An Inconvenient Mistress Read online

  An Inconvenient Mistress

  By Caroline Kimberly

  Jamaica, 1820

  Isabelle North needs a hero, and if an arrogant mercenary is all she can find...he’ll just have to do. She must get back to England before her past catches up with her, even if that means booking passage on a vessel captained by a man she cannot abide.

  Phillip Ashford, notorious smuggler and captain of the privateer Intrepid, knows Miss North is trouble. She’s stubborn, for starters, and it’s painfully clear she’s conning him—she looks more like a schoolmarm than the rich man’s mistress she claims to be. But beneath her prim exterior is a sharp wit and courageous spirit that draws him in despite himself.

  They both know they should keep their distance. But passion flares as they defend themselves on the high seas—until Phillip begins asking questions Isabelle would rather not answer. After all, how much can she really share with a man she’ll never trust?

  Meet Phillip’s brothers in An Inconvenient Kiss and An Inconvenient Wife!

  104,000 words

  Dear Reader,

  Social media can be dangerous, fun and inspiring. While I was writing this month’s letter, I mentioned on Twitter that I was a bit stuck in my opening. Who can blame me after writing over forty letters? So author and reader @AudraNorth challenged me to make this one different by creating a Carina Press April Fools fill-in-the-blank letter (there’s a name for it but it’s trademarked so...fill-in-the-blank letter it is!) Challenge accepted and the game is afoot. We’ll go back to your normally written letters in May. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy our bit of fun and please visit our @CarinaPress Twitter account in April for a contest associated with this month’s letter. We’re offering up free books and a gift card from Carina Press!

  April is a __________(adjective) month for Carina Press since we have four new debut authors in our lineup! First up, I’m pleased to _______ (verb) debut author Sharon Calvin with her romantic suspense title, A Dangerous Leap. USCG rescue swimmer Kelly Bishop is used to dangerous situations, but when Ian Razzamenti demands she risk her _______(noun), she’s not sure she has the courage. Then disaster strikes and they both must face their worst fear—_______ (verb) each other.

  Katherine Locke debuts in the contemporary romance new adult category with Second Position. Four years after a career-ending car accident, ballet dancers Aly and Zed risk their _______ (adjective) recoveries for the _______ (noun) they thought they’d lost. Don’t miss the prequel to Aly and Zed’s story, Turning Pointe, available as a free read on CarinaPress.com.

  If you’re a fan of the male/male genre, be sure to pick up j. leigh bailey’s debut new-adult romance, Nobody’s Hero. Bradley Greene’s family rejected him for being gay, leaving him financially and emotionally adrift—until he meets Danny Ortega. Brad becomes Danny’s _______ (noun), but can Brad handle being responsible for someone else’s _______ (noun)?

  Also debuting with us in April is mystery author Brenda Buchanan. In Quick Pivot, the first of the Joe Gale Mysteries, a newspaper reporter’s dogged investigation of a 1968 murder threatens to expose a Maine mill town’s _______ (adjective) secrets, making him the _________ (noun) of a killer who once thought himself too clever to be caught.

  Joining Brenda in the mystery category is Daryl Anderson with Death at China Rose. The search for a long-missing woman brings PI Addie Gorsky to China Rose Fish Camp, a _______ (adjective) resort in a hidden corner of north Florida. Addie begins a _______ (adjective) hunt through the wilds of China Rose, surrounded by _______ (adjective) gators, killer _______ (noun) and a _______ (adjective) two-legged killer.

  In the historical romance category, Caroline Kimberly brings another fun historical adventure with An Inconvenient Mistress. In a desperate attempt to flee her_______ (noun), Isabella North hijacks captain Phillip Ashford from a Jamaican prison and tricks him into _______ (verb) home to England. But will she be able to keep herself from _______(verb) him even if she despises the handsome, arrogant privateer?

