And he didn't see those traits changing anytime soon.

If Declan had been jealous of Aidan and even of Treves, this pirate should send him through the roof.

Regin relaxed back in the bath, or at least, she appeared to relax. She was on a mission.

She might not be a golden-tongued Valkyrie, but she was resolved to take down Chase, intended to go ful guns and turn up the heat.

All I need is one kiss.

She would detail Gabriel's relentless seduction, their sensual battle of will s waged nightly in his sultry cabin. She had struggled to deny the Spaniard to save him from the curse; he'd used everything he knew to seduce her. ...

"Gabriel was a privateer who answered only to his queen," Regin said. "His flag-a crimson pennant with two ravens in flight-struck fear in anyone who had the misfortune of seeing it."

Had Chase just flinched at that?

"He overtook the ship I was on, taking me captive."

"How did you recognize him?"

"His eyes glowed. Just as yours did after you gutted me in the street." Filter, Regin!

When Chase's jaw tightened, Regin quickly continued, "He knew we had some kind of connection. But he didn't question it, just accepted it. He turned his back on queen and country, wanting only to start a life with me."

Regin fel silent, remembering how nothing could dissuade Gabriel. No matter what she said, no matter how she tried to warn him: "You must believe me! If you do not free me, you will die in some ghastly way. I'm cursed. You understand about curses-you're a Spaniard, for the gods' sakes!"

"A curse would be living without you by my side," he said so smoothly.

"At least get me to land." So she could consult a witch about how to save Gabriel before he died, to find a way to beat this.

"Land? We do not make the Indies for months."

"The Indies?" she shrieked.

"So. By that time, you will have surrendered to me."

In the end, Regin hadn't had much choice. ...

Suddenly Chase said, "I don't want to hear of the Spaniard."

She blinked at him. And there goes that plan. "I thought that's why I'm here."

"I want to hear what you'd tell the next reincarnation of Aidan." He got a shrewd look in his eyes. "What you'd tell him ... about me."

Chapter TWENTY-FIVE

About you?" The Valkyrie raised her blond brows.

"That's right."

"I'd tell him ..." She dug one fang into her bottom lip. "I'd tell him how Declan Chase freed all my friends and all ies, then let me pimp-slap Fegley til he pissed himself."

Declan merely glowered.

"Then I'd tell him that I hadn't real y known much about Chase, not until the magister and I ran away together. On this very night, he flew me to his hometown of ..." She trailed off, as if waiting for him to answer.

Why not play? She'd already determined his accent. In fact, he'd stopped bothering to disguise it around her. "His hometown of Belfast."

Clearly surprised he'd answered, she canted her head at him, and her wet hair streamed over one glowing shoulder. "Exactly. Belfast. He showed me around the city while tell ing me all about himself. For instance, he outlined his likes and dislikes ..."

Likes and dislikes? Declan had no ready answer. He knew what he hated-his enemies-and he knew what he loved-destroying them.

As if sensing he was stuck, she said, "He liked, um ... weaponry." She cast him an appraising glance.

"And working out."

As close as any. He inclined his head.

"He disliked the bubbles concealing a certain glowing Valkyrie's br**sts."

No' goin' to deny that.

"After our tour of the city, we stayed at this posh Irish resort-"

"Cabin," he interrupted. "He'd have taken you to a cabin in the mountains or near the sea." He crossed his arms over his chest. "Chase didn't stay at resorts."

A shadow of a grin surfaced, then she seemed startled by her reaction. "Wel , this cabin was in the Mourne Mountains, just south of his hometown."

"You know the area?" His da had taken him hiking there when he was a lad.

"I've been there once or twice or a hundred times over the last mil ennium. So we went to the cabin, and explored the moorlands. Chase hadn't realized what good times I was. We laughed and got up to mayhem of the practical joke variety-until anyone within a ten-mile radius of us had evacuated. But don't worry," she assured him, "no mortals were harmed in the making of the mass evacuation."

"Good to know." Those damned bubbles dissipated too slowly. He still couldn't see her br**sts.

"And all the while, both of us knew how the night would end. But we were purposely prolonging the anticipation. By the fire, I fed him Guinness and ..."

