She'd been the scourge of the seven seas. The pirate queen, some called her. But she'd been betrayed, a Royal Navy Captain had disguised himself as a deserter scum and wormed his way first into her crew, then her affections, then her bed. And then he betrayed her into the tender mercies of the waiting armada. Now she was sentenced to swing, wrapped in chains, stripped naked, the prescribed punishment for piracy, even though she was a woman. Perhaps, she allowed herself the hope, he might come and save her? Take her away and escape to the swamps of Florida or the buccaneer coast together?