Beauvallet — Georgette Heyer

The year is 1586 and 35-year-old Sir Nicholas Beauvallet (great great great grandson of Simon Beauvallet, the Coldheart) is one of the most infamous corsair of the Elizabethan era. With the blessing of the Queen, Beauvallet sails the seas with the intention of plundering any Spanish ships that come the way of the tittle "Venture". 'Mad Nicholas' to his friends, 'Scourge of Spain' to the enemy, Sir Nicholas Beauvallet has never been known to resist a challenge.

During her return to Spain with her father, the lovely Doña Dominica de Rada y Sylva, a Great of Spain heiress, is horrified when their galleon is set upon by pirates. Far worse is her discovery that their captor isn't just any pirate -- he is the notorious Sir Nicholas Beauvallet, an Englishman with a scandalous reputation for plundering Spanish ships. But Dominica's pride braces her determination to be no one's hostage... Seizing the chance, she tried to kill the hateful pirate -- but as he took her arm and held it she found herself strangely captured by his boyish smile.

I should have been easy for Sir Nicholas. It was, after all, just another Spanish ship. But instead, Sir Nicholas finds himself captivated by Dominica's dark beauty and indomitable courage. She could not believe it when he set her, unharmed, on the shores of Spain with her father. Nor could she still her beating heart when he vowed to return to claim Dominica as his bride, a venture more reckless than any of his exploits on the high seas which have made him Drake's equal and a favourite of the Queen. He proposes return to Spain, where there's a price on his head, with total disregard of the danger that the Spanish Inquisition poses to a Protestant in a Catholic land, and braving all the perils of King Philip's army could devise.