Sapphire Dream by Pamela Montgomerie Read Free Book Online

him to protect himself. No lady, to be sure, yet what she lacked in manners she more than made up for in courage. She would need that courage. The prophecy would demand it.
    Slowly the English frigate approached them, but their heading left a safe distance between the ships, clearly not on a course to intercept. Rourke felt the relief sink into his belly like warm ale on a cold day. The plague flag had worked.
    “How many dead?” the English captain called.
    “Three stricken. Two dead.”
    “God have mercy on you.”
    Rourke lifted a hand in thanks, and the English ship continued on. When the ships were out of gun range, the tightly coiled tension eased out of him. The English had bought his bluff. Mayhap his fortunes were turning at last.
    “Captain?” Jules called. “It’s Mr. Cutter, sir. He’s gone to your cabin.”
    Rourke jerked, Cutter’s promise ringing in his ears. I’ll kill her.
    He took off at a sprint and burst through the door just as Cutter was raising his sword. The lass was trapped in the back corner of the cabin, poised for battle as if she could fight a steel blade with her bare hands. Or intended to die trying.
    Even as he took in the situation, Cutter’s sword began its deadly downward arc. An arc she would not escape.
    In one swift move, Rourke pulled his eating knife from his belt and threw it, burying the small blade deep in the back of Cutter’s sword hand.
    His bosun cried out as the sword veered toward the left, landing harmlessly a hand’s breadth shy of the lass. He swung toward Rourke, cradling his bleeding hand, his nose hanging at an odd angle, bleeding profusely.
    The wildcat had struck first, it seemed.
    Cutter stared at him, an animal’s madness in his eyes. “She dies. You both die.”
    Rourke slammed his fist into his bosun’s jaw, sending him crashing against the wall. Cutter had been with him for more than two years, a hard, mercurial man. Rourke would have set him ashore long ago had the man not been such a fine sailor.
    “Captain?” Jules asked from the entry.
    Rourke yanked Cutter up and shoved him at Jules. “Chain him in the hold.”
    “Aye, Captain.”
    Brenna dashed past him and out the door so fast he had to lunge to catch her before she reached the stairs. But the moment he wrenched her back against him, he knew he’d made a mistake. She twisted in his arms, turning wild.
    Fortunately, he’d seen enough of the woman’s fighting ways to take precautions. When she tried to slam her knee into his loins, he deflected the blow and turned her sideways, locking her shoulder against him. A growl of frustration rumbled in her chest.
    “Be calm, Wildcat. I’ll not harm you. You have my oath on it.”
    Her clean woman’s scent wafted over him like a warm summer garden. He was suddenly aware of the feel of her in his arms. Too aware. The top of her head reached his mouth, her hair silky against his chin.
    “Let me go.” Desperation laced her voice as she struggled against him, unwittingly brushing the part of his anatomy most interested in becoming acquainted with her. Lust slammed into him.
    Nay. He would not let the woman affect him in that way.
    He pushed her back into his cabin, then released her as if she burned him. She spun to face him even as Hegarty pushed into the room behind him carrying a mug of foul-smelling brew.
    “What happened?”
    “Cutter sought his revenge on her for unmanning him. I’ve ordered him in chains.”
    “Ye should kill the blighter,” Hegarty said matter-of factly.
    Rourke made a noncommittal sound.
    The woman looked at him pleadingly. “I need air. I need a few minutes on deck to catch my breath.”
    “Nay,” Hegarty said. “Ye’ll not be going near that lot agin. ’Ave ye learned nothing?”
    She ignored Hegarty and met Rourke’s gaze, desperation growing in her eyes. “I don’t like closed spaces. Just a few minutes on deck. That’s all I’m asking. Surely I’m in no danger if you’re there?”
    Saints, but her