The Pirate's Jewel (10 page)

“I’m listening,” she said, raising her chin with a
confidence she didn’t feel. She’d hardly slept at all, and her restlessness had
turned to full-blown agitation after Nolan’s kiss. Her heart thudded all over
again, and the fact that she had the map no longer gave her confidence. He’d
proved he could take it any time he wanted—and after he’d sneaked in her cabin
last night, she couldn’t be sure he wouldn’t.

He glanced up at her briefly, and then returned to
scrutinizing his stew.

Jewel touched the matching green ribbon she’d used to pull
back her hair. She couldn’t stand his silence a moment longer, refused to be as
rude as he. “Thank you for the soap. Magnolias are my favorite. How did you
know?”

He stopped chewing and stared a hole through her. “The
seamstress picked it out. I had her collect all the things she thought a woman
would need. I assume everything is satisfactory.”

“Very.” Her smile faltered. Did he somehow blame her for
their kiss? Was he embarrassed? She stiffened at the thought. He always tried
to put on a self-righteous air, and if that notion extended to kissing the
likes of her, she’d make him say so.

“Good.” Furiously, he ripped another chunk of bread from
his loaf.

“Why are you so angry with me?”

His blue gaze burned. “I’m not angry.”

Jewel couldn’t take any more. When she tried to meet his
gaze, he looked away. If he intended to send her off, he should be man enough
to tell her and stop dragging this torturous encounter out any longer.

Nervously, she toyed with a strand of hair that refused to
stay in the bow at the nape of her neck. Nolan watched her with his head
lowered. Jewel suddenly realized he wasn’t ignoring her; he was unnerved.

She sighed, wanting to bridge the gap between them but not
knowing how. Perhaps their mutual attraction was the reason he was so
determined to send her away. She reached across the table to lay her hand on
his.

“Don’t,” he said between clenched teeth.

Jewel folded her hands in her lap. She couldn’t even look
at him. “I’m leaving.” She stood.

“Sit down, Jewel. I have something to tell you that I think
you’ll like.”

She sat down, but doubted he had anything to say that
would make up for his hostility.
He
had kissed
her
, yet he was
treating her like a beggar on the streets, someone you’d go out of your way to
avoid. “The only thing I will find agreeable is if you take me with you to find
the treasure.”

Nolan smiled, but without a hint of pleasure. “General Gage
has declared martial law in Boston. The Continental Congress has named George
Washington as head of the army. I’ve committed a portion of the treasure to
them for a letter of marque when I return, and I plan to outfit several
merchant ships for war. So you see, I don’t have the luxury of waiting you out.
I’m stuck with you. Now let’s see the map.”

To her utter horror, his detached words caused her throat
to tighten. She forcibly swallowed the threat of tears. “If you find me so
detestable, why did you kiss me?”

Nolan made a face as if he had swallowed a bug. “Ah…what?”

“The kiss in your cabin—in the middle of the night. Don’t
act as if you don’t remember. Why did you do it?” Her surge of anger swept away
the hurt his words had originally engendered. How dare he try to snatch the
moral high ground when he’d been the one to sneak in on her while she was
sleeping to steal not only the map but a kiss?

Nolan rubbed the stubble on his cheeks. “I made a mistake.”
He looked at her as if he were bracing himself. “Do you understand the
seriousness of the situation? This isn’t a social outing, Jewel. Captain Kent’s
treasure is rumored to be worth close to one million pounds. As it is, the
Continental Congress will have to borrow money from foreign powers to finance
Washington’s army. If I can find the treasure quickly, it would give them some
funds to work with as well as a fleet of privateers to hit the British in their
pocketbooks. So I’m taking you along because you have the map—no other reason.
Be happy that you’re coming and stay out of the way.”

Jewel stood. Her motions were stiff, but they kept her from
showing Nolan how she shook. He’d never said so much to her in a single sitting
and, from now on, she’d prefer his silent seething. Oh, how she regretted that
she hadn’t slapped him last night instead of discovering why women could so
easily ruin themselves over men so obviously unsuitable. She put her foot on
the bench and hiked up her skirt enough to pluck the map from her garter. She
threw it at him, aiming one of its pointed corners at his eye. “Here. This is
what you want. Have it. Don’t let me stand in your way. Oh, and just so we
understand each other—you kissed me. So please stop acting as if I’m a threat
to your virtue.”

