Fire in the Hole (The Plundered Chronicles Book 3) Read online

  Tavish groaned slightly.

  “Hold him there while I get him to drink.”

  “Is he... is he in a lot of pain?”

  “He will be soon enough. He needs water, and then I need him to drink this tea. It will keep him asleep for the rest of the night.”

  Quinn watched Maggie as she gently put the cup to Tavish’s lips and tipped it back. Most of the water ran down the side of his mouth, but Quinn could see his throat muscles swallowing.

  When Maggie had done this four times, she had Quinn roll him back onto his belly.

  “I need to run topside a moment, Callaghan.”

  “I’ll stay. Get some fresh air, Maggie, and somethin’ to eat.”

  “Thank you, dear. I’ll be right back.”

  Quinn sat next to Tavish and gently stroked his hair. “You better pull through, you big dope, or there will be hell to pay.”

  Sitting quietly with Tavish, Quinn reflected back on Sayyida’s words about love and women.

  She was right about the inequity of both situations. Quinn knew as much. She also knew that the person they’d fallen in love with was not the same person anymore. She was battle weary and sword hardened, more man than woman now, and certainly more Callaghan than Gallagher.

  “I didna... rat... ya oot... laddie.”

  Quinn suddenly sat up. “Tavish! Can I get you more water? Anything?”

  “A new body? Mine hurts all—”

  “Shh... don’t talk. Maggie says you need to rest, to sleep through the worst of it.”

  “The worst of it?” Tavish winced. “That was when they took... a hammer... to me hand.”

  Quinn shuddered. “I can’t imagine.”

  “No, laddie... ya canna.” Tavish tried to lift his head, then cried out in pain. “How... how bad is it?”

  “I won’t lie to you. It is bad. Maggie wants to keep you down so we don’t have to worry about the wound getting worse. I need you to do that for me, Tavish. I need you to just sleep, take water, and sleep some more. Can you do that for me?”

  Tavish closed his eyes and let out a loud sigh. “If... it will... stop this pain... laddie... aye.”

  Quinn kept stroking his hair. “Maggie will come back with tea. You drink all the tea she gives you, you hear me? All. Of. It.”

  “Ya sound... like me ma.”

  “Just tell me you’ll drink it all.”

  “Aye.” Tavish’s voice got weaker. “Drink... tea.”

  “That’s right. And when this is over and you’re on your feet again, you’re going home.”

  “With... ya?”

  “To Scotland.”

  Tavish said no more as Maggie walked into the room.

  “You really love him.”

  Quinn looked up. “Aye. He is a good man. Rough around the edges at times, but he is as loyal as they come and as brave as enna man I’ve ever met. What’s not to love?”

  Maggie held the tea to Tavish’s lips. “If he does what I ask, I should be able to keep the putrefaction at bay.”

  “He will do as ya say, or he will answer to me.”

  Tavish grunted.

  “He is a strong man, Callaghan. He need only stay still and allow his skin to heal, and he shall live.”

  Squatting in front of Tavish, Quinn laid her palm on his cheek. “I’ll say this once, old man. You’re not leaving this world without me, so you’d better do what Maggie says, or... ” Tears slowly crept down Quinn’s cheeks. “Or you’ll break my heart.”

  Feeling arms around her, Quinn turned, expecting them to belong to Sayyida.

  They were Fitz’s.

  “Come along, Callaghan. Leave Maggie to do what she does.”

  “Fitz–”

  “Sorry, Callaghan, but ya’ve spent enough time down here as it is.” Releasing Quinn, Fitz stepped back.

  “I’ll be with Sayyida tonight, Fitz. If there are enna changes–”

  “I’ll be sure to interrupt yer fun. Now go.”

  Trudging up the stairs, Quinn went straight for Sayyida’s quarters, where she undressed and waited for Sayyida’s return.

  * * *

  Sayyida rolled on top of Quinn, her skin slightly damp from perspiration. Both women were out of breath.

  “You brought some surprises of your own, I see, my Irish lover. My body betrays me, demanding more and more of you.” Sayyida ground herself against Quinn. “Give me your hand.”

  Quinn did, and Sayyida placed it against her clit as her hips gyrated against Quinn’s body.

