Holiday at Sea

By Lynn C. Kelly

Captain Mary Allen masquerades as a man, rescuing kidnapped women from pirates and lives of prostitution. For just one night, Mary wants to shed her public persona and simply feel like a woman. Antonio, the delicious mercenary she secretly fantasizes about, is quite capable of the task.
* * *
They stood together at the porthole, not speaking, not touching, simply watching the waves until each had drained their wineglasses.

“I want you to know, I’d never force myself on a woman...I’d never want to be with a woman who didn’t desire me.” It was a quiet statement, as if he spoke to himself.

It made him all the more attractive, and it affected Mary deeply. She had a sudden vision of herself reaching up to his face and pressing her lips upon his.

Instead, she said, “And how do you know if a woman desires you?”

She surprised herself a bit, not having flirted with a man in years. This may work yet. How she hoped it might work.

Antonio secured their empty glasses above the map table. He stood in front of her, taking her hand in his.

“There are many ways, dear Mary.” Antonio tilted his head as if trying to see her better in the dim lighting. “The best, I have found, is to see how she responds to a kiss.”
* * *

An homage to the iconic Roman Holiday, Holiday at Sea is a pirate captain romance with a contemporary feel. This short story includes a free preview of In the Right Place, a guardian angel novel.

Lynn C. Kelly is the romance pen name for Kelly Cairo. A prize-winning author whose short fiction has appeared in anthologies published by Simon & Schuster, she also publishes science fiction and fantasy as Kelly Cairo, and mystery as Kasey Carson.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Paisley Sky Press
• Release date: Feb 5, 2012
• ISBN: 9781465791702

Lynn C. Kelly

Lynn C. Kelly is the romance pen name for Kelly Cairo. A prize-winning author whose short fiction has appeared in anthologies published by Simon & Schuster, she also publishes science fiction and fantasy as Kelly Cairo, and mystery as Kasey Carson.

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Holiday at Sea

Lynn C. Kelly

Electronic edition published by Paisley Sky Press, February 2012

Copyright © 2012 Lynn C. Kelly

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Holiday at Sea

Captain Mary Allen kept careful watch over her hired muscle. She always did, ever watchful of their loyalty, and ever watchful for any scoundrels who might ruin her rescue operation. She’d always been the brains behind her band of all-women pirates—and quite often the knife too, with the scars to prove it—but today, she was watchful for an entirely different reason.

Of the three mercenaries she’d brought aboard at the last port, two were complete unknowns. Rico and Gerardo, the Spaniards, came highly recommended from the third man, Antonio, the Italian she often employed. But it wasn’t the newcomers who made her edgy. It was Antonio. The confident, capable, incredibly delicious Antonio.

In a man’s world—a pirate’s world—publicly dressing and acting like men could only get the sisters, as her crew clandestinely referred to themselves, so far. Most of the time, maintaining the ruse wasn’t too difficult. Only those who could drop their voices to pull off the scratchy, rumbling pitch a man might use spoke in public. And while Allen’s wits and resources made her success possible, she also knew certain missions called for a brute strength that only the mercenaries could provide.

Most of her attention focused on detecting whether the crew of the ship they had illegally boarded was up and about. It had to be. While stealing from another pirate’s ship wasn’t unheard of, those who tried it and were caught tended to disappear, becoming shark bait and the stuff of ghastly pirate legend.

The operation was progressing smoothly, with nearly half of the forty or so captive women they’d come for safely relocated to Allen’s Bounty of the Sea. While she wished she could offer some reassurance, whisper, this is a rescue!, it could never be.

For all these women knew, they were being transported from a bad situation to something even worse. Yet they could never be told they were actually being rescued. If word got out to the hired hands, all would be lost. Allen had spent years building a reputation among the slave rings, collecting an all-woman troupe that could masquerade as dastardly male pirates, then engineering a plausible escape for the women so they’d be none the wiser as to how they’d been rescued. If word got out, Bounty of the Sea would be sunk. Hundreds of women and young girls would never see their families again and instead be sold