Nolan juggled to catch the piece of parchment. “Jewel…” He
got up and came around the table.

She turned and strode to the door. With her escape in sight,
she stopped. She wasn’t going to flee like a child. He’d no longer dictate to
her like the overbearing ogre he was proving to be. “We are partners. I expect
to be treated as such. You’ll consult me on your plans, and I want half of the
treasure that doesn’t go to the Continental Congress.”

Nolan shook his head. The anger slipped from his gaze, and
his tone held a note of apology. “
I
don’t even get half.”

She stood straighter. “Then I’ll take the same share as
you.” She whirled to leave, and then turned back just as quickly. “Not everyone
on board thinks I’m in the way.”

Nolan’s face darkened. “Stay away from my crew.”

Jewel shrugged. “Fine. But how will you keep your crew
away from me?” She turned, kicked the hook holding open the door and slammed it
behind her for good measure.

She climbed the steps to the upper deck two at a time,
alternately stepping over and wadding up her pretty new gown in the process.
She’d throw the damn thing in his face and go back to wearing her threadbare
breeches.

Above, the pitch-black sky rolled with dark clouds that
only let hints of a waning moon peek through sporadically. Even the stars
seemed to vanish in the swirl of the turbulent sky.

Jewel leaned over the railing and stared at the ocean. The
waves lapped against the hull, while the rigging overhead moaned in mournful
chorus, matching Jewel’s mood. Perhaps her father commiserated with her from
his watery grave. Apparently, her new life wouldn’t be much different than her
old. Nolan didn’t want her any more than her mother or Harvey. For once, she
simply wanted to find a place where she belonged. Some days, she was just tired
of fighting for acceptance.

Nolan’s dismissal carved a painful gouge in her heart. So
many years had passed since she had actually tried to be anything other than a
barmaid’s illegitimate daughter, unwanted and in the way, and she’d forgotten
how much the cruel judgment of others could hurt. When the map was her secret
alone, it proved a source of strength, a magic talisman that would garner her
instant acclaim when she deigned to tell the world of its existence. Nolan had
proved that wasn’t so.

A tentative touch on her shoulder had her quickly hiding
her melancholy expression. She turned and discovered Wayland instead of Nolan,
and that brought on a new wave of despair. She’d given him far too much credit
just because he’d treated her fairly regarding the map, taken the time to buy
her a few nice things, and made her want him with the mere brush of his lips.

“What’s the matter, little girl?”

“Nothing.” She forced a weak smile, hoping he’d be polite
enough to accept her blatant lie. “Nolan is going to let me stay. We’ll all
find the treasure together.”

Wayland moved to lean on the railing. “Then why the long
face?”

Jewel looked down at her dress, unable to find the pleasure
it had given her earlier, or the strength for pretense. “Nolan thinks I’m in
the way.”

To her utter surprise, Wayland drew her into a gentle hug.
“There, there, chit. He don’t think that.”

Jewel let him hold her for a moment before tactfully disengaging.
His comforting gesture touched her, but he smelled like pickled fish and smoke.
She straightened the folds of her dress, actually feeling a little better.
“Nolan’s only taking me along because I have the map. If not for that, he’d
have nothing to do with me.”

Wayland lifted her chin with a crooked finger. He read her
eyes. “This is the first time you ever liked a fella, isn’t it?”

Jewel shrugged, intending to deny it, but the lie wouldn’t
get past her lips. Not that she was swept away by Nolan’s charm. Hardly.
Unfortunately, he’d captured her attention in a way no other man ever had. “He has
his brute appeal.”

“Yep, he’s a special one. And complicated. Let me tell you
something about Nolan. Whatever he told you, you can bet he means the opposite.”

Jewel studied Wayland’s face for sincerity. The time she
had spent in his company this past week had her believing the rumors that he
was half crazy. The unhappy clouds writhed and let a stray moonbeam loose upon
his glass eye, which glowed with blue life, but the rest of his face looked
dead.

Jewel stepped back, taking it all as a bad omen. “Thank
you for the advice.” She yawned loudly. “But it’s getting late…”

Wayland grabbed her arm. Jewel tugged, but he held tightly.
“Listen to me, chit. I’m counting on you to set that boy straight. He doesn’t
know what he wants.”

