s.s.

"You're cruel," she panted.

"I'm thorough."

"Jack," she groaned, enfolding him between her legs. She hooked her ankles against the small of his back and squirmed beneath him in wanton need, past caring about tomorrow. "Oh... Jack, please."

"Easy, love. Don't move like that. You're torturing me." His voice was gruff, his angular face taut with desire, but he paused to inhale the scent of her. He glided the tip of his nose along the curve of her shoulder and her neck. "You smell so good, my orchid, my exquisite flower."

"Jack." Must she beg for him?

Her world spun like the dizzying view from the jungle's highest treetops, and her ears reechoed with her father's well-intended, scientific advice. All animals take a mate on reaching reproductive age. It seemed so cool and logical compared to the frenzy in her blood as his hardness slid deeper into her by delicious fractions of an inch. She drew herself down eagerly, seeking more of him.

"Are you ready for me, Eden?"

"Uhn."

Jack pressed a sweet kiss into her palm, and entered her slowly, steadily. When he reached the thin membrane of her barrier, he whispered in her ear that it would only hurt for a moment, and then he burst it with a forceful thrust of his hips.

She bit back an anguished cry, for the moment of her initiation hurt. They were meant to hurt, these ancient, bloodletting rituals. This she had learned from the timeless Waroa. Such ceremonies marked a person's entrance into a whole new phase of life.

A life with this man and all his dangerous secrets.

He was clearly determined to make the pain as small for her as possible. Except for the heaving of his chest, he remained still while she struggled to absorb the wound. He was deep inside her now: They were one.

His gentle kisses in the darkness eased her, and soon, his skillful efforts as a lover, earlier, when he had taken the time to school her in the ways of pleasure, now paid their dividends in helping her to overcome the pain.

The life she'd led, in any case, had taught her not to fear pain overmuch. Sometimes pain was a crucial part of healing, she knew, and besides, it always pa.s.sed.

It pa.s.sed now, moment by moment, while Jack petted her hair and stared into her eyes, offering unquestioned rea.s.surance.

He filled her so completely that the emptiness deep inside had vanished, the hollow restless longing that had driven her from the jungle and onto this ship bound for England. Only now did she feel whole.

He held her tenderly, and with her eyes closed, Eden kissed his shoulder again and again in languid idleness; when he felt her hips relax by a few cautious degrees, he made love to her with slow, delicious eroticism. Every stroke of his pelvis brought her more keenly alive; she thrust her b.r.e.a.s.t.s upward into his chest. He nuzzled her brow, his breath hot against her temple. She savored the damp, humid heat of their bodies, undulating together-connected, nay, locked in lush copulation. She was shaking, no, couldn't resist him-paying tribute, body and soul, to her dark G.o.d.

She lifted her head from his pillow and kissed him, her fingers cupping his square, scruffy jaw. He growled low as he consumed her kiss; the rhythm of their elemental dance gathered speed, releasing primal powers. His sweat and his scent were all over her; she had marked him with her blood.

Eden heard the distant drumbeat of his pulse pounding fiercely in time with her own. She gripped his lean hips and helped herself to still more of his pulsating length, better able to enjoy him now. He yielded, taking as he gave.

"Come for me," he ordered in a rasping whisper, and in the next moment, helplessly, Eden obeyed.

She clutched his big shoulders and let out fairly a scream of release even as he groaned loudly by her ear, his whole frame going rigid. Triumphant their cries, uncontrollable.

His body wept within her, her shuddering pa.s.sage milking his seed, while orchids burst like fireworks and pink dolphins leaped through the sparkling cloud that had once been her mind.

Sorcerer, warrior, magic man... come to steal her away to his golden kingdom under the sea.

Buoto. When one seduced you, you couldn't even remember how to form the word no.

"Oh, Jack." His name on her lips faded to naught but a mesmerized whisper-her surrender unconditional.

As her shudders of ecstasy eased, Jack withdrew from her body, panting, and collapsed in the valley between her b.r.e.a.s.t.s. He was spent. His limbs felt as heavy as anchors.

Closing his eyes in lingering ecstasy, he pressed languid kisses to her midriff and rubbed his face back and forth against her skin, reveling in her softness, her delicate scent.

She was so different. So extraordinarily pure. When she draped her arms weakly around his shoulders, her delicate fingers against his face took Jack to heaven.

"Oh, Jack, you magnificent rascal," she purred at length, hugging his head to her bosom. She sounded spent, sated, richly satisfied, and that was reward enough for him.

"Are you all right?" he murmured.

"I think so. I didn't die," she added as an afterthought.

"I told you you'd survive." With a smile, he brought her dainty hand to his lips and pressed another small kiss into her palm. As soon as he released her hand, it fell limply onto the mattress, as though she were too weak from their exertions to support her own weight.

He laughed. Resting on his elbows, he studied her, marveling all over again at her beauty-doting on her, truth be told. He was gratified that she was pleased with his performance, for he'd never deflowered a virgin before in his life.

He bent his head and kissed the vulnerable notch at the base of her throat; closing his eyes, he was overcome by a deep and sudden surge of possessive devotion. "Eden," he whispered, his breath warming her skin as he made this woman a solemn vow: "I will always take care of you. I'll always be there when you need me. I will be good to you-if you'll have me."

She pushed him back by his shoulders, just far enough to stare into his eyes. Her own were wide with astonished uncertainty, as though she wasn't sure she'd heard him right.

He stared at her almost fiercely, for she must understand that he wouldn't take no for an answer. "Marry me," he commanded.

A dazzling smile broke across her face; joy beamed from her emerald eyes. Still lying beneath him, she lifted her hand to her brow and gave him a cheeky salute. "Aye-aye, Cap'n."

He laughed, relief flooding his heart, then he wiped that saucy grin off her lips with a big, wet kiss.

"Don't worry, Victor, I have the situation under control," Connor a.s.serted as he surveyed the frigate's decks in a menacing pose. "These men won't harm you," he added, eyeing the cowering crew sharply. "They're under my orders now."