Excerpt from "One Wish," by Debra Soles

Nero stood utterly still and listened.

He could hear at least two men walking down the hall on the other side of the door. From the sound of their boots, they were probably as big as the two men he and Melanie had taken out in what had been their prison. There were two men talking back and forth between themselves, so he listened intently, hoping to overhear something that might be of an advantage to them.

“Yeah, we have the four prisoners down in the hold. We have the pirate and his bitch in the back end of the ship. His first mate and one of his cabin boys are in the front of the hold.”

They laughed together as Nero's temper flared and he would have liked to punch both of their lights out, but he refrained and listened.

“It sure will be funny when we get to Jamaica and get to watch those men hang.”

There was silence for a moment as the men moved further down the hallway, then Nero heard the second man ask, “What is the Captain planning on doing with the Devil Lorgan's wife?”

Nero held his breath for a second, but already knew what they would say.

“Oh her. Captain says she isn’t worth much to him, so he will just sell her to one of the other plantation owners. He thinks she might make someone a nice slave. She probably hasn’t worked a day in her life, but he figures that she looks good, so maybe she might make a good love slave.”

Nero was trembling now, with suppressed rage and the only thing that stopped him from jerking open the door and going after the two foul-mouthed men, was Melanie’s soft hand, which had slipped into his.

“Please tell me you aren’t going to do what I think you are going to do.”

Melanie mumbled, but already knowing the answer. “I have to. All of my crew promised to give their lives to protect yours and I’m not going to stand back and let it happen if I have any power to do something about it.”

Nero barely breathed out, hoping she would understand. With no hesitation she gave him a nod and squeezed his hand again, “Ok, I’m with you. Lead the way.”

With a grin, he jerked her against him and gave her a spontaneous kiss. “That’s my girl.”

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