He tore the door open and flew into the room with the only weapon he had—his fists. Immediately, he knew that wouldn’t be enough. Four large men stood in the center of the shop facing Ashley, who waved a poker at them. All four were smiling, and all four were dressed alike: colorful bandanas or plumed hats on their heads, hoop earrings glinting in their ears, and fearsome pistols and cutlasses gleaming at their waists.
Nick shook his head. He should have known.
Pirates.
Chapter Two
“Nick!” Ashley screamed. “We’re under attack!” She waved the poker menacingly at the big brute in the middle. He had mahogany skin, a head full of long black braids, and when he sneered at her, she could see that one of his front teeth was gold. He seemed to be the leader.
One of the leader’s companions stepped forward. This one was fair with red hair and freckles, and Ashley swung the poker to ward him off. “Stay away!”
She darted the poker back and forth, trying to fend off both men.
She glanced in Nick’s direction, hoping he had devised a better way to defend them than the woefully inadequate fire poker she held.
But Nick looked completely unconcerned. He was standing with one shoulder braced against the wall, arms crossed over his broad chest, and a dubious smile on his lips.
“Nick!” She seethed his name. “Don’t just stand there. We’re being attacked by”—she glanced at the men—“highwaymen.”
“Pirates,” Nick drawled. “Well, privateers, actually.”
“Pirates?” She frowned, unwilling to believe it.
A tall whale-sized man who looked as though he could lift a cannon with one hand stepped closer. He grinned, showing several gaps where teeth should have been. “Argh.”
Ashley gasped and brandished her poker. “No, these can’t be pirates, they—” She took in the men’s appearance once again and swallowed.
“Hello, Cap’n,” the leader with the gold tooth said in a voice rife with the lilt of the Caribbean. “Might we have a word alone?” He nodded at Ashley.
Ashley swung the poker back at him, but he only scowled at her attempts to cow him.
Not a good sign.
She’d seen drawings of pirates in books and the periodicals, and these men looked to have taken their fashion advice straight from those illustrations.
But which one was their captain? Gold tooth? Perhaps if she tried to reason with him...
“Keeping busy, Captain?” the red-haired man asked.
“I haven’t been exactly sitting around reading poetry,” Nick said, and the men—all except Gold Tooth—laughed.
Ashley gaped at her new husband. Was he actually joking with these cutthroats? And why did he keep leaning against that wall instead of doing something to help her? Lord, was she going to have to defeat four pirates all by herself?
Knowing Nick Martingale, she probably was.
“Gentleman!” If she was going to save them, best begin now. She waved the poker at the men again to get their attention. “That’s enough talking. I want you four to listen and listen carefully, damn it!” She supposed she was going to have to make good on that promise to stop swearing next week.
“Look at the little lass,” a short blond man said. “Acting like she’s the cap’n.”
Ashley banged the poker on the floor and had the satisfaction of seeing three of the four pirates jump at the sound. Gold Tooth was the only one who seemed unfazed.
“I said no talking!” she ordered in a stern voice. “I don’t know what you had in mind when you walked in here, but you’re going to have to change those plans.” She jabbed the poker at them to punctuate her words. “You’re going to turn around, open that door, and walk right back out.”
Gold Tooth crossed his arms over a chest as thick as a tree trunk. “And if we doan?”
Ashley nodded. Right. Good question.
What would happen if they didn’t comply?
