Authors: Melissa MacNeal
Maria held her breath. His heavy accent had disappeared. But what did that mean, really? She raised up on her arms to study his face, to see if his eyes were rolling, out of focus.
Jason looked steadily at her. His hand went to her damp, bedraggled hair, and then drifted alongside her face to rest on the butterfly pendant. She longed to remind him where it came from, yet sensed she should let him reason it out.
“A distinctive piece like this doesn’t belong on a trollop.” He gazed warily at her.
“I…I was playing along, to see if you remembered me. I’m not a shipwrecked whore, Jason. I’m your fiancée, Maria Palladino.” She longed to pour out more of their story, but the look on his face stopped her.
He rubbed the sore spot on his head. “What if I have no reason to believe that?”
NOW what’ll you say?
Maria gazed into golden-brown eyes, glad to see they’d stopped spinning. But if he didn’t recall—
“After all,” he continued quickly, “why would a beautiful woman like you seek out a low roller like me? If you had any idea what I’ve done—”
“But I do, Jason! When Rubio located your spirit—when we saw the
WANTED
poster with your picture and got the telegram about the Darington ships you’ve plundered—”
“Damn. So the law
did
send you.” Jason’s eyes lost their light. He looked away. “I thought you were a dream come true. A woman who could rescue me with her love, just like in the fairy tale where the princess kissed the frog.”
Maria’s heart stilled. Her damp hair blew wildly around her face while her wanton black lace clung to her, along with wet sand. She felt like the aftermath of a storm at sea, yet he’d called her beautiful! If Johnny Conn wanted a fairy-tale ending and the princess to go with it, all was not lost—if only she could make him remember who he really was!
“No, Jason! Your brother Jude and I came after you, to bring you home to England!” she insisted. “Home to Wildwood, because the estate and your father’s title are now
yours.
You’re an earl! Your name is Jason, Lord Darington!”
He gently shifted her so he could roll into a sitting position. “Then who the hell is Johnny Conn? And if I’m not Conn, who’s been looting those ships you mentioned?”
Maria blinked. Somewhere in those questions they’d find the seed to his defense, but for now it meant he was sobering, thinking and talking like a rational man, even if his memory wasn’t intact. She racked her brain for more conversational connections. “Do you have any sense of…
missing
something—someone—important? Identical twins share a strong bond—”
“I’m a twin?”
“Your brother’s name is Jude. He looks exactly like you, but
I
can distinguish between you, even…even in the dark.” She cleared her throat, wondering how explicit to be about their three-way arrangement. “While you are a leader and an adventurer, Jude creates beautiful photographs and—and he made this butterfly pendant!” she exclaimed, holding it up. “You gave it to me on the day before our wedding, and then you were shanghaied! We believe you hit your head when you fell onto that despicable captain’s ship, probably from a whorehouse on the London waterfront.”
Jason looked away quickly. He seemed troubled, but as he tried so hard to
think,
he could only sigh forlornly. “I want to believe you, but…how do I know you’re not leading me down some primrose path? To jail, perhaps, if I really did plunder those ships!”
“
Jude
is in jail!” she crowed. “Because the Darington Shipping partners thought he was
you!
”
His expression shifted. “So if the coastal authorities think they’ve caught me…you and I could remain on this island together? Forever? And no one would come after us?”
Maria’s heart rushed into her throat. It wasn’t a good time to mention that Rubio and Chief Officer O’Keefe lurked in a lifeboat nearby. “What a lovely fairy tale that would make,” she agreed in a dreamlike voice. “I
would
stay here with you forever, Jason. I love you, and I’ve missed you so badly…rolling about in that town house like a dried pea in a shoe box—except for Quentin and Mrs. Booth, of course.” She glanced over to see if her words had any effect, but his bearded face still showed no signs of recognition.
Jason was studying
her,
too. His lush lips twitched. His gaze followed the sway of her bare breasts and the flare of hips partly clad in black lace. Maybe there was a better way than words to reach inside him and coax his memory to return.
“You’re having wicked thoughts. And I like them.”
