Death Doesn't Bargain

  He kissed her lips and nuzzled his face against her soft cheek so that he could breathe in the sweet scent of her skin. “Nay, me love. You’re still the prettiest thing to me eyes. Always. And I can prove it.”

  “How’s that?”

  Cameron didn’t really expect him to meet her challenge. Not until he pulled back with a wicked gleam in those mismatched eyes and took her hand into his. Cupping her chin in his palm, he kissed her while he led their entwined hands down his body so he could press her fingers against the part of him that was swollen with need.

  Her eyes widened at the unexpected size of him.

  “Are you still in doubt?”

  Nay, no one could doubt that. ’Twas truly something to behold—in more ways than one. But she found it incredible that a man such as he would crave her so. And especially to this extent.

  Yet even so, she was terrified of what the morrow would bring for them.

  “Tell me something, Kalder. You are freed now … will you come with me back to Williamsburg?”

  She saw the hesitation in his eyes, and that made her heart sink. Perhaps he was every bit as fickle toward her as Paden claimed.

  “I would love nothing better than to be with you, Cameron. But I took a vow to the captain and this ship and crew.”

  “And you’ve been freed of it.”

  He shook his head. “It’s not so simple.”

  “I don’t understand.”

  Kalder sat down on the beach and pulled her to sit in his lap so that he could hold her. He tucked her in beneath his chin and held her close and yet she sensed his anguish. “I’ve done far more evil in me life than good, Cameron. And every person I save is another victory against the evil that festers in this world and inside me that I fight to restrain. I will not rest until I’ve made good some of what I’ve done.”

  It was quite a goal her mermaid demon had set for himself. “So you will never lay down your quest? Never know marriage or family?

  “Marriage.” He spat the word as if it were poison on his tongue. “That unholy union between two people? For what purpose? To make them both miserable? To take two people who might have fondness for each other and lock them in hell together until they learn to hate the very sound of the other’s breathing? It never gave me father a moment’s peace. You saw the bitch he married. She drove him to war and ultimately his death. Which he no doubt welcomed, as it finally bought an end to her whining, bitchtress tongue.”

  Cameron was taken aback by his hostility. True, she’d often said similar things in anger about marriage herself, but deep down she didn’t mean them. Nay, marriage could and should be a wonderful thing.

  “I don’t believe it has to be that way,” she said, confessing her true thoughts to him. “Imagine a marriage where two people respect each other. Where they are partners and allies against the world. Like me parents were. They loved one another, Kalder. To the day they died. And Paden loves Lettice. Despite his multitudinous flaws, I’ve seen the way he cares for her, and she for him. Even now, when she carries his child and is terrified of what the future means for her, she’s sworn that she’ll take no other to husband, even though it’s the shame of an unwed mother she’ll be enduring. She’d rather bear the brunt of that nightmare than marry any other when there’s less hope than the size of an eye of a needle that Paden will come home and make an honest woman of her. But so long as any hope whatsoever remains, she won’t give up on waiting for his return.”

  He snorted at Cameron’s optimism. “You’re sober and speak more foolishness than I do whenever I’m drunk.” He pulled his shirt collar away from his chest, where a vicious scar lay near his heart. “You see this?”

  “Aye.” Cameron traced the raised, whitened skin with her fingertip. She watched as chills spread over Kalder’s flesh, but they did nothing to dull the fury in his mismatched eyes.

  “Me father gave me that when I tried to keep him from killing Bron. He turned on me and said I wasn’t his son for protecting the shrew.” His voice was hollow, as if he told her of someone else, and yet as she stared into his eyes, she saw the torment he concealed. The agonized grief. “I can still see the hatred on his face as he denounced me for a faithless, worthless bastard for saving a bitch who turns out now wasn’t even me mother and hated me for that very fact. What kind of fool am I?”

  “Their sins are not on you.”

  He scoffed as his tortured gaze locked with hers, and it burned her with its intense sincerity. “I think a part of me always suspected the truth. That it’s why me lands and title never meant anything to me. They’re not really mine.”

  “Aye, they are. Inherited through your father. You heard what the captain said.”

  “But I was never really part of their family, Cam. And I think some inner part of me always felt it. You don’t know what it’s like to be a stranger in your own home. To know you don’t belong there and wonder why you’re not quite welcome. To wonder what’s so wrong with you that no one can love you. Not even your own parents.”

  Cameron sat in silence as she realized Kalder had just entrusted her with a secret that emotionally devastated him. That this man who trusted no one and stood strong against the entire world had just bared his very soul to her.

  He’d made himself vulnerable to her alone.

  She reached up and placed her hand against his stubbled cheek. “I will always welcome you, Kalder Dupree. Wherever I am, you will forever have a home and all the warmth there you could ever desire. And you are more entitled to your noble status than any man I know. For you are honest. Decent. And good.”

  He grunted at that. “Perhaps you need to get out more.”

  She smiled at his teasing. “I get out quite enough to know the truth.”

  He dipped his head down and kissed her gently on her lips. The taste of him invaded her head and set it reeling. His kiss was fierce, demanding.

