To Catch a Pirate by Jade Parker

reward.”
    “Keep it all. It’s a mere pittance compared with what I want.”
    “What do ye want?”
    “Your help when the time comes.”
    “And when will that be?”
    James Sterling did little more than smile.

It was the sort of laughter that James had never before heard. He’d heard robust laughter. Boisterous laughter. Bawdy laughter.
    But joyous laughter?
    He had no recollection of hearing anything as sweet as the sound that now bubbled up from Anna’s throat. Her soft trilling floated over the ship. It added harmony to the lively strains of the fiddle that a crewman was playing.
    They were celebrating the day of her birth — today. The cook had made a pudding, and everyone had taken a spoonful. As the sun had begun to set, the wind calmed, and now the ship was barely slicing through the water.
    Most of the men were on the deck. A few brave souls ventured forth to dance a jig with Anna. It was the reason for her laughter. With her skirts raised above her ankles, she was dancing as merrily as the man with whom she was now partnered. He was exaggerating his steps, acting the fool, making her laugh all the harder.
    Not that James blamed him. He thought he might do almost anything to be the one responsible for releasing that intoxicating sound.
    But he had yet to determine how to make her laugh, like that at least. When she was with him, she was all seriousness. For more than a week now, he’d been teaching her close-quarters fighting. He’d taught her how to use the cutlass to draw a man in near enough that she could jab him with her dagger.
    James had a couple of nicks to serve as proof that she was learning quickly and learning well. She did like to play dirty.
    Her eagerness astounded him, as did her ability for the unexpected. She was small, and more than once he’d underestimated her. She’d trip him. Or move out of the way so quickly that if not for the fact that he was accustomed to moving with the roiling of the ship, he might have tumbled.
    And of course, as always, Northrup was there, watching like a hawk. As though the man thought James was fool enough to try a blatant escape. No, when his escape came, it would be when he had nothing to lose and a great deal to gain.
    He noticed Northrup talking with the man playing the fiddle. Suddenly, the tempo of the music shifted into something slower, softer. Anna stopped dancing. James could see her chest rising and falling as she fought for air after her exertions.
    Northrup moved nearer to her and held out his hand. An invitation. An ownership. James wasn’t certain which, but he didn’t like it. Didn’t fancy the way her eyes sparkled. The way the crew moved back to give them more room. Or the manner in which she placed her hand in Northrup’s.
    And then they were dancing. Something slow. He held her hand up and they circled. Then they switched hands and circled the other way, all the while holding each other’s gaze as though nothing was quite as mesmerizing. As though no one else was aboard the ship.
    James was caught off guard by the spark of jealousy that flared. And the bitterness that followed because he didn’t have the knowledge required to dance with her. He didn’t have the skills, he didn’t have the education to fit into polite society.
    At moments like this, it became ever more clear exactly what he was. A pirate.
    It was his destiny.
    “Looks like ye be wishin’ to be dancin’ with ’er,” a raspy voice whispered.
    Ferret. Since their talk belowdecks, he and James had met on several occasions, but all their meetings were held in secret. Escaping Kane’s ever-watchful guard sometimes made it difficult.
    “Why don’t you run along and shriek like a cornered mouse someplace else?” James asked.
    “I ’ad to be convincin’. Make ’er think I wanted nuthin’ to do with ye.”
    “You overdid it a bit, matey.”
    Although, in truth, he didn’t believe Ferret’s claim that his plan all along had been to help James escape. But