Free Other Oceans: Book Two of the Hook & Jill Saga by Andrea Jones Page A

woman should do. But where the men are concerned, remember. What cannot be acquired easily is valued longer.” She laughed as the question grew in Liza’s expression. “Yes. I may tell you my tale one day. Even the captain had to struggle to acquire me. I believe he thoroughly enjoyed it.”
    Liza came to herself, blushing at the lady’s forthright words. They roused the memory of Tom’s kiss, her first kiss from a boy. There were no rigid restraints here. The crew aboard this ship, even the mistress, knew what they wanted and lost no time going after it. Liza wasn’t used to people expressing their desires so honestly. She had been taught to keep herself in check. Her father was a model of self-control, at least in public. He had always controlled Liza strictly. And her mother.
    And now this lady with her entrancing smile was showing kindness. The woman who had stolen Liza’s freedom was offering liberty of a kind she’d never—
    Liza’s ready ears caught the cadence of steps on the stairs. She looked to the lady, who stood at once and turned toward the sound. The lovely face tensed with anticipation. Was it dread, or elation? Was the lady herself treated kindly? Was she free? And then Liza whipped around to watch the monster stalk into his den. She pushed herself up from the couch and shrank back, and her eyes opened as never before, preparing to take him in.
    The door was thrust open…and the most magnificent man Liza had ever seen launched himself through it in a storm of black velvet, and entered into her awed imagination. Jill smiled on him, and in the instant became a radiant goddess. She held out her slender arms, and in two strides of his fine, shining boots, he had entered her embrace and engulfed her. His jewels glistened, and the flash of metal that was his right hand buried itself in the black folds of her skirt as the man kissed his mistress, mercilessly.
    Forgotten, the girl stood staring, and felt herself disappear. In her mind, coming alive for the first time in years, Liza understood that she didn’t matter for this space of time. She was no one, and she was listening to— was it love?
    What else could it be? A man like that didn’t waste time on sentimentality. Liza knew from her father’s example. He had used to love her mother like that; he had loved to use her mother like that. Watching this pair was all the more painful to Liza because she also knew her father had stopped loving her mother, just before she died. Liza dragged her gaze from the pirate to her mistress, and wondered. As willing as she seemed, how long could such a fragile creature endure that kind of love?
    But, careless of anything else, Liza’s regard reverted to the man. So this was the pirate king! In one instant, he had far exceeded her expectations. She blinked and caught up her breath, and listened, watched, and even smelled him. The lady had been right. Right about everything. ‘Overwhelming’ was the exact word to describe this experience. And Liza now determined she would follow Jill’s advice. She would keep an open mind.
    And then the man turned to Liza. Unbelievably, his blue eyes took hold of her, and the silkiest voice she had ever attended spoke to her ears alone.
    “You are dismissed.”
    She wanted to die. His was the voice she had waited all her life to hear, the perfect sound. His voice tore her heart apart, and in stopping, tortured her ears. And the moment he turned away from her, Liza did die. She ceased to exist. She had never existed— she closed her eyes and stopped breathing— because for this man, she had no purpose.
    Not yet.
    Still numb, Liza turned to the entrance and slipped away, out the door and down the steps of the companionway. She glided along, straight to her quarters, to shut the door without a sound and fling herself on the bunk and listen to her imagination as that pirate captain burst in and undressed her and bound her wrists together and kissed her, and ravished her with his