Teaser from The Duke & The Pirate Queen

Today, I give you a tiny teaser from The Duke & the Pirate Queen, which is coming out in December, 2010.

#

Maxime heard the ship's bell ring two quarter hours before the cabin's door opened again. The cabin girl, Norris, poked her head in, then slid around the door and shut it behind her, reaching for a basket on the deck. When she saw Maxime, she stopped and looked at him incredulously.

"Is this your rope?" Maxime asked, mildly.

Her mouth opened, then closed.

"You can have it back, if you like. Though I'm afraid you'll have to untie it from me yourself."

Norris clutched the basket to her flat chest. "I...the captain borrowed it? My line?"

"She did."

"You'll have to ask her about untying it, then." Norris grinned and slipped out again, this time with the basket.

Maxime cursed, but without much vigor. He returned to trying to lift his feet. The deck braces to which he was hitched showed no hint of movement and the sturdy decking didn't even creak, no matter how hard he pulled. The knots on his wrists, he'd quickly learned, drew tighter if he struggled, and there was no accessible end for him to attack with his teeth.

"Being kidnapped," he said, "is much more dull than I would have expected." Perhaps things would improve once the ravishing began. If it began. He was beginning to have his doubts.

#

Another teaser, featuring the book's heroine, Imena Leung.