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How do YOU rate this book? The reign of piracy is over in the Caribbean, or so it’s believed until diamonds are discovered in Brazil. Despite the cover-up, Captain Julius Bertrand begins to hear whispers. The Spanish guardacostas are dumping log books, and a new French pirate is on the prowl. Distracted by an avaricious woman he could never love, and the beautiful Kate O’Connell who doesn’t need him, he tries to untangle the web of mysterious cargo someone in the New World wants kept secret. When Bertrand’s pirating past returns with the explosive force of a sweeping broadside, he finds he must sacrifice everything his respectable life has brought him, in order to save what matters most.
EXCERPT
She wore a floppy straw hat pulled over her slightly scorched nose. Her head bent over a piece of parchment upon which she feverishly scratched, and she didn't hear him creep up behind her.
"Miss O'Connell?"
Kate jumped, knocking over a teacup. Its contents streaked across the tabletop. "Captain Bertrand!" she said in surprise and added, "Good morning." She fumbled for a towel. How vibrant she looked with a plain dress tossed unmindfully over her fairness and hair all askew.
Bertrand, fresh in a white embroidered smock and dark trousers tied at the knees, moved around the table to better observe her. "You have all of your limbs after all."
"Did I appear to be missing some?"
"There for a moment yesterday I was not quite sure."
Kate laughed. "There for a moment yesterday I was not quite sure myself."
Bertrand stood uncomfortably, trying not to appear so with hands clasped behind his back. "Your father is well?"
She turned up her head so that he could see her lovely eyes. "He has seen better days. I believe his heart nearly did him in." A little laugh and he felt her uneasiness.
"Or perhaps it was you that nearly did him in." He did not reproach her further but made a serious face. "You are quite impulsive for such a thoughtful creature."
"Creature? Why is it men believe that word to be both synonymous and complimentary to femininity?" She shifted her hat back precariously.
"Do I really need to explain such a thing to you?"
"Unless you find us frightening, mysterious, or unsightly, then yes."
He almost smiled, but chuckled under his breath instead. "You are the heroine of the hour."
"To whom? Every midshipman and cabin boy in the harbor?"
"Well," he teased, "perhaps it has not reached the Governor."
Kate narrowed her gaze at his attempted spar. "I believe I have been the heroine of the hour with the Governor since our lovely ball."
"Humph!" It came as close to a laugh as he'd ever let Kate hear.
"I suppose I owe you an apology as well," she muttered, "although I'm not sure why. I do know poor Mrs. Fox has merit. Is there anyone else I have forgotten?"
She stared in defiance, which he met straight on, unblinking.
"You owe me nothing," he said with sincerity. "You owe regrets to no one."
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