by Julia Knight
The instant his feet hit the deck, Skrymir bellowed for the crew to cast off, and Holden was already firing cannon at the guards behind him. He didn’t care, not about the guards, not about the cannon deafening him, not even about the swell of the tide as it took them away from their berth, the snap of the sails, the scent of the sea.
He staggered as the ship caught him by surprise, and onto Josie as she stood by the door to his quarters. His Josie-love, on the ship he’d named for her.
Not Joshing Josie, no bright sparks to cover the softness underneath. She stood limned in red under a blood sky, what he’d always wanted and could never quite have, not fully. Yet she was different now, hesitant. Afraid, he realized, because she’d said she loved him.
“No more games. No more running.” She lifted her chin as though daring him to disagree. As though what she said next might be the end for her. She tried one of her grins, but it came out wrong, twisted. “A confession.”
Van Gast leaned against the doorframe and she came to him then. No running, no slipping away, no distracting grin. Not Joshing Josie, fighting, biting Josie, she was Josienne du Fael ne Van Gast. Hard as steel on the outside perhaps, but soft and vulnerable inside and only now did she let him see it. It was in the way she looked up at him, the cant of her storm-ridden eyes, the twist of her lips that twisted his heart in time with them. A bond wasn’t her only fear, maybe not the greatest.
She stepped up to him, graceful still, a slow dance that ended with her hand ghosting over his. “A confession,” she said again.
He was entranced by the look of her, by the blood of the sky in her eyes, the smell of salt-spray and a free horizon in her hair. Capricious, his Josie. Changeable as the wind, as the sea, and all he’d ever wanted.
“I’m incredibly sexy and you want to rip all my clothes off?” he managed.
She changed now, slipped into an easy lopsided smile that twisted his heart anew and made a thrill run in his blood. This smile was devilry, but delight all the way. Josie, and Josienne, all in one.
“I wouldn’t have left you there, and I’d have loved you forever anyway,” she said. ‘Now, what are you going to do about it?”
He kissed her enough to shiver his toes, to make him crazy with it, and yet it was different this time. Less frantic, deeper, surer. Better, because she knew he loved her and, at last, he knew she loved him. Better, but no less fun, no less thrilling to him, because there was always time for a different sort of game.
“We could start,” he said, “by getting very, very naked.”
She laughed at that, and he pinned his butterfly, claimed his Josie-sea with kisses.
* * * * *
For further swashbuckling adventures with Van Gast and Josie, download the first book in the Pirates of Estovan series.
Ten Ruby Trick
Privateer Van Gast thrills in capturing treasure; delights in pulling off elaborate scams; and has an outrageous reputation with the ladies. But there is only one woman for him: fellow privateer Josie—seductive, brave and unpredictable. He’s hoping to make their relationship permanent, until he raids the wrong ship…
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About the Author
Julia Knight lives in Sussex, U.K., with her ever-patient husband, two kids and the world’s daftest dog. Her interests include motorbikes (men in leather), wrestling (half-naked men covered in muscles, sweat and baby oil) and exploring new ways to get a giggle out of life. She was recently diagnosed with bipolar—prompting cries of “Tell us something we don’t know” from people who know her—and making sense of much weirdness in her life. It also gives her an excuse when she does something daft. Which is often.
Her first book, Ilfayne’s Bane, won the 2010 EPIC Award for fantasy romance. Ilfayne’s Bane, together with the sequel, Love Is My Sin, and a red-hot historical romance novella—with pirates!—named The Wicked Lady, are available from Samhain Publishing. Ten Ruby Trick (Book 1 of the Pirates of Estovan) and The Viking’s Sacrifice are both available from Carina Press.
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ISBN: 978-14268-9395-7
Copyright © 2012 by Julia Knight
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All characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all incidents are pure invention.
This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
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