A smile tugged at Rafe’s lips as he crossed his arms over his chest. How would she squirm her way out of this confrontation? She deserved a little shaking up for taking the risk of coming to Devil’s Island on her own.
“I say he’s mine.” The wench planted her heavy hands on Melodie’s shoulders and shoved her hard enough to send her reeling into a toothless pirate’s lap.
Rafe leaped to his feet.
“Now, I see’s ye be wantin’ some of what I ’ave to offer.” The barmaid stuck out her over-large breasts, blocking Rafe’s path to Melodie.
He grabbed her shoulders and smiled down at her. “I said no thank you.” Then he set her to the side and strode across the floor.
Trapped by the filthy hands of a drunken ruffian, Melodie fought and kicked. “Let me go, you dirty pirate!”
His hands groped the front of her dress, ripping the bodice down, exposing her lovely breasts to the cheers of the crowd.
White-hot rage roared through Rafe’s veins and he jerked the pirate up by his matted hair.
The pirate screamed like a woman and dropped his hold on Melodie.
She tumbled into a heap at his feet and scrambled away, pulling the tattered remains of her dress over herself.
Rafe held the man up by the hair with one hand, while clutching his throat with the other. “Do not ever lay your hands on this woman again, or I’ll slit your neck from ear to ear and toss you to the sharks.”
The man gurgled; his lips moved but no words made it past his vocal chords. When his face turned an alarming shade of blue, Rafe shoved him over the table into another man’s chest. Men scrambled to get out of the way of the angry lord, leaving Melodie standing alone.
Rafe grabbed her by the hand and jerked her against his chest. “You’re coming with me.” Without pause, he tossed her over his shoulder and strode out of the tavern to the cheers of the men left behind.
“Put me down!” Melodie gasped. Between having her stomach smashed against Rafe’s brawny shoulder and being bounced through the busy port at Devil’s Island, she could barely breathe.
A man with steely gray hair and a shaggy beard joined them and ran to keep pace with her captor.
“I can walk by myself.” When he didn’t respond, she pounded Rafe’s back. “Put me down, at once.”
He smacked a large palm against her bottom. “Keep quiet, woman.”
“I’ll take ’er when yer done with the bonny lass,” a man with only two teeth shouted from the entrance to an even more disagreeable tavern than the Golden Doubloon.
Melodie trembled, fighting the nausea rising up her throat. She’d never seen Rafe in such a state, rage burning in the dark red color of his face. What did he hope to accomplish by carrying her through the streets like a common trollop?
Her own anger built. When they reached the docks and Rafe set her on her feet, she flew at him with both fists clenched. “How dare you treat me like a child or worse, a whore?”
“Be quiet and get in the boat.” Before she could formulate a sharp retort, he picked her up and tossed her into the dingy tied to the dock. He turned to the man who’d followed them. “The men?”
“Already aboard the Serpent’s Curse, Capt’n.” He waved his hand toward the rocking boat where Melodie stood, ready to climb back out. “After ye, sir.”
“I’m not going anywhere with you.” Melodie reached up to grasp the pier and pull herself out of the swaying dingy.
“You will sit and hold your tongue, woman.” Rafe dropped into the boat, took his seat and pulled her onto his lap. “Let’s be off, Seumus before someone decides to challenge us for her. I may be tempted to let them have her.”
“Aye, Capt’n.” He untied the rope from the pier and stepped into the skiff. Applying his back to the oars, he struck out across the bay to a lone sloop resting in deeper waters.
“And to think I came out here to ask for your help. I’ll be boiled in oil before I ask for anything from you.” She wiggled in an attempt to shake free of his stranglehold on her body. The movement made her aware of her affect on his desires. A hard ridge pressed against her bottom, reminding her of the things he’d done to her on the seashore, of his cock sliding in and out of her pussy.
Just as quickly as it had built, her anger shifted into an equally fiery passion. She rationalized to herself that Rafe had rescued her from a ruffian. That should count for something. So, he’d been a bit abrupt in his method of removing her from danger, but he’d gotten her out relatively unscathed. She squirmed against his cock.
A low moan sounded in her ear. “Be still, wench,” he whispered so low that the other man would not hear.
If not for the man facing them in the tiny boat, she’d have been tempted to shuck her clothing and attack Rafe in an entirely different manner.
Instead, she attempted to revive her anger, reminding herself she’d been treated poorly. She had yet to tell him of Braithwaite’s pending attack on Siren’s Cove and she still needed his help. “I can sit on the seat next to you, you know.”
His hands tightened on her waist. “I like you just where you are.”
“Can no argue wit the Capt’n. Yer a bonny lass.” Seumus’s gaze drifted to the ample amount of skin exposed by the tear in the dress she’d stolen from a laundry line on Devil’s Island.
She gathered the edges, pushing them higher, while glaring at the man’s leering gaze.
“Tell me, Melodie, why were you on Devil’s Island?” Rafe turned her enough to stare at her eye-to-eye.
She swallowed her anger and anything else she’d been feeling. “Siren’s Cove is in danger. Lord Braithwaite’s preparing an attack as we speak. He plans to invade the cove tomorrow night. We need your help to stop him.”
“And why should we stop him?” Rafe’s brows rose. “You’ve yet to tell me why the cove is so precious.”
Melodie bit hard on her lower lip and shot a glance at Seumus. “I can’t tell you.”
“Then I can’t help you.”
“Oh, you!” She raised a hand to slap his face. But he caught it in his own.
“Are you ready to talk?”
“I told you,” she said through gritted teeth, “I can’t.”
“Guess you’ll be my permanent guest until after Braithwaite does his deed.”
“If you won’t help me, then at least let me go so that I might help them myself.”
“No.” His answer was flat and final.
She bucked against him, kicking and biting, but no amount of effort broke his grip. When she finally realized the futility of her fight, they’d reached the ship.
“Toss down a rope,” he called up to the tall redhead leaning over the rail.
“Aye, Capt’n.”
A length of rope fell into the boat and a rope ladder snaked down the side of the sloop.
Rafe bound her hands.
Even if she wanted to leap from the skiff into the sea, she’d be weighed down by clothing and her hands would be useless. She’d drown before she could make the change into her mer-form. “You’re a monster!”
He stared into her eyes—his own were black, shining orbs, completely unreadable and dangerous. “Aye, I am a monster, in more ways than you know.”
Once again,