Excerpt of Tamed by the Buccaneer by Normandie Alleman

“Let me go,” Frederica jerked her arm away from Gaston.

“But, my darling, can I help it if an impending battle
makes me randy? It’s the anticipation. It excites me.” He
encircled her waist from behind and buried his face in
the tender curve where her neck met her collarbone. His
lips pressed hot against her skin, and her irritation
waned slightly.

“I don’t understand you. Aren’t you concerned?” She
wriggled to get free, but he held her tighter. Their
cabin was lit by a single lantern and Frederica peered
from the window out into the black. On a night this dark,
there was no differentiating between the air and the sea;
both melded into an inky black veil settling over the
ship.

“What good will that do me? Our plan of attack is sound.
The men are prepared. There is nothing left to do but
bide our time until daybreak, my love. Please allow me to
defile you.” His erection nudged at the cleft of her ass
insistently.

Frederica giggled. Normally, she welcomed her handsome
husband’s advances, but this morning she was preoccupied.
On the brink of battle with the cruelest enemy she had
ever known, she was up long before the sunrise, nervous.
Within a matter of hours they would face Humphrey,
captain of the Neptune’s Damnation, and the thought of it
made her sick to her stomach. “What if he won’t
surrender?”

“He definitely won’t surrender,” Gaston scoffed.

“This will be a disaster, I just know it.” Frederica
wrung her hands.

“‘Twill be nothing of the sort. We will simply take him
alive and sink his ship.” Gaston’s hands roamed over her
breasts, and she let out a heavy breath, as he slowly
awakened a primal craving within her. He had that effect
on her, always had.

“You speak as if it is a foregone conclusion, as if there
is no need to allow events to unfold.” Ever since the
first day she’d met Gaston, Frederica had been both
annoyed and impressed by Gaston’s confidence. Over the
years she had found that it sprang less from arrogance
than from optimism. Gaston chose not to entertain the
possibility of failure because he considered such
contemplation a waste of time and energy. Once, when
discussing an imminent battle with a particularly vicious
band of pirates he’d told her, “Whatever the outcome, the
amount of time you allow yourself troubling thoughts has
no influence whatsoever on the end result.”

She only wished she could be as cool under pressure. Her
stomach had turned itself in knots and she felt the urge
to vomit.

“Freddie,” Gaston groaned insistently as he unlaced the
front of her blouse. “I must have you.”

His words set off a twinge of desire, despite how
immersed she was in her worries. “Oh, all right.”
Yielding to him, she inhaled his musky scent and embraced
the wanton appetite he’d awakened. The stubble of his
beard tickled her neck as he nibbled her flesh, and she
closed her eyes in an attempt to shut out the rest of the
world.

“Forget Humphrey, my dear. Let me remove him from your
mind.”