Taken by You by Connie Mason Read Free Book Online

the knife and encased in the prison of Morgan’s arms. Tears stung her eyes when she realized what had happened, but she wouldn’t let them fall.
    “Now what Sister Luca? Where is your courage now?”
    “Contemptible, vile… pirate!”
    “Privateer. There’s a difference. I only attack and plunder Spaniards.”
    “Let me go!”
    “Gladly.” He released her instantly, and she stumbled before righting herself. “Go to bed. I’ve suddenly lost interest. But I’ll keep this little toothpick of yours just in case you decide to gullet me during the night”
    Luca glanced at the bunk in horror. Did he expect her to lie beside him? When she looked at him for clarification, she was stunned to see that he had removed his black silk shirt and stood clad only in tight black trousers molded to his strong legs and thighs, and leather boots. She blanched and looked away, but not before she caught a glimpse of his bronzed chest and shoulders, rippling with thick coils of ropy muscles. And the mysterious bulge straining the front of his trousers.
    “Do you intend sleeping in that hideous coif?” Morgan asked disdainfully. “I assure you your bald head will not frighten me. Disgust me, mayhap, but not frighten me.”
    “I prefer keeping it on,” Luca insisted. If she took it off and revealed her long hair, he’d see through her pretense. Though nuns normally did not shave their heads, they nevertheless kept their hair short beneath their headcoverings. She had not taken her final vows, and until she cud she had been allowed to keep her luxurious fall of ebony hair.
    “Get into bed,” Morgan ordered crisply. He untied the lacings on the front of his trousers and bent to remove his boots.
    “What are you going to do?” Her voice held a note of panic.
    “Sleep.” He leered at her. “Unless you have a better idea.”
    “I won’t lie beside you.” Her lips thinned stubbornly.
    Morgan glared at her, then shrugged. “Suit yourself. The deck gets rather hard after the first couple of hours.”
    “I’m accustomed to hardship. The convent offers little physical comfort. We live a life of austerity and prayer.”
    He nodded curtly. “You may do as you please for now. I’ll let you know when I desire your presence in my bed.”
    Luca tried not to stare at his bare chest, but it was difficult not to. She knew so little of a man’s anatomy. Oblivious to her shocked perusal, he sat on the edge of the bunk and removed his trousers. Luca’s cry of dismay brought his eyes back to her. He gave her a cocky smile. She whirled on her heel, her face flaming red. She heard his footsteps behind her but refused to look up.
    Her relief was enormous when he dropped a blanket and pillow on the deck beside her and turned away. She didn’t want to look at his nude body, but when she heard him moving about, she couldn’t help glancing over her shoulder at him, keeping her gaze on his feet. He walked casually to the chair and retrieved his sword.
    “This will be safer with me,” he said, carrying the sword to the bunk with him. She heard a shifting of bedclothes, then silence. Then came sudden darkness, and Luca realized he had doused the lamp swinging from the ceiling above him.
    Still she did not move, fearing he might change his mind and demand her presence in his bed. She stood motionless, scarcely daring to breathe, until she heard the even cadence of his breathing and knew he was asleep. Only then did she wrap herself in the blanket and lay down on the hard wooden deck.
    Despite the pillow beneath her head, the coif made it nearly impossible to seek a comfortable position. Her head itched beneath the linen doth, and she longed for a comb to run through her tangled hair. Or better still, a scissors to cut it all off. Her one concession to comfort was to remove her shoes and stockings. She fell asleep almost instantly, wearied from her encounter with El Diablo. Unfortunately her dreams were fraught with images of the virile captain,