  “Your mouth is experienced, and your hands know precisely the right places to give and take.”

  With her free hand, Quinn lightly stroked Sayyida’s breast, running her thumb across her pert nipple. “Yer skin is so soft, so tasty.”

  “You’ve never tasted a Moroccan woman? We are filled with spices you’ve never experienced before.”

  “Is that what it is?” Sitting up, she kissed Sayyida long and deeply, her tongue exploring a mouth that had just sent waves of pleasure through Quinn’s body. “I thought it was the fact that ya filled all of me... somethin’ no woman has ever done.”

  Sayyida reached a hand back and lightly caressed Quinn’s clit. “Europeans are so prudish and typically unimaginative where sex is concerned.”

  Quinn smiled before flipping Sayyida over on her back so quickly she had no time to react.

  Holding Sayyida’s wrists, Quinn gently bit up and down her neck. “I hate to have ya say such words about the Irish.” Taking one of Sayyida’s nipples in her mouth, Quinn ran her tongue all around the hardening nub without actually touching it.

  Sayyida’s response was to arch her back and press Quinn’s face deeper into her.

  Pulling back, Quinn blew softly on the nipple and smiled as it puckered further. “Ya are not my queen, Sayyida, nor my captain. At this moment, ya have absolutely no control over this situation–no direction, no command. Ya are mine, and I will dictate the terms of yer surrender.”

  Sayyida quickly inhaled, wrapping her hands around Quinn’s neck as she tried pulling her closer “Sayyida al Hurra, Queen of Tétouan, never surrenders.”

  In a move that utterly took Sayyida’s breath away, Quinn flipped Sayyida onto her belly and then wrapped her arm around Sayyida’s waist and lifted her hips in the air. “This night, captain, queen, pirate, lover, ya will most assuredly surrender to me. And when ya climax, ya will utter the words I surrender.”

  Sayyida tried to turn, but Quinn gently pushed her head back to the bed so her ass was still in the air. Leaning over her, Quinn whispered, “Give yerself to me, Sayyida al Hurra, and I promise to make ya feel heaven on earth.” Tapping one of Sayyida’s inner thighs, Quinn waited for her to spread her legs. “That’s it, love, open yerself to me. Surrender to me and feel the power of my caress.” Reaching around in front of her, Quinn felt Sayyida’s engorged clit with her fingertips while entering her from behind with her other hand.

  Oh, the things Becca had taught her about pleasing a woman.

  “Allah be praised, Callaghan... ”

  “Shh. The only words I wish to hear from those full lips of yers are I surrender. Nod if ya understand.”

  Sayyida nodded quickly.

  Quinn grinned as she kissed Sayyida’s shoulders and down her spine, all while slowly sliding her two fingers in and out of Sayyida’s incredibly wet slit.

  Slowly.

  Painfully slowly, Quinn would slide deeper, but not deep enough. She would pull out, but not entirely, all while her right hand caressed, stroked, and teased Sayyida’s enormous clit.

  Quinn felt her own return to life as she drove deeper into Sayyida’s warm wetness. The groans coming from the woman and the way she rocked her hips back trying to engulf Quinn’s hand excited her more than any woman she’d bedded.

  Together they moved back and forth in a dance that said Sayyida yearned for more, but Quinn would not relent. When she stopped caressing her lover’s hard clit, she grinned once more as Sayyida moaned into the bed. />
  “Not yet,” Quinn said in her ear as she reached under her and cupped one of her hanging breasts. “All in due time, lover. All in due time.”

  With her left hand slowing down, Quinn toyed with Sayyida’s nipple. Her reward was a louder moan.

  She knew from experience that giving Sayyida what she wanted was the surest way to heighten her sexual desire–her want transforming into a need, her need growing from need to desire, then to demand. Her body would demand release, and even then, Quinn would wait... wait until she heard those two words.

  It wouldn’t be long now.

  “Oh Callaghan–”

  “Wrong two words.” Quinn reached back for Sayyida’s clit and marveled at how large and hard it had become.

  Lightly touching it, she entered Sayyida’s heat once more, feeling her insides open up completely. Quinn inserted a third finger and slowly started the motion.

  Sayyida said something in Arabic. Quinn drove deeper, circled the clit faster.

