Trapped Like a Rat

By Lilith T. Bell

Infiltrating a pirate ship disguised as a boy is easily the most dangerous thing Brigid O'Cullane has ever done. But she has no choice if she ever wants to regain the treasure map that belonged to her dead father. Her father's closest friend Liam Lynch holds the map now and he may well have had a role to play in her father's death. When the dangerously sensual Liam catches her, he hints at secrets her father never shared—a double life of danger and wonder, magic and horror. Now she has no choice but to work alongside a pirate she cannot trust.

Yet as their journey continues across the sun-drenched Caribbean sea, their mutual desire is impossible to fight and a bond Brigid fears begins to grow. Faced with a startling paranormal discovery and dangers on the seas she could have never imagined, it's soon unclear whether Liam is with her for his own gain...or to protect her.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Selkie Publishing
• Release date: Sep 19, 2018
• ISBN: 9780463212196

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Lilith T. Bell

Copyright © 2018 Lilith T. Bell

All Rights Reserved

Book Design by Selkie Publishing

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, events, and locations are fictitious or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons or events, living or dead, are entirely coincidental.

This book is licensed for private individual entertainment only. The book contained herein constitutes a copyrighted work and may not be reproduced, stored in or introduced into an information retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means (electrical, mechanical, photographic, audio recording, or otherwise) for any reason (excepting the uses permitted to the licensee by copyright law under terms of fair use) without the specific written permission of the author.

Infiltrating a pirate ship disguised as a boy is easily the most dangerous thing Brigid O'Cullane has ever done. But she has no choice if she ever wants to regain the treasure map that belonged to her dead father. Her father's closest friend Liam Lynch holds the map now and he may well have had a role to play in her father's death. When the dangerously sensual Liam catches her, he hints at secrets her father never shared—a double life of danger and wonder, magic and horror. Now she has no choice but to work alongside a pirate she cannot trust.

Yet as their journey continues across the sun-drenched Caribbean sea, their mutual desire is impossible to fight and a bond Brigid fears begins to grow. Faced with a startling paranormal discovery and dangers on the seas she could have never imagined, it's soon unclear whether Liam is with her for his own gain...or to protect her.

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Other Books by Lilith T. Bell

The Captive to a Pirate Series

Trapped Like a Rat [Free]

Rats and Sinking Ships

To Catch a Rat

The Claimed by an Alpha Series

Cat and Mouse

Like a Cat in Heat

Once Bitten, Twice Claimed

Lost in Heat

Fighting Like Cats and Dogs

Table of Contents

Prologue

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Further Reading

About the Author

Prologue

August 3rd, 1688

Port Royal, Jamaica

Liam Lynch arrived in Port Royal with blood on his hands and a sack of his meager belongings over one shoulder. Under the scent of the sea there was the symphony of aromas associated with human habituation. Sweat and piss and perfume and smoke and baking bread and the acrid scent of sex that clung to the dock whores who had been hard at work since the morning tide had carried in its first crop of sailors.

A woman lounging near a stall selling fish leaned forward slightly when she noticed his eye, pushing her arms together to accomplish with her cleavage what her loose corset had failed to manage. Looking for something?

She wasn’t pretty, but that was hardly any fault of hers. One of her front teeth was missing and she had a few pock marks on her face. Though she didn’t look too plump, she had a bit of a double chin anyway. He couldn’t be sure if she was selling herself or the fish. Perhaps both, depending on the price.

He tipped his hat and continued on his way. Nothing you can offer, I’m afraid.

The press of people got tighter the further he went and he automatically covered the purse on his belt with his free hand, guarding against pickpockets. Sure enough, a cluster of beggar children were squatting in the filth between buildings, eyes watching him with that same curious hunger as the gulls waiting to snatch a man’s last crust of bread. The birds likely ate better than the children, though.

Could you spare some coin? one of the children called out, rising to his bare feet.

It was wise to avert the eyes and avoid the trouble that could manifest from even acknowledging the children. He knew that, because he’d been the one people averted their eyes from often enough. Perhaps it made him a soft touch now, unable to turn away when he should. The boy looked to have blood native to the Caribbean, which was all too achingly rare these days. His eyes searched the child’s face for some resemblance to anyone he’d ever known, but his memory was fuzzy after all these years and children had always tended to all look alike to him anyway.

He tossed a piece of eight to the lad, the silver glinting as it somersaulted through the air. The boy’s hand shot up, catching it as deftly as any bird swooping in for its next meal. Liam nodded approvingly. How old are you, lad?

A shifty look stole over the boy’s face, shoulders hunching forward. I’m ten.

Another year or two and I think you can get work on one of those ships. Liam pointed back toward the Black Pride, the ship he’d just left. Do you have any family watching out for you?

The boy shook his head in a quick jerk. My mum died from a fever two months ago, he said into his chest.

It might well have been a lie. From his personal experience, children on the streets often came up with lies to make themselves sound more appealing to the pity of those who had anything to give. Yet whether it was the truth or not hardly mattered in the end, since the boy was clearly close to starving. If he had parents, they weren’t able to care for him properly, either because they lacked the means or the desire.

When you’re old enough, keep an eye open for me and I’ll help you find some honest work. Liam cast a disgusted look toward the docks, then shook his head and continued on. Honest work was a joke, but he hadn’t been close to starving in over a decade.

In any port throughout the Caribbean there was one thing that always held true. Sailors meant money and money meant alcohol. Whether it was smuggled or brewed in someone’s cellar, it could always be found. He followed the road to the tavern he wanted for the night and stepped inside. Now stale tobacco smoke, rum, and a hint of sour-sweet vomit assaulted his nose. At least he was plenty used to it by now and no more recoiled than he would from the ugly sights he saw every day.

Casiguaya recognized him immediately and slid through the room on steps as soft as the scurry of a mouse. Though she was shorter than him by a head and slender as a blade of grass, she was the closest thing to home he still had in the world. As far as he knew, the two of them were the last remaining survivors of the massacre that had taken their parents. Both of them had a European father and a mother from the Ciboney people, both a mix of old and new world magic. Casi was dark and lovely, using her God-given assets to make a living off the sailors who came through Port Royal. Any number of the men whose coin she took would have happily wed her and provided her with a home, but when he’d pointed that out to her she had laughed and asked him why she would want to give up all her freedom for a false sense of security.

What are you looking for tonight? she asked, before her nose wrinkled and her eyes went to his hands. Whose blood is that?

He held up one fist, his knuckles scuffed but the skin unbroken. New ship, new crew. Had to prove myself against someone who didn’t think I deserved my position.

She took hold of his arm, steering him to a table. A new ship? What happened to the one you’d been on all these years?

Liam dropped into a chair and shook his head. I need some drink in me before I tell that story.

Five minutes later he had a cup of rum, clean hands, and had told the bare facts of the story to Casi. Though he’d always been one to relish a good, juicy tale, this wasn’t one of them. Not when his heart was so closely wrapped up in it, at any rate. He pulled out a letter that had been folded over and over again until it felt soft as felt, still unread by the person it was intended for, and slid it across the table toward Casi. Do you think that sounds all right? For his wife, I mean.

She pursed her lips while she read, brows knit together like two lines of black velvet. I don’t think there’s any nice way to give this information, but giving it in person might be a bit kinder.

Liam snatched the paper back. Letters exist so you don’t have to say things to people’s faces, don’t they?

Casi was quiet for a moment while he drank his rum. It burned pleasantly down