"And Galway Bay oysters."

Again she seemed to curb a grin. She liked this game. Or more, she liked that he was playing it. But then, wasn't she the fun-loving Valkyrie, the prankster?

"Once his hunger was sated, I couldn't take it anymore-I was dying to show him how much I appreciated my freedom. And I was aching to demonstrate how much I missed him. We decided to share a bath in front of the fire-"

He opened his mouth to tell her that wouldn't be happening, but she quickly said, "He didn't feel comfortable at first, because ..." She trailed off again.

He smirked. You're on your own, lass. And the water's gettin' deep. "Nice try."

With a chal enging lift of her chin, she said, "He wasn't comfortable because of myriad reasons that we soon worked through. Completely. I reminded him that it was just me. Just his Regin. And that I'd seen him in so many guises and had known him in so many lives."

Her eyes got a faraway look when she said, "We'd been through too much together to ever hold back from each other." She faced him again. "Declan realized that I'd never judge him and that he could always trust me. Once he relaxed, we started kissing and petting each other, exploring each other with slow, grazing touches." Her voice was growing throaty.

Declan was literal y on the edge of his seat. Though his body felt strung tight as a bow, his mind's turmoil continued to ebb. He dimly thought, This is what it's like to feel normal. Somehow this Valkyrie made him feel ... right.

"Soon neither of us could stand it any longer. He saw how my claws were curling for him-"

"I ken what that means now," Declan said, cutting her off. Then his eyes narrowed. "Let me see them."

She raised her hands from the water to display her little shel -pink claws.

-Curling for her man.- He swal owed. "You're gettin' aroused right now."

"I don't deny it."

"Then by all means, woman, keep talkin'."

Another reluctant grin. "He lifted me from the bath and laid me down on the rug." She pointed to the one beside the tub. "Which, coincidental y, looked a lot like this one."

"And what'd you do on it, then?"

"We were both dripping water and breathing heavily as he knelt between my legs. His hand trailed down my body, caressing with the back of his fingers. Descending inch by inch. On the way down, he circled my navel with the pad of his forefinger, round and round-"

"And then?"

She grinned at his impatient tone. "And then his fingers dipped to my sex. Is that what you want to hear about?"

"Aye, I'll hear of that."

"With his first touch, he gave a groan. In his husky voice, he told me he loved how slick I'd gotten for him."

Would I find her so right now? God help him, he knew he would.

"He began leisurely stroking me, making me rol my h*ps up to his teasing touches."

A sudden thought occurred. I could tease her. Since he suffered no strain with her, he wouldn't have to speed through the act, gritting his teeth as he tried to come. I could play with her. He swal owed. Play with her all night long.

Except he wore gloves. How would she react if she saw his scarred hands? His body?

"By the time he finally delved his fingers inside me, I was whimpering with need."

-She needs them deep.- Inward shake.

"But Chase was merciless, slowly thrusting them, readying me." She'd begun panting, the tops of her  br**sts almost visible.

"Readying you," he repeated. Would I have thought to do that?

"He knew it'd been two hundred years since I'd had sex last."

"Two hundred." And Declan had thought he'd been celibate for an age.

"I stay faithful to him, always have. But Chase would prepare me anyway, since he was quite large."

Her gaze fel on his erection, bulging against his pants.

When her eyes went silvery, he found himself easing his knees open for her to better see it. Lips parted, she glided through the water closer to him; he yanked the bench closer to her.

"We're like magnets," she breathed.

"Kneel up." If he was going to hel ... "Let me see you."

With no hesitation, she did. Giving him a clear view of her br**sts.

He ran a shaking hand over his mouth, muttering, "Jaysus." They were flawless, ful er at the bottom, with tawny ni**les proudly upturned.

Deja vu rocked him. Losing his mind . . .

She placed her hands on the end of the tub, leaning toward him on straightened arms. Her body was trembling so much that her br**sts quivered, suds dripping from them. Her ni**les were so tight they had to ache.

Not as much as my c**k is achin' from this sight. The urge to run the heel of his palm down his shaft grew nearly irresistible. "Keep going."

