Taken by You Read Free Page B

as he gazed toward the wreckage of the stern cabin, quite certain that that’s where the scream had come from. “Take over here, Mr. Crawford.”
    Morgan strode across the burning deck, noting that all his men but for a few stragglers had already crossed over to the Avenger and awaited him there. The deck tilted crazily just as he reached the cabin, and he feared that any passengers remaining aboard would be trapped with the sinking ship.
    Kicking aside the broken remnants of the door, Morgan’s gaze moved quickly over the carnage inside the cabin, passing over two bodies and coming to rest on the couple grappling on the deck. One of his men lay atop a woman, having the Devil’s own time subduing her. He was startled to note that the woman was garbed in the drab gray habit of a nun. Though he’d never held nuns or any other religious zealots in special regard, he grabbed the pirate by the scruff of the neck and flung him away.
    “Go back to the Avenger, Potter, unless you wish to go down with the ship.”
    Fete Potter glared sullenly at his captain. “Wot about the woman, Captain? I want her. She’s mine.”
    Luca’s eyes widened with fear as she stared at Morgan. She knew without being told that this was the notorious El Diablo, the pirate feared and hated by all Spaniards. He was nothing like what she’d pictured in her mind. El Diablo was magnificently male, his face all hard lines and shadowed planes. In no way did he resemble the Devil, which made him even more dangerous. Golden hair, richly thick, and wickedly curved eyebrows were enhanced by the deep cleft in his chin. And those eyes, so keenly blue and assessing, roved over her with insulting intensity. His hard-muscled body rippled with unleashed power. The strong, rugged lines of his facial features were dominated by a generous mouth, which looked fully capable of being cruel and unrelenting, and a square, aggressive jaw.
    “I’ll take care of her.”
    Complaining bitterly, Potter gave Morgan a sullen look as he sidled past him and out the door. El Diablo was a fair master who expected his orders to be obeyed without question but did not hesitate to exact severe punishment if defied. No one aboard the Avenger would ever consider mutiny, not even Potter.
    Moved by desperation, Luca scrambled to her knees, bowed her head, folded her hands, and prayed as fervently as she knew how. Morgan stared at her in dismay, her piety making him decidedly uncomfortable.
    “What is your name?” he asked in Spanish.
    A flare of stubborn resistance kept her mute in spite of her fear as she continued to pray most diligently.
    Morgan spat out a curse. “Stop that gibberish and answer me! Who are you?”
    Luca blinked up at him. “Sister Luca.”
    “What are you doing aboard the Santa Cruz?”
    “Don Eduardo engaged me to act as chaperon to his daughter … Carlotta Santiego.” She knew this was one lie for which God would forgive her.
    Morgan cast a dispassionate glance at the two bodies lying amid the wreckage of the cabin. “I suppose the dead woman is Carlotta Santiego.”
    “Si”
    “And the priest?”
    “He was sent to protect the virtue of Carlotta and witness the marriage between Carlotta and Don Diego del Fugo.”
    Morgan gazed into Luca’s face, mesmerized by her sultry beauty. Never would he understand why so lovely a woman would choose to cloister herself behind walls, away from society and men. Though the drab gray habit did nothing to enhance her figure or beauty, neither did it detract from it. It would take a blind man not to see through the colorless trappings she wore to find the temptress within. Too bad she was Spanish, he thought, staring at her with barely concealed contempt.
    Small of stature yet lushly fashioned and fair of face, there was something about her that made Morgan think deliriously lewd thoughts. Not even the loose gray habit stopped him from imagining how it would feel to thrust into the tight warmth of her virgin body. A dark