The Sea Hawk
asked, appreciatively watching the blonde with the unusually short hair.
    "It will create trouble for us unnecessarily," he frowned. "The men have not been in port for too long."
    "You cannot be serious, Henri," Simone said with a deep throaty laugh. "Tell the crew the women are under my personal protection," Simone said. "If anyone touches them, they shall answer to me."
    "Does that include you as well, Faucon ?"
    Simone moved closer to Archambault. Her eyes narrowed. "Do not presume that because you are my second in command you have the right to question what I do, Archambault," Simone retorted.
    "The British will be hunting for us because of these women," Henri reasoned.
    "We will release them as soon as we reach a port where we can drop them off without any danger to us," Simone said with an unconcerned shrug.
    Unhappy, Henri grunted as he walked away. "Lower the long boats!" he ordered.
    Chapter Five

    "I CANNOT BELIEVE you practically forced that woman to take you," Julia fumed as she paced in the small room. "She could have murdered you as well as that poor man."

    "It seemed a more prudent choice than floating around in a very small boat with a very large woman such as Lady Kent." Kitty chuckled. "Besides, Anton is quite an attractive gentleman, is he not?"
    "You should remember that he is a pirate, not a gentleman," Julia reminded her. "What was it he called his sister?"
    " Faucon , or something like that. What does it mean?"
    Julia walked to a small porthole in the cabin and peered out. "It means falcon or hawk. A bird of prey." And just as lethal as the woman herself. Night was falling rapidly, shooting the sky overhead with gray and pink clouds. Julia looked around and saw a candle and matches on a small corner table. She struck a match and smelled the strong odor of sulfur assault her nose as the small flame from the flickering candle illuminated the damp, musty smelling room they were locked in. Julia hated small places. She wasn't claustrophobic, but hated her inability to move around freely and investigate her surroundings.
    "Where do you think we are going?" Kitty asked as she stretched out on a cot.
    "Who the hell knows?" Julia mumbled. "Wherever pirates go, I suppose." It was her second encounter with pirates and so far this one didn't seem to be much of an improvement over the first one.
    Julia and Kitty heard footsteps coming down the ladder into the hold not long after darkness engulfed the ship. Both sat up quickly on their cots and waited, glancing back and forth between the door and one another. It wasn't until a middle-aged man unlocked and swung the door open that Julia realized she was holding her breath.
    " Suivez moi ," he ordered, motioning to them to follow him.
    Silently Julia climbed out of the hold followed by Kitty, refusing the man's hand when he offered it to assist her onto the deck. The night sky looked as vast as the ocean, and seemingly shot through with thousands of twinkling diamonds resting on an endless black velvet cushion. Julia took a deep breath of the sea air to rejuvenate after the time spent in the warm and stuffy hold. The man motioned for them to continue following him past a number of men who looked appreciatively at the two women. Stopping in front of a door beneath the wheel deck, the man rapped it firmly.
    " Entrez ," a woman's voice responded. The man opened the door and stood aside as Julia and Kitty tentatively entered the captain's quarters. The wooden walls and floors gleamed like burnished copper from the lanterns illuminating the cabin. The woman they called Faucon was seated at a desk writing when they entered and turned briefly to glance at them. " Merci , Francois. You may go."
    Julia glanced around the room, surprised at its warmth. A sturdy piece of furniture resembling a modern-day platform bed stood against the starboard wall beneath an open porthole, allowing the cooler evening breeze into the room. No doubt to cool the captain following a passionate

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