She laughed, a burst of mirth that made her breasts shimmy and awoke the needs she’d buried deep inside when this man had been taken from her. What could it hurt to seduce him again? If one coupling had brought him this far out of his drunken stupor…
M
aria rose from the beach to stand before him. She brushed sand from her thighs, slowly, to provoke him as he gawked at the slender black garters that still, miraculously, held up her stockings. Flicking her fingers through the dark curls between her legs, she watched his reaction. “Sand gets in the damndest places—”
“Let me help.” He reached for her, his eyes shining playfully.
But she stepped beyond his reach. “Humor me,” she said in a low, insistent voice. She glanced back at the ramshackle house, allowing ideas to roost like homing pigeons. “I want you to take me again, Jason—like the last time you made love to me before you left the town house for your bachelor party.”
He sighed. “But I don’t remember…I’m sorry. That hurts you, and it’s not my intent.”
Her heart went out to him. He was trying so valiantly; had sobered completely and become a gentleman again, despite his unkempt hair and beard. “You’re not so far off the mark! You blindfolded me and bound my wrists to your bedpost, Jason. And then you leaned me forward—”
“And ravished you from behind? I can do that again!”
“—while you talked in the same pirate’s accent you were using moments ago!” Her voice rose with excitement as his body reacted to this suggestion. It was a marvelous sight, that his cock hardened again so soon after he’d pleasured her. “I keep a thick, wicked dildo in my night table—”
“
You
have one of those? Naughty girl!”
“You gave it to me, remember?” Maria watched his eyes, but then continued with her original idea. “Last time you were with me, you and Blackbeard—”
“How’d
he
get in the picture?” Jason stood, gazing around the beach and the horizon as though searching for the pirate and his ship. Then he focused on her with a sigh. “Are you sure you’re not making this up? Blackbeard hasn’t haunted this island for centuries.”
“What could it hurt to return to that love scene with me?” Maria started toward the shack, praying this idea didn’t explode in her face. She reminded herself of her mission: to make him remember who he was, at best, and at the very least to get him aboard the ship for their return to Charleston. “I enjoyed playing your prisoner, Jason,” she hinted. “Perhaps the slapping of our skin…the way you tormented me with that blindfold, and then fastened the butterfly necklace on me afterward. Repeating those actions might knock something loose in your mind.”
“Sounds better than banging my head on a log,” he agreed. He walked beside her with long, sure strides, eager to carry out her plan.
“I’m sorry about that, Jason. I got too rough and careless—”
“Never that!” He flashed her a grin that brought back so many fond memories, she nearly cried for wanting him—wanting the real Jason to emerge again. To love her again. “I prefer a woman who loves to play. None of those prissy princess types for me!”
A sly smile overtook her face. As they approached the shanty door, her mind raced. “Prove it, pirate!” she teased. “I’ll not be your princess
or
your prisoner until you
make
me give in to the demands of that monstrous cock!”
“Aaaargh! Yer askin’ fer it now, girlie-o!”
Maria ran, laughing so hard it was no contest. But what did that matter? She had no traction in the loose sand, and no real reason to evade him anyway. It was enough to be
playing
with her man again, chasing around the beach wearing the scantiest of—
When Jason caught the loose edge of her camisole, the lace gave way with a wicked whisper. He whirled her around. Ravished her with a lewd gaze, his eyes afire as he roughly cupped her breasts. “Where’d ye get such flimsy clothes that—”
“Your mother and sister chose them! For my trousseau!”
“—any man can rip ’em off ye?” He let out a piratical laugh. “Yer not foolin’ me fer a minute! Yer a tramp and a trollop, and ye’ll be disciplined fer yer wicked ways!” With a yank, Jason deftly removed one of the ribbon laces from her camisole. He whipped it around her wrists before she could wiggle free—not that she tried—and then led her to a sapling beside the shack.
“Please, sir!” she pleaded in a melodramatic voice. “I promise I’ll behave like a lady, if only you’ll—”
“And wot the hell would I do with a
lady?
” He fastened her to the tree’s slender trunk with the other lace, then tested the knot’s tightness. “In this rugged outpost, a woman’s gotta have
grit
to get by—unless, o’ course, she bares her ass at her man’s every whim!”
Maria could hardly talk for giggling. “And didn’t I do that fer ye just an hour ago? On account o’ yer bein’ such a nancy-boy I had to show ye how it’s done?”
“Ye’ll not be callin’ me names, missy. I can see there’s no hope fer yer wicked soul save to
spank
yer pretty arse—like so!”
