She read his eyes to determine his next move, given away by a quick glance before his blade followed.
And he scowled.
He wasn’t used to losing.
“Too ugly to show your face, boy?”
She ignored the taunt and sidestepped the heavy blow that came with it.
Don’t engage.
The clanging and shouting around her faded while she focused on her opponent. Perspiration dampened her brow as she fought to maintain her position. Good God, he was good. His footwork rivaled her own as they circled each other.
“Enough,” he growled. He moved to place the setting sun in her eyes and rained several blows on her in quick succession. Each step she took back brought her closer to the stairs—and her defeat. The blowscame so fast, she had no choice but to maintain defense.
He stopped a cut mid-air and somehow turned it into a vicious thrust at her belly. She leaped back as the blade whistled a hair’s breadth from her torso. The wild movement sent her hat flying and her hair tumbled free, pins scattering on the deck. The lieutenant’s eyes went wide and he sucked in a breath.
React!
She dove forward in his moment of confusion and met his blade. As her steel slid toward his body, he recovered and twisted his sword to stop her advance.
So close.
Before she could pull away, he used his height to his advantage and bore down on her. Samantha gritted her teeth and pushed back. Her arm began to shake.No... focus!
“So, wench, you’ve chosen to align yourself with filth?” He murmured the words from above her while a dark glint flashed through his eyes.
Do. Not. Engage.
Heat spread through her veins and her vision wavered.Use your anger.
With a guttural cry, she used up her wildcard. A move her instructor had aptly named “Last Chance.” She grabbed her hilt with her free hand and threw all her strength into twisting the blade in a sharp motion. Before he could compensate, she jerked the lieutenant’s sword free from his compromised grasp.
It clattered to the deck and she whipped the tip of her rapier to his neck.
“That’s Captain to you.” She pressed the sharp steel into the space below his Adam’s apple. “Now call off your men.”
Chapter Two
Samantha’s lungs burnedand her arm threatened to give out. But she held her blade steady until the lieutenant shouted the order to stand down. One by one, swords dropped to the deck and her men gathered the defeated crew together.
The young lieutenant kept his gaze locked on her through it all. Chestnut curls had come loose from his tie and clung to his face while gold-flecked green eyes bore into her.
If looks could kill . . .
She swallowed and broke the eye contact when two of her men tied his hands behind his back. Sheathing her sword, she surveyed the main deck. Her gaze landed on a dead man on the main deck and she pivoted away. But two more bodies lay within her sight and bile burned a path up her throat.
Griff limped over to her. “Your orders, Captain?” His eyes gleamed with an emotion she couldn’t place. And he’d accentuated the titlecaptainas if it were an insult. Was he angry?
She drew in a breath. “Bring the wounded back to the ship. That includes you. The rest of you, take anything of value from our new friends.”
Bending, she retrieved her hat and ignored the weight of the lieutenant’s eyes on her back. Some of her crew descended into the ship to scout out what they could, while others gathered the weapons laying scattered across theFalcon’sdeck. When the last of the crates and barrels were shuttled over to theSiren, she raised her face to the sails, glowing with the orange hues of sunset.
“Bring them down.”
A few men scurried up the masts, daggers clutched between their teeth. Each slash of ropes and canvas made her flinch. It could easily have been her ship receiving this treatment. She could order their spare sails dumped into the sea. But that would truly cripple theFalcon, and she wasn’t heartless. It would take them half a day to refit the sails and her crew would be nearly back to Savannah by then.
One of her men approached her. “The lieutenant’s quarters are locked, Capt’n.”
