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    Mistress of Paradise (A Hawkins Brothers Novella)
    Mistress of Paradise (A Hawkins Brothers Novella)
    Mistress of Paradise (A Hawkins Brothers Novella)
    Ebook92 pages2 hours

    Mistress of Paradise (A Hawkins Brothers Novella)

    By Alexandra Benedict

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    About this ebook

    A dark and troubled soul, Captain James Hawkins seeks freedom from his tortured past as the infamous pirate, Black Hawk. But when he meets a seductive beauty on the island of Jamaica, he finds a passion greater than any foray at sea.

    Sassy, fierce and independent, Sophia Dawson knows her heart's desire - and it's the sexy brigand who tempts her with promises of pleasure. In his arms she finds erotic delight and respite from duty as her mad father's caretaker.

    But a storm lurks on the horizon as the couple's heated affair attracts scorn from the islanders. Will James and Sophia weather the brutal tempest ... or will there be trouble in paradise?

    ***Mistress of Paradise is the prequel to The Hawkins Brothers series. Don't miss the other books in the series: The Infamous Rogue, The Notorious Scoundrel, How to Seduce a Pirate and How to Steal a Pirate's Heart.***

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherAlexandra Benedict
    Release dateJan 13, 2015
    ISBN9781311409850
    Mistress of Paradise (A Hawkins Brothers Novella)
    Author

    Alexandra Benedict

    Alexandra (AK) Benedict is a bestselling, award-winning writer of short stories, novels and scripts. Educated at Cambridge, Sussex and Clown School, Alexandra has been an indie-rock singer, an actor, an RLF Fellow and a composer for film and TV, as well as teaching and running the prestigious MA in Crime Thrillers at City University. She is now a full-time writer and creative coach.   As AK Benedict, she writes acclaimed short stories, high-concept novels and award-winning audio drama for Big Finish, Audible UK, Audible US and BBC Sounds among others. She won the Scribe Award for her Doctor Who radio drama, The Calendar Man, and was shortlisted for the eDunnit Novel Award for The Beauty of Murder and the BBC Audio Drama Podcast Award for Children of the Stones. Her Christmas mysteries, The Christmas Murder Game and Murder on the Christmas Express, were both bestsellers, and The Christmas Murder Game was longlisted for the CWA Gold Dagger. Alexandra lives on the south coast of England with writer Guy Adams, their daughter, Verity, and dog, Dame Margaret Rutherford.

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      Book preview

      Mistress of Paradise (A Hawkins Brothers Novella) - Alexandra Benedict

      Mistress of Paradise

      ALEXANDRA BENEDICT

      This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination and are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

      SMASHWORDS EDITION

      2nd Edition

      Mistress of Paradise:

      Copyright © 2009, 2015 Alexandra Benedikt

      ISBN: 978 - 1311409850

      Cover Photo:

      copyright © In Arik/Bigstock.com

      All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other non-commercial uses permitted by copyright law.

      www.AlexandraBenedict.ca

      MORE ROMANCES BY ALEXANDRA BENEDICT

      CASTLES IN THE SKY

      Ashes

      Her Lord Cinder

      The Winter Rose

      Briar Rose

      Kiss Me, I’m Gorgeous

      The Wolfe’s Bride

      THE HAWKINS BROTHERS SERIES

      Mistress of Paradise

      The Infamous Rogue

      The Notorious Scoundrel

      How to Seduce a Pirate

      How to Steal a Pirate’s Heart (includes:

      All I Want for Christmas is a Pirate)

      THE TOO SERIES/WESTMORE BROTHERS

      Too Great a Temptation

      Too Scandalous to Wed

      Too Dangerous to Desire

      THE FALLEN LADIES SOCIETY

      The Princess and the Pauper

      STAND ALONE ROMANCE

      A Forbidden Love

      ANTHOLOGY

      Tales of Forbidden Love

      Castles in the Sky (Volume I)

      YOUNG ADULT FICTION

      So Down I Fall

      TABLE OF CONTENTS

      Chapter One

      Chapter tWO

      CHAPTER THREE

      CHAPTER FOUR

      CHAPTER FIVE

      Chapter 1

      There’s no use in weeping,

      Though we are condemned to part:

      There’s such a thing as keeping

      A remembrance in one’s heart.

