Arabella Prescott's dreams of marriage were shattered when her fiancé was murdered by pirates. When she is kidnapped by the roguishly handsome Captain Fredrick Thorne, Arabella is determined to fight him with every inch of her being. She will not become the pirate's lover — no matter her body's unexpected desires.

Fredrick quickly discovers Arabella's weakness — him. Her feisty spirit amuses and her sweet innocence inflames, and when she resists his seductive touch, he forces her to submit to his desires — awakening intense passions even he had not foreseen. But with her sensual defeat comes a price neither are prepared to pay.

At the news of her kidnapping, Arabella's father, Governor Prescott, begins the hunt for Thorne's ship, Neptune's Sword, to save Arabella — and finally capture the most dangerous pirate upon the Caribbean. He will stop at nothing to see Thorne pay for his crimes at the end of the hangman's rope.

Reader Advisory: Crossed Swords contains scenes of forced seduction.