Defiant: 5 (Noble Passions) by Sabrina York Page A

primed to pounce. But it was not a burly pirate holding his tray.
It was a slender cabin boy with a ragged haircut.
    His breath stalled. Sophia!
    He bit his tongue before her name could escape. His gaze
raked over her, searching for any signs of injury or abuse. He saw none, save a
red chafing about her wrists.
    “Hullo, Ned,” she said. “Are you hungry?”
    No.
    Without waiting for his response, she smiled over her
shoulder—at the burly pirate—and chirped, “I’ll just be a minute.”
    The guard grunted and leaned against the wall, picking his
teeth.
    She knelt before him and fiddled with the plates on the
tray. “Are you all right?” she whispered.
    “I’m fine. How are you?”
    Her brave smile nearly broke his heart. “I’m fine.”
    “The pirates—”
    “They’re taking us to a place called Dragon’s Breath, some
island off the French coast where they have their base.”
    “And the others?” His pulse thudded.
    “All safe.”
    “Percy?”
    “He’s fine. They’re being held below. Not even tied up.
Except Lady Prudence. She’s gagged.” She set one plate and then another before
him. “They’re really not so bad, Ned.”
    “Not so bad?”
    “For pirates.”
    “We need to escape. Somehow, we need to escape.”
    She grinned. He gaped at her. A grin? In the direst of
predicaments? “I’m working on it.” Good gad. That did not reassure him.
    “Sophia, I am frightened to death for you.”
    “I’ll be fine.”
    But she wouldn’t be. Not if they found out—
    “Boy!” the guard called, and she nodded.
    “We’re distantly related through marriage, if anyone asks,”
she murmured as she lifted her tray. And then, with one lingering look at him,
she was gone.
    Ned couldn’t bear to eat. Couldn’t stomach any food. But he
forced himself to. He forced himself to find it—the room was rather dark, after
all—and then he ate.
    He needed his strength.
    God help him, he needed to save her if he could.
    * * * * *
    It wasn’t so terrible serving Captain Marquee, Sophia found.
He wasn’t very demanding and he let her take the meals to the
captives—including Ned. It was wonderful to see him when she did but she
worried about him there alone in that dark room. She tried to convince Marquee
to move him in with the others but he just laughed.
    As the days passed, the other pirates came to accept her as
a fixture on the ship. She even had several scintillating conversations with a
couple of them over whisky and beef. They shared the tales of their service in
the war with Marquee, and their adventures after joining him on this ship. She
was stunned to learn that they, and many other sailors like them, had had to
resort to piracy after returning home from fighting Napoleon.
    It hardly seemed fair.
    But they enjoyed their lives and, had things been different,
Sophia might have enjoyed such a life as well. It was magnificent being on the
sea. It was tremendous to be able to do as she liked. No one told her to sit up
or be still or cautioned her not to eat cakes. She scrambled in the riggings with
the other tars and helped swab the decks and feed the chickens.
    If it weren’t for fear of what would become of Ned, it would
have been the perfect adventure.
    As the pirates came to trust her, they let her take Ned his
meals without an escort and she was able to stay with him longer. They didn’t
talk much and they certainly didn’t kiss—oh, how she missed his kisses—but they
could be together. Occasionally he would hold her hand and stroke her with his
thumb.
    Always, ever, she thought of escape.
    But they were on a ship. In the middle of an ocean. Short of
inciting a battle wherein she took this ship, she couldn’t come up with
a viable plan. They towed the ship they’d been on behind them, though the
captain had left a few of his men to manage the steering and what was left of
the sails. But from this distance, Sophia could tell the ship was far too
damaged to be of any use in an escape.
    One