A man never spoke ill of his captain, pirate or no, unless he was prepared to back his words with the might of the crew.

It comes for you," Lindsay repeated, her voice hideously broken. "You will pass into the sea nothing more than a blackened scaffold, and your dark mistress will not recall your name, for she has swallowed a million of your lecherous kind before you, and she will swallow a million more before she's done.

Reassured that we all have balls, gents?” the captain quipped.Livingston glanced indicatively at the unconscious girl in the shade. “Not so reassured, captain.

Now now,” he said, setting his hand on her shoulder. He didn’t even see her turn. One moment she had her back to him, and the next her face was in his. Tears streamed from narrow, red eyes, her nostrils flared, and her mouth was twisted in a vicious snarl. She could have bitten his nose off if she wanted to.

Right,” Thatcher said, “let’s have a look at her.”Katherine hesitated. The kitten was fast asleep in her arms and she was afraid to wake her. “Something amiss?” Thatcher asked.Katherine giggled at her capricious emotions and shoved the kitten into the surgeon’s arms. The animal woke up as Thatcher examined it. He set the kitten on the deck and watched as she wobbled around on clumsy paws. “Yes,” Thatcher nodded conclusively. “This is indeed a cat.

Her hair was matted to her head, glistening dark red, like wine through a murky bottle. Her torn shirt hung loose, a breast carelessly exposed, and her breeches were taut against the lean muscles of her legs. She treaded through the waves, never swaying in the current, until she stood before him, face concealed in shadow. “You swim faster with one arm than I with two,” she said.Nathan laughed. “You frightened me.

What’s gotten into you?” he wondered, blinking in sudden frustration.“Not you, that’s for a certainty.

A very old man once told me a pirate is always chasing after the horizon, fooling himself into believing he can reach it. It might be gold, it might be freedom, it might even be a girl he’s looking to impress. Always it beckons, beautiful and glorious, but no matter how hard a pirate pushes his ship, it remains just out of grasp. The woman who has stolen my cabin, I wager she was Jonathan Griffith’s horizon.

No matter,” he assured her. “If it’s a concern, you may take me in your mouth.”Her smile did not falter. “Anything you put in my mouth will not stop short of my stomach.”“No doubt,” he boasted.“You miss my meaning.