Whap!
His palm landed on the fleshiest part of her backside.
She cried out in protest, yet this sounded so familiar! Jason had reverted to the script they’d often used before he disappeared! “Oh! Oooooh!” she wailed pathetically.
“Do ye repent of yer lewd and lascivious ways, girlie-o?”
There it was again: a hint of good times past, shared in his bedroom. Maria did her best to control her excitement as she played their little game. “Nay! I’ll never repent fer the likes o’
you,
Darington! Yer a pirate, and nothin’ good can come of ye!”
Smack! Smack!
His hand met her backside as his laughter mingled with hers.
“Apologize, I say! Or ye can assume the position and take whatever punishment I force upon ye!” he replied gruffly. “Yer obviously too high toned fer yer own good, wearin’ the likes of them stockin’s—teasin’ every man in sight with yer naked white thighs!”
“Hah! You love my thighs! Don’t deny it, boyo!”
“There’s no help for ye, then! Plunder and pillage it is!” he crowed. “Open up—I’m comin’ in!”
Maria bent lower and shook her backside at him.
“Spread yerself! Give me sword enough room to plunge in and—”
Together they cried out as Jason entered her, filling her full of his relentless erection. Maria felt delirious at both ends: her mind reeled with all the similarities of this little skirmish, while from behind she was being pillaged with the finest sword of all. What else could she do to coax his memory back? He was
so close
to being the Jason Darington she’d gone to the altar for. Already so close to ecstasy, she writhed faster to catch up to him.
“Dammit, woman, yer gobblin’ me up!” he muttered hoarsely. “How’m I s’posed to make ye pay fer bein’ such a wicked wanton, if ye get me so fired up I can’t—I can’t hold back!”
With a grunt, he rutted like a crazed dog, grasped her hips to center himself. Her breasts jiggled lewdly and Maria thought he might jar
her
memory out of kilter.
And it felt glorious, didn’t it? To have a man—
this
man—so crazed for the feel of her, the ecstasy only she could deliver. Hell, even if he never came to himself, she’d found him and she would never let him go. Maria gripped him tightly with her inner muscles, allowing the rest of her body to move loosely with his.
“Jesus…Jesus…” The strained groan told her it was mere moments until—
“Holy mother of God!
Maria!
Mariiiii-ahhhhh!”
Maria stifled a sob of joy as she gave in to the all-consuming ache he’d inspired. She curled in on herself and grabbed the tree, allowing the waves of delicious tension to claim her once again. Because Jason had claimed her! He
knew!
He knew
her!
His corded arms encircled her heaving rib cage. They leaned against the tree trunk, straining to breathe, to regain full consciousness…to find the words that expressed what had just happened. Jason nuzzled her bare shoulder, kissing her skin so lightly a butterfly could have been lighting. “What have you done to me, woman?” he whispered. “It was as though a wall crumbled, a wall I’d been dancing behind—trying to climb—for, well I don’t even know how long!”
“Weeks,” she murmured. “Endless weeks of empty days and nights gone unfulfilled.”
“And suddenly I…I was inside
you,
Maria.” He sounded incredulous, yet overjoyed. “And at that moment I was
home
. Where I belonged, instead of hiding out on this island, evading those who pursued me. I—I’m not even sure who they were or why they were chasing me.”
She wanted to swipe at tears, but her hands were still fastened to the tree. “Who am I, again?” she asked, testing him. No sense in letting her hopes soar if this moment didn’t last.
“Maria,” he replied prayerfully. “Maria Palladino.
My
Maria Palladino, thank God.”
She nodded, too moved to speak.
“I don’t know how you found me—”
“Rubio did.”
“—and there’s time for hearing the whole story,” he continued breathlessly, “but I need your assurance, Maria. I need to see your face—your beautiful brown eyes—as we discuss it.” He reached along the length of her arms to untie her wrists, rather than give up his hold on her. When he straightened to his full height, to turn her gently, Jason looked like a changed man.
“You’re back,” she whispered. “Oh, thank God, you’re
back!
”
He rested his forehead against hers. A moment of utter, absolute understanding passed between them as the world around them went still.
Jason broke the reverent connection with a sigh. “Tell me you’ll love me, no matter what I must confess to,” he pleaded. “While I’m aware of some details, parts of the story—pieces of the puzzle—elude me still.”
