Blackheart Read Online Free Page B

She left others to address the needs of the men and drifted amongst the alley’s shadows. It was while she stood there rubbing her achy feet, that from behind, a man’s palm clenched her mouth, and the assailant’s arm seized her stomach. Siren screeched but the sound muffled. She was dragged to a waiting carriage where she was thrown inside. Her hands and legs were tied together by biting rope and bunched cloth was shoved into her mouth. The coach swerved along the lamp glittery streets of Norfolk to the docks. At pistol point, Siren was hauled aboard this vessel and chained in a cabin inside its bowels. Immediately, Siren realized that her captor was none other than the fellow who watched her at the Virginian. This charlatan refused to explain his actions for her kidnapping, only snarling that she returns to England and he captains the Vengeance . For months, Siren sat inside this floating prison, never released of the irons, fearing cruel fate. Whenever she questioned her abductor, she received grunts and no answers.
    The vessel curiously docked this day, but she did not know where or why. Through a distant porthole, Siren could see the outlines of cozy cottages in a sleepy island town. It, however, was unfamiliar.
    The door to her prison burst open.
    Siren’s attacker choked her hand. The captain applied a key and released the irons. Siren rubbed her raw flesh, curious regarding why she was unshackled. He unsheathed his pistol, demanding that she stand and, chaining her arm, he walked the lantern lit passage, dragging her on deck. Here, Siren confronted a man who was never introduced to her. He nodded his brown head and the accuser spouted no word; he received gold coin from the captain and departed the ship with skittish haste.
    Siren’s kidnapper twirled her toward the door leading to the ship’s inner sanctuary, clearly meaning to return her to captivity. Siren dug in her heels, groped for a lower rigging rope and jolted the captain to a standstill. “I demand answers. You owe me this,” she snarled.
    The captain jeered, “I owe ye nothin’.” He grabbed her arm. Siren kicked his knee, screeching. Unintentionally, he freed her. Siren ran to the stairs that led to the ship’s helm. Her persecutor mirrored her ascension. Unaware of her error in judgment, Siren crossed the bridge and found herself trapped at its stern. There was no access for her to achieve escape. Siren’s feral eyes leapt off the grinning captain’s to the ship’s edge. She considered jumping.
    ***
    Days after Satan’s Victory was wounded in battle, in the distance of a pier, gilding Serpent Isle, the vessel anchored. At the helm, studying the progress with the refigure of the ship’s mainmast, Lochlanaire stood. Curiously his attention was drawn to the ship which lay anchored near his, for he heard a woman shriek. Lochlanaire clutched his spyglass and peered at the ship where he’d heard the screech. His eyes followed the strides of a woman who rushed up the stairs and boarded the bridge. Lochlanaire’s glance drifted to her terrified face and then dipped along her slender, though voluptuous body. Lochlanaire immediately recognized her as the woman he hunted, but a blazing hunger pierced his heart. ‘ Siren …’ he murmured, lowering the spyglass, entranced by the beauty.
    ***
    Aboard the Vengeance, Siren shook her head at the captain who cornered her. Before she could jump off the ship, he snatched her arm. He tugged her from the bridge into the ship’s hull and vanished.
    ***
    Lochlanaire advanced on Satan’s Victory’s starboard rim and stared upon the ship. He’d not be sailing to Virginia after all, the lass he’s sworn to kidnap lies ensconced inward of another man’s vessel. But why? She, clearly, was an unwilling passenger, having fought the blackguard chasing her. Who is Siren’s assailant?
    Grayson swaggered to Lochlanaire. “The ship raises anchor in another day, Lock.”
    Lochlanaire still glowered at the far