The Captain of All Pleasures (Sutherland Brothers #1)(30)
Author: Kresley Cole

The husky little moans escaping her soft lips made him desperate to possess her, to pound himself into her unmercifully until he made her convulse around him and cry his name. But each time he positioned her to take him, she moved elusively, maddeningly. At last, she allowed him to rise over her, his arms at her sides and his legs resting between hers as his mouth hungrily took hers again.

Suddenly she broke the kiss, and he sensed she would move away from him again. To keep her where he wanted, he swiftly spread his legs over hers to rest against the side of each thigh so that all of him surrounded her pinned body. But then she put her small hands on his chest and, before he could stop her, pushed against him as she inched her way down his body until he straddled her shoulders and head. He was too stunned to move—too heavily aroused to think. And when she grasped him and brought that hot, wet mouth over him, he didn’t know if he could stop himself from spilling into her .

Jerking upright in bed, he’d awakened from the most powerfully erotic dream he’d ever experienced. As the pressure pooled in his groin, he groaned in the dark. He gripped himself, intending to finish it off, but his rough hand sliding over his c**k was a poor substitute for a woman’s soft flesh, or soft mouth.

His aching erection wouldn’t subside, and with each second he’d endured it, he’d sworn he would make her pay for this night. She had brought him to this—to experiencing more violently sensual dreams than he’d ever had, even as a green lad. Even more determinedly, he’d vowed that he would find a woman when they next stopped and use her until Nicole was placed firmly in the back of his mind.

And now he could.

When they’d docked in Recife among the many ships crowding the main harbor, Derek learned the damage to the Bella Nicola was nothing more than a broken rudder. They’d be repaired and on their way in half a day. But by then he would have had a woman or possibly two, restocked his ship with perishables, and made open sea.

As he pushed through the market stalls set along the docks, he scarcely perceived the pungent odor of coffee or the sour smell of rotting sugarcane. He hardly noticed the locals gaping at his height or demeanor. His thoughts were focused inward.

He didn’t actually decide to go to her ship. He just found himself walking there, and to justify his direction, he convinced himself it was on the way to Maria’s. Or not too far out of the way. When he came upon the spotless vessel, he asked a crewman scraping the deck if he could speak with Miss Lassiter. The man ignored him.

Permission to come aboard was denied by another crewman. Unless Derek wanted to start a war between his crew and theirs, he’d have to back down. He inquired one last time about Nicole, and this time was answered by Chancey as he walked up behind him. Derek turned slowly, prepared for a fight.

The big man only stared at him, taking his measure. Finally, he said, “Ye touch her again—ye die,” then casually walked on aboard.

Derek took one last look at her ship. He would prefer having Nicole, but at this point, he’d make do.

Decided, he made his way to an elegant Spanish-style palazzo overlooking the harbor. Casa de Delgado was the largest and most impressive home in the city, and if he remembered correctly, its inside mirrored its immaculate exterior. The rooms were spacious, lofty, and colored in the rich colonial tones that the plantations favored. Minutes after he walked through the heavy wooden doors, a guard escorted him to a tasteful study.

When he entered, Maria Delgado looked up from her account books. Unconsciously she pushed at the spectacles that made her look more like a headmistress than a madam. He’d met her many years ago when he was a young man on his way to the Pacific Ocean for the first time, and occasionally he’d remembered with pleasure his experiences in the upscale bordello.

“Captain Sutherland, how good you are to visit us once again.” She smiled warmly as she rose to clasp his hand. “It has been far too long.” It had been a long time, but you couldn’t tell from her demeanor. She seemed completely unsurprised that he’d arrived even after all these years. And she studied him closely.

“You are, of course, welcome to enter directly.” Madam Delgado unfailingly screened every potential client before allowing him to frequent her place. He recalled many regulars joking that new clients should bring Maria character recommendations just to get into her exclusive brothel.

He took her hand in his. “It is good to see you again, madam. You’re looking beautiful as usual.” And she was. Possibly in her early forties, she had a youthful radiance that made her dark eyes sparkle. Her thick black mane was not yet laced with gray.

“I suppose we must get you in and out as soon as possible. No?”

Derek stared at her in amusement until she asked, “You are sailing in the Great Race?”

“I’m sorry, I misunderstood. Yes, I am sailing the race, but we’ve got a good lead so I have a bit of time.”

“I see.” She smiled and tilted her head to the side as she stared at him intently. Strangely, when Maria tilted her head like that, he was reminded of Nicole.

Her curious behavior made the hair on the back of his neck stand up. He was glad he was prepared for a shock, because she mysteriously asked, “So, what would you like today, bello? I’m thinking you look to be in the mood for a slender, small-waisted redhead with dark blue eyes. No?”

The sun was just reaching noon when he made his way back through the palazzo to leave. Though Derek should have been running from here after what he’d just done, he was strangely reluctant to go, and his steps were slow.

“Oh, Captain Sutherland?” Maria called from behind him, and he groaned inwardly. “Captain Sutherland ”

He did not want to hear about his actions from her, but she didn’t look like he could easily avoid her. Her bespectacled eyes blazed with a look of determination.

He stopped in the breezeway and waited for her to stroll over, wondering why she looked pleased.

“Captain, you did not have to pay Juliette so much. That is far too much for even one thousand minutes with her,” she said with a sly smile, “much less five.”

His lips thinned. The last thing he needed right now was to be subtly ridiculed by a Brazilian madam. “I paid Julia what I did—”

“Juliette,” Maria interrupted.

“Juliette received that much money,” he ground out, “because she wouldn’t stop crying.” And because he wanted to mitigate his embarrassment.

“Ah, bello, I only tease,” she said with a laugh. “It was very kind of you. Especially since I get twenty percent,” she quipped. “But now I know you must leave us. I only ask that you take the east exit, down the steps there.” She pointed. “You will go through a garden past my little home, and you can see lovely blooms all around.”