The Captain of All Pleasures (Sutherland Brothers 1)

He pressed a second finger into her, spreading her, and watched, fascinated, as he pushed upward with his hand. She moaned low in her throat and shot up in the bed, legs splayed, back arched. Exquisite.

Her body gripped him hard, and as she broke over the edge her eyes flashed open with a look of disbelief and wonder.

It was a look that mirrored his own, because there, obvious to his touch, was her unbreached maidenhood.

Nicole had just come down from the most incredible encounter she'd ever experienced in her life. She wanted to savor it, to lock it away in her heart. She felt soft and languid for the first time in months. She wanted to enjoy the easing of the constant tension she battled, but that became difficult when Sutherland closed in on her with an expression that sped from bafflement to a cold fury.

"An explanation, girl."

She supposed his tone should have alarmed her, but she felt drugged. All she wanted to do was pet him and thank him and, well, reciprocate somehow. In fascination, she brought her fingers up to tease the hair on his chest, and smiled at his sharp hiss of breath when she unwittingly caressed his nipple. She'd have to remember that.

His eyes turned chilling as he roughly grabbed her wrists. "Enough. Is this some sort of trap?"

"T-trap?" she stammered, finally forcing herself to sit up.

His gaze roamed over her breasts, and he abruptly released her. "Cover yourself."

She dragged the sheet to her chin. She would end this now, tell him everything so he could guard himself against whoever was behind the sabotage. And then she would leave. She was deciding where to start when his next comment stopped her cold.

"A virgin seductress. You wouldn't whore something as valuable as your virginity just to get your father out of jail."

She flinched from his words but even more so when a look of dawning comprehension came over his face and with it an increasing rage. "Is that why you were so willing--because you were trying to bag an earl?" he asked menacingly, his features twisted.

Bag an earl? What the devil? Did he think she meant to trap him in marriage? She would never do something so callous. She'd known most of her life that if she did marry, it would be a miserable union to someone her grandmother chose for her.

It appeared that her silence infuriated him even more because he grabbed her shoulders. "I will ask this once and you will answer me," he bit out. "What--" A muffled thud interrupted his words.

Nicole's head snapped up. She saw her own bewildered expression reflected in his eyes before they glinted in pain and then slowly eased closed.

Chapter 8

J esus, Chancey, you killed him!" Nicole cried as she wrapped the sheet more securely around her. Flying over to Sutherland's motionless form where he'd dropped on the floor, she protectively gathered his head in her lap.

"Why then should ye care?" Chancey asked, his hands tight around the billy club he'd used to pound the back of Sutherland's head.

"Of course I'd care," she managed in a strangled whisper, as she cautiously checked his head and listened to his breathing--luckily, strong and steady. "I wouldn't want him to die.... I wouldn't want anyone to die," she amended when a look of rage twisted Chancey's face. "This is not as it looks," she said, wishing her traitorous face wasn't flushed red with embarrassment.

He rapped the club on his open palm. "Oh, so ye mean to tell me I find ye naked in the bed o' the most notorious rake in London, but it's not how it looks?" He turned to Sutherland with an ominous glare. "Then tell me what did happen so I'll be knowin' which way to properly kill the bastard."

"No!" She threw herself over him. "I came here and eventually I, well...I seduced him."

"Is that so?" He snorted, clearly disbelieving, but at least he'd let go of the club, letting it hang from a strap on his wrist.

Nicole needed time to devise a way to get the furious Chancey away from the unconscious man. "I, uh, need to dress." Abruptly he turned his back. Changing the direction of the conversation, she asked, "How did you know where I was? How did you get past his guards?"

"I had a bad feelin' about ye, so I stopped by the ship to check. It didn't take a bloody genius to figger out where ye been. His guards, well, they went the way o' their cap'n," he finished in a sneering voice.

"Oh," was all she could manage. She laid the sheet over Sutherland's torso and legs and hastily threw her shirt over her head.

"Hurry yerself. More o' his crewmen'll be back soon, and I'll be needin' time for doin' what I'm after."

"Now, you just wait," she ordered as she grabbed a pillow and gently laid Sutherland's head on it. She really began to fear for him. "Listen to me. It's the truth--I initiated this. I wouldn't lie. Have I ever lied to you?" she demanded of Chancey's back. "Have I ever been anything but completely honest with you?"

"Aye, when ye vowed to me ye'd stay in school for once. Or when ye told me Cook had been eatin' his own tarts. And then tonight--when ye sent me off to look into a dead end," he countered, his disappointment palpable.

"That...that was an important lead. If for no other reason than to get more information on Tallywood, your main suspect," she said stiffly as she bent down to finish dressing.

He let out a harsh bark of laughter at that. Truly her answer sounded weak to her own ears. It was bad, what she'd done. She'd sent Chancey out to investigate unwittingly something so nefarious as Tallywood's midnight bridge party.

"Fine, fine," she conceded crossly. "But you must believe me on this."

As she began stomping into her boots, Chancey turned and looked at her quizzically. "I might be admittin' that we can't lay all the blame at Sutherland's door. Ye're comely and ye came to him unchaperoned after slinkin' around the docks at night. Blighter probably thought that ye were fair game."

Nicole stood and met his eyes, unflinching. "I wanted this to happen, Chancey. And I don't regret it." She didn't--in her mind, Sutherland had given her a gift. Even with his harsh words and anger, she wouldn't trade her time in his bed for anything.

At length, Chancey released an exasperated sigh. "I'll let him live for now, but"--he raised a hand to cut off her next words--"only because ye'll be marryin' him."

Marrying me? Derek thought as he came to. He struggled to bite back a curse as continuous waves of stabbing pressure circled his head. His eyes opened into narrow slits as he stifled a hiss of pain, knowing that if he made a sound the giant cur with the club would just put him back out.

When he had some success in focusing his eyes, he squinted over at the arguing pair. The man was turned from him, so all Derek could see was his immensely broad back. But considering his size, he had to be the one who'd accompanied Nicole to the jail. Derek was a big man himself, but that mammoth probably had two stone more bulk on him.

And Nicole...the relatively tiny Nicole openly challenged him, shaking her head furiously at his command that she marry Derek.

"He compromised ye. Even yer father would feel forced to see ye marry him, Nic."

"Sutherland? Think about what you're saying," she said incredulously. "Besides, Father doesn't have to find out."

"Ye know I'll be tellin' him, lass."

The girl's face turned ashen, and the big man's shoulders slumped in response. At once, he marched across the cabin and bent down awkwardly to pat her head with one of his huge paws. Derek had a hard time hearing what they said when their heads were bent together. Finally, the man stood up.

"So ye were able to go all over this ship?"

All over?

"Yes."

"And?"

"And I did what I came to do. You can cross Sutherland off your list."

What bloody list?

"I can't be happy with what ye've done here tonight, but at least ye've accomplished somethin'," the man said before exhaling loudly. "We can salvage the rest. We need to go and get more o' our men before the sod's crew gets back. If we have to force him to marry ye, then that we will."

Derek guessed that the big man knew the battle was

just beginning because he quickly added, "I'll argue with ye on the way. But, Nic--come hell or high water, ye'll marry this scoundrel for what he did to ye."