  Scintillating.

  Breathless from his touch, Cameron didn’t protest as he laid her back against the damp sand. Her body burned at the intimate contact of his body pressing against hers. It was the most wondrous thing she’d ever experienced. His chest to her breast, his legs to hers. A deep-seated fire started inside her, making her hot and aching.

  Making her want more of him.

  Again.

  Kalder licked and teased her mouth, wanting to taste more of her. Nay, he needed to have her.

  Her taste and scent were all he could think of. And the feel of her beneath him was more than a mere mortal demon could take.

  Kalder didn’t know what it was about her, but she touched something inside him. Some alien part he’d never known before.

  Right now, he needed a physical connection to her. Needed to feel her wrapped around him as he physically lost himself to the softness of her body the way he’d lost his heart and soul to her already.

  Cameron moaned as he buried his lips against her throat and teased her skin with his tongue, his teeth. Overwhelming chills ran the length of her body. She was on fire from his touch.

  Kalder pulled his shirt over his head.

  Cameron ran her hand over his sculpted shoulders. They were hard and filled with strength. And the way they rippled when he moved …

  It was more than she could stand.

  He laid himself down between her spread thighs. The material of her gown trapped her legs while he loosened her pantaloons.

  “Are you afraid of me, ma petite?”

  She shivered at his use of French as his breath tickled the skin of her cheek.

  “I’m not afraid of you.” It was herself that scared her. The intensity of these feelings that made her tender and weak toward him. Because she knew how much control he had over her when she’d vowed to never allow anyone else any form of sovereignty when it came to her well-being. Yet Kalder made it easy to rely on him and he didn’t make her pay for it. Didn’t make her feel weak for needing help. She was strengthened by his presence.

  Made better.

  No on
e had ever made her feel like this.

  He brushed her top aside to bare her breast. Heat stung her cheeks as he dipped his head down and took her taut peak into his mouth.

  Hissing in pleasure, she cupped his head to her and held him there while he tasted her. She felt every flick of his tongue deep inside her body, all the way to her stomach, which contracted with each nibble.

  Kalder growled at the taste of his Cameron. Her hands were buried deep in his short hair, stroking his scalp and making him harder than he’d ever been in his life. The satin of her gown caressed his skin, but was nowhere near as soft as her pale, tender skin that he wanted to nibble on for the rest of his life.

  The mere taste of her made him drunk and left him craving more.

  Suddenly, he hated the gown that kept her body from him. Kissing her nipple, he quickly undressed her until she was bared to his gaze.

  “You are beautiful,” he whispered.

  Cameron bit her lip while Kalder undid his breeches and she became aware of where they were. Just how “exposed” they were.

  Suddenly nervous, she glanced about. “You don’t think the others will come back, do you?”

  He wrinkled his nose at her. “I’ll kill them if they do. Gouge out their eyes and feed them to Strixa or Savitar.”

  She laughed at that. “I’m serious, Kalder.”

  “So am I.”

  Kalder returned to dip his head down to tease her breast while she explored the part of his body that was so incredibly different from hers. “I promise, I’ll hear them, and give you warning.”

  “You better.”

  With a roguish grin, he sat up on his knees and cupped her face in his hands. “You’ve no idea of how badly I want you to ride me right now, Cameron. How much I want you to ride me.”

  “Ride you how?”

  “In ways that would shock you.” His eyes tender, he kissed the corner of her mouth. Then he moved lower. This time he barely flicked his tongue over her breast before he moved down toward her stomach.

  He pushed her back on her arms while he trailed his lips lower and lower.

  “Kalder?”

  He didn’t answer her as he nudged her legs apart, then buried his lips against her.

  Cameron fell back at the incredible feeling of him there. She swore she could see stars as his tongue did the most incredible things to her body and flesh.

  Kalder took his time teasing and tasting every inch of skin. He’d never known any greater peace than being by her side. Now that he had her where he wanted her most, he wanted to take his time with her. To explore every inch of her body until they were both sated and exhausted.

  And when she came, he smiled, but still he didn’t stop. He refused to.

  Growling, he looked up to see the pleasure on her face as she writhed and moaned.

  It was a beautiful sight.

  Kalder waited until the last tremor shook her. He wanted to make sure that when she left him, she never forgot him for as long as she lived. That she never craved the bed or touch of anyone else.

  She was his and he never wanted to share her with anyone.

  For the first time in his life, he was truly possessive of something.

  Possessive of someone. That part of his personality scared him, for he’d never thought of himself as a jealous creature. Never cared enough about anyone to notice who they were with or where they went off to.

  Cameron was completely different.

  She mattered to him. And he’d denut any who came near what was his.

  More than that, her sadness was a knife in his heart. Her tears gutted him. For her happiness, he would bleed and cut his own throat. No one should have the kind of power over another person that she held over him, and yet she held it without guile. Without even trying. He’d surrendered to her with no battle or fight. She’d won him with the deadliest of all weapons.

  Kindness and love.

  And right then, he needed to be as close to her as possible. To feel united with her.

  Kalder took her hand into his and held it tight an instant before he slid himself into her body.

