Married to a Pirate (Romancing the Seas, #1)

by Athena Rose

Georgette was ready to be a princess of England. She only hoped that she could do her duty to bear the Prince a healthy son. That, and ignore the substantial pull of the sea.

Still, she often found herself gazing upon the ocean from her balcony, daydreaming about a life away from the pressures and responsibilities placed upon her. She’d often see sailboats and all manner of ships come and go from the port, and long for the freedom to sail away into the great blue horizon.

“Take my hand or stay in there and burn.”

“Good girl,” he growled into her neck, and his voice sent a shiver through her body. She

Georgette had never been this close to a man before. She wasn’t sure if it was the fire or the intimacy causing her to break into a sweat. This was certainly no gentleman, but her body didn’t care.

But her efforts were fruitless. The man—the pirate—who had saved her, was gone.

“Yes,” she whispered. “In fact, I do believe I’ve never felt more alive.”

“If you do nothing, your daughter is destined, at best, to be no more than an old maid for a rich governess. If you take a chance, she will either marry the Prince, or come away with me. Either prospect is far better than the former. So, what do you say?”

“Tell her what? That her father just gambled away her dowry, or sold her to a pirate?”

She had never even met her, but the grief ebbed and flowed as unceasingly as the tide. Growing up motherless gave Georgette a deep sense of longing, never to be satisfied.

But it was the warmth that she imagined she missed—the tenderness and unconditional love that she had so often imagined her mother would offer.

“I want you to remember this night. Remember what I tell you. There is nothing I would do unless it were for your benefit or happiness. Your safety and wellbeing mean everything to me.”

Captain Stone pulled back to give her a fierce look, then he caged her against the wall between his arms. “Because you belong to me now.”

“I would rather die a slow death than marry a pirate,” she spat.

If the water didn’t drag her down and choke her to death, the sharks would certainly kill her. Then there were the tales. She had heard stories of creatures more deadly and menacing than whales and sharks.

But he was a pirate. Her enemy. A man to fear. Not to feel attraction toward. She felt a repulsion toward herself and these insensible feelings that she could not control.

“You’re afraid of me,” he said, watching Georgette. He dipped his head and gave her a firm look. “There are many people who should fear me, but you are not one of them.”

The Royal Navy were not able to rescue her. Her new husband was a pirate. His knee was hovering dangerously close to her most intimate parts. The way he had sucked on her finger made her dizzy.

She wasn’t sure whether she wanted to open her legs and see what other things the pirate had in mind, or whether to use them and run for the door.

“The lady is Mrs. Stone to you. And if one of you so much as touches a hair on her head, I’ll cut you from belly to brain and toss you overboard for the sharks. Do I make myself clear?”

“You just killed a helpless man…” she said, her voice muffled in her hands. Captain Stone frowned. “My lady, you are quite difficult to please,” he said, dangling the key to her cell in his hand. “You complain of the noise he was making, then you complain when I put him out of his misery.”

“I’m going to reclaim what is mine,” he growled.

Georgette blinked several times, looking at the dark figure standing beside the captain. Then her heartbeat thundered as the man roared. “Touch my wife and I will destroy you all!”

“I said,” he shouted as he kicked another man to his knees. “Get… your… filthy… hands… off my wife!” He slashed the neck of a tall ginger pirate who fell like a tree to the deck.

“Tonight could have gone very differently, had you not found me.” For the first time, she reached out and touched his arm. Her fingers traced his bulging veins and coarse hairs. “Twice now, you have saved me.”

“Nay, my lady. I will never leave you. Now sleep, we have a long journey ahead of us.”

Who was Captain Stone? How did he possess a soul so dark and fierce, and yet at the same time, so gentle?

He only chose Georgette because he took a liking to her the day he saved her from the carriage. The fact that she was Lord Harrington’s daughter seemed too perfect an opportunity to pass. Poetic justice to punish the man who tried to hide from his debts.

Sirens were beautiful creatures, yes. But they loathed men, and pirates most of all.

“Sirens, daughters of Isis and Poseidon… Please grant us safe passage so that my wife may not come to harm.”

“That is not possible. I made a vow to protect you, and I will honor that vow until my last breath.”

“Pirates, as you call them, are democratic. We are governed by our own code, and in the beginning, we were honorable. So, we decided to keep our treasure in one place and share it out fairly.”

“So, I’m nothing more than a siren repellent, and you need me every time you want to collect your treasure. Is that it?”

“You capture me, force me to marry you and for what? So I can make sure sirens do not attack?”

“No one is looking at you.” “How can you know that?” Georgette whispered back, glancing at the long line of men behind her. Captain Stone’s stubble grazed her cheek as he moved closer. “Because they know that I will gouge out the eyes of the man who so much as glances at my treasure.”

“How dare you threaten me? How dare you insult my wife?”

“Yes. This ring belongs to Isis, and it bestows me with the power of immortality. But I did not steal it. Nor shall I give it back.”

“It is said that Isis, the Egyptian goddess, is particularly fond of music. The rumors are that if you sing to her, she will grant you mercy.”

“She possesses magic unlike anything anyone has ever seen. But what I find most interesting, is that she is the goddess of rebirth.”

thought I’d lost you,” she whispered.

“Make no mistakes, my lady. I will burn this entire world down to keep you safe,”

Prince Edward ached with the agony of how close Georgette had been. Once again, he had lost her. He was so close to taking her home. So close to having her back in his arms.

“Don’t look at me like I’m your enemy,” he said. “I can live with the whole world thinking I’m a monster. But not you.”

He wanted her. More than all the treasure in the world.

“Do what you want with the lady, but don’t kill him. We want him alive.”

He had also been her savior on countless other occasions. She found herself developing all sorts of confusing feelings toward him the more time they spent together.

If they had sex, he would have claimed her and all the power she had over him would have been lost.

She was beautiful. Unbelievably so. He hated himself for even looking at another female when his darling Georgette was still in terrible danger but what man could help admiring a creature like this?

“I too long to be loved,” she purred, stroking his face again.

“I returned for you,” he said, his shoulders sagging as though they bore the weight of the world. “And when I did, you had hardly any life left in you. I thought I was too late.”