  Last this month, we wind up Angela Highland’s _______ (adjective) fantasy romance trilogy. When the Voice of the Gods breaks free of magical enslavement and rampages through Adalonia, the lost sword Moonshadow is the only hope of stopping Her—and Faanshi, Julian and Kestar must join _______ (noun) to find it and _______ (verb) the realm in Victory of the Hawk.

  Coming May 2015: Marie Force’s Fatal series is available in mass-market print in retail stores, Stephanie Tyler (aka SE Jakes) delivers a new Defiance romance and Joely Sue Burkhart brings _______ (adjective) fantasies to life in her erotic thriller—is he a serial killer or the man who will meet all her deepest needs?

  I hope your month is full of _______ (adjective) books that make you _______ (verb). Please visit the blog at CarinaPress.com/blog to participate in our fill-in-the-blank contest and win free books and prizes!

  Happy Reading!

  Angela James

  _______ (job title), Carina Press

  Dedication

  To M and T—the two best friends anyone could ever have. I don’t know what I’d do without you!

  Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  About the Author

  Copyright

  Chapter One

  Kingston, Jamaica

  1820

  Isabella North, known to friends and family as Bella, coughed daintily, trying not to cringe at the putrid stench that filled the air. Picking her way carefully down the cold stone steps of the prison, she began to reconsider her plan. For the first time since she’d concocted this ridiculous scheme she took a moment to reflect on the fact that she was about to entrust her well-being, her life, to a stranger. A criminal, she mentally corrected, and apparently not a very good one as he was currently incarcerated. Not exactly the hero she’d hoped to find.

  The jailer’s assistant, Mr. Greeley, helped her down the last few moldering steps into the prison. The other man who accompanied them, a Mr. Kolton from the notorious privateer ship Intrepid, brushed past her without a word. Isabella watched his gigantic, hulking form stride into the darkness and prayed she wasn’t making a mistake.

  “Cell at the end,” Greeley called to Kolton, raising his torch for better light. Once the big man was out of earshot, he turned to Isabella. “Don’t be fooled by his surly demeanor. Kolton is a good lot,” he reassured her in his gravelly voice. “I wouldn’t have recommended him otherwise.”

  Isabella nodded nervously and pulled her shawl around her more tightly. This was madness—she knew that down to her very bones. Yet when she thought of what mig
ht happen to her darling Charles if she didn’t do this... She steadied her nerves and forced herself to follow Greeley.

  Kolton was waiting for them at the end of the corridor, muttering some very colorful phrases at the dark-haired figure slumped over in a cell. Isabella had heard plenty of obscenities in her life, many from her father’s patients, but she found herself blushing at such coarse language. Kolton finished his bilious rant and glared down at the man in the cell. The form didn’t move.

  Isabella looked at the immobile figure then back at Greeley. “This is the infamous Captain Ashford?” she whispered tightly. “Of the legendary Intrepid?”

  “Keep your voice down,” Greeley shushed nervously. “Ashford is a wanted man. There ain’t no one in these cells sober enough to follow our conversation, but I still don’t need ya announcing his presence.”

  “Of course,” Isabella muttered trying not to sound as annoyed as she felt. Greeley was doing her an enormous favor by allowing her in here, she reminded herself. The least she could do was play along. Raising her voice for any of the prison denizens who might be coherent enough to care, she said in her best impression of an American accent, “Yes, Mr. Greeley, that’s my sorry excuse of a husband. John...Marshall.”

  Under her breath she asked, “What’s wrong with him? Is he hurt?”

  Kolton answered, his voice low and rough with a hint of a Scottish burr. “He ain’t hurt, ma’am. He’s snockered.”

  “Wonderful,” Isabella said icily. Drawing herself up to her full height—which wasn’t much compared to the giant facing her—she tried to keep her tone civil as she said between gritted teeth, “Mr. Kolton, I have little use, and even less patience, for an inebriate.”

