Too Dangerous to Desire by Alexandra Benedict Read Free Book Online

it’s best if you keep your secrets, Adam . . . and I keep mine.”

Chapter 6
    nm
    ieutenant Eric Faraday eased himself into a seat, for a bullet to the hip had rendered him crippled and discharged from the navy. “Good to see you with a woman, Capt’n . . . a very bonny woman.” Adam sighed. “I’m not with her, Lieutenant.” “Of course not, sir.” The lieutenant shifted his leg. “My apologies for interrupting.”
    “No, you don’t understand.” There was only one lass in Adam’s life: Tess. And he intended to remain faithful to her for the rest of his days. “She’s my . . . ward.”
    “Your ward, sir?” “Yes, my ward.” Evelyn wasn’t really his ward, not in the legal sense. But she was under his protection, so the cir cumstance was similar. “Didn’t know you had a ward, sir.” “Well, I do.” He fixed him with a pointed look.
    “And you’re to keep quiet about her, Lieutenant.”
    “Aye, Capt’n.”
    Adam nodded curtly. “You have news?”
    “I do, sir . . . we have him!”
    A fire lighted in Adam’s belly at the tempting thought, and he fisted his palms. “Are you sure, Lieutenant?”
    “Aye, Capt’n.”
    After years of hiding, eluding capture, had the dastardly brigand surfaced at last? Adam in tended to apprehend Black Hawk, the infamous leader of a roving band of buccaneers. The very buccaneers who’d pilfered from him a cherished fob watch six years ago!
    There was scant chance Adam would recover the rifled watch. The pirates had surely sold the purloined booty. But Adam intended to see Black Hawk and the rest of the brigands hang for the foul deed—in memory of Tess.
    “Where is he, Lieutenant? I’m tired of chasing shadows at sea.”
    The strife with his brother over, Adam now wanted pirate blood. For years he had hunted the waters in search of the notorious Black Hawk. But the dastardly cutthroat was elusive. A story sur faced on occasion, a sighting. No firm evidence to confirm his whereabouts, though.
    Faraday lowered his voice. “The village is rife with tales of ghosts, moving about the terrain under darkness—leaving crates of whiskey and rum on the doorsteps of pubs! If the corsairs need to unload their pilfered goods, I say we buy the booty.”
    “How do you mean?”
    “I’ve had to haggle with a scalawag close to the pirate leader, but I’ve managed to set up a meet between you and Black Hawk.”
    “When?” “Tomorrow at midnight.” “How theatrical,” said Adam dryly. “Aye, Capt’n. The scoundrel Black Hawk does have a flair for the dramatic.” The older man shifted his leg once more. “You’re to pose as a merchant captain, searching for cheap spirits to bootleg on the side.”
    Adam mulled over the plan. A midnight gath ering was perilous. Without a moon for guidance, he might easily lose his target in the blackness. Yet what other choice did he have?
    “How’s the ship, Lieutenant?” “Tip-top, sir.” Adam might dislike an evening rendezvous, but he had come too far to risk allowing the devil to slip between his grasp. “I want you to ready the men, Faraday.”
    “Aye, Capt’n,” he was quick to assent. “Quietly, Lieutenant. I don’t want gossip to stir and my target to vanish.” “You can trust me, Capt’n.”
    Adam did trust the proficient lieutenant. In jured during the continental war, thirty-eight-year-old Eric Faraday, along with many of his contemporaries, had lived like a vagabond for years. Dramatic cuts to military personnel after the war with Napoleon had reduced most officers to paupers, beggars in some instances.
    Adam had found the lieutenant and many other former naval shipmen in bleak circumstances. For a generous income, a good two dozen had agreed to aid Adam in his endeavor. And after years of searching, Adam and the motley crew of sailors would see their mission complete.
    Tomorrow.
    At midnight.
    Adam stretched his hand across the table. “You’ve done an excellent job, Lieutenant.”
    “Thank you,