A Pirate's Bounty Read Free Page A

her eyes at having seen her servants bring a slave, male or female, to fruition? “Would you rob me of my pleasure so soon?”
    He stifled a curse and bowed low to her. “Queen Orelia, my most humble apologies.”
    Orelia walked forward, her white gown a cloud of fabric, her jet-black hair floating in waves behind her. If she hadn’t named herself queen and been called so he would have thought her royalty anyway…but of a different world. Her eyes were as black as her hair and her lips as red as the blood that he’d seen flow on this very floor. She reached him and a long slender arm emerged from her gown, a red-painted nail trailed its way up from his navel to his chin.
    “I’ve missed you, Captain.” Her voice was breathy, and if it had been a decade earlier he would have melted into a sodden mess on the floor. Done anything she wanted. But now he’d grown older, wiser. He wanted his life back.
    He grasped her hand to stop its traveling over his person and brought it to his lips, kissing her knuckles before letting it drop. “I live to serve you, Madame.”
    She snickered and turned her black gaze onto Faryn, whose glassy eyes were beginning to come back to their glittering blue sharpness.
    “You like her,” Orelia remarked, her chin jutting out toward Faryn.
    “She has nice breasts,” he answered, not wanting to give away totally how he felt about her. “Her thighs are trim, her ass taut… An ass I could handle quite well.”
    Orelia laughed, her head dipping back, exposing her throat. “You are still the same, Noir. You want her, don’t you?”
    “I’ve a mind to bargain with you.”
    Her sharp black gaze lost its teasing as she whipped her head toward him. “A bargain?”
    “ Oui . I thought to speak to you about it, perhaps later.” All eyes had now turned on them. If it was seen how much he wanted Faryn for himself the price would increase, or another man might step forward to fight him for her.
    He was prepared to fight for her to the death, for keeping her for himself would not only garner him a warm and luscious bedmate but secure his future. But revealing such amongst this den of vipers could cost him far greater price than he wanted to pay. It could also mean the safety of the wench.
    “Perhaps now, Captain.” Orelia’s gaze roved over him, and he could nearly hear her calculating mind at work.
    “’Tis of no great consequence, Madame.” He shrugged, trying to keep himself looking disinterested. “Do with the slave as you will right now and I shall speak with you regarding her fate after I’ve seen to my men and myself.”
    Orelia’s lips curled. “I should like to see you…do with my new slave.”
    Wraith raised a brow, hiding his disgust with the queen and her ring of sex slaves. “And by that, you mean what exactly?”
    The queen walked toward Faryn, who now stood tall next to the servants who’d earlier provided her with a taste of pleasure. Orelia trailed her nails along the flesh of Faryn’s chest, flicking each of her nipples. He watched hungrily as they hardened and Faryn’s brows drew together. While her body enjoyed the touch, her mind rebelled. He didn’t want her to rebel, he wanted her to want him. He pushed the thought aside. She was a slave now, she would have to do as she was bid.
    Orelia faced Faryn and lifted her chin. The queen turned Faryn’s face from side to side, inspecting her. Her long red fingernails trailed down Faryn’s body and she parted the lips of her sex, thrusting a finger inside. Faryn jerked and bit her lip. Her eyes met Wraith’s and he wanted to step forward and haul Orelia away from his woman.
    His woman? She wasn’t his and he couldn’t think of her that way. She was his possession yes, his woman no. That implied a relationship, and for what she was going to give him, freedom… She would have to be discarded in the end.
    “You are so tight, young slave,” the queen accused. “I saw the way you reacted when my people touched you,