Make her pay (mini-Excerpt #1)

Thwack! 

The door slammed behind Lizzie the very instant one powerful arm encircled her whole body from behind.  A warm hand smashed over her mouth, silencing a scream as the flashlight clunked to the floor.

She jerked one way, then the other, but she was no match for the mighty arms that immobilized her.  She tried to see him, but all she could get was an eyeful of shoulder.  Big shoulder. 

No shoulder she’d seen on this boat before. 

“Looking for something in particular?”  His voice was low, not much more than a menacing rumble in her, sending shivers rolling over her skin.

She jerked, hard, grunting into his hand.  “Met me mo!” The demand was smashed right back into her mouth.

“No can do, sweetheart.”  He punctuated that with a squeeze, forcing her body against his, her backside right up against his hips.

A whole different kind of white-hot terror seized her.

A pirate.  She’d heard the stories, but in all her dive trips and salvage efforts,  she’d never been on a ship that had been attacked by ruthless thieves.

She tried to swallow, tried to breathe, but he just pinned her tighter, the outline of a forceful man’s body merged right into hers.  She fought again, but he was rock solid and unyielding.

“Mwat do you want?”

“What do you want is the question?”

With a jerk, she tried to wrest away one more time, but it was fruitless.  She forced herself to be very, very still, despite the adrenaline coursing through every vein and cell, fueling her fight.

Three or four interminable seconds rolled by, her heart whacking at her ribcage in triple time.

“Now here’s what we’re going to do,” he said, his mouth still pressed to her ear, his mighty grip somehow strangling her whole body, the incongruous scent of soap on his fingers drifting up her nose.

“We’re going to back out of this closet, very calmly and quietly, before you help yourself to a single item that doesn’t belong to you.  And then, I assure you, you’ll pay for your misdeeds, and the punishment will be severe.”

Make her pay (mini-Excerpt #2)

She gasped as the water hit her, honey gold eyes flying open in a flash of horror as she held her hands up to stave off the shock.

“You know my name?” she sputtered, backing up.

Con didn’t answer, but slid the nozzle to his left, targeting that shapely little bicep she’d splattered. “Does it burn, anywhere at all?”

She shook her head, a mop of shoulder length blonde curls already dampening from splashed water. “You?” she asked.

As if she cared, the treacherous little thief. “No, but like I said, that stuff can sneak up on you.”

“Kind of like you did,” she shot back. “What were you doing in there anyway?”

A pretty treacherous little thief, with beautifully sloped pink nipples that were beading up like pebbles before his eyes. “I heard you go in.”

“There’s no way,” she said under her breath.

“There’s a way,” he assured her. No matter how silent she thought she’d been, Con could hear. He’d heard her breathe when she passed the bunk. He’d heard the key in the lock. And she, of course, never heard him follow the trail of sounds to the thief.

Could it be this easy? Could he have found his target in less than three hours after he climbed on board?

“Other arm, Lizzie.”

Cunning eyes narrowed, forming a delicate crease that pointed straight to a pixie nose and a heart-shaped face that looked far too innocent and appealing to be a criminal. Looks could be so deceiving.

Hesitantly, she stretched out her arm for washing. “How do you know my name?”

“I was given a list of crew members when I signed on.”

“There are four women on this boat.”

“And only one is five-four and a hundred and ten pounds.” A hundred and ten well-distributed, nicely proportioned, sweet little pounds.

“The list had our heights and weights?”

“I’m thorough.” Water sluiced over her breasts and down a clenched stomach. “This leg got hit didn’t it?” he asked. “There were holes in your pants on your right leg.”

“Yes.” She offered him her thigh, and he glanced for signs of burn dots, and saw none, but he studied intently, his gaze moved up to the tuft of darkened hair between her legs. Beautiful, feminine, and dripping wet.

No surprise, his cock stirred.

“Turn around,” he said sharply, using his free hand on her shoulder to get her in the other direction.

When she did, he lingered over her back, taut and toned, straight down to a high, round ass.

“At least you’re smart enough to take the treatment and not go all gushy, modest female on me.” So he could be equally smart and not let his body respond to the visual in front of him.

“I live on boats with divers for months at a time, most of them are men and all of our days are spent in bathing suits. I lost my modesty years ago.”

He called up his mental file of Elizabeth Dare. Daughter of famed salvager Malcolm Dare. Highly skilled SCUBA diver with a recognized expertise in treasure hunting. Thirty, single, and commonly known as Lizzie.

It didn’t say anything about smart-mouthed, pretty-faced, smooth-assed thief. And Lucy thought she was so damn thorough.