  “He’s no sot, ma’am,” Kolton replied under his breath. “Barely touches the stuff.” Bella raised a brow at him, and he amended, “Usually. A month or so back we lost several shipmates, one a good friend. Cap here’s spent the last weeks drowning his sorrows. He’ll be hale and hardy tomorrow morning, you’ll see.”

  Bella pursed her lips, her frustration making her snappish, though she managed to keep her tone hushed. “I’m sorry for your loss. But my business is urgent and your captain is of no use to me in this condition. I’ll have to find someone else.”

  “Wait, ma’am.” Kolton stopped her before she could retreat. Spying a full bucket of water in the corner, he pointed to it and asked Greeley, “Mop water?” At Greeley’s befuddled half-nod, the larger man picked up the bucket and doused the sleeping form with its contents.

  The lump in the cell woke with a yelp and a snort and several nasty curses that made Kolton’s rant seem positively poetic. Choking and sputtering, the man jumped to his feet with surprising nimbleness—then stumbled backwards for several steps before shaking his head and blearily looking around.

  “Kolton,” he coughed out. “We seem to have hit a spot of weather.”

  “Aye, Cap,” Kolton said amenably, his voice low. “It’s over now.”

  “Excellent.” He lurched forward, almost walking into the bars of his cell. Stopping abruptly, his head bobbed unsteadily as he surveyed his surroundings. Then he squinted up at the large man. “Why am I in the brig?’

  As he came into the torchlight, Isabella started in surprise. Even muzzy with drink and filth drenched in his wild black hair, he was shockingly handsome. He was large—not as large as the hulking Kolton—but he was tall and lean and broad-shouldered. His skin was fine-grained and bronzed from the sun. Behind the nascent shadow of a beard his jaw and cheekbones appeared to have been chiseled from marble. His lips were full and mobile, and when he frowned at Kolton, Bella noticed the slightest dimple in his right cheek.

  Most striking, however, were his eyes. They were pale green, almost gray, and fringed by the most extravagant black lashes she had ever seen on a man. The stark contrast between his thick, dark brows and light eyes was mesmerizing. Even bleary with drink, those eyes twinkled with wit and intelligence and mischief. If Bella had ever been asked to envision a fallen angel, Captain Phillip Ashford would’ve fit that image perfectly. Quite simply, he was the most beautiful man she had ever seen.

  Isabella disliked him immediately.

  He turned to assess her with those green eyes, and she felt the nape of her neck prickle as he took in her shabby appearance. She was wearing a nondescript, sturdy gown of unadorned cotton. She’d not bothered fussing with her hair—why bother when visiting a prison?—and in the oppressive Caribbean air it was easiest to pull her blond waves back in a tight bun. A thin sheen of sweat had formed at her hairline and her cheeks were undoubtedly rosy from heat and embarrassment.

  Ashford gave her a quick once-over and clearly found her lacking. For the first time in her life, Isabella had a flash of jealousy that she hadn’t been born with her sister’s angelic looks.

  “I’m a bit jug-bitten for a woman, Kolton,” Ashford said to his crewmate. “But I do appreciate the thought.”

  Isabella felt her lips thinning in anger. By her side, Greeley bristled at the insult. Kolton shook his head. “Cap, she’s not—”

  “No she’s not.” Ashford returned his attention to her. He squinted at her, as though trying to focus. He gripped the bars of his cell to steady himself. “Bit plain, isn’t she?” he said frankly, his voice smooth with a faint huskiness. “Much too thin. I like women with a little more meat on their bones.”

  “And a little less sense in their heads, no doubt,” Isabella muttered.

  Captain Ashford raised a brow at that. “Feisty,” he said, his gaze sharpening on her. “I like feisty.”

  Isabella narrowed her eyes at him. Unlike his shipmate, he spoke with the crisp, smooth syllables of a peer. “You’re a nobleman,” she observed bluntly, not bothering to hide her disgust.

