A Pirate's Wife for Me (48 page)

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Authors: Christina Dodd

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"Yes! Yes, I did! Don't you recognize love by its deeds?"

"I do." She slid her hand around his neck and looked into his eyes. "I like the words, too."

He resisted. He really did. But how could he resist the woman who had loved and married him in his callow youth, who had haunted his fantasies and in his mind accompanied him on all his pirate adventures, who had helped him reclaim his kingdom and gave her soul to his passion? "Crown Princess Caitlin MacLean Kane, you have captured my heart and all my love, and as your punishment you are sentenced to a lifetime in my arms." He pulled her into his embrace. "Starting now."

"So you love me."

"You are a terrible nag."

"I am your wife."

"As I said…" He kissed her, and he was home. "I love you."

At last, when they came up for air, he looked around and realized — the terrace was empty, with no one in sight. In a few short minutes, the crown jewels had been gathered and whisked away. Even Lilbit's body had disappeared. Everyone at Giraud had mobilized to allow the Crown Prince and Crown Princess their moment of privacy.

Taran lolled back in the lounge and pulled Cate's head onto his chest.

Cate relaxed and said, "If I marry you again —"

Taran corrected, "When you marry me again."

"— I will be queen." She frowned with genuine worry. "I am not raised to be royalty!"

"I was, and look at the good it did me. Being a pirate was a more fit training. You know I'm right."

"Yes… So you will be ever known as my pirate king."

"And you are the picklock princess." He ran his fingers through her shining auburn hair. "You know, we should treasure this time."

"Why is that?" Cate yawned.

"We are alone. With the busy schedule we now face, this moment will probably never come again."

"Actually, lately it has occurred to me that…"

"Yes?"

"It's just that, I suspect … we are not quite alone." Sitting up, Cate took his hand and placed it low on her belly. And smiled into his stunned eyes.

 

In the king's study, Jeannette slid
the window shut and with a groan, placed five gold coins in Queen Sibeol's extended palm and stormed out of the room.

The woman who had just been crowned with the title,
Grandmother
, smiled and slid the coins into her reticule. Reaching into her knitting bag, she pulled out the lacy white baby cap she had begun a week ago and finished only yesterday. She smoothed it with her palm. Sitting down in her dear husband's chair, she took up her needles, and prepared to make a matching sweater and pair of tiny stockings.

In a voice pitched to reach to her husband, and no further, she said, "Antonio, it is as we hoped. Our son is happy with his darling wife, and he is ready to be king. Our newest crown prince is on the way. And for another thousand years, our family will rule Cenorina in peace."

THE END

 

 

 

Christina Dodd here! Thank you for enjoying
A PIRATE'S WIFE FOR ME
! Please accept my invitation to explore my worlds and join my
free
mailing list
for news, book sales and exclusive excerpts!

And read on to find more thrilling Christina Dodd romances!

 

The
Governess Brides
series
in order

 

THAT SCANDALOUS EVENING
(prequel)

Re-release is 5/19/2015

RULES OF SURRENDER

RULES OF ENGAGMENT

RULES OF ATTRACTION

These books are being re-released on eBook in 2015 and 2016.

Join my mailing list
and I'll let you know when!

 

IN MY WILDEST DREAMS

 

LOST IN YOUR ARMS
(Caitlin is introduced in this book!)

 

A PIRATE'S WIFE FOR ME
(You just read this one!)

 

MY FAVORITE BRIDE

 

MY FAIR TEMPTRESS

 

IN BED WITH THE DUKE

 

TAKEN BY THE PRINCE

 

 

Want more
Christina Dodd historicals
?

 

THE SMUGGLER'S CAPTIVE BRIDE

A wicked English earl, a woman determined to avenge her brother’s death, and a little bit of bondage… But it’s okay. He gets to tie her up, too. Regency romance novella, expanded and with a new cover.

 

WILD TEXAS ROSE

 

       Jumping Jehoshaphat, Rose was nude! Not a stitch on! Bare-beamed and buck-naked! In the open, in full daylight, without a shred of self-consciousness or guilt.

Thorn gulped. What a woman. What . . . a . . . woman.

Was that a rifle she was holding?

Oh God, it was.

She had her Winchester, and her hands were mighty steady. And she’d called him a bastard — the first curse word he’d ever heard her use. Deep in his gut, he had the ugly suspicion she would, without remorse, shoot him through the heart.

He’d better think fast.

But she was naked! 

 

Buy
WILD TEXAS ROSE
now
!

 

 

More books recommended for you by Christina Dodd!

 

The Lost Hearts series
,

three New York Times bestselling romantic suspenses, enhanced with bonus material: synopses, new chapters and author commentary exclusive in these eBook editions.

 

Mystery and misery scarred their young lives. Three sisters and their foster brother, torn apart by tragedy and scattered across the country to grow up alone, without the loving family they had known…

 

JUST THE WAY YOU ARE:
Lost Hearts #1

 

Oldest sister Hope Prescott lives in Boston, far from the warm, southern home she recalled. She works hard with one goal in mind — finding her lost siblings and reuniting her family. Yet her job at the answering service and her loving nature creates a family of friends, people she knows only by their voices. She especially likes Griswald, gruff old butler for wealthy Zack Givens.

