The Pirate's Desire Read Online Free PDF Page A

At once.
    A tomb of silence ensued until the next course of pork chops and scalloped potatoes arrived. Riel picked up his knife and sliced into his meat. “Clearly you do not like me, Lady Lucinda.”
    At least he had stopped calling her Lucy. A small victory. She gave him a thin-lipped smile. “How clever you are, Mr. Montclair.” In fact, he possessed only one redeeming quality; his unwelcome presence prevented the agony of her father’s death from completely taking over her mind.
    “Why?”
    “I am a lady, and will not be rude. However, know this: Ravensbrook is my heritage. I will not entrust it into the care of a stranger. Furthermore, I will allow no one to rule over me, either. Least of all you, a complete stranger. Regardless of what you told my father, I have never heard of a Baron of Iveny.”
    Riel took a bite. “I assure you, I own land in France and a townhouse in London, as well as a ship. Facts beyond that are no business of yours.”
    “So you are hiding something.”
    “Do you wish to know my entire past history?”
    “Tell it all,” Lucinda agreed. “I would like to know the complete truth of your background…if, indeed you will tell me.”
    The black brows met again like a thundercloud. He did not like his honor questioned. Perhaps he would tell her the full truth, after all.
    She waited, tapping her fingers on the table, pretending impatience. Never could he sense, even for a moment, that she truly wanted to discover every bit of information about him. This realization disturbed her, until she told herself it made prudent sense. After all, the more she knew, the better she could discern his weaknesses and assess the threat he posed to both Ravensbrook and herself.
    And he was a significant threat, as she already knew quite well. His brutish behavior when he’d manhandled her had proven it. She must gather ammunition to boot him out of Ravensbrook before it was too late—no matter what her father had wished. Montclair must have duped her kind-hearted parent. Why else would Father put such a dangerous man as lord over her? The barbarian had hurt her! Her wrists still stung, and one thumb mark still reddened her skin.
    If he could do so much damage in an instant, she shuddered to consider the damage he could cause to Ravensbrook—and to herself—during the next two years.
    Riel spoke in a low voice. “I was born in Roué, France, twenty-eight years ago. My mother was English, my father French. My father squandered the family fortune in games of chance, and he lost our house in a poker match. When I was fourteen, I went to sea on a merchant ship.”
    He looked down and rubbed his nail—clean now, she noticed—into the design on the fork. “Conditions were bad,” he finally said in a rough voice. “We sailed to the Barbary coast. I did not realize…” After a moment, he went on. “I escaped when I could. At seventeen, I jumped an English ship bound for the Mediterranean. It wasn’t much better. I will spare you the details. One thing led to another, and I now own my own ship. In addition, I have been working closely with the Royal Navy for the past two years.”
    That wasn’t the whole story. Lucinda sensed he withheld information. But what? Was it that dark something she’d sensed from the beginning? She looked into his black eyes and found no answers.
    Still, she did not know how to respond to his tale. It rang with truth. She could well imagine him living rough years on the high seas, and on the Barbary coast, too. The area was known for slave trading and pirates.
    So, she’d been right from the first. He was a pirate…at least, he’d likely served upon a pirate ship at one point, or perhaps for several years. That would account for the rough edge she’d sensed in him, tempered, however, by the thinnest veneer of civility. Also, it would account for his brute strength and quickness to react when threatened. As she’d suspect ed, he’d learned none of his savage behavior from