  Faster and deeper.

  Deeper and faster.

  “I surrender!”

  Both hands furiously moving now, one in circles, the other plunging into Sayyida, rocking her forward and pulling her back–rocking her forward and pulling her back.

  She cried out, rising to her hands and knees, arching her back, and throwing her head back. Sayyida’s orgasm came in waves–the first constricted her muscles; the second, when she put her face back to the bed, were light ripples that gripped and released Quinn’s fingers.

  At last, when Sayyida fell to the bed on her stomach, she was muttering in Arabic.

  Lying on top of her, Quinn kissed her neck before laying her head on her shoulder.

  “You. You have ruined me for other lovers, Callaghan of Ireland.”

  Kissing Sayyida’s shoulder, Quinn slid off to the side and let her fingertips tickle Sayyida’s back. “That was the plan.”

  Heavy sigh. “It worked.”

  They lay together like that in silence for a few moments.

  “Callaghan?”

  “Yes?”

  “I was wrong. You will, most assuredly, break their hearts. Still, they are fools for not surrendering their lives and their bodies to you.”

  “Oh, their bodies I get, Sayyida. It’s their lives I cannot have.”

  Slowly raising up on her elbow, Sayyida gently stroked Quinn’s cheek. “There is nothing I can do or say that will lure you away from Grace O’Malley, is there?”

  Kissing Sayyida’s fingertips, Quinn shook her head. “No. I belong with Grace and her crew.”

  “Even if your body says it belongs to me?”

  Leaning over, Quinn kissed Sayyida and guided her hand between Quinn’s legs. “Even though.”

  * * *

  Something woke Quinn up and startled her. As her eyes adjusted to the dimly lit room, she realized she was alone.

  That was when she felt it.

  That was when she knew.

  Hurriedly throwing her clothes on, Quinn raced out to the deck to find that they were out to sea.

  “What in the bloody hell?” Quinn strided over to the steps leading to the wheel but was stopped by two broad-chested guards.

  “Sayyida! Where in the hell are we goin’?”

  Sayyida finished a conversation she was having with her first mate and turned to smile down at Quinn. “Well, good morning to you, sweet one. I trust you slept well.”

  “Why aren’t we still in Tangiers?”

  “There’s a little skirmish I need to finish. Come. Let’s talk.”

  Quinn pushed past the two guards and strode up to Sayyida, her chest heaving, her face flushed, her fists at her sides. “What in the hell are ya doin’?”

  “Calm yourself, my sweet. Your Scot can’t leave the ship for a few more days, so it was either kick you and the rest of your men off the ship while we did as my king requested, or–”

  “Or have a fuckin’ conversation with me about it first!”

  Sayyida narrowed her steely gaze as she stepped closer. “You may speak to me as you wish in my bed, Callaghan, but you must know your place on my ship when you speak to me on this deck. I cannot, my love, allow my crew to see such disrespect. So... I apologize.”

  “Fer?”

  Sayyida stepped back and backhanded Quinn across the face.

  One Eye, Fitz, and Kwame all started for their swords, but Sayyida’s men were too fast and had sword points on them before they could draw.

  Rising up, Quinn held her hand up to her men. “Relax, fellas. I was outta line speakin’ to the Captain thusly. My apologies to Sayyida al Hurra, as well as to her crew.” Quinn bowed to the men on the first deck before returning an equally hot glare at Sayyida and whispered, “While I understand the need to appear in control, if ya ever lay a hand on me again, I will remove it from yer body.”

  Sayyida moved her lips to within inches of Quinn’s ear. “I intend on laying my hands all over your body, my love, as often as I possibly can.”

  Pulling slightly away, Quinn stared at this woman who had rattled the marrow of her bones all night long. Then, for whatever reason, she thought about Grace. What would Grace O’Malley do at this very moment?

  Without thinking further, Quinn threw her head back and laughed out loud. “All is fair in love and war, eh boys?”

  Sayyida’s men and her crew all cheered.

  With the tension relieved, everyone went back to work.

  “Shall I make it up to you tonight?” Sayyida asked, almost demurely.

