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

spoke. The captain snapped her head sharply in Julia's direction. "Is that what you would have preferred?"
    Before Julia could respond, their discussion was interrupted as the cabin door opened. A boy of around ten with deeply tanned skin entered the cabin. He flashed a wide, white toothy smile as he walked toward Simone and set a platter on the table in front of her. Simone smiled warmly at the boy, who went to her and kissed her lightly on the lips. " Merci , Joaquin, mon petit chou ," Simone said as she hugged him. Julia couldn't conceal a smile at the endearment as she watched Simone's arms encircle the child.
    "You are welcome, mon Faucon ," Joaquin grinned.
    A moment later, a stunning woman with skin the color of mocha coffee and shiny black hair falling in waves over her shoulders entered Simone's cabin. She was dressed in a simple dark green skirt and light yellow peasant blouse, the scooped neckline revealing ample cleavage. A silver, hand-tooled belt encircled her waist. Pushing her way between the two women rather than go around them, she moved next to Simone. She leaned down and kissed her, sliding her hand seductively across the captain's shoulders. Julia felt a niggling wave of jealousy creep along her spine at the intimacy between the two women. When the kiss ended, the woman looked pointedly at Julia, letting her know Simone Moreau belonged to someone and was off limits. Seeing the woman's face clearly for the first time, Julia was convinced she was in the midst of an elaborate hallucination or dream. Otherwise, there was no reason Halle Berry would be making an appearance. She squeezed her eyes tightly shut and shook her head slightly. Only the captain's voice drew her back to her current reality.
    "Joaquin, please ask Anton to join us in a few minutes, s'il te plait ," Simone said. The boy smiled and nodded, bowing toward Julia and Kitty slightly as he prepared to leave.
    "Please, take some food," Simone offered as her eyes drifted down the length of Julia's body. "It will do no one good if you attempt to starve yourselves until we reach a port where I shall set you free to rejoin your friends."

    SIMONE SAT DOWN once again at her desk to complete her nightly journal entry. Each day she carefully noted everything of interest that happened on board Le Faucon de Mer for no other reason than to keep track of her time. The brigantine had been her home for nearly seventeen years, since the day she and Anton fled their home on Montserrat and were duped by its captain, Louis Rochat. The old pirate took their money and then stole three years of Simone's life before she found the strength to steal his ship. She learned everything she could about the sea and how to read it before cutting his throat and claiming Le Faucon and its crew as her own. Her hatred of the British remade her into a driven woman, intent on revenge for the loss of her family's home on the tiny former French island in the Caribbean, and the loss of her own innocence. She became a murderer to survive.
    As she dipped her pen into the inkwell to continue writing, warm arms slid down her shoulders and loosely enclosed her. "You look tired, my falcon," Esperanza whispered.
    "I am growing weary of the constant movement from place to place," Simone said as she wrote. Esperanza and her son had been with her since the day she rescued them from a loathsome man in New Orleans who believed he owned them as he would have owned livestock. Simone watched as he beat the defiant Esperanza and followed them. His fatal mistake was in believing the tall, dark-haired woman was attracted to him. When her dagger slid effortlessly between his ribs, she watched impassively as life faded from his eyes. Although she and Esperanza became lovers not long afterward, she knew her affections were initially given out of gratitude. In the four years they had been together Simone had enjoyed the physical satisfaction Esperanza gave her. But while her lover's feelings had grown