The Devil's Necklace Read Online Free PDF Page A

chance she may know where to find him.”
    Angus nodded. “Aye, that seems ta be the way of it.”
    Ethan stared back out at the water. A thin trickle of moonlight speared toward them as the ship cut through the sea. An icy wind whipped across the deck, slicing through his breeches, his heavy woolen coat and the full-sleeved shirt he wore underneath.
    “Perhaps she loved him.”
    Ethan’s jaw hardened. “The man had a wife and children. The girl is a whore.”
    Angus leaned his thick body against the rail. “I suppose that’s true, as well.” He fiddled with a bit of lint on the front of his heavy wool coat. “Now that ye’ve got her, what will ye do with her?”
    Ethan turned. “She was Jeffries’s whore. Tonight she’ll whore for me.”
    Angus said nothing, but Ethan didn’t miss the look of disapproval in his eyes. “Will ye force her?”
    He shook his head. “I won’t have to. She’s for sale, isn’t she?”
    Angus tugged his stocking cap a little lower over his wide forehead. “If she pays yer price, will ye set her free?”
    Ethan stared at him as if he had lost his mind. “Set her free?” He scoffed. “When I’ve had my fill—when I’m satisfied she can be no help in finding him—I’ll take her back to London and turn her over to the authorities. She’s committed a crime, Angus. She deserves to be punished for what she’s done.”
    The older man grunted. “I’ve a feeling the lass will be punished well and good before she ever gets back ta London.” Angus turned away and ambled toward the ladder leading down to his quarters.
    Ethan softly cursed. Angus hadn’t been with them on that last, fateful journey. Only Ethan and Long-boned Ned had fought alongside the crew of the Sea Witch against the thirty-five-gun frigate that had been hiding in wait off the foggy banks of France. The warship had known exactly where to find them. Her captain had been provided with secret information that would result in the capture of the Sea Witch ’s captain and crew.
    Harmon Jeffries had sold out his country, and his mistress had arranged his escape.
    Ethan thought of the woman in his cabin. It was well after midnight. She would probably be sleeping. He imagined her lying naked in his bed, spread like an offering beneath him, and his body stirred to life. Desire pulsed through him and his shaft went hard.
    He would have her. He would bargain for her favors and pleasure himself until she begged him to stop.
    Until this night, he had never behaved as anything but a gentleman where a woman was concerned. The mistresses he had kept over the years had been treated well and fairly.
    But Grace Chastain was different. She deserved to pay and he intended to see it done.
     
    Frightened and uncertain and exhausted clear to her bones, Grace fought to stay awake. After the captain’s departure, she had curled up in a chair near the door and listened to every sound, certain her enemy would return any moment.
    The devil had made his intentions clear. He meant to take her innocence, to ravage her like the barbarian he was. But she would not make it easy. He was tall and strong, but she was smart and determined. She would fight him to the last, resist him with the last breath in her body.
    The hours ticked past. She could hear the chiming of the ship’s clock, marking every half hour, still he did not return. The roll and sway of the ship began to lull her, the soft rush of the waves against the hull. She tried to keep her eyes open, pinched herself to keep from falling asleep.
    But time crept past and sleep beckoned like a siren calling to an unwary sailor. Her eyes slowly closed. She never heard the door swing quietly open, never heard the sound of the captain’s tall black boots as he walked through the door.
     
    Ethan stood in the center of his cabin. If he had expected to find Grace Chastain undressed and comfortably settled in his bed he was sorely mistaken.
    Instead the girl huddled in the hard wooden chair in