Angelina’s Secret Teasers #1: 

 “I was ready to open a vein with a dull knife,” I proclaimed as I walked to the edge of the upper terrace that looked out upon the manicured garden of the estate. “If I have to listen to one more simpering girl carry on about how she simply can’t wait to marry and start a family, I will surely have to throw myself from the nearest tall balcony.”

“And leave me to drudge on with the new season and no one to align myself with when things get ugly? You wouldn’t be so cruel to me, your dearest friend in the world, I know you and you are not that thoughtless,” she stated with derision and mockery in her voice.

“Of course, you are right as always. It would have caused such a scene right there in the middle of tea. Mother would be mortified, and that wouldn’t be good for me,” I said with my hand over my heart very dramatically. “I am positive Lady Ashton is sorry to have missed such a dramatic public display,” I said.

“Whatever will she talk about with the ladies at tea tomorrow?” Sarah asked.

I rolled my eyes, feigning dramatic exasperation as I crumbled in a heap against the railing with my hand over my eyes.

“So how shall we celebrate your impending nineteenth birthday this year?” Sarah questioned, then continued as if I weren’t there. “Shall we have a large soiree or, better yet, a garden party when we open up the houses in London? Oh yes, that is perfect,” Sarah said with such glee and excitement.

“Why do I feel you don’t really need an excuse for a party or a need to celebrate my birthday? Any reason will do, let’s have a party for the sake of having a party. I really don’t want to draw attention to the numbers adding up. Someone might start throwing words around like old maid, then tongues will wag and somehow, it will get back to Father that I need to be married or something crazy like that,” I stated.

“But don’t you want to ever get married?” Sarah asked.

“Honestly, Sarah, how long have we been friends? I don’t wish to be owned like a piece of land, at some man’s beck and call. No, thank you! Life is good right now. I have freedoms that I wouldn’t have if I were someone’s wife. For me to agree to marry, the man needs to be of superior make, and I need to be in love. And seeing how I have never been in love, or even close to swooning over some sad excuse for a man, I answer your query with a resounding no! I don’t wish to wed, ever!” Turning to face her, I continued my rant. “I don’t think that it is in my nature, Sarah. Some young ladies fawn all over the opposite gender, going all dewy eyed and stupid at the sight of a man. I can’t see myself doing anything like that.”

“All right, I will never bring it up again. In fact, I will erase the entire idea of you being happily wed with thirteen children to keep you company in your old age from my mind completely.”

“Well, if that isn’t a ghastly thought. Me, all soft in the middle and in the head over some man and, to add insult to injury, the very thought of me subjecting myself to thirteen children. Have you completely lost your mind? If all men were like my father or brother Jonathan, I might be in love with the male species as a whole. But in my dealings with them, they are arrogant, boorish creatures, completely in love with themselves. There is no way I am going to saddle myself with that.”

“Someday you might change your mind,” Sarah said while lifting her delicate little eyebrows and smiling at me.

“Not in this lifetime!”

“Crazier things have happened,” Sarah said, with an impish gleam in her eye.

                “Yes, me being struck by lightning. Now that might actually happen. As for me falling in love, I want to state for the record once again that it will not happen in this lifetime!”

With a shrug of Sarah’s slender shoulders, “Never say never,” she added before heading back to the tea party through the elegant french doors without looking back at me.

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Teaser #2

“Are there any others who might be hiding about this ship? Be quick about it, man, or it will cost you your life,” he taunted with an undertone of a threat lacing his words. The sound of his boots hitting the boards of the deck grated on my raw nerves as he passed several times by the overturned boat I was hiding under. My pulse quickened even more, and I was like a trapped rabbit with nowhere to run.

Uncle Jamie stepped forward. “Stop that and unhand her,” he demanded, trying to pull me free from the pirate, for which he was rewarded with a kick to the back of the knees dropping him down on all fours. Then another pirate knocked him out with a punch to the face.

I screamed, pulling my arm from his grasp and ran toward Uncle Jamie. Two more pirates impeded my progress. With angry tears in my eyes, I turned back to the leader. My blood boiling now, I did not care what happened to me, but I would protect my family at all cost.

“He is my uncle, and this is our family’s ship. It carries nothing more exciting than some textiles we make in our factory,” I screamed. My anger barely contained as I spat the words at him, pulling my arms free from the two men and making my way back to where he stood.

“I hardly think you will get rich off of the haul you take from us today, but you are welcome to it,” I finished saying, as I now stood toe to toe with him, defiance reflected in my eyes.

Reaching out, he grabbed my arm, twisting it behind my back as he pulled me up against his taut body.

“You speak boldly, my lady, and yet I can feel your heart racing,” he stated while holding tightly to my wrist, wrenching it even higher than before.

“I have never come face-to-face with a real pirate before. So, you will forgive me if I don’t know how to react,” I said sarcastically.

“A privateer!” he corrected while still staring uncomfortably into my eyes.

“Pirate or privateer, whatever name you give yourself, you are still cut from the same cloth. The only difference between the two careers is one has a license to pillage, plunder, and murder and the other one doesn’t,” I stated, all the while staring straight into his deep blue eyes, trying to gauge how my words had been received.

First his eyes seemed to cloud up, and I was sure a storm was coming my way, but I didn’t care. Tossing my head back in defiance, I dared him to do his worst, and then he startled me when suddenly he turned loose my arm and began to laugh.

I stood in complete shock, not quite sure what had just happened. I fully expected to be murdered right there on the deck of the family ship.

“Get these men secured below deck,” he barked at his crew.

Jumping into action, they obeyed, his crew moved the prisoners in one direction like sheep to the slaughter.

A rough hand took hold of my arm as I turned to see what was happening. I was being pulled in the opposite direction of everyone else. A question formed on my lips but was silenced by a muscular arm grabbing me by the waist like a vise. I struggled to free myself while looking over the pirate’s shoulder for Uncle Jamie who was being carried along by the crew of the Lady Clarisse.

Turning in time to see the pirate captain take hold of a rope with his other hand and leaping from the deck of the ship, I screamed and scrambled to take hold of something by wrapping my arms tightly about his neck, squeezing my eyes closed.

Mere seconds later, he landed on the deck of the pirate ship with a loud thud and yet I kept my grip tight and my eyes shut. He shifted my weight, and I could feel his suppressed amusement by the reverberation through his stone-hard chest. But I didn’t care. I couldn’t swim, and I was genuinely scared.