Mark nodded slowly. “That's a good plot. Basically checks off every item on the list for a typical bodice-ripper. And completely wrong.”
“Huh?”
He smiled down at her, his blue eyes dancing in the sunlight. To their left, the trees cleared as the shore of Pinehurst Lake came into view. In the distance, they could see canoes and small boats out on the water, and people fishing from piers.
“I like to break the rules, as far as romance books are concerned. Not copy them. So yes, there is a pirate captain. But she,” he stressed, “Isn't running away from a crime she didn't commit. She actually embraces it. She's a privateer, and she is working for the English to raid American shipping during their War of Independence.
“She has an all-woman crew-”
“Oh, of course she does,” Bree said with a s
