don’t mind,” she said, still trying to twist out of his grasp.
“But I do mind, Madelaine,” he said, grinning wickedly. He let go of her wrists, took her hand and led her out the door and down the corridor.
“Since I have no choice in the matter, the least you can do is allow me my maid,” she said. “Hugh will pay extra for her,” she added in a rush.
Captain Angel turned to look at her, an odd expression on his face. “Do you really believe that? Or are you lying to get your way?”
“I…I believe that, of course,” she said, trying to sound indignant. “Hugh loves me and would want me to have the companionship of my maid in such a terrifying circumstance.”
“You don’t seem terrified to me. You seem to be quite courageous, as a matter of fact.”
“Well, I’m not,” she insisted, placing her free hand on her hip. “I’m just determined that you bring Olivia with us. She’s very fragile—her health is poor. She won’t survive without me, I just know it.”
“You’re rambling, my beauty. Your maid looked hale and healthy to me.”
Madelaine groaned. “What about my reputation? You have to consider what this could do to me,” she tried. “Hugh may decide not to marry me if he knows I’m alone on a pirate ship. He may not even pay my ransom if he thinks there could be a scandal.”
“And you love this man? A man who would discard you so easily?”
“I…of course.” She nodded, knowing she’d talked herself into a corner. She shut her mouth, praying she had said enough to convince him to let her have Olivia.
“Hmm, I wonder,” Captain Angel replied, turning to regard her with suspicion in his eyes. “You don’t behave like a woman in love.”
“And I suppose you know how a woman in love behaves,” Madelaine replied sarcastically. The ironic truth was that she didn’t know what love felt like and his observation was more painful than she would have thought possible.
He didn’t respond. Instead, he advanced on her, a determined, nearly predatory look in his eyes. She backed up a step, deeper into the shadows of the passageway, feeling panicked. In a desperate attempt to distract him, Madelaine grabbed the beard and pulled hard. The disguise came off easily, and she tossed it aside and spun around to run.
But the pirate didn’t so much as flinch. He grabbed her around the waist and pulled her back, trapping her easily against the wall. With his face exposed to her now, she found herself mesmerized. The man truly was an angel—at least to behold. His face was magnificent, his jawline strong and angled to perfection. A heavy pulse throbbed there, and she assumed his scowl was due to her unmasking him. Almost casually, he braced his long legs wide, on either side of her, his body barely an inch from hers. She bit her lip and lifted her chin, waiting for him to strike her. Instead, he braced his hands on the wall on either side of her shoulders and brought his face toward her until he was a scant breath away.
As if he was going to kiss her.
Instead of feeling repulsed, as she had with Geoffrey, Madelaine felt a strange exhilaration that made her tremble. She found herself holding her breath, waiting. Waiting for him to claim her lips. Her heart beat wildly in her chest and a heat began to swirl and spread from her belly down deep into her core. Never had a man made her feel such a stirring thrill—such an eager anticipation of being touched.
“Wh-what are you doing?”
He didn’t answer. And he made no further move to touch her. But his deep blue eyes raked over her intimately before they filled with cruel light. Suddenly she realized her lips were parted, her head tilted up, practically inviting him to ravish her. And from the look on his face, he realized it, too.
He laughed contemptuously and she felt her face flame with the heat of her shame. She hurled a very unladylike curse at him and shoved at his chest, but it was like trying to move a marble statue.
“Such language from a happily engaged young lady. You’d better not let Hugh hear you talk like that. Appearances are important to him. He won’t like knowing his future wife speaks like…a pirate.”
“Get away from me, you blackguard. What do you think you’re trying to prove, anyway?”
“That you don’t love Hugh,” he said pointedly.
“How…how dare you,” she sputtered. “You know nothing about me.”
Alarm spread through her as she nearly tripped over his boots in her rush to get away from him. Was he guessing? Did he sense the truth? Did he know she wasn’t Hugh’s fiancée? She had to find Olivia fast.
His deep chuckle filled the space behind her as he followed her up the ladder and into the bright afternoon sunshine.
Chapter Six
Kane watched with appreciation as Madelaine stalked away from him, her hips swaying provocatively beneath layers of pale green skirt and petticoat. He couldn’t, for the life of him, imagine such a vibrant woman falling for Hugh. She seemed far too intelligent to be taken in by the man’s shallow words and overblown ego.
But Elizabeth had been intelligent, and she hadn’t seen through him, either. She had paid for her love with her life.
Coming face-to-face with the woman Hugh was to marry had brought a lot of pain back for Kane. Justice had not been served in Elizabeth’s death, and Kane could do nothing to change the magistrate’s findings in the case. He didn’t accept failure gracefully and knew he would have to take control of the matter himself if he wanted to get to the truth.
He had yet to seek retribution, for there was nothing Hugh cared about enough to bring him immense pain. But once Kane found it, he would take his revenge swiftly and as coldheartedly as Hugh had taken Elizabeth’s love. Kane always knew his time would come and he was a patient man.
So Kane had immersed himself in his work these last two years, sailing as Captain Angel and taking out his frustration on English ships. He had become interested in recent rumors of treason surrounding Hugh and had hoped to catch the man in a plot against the Colonies. If he couldn’t prove Hugh had killed Elizabeth, he would bring him down for spying.
But now…now Kane knew he’d found just what he’d been waiting for.
Madelaine.
And the more he watched Hugh’s fiancée, the more he knew he’d found exactly what he needed to make Hugh feel loss of the worst kind.
It would be so easy, he thought, remembering how she had nearly begged him to kiss her. He’d thought to test the girl’s devotion and found that she failed miserably before his lips even neared hers. Either she was a trollop or she didn’t love Hugh. And either way, the lovely spitfire might just enjoy Kane’s revenge as much as he would.
Madelaine had just reunited with Olivia when an explosion rocked the bow of the merchantman. She pulled Olivia down behind a built-in storage box near the stern. Peeking around the trunk, Madelaine could see smoke billowing out of a hole in the deck, sending sparks into the rigging above. She heard Angel’s deep voice over the din, commanding and confident. His men fell into order immediately.
“Cap’n, they’ve crippled her. Said they’d rather see the Oxford sink than for us to have her.”
“Get the men in the longboats. If anyone resists, they go overboard. No one stays on the Oxford. They’ve maimed her for us, so we’re going to finish the job. Hurry up, men—she’s going to sink fast.”
Madelaine turned her attention to Olivia, who was holding on to her as if her life depended on the contact.
“Time to go,” Captain Angel ordered as he approached.
“Let go of me. I can get up without you touching me,” Madelaine snapped. She had hoped to hide the humiliation she still felt over the near kiss, but from