Quartermaster by Marilyn Barr

Catalina
He violated me. Don Rodrigo took my family’s business, home, and titles, but he will never own me. I’m on the run. He’s threatened to expose my secret. My last hope is to intercept the ship carrying my dowry before our match is permanent. Trusting pirates to give me a fair share is foolish but not as much as staying on the same island as my attacker…

Chub
The letter from our arch-nemesis was written in feminine calligraphy but our nutmeg Captain Teeth didn’t notice. Blimey that because the author of the letter is my lady love. I’d bet my last doubloon. If only she didn’t shrink away from my touch… Killing every scoundrel who dared to hurt her isn’t helping…but it cools the rage I hold inside.

Can Chub teach Catalina to assemble her shattered fragments into the strong woman she wants to be or is she too broken to believe in herself? Will she accept a pirate’s promise of true love or was the Mortar & Pestle’s message too late for lonely Chub to claim his lady love?

Targeted Age Group:: Adult
Heat/Violence Level: Heat Level 4 – R Rated

What Inspired You to Write Your Book?
I’m a homeschooling mom. I taught the foundations of democracy to my then-10-year-old to kick off his US history class. From Hammurabi’s code in ancient Mesopotamia to the pirate parlay code, I found democracy was found in more places than in ancient Greece and the colonial USA. In fact, women and people of color had equal rights on the sea, but not on land in colonial America. I fell in love with the governing systems of what I always thought were “lawless scoundrels.” Every job aboard was a voted position from Captain to poop deck scrubber, and each person holding those positions had an equal vote. Pirate Captains were slave liberators and portrayed as villains because the ones losing money are the same men writing the history. The truth is buried in the shipping logs from the port masters and merchant boat Captains. I was fascinated!

Quartermaster comes from a love of psychological warfare in the records of 1700s piracy. In the movies, pirates are portrayed as brainless sword-slashers when historically, they hardly ever boarded another vessel.

They depended on their reputations to scare their opponents—easy when the general population was superstitious. I fell in love with the tales of Sam Bellamy taking the Whydah by making a pretend ghost ship, Blackbeard braiding firecrackers into his beard to appear possessed, and the rest of the shenanigans of the 4 years called the Golden Age of Pirates. While I wrote about this period in the Walk the Walk series, Quartermaster takes place in 1725. By then, most of the pirates had taken pardons and retired from the sweet trade to a landlubbing life of agriculture or crime. I wondered what would happen if a boat refused to retire. They would be hated by the Spanish, English, and colonial Americans…

I was already half in love with Chub from his role in my other book series, so writing his happily ever after (HEA) became a passion piece. I knew I wanted him to represent tough men who weren’t tall, dark, and classically handsome gentlemen. Chub is a 5 foot 3 inches tall, freckled, red-headed pirate with more brains than manners. What he brings to the table is a patient disposition, a talent for teaching, and a huge heart. He teaches the young crew how to sail, the Captain to read, and his lady love to trust again. I wanted his HEA so badly, the story wrote itself.

How Did You Come up With Your Characters?
Chub is the brains of the boat and the one who kept Branko alive for most of the Walk the Walk series. When Patricia’s Wish sailed away, I had intended for Chub to be Captain…but in my head, he didn’t want it. Next in line was Teeth, the handsome ratline climber with the same number of fingers as brain cells…and he’s missing four of those. They were doomed before leaving Branko behind, and I loved writing every line of it. Chub is the ventriloquist behind the outrageous Captain Teeth…who needs his happily ever after next.

But what kind of lady would turn the head of Chub? He’s utilized the brothels in my other books, so a working girl or society lady wouldn’t fit. A Pirate Queen would also clash with Chub’s dominant personality. Having a kidnapped or stow away Governor’s daughter is a cliché in pirate romance, so I decided to ruin it. What if her father was a scoundrel who hated our hearties? What if she wasn’t fair and delicate, but a monster who hides a special ability? Being more than you appear would appeal to Chub who hides from the spotlight like a firing squad.

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