      PARTING CHARLOTTE BRONTË

      The thick mountain mist swallowed Captain James Hawkins: a soul lost in paradise. The fog protected the runaway slaves, the rebellious Maroons, even the island ghosts from capture. James moved through the dense vegetation, slicing the feral ferns with a blade, searching for a fellow outcast. Sweat soaked his clothes as he scaled the steep and narrow dirt path, his only comfort the Undertaker’s Breeze sweeping down from the peaks.

      It was like passing through a hazy dream. The jungle was brimming with hidden, sensuous wonders: the mournful cry of a solitaire thrush, the light, sweet scent of ginger lilies, a brilliant and darting streamer-tailed hummingbird.

      He stilled for a moment, admired the haunting atmosphere. It was tempting to lose oneself amid the fern trees or beneath a blanket of wild blossoms. There was a charm, a magnetic pull to the lush environment. But James pressed onward. He had a duty to perform.

      After an hour-long hike, he sighted the ramshackle structure: a two-story, wood frame house with a front verandah and slated window shutters. The exterior was in disrepair, the planked walls weather-aged. It looked abandoned, but smoke piped from the limestone chimney, indicating the mad devil was home.

      There was a crash inside the abode, followed by a manic soliloquy.

      James gathered his breath and wiped the briny moisture from his eyes before he stepped beneath the thatched awning. He set the cutlass aside, so as not to spook the old man, then rapped on the door. Dawson.

      Feet shuffled in a frantic manner inside the house. Where’s my gun?

      You don’t need your gun, Dawson. He pounded on the door. It’s James!

      A pistol cocked. Who?

      James cursed under his breath. He remained stationed at the door, prepared to snatch the weapon from the raving hermit’s grip before he fired a single shot ... and hopefully keep all his fingers in the process.

      The door opened.

      James bristled.

      He was greeted by the barrel of a pistol. But it wasn’t the cold steel aimed at his nose that disarmed him, rather the pair of exotic brown eyes, trimmed with long, dark lashes, that peered at him suspiciously over the flintlock. The jungle mist reflected in the glossy pools of her eyes. She absorbed the gray and swirling light—drawing him into her as well.

      Who is it, Sophia? cried Dawson.

      She recoiled the weapon and rested it over her shoulder, her lengthy, thick tresses like smooth cocoa, spilling over her generous bust in soft waves. Black Hawk, I presume? My father’s told me all about you.

      James hardened at the low, lyrical sound of her voice, like honey and smoke, so sweet and rough at the same time, and a profound desire welled inside him to hear her speak his real name. He was Black Hawk at sea—the infamous pirate rogue—but he ached to be James with her.

      She stepped aside and welcomed him with a seductive smile. Come in. Are you hungry?

      Aye, he was hungry. Deep in his soul, he starved for the woman’s touch. At the age of thirty-two, he had never hankered for intimacy. He was accustomed to dockside whores, who fulfilled his carnal needs … but Sophia was no wench.

      She was a witch.

      She mesmerized him, and he struggled with her for supremacy. He yearned for the upper hand that she had snatched away from him. She made him breathless. He shirked from the disturbing sensation. He was always in command of his senses, his family, his ship. But Sophia took it all away from him. She wrested a burning desire from his soul. She governed him in that timeless moment, leaving him powerless, his guts twisted, and he had a raw, inborn impulse to take back control of his wits.

      Shoot the blackguard, Sophia!

      The fearsome Patrick Dawson—a retired buccaneer who had once ravaged the Caribbean Sea—stepped out of the shadows, sporting a bushy black beard speckled with gray. A long scar stretched across his brow and nose, and he gazed at James with dark, rabid eyes.

      It’s me, Dawson. It’s James ... Black Hawk.

      The burly brigand studied him with a wary expression before he humphed, having recognized the unexpected houseguest. What do you want?

      James stooped and entered the hut at the unfriendly invitation, his eyes firmly fixed on the vixen. She strutted across the room, lined with books about flora and fauna, with grace, setting the pistol on

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