Jewel nodded her head in agreement, hoping he’d let her
go. Fear crept up the back of her neck. She searched the deck, but the bow
proved uncharacteristically deserted. No one could see her, and the low roar of
the waves would likely swallow any scream.

“Nolan says one thing, but you and I both know he’s
thinking something different.” Wayland also scoured the area with his good eye.
Sheer panic set in, and Jewel tugged on her arm, but he continued to hold on
with surprising strength. “He might say he isn’t interested, but how does he
look at ya? With fire. I’ve seen it. He burns for you.”

Jewel stopped her struggle, her interest in Wayland’s words
swiftly overriding her fear. The old sailor let go of her arm, but she didn’t
run away as she’d planned. What he said made sense—or maybe it was just what she
wanted to hear. “Everything I do seems to push him away. I wore the dress he
bought me. I thought that was what he wanted, but it only seemed to make him angry.”

“Pretty dresses are for boys like Parker. Nolan’s a man.
He’s used to women who know what they’re about. You can’t be flaunting your
goods, then pulling them back. You have to offer him what you got, plain and simple-like.”

Jewel stiffened. “Just because I worked in a tavern doesn’t
mean I’m a whore.”

“Well, I know that. If you were, we wouldn’t be having
this problem, would we? Trust me. If you want Nolan”—Wayland grabbed his crotch—“you
have to take him by the ballocks. Then you’ll have him.” He finished his
demonstration by winking. As if Jewel could have possibly misunderstood.

“I have to go.” She turned away.

Wayland caught her by the upper arm before she could
escape. “Never touched a man’s cock before, have you?”

Jewel tried to yank free. “You have to ask?” She thought
of slapping him with her other hand, but his mangled countenance probably
wouldn’t feel it.

Wayland held fast to her arm. “Calm yourself, chit. I see
you’re not quite your father’s daughter after all. I thought you were made of
stronger stuff.”

She wrenched away with a hard jerk. “I’m made of strong
stuff. I’m my mother’s daughter, too. I’ve no intention of ending up with a
swollen belly and no husband around when the child comes.”

Wayland grinned. “Well now, you aren’t as naive as all
that, are you?”

Jewel was angry with Nolan and herself and, suddenly, her
precious sire. She had been too busy mourning her fatherless state to fully
understand the difficult position her mother had been in until now. Nor how
much his abandoning her must have hurt. “No, I guess not. I just gave a show of
kindness more credit than it deserved. So that’s what Nolan wants, does he?
Sex.”

“I never said that. Well, not only that. Nolan isn’t like
your father, God rest his soul. Nolan wouldn’t desert you if he got you with
child—just the opposite. I’m only telling you how to get him where you want
him. He desires you, all right. But he’ll resist his natural inclination until
you have him stiff and hard in your hand…if you know what I mean.”

She understood too well. With no one to protect her in the
world, men thought her easy prey. She should have known what Nolan’s hungry
glances and stolen kiss really meant. Yet she’d thought he’d seen more in her
than just the physical. Thought he’d discovered the woman who had the strength
and desire to be more than what she’d been born to, who had the cunning to help
find a long-buried treasure. “If you’ll excuse me, I’m going to my cabin. I’ve
had an exhausting day.”

“Now, don’t get your feathers ruffled. You’re a pirate’s
get, and that’s that. Don’t be putting on airs. Nolan is a pirate, too, though
he doesn’t want to admit it. You two belong together, and I’m just trying to
help.”

Wayland’s comments drifted over the roars of the sea and
in her ears as she stomped back to her cabin. Nolan was no better than Latimer
Payne. They both thought her desperate enough to take what they offered.

Once inside the cabin, she had the urge to tear off the dress
Nolan had given her and throw it overboard. The reality of her position
differed greatly from her adolescent dreams. Just because she held the map to a
treasure didn’t mean she’d gain acceptance or respect. She didn’t know what she
could gain.

She carefully unlaced the dress and hung it in the wardrobe.
There was no way she was going to give in and deprive herself of the joy of
nice clothing. And since Nolan had provided her with the means to be an
unwanted female distraction, that was exactly what he was going to get.