“It’s all right,” she said, taking his face between her hands. “We do have time, and between the three of us—you, me, and Rubio—we’ll fill in all the blanks. What matters most is that you’ve come back to yourself, and that I love you. We can complete our mission and take you home.”
“Yes. Home.” His eyes closed as he smiled blissfully. “I’ve missed you so badly, sweet Maria. Yet all I could do was lie awake nights, unable to put an image of you with an indescribable
need
I couldn’t name. Will you forgive me if things come to light that—”
He stiffened. Wrapped his arms more tightly around her, with one hand protectively at the back of her head.
“Jason? Are you all right?” she whimpered. He was nearly smothering her as he held her against his chest and bare body.
“Don’t move, love. There’s a man crossing the beach. He’s pointing a pistol at us.”
Maria peered beneath Jason’s arm. Saw the familiar uniform and hoped this was another instance of the fortuitous timing Rubio often spoke of. “Officer O’Keefe! Eric!” she called out. “This is
not
the time for target practice! Everything’s fine! Really, it is!”
O’Keefe stopped a short distance away, holding the gun steady. “It was one thing to watch you cavorting on the beach, Miss Palladino. But when this man tied your wrists and took you prisoner, I thought the tides might have turned—”
“It’s our little game!” she replied brightly. Then she flushed: she was standing against Jason’s naked body, wearing only stockings and a black lace garter belt, revealing a very intimate part of her romantic relationship to this relative stranger. “Honestly, sir, Jason is regaining his memory! It’s the way we’d hoped things would go!”
The arms around her tightened when she tried to face O’Keefe. “So you
did
come with the law?” Jason muttered. “If this is some underhanded ploy to—”
“No, Jason! This man, Chief Officer O’Keefe, is the reason we could sail to Ocracoke to find you. Captain MacLeod refused to—oh, it’s rather complicated!”
“And considering the way he’s looking at you—
gawking
at you, Maria—I
will
require an explanation!” Jason exclaimed. “Who
is
this man?”
She closed her eyes, exasperated. Why were men sometimes so lackadaisical about details, yet so damn dense and insistent at others? Not five minutes had passed since Jason recalled who she was, and he was already in a jealous snit! “If you’ll let me step inside—and if you’ll fetch my clothes from the beach,” she said in a strained voice, “we’ll have our proper introductions so the truth can come to light.”
“Here, sister. I’ve been trailing you, to be sure all went well.” Rubio stepped from behind the little shanty with her scarlet skirt and jacket folded over his arm. “We men shall set things straight while you make yourself presentable. Then—just as I’d predicted!—we can start back to Charleston.”
She’d known her younger brother all his life, yet it wasn’t easy to look him in the eye as he handed over her clothing. It was one thing to be naked with Jason; another thing entirely to feel so
exposed,
knowing Rubio and Eric O’Keefe had witnessed both bouts of their lovemaking. Now they watched her breasts sway between the parted halves of her lace camisole…saw the way her black garter belt framed the dark vee of hair between her bare thighs.
“You had it right,” she said, partly to placate Rubio and partly to return his thoughts to the business at hand. “I’ll leave the formalities to you, brother dearest, since you know both of these men.” Into the shack she hurried, ducking beyond the windows so she could dress in relative privacy.
Outside, Rubio grilled her fiancé. “It’s good to see you again, Jason. Good to hear you and my sister have rediscovered each other—”
“But why are you holed up in such poverty and desolation?” O’Keefe demanded. “You’ve stolen enough cargo from three Darington ships, and probably others, to be living quite handsomely.”
“And why should I tell
you
that?”
Maria winced as she stepped into her skirt. They sounded like dogs circling with their teeth bared, and a confrontation would erupt if she didn’t prevent it. Without the laces that held her camisole together, there was nothing to do but hold her buttonless jacket over her breasts until she returned to her cabin on the steamship. Her hair felt like a rat’s nest, beyond repair, so she stepped back out into the afternoon sunlight.
“You don’t appreciate such questions, Jason, for they suggest we don’t trust you,” she remarked softly, “but I, too, wondered why you’ve landed in such a…dismal setting. And if we can
return
the cargo you plundered, the partners in Charleston are less likely to toss you in jail with your brother.”