Free Paradise Island by Charmaine Ross

solid proof. His words were not enough.
    She had the immediate pressing issue of her missing ship, crew and friends. More terrifying than that was that she had no idea where she was or what truly happened.
    â€œWe’ll discuss this further in the morning,” she said in short, clipped tones.
    â€œEstelle, you have to believe me,” his voice was low, intimate. Tinged with a hint of desperation.
    â€œCall me Captain,” she said curtly.
    â€œWhat is your plan now,
Captain
?”
    â€œAt this moment in time there is no need to discuss anything with you. I cannot accept at face value what you told me is true. You have no proof, nothing except your words and they mean little to me.”
    â€œDamn it, Estelle. For the sake of your father, open your mind.”
    Anger bit a swift hot path through her veins. “I do not accept cursing from my prisoners either. You have no right to refer to me by my name. It is Captain. You will be the worse off if you do not remember to use it.”
    â€œ
Captain
,” Gregory held his breath and slid the words from between clenched teeth. “Need I remind you I am a captain of The Royal Navy? Would it not be better to work together and find a way out of this place, aid me in finding your father, rather than you lead me to God knows where?”
    â€œI do not have to share my reasons with you. You are my prisoner and I owe you no explanation.”
    â€œIt might be easier on the both of us if we worked together.”
    â€œThat will never happen,” Estelle said.
    â€œOf all the bullheaded … I am willing to work with you for the sake of us both. This is not a normal situation. We do not know where we are, or what has happened to us. It is only reasonable that you free my hands and we work together to get us to safety.”
    â€œAnd then what, Mister Marshall? Will you still come quietly to Paradise and bravely face your future? Not so long ago you promised me a lifetime in jail at best if I did the
honest
thing and set you free.”
    â€œOf all the mulish women in this world, I have to be kidnapped by the queen.”
    â€œIt is a harsh life and if I am a little ‘mulish’ as you say then I have had to be,” Estelle said.
    â€œIf you were treated well, you would not think life to be harsh at all.”
    â€œWhat would you know about treating women? I have a trail of evidence and hundreds of women to call you, and all the men in this world, wrong,” Estelle said.
    â€œI have never mistreated a woman and I think that men who do to be the most lowly. If I treated you well, you would have clothes, food, comfort, … love.”
    The weight of his words opened a little dark cavern long tucked away in her heart. In the life she had chosen she would never have love. The kind that shares, grows, takes away the pain and the loneliness of the world. Living as she did, she could only watch that type of love from a distance, treat it as something that could never be hers. So she had put it from her mind to save her the agony of ever trying to find it.
    â€œHow do you know what a woman wants,” Estelle said, hating the way her voice sounded so hoarse.
    She watched his features soften as he studied her. “A woman should be cared for, protected, respected. She is the heart and soul of a man’s life, the pinnacle of her children’s life. A woman … ”
    â€œYou have no idea about what women want,” Estelle cut him short.
    â€œA woman like you couldn’t understand what it is like to be any of the things I stated.”
    â€œLet me tell you about women like me. Through your misplaced view on how women should be and what they should want out of life, you, who through total ignorant inaction allow women like me to be thrown out of our homes and onto the streets with only the clothes on our back. No protection. No money. An outcast.”
    â€œI … had no idea,” Gregory said.
    She