PIRATE: Privateer Read Free Page B

water remained. With no fresh water on the two nearby islands, they would soon be forced to leave the wreck site and head for home. As he was
idly speculating how much his share of the salvage would be worth, he became aware of someone creeping stealthily towards him. He was about to call out a challenge when a low voice said, ‘I
thought I’d join you.’ A moment later Anne-Marie Kergonan sat down beside him. ‘It’s too hot to sleep,’ she said, looking along the length of the silent ship.
    In the faint starlight Hector could make out that she was wearing a loose nightgown of some pale material and that it had slipped to one side, so the shoulder nearest to him was bare. There was
a waft of some sort of musky scent from the perfume she was wearing.
    ‘What are you going to do with your share of the findings?’ she asked after a long pause.
    Hector kept his voice as neutral as possible. ‘I’ve no idea. Depends on how much there is.’
    She turned her face towards him, and he was conscious of the shape of the soft mouth, the lips parted. Her hand reached up and caught back a strand of hair that hung loose. The movement was
smooth, seductive. ‘No idea at all?’
    He didn’t know how to answer, and she went on. ‘I met that new wife of yours in Tortuga. She’s very attractive. I’m sure you miss her.’
    ‘Maria is a remarkable woman.’ His reply was cautious.
    Anne-Marie gave a throaty chuckle. ‘And an understanding one, I would guess. Most women are when they want to keep their man.’
    She shifted position, a slight movement that brought her thigh a fraction closer to him. Perhaps it was his imagination but he felt soft warmth radiating from her. ‘How old are you,
Hector?’ she asked.
    ‘Twenty-eight.’
    ‘And how many women have you known?’
    He was flustered, stumbling in his reply. ‘A few.’
    ‘Well before I was your age,’ she said, ‘I had learned to seize the opportunities that came my way. It had become clear to me that life passes by those who hesitate, and I
resolved to conduct my life as I wanted, follow my instincts, and not behave as others would tell me or expect of me.’
    ‘Is that why on Tortuga they call you “the Tigress”?’ he said boldly.
    A soft laugh. ‘Some people find me to be fierce. Others say that I am wilful. I see it as pride in what I am and what I can do.’
    The light was strengthening. The sea around them was changing from inky black to a very faint sheen of dark blue. He noticed that she was watching him closely, her eyes in shadow.
    She gave a slow, deliberate smile. He read both triumph and invitation. ‘Unless you take the chances that life offers, you do not taste what it is to live fully.’
    She leaned towards him and stroked him gently on the bare forearm. He gave an involuntary shiver.
    ‘Not now, and not here,’ she said, glancing meaningfully towards the stern. Hector could make out the shape of her oldest brother, asleep on deck beside the binnacle.
    She stood up, smoothing down the loose gown and hitching it up over the naked shoulder. Despite himself, he felt a surge of desire. He wanted to rise to his feet and put his arms around her, and
press her ripe body close to him. But she bent down and laid a finger on his lips. ‘Perhaps when it is more convenient,’ she said quietly. A moment later she was gone, gliding along the
deck in her bare feet, and ducking in through the low door of the aft cabin.
    Hector sat very still. He was uncomfortably aware that from now on he would find it difficult to expunge Anne-Marie Kergonan from his mind.
    It was at that moment, with his mind in confusion, that he looked up and saw, very faintly, a tiny speck of white on the distant horizon.
    *
    J UAN G ARCIA F ONSECA moved about the deck of his urca,
San Gil
, with a dragging limp. Each time he
stepped out with his right foot, he had then to swivel his lower body, heave, and lift his left foot forward. He had been sailing the triangle between