  She groaned in pleasure the instant he filled her, and tightened her grip on his hand. He reveled at the way she smiled at him. At the way she wrapped her legs around his waist and cradled him with her entire body.

  Aye, she was right. Here, he felt at home. Welcomed. Warm. For the first time in his entire life, he had a place, and it was with her. He knew it with every part of his being.

  Kalder held his breath as he fought down the demonic part of himself that didn’t want to be gentle. The part that could devour her. But he refused to hurt her.

  She’d given him what no other woman ever had. How strange, really, when he thought about it. He’d purposefully avoided virgins for fear of being trapped in a wedding.

  Yet Cameron wasn’t out to trap him as her husband. Nor was she out to claim him as a trophy. She was sharing herself with him. Offering him comfort and warmth.

  For no reason other than she loved him.

  He’d never felt anything like this.

  She was special to him in a way no woman had ever been. He doubted if any woman could ever mean as much to him as she did right now.

  Cameron almost wept from her overwhelming love as Kalder tenderly kissed her hand that was joined with his while his mismatched gaze never wavered from hers. Gone was the pain, and in its place was a light she’d never seen there before.

  Slow and easy, he started to thrust against her hips.

  Licking her lips, she felt his restrained strength and knew he was being gentle so as not to harm her in any way. He was so precious to her for the care he gave when she knew it wasn’t in his nature to be so thoughtful.

  So kind. He could kill a demon with a single blow and yet he was more tender with her than she’d ever imagined. It was the fact that she knew what he was capable of that made his tenderness all the more touching. The fact that it wasn’t really in him to be like this. He was a hard, harsh man.

  Just not with her.

  She listened to his breathlessness that matched hers as she arched her hips to draw him in deeper. Her heart raced as she dragged her nails over his back and she saw him protecting her again.

  “I love you, Kalder.” The words tore themselves from her throat at the same time her body exploded.

  Kalder cried out as his own release came and he heard words that both scared and elated him. He buried his face in her neck and inhaled her sweet scent, while a part of him wished he were dreaming. That she loved anyone else but him.

  Please don’t let me cause her death.

  Because as those words echoed, he had a bad premonition. One he couldn’t banish. Over and over, he saw an ending that haunted him. One that seemed to be stalking them both.

  Cameron lay still as he clutched her. His heart pounded against her breastbone while his ragged breathing caressed her ear.

  “Thank you, ma petite,” he whispered.

  She squeezed him tight. “Ever me pleasure, me lord demon pirate.”

  Kalder kissed her as he withdrew. She was amazing and he savored the way she looked up at him like a woman well sated. Pleased and welcoming.

  And it was then he knew he would have to do the right thing by her. No matter his convictions on the subject.

  No matter his common sense. Or what the future held. Or what premonitions haunted him.

  He was honor-bound to this.

  For her. And for him, too, if the truth were told.

  Taking a deep breath, he forced himself to utter the very words he’d sworn to himself that he would never speak to anyone. “Will you marry me, Cameron Amelia Maire Jack?”

  She looked up at him, blinked, then burst out laughing.

  13

  Cameron was certain Kalder had to be japing. Surely he didn’t really expect her to marry him? Not now! What madness would that be?

  But the offended look on his face told her his question had been quite earnest.

&nb
sp; And that made her feel awful. Guilty, even, for laughing at his offer. She wasn’t the kind of woman to ever intentionally hurt another’s feelings, least of all Kalder’s. “Sorry, me love. I didn’t realize you actually meant that.”

  She quickly pulled her gown on, over her head.

  After all, some things were best done while dressed, and confronting a demon about an unwanted marriage proposal seemed like it ought to be one of them.

  Though this might be better if her gown wasn’t covered in sand and grit. Now she knew how Chthamalus and his crew had felt earlier.

  Kalder made no moves to dress himself. Instead he lay there in all his naked glory, completely bare and enticing. Making her mouth water and her mind consider the possibility of being with him—which she had proposed first, roundabout. “Of course I am. You said it yourself, right? That was what you meant when you asked me to return with you to Williamsburg, wasn’t it?”

  Honestly, she hadn’t thought that far ahead. When she’d asked him that, it’d been for purely selfish reasons, in that she hadn’t wanted to say good-bye, and had wanted him to stay near her.

  “Maybe?”

  “Maybe? Seriously?”

  “Well … Why would you consent to marriage … with me?”

  He looked as baffled by her question as she was by his. “I took your virginity.”

  She snorted. “How magnanimous of you,” she said, allowing the full weight of her sarcasm to show. “But you didn’t take anything, Kalder. I gave it to you. That doesn’t require a marriage proposal.”

  He scowled at her. “Is that not what humans do? You’re a lady, aye?”

  Was he trying to be insulting? She had a sudden urge to slap him for that.

  But she was trying to be understanding and so she took a deep breath and reminded herself that he wasn’t from the human world. Perhaps where he came from being labeled a whore wasn’t as biting. After all, she had met the woman who’d raised him as his mother.…

  And he is a fish, at the end of the day.

  Just look at his freaky, weird eyes.