“Ildaria?” Vasco asked now, not even seeming to notice that she was trying to get free of his hold.
Cristo nodded. “I can read the señorita, and she caught Ildaria with one of the guests . . . starting the festivities early again.”
As Vasco frowned and glanced around at the night surrounding them, Cristo said, “The wind is good now that we’re around the point, but there was little when we first set out. We can’t be more than six or seven miles out yet,” he finished meaningfully.
It was a meaning that completely escaped Jess. She had no idea what the distance they’d traveled had to do with anything. The woman, Ildaria, had been chewing on Tyler’s penis like it was a pickle. And she’d had fangs! That memory had her peering anxiously toward Allison again, but while her cousin had followed them when they’d started to leave, and stopped when they’d stopped, she was now simply standing there, still looking blank-faced. She wasn’t going to be any help at all in getting out of this situation.
A violent curse drew Jess’s wary gaze to Vasco, and she watched nervously as he ran his free hand agitatedly through his hair. Letting his hand drop, he shook his head. “I will put the women in my cabin and then deal with Ildaria. Just let me know when we are in international waters.”
Jess almost sighed her relief at the words. If Vasco left them alone in his cabin it would give her a chance to try to bring Allison around. It would also give her a bit of time to think of a way out of this mess, she thought, and then noted the concentrated way Cristo was peering at her. Afraid he was reading her thoughts, she shut them down at once.
The moment she did, a small smile tugged at the corner of his mouth, and then he glanced back to Vasco and offered, “I could get Gascon to take the helm, and deal with Ildaria for you myself. That way you need not leave the women alone.”
Jess started to tense up with alarm, but Vasco shook his head and said, “I am the captain. It is my responsibility. You warned Ildaria the first time. I will warn her this last time. I want to be sure she understands the consequences if she disobeys orders again.”
“Sí, Capitan,” Cristo said solemnly, and then asked, “Did you want to leave the troublesome one with me?”
Much to her relief, Vasco again shook his head. “If—” he began, and then paused, his mouth hanging open briefly as he stared down at Jess.
“Jessica,” Cristo said gently. “Her name is Jessica.”
“Jessica,” Vasco said the name softly, and smiled at her.
“Her full name is Jessica Anne Stewart,” Cristo added, apparently plucking the information out of thin air. Unless Allison had told him her name at some point, Jess thought with a frown as Cristo added, “And I am quite sure she is your mate, Vasco. I am hearing your thoughts.”
Vasco glanced at him sharply. “You are?”
“Sí. You are thinking what with Jessica being your life mate, you will need all of your strength for the marathon of sex the two of you will no doubt enjoy, so you will need the blonde to feed on.” Smiling, he added, “Good thinking.”
Vasco grinned back. “I like to plan ahead.”
“Sí. It is why you make a good capitan,” Cristo said on a laugh, and then waved them away. “Go tend to Ildaria, and then enjoy your life mate. I will see to the rest of this voyage, and the next several as necessary until you can crawl out from between her legs.”
“Sí.” Turning sharply, Vasco urged Jess to the steps.
She went willingly, but only because she was about to be escorted to his cabin and then he was going to leave, at least for a while, and she needed some alone time to figure out what the hell was going on. A lot of what the two men had said had gone right over her head. What did they mean she was his life mate? And what did the distance they were from shore have to do with anything? It was bad of Ildaria to attack Tyler six or seven miles from shore, but what? It would be okay farther out? Really? And what was that bit about Vasco’s reading her? She wasn’t a billboard.
Jess didn’t know. Hell, even the stuff she thought she did understand didn’t make much sense to her. For instance, she got the parts about needing strength for marathon sex, and the suggestion that Vasco might not “crawl out from between her legs” for a while . . . but just how long was this marathon sex? Apparently, really long, she thought as she recalled Cristo was offering to handle the “next several trips.” That was alarming. Mostly because the idea of marathon sex with the big, handsome captain was exciting the hell out of her despite the fact that he was crude and a vampire and apparently planned to feed on her cousin as Ildaria had been feeding on Tyler. Well, not exactly the same way, of course. Allison didn’t have a penis . . . that she knew of. Her cousin could be a dickhead at times, though, so who could say?
