Free The Rogue Pirate’s Bride by Shana Galen

about me.”
    She put her hands on her hips. “Do you have my sword?”
    He thought of the object hanging in his cabin.
    “Then that makes you a thief. Did you kill Captain Bowers?” She didn’t wait for an answer. “Then that makes you a murderer. Do you attack ships on the high seas, confiscate their cargo, and sell it for your own profit? Then that makes you a pirate. Do you deny all of these accusations? That makes you a liar.”
    “How old are you, Miss Russell?”
    She blinked, seemingly taken back by the question. “Why?”
    “Because your view of the world is startlingly naïve. It would be charming in a girl of eleven or twelve, but as my sources put you closer to twenty, I think we might safely call it ignorance.”
    Her jaw dropped, and he could see her reach for her side where her sword was absent.
    He nodded at her. “You see, ma belle , better if you are unarmed.” A movement at the other end of the corridor caught his attention, and he squinted to see through the shadows.
    “But I won’t be unarmed forever, and when you’re least expecting it, I’ll be there to slit your—”
    “Shh.” He grabbed her wrist and pulled her into a shadow.
    “What are you doing? Release m—”
    He clamped a hand over her mouth, effectively silencing her. For his pains, he received an elbow jab to the abdomen and a slipper thrust down hard on his foot. But as she stiffened after the impact, he decided she received the worse part of the blow. Soft slippers were not made for warfare. He wrapped his other arm around her middle to keep her arms at her sides and bent close to her ear. “I’m not kidnapping you , mademoiselle. I need you to be silent a moment.”
    She said something against his hand, which he took as a refusal because she began to writhe and struggle against him anew. The men at the far end of the corridor were drawing closer, and he had no option but to drag her into a nearby alcove. He did so, ignoring her flailing until he had her out of sight. Using his body to anchor her, he peered around the corner.
    Bon Dieu! He hadn’t been mistaken. It was Juan Victor de los Santos. Jourdain called him El Santo, The Saint. He’d been serving with Jourdain for as long as Bastien had known the man. And where he went, Jourdain could always be found. So his information had been correct! Jourdain was in Gibraltar.
    A sharp kick to his shin reminded him he had other concerns at the moment. He ducked back into the alcove. “Be still for one moment.” She kicked him again. “ Merde! ” With his arms covering her mouth and holding her wrists still, he had no way to contain her feet other than to press against her. She objected immediately, twisting her face back and forth and attempting to cry for help. The effect was that he quickly became intimately acquainted with her lovely breasts. She must have bound them quite tightly to pass as a lad before.
    “Stop moving,” he growled, attempting to ignore the warmth the motion of those breasts was beginning to ignite. The last thing he wanted was to be spotted by El Santo. If Jourdain knew Bastien was searching for him, and given the lengths Jourdain had gone to conceal himself, he probably did, Bastien knew the only way to find the Barbary pirate was to follow El Santo undetected.
    He risked one last glimpse around the corner and swore again. El Santo had not gone into the ball as Bastien had anticipated. Instead, he was coming this way. In a moment, he would pass Bastien and the struggling Miss Russell. Bastien looked down at the woman, and even in the darkness he could see murder in her eyes. “ Je suis désolé ,” he murmured, lowering his mouth to hers.
    He kissed her passionlessly, more intent on shielding their identities from El Santo and the men with him. He wanted them to see nothing more than a couple engaged in a romantic rendezvous.
    A somewhat tumultuous rendezvous, as his cabin girl was fighting him with everything she had. She was petite, but she