  Ashford chuckled again. “I think few people would consider me noble, sweetheart. But if you mean I was raised in polite Society, you’re correct.” He leaned closer to her, as though sharing a secret. “It didn’t take, I’m afraid. I’m rarely polite.”

  “I gathered as much,” she retorted hotly, ignoring her skittering pulse. “Which likely explains your current surroundings.”

  He smiled at her, very deliberately, very wolfishly, and Isabella noted with growing frustration that his teeth were as perfect as the rest of him. “If you weren’t dressed like a schoolmarm, you might actually be attractive,” Ashford blathered, seemingly unaware of her tightening jaw. His gaze wandered lazily over her from head to toe, and Bella felt her cheeks blazing. “Though, truth be told, you’re too scrawny to be beautiful. Even under that disaster you call a dress I can tell you’re all sharp angles.”

  “I beg your pardon!” Bella huffed.

  “See there,” Ashford said, wagging his finger triumphantly. “Even your tone is sharp. I bet your elbows and knees are knobby.” He cocked his head, considering her. “I can’t decide if I’d rather tup you or feed you.”

  “Cap!” Kolton hissed. “Mrs. Marshall isn’t a ladybird. She’s a client!”

  The inebriated man seemed amused by this statement, and Bella felt her waning patience evaporate. “Your quartermaster is correct. I’d like to retain your services,” she snapped quietly.

  At his rakish look, Bella felt herself flush down to her toes. He enjoyed flustering her—that much was obvious. “No!” she hissed. “I have some...cargo for you to transport. To England.”

  Ashford shook his head then had to find his balance. “I’d love to help you, sweetheart, but my days of ‘transporting cargo’ are over,” he said stubbornly. “I’m giving up the sea to lead an honest life.”

  “But you haven’t heard my offer,” Bella protested, trying to keep her voice down.

  Ashford waved his hand, making him wobble precariously. “I don’t need to hear it. Come morning, when I’ve sobered up, Greeley here will accept my generous bribe and release me
from these lovely accommodations. Then I’m selling that blasted ship and retiring on a deserted beach with a beautiful native princess—one who doesn’t speak a word of English, mind you—and not a care in the world.”

  “Cap, you don’t understand,” Kolton stated quietly. “Rumor has it the lieutenant-governor is ready to sign the orders for your execution.”

  Ashford made a face. “Jamieson is going to execute me? Why?”

  “Well, you did seduce his wife,” Greeley said bluntly.

  “Ah, the lovely Marguerite,” Ashford said with a wistful sigh. He waved dismissively. “She seduced me. Besides, that’s hardly grounds to execute me.”

  Kolton began ticking Ashford’s crimes off on his fingers. “You openly seduced his wife. You hijacked several shipments of his brandy. You paid him only a fraction of the ‘docking fees’ that you’d agreed to pay in exchange for safe harbor. You cheated him at cards. Shall I continue?”

  Ashford pointed drunkenly at the two men. “I never cheat. I simply know how to play my opponent, which is something Jamieson should learn.”

  Kolton rolled his eyes at the man’s stubborn drunkenness. “You cost him a small fortune and you embarrassed him.”

  “In my defense, he owed me that money.” Ashford waved him off. “If a man can’t pay his debts on time, he should expect to have them collected...unexpectedly. Furthermore, I think we can all agree that stealing somebody else’s ill-gotten goods isn’t a crime,” he argued. He stopped for a moment to consider his convoluted logic. “Not really.”

  “It may not be a crime,” Greeley said, “but it was bloody stupid. Kolton is right. Come morning, Jamieson is going to charge you with piracy. I guarantee that if you’re found guilty, you’ll be swinging by nightfall.”

  Ashford waved his hand. “So be it. Guilty as charged.”

  Kolton reached through the bars and grabbed his captain by the shirt. Looking squarely into his eyes, he said, “I know you blame yourself for Andrew, but letting yourself hang for a trumped up charge is not going to bring him back. Phillip, we need to leave Jamaica.”