 

Meeting Griswald is a shock; he is neither gruff nor old, but a powerful, handsome man. In fact, he is Zack Givens, cold, heartless — and charmed by the artless young woman who brings him chicken soup, treats him like a friend … and falls in love with the humble man she imagines him to be. When she discovers Zack’s secret and faces his betrayal, she leaves him without a backward glance. How far will Zack have to go to prove he is the man of her dreams?

 

Order
JUST THE WAY YOU ARE
,
enhanced with the original brainstorming synopsis of
JUST THE WAY YOU ARE,
the first draft of chapter one, and author commentary.

 

 

ALMOST LIKE BEING IN LOVE:
Lost Hearts #2

 

Witness to a brutal murder, Pepper Prescott flees a killer, leaving her home, her business, and the identity she’s spent years cultivating. She runs to the only place she’s ever felt safe—the small mountain town of Diamond, Idaho, where she had met the boy who captured her heart, and taught her body to love……only to be forced to leave him without a backward glance.

 

The moment she sees Dan Graham, sweet passion flares again. But Dan’s service in the Special Forces has left him wounded, body and soul, and harboring a dangerous secret that could get them both killed. Can they learn to trust—and love—before murder and treachery finds them?

 

Order
ALMOST LIKE BEING IN LOVE
, enhanced with deleted chapters and author commentary — that's seventeen manuscript pages of new material.

.

 

CLOSE TO YOU:
Lost Hearts #3

Who knows the truth about her family? Who wants to keep her past hidden forever?
Twenty-three years ago, in a small Texas town, a vicious crime tore a young family apart. The children were scattered, the baby given up for adoption…

Kate Montgomery’s loving, adoptive parents taught her to overcome every obstacle. Now an ambitious news reporter, she faces the greatest challenge of her life; she is threatened by a malicious stalker who knows too much about her mysterious past. She hires a bodyguard, but the cool, blade-sharp intensity of Teague Ramos both menaces and attracts. When her own relentless investigation unlocks dangerous secrets, she and Teague go on a high-stakes chase that may lead to the family she has never known — or into the trap of a ruthless killer.

 

Order
CLOSE TO YOU
, enhanced with thirty-two manuscript pages including how I got the idea for the Lost Hearts series, the synopsis that sold
CLOSE TO YOU
and first draft chapters from the story with changes from the published novel!

 

GABRIEL'S GIFT:
A Lost Hearts Christmas Epilogue

 

In the this-new Lost Hearts short story, 
GABRIEL’S GIFT
, Gabriel must confront the demons of his past for a young girl to have any hope of a future, and discovers that blessings sometimes come in disguise.

 

Order
GABRIEL'S GIFT
for your Kobo! Only $1.99!

 

 

For you collectors, enjoy
LADY IN BLACK
,

a full-length romantic suspense about
a straitlaced lady-butler, a powerful billionaire, and kidnapping, conflict, and steamy sex in the shower…

 

Margaret Guarneri has found sanctuary managing the home of a rich, elderly man…until the day he receives a threat of kidnapping. Enter Reid Donovan, dynamic, wealthy in his own right, and suspicious of the gorgeous young widow who so diligently cares for his grandfather.

Distrust, extortion, and the shadows of the past drive Reid and Margaret apart. Wild, uninhibited passion brings them together. They must learn to trust each other before they can vanquish a killer…and in the process, they discover a passion more powerful than anything either of them could imagine. But has love come too late for the handsome billionaire and his lady in black?

Buy
LADY IN BLACK
for your Kobo!

 

 

Read
THE LISTENER
,
a short story of mystery and intrigue set in the small town of Virtue Falls on the wild Washington coast…

If you knew someone was going to commit a murder, what would you do?

Only 99 cents!

 

And finally, enjoy an excerpt for
VIRTUE FALLS
from my new
Virtue Falls suspense series
!

 

Twenty-three years ago, in the isolated coastal town of Virtue Falls, Washington, four year old Elizabeth Banner witnessed her mother’s brutal murder. Elizabeth’s father was convicted of killing Misty and sentenced to prison. Elizabeth was sent to live with relatives, and grew from a solitary child to a beautiful woman with a cool scientific mind and an instinctive distrust of love. Now Elizabeth is back in Virtue Falls, a geologist like her father, living cautiously, her life guided by logic and facts. But nothing can help her through the emotional chaos that follows the return of her ex-husband, Garik Jacobsen, an FBI agent on probation and tortured by the guilt of his past deeds. Nor can it help her deal with her father, now stricken with Alzheimer’s and haunted by Misty’s ghost. When a massive earthquake reveals long-concealed secrets, Elizabeth soon discovers her father is innocent. Is the killer still at large, stalking ever closer to the one witness to Misty’s murder? To Elizabeth herself? Elizabeth and Garik investigate, stirring old dark and deadly resentments that could provoke another bloody murder— Elizabeth’s own.

 

Virtue Falls Canyon, after the earthquake and tsunami

Elizabeth looked into his face. She pushed his hair off his forehead, and whispered, “Garik.” She wanted to say more:
take me, love me, need me
. And she knew he would do all those things. But
talk to me
? Not so much.

“In my truck,” he murmured, “there’s a blanket. We could put it on the seat, and I could take off your clothes and kiss you here” — he touched her mouth — “and here” — he touched her breast — “and…here…”

She tilted her head back, seduced, tempted, shuddering with … No. Wait. She opened her eyes, saw the green pines trembling against the blue sky — and realized that wasn’t the earth moving for her.

It was
moving
.

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