Pirate's Promise

Chapter 8

Charlie jumped up and headed toward Lady Grey. She stood with her arms wrapped tightly around her.

"Where?"

"This way," she said.

As he followed her back into the wooded area and turned back to see that Alice had laid down. Had she really wanted to kiss him? Part of him felt like it had been a momentary dream. The woman who had always seemed so angry with him wanted to kiss him? No. Now was not the time to think about it.

Further into the woods they trudged when it struck him. "Where is your guard?"

She noticeably hesitated for a moment before speaking. "He went the other direction to look. He left me all alone." Her bottom lip stuck out like a spoiled child's would after being told no.

For someone who'd grown up with pirates. He could spot a lie a mile away. She was lying but he decided to play along with her games because he knew a bit more about her than she thought.

Lady Grey spun toward him and put her hands on his chest, pressing him back into the trunk of a tree.

"Finally. We are alone."

"There was no one out here — was there?"

"No." She grinned. "I needed to talk to you privately and figured this would bet the only way to do it. You see... When I reach my Uncle's, it's entirely possible that he is going to marry me off to an old man. You can imagine how distressing that thought is to me."

Charlie blinked. What the hell was she getting at? Her fingers began stroking his chest, pulling apart his shirt.

When he didn't respond she took it as a sign to keep talking. One of her hands slid down to cup his manhood. "You see. For a woman as innocent as me...the thought of an old smelly man in my bed is horrifying."

Charlie almost snorted with laughter. This wasn't the actions of an innocent woman. No doubt she'd been with many men. Innocent was his beautiful Alice. The woman sleeping next to the campfire she'd created herself. The etherial beauty that had floated in the water, watching the stars. The woman that never tired of listening to fairy tales no matter how unlikely they were to ever come true.

Despite himself his body came alive under her touch. It was purely a physiological response though. It felt like spiders were crawling up his skin but to shove her away would be bad considering how much power this woman actually had. He needed to keep the peace.

"That's good," she purred. "Very good." Her fingers began to gather the skirt of her dress, lifting it up higher and higher. At first he saw her boots, then her ankles, then calves, and knees. When her thighs came into view he looked away.

"We shouldn't do this," he said with a bad taste in his mouth. He'd rather be shot in the arm than let this black widow touch him.

"Please, you wouldn't let an old man be my first. I knew from the moment I saw you that this was how it was to be. Fate. The fates have brought us together in this moment."

More like demons.

At this moment he thanked God that Alice was sleeping. He needed to play this very carefully. Stories were abound about the woman Lady Grey and what she has done to people that say no to her for any reason. He was going to need her attraction later on. It was the same reason he couldn't stand up for Alice earlier by the fire. He'd wanted to give this wretched woman a piece of his mind, but instead, it had taken every bit of control to keep his mouth closed and let Alice handle it the best she could. He knew Alice wouldn't do anything too brash since she was raised as a Lady as well.

"We best take this slow." He grated out. "I wouldn't want to harm your maiden sensibilities." God it was a difficult thing to say. He wanted to wretch at the thought of being so close to such a nasty woman. She might be as ethereal as an angel on the outside, but she was rotten to the core.

"Such a gentleman." She took his hand and pressed it to her breast while she rubbed her center against his manhood.

When her lips captured his he had to keep from turning his face. It was nearly the most impossible thing he'd ever done. In his mind he pretended it was Alice. Pretended that their lips had actually met. But he couldn't. This woman didn't have the soft clean smell of Alice, instead, this woman stunk like pungent floral perfume.

When Lady Grey's hand squeezed his manhood he groaned. There was a shuffle of leaves and then a gasp.

The gasp hadn't come from Lady Grey, or he would have felt the puff of air.

Charlie tore his lips from her's and looked in the direction of the noise.

Alice stood with the back of her hand against her lips.

"Alice..." he said, not knowing what to say to her or how to say it. He wanted to tell her that it wasn't as it seemed, but he couldn't in front of Lady Grey.

Though he heard no sobs, the back of her hand shook with violence before she turned and ran back through the woods.

He gently pushed Lady Grey from his body and noticed the smile on her lips. He wanted to shove her but couldn't. Perhaps this was her plan all along. If so, he'd fallen right into her trap.

"Stop. You need to get back to your fire and sleep. You have a long way to travel tomorrow."

"Are you sure? You shouldn't let her spoil our fun..."

"Go," he said rather harshly, then corrected himself, "please."

She huffed and straightened her skirts before turning away from him and leaving.

What a mess he had to clean up.

Somehow he'd managed to break Alice's heart.

Again.

***Sorry it's so short everyone. I hope you are enjoying the story. I wonder what much of you are thinking at this point. Don't hesitate to let me know. :) ***