Free Within a Captain's Treasure by Lisa A. Olech Page A

rich bounty was secured and orders given to divide the spoils, see to the wounded, and set the sails of the Scarlet Night once more.
    Quinn’s anger hadn’t lost any of its fiery edge as he stormed toward his quarters. The nerve of that…that woman . Had she been a man, he’d have her stripped, lashed to the mast, and be adding fifty stripes to her back. Her presence was treading on his last nerve. They were in the midst of a battle. Lives were at stake. Hers. Hell, his. If she continued to draw his attention, he was sure to die.
    She’d already attracted too much of his notice every time she stepped topside. It was bad enough she continued to strut across his decks looking like some seafaring siren in britches and boots. He blessed and cursed her each time she left his company because, for the life of him, he could not stop himself from watching her walk away. The tilt of her backside, the sway of her hips, the stretch of her legs. He was powerless. And now this.
    Slamming into his quarters, Quinn found Alice sitting with the lad who was asleep in his bed. When the door hit the wall, Alice sprang to her feet.
    He planted his hands on his hips and shouted. “If you ever disobey an order given by me again, you will hit the water so fast you’ll think the ship disappeared beneath you.”
    Pink stained her cheeks. “I was not going to stand by and let this child be killed.”
    “This child is my responsibility.”
    She cocked her head as if she hadn’t heard him properly. “And how responsible is it having a child on a pirate ship? How long has he been here? What possessed you to allow him aboard?”
    Quinn threw his hat atop his desk. “I’m the captain of this ship. I don’t answer to you.”
    When he turned to remove his baldric, she stepped in front of him. “Does it give you the right to put an innocent child in harm’s way?”
    He snapped. “He wasn’t in harm’s way until you called attention to him.”
    Alice flung her arms wide. “It was a good thing someone was paying attention. He’d be dead now.”
    “You could both be dead now,” he bit out the words between clenched teeth.
    “All I needed was a weapon, but again you’re too narrow-minded to listen to reason.”
    Quinn slammed his baldric on its hook. “So you took mine.”
    The chit had the decency to tuck her chin and look guilty before glaring at him again. “I did what I had to do.”
    “I was in the middle of a battle.” His jaw ticked as his hands curled into fists. Had she been a man…
    She shrugged a shoulder at him and looked away. “You weren’t using your pistol. I needed it. I took it.”
    Forget flogging, she should be keel hauled. “You’re lucky you’re a woman.”
    She spun back. “That has nothing to do with this argument.”
    “It has everything to do with this argument. And it’s the only reason why I am not hanging you by your wrists and whipping the hide off your back,” he bellowed.
    At his shout, she shot a looked over her shoulder as if checking to see if his yelling had woken Bump.
    “He’s deaf .” Quinn flipped a hand at the boy.
    Her green eyes flashed at him. “My point exactly.”
    “And one of the reasons he’s here at all.” His jaw pulsed. It was a wonder his back teeth were still intact. “When I first saw him, he was bleeding, lying in the gutter amongst the filth in Port Royal.”
    A frown softened her glare. “I remember seeing the urchins there.”
    “A woman claiming to be his grandmother told me his name was William. She was too old and weak to protect him.” Quinn crossed to the bed and lifted the boy’s hair. A line of pink showed a fresh scar. “The older he got, the worse the beatings. She begged me to take him.” He tucked a blanket around the boy.
    “Another week in Port Royal and he’d been dead. First week aboard, I was sure he’d die anyway. Sick, lost, unable to communicate. But he’s smart, and strong. He learns quickly. It surprises me how much he