One Night with a Scoundrel by Shelly Thacker

One Night with a Scoundrel by Shelly Thacker

Author:Shelly Thacker [Thacker, Shelly]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Published: 2019-12-18T16:00:00+00:00


“Abandon ship!”

Seething rage kept Saxon on his feet as he shouted the order again and again, struggling upward through the blazing decks of the capsizing Valor, his shirt and breeches soaked from swimming his way out of the flooded hold.

He had no business being alive. The first blast would have killed him—if he hadn’t been in that pen with the tiger. The explosion had knocked him flat and blown out one wall of the hidden cargo bay.

And killed MacNeil.

Saxon hadn’t been able to save the young Scotsman.

Or the sapphires, now lost forever.

The tiger had run snarling from one wall of flames to another—before leaping out a gaping hole that had been blown in the starboard side of the ship. Into the sea. Still wearing the sapphires in its tattered collar.

Except for the one that Saxon, miraculously, still had. He had been holding it so tightly, even the explosion hadn’t knocked it from him. He had stuffed the stone into his pocket.

“Abandon ship!” he shouted hoarsely. He couldn’t think of anything now but saving those left alive.

He pulled himself upward, hand over hand on the ladder, toward the main hatch. There was no light above, only thick black smoke that blocked out the setting sun.

He had to use every bit of his strength to lever himself out and onto the deck. The ship was tilted at a wild angle, the mainmast snapped like a branch, sails and rigging dragging in the water. She was sinking fast.

The few crewmen left alive had obeyed the order to abandon ship. Most of the boats were down and away. Heading for the Phoenix. He could see her in the distance, coming about in the blaze of sunset.

Rage and disbelief snapped through him. Greyslake was going to play the hero and rescue the survivors of this “unfortunate accident.” Bastard. Taking vengeance by fire. An eye for an eye. He should have guessed.

Saxon ran toward the stern, leaning forward to make up for the steep slope of the deck, toward a group of sailors helping the wounded into one of the last boats.

Toward the aft hatch that led to the cabins below.

He stopped, seized by indecision. Chest heaving, he cursed, feeling overpowering fury at the loss of his ship, at Greyslake.

At Ashiana.

Every word out of her mouth had been a lie! She had been working with his enemies all along. The seductive little thief had kept him distracted in bed while she kept the sapphires hidden—not only the one she had stolen from him but all the sapphires. Damn her! How in the hell had she managed to secure the other eight?

Was she one of Greyslake’s hired mercenaries? Was that why the bastard had been so intent on taking her with him—until Saxon interfered?

Or had she been in league with the Ajmir from the beginning?

Saxon stood frozen at the top of the steps. He should leave her behind. Leave her to her fate in the fire.

If she wasn’t dead already.

One jump carried him down into the companionway and then he was running for his cabin through a choking, blinding fog of smoke.



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