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reached her in two strides and Monique kicked out at him, shrieking in terror.   His hand was swift and harsh as it slapped across her cheek, and she knew she would find a print from the blow if she looked into the mirror.   “Silence,” his deep voice boomed.
     
    Monique continued to kick out at him, and the strong man gripped one flailing leg and twisted it until she rolled onto her stomach.   A few seconds later she felt a wide flat hand clap down with a forceful blow across her bottom, and she clawed across the blanket and began to wail.   “Please… my husband has money.   He’ll pay you,” she gasped.   A thought flashed through her mind that should she need to be ransomed, Frank would probably make her pay him back out of her coffers.   Even through her fright, Monique wondered at the frequent thoughts about her husband that almost hinted of jealousy… or a deliberate attempt to think the worst of him.
     
    The man’s eyes darkened, and he said coldly, “You, above all the rest, should know how meaningless your gold and jewels are to me.   No, Clarette, it is you that I want.   If there is nothing else to be gained from my exile, it is the realization that your words were true.   All the gold and baubles I have plundered are meaningless when I have but that little spot of land to harbor them.”
     
    Monique’s mind worked frantically as she tried to figure out his words.   Her teeth were chattering and she cried, “I’m not Clarette.   You’ve made a mistake.   You’ve taken the wrong boat.”   Though most of what he said was confusing, she now worried that the vicious man was laying wait for a sloop that carried the mysterious girl he mistakenly thought was Monique.   Would he kill her, now that he was aware of his error?
     
    The eyes glaring back at her were filled with anger.   “I do not know your game, but I recognize you even in this new form, petite sorcière de la mer.   How true those words proved to be,” he sneered.   Deegan was more convinced than ever that a backup ship would soon be arriving, and he had no desire to fall into their trap and leave without the woman.   “Come,” he ordered, and he slapped her thigh again when she continued to kick out at him.
     
    Deegan sighed with impatience, and reached his long arm out to thread his fingers through her hair, just as he had done when he had taken the feisty girl the first time.   The need to rip off her pants and plunge deep inside her was an ache that only the anxiety of her armed crew returning managed to curb.   He pulled the screaming woman to her feet while she clawed at his hand and beat his chest, and all the while he smiled cruelly and laughed at her.
     
    When he managed to get her turned by lifting her to her toes by her golden tresses, his strong hand once more slammed down on the fleshy globes of her bottom and he was rewarded with a loud shriek.   Deegan opened the door and forced her on tiptoe out into the companionway and towards the upper deck hatch.   Most of the crew had their wailing captives on deck, and Deegan called down to the stragglers that most likely had been tempted to give in to their lust.   “Make haste before the ship with the cannons returns.”   He was pleased with the sound of immediate scuffling of bodies in motion from below.   “Let’s get our treasure aboard the schooner.   Quartermaster, watch over the women while the crew pillages our needs.”
     
    Johnny nodded to the Captain while gripping Thelma’s throat.   One hand was white knuckled as it squeezed a large breast and guided her towards the back of the sailboat.   Thelma’s wet cheeks were rosy with the evidence of the force of the man’s blows and she sobbed quietly, but she made no effort to remove his hands from her.
     
    Monique tried to drag her feet, a painful task the way the brutal man had her secured, and she used her legs to push out against the cushioned bench running the length of the stern.