STORY EXCERPT

Amato hurried to get to the deck of the ship. He had heard the shouts from the crewmen a few minutes earlier and headed up to see what the ruckus was about. He worried about Cristóbal. Could he be in danger?

He had boarded the Santa Maria two days ago as the first mate Fernando Rodriguez and had been keeping an eye on Cristóbal. The explorer was an interesting man. He had a vision and fixated on his purpose constantly. An hour did not pass that he didn’t look at his charts and start mumbling something to himself.

They were headed to the Canary Islands to stock up on supplies and make some minor repairs, and then they would be headed west.

Although Amato had been unhappy leaving Heaven and knew it would be some time before he would see Belinda the Enchantress through the crystal voyeur, he found this new assignment being Cristóbal Colón’s guardian angel very interesting. To be a part of the discovery of the New World was something every angel, or man, would dream of.

As he made it on the deck, he realized the ship had stopped moving and a crowd had gathered in the starboard area looking to the water below. They mumbled to themselves, but Amato couldn’t decipher what they said. He decided to go there and find out exactly what caused such a commotion on board. Did it have anything to do with the smaller ships that followed the Santa Maria?

To his surprise, it wasn’t one of the other boats, but a rowboat approaching them. From what he could perceive, there were three passengers aboard, a male and two females. As the boat came up to the ship’s haul and they stopped, he could see them clearly. His jaw fell open and he couldn’t bring himself to close it.

The most beautiful vision he could ever have imagined sat in the rowboat just 20 feet below him. A vision he had beheld from far above for what seemed like an eternity. A vision who was far more beautiful and breathtaking in person than the crystal voyeur could have ever offered him. It was his Belinda the Enchantress, here in the flesh.

Beside her sat Sebastian who was now incognito pretending to be her female demon servant, Gisele. And next to him/her stood a tall man with wide shoulders and a dark complexion and hair. He had never seen him before when spying on Belinda and wondered who he might be.

As he pondered about the man and what they were all doing here wearing nobles’ clothes, one thing became clear in his mind—the reason why Michael asked him to protect Cristóbal. Belinda had been sent to claim the explorer’s soul.

He felt a smile spread across his face and stretch his skin.

One of the crewmembers who had a couple of gaping holes in his mouth from teeth that had most probably rotted and fallen off, nudged him. “From tha smile on yer face, you like wha you see, no?” He leered at them as one of the men dropped a roped ladder down to the boat. He stretched his neck as if to get a better look at Belinda as she mounted. “Tha other ona is nice, but this ona, in red, now she isa beautiful. And look a hera…” He cupped his chest to mean her breasts.

The man’s vulgarity and lack of any sort of education sickened Amato. And the fact he, along with the entire crew it seemed, looked at Belinda and her servant with lust made anger boil in his veins and his stomach tighten.

As Belinda and her group set foot on the deck, Cristóbal came forward with a quizzical look on his face. He rubbed his chin as the larger man extended his hand. “Thank you for your kindness in saving us. My name is Vizconde Miguel de Moya of Seville and these are my sisters Vizcondesa Maria De Moya and Florinda De Moya.” The ladies bowed with the introduction. “Our ship was overtaken by pirates this morning and we were forced to escape in the rowboat. We have been rowing aimlessly for many hours and are hungry and thirsty.”

Cristóbal shook the man’s hand and nodded. “I’m sorry for your misfortune. My name is Cristóbal Colón and this is the Santa Maria. We are headed for the Canary Islands. We can bring you there if you like, though it will be several days before we reach it.”

The tall man calling himself Vizconde Miguel De Moya opened his mouth to reply, but was interrupted by Belinda acting as Maria who stepped forward with a serene smile. “That would be perfect. We have family there we can stay with until a ship comes back for us.” The so-called vizconde frowned at her then and Amato noticed the sideways glance Belinda gave him.

Obviously, tension hovered between the two and from Sebastian’s expression, he wasn’t too fond of their male companion, either.

Cristóbal turned and motioned for Amato to approach them. “This is my first officer Fernando Rodriguez. He will bring you to the galley where you can get some nourishment and drink.”

Amato’s heart pounded in his ears upon hearing Cristóbal’s words. Never in his life as a mortal or as an angel had he ever imagined being this close to Belinda, let alone be the one to guide her to the galley.

Taking a deep intake of air, he walked over to them and bowed. When his gaze centered on Belinda, who was peering at him intensely, smiling, he swore that time had stopped for a few moments and everything around them stood still. Nothing else seemed to exist or matter for that moment.

His urge to proclaim his love for her, or his obsession depending on how one looked at it, gnawed at his insides then.

But as his senses brought him back to reality, his mind finally kicked in, telling him he should speak. Clearing his throat, he uttered, “If you would like to follow me, Vizconde and Vizcondesas?”

Belinda walked first, coming close to his left side. “Of course, Fernando, please lead the way.” A whiff of her fragrance tantalized him and he had to tame his wild urge to nuzzle his nose in the nape of her long, delicate neck.

Glancing back to make sure they all followed him, Amato noted the tall man acting as their brother displayed an angered, frustrated expression as he tailed and stared at Belinda.

Why he accompanied Belinda and Sebastian on this assignment baffled Amato. And why he looked at Belinda with such contempt peaked his curiosity. His gut and his instincts as a guardian angel pounded a message in his mind. This man meant harm to Belinda and maybe even Sebastian.

