Page 63 of Paid to the Pirate

Did she see it?

Charging forth from another angle yet again, Charlotte insisted, “You said it yourself, you heard I was arguing with Daniel. That was me telling him I couldn’t go through with it. Why else would we quarrel?”

“Why?” I scoffed. “There’s a hundred reasons why. You disputed your payment. You didn’t like a part of the plan. Who knows?”

“No,” Charlotte insisted. “It’s because I told him no. Because I couldn’t betray you,” she held a hand to her breast and whispered, “here.”

God, she sounded like she’d meant it. I badly wanted her to mean it.

“I risk the whip to stay aboard your ship,” Charlotte declared, grasping the bars of the cell. “I’m entirely at the mercy of your protection. Do you not see?”

“Then prove it,” I ordered, voice low. “Stop this charade and tell me where the Crimson Eye is? Did you find a buyer? Then what have you done with the gold? Is it spent?”

Charlotte’s shoulders slumped and her gaze fell upon the floor.

“I cannot tell you that now. But I promise, I will. Soon.”

I’d clenched my jaw so hard I thought I might crack a tooth. In the silence, I heard a floorboard creak, just outside the door. It could have been someone listening or it could have been the natural noises of the ship, but I didn’t want to chance it.

Forcing myself to relax, I grit out, “We’ll finish this discussion in my cabin. And I should punish you until you can’t walk for this planned betrayal, executed or not.”

My words had the intended effect. Charlotte cowed. Or so I thought.

“Yes,” she said, gazing up at me with her doe eyes. “I want you to.”

Chapter 28

Colt

Back in my cabin I eyed my little liar as ideas swarmed my head. The rising excitement tempered my anger, yet I was still enraged at what she’d done.

“I’m going to give you the most severe punishment of your life,” I told her.

Charlotte gulped before reaching for the hem of her shirt and lifting it over her head.

“Yes,” she whispered. “Absolve me.”

She unlaced the ties on her skirt and shoved it to the floor.

“Punish me.”

Standing only in her chemise, she gazed at me with unobstructed longing in her eyes.

“Belt me, whip me. Do whatever you must. Whatever you desire.”

I was losing focus on her words as she lifted the soft slip over her head and off her body, standing completely naked before me,askingme to punish her.

“Only… make love to me after.”

The room spun as if I’d drank more than my fill.

Crossing the distance between us in two strides, I grabbed her elegant neck and shoved her backwards. She didn’t fight me or yell or even complain.

Shemoaned.It was full of yearning. Submission.

“You don’t know what you’re asking.”

“I don’t,” she agreed. “But it’s not for me to know. It’s for you to decide and deliver.”

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