Taken by You Read Free Page A

the ruthless El Diablo. Neither choice was palatable. Fingering the small eating dagger she wore at her waist, she contemplated suicide. Two quick slashes across her wrists, and her life’s blood would drain from her body before the pirates found her.
    And yet… wasn’t death the coward’s way out? It had taken the nuns at the convent years to tame Luca’s fiery disposition and subjugate her to their will, but it took only ten seconds for her to regain the stubborn pride and willfulness that her father had despaired of when she was a child. Had Don Eduardo seen her now, her eyes blazing defiantly, her expression neither meek nor submissive, his belief that Luca was not meant for a religious life would have been justified.
    “I will not kill myself,” Luca declared bravely, “nor will I submit to filmy pirates.” Though her words were courageous, she had no adequate weapon save her small knife with which to defend herself, so she turned her thoughts in another direction.
    Spying her trunk lying amid the debris of the cabin, she recalled that she had packed her gray nun’s habit. She had foolishly thought that during the journey she could impress Father Sebastian with her piety and convince him how wrong it was to force her into a marriage, when what she really wanted was to spend her life serving God. But the priest had brushed aside her protests and adamantly refused to petition Don Eduardo on her behalf. He had been engaged by Luca’s father to safely deliver Luca to her fiancé and see that she was properly wed, and he was a man of his word.
    A commotion nearby moved Luca to haste; she pushed the sprung door shut and dug in the trunk for her habit. She pulled out the garment, tore off her own dress, and pulled the habit over her head, wrapping the wooden rosary beads around her waist to form a belt. Then she wadded up her rich finery and tossed it through the porthole. In minutes her long ebony hair was pushed beneath a linen headcovering, completing her transformation. She finished without a moment to spare.
    Suddenly the door burst from its broken hinges, and a burly pirate covered with blood and grime appeared in the doorway, surveying the wreckage with grim satisfaction He spied Luca and leered at her, revealing a mouthful of blackened, rotted teeth.
    “Well, well, wot ‘ave we ‘ere?” He stepped inside, avoiding the bodies of Carlotta and the priest and he reached for Luca. She backed away, tripping over wreckage. He stalked her relentlessly. Don’t be afeared, little gray dove. Old Pete ain’t seen a woman since we left the Bahamas. Least ways not one as purty as you.”
    He hinged, snared Luca by the waist, and dragged her against the unyielding wall of his massive chest. The breath slammed from her lungs, but she quickly found it again, screaming at the top of her voice. Clapping his hand over her mouth, Pete bore her to the deck.
    Morgan balanced himself on the listing deck, urging his men to make haste before the Santa Cruz sank. They had found riches beyond their wildest imagination aboard the Spanish galleon, and the men were transferring it to the Avenger while he and Stan Crawford herded the Spanish survivors toward the quarterdeck. When Morgan heard the scream he stopped dead in his tracks and swung around to face the Spanish captain, his eyebrow quirked in honest surprise.
    “Are there women aboard?”
    Captain Ortega remained sullenly uncommunicative. Thinking he didn’t speak English, Morgan repeated his question in flawless Spanish, having learned the language fluently during his years of captivity. When Ortega still did not reply, Morgan placed the point of his sword against the man’s throat, needing little provocation to ram it home. Ortega’s eyes bugged out, and he squawked in protest.
    “Senorita Santiego, the shipowner’s daughter, and her companion.”
    “What is your destination?”
    “Cuba. Senorita Santiago’s fiancé awaits her in Havana.”
    Morgan’s eyes narrowed