Read A Pirate's Love for Free Online

harm her, monsieur .”
    Jules chuckled at this, but the captain flashed him a murderous look, then focused his attention on Madeleine again.
    â€œAre you her mother?”
    â€œNo, I was nurse to her and her mother both. I will be nurse to her children as well,” Madeleine replied proudly.
    â€œIs she with child now?”
    â€œ Monsieur! You cannot ask–”
    â€œBlast it, answer me, woman!” the captain cut her off sharply.
    â€œNo, she is not.”
    The captain’s annoyance seemed to disappear with her answer. “Now tell me, why do you speak English and she does not?”
    â€œI—I was born in England. I came to France as a child with my parents,” Madeleine said truthfully.
    â€œShe speaks no English at all?”
    â€œNo, Capitaine .”
    He sighed and studied Bettina, who had been watching him the whole time. “Who is she?”
    â€œMademoiselle Bettina Verlaine.”
    â€œAnd where was she being taken?”
    â€œTo Saint Martin, to be married to Comte de Lambert,” Madeleine replied quickly.
    â€œAnd the fortune that was found on your vessel—it was her dowry?”
    â€œYes.”
    The pirate captain smiled lazily, displaying even, white teeth. “Her family must be very rich. And her betrothed, he is also a man of wealth?”
    â€œYes, he will pay you well if you deliver her safely to Saint Martin—unharmed.”
    He laughed at her last word. “I’m sure he will, but I will have to think on the matter.” He turned to Jules. “Take the nurse to your cabin and lock her in. The mademoiselle will come with me.”
    Madeleine was dragged away, screaming and kicking to be free, and Bettina suddenly felt horribly afraid. She couldn’t stop thinking of the stories she’d heard in the convent. Wouldn’t a quick death be preferable? She looked at the railing of the ship. It was not so far to reach, and then to be engulfed in the cold blue water.
    â€œOh, no, Bettina Verlaine, not yet, anyway,” the captain said, as if reading her mind.
    He took her arm and led her to his cabin. Inside the small, disorderly room, the captain sat Bettina down in a chair beside a long table. He filled two tankards with a dry red wine, handed her one, and sat down also. The long table obviously served as a desk, for it was covered with charts and nautical instruments.
    He leaned back in his chair and stared at her silently. She watched his light-blue eyes nervously, and felt the color rising to her cheeks under his close examination.
    â€œMy men seem to think you are a beauty, Bettina,” he remarked casually. “But frankly I don’t see how they could tell with that black powder covering your face.”
    Bettina instinctively tried to rub away the black. But when her hand came away clean, she realized he had tricked her.
    â€œSo you understand English after all. I thought as much. Why did your servant lie?”
    Bettina hesitated before answering. “She—she did not want me to talk to you. I think she was afraid I would lose my temper.”
    â€œAnd will you?”
    â€œI see no reason why I should.”
    The captain laughed deeply. “Was the old woman lying about your betrothal also?”
    â€œNo.”
    â€œSo this Comte de Lambert really is a wealthy man?”
    â€œYes, extremely so, capitaine ,” Bettina replied, beginning to grin to relax a little.
    The man didn’t seem half so dangerous as she had expected him to be. She had to admit he was handsome, and he appeared to be young, though his golden beard made him look older.
    â€œYou will be a rich man if you take me to my betrothed,” Bettina said.
    â€œI have no doubt of that,” he replied easily. “But your dowry alone has made me a rich man, and I don’t hold with carrying women on my ship.”
    â€œThen what will you do with me, monsieur , throw me into the sea—after you have raped