The Pirate's Bride (Available now on Amazon)

Chapter 1

“Bellard’s daughter is a beauty, but she’s turned down every eligible man she’s been introduced to. Marry her, get her with child, and then go back to your trade. She’ll have a baby, and you’ll have your life back. You need an heir by now, anyway.” The old man’s face appeared overly bright. Andre was instantly suspicious.        

            “What’s wrong with the femme? Why is Bellard trying to auction her off? Besides, I can’t believe her father wouldn’t mind me ‘dipping my wick,’ as you so colorfully stated moments ago, after she marries me. Fathers of daughters don’t cotton to that behavior in sons-in-law, Papa.”

            “Yes, but it’s too late by then, isn’t it? As far as the girl is concerned, there’s nothing wrong with her. She’s a beauty. Just too picky,” Louis replied off-handedly.

            Making a last ditch effort Andre wheedled, “Picky? And you think the two of us will be a good match? Why can’t we just settle this challenge with a duel? I’m a crack shot with a pistol, and just as deadly with a sword.”

He swung away from his father’s desk to stand before the open French doors, waited for the older man’s reply while feeling his destiny closing in on him. When an answer was not forthcoming, he turned, raising his brows.

            His father said in embarrassment, “Then it would have to be me,” and he held out his hand. Both men watched it tremble and shake. Their eyes met. Sighing, Andre spun around, swore under his breath. Lifting his hat, he ran a hand over his hair before relenting.

            “Merde. Fine. When?”

##

            “No, Papa, I do not want to marry. You know that.”

            Sophie Bellard stamped her foot in the salon of her father’s house on St. Charles Street outside of the decadent Vieux Carre. Tall, with alabaster skin and ebony hair, Sophie Bellard knew she was a beauty at twenty years of age, but her strong-minded personality (which she’d inherited from her father) lessened her chance of a good matrimonial match. Not that she wanted one. After four coming out seasons, one disastrous, Sophie resolved to hang up her dancing shoes and become a captain in her father’s fleet. Until he found out.

            “No Bellard woman has ever gone pirating and you will not start. I understand you’re lack of interest in marriage, but this is one decision I must insist upon. Our family’s marriages have always been arranged. I gave you the chance to choose a husband--”

            “Papa, please.” She teared up at the very thought of giving herself to a stranger, a pirate. Forget the fact that she came from a pirate family herself. That the house she stood in had in fact been purchased with pirate booty.

The man her father had chosen for his daughter was unknown to Sophie. What if he were mean-spirited? A drinker? A womanizer? Sophie knew Papa needed money, but why did she have to sacrifice herself for his transgressions? It wasn’t fair. So she stamped her slippered foot once more.