Surrender by Heather Graham Read Free Book Online Page B

You’re not to leave the cabin—unless the ship is sinking,” he ordered curtly, starting out once again.
    “Which may well happen!” she called after him, feeling oddly hurt and ready to strike out in return.
    He came back to her, taking her hands, his grip so strong she couldn’t begin to fight. His eyes impaled her own. “The ship will not sink. I built her. She is powerful, light, and faster than anything else currently sailing. When I cannot take my prey with surprise and speed, I escape heavier guns. It is a very simple method of warfare. I suggest, however, that you retire to the bunk and remain there, as I can’t promise there won’t be rough seas ahead.”
    He released her again, starting out. She raced after him, startling herself as she slammed a fist against his back. He turned, a brow arching incredulously.
    “You expect me just to stay here while you seek to blow my countrymen out of the water—”
    “Miss Magee, I fight with all the respect due human life I can manage. I don’t seek to kill sailors. My aim is to confiscate supplies. Get in the damned bunk, or I’ll have you tied into it.”
    She stepped back, gasping and furious. “Don’t you threaten me so, you half-breed savage parading as a military officer! How dare you—”
    She broke off, a scream of alarm rising in her throat. He moved with uncanny speed, sweeping her off her feet. Before she knew it, she was down on the bunk, and he had straddled her. Despite her flailings, he lashed her right wrist to a spiral in the mock headboard with rope he procured from a shelf above it.
    “Don’t do this!” she whispered. “Please don’t do this!”
    He looked down at her, dark gaze impassive. He finished tying the knot that bound her in place. “I’m sorry to say, you asked for it.”
    He rose quickly and left her. The business of battle was at hand. She longed to scream with pure frustration—and growing alarm. But no one would come. It was evident that Jerome McKenzie’s men were totally loyal to their captain.
    Seconds later, she did cry out as the first gun was fired. It was the
Lady Varina
doing the firing. The ship shuddered with the force of each heavy cannon shot.
    She shrieked again as the whole of the ship seemed to shake with a fury. She heard shouting, cries, more gunfire. The ship pitched and swayed as the balls from returned cannon fire fell into the nearby waters.
    Caught upon the bunk, Risa closed her eyes in fear.
    The firing seemed to go on and on. With each blast the ship shuddered and rocked anew.
    Oh, God, if she could only rise! She was so frightened. Terrified that a ball would rip into the cabin. That the walls would splinter, that the cabin would burst into flames, and she would be trapped like a rat dropped in a dungeon …
    Shouts again. She worked feverishly at the ties binding her in place.
    She didn’t realize when the firing and swaying had stopped. She was still clawing away when the door to the cabin opened. She lay still, watching warily as the young, blond, bearded fellow who had guarded her room at Belamar approached her.
    He was barefoot and in breeches. His chest was grimed with sweat and soot from gunpowder.
    He was carrying a knife.
    She inhaled to scream.
    He must have seen the fear in her eyes, because he quickly assured her. “It’s all right—it’s just that if I know the captain, no one can simply untie that knot.”
    His knife slit the rope securing her wrist. She sat up, rubbing the sore flesh there. “Thank you, thank you so much. Thank God someone on this ship has some common courtesy. Thank God you are kind and reasonable, despite the fact that your captain is a lunatic. Thank God—”
    “Miss Magee—”
    “You’ve got to help me off this ship, do you realize that? He is a madman, leaving me tied so when the ship could have gone down.”
    “Miss Magee—” the young man began, distressed, but she was far too aggravated to notice.
    “The wretched bastard! Yet what else could