Read Online The Sea Hawk by Brenda Adcock - Free Book Online

interlude . Julia was shocked when the thought entered her mind and was sure she was blushing. On either side of the desk were a bookcase and a chest of drawers. A large table spread with maps and charts occupied the space in the middle of the room. A bottle of wine and crystal goblets were arranged on a tray on one side of the table. A porcelain bathtub took up a portion of the portside wall. If she hadn't already been impressed by the height and slender figure of the ship's captain before, Julia was now. She closed the journal she was writing in and pushed away from the desk. Light golden eyes took in Julia and Kitty as she strode to the table in the middle of the room and opened the bottle. "Wine?" she asked quietly.
    While both women were thirsty, Julia declined, much to Kitty's chagrin. Pouring two glasses of wine the woman handed one to Kitty, who looked at the glass longingly and then back at Julia, who frowned disapprovingly.
    "Does she speak for you, Mademoiselle ?" the woman asked in accented English.
    "Well, I...," Kitty began.
    "Are you her servant?"
    "I am a maid, ma'am."
    "There are no servants on my ship," the captain said as she set the glass down within Kitty's reach and shifted her eyes to Julia.
    "Allow me to introduce myself. I have shown a regrettable lack of manners. I am Simone Moreau and you are guests, albeit reluctant ones, on my vessel, Le Faucon de Mer . What is your name?" Simone asked, looking at Julia over her wine glass as she took a sip.
    "Doc...um...Julia Blanchard," Julia answered, deciding it would only lead to more questions if she used her educational title. "This is my friend, Kitty Longmire. When will we be released?"
    "Soon. Please be seated," Simone said softly as she lowered her long body onto a wooden chair at the table.
    "We will stand, thank you," Julia said stiffly. There was something disconcerting about the woman and Julia felt self-conscious under her steady gaze.
    "The British are a stubborn lot, are they not?" Simone said to Kitty, smiling slightly. "But you are not British, unless I am mistaken."
    "Irish," Kitty said.
    "If anything happens to Lord and Lady Kent I will see that you are hunted down and convicted like the common criminal you are," Julia blurted out.
    Chuckling, Simone said, "Certainly something has already happened to your friends, but as you can see, I am still free. The true reason I asked to see you was to apologize for my earlier behavior. It was a necessary action to demonstrate my authority to my crew. I meant no offense by my actions."
    "I am sorry, Miss Moreau, but I cannot accept your apology," Julia replied. The kiss had been a surprise, but not the crushingly brutal attack she might have imagined. In fact, she found it to be amazingly soft and gentle. Under much different circumstances, Julia would have sought more.
    "A captain must keep her crew happy to assure their loyalty. If they believe I am interested in you as a conquest, they would not dare to bother you. However, if it would make you happy I can still give you and Mademoiselle Longmire to them. They are good men, but alas, they are just men."
    "Like that poor man you murdered this afternoon?" Julia sneered.
    "He failed to obey my order," Simone said. Turning to Kitty she asked, "Would you have preferred I allow Marcel to strike you a second time?"
    Kitty brought a hand up to touch the still-tender skin of her cheek. "No, but there must have been a more humane way."
    Setting her glass on the table, Simone stood and took a step closer to the two women. "Perhaps I should take a lesson from your British friends. I could have tied him to a mast, stripped his shirt off, and bloodied his back with thirty lashes. Marcel is dead because he failed to control his emotions. He could have lingered for weeks in excruciating pain only to eventually die of infection. But I can understand how you might consider such a lashing more humane."
    Julia could see the dark anger building in Simone's eyes as she