Wrong Kind of Paradise by Suzie Grant Read Free Book Online

drink.
    A buxom blonde ambled up to his table and perched one hip on its edge. “Anything else I can get
    ye’ handsome?”
    Blac shook his head and leaned forward to see around her. “Not tonight, Jezel.”
    The bright red lips pursed to make a moue beneath the penciled in mole in the right corner of her
    mouth. “Zhat ‘es too bad, mon ami , I’d hoped you would come to see me. I have missed you zees last
    months.”
    Blac reached up a hand to her knee and squeezed. “And I you, but I’ve work to do.”
    “Perhaps I can be of help?”
    Blac glanced up to her. “Perhaps you can.” He dropped his hand and crossed his arms across the
    tabletop. “Do you see those five sailors in the corner?”
    “Of course,” she said with wicked grin. “’Ze young one is right handsome and has been eyeing me
    all evening.”
    “Good.” Blac ordered another glass of rum. “Get his attention and find out what they’re up to.”
    She nodded and moved to stand. His hand shot out and seized her leg again. “And Jezel...” She
    raised a single blonde brow. “You will be rewarded.”
    A slow smile spread across her features. “I’ve got plenty of gold, mon ami . Unless it’s you in my
    bed this eve, don’t even bother.”
    She walked away with a swing in her hips and, had the object of his current fascination not been
    more than five feet away from him, he may have been more than interested. As it were, Jezel held no
    appeal to him. Not after the way his blood had been set afire by one rebellious female pirate.
    The tavern had long since cleared. Blac held back as the last occupant exited the building. He
    slipped from the shadows and stole into the alley beside the establishment until he reached the rear door.
    He knocked three times and seconds later, the door opened an inch.
    Jezel’s voice came to him through the partial opening. “I ‘ave news. They plan to kidnap the
    lieutenant commander tomorrow night. A girl...a prostitute, she works in the Red Garter. Her name is
    Gretchen. She is supposed to drug his ‘ordship.”
    Kidnap the commander? Charles’s superior officer? Did Angel plan to exchange him for her
    father’s life?
    Blac reached into his pocket and retrieved the small bag of coins. He handed them inside the door.
    Jezel hesitated. “I take it you won’t be coming to me tonight?”
    “Not this time, Jezel.”
    A soft sigh sounded from the other side. “Aye, I wilz take the coin but you must promise to return to
    me after this ‘es all over.”
    Blac frowned. “I’m not sure I can promise anything, but I will try.”
    Another sigh.
    “All right zen, good luck with yer mission, Capi’tan.”
    Blac strode down the alley onto Queen Street. He headed for the pier. Now that he knew Angel’s
    plans, he had one of his own.
    ~*~
    No one could duplicate what God had created, a temptress cast upon men from the sins of Eden.
    Blac’s eyes took in the naked flesh a little too eagerly. He’d followed Angel back to the tiny inn on
    High Street. It couldn’t house more than six rooms. She stayed on the second story, far left corner room.
    He’d climbed the trellis without breaking his neck and stepped over the railing on the balcony to get a
    better view.
    The crickets chirped their melody in the night and masked the sound of his heavy feet on the
    wrought-iron plates beneath him. Stars glimmered in brilliant profusion against the black blanket of night
    and offered little light to reveal him.
    He’d been lucky enough to catch her at her bath and unlucky enough to suffer the consequences of
    watching her.
    Firelight flickered off the walls and cast shadows of her lush curves across the walls as she stood
    to her full height. Water sluiced over the sides of the tub to puddle onto the wooden planks. He
    swallowed. Droplets trickled down her flat stomach and hips. Each bead of moisture slid against her
    flesh and he imagined drying the moisture with his tongue.
    Meager light from the fire gleamed against