"H-he covered my body with his own, removing his fingers to replace them with his shaft. Inch by inch, he sank into me while I writhed in delight-"

"Wait." Eyes narrowed, he leaned forward as well until he could feel the electricity sparking off her.

Addictive. When their faces were only a few inches apart, he rasped, "He didn't kiss your pretty little ears or tongue those stiff ni**les?" I would have. Wouldn't have been able to stop myself.

She sounded like she'd stifled a moan. "For that first time, he was trying to keep me from coming before he could claim me. He knows I love to cl**ax when I'm being fil ed, but sometimes I orgasm too quickly."

Almighty. He had to cough into his fist before he could grate, "Do you, then?"

She nodded. "And he knew he had plenty of time for that. He planned to have sex with me at least ..."

She trailed off once more.

Gaze locked on hers, Declan told her, "He'd f**k you til you lost count."

***

Thunder rumbled outside from Regin's lightning. She was on fire for ... Declan Chase?

The customary coldness in his eyes had been replaced with a wicked glint. His face was flushed with color, highlighting his handsome features-that chiseled jawline and those broad cheekbones. His firm kissable lips ...

Somehow he'd turned everything around, tantalizing her with glimpses of what Aidan used to be like when he was aroused-carnal, a touch playful, yet definitely in charge.

And still Chase was so different from Aidan. He was complicated; she never seemed to have any idea what he was thinking. His thick accent made shivers dance over her skin.

And the way he gazed at her ...

Those heated looks tinged with that unmistakable yearning were doing funny things to her. This wicked, sexy Irishman made her feel punch-drunk.

Gods, his mouth was so close. She wanted it on her own.

"Go on, Regin."

"Our tongues were twining, our lips locked so tight that we were breathing for each other. My claws sank deep into the rigid muscles of his ass to drag him closer, but by this time I was just hanging on for dear life-because he was pounding between my thighs with all his might."

Chase groaned, rubbing his palm along his length, making her gasp. But when he realized what he'd done, his cheeks flooded with color, and he fisted his gloved hands beside his hips. "And then ... ?"

Drawing from memory, she told him, "Just when I thought I'd pass out from pleasure, he clasped me against his big body with his arms like bands around me, while he shuddered and plunged. I tried to last, but I couldn't stop from coming. He groaned in my ear that he could feel me squeezing him, that he'd give me what I needed. That he was going to come so hard, it'd feel like a thrust inside me. He had to throw back his head and yel -"

"Could you feel his spend?" Chase demanded, his breaths quickening.

Now she moaned, as much from the memory as from his question. "It flooded me, so hot that I orgasmed again."

They must have reached Chase's limit; without a word, he lunged forward, lifting her from the bath.

Declan set her on the bathroom counter, wedging his h*ps between her thighs.

"Chase?" Whatever she saw in his expression made her fal silent, simply letting him feast his eyes on her.

He was spellbound as streams of water descended from her slender neck past the delicate line of her collarbone. From there, droplets slipped between the swel s of her br**sts to her flat bel y and lower, drawing his eyes to the smallpatch of blond curls between her legs. Just like in his dreams.

Now he nearly went to his knees at the sight. "You're so beautiful, Valkyrie." And I have no idea what I'm goin' to do with you. He'd meant only to kiss her, but now he wanted... more. "I need to touch you."

He quaked with the need. Explore every golden inch of you.

When was the last time he'd felt anticipation-or experienced anything that he couldn't get enough of?

"I'm yours, Chase. You can do whatever you like to me. Just take off your gloves."

Frustration whipped him. "You think I don't want to?" He knew the whispers in the ward, knew everyone believed he didn't like to touch or be touched.

Right now, he wanted to feel her more than anything. But to reveal the backs of his hands to her ... ?

An idea arose. "Do no' move from this spot, Regin. Do you understand me?"

She gave him a sarcastic salute that made her br**sts bob. He bit back a groan as he turned toward his room.

He ransacked his meticulously stowed belongings until he found what he sought, then returned to her, holding it up like a prize.

She raised her brows. "I think I'm underdressed."

With that sinful gleam in his eyes, Chase had returned with a civilian necktie. He didn't ask, just wrapped it tight around her head, blindfolding her.