Free A Pirate's Heart (St. John Series) by Lora Thomas Page B

replied as he raised his chin up with acknowledgement. “So not enough.”
    She eyed both men strangely. They bickered back and forth like brothers, but looked absolutely nothing alike. They were night and day from each other. Both tall, broad chested and muscular but that was where their similarities ended. The blond-haired man had a calmer aristocratic presence to him. His articulation was superb as though he had many tutors. He carried himself with the grace of nobility. But the black-haired man had a rough presence to him. A worldly presence. He had a presence that would make the hairs stand up on the back of your neck. His articulation was not as refined as his companion, but he was not uneducated.
    They were acting like she wasn’t even there. That she was unarmed. Well, she was there and she was armed! Their conversation began to sink in. Bed her? Not bed her? Pirates! No! She pointed her swords back and forth between the two men.
    In poor English she said, “Pie-rat!” in an attempt to sound like she didn’t understand what they were saying.
    “It seems we have a problem,” Max stated matter-of-factly as he watched the beautiful Spanish lady standing in his bed.
    “We? We? Hell, there ain’t no we to it. You have a problem, my friend, not me. I will leave you to do whatever it is with your newly found trophy . . . pie-rat,” Alex said mocking her, as he quickly shut the door.
    “You’re a real friend, you know that, you bastard!” Max yelled at the closed door.
    “And you’re a pie-rat!” he heard Alex reply.

 
    Chapter Six
     
    Max turned his attention back to the feisty raven-haired beauty in front of him. He watched her for several minutes and realized she was daring him to disarm her. He could do that easily enough, but he didn’t want to risk hurting her. What was he going to do with her? She didn’t have the feel to her of being the unsavory sort. Her features were too soft, too pristine to be of the sordid kind.
    Kristina could feel his eyes traveling up and down her as he watched her. Pirate! Of all the things! She had hoped she had had the last of dealing with pirates after she had gotten off that blasted ship. Furrowing her brow a thought crossed her mind, what was she going to do now? Her kind-of-sort-of-well-thought-out-plan was not working out. If she hadn’t taken that damned nap!
    A small chuckle came from his direction. Max, she remembered him being called. He didn’t look like a pirate. His hair was well groomed and he was not wearing an earring. So an earring was not a requirement to be a pirate. Not that she had had many run-ins with pirates until recently.
    The Spanish stowaway was deep in thought about her current situation. Taking advantage of her distraction, Max quickly took the sword from her hands. She attempted to wrestle it back, but it was pointless. Never had she seen a man made so . . . so . . . so . . . hard. That was the word that came to mind. Her tiny fists didn’t even make him flinch. He wrestled the weapon so easily from her grasp. And before she knew what was happening, he had her hands pinned behind her back, her body pressed to his, her face even with his broad chest. Oh and what a nice chest it was! Tan, muscular and just begging to be touched. Startled by her thoughts, she attempted to look into his eyes. She had to look up and up and up until she could see his black eyes. He easily towered over her five-foot two-inch frame.
    “Let me go!” she shouted at him, forgetting to keep up the pretense of not knowing English.
    “So you do speak English?” Max questioned with a twinkle in his dark eyes.
    “Let me go, you asinine dolt!” she chided in a disparaging tone. She struggled to break free. “Or do you have cotton in your ears!”
    Her insult made the humor leave his eyes. He looked at her coldly, causing a shiver to run down her spine. “I think you’re in no position to be making demands. May I remind you whose ship you’re