As he led them to the galley, he decided he’d find out exactly what the vizconde had up his sleeve.

ADULT EXCERPT

Amato stood on the barren deck admiring the sunrise. He hadn’t slept all night thinking of his beautiful enchantress and longed to caress her delicate skin. The moment they shared the day before when she touched his arm and their bodies reacted with intensity was too short and he yearned for more, far more.

But he had to be realistic. She was a demon and he an angel. They could never be together, ever. And reminding himself of his assignment, he acknowledged they were on opposite sides. He needed to focus on Cristóbal. He must protect him against Belinda and her party at any and all costs.

As he began to build his stamina and resistance, he heard a siren’s voice behind him call his name, “Fernando,” and all his resolve disintegrated as his heart swelled with affection. He turned to behold paradise’s perfection in her face, his ears still tingling from hearing her sweet voice. His heartbeat quickened and his mouth numbed. He tried replying, but it was futile.

The vision of her in her red dress with her black hair flowing freely around her shoulders dancing with the ebullient wind left him dumb.

She walked up to him and smiled. “I see you are an early bird as am I.”

“Uh-huh,” was all he managed to leak from his lips.

Admiring the horizon and the rising sun, she sighed. “It’s beautiful, isn’t it?”

His gaze never leaving her face, he responded, “There is much beauty to behold this morning.” And once the words slipped from his lips, he wished he could silence them. What would she say or how would she react?

But to his surprise, she glanced at him, catching his stare and then lowered her eyes, blushing. A moment later, she turned to him and lifted her face to look at him. “So how long have you been sailing the seven seas, Fernando?”

“Uh…many years.” He hadn’t expected the question and hoped his gaze wasn’t shifty when he replied.

“Have you always been a first officer?”

Think, man, think! He swayed from one foot to the other. “No, this is my first voyage as that. Cristóbal Colón found me worthy of the position.”

“How long have you known Cristóbal?”

“Not long, a few months,” he lied.

She leaned in, then lifted her seductive gaze to meet his eyes and whispered, “What specifically does Cristóbal plan to do after he leaves the Canary Islands?”

Oh, temptation curse him! All his dreams hit him instantly. How many times had he wished and imagined her being this close to him? He wanted to touch her porcelain white face, every curve of it perfect. Her full, ruby lips and her dark, exotic, almond-shaped eyes hypnotized him.

For a brief moment, he lifted his hand to do just that, but then his cowardice took over and he brought his hand up to his head and combed his hair with his fingers.

Taking a deep breath for courage, he spoke. “He travels west as I told you last night. He has charted a shorter route to the Indies.”

She laughed, throwing her head back. “That is madness! The Indies? Going west, not east?”

He nodded. “No, it isn’t. Cristóbal has been studying the charts for many years, and if there is another, shorter passage to the Indies from the west, he will find it.”

Coughing to clear his mind, he asked, “And you, Vizcondesa, will this be your first trip to the Canary Islands?”

She shook her head. “No, I’ve been there several times since I have family there.”

Lifting a brow in intrigue, he asked, “And speaking of family, your sister seems as sweet as you, but your brother, the vizconde, is—”

She frowned and completed his sentence for him. “Is a loud mouth brute who keeps embarrassing my sister and I.”

After the words left her lips, her expression softened once more as if she had cast away the negative thoughts of the vizconde. Then she leaned in even closer so her perfume tickled his nose and she placed a hand lightly on his shoulder, lifting her brow in a flirtatious way. “So you find me…sweet?”

He almost lost his bearings then. Had he said that? Yes, being an imbecile, he had.

He opened his mouth to respond, but only, “Uh…,” escaped, and then quietness.

Their physical contact and the instance of silence between them were reactive. It was as if the magnetic pull of the earth’s core suddenly turned on them, bringing them closer together inch by tempting inch.

Amato couldn’t resist his urges any longer. He knew it was her physical contact with him that caused it, but he didn’t care. He wanted to touch her, hold her, kiss her passionately. And so he did. He lowered his head, tilting it sideways, and brought his lips to hers.

The moment they made contact, a shock of coldness flowed through him and then heat, surging heat that turned his body, his sexual organ, and his mind to madness for her, for her body. He brought his hands to the back of her head as his tongue pushed open her lush lips and probed her hungry mouth. Her tongue came to meet his and they looped each other’s in a dance of lust.

Amato lowered his arms to wrap around her waist and he tugged her closer to him so their bodies melded practically to one. He could feel the rise and fall of her chest as she panted with arousal, her plump breasts rubbing against him through their clothes with every desperate breath she took.

His cock rose in demand and he knew she felt it hardened and engorged because she moaned with pleasure, bringing her arms to his back and rubbed her fingertips up and down with urgency. Each stroke of her bewitching fingers brought him that much closer to insanity.

Her excited reaction meant only one thing—she wanted him to continue to intensify this. Sweet mercy, he would abide her wishes. He lifted her into his arms then, catching her by surprise as he heard her deep intake of air. But she didn’t stop, didn’t react negatively to it. Instead, she giggled knowing he meant to bring her someplace no one could see them.

Years, even centuries, of wondering would soon be over. As he carried her in his arms to the stern of the ship, where they could easily hide behind some barrels and equipment, he imagined one last time what it would be like to make love to Belinda the Enchantress. Would he reach a paradise far better than Heaven, or would the gates of Hell open and devour him whole?

One thing was for sure. He would enjoy every sacrilegious second of it.