  Quinn lowered her head, understanding the game at play here. “No. Right now,” she muttered in Sayyida’s ear. “Right now, ya will put yer head between my legs and show me ya are sorry.”

  One side of Sayyida’s mouth turned up. “I shall be naked and awaiting your command.” She brushed by Quinn.

  Quinn started down the stairs, winking at Fitz, who could only shake his head.

  After the hour of lovemaking that ensured in Sayyida’s quarters, Quinn was certain Sayyida had never fucked a woman so hard in her life. When they emerged, the first mate told Sayyida that they were prepared to anchor.

  “So, the island of Granada?” Fitz said when Quinn joined him, One Eye, and Kwame.

  “Aye. Sayyida explained she had come to aid the Alpujarrans, who are in revolt against the Christians there.”

  “Uh, Callaghan? We are all pretty clear what she was explaining to you in there,” Kwame interjected.

  All three of her crewmates slapped each other’s backs.

  “Can I be ya in me next life?” One Eye asked. “Please?”

  “Pipe down, ya scurvy pigs. How is Tavish this mornin’?”

  “Still asleep. We thought ya might have fergotten the old boy since yer–”

  “Don’t make me hurt ya, Fitz.” Quinn said playfully.

  “We are envious of you, Callaghan. We... well... we would wish for you to... uh... ” Kwame shook his head and backed away.

  “Finish yer thought,” One Eye said.

  “I’ll do it.” Fitz leaned over “We’re thinkin’ ya... well, ya bein’ ya and all... that... well—”

  “Oh, fer cryin’ out loud,” Quinn interrupted. “Yes, yes, I’ll tell ya scallawags my secrets, but it is the last time ya will ever ask fer or receive female advice from me. Understood?”

  They all nodded.

  “Good. Now go make yerselves useful.”

  When they took off in different directions, Quinn walked down the stairs to where Tavish lay snoring. “How is he?” she asked Maggie.

  “If I can keep him still a couple more days, I believe he will be over the worst of it.”

  Quinn stroked Tavish’s forehead. She almost couldn’t remember her life without him. “Don’t you dare give up now, you gnarly bastard,” she whispered, kissing his cheeks. Looking over at Maggie, she asked, “Have ya been outta here lately?”

  Maggie nodded. “It is truly kind of you to worry about me, Callaghan, but you need not. Those stooges of a crew of you
rs have been taking shifts to relieve me. I don’t believe I have ever seen men more loyal to anyone than they are to you. Especially that one.” She tipped her chin toward Tavish.

  “They are my best mates.”

  Maggie pulled up a stool and pulled one over for Quinn. “Oh, it’s far more than that, is it not?”

  Quinn stared at her a moment.

  “I have some messages to deliver to you, dear. I wanted to wait until I was sure he was out of danger, but I believe it would do your spirit good to hear them.”

  Quinn tilted her head. “Messages?”

  “Tavish and I spent an entire night talking after they broke his fingers. He said it kept the pain away to focus on something else. That something else was you.”

  Tears immediately came to Quinn’s eyes.

  “I think he believed he would not survive his ordeal and so he told me all about you... your lovers–”

  Quinn rose.

  “Please. Sit. I pass no judgment, and all of your secrets are safe with me. You have my word.”

  Slowly sitting back down, Quinn nodded.

  “He told me to tell you this: At first, you were a job. A responsibility. An obligation. He hated the sea, the ship, and everything that came with it. More than anything, he just wanted your relationship with Fiona to be over so he could go back to his life.”

  Quinn blinked. Tavish had never let any of this show.

  “And before he knew it, you and this world had become his life. He loved the men, the ship, even the sea. More importantly, he loved you. You see, Tavish McGee had a sister once, whom he loved dearly. He said you reminded him of her in so may ways. He woke one morning to find her gone. No one had seen her leave nor seen her be taken. She was just gone. So he joined the galloglaigh, who were on their way to Ireland, because the memory of her absence was too painful for him to bear. Fiona plucked him off a battlefield, cared for him, and gave him a place to call home.”

  “But Blackrock Castle was never his home.”

  “Exactly. So when Fiona asked him to protect you at any cost, he agreed, hoping that one day he might find his sister.”

  Quinn placed her hand on her heart. “Just as I had done to find Shea.”