The Red Drifter of the Sea (Pirates of the Isles #3) - Celeste Barclay Page 0,18

with a shrug. “Just as with our indenture, we fought and ran away any time a captain threatened to separate us. We even fooled a captain for three moons into thinking there was only one of us.” Kyle grinned, and Moira couldn’t help but return it.

“How did you come to be on the Lady Charity?”

“Actually, we were on the Lady Grace. That’s Keith’s ship now. We joined the crew the autumn before Rowan and Ruairí joined in the spring. We were about five-and-ten, so Keith and I are close in age to Ruairí and Rowan. Rowan had barely healed from being deathly ill, and while both were experienced sailors, neither had been on our type of ship.”

“Pirates, you mean.”

“Aye. Keith and I kenned from the start what type of men took us. Rowan and Ruairí were duped into thinking they were joining a merchant ship. After a few years, the captain had to trade Ruairí to another ship when he killed a man in a tavern brawl. It was the other captain’s right to replace his fallen man. The son of a bitch was worse than any man we’d ever sailed for. Rowan inherited the Lady Grace from the previous captain, and his crew voted to keep him on as captain. Ruairí led a mutiny on his. Once he had command, he reunited with Rowan, and the captains gave Keith and me the choice of becoming first mates. I came aboard with Ruairí, and Keith stayed with Rowan.”

“You must have missed your brother terribly once you were on separate ships. After all that time fighting to stay together.” Moira snapped her mouth shut when he realized what her comment implied. Kyle tugged at her hand until she crawled toward him. He settled her beside him with his arm beneath her neck.

“I did. But Rowan and Ruairí had fought hard to stay together, too. They were only apart for a few months before Ruairí became captain. Most of the time the Grace and the Charity sailed together. And when we didn’t, we were rarely apart for more than a moon or two.”

“But what about Keith now?”

When Kyle didn’t answer immediately, she rolled over to look up at him. She didn’t understand his bright smile. “Lass, the Lady Grace is to the starboard side. That’s why you can’t see her. I spotted your ship first, so Keith had to let me have it. My brother and I always sail together. We’re strong alone, but we’re invincible together.” Kyle watched a cloud pass over Moira’s face as she nodded before looking away. “What is it, sweet one?”

“No one is invincible, Kyle. My father thought so, and he died for his arrogance. Dónal thought so, and nearly didn’t return home from Lewis.”

“Dinna fash, lassie,” Kyle said with an exaggerated brogue. “Ye Irish think ye can spin a yarn, but ye dinna ken what a Hebridean or a Highlander can do. Ye have naught but bedtime stories compared to us.”

“Prone to exaggeration. Is that what you’re trying to tell me?” Moira rolled back onto her side and cupped Kyle’s cheek. “You are who you are. I think I’d like you to stay alive long enough to remain that way.”

Gazes locked for several long moments, then their lips brushed one another’s before fusing together. Kyle pressed Moira onto her back, and she pulled at his shoulder to urge him to follow. Finding her hand, their fingers entwined before Kyle raised her arm, allowing him to rest on his forearms. He kept his weight off her, partially afraid he would crush her much smaller frame, and to ensure she knew he wouldn’t force her. He slid his thigh between hers, and she clamped her legs around it. Moira’s back arched as she writhed beneath Kyle, the feel of his thigh against her mound reigniting the unspent lust from earlier that night. Releasing her hand, he pulled the leine down her shoulder until he could free one of her breasts. His tongue flicked her nipple over and over until it puckered, then he suckled as she pressed his head to her chest.

“Kyle,” Moira rasped in desperation.

“I ken, sweet one. I’ll bring you what I denied you earlier.”

With a moan, Moira captured Kyle’s head before he returned to her breast. She guided him to look at her. “Do I have your permission to find my release?”

Kyle stilled for a moment before he launched an assault on all of her senses. Each moan that escaped Moira’s throat drove him to