Grimacing, Jess glanced back to see that, yes, her cousin was still following them, and her expression was still as blank as Jess’s mind had been after Ildaria had ordered her to go to Vasco and kiss him. Since she doubted Allison would want to be anyone’s dinner, Jess supposed her cousin was under some kind of compulsion like the one that had sent her marching out to kiss Vasco. She figured that was some kind of vampire trick, taking control of her mind, or somehow sublimating her will, so that she did what she was told. She didn’t appear to be under control anymore. At least she was able to think now, and could drag her feet and tug at his hold on her arm as she wished, she noted as she tried both options.
Allison, however, was another matter, Jess thought. She was quite sure Vasco was controlling her cousin right that minute. Because there was no way the Allison she knew could manage to remain silent this long. And certainly, obeying anyone was not her strong suit. Vasco was definitely controlling Allison.
Mouth tightening, Jess turned her gaze forward again, and glanced around at the groups of people spaced around the deck. For one mad moment, she considered shrieking at them to flee for their lives, they were among vampires. She might even have done it despite the fact that they’d probably not believe her and think her nuts, but then she noticed that the majority of the tourists on board all had the same blank expressions on their faces that Allison wore. Apparently, she was the only one left with her awareness.
Lucky me, Jess thought unhappily, almost wishing she was still being controlled and could just go along with Vasco’s plans. As much as she would like to claim the man was completely abhorrent and she wanted nothing more than to get off this ship and away from him, Vasco was gorgeous! He was also one hell of a kisser. Parts of her were still humming from their first encounter . . . and would be happy to experience more.
Not good, Jess thought grimly. She needed to rein in her body’s urges, or she feared she could very easily be seduced into having crazy good monkey sex with the bloodsucking vampire pirate captain . . . and probably end up a vampire herself!
That possibility went a long way toward silencing her body’s humming. Jess was not interested in becoming the bride of Dracula. She liked her soul. She wanted to keep it. Which meant she needed to figure out a way to get herself out of this mess, and rescue the others while she was at it.
“Here we are. My cabin.”
Jess blinked her thoughts away and peered around as they entered the room he’d led her to. She got an impression of a large room done in soothing earth tones and then her gaze landed on the huge bed against the opposite wall. When her mind immediately began to fill with images of their bodies entwined on that bed, Jess closed her eyes against it, trying to regain control of her poor hormone-hijacked brain.
“You, my lovely, can wait right here.”
Forcing her eyes open, she saw with relief that he was steering her toward a desk in a corner of the room.
Halfway there, though, he stopped, and glanced around, muttering, “Or perhaps the bed.”
“I think we should go above deck again,” Jess said anxiously, afraid to go anywhere near the bed with this man. She might drag him onto it herself and that so would not be heroic. Or even decent, really. Nice girls didn’t bang vampires, she was sure.
“Above deck?” Vasco asked with surprise.
“Well, you’ve shown us your cabin now,” she pointed out. “And really, we should be reaching the spot where we feed the sharks soon, don’t you think?”
“Oh,” Vasco said nonplussed, and then a smile pulled at his lips and he cupped her face with both his hands. “You do not understand yet. How sweet.”
Jess grimaced, unimpressed at being thought an idiot. “You’re not even going to pretend anymore that there are sharks, huh?”
Eyebrows rising slightly, he grinned. “So you do know?”
“That there are no sharks and that this ‘feed the sharks’ thing is just a way to bait tourists and lure them onto your ship?” she suggested dryly.
“That is one way to put it,” he agreed.
“There’s another way?” Jess asked dubiously.
Vasco shrugged. “Some people would say we are the sharks,” he pointed out, and then opened his mouth so that she could watch as two of his seemingly normal canine teeth shifted and dropped down to form fangs.
Eyes widening with horror, Jess backed away until she came up against the desk. Pausing then, she lifted her chin determinedly. “I won’t willingly have sex with you. You’ll have to rape me.”
“Rape?” Vasco had started to crowd forward, but her words brought him up short and he stared down at her with dismay.
“Yes, rape. And I’ll fight,” Jess lied firmly, quite sure she wouldn’t fight at all. He was so close she could feel the heat of his body, and she was struggling not to lean into it. Jess very much feared that all it would take was one kiss for her to be climbing him like a monkey going up a tree after bananas.
“Oh, lass,” he said finally, shaking his head. “I’d never rape ye. I’ve not forced a woman to my bed in all my five hundred years and I’d surely not start with you.” He had relaxed his stance, and eased forward just enough that their bodies were brushing against each other. Now he ran his knuckles lightly down her cheek, and asked, “Do ye know why?”