Once a Mistress by Debra Mullins

later a wail and a splash reached their ears. Alex turned from the rail, his black hair damp with sweat and falling in a tangled mass to his broad shoulders. He lowered his sword and approached her with a cocky grin.
    “Your taste in men has not improved. Must I ever rescue you from your bad judgment?” He sheathed his sword and nudged the fallen seaman with the toe of his boot. “Though this was very nicely done.”
    “Thank you so very much,” she retorted, his obnoxious comment redirecting all her fear and frustration onto his arrogant head. “I cannot tell you how much your praise means to me.”
    “How can you be so shrewish at so early an hour?” he asked with interest.
    “I have had a terrible night.”
    “Well, your morning will be much better. Come, let’s away.”
    She pulled her elbow from his guiding grasp. “I’m not going anywhere with you.”
    Folding his arms across his chest, he raised an eyebrow. “You are the most ungrateful female I have ever met. This is the second time I have rescued you, only to feel the bite of your tongue for my efforts.”
    “As before, sir, I was about to extricate myself before you appeared.”
    “Indeed.” Male indulgence underscored his words.
    Diana fumed at his patronizing tone. “You need not speak to me as if I were a child, Alex. Or shall I call you El Moreno?”
    “Call me what you wish. And give me that.” Before she could protest he took her dagger and tucked it into his own boot.
    “How dare you? I saved your miserable life, yet now I cannot be trusted with a blade?”
    “Your tongue is sharp enough. And any woman who would not leave Marcus’s ship is, indeed, a fool.”
    “I did not say I would not leave the ship. I only said I choose not to leave with you.”
    “You were not given a choice, my sweet.” Directing his attention to the decks behind her, he put two fingers in his mouth and gave a shrill whistle. Then he grabbed her hand and pulled her with him to the rail of the quarterdeck.
    “What are you doing?”
    “Hush, woman.” His dark gaze touched on her lips before he raised his eyes to hers. “Lest I find a way to silence you.”
    His sensual promise awakened a tremor of response in her untried body. Well did she remember the power of his kiss. She did not think she could handle the confusing emotions he inspired on top of everything else that had happened. Out of self-preservation, she slowly nodded.
    He turned to face his crew.
     
    Alex looked out over the lower decks of the ship. His men had gathered in response to his signal, having incarcerated the surviving members of Marcus’s crew in the hold. They looked up at him in expectation.
    He stood silent for a long moment, then drew his sword and speared it into the air. “Well done, my friends! Marcus is ours!”
    A rousing cheer answered his words. John McBride, Alex’s first mate, pushed a seething, dripping Marcus to the front of the crowd.
    “Captain!” McBride called out. “We fished a little somethin’ out o’ the water. Even the sharks won’t eat it!”
    Roars of laughter echoed across the decks. With rope binding his wrists in front of him, Marcus glared as if he would strangle every man there. Alex smiled with deep satisfaction as he met the hate-filled gaze of his enemy.
    “Clap him in irons, McBride. Let him enjoy the hospitality of his own rats.”
    McBride tried to lead Marcus away, but the pirate shook off his hold. “This is not over yet, El Moreno!”
    Alex leaned over the rail. “It is for you.”
    Marcus once more resisted McBride’s determination to see him away. He looked at Diana. His lips curved in a slow, terrible smile. “We will meet again, my dear. Believe it.”
    Alex expected her to quail. To his amazement, Diana stepped forward and closed her hands over the rail. “If we do,” she said in a clear voice, “‘twill be at your hanging.”
    Marcus sketched a little bow, then looked at Alex. “Enjoy the whore, you Spanish bastard. Just