The Pirate's Jewel (31 page)

She leaned her head on her knees. This should be one of
the happiest days of her life. She had a husband she adored and had been
reunited with a father who said everything she had always longed to hear. Her
marriage would no longer be shadowed by her father’s ghost. Instead, it would
be threatened by a living, breathing man who seemed bent on ruining it.

With awful clarity, she realized how wrong she had been
about her father. Her childish fantasies had grown too strong to be dispelled
easily. Bellamy Leggett in all his glory was the only one strong enough to
banish his own myth. But he still was her father. She couldn’t stuff him in a
trunk like a toy she’d outgrown. With her eyes open, she could forge a
relationship with the real man. It would not be the one of her dreams, but it
would be better because it was real. Now, if she could only get her husband to
keep from trying to kill him.

With her breathing returned to normal, she tried to order
her thoughts. Running off like a child would solve nothing. She had come too
far to let either man go.

She got up and brushed off her skirt. She wasn’t ready to
face them yet. Not only did she have to forge a relationship with her father,
she had to untangle the one she had with her husband. Without Bellamy’s death hanging
over their heads, there was still uncharted water in her hasty marriage.

Nolan was adamant about wanting her for his wife. His
physical display of affection couldn’t be disputed, but he had yet to even hint
at the fact that he loved her. Everything else that lay ahead, as well as
behind, remained draped more in mystery than clarity. She continued to walk
deeper into the interior of the island, heading up a slight incline. An
orchestra of birds sounding overhead helped to lighten her mood. She glanced up,
mesmerized by the light spilling through the leaves.

Her heart scared her. She wasn’t sure it could be trusted.
She had spent a lifetime believing in a man, her father, who she realized was
undeserving of her loyalty. What if her judgment of Nolan was no better? After all,
he had been a pirate like her father. He had been seduced by visions of glory
and wealth. Perhaps her mother had had the same romantic illusions about her
father as Jewel had with Nolan—until the adventure ended with a baby and no
husband to stand by her side.

She had no reason to believe Nolan would be so uncaring,
but if they didn’t discover the treasure here, it might prolong her finding
out. Their adventure wouldn’t have to end. There would be more time to gain
confidence in her marriage.

The sound of running water hurried Jewel’s pace. Exploring
the island lifted her mood in a surge of independence. She had spent too much
of her time waiting to be rescued or led.

It was strange that she suddenly dreaded finding the treasure.
She didn’t know what she had ever hoped to gain. The wealth seemed more likely
to lead to the loss of the man she loved rather than any happiness.

The sound of water grew louder. This was no ordinary stream.
Jewel pushed aside branches and ignored the twigs that tore at her hair in her
haste to reach her destination. A small clearing welcomed her. A slight spray dampened
her skin, and she blinked in awe at the sheer beauty of an enormous waterfall.
Light refracted off the cascading water, creating a rainbow. A steep black
cliff set off crystalline falls. Lush ferns surrounded a deep pond at the base.
She moved to the edge. The water churned the pool, creating a fathomless bottom
and a surface of black, undulating glass.

The pristine scene tempted her to strip off her clothes and
dive into its open arms. She knelt to scoop up a handful of water. Wading in
wasn’t an option. The pool appeared to descend into the other side of the
world.

Surrounded by the dense heat of the jungle, the chilled water
begged to be entered. Most of the water she tried to capture spilled through
her cupped fingers, but she touched her tongue to the little she could keep.
Fresh. It had been forever since she had bathed in fresh water. She leaned over
and washed her face, reminding herself she couldn’t get in no matter how much
she wanted.

She stilled. An urge to fall into these cool depths
compelled her with such force that she hopped to her feet and stepped back. She
had the sensation of someone watching her, guiding here to this spot just to
see what she would do. The air around her hummed with intensity like a forest
enchanted by witchcraft from the tales she’d heard as a child. Everything
beckoned even as it repelled her.

She glanced up at the waterfall again. Its shape reminded
her of something she had seen before. One of the runes on the map. The rune
resembled the waterfall, all the way down to the two tree trunks trapped by a
rock near the top. With calm, sure sight, Jewel knew she had found Captain
Kent’s treasure.

***

Their angry voices carried across the beach. Jewel paused
at its edge, still partly hidden by dense foliage, wondering if they even
realized she’d been gone.

“This is going nowhere. Get the swords or shut up,” barked
Wayland.

“That’s fine with me. I’ve been waiting five years to teach
this pup a lesson,” Bellamy shouted back.

Jewel stepped onto the beach. She could see Bellamy and
Nolan facing each other, with Wayland in the middle. Bellamy paced back and
forth, while Nolan held his ground. The rest of the crew hung back, looking
indecisive.

Nolan glanced in her direction. Jewel’s heart lodged in
her throat. He
had
noticed. He had to have, or everything they had was a
lie.

He turned back to Bellamy. “I’m not going to fight you,
old man. I’m here to get the treasure and then I’m leaving without you.”

Bellamy spotted Jewel from the corner of his eye. He didn’t
turn to acknowledge her presence any further than that. “And without my
daughter. Isn’t that right, Jewel?”

It infuriated her that he would be pompous enough to think
he could use her so easily. He had in the past, but no more. “I haven’t made up
my mind.”

Her words finally snagged Nolan’s full attention. Her husband
turned, his gaze fiery. An instant later, he hid all emotion behind a scowl—a
scowl the likes of which she hadn’t seen since their wedding day. Bellamy
seemed satisfied with her answer, because his smile was unmistakably
triumphant. “Don’t worry, girl, I won’t let this son of a whore leave without
paying for dishonoring my daughter.”

Nolan gritted his teeth. “I’m responsible for her welfare,
not you.”

Bellamy put his hands on his hips. “Ha! I don’t for one
minute believe that wedding is legal. It was just a dirty trick to get my girl
to be your strumpet without a fuss.”

Nolan took a step forward. Wayland put a hand on his and
Bellamy’s chests, keeping them an arm’s length apart. “Don’t tell me it weren’t
legal. I was there.”

Bellamy threw his head back and laughed, purposely tossing
his long mane of hair. “I never thought you would succumb to his altar boy
trickery. He’s just as self-serving as the rest of us. He just pretends to be righteous
to get his way.”

Jewel trudged across the thick white sand to meet Nolan,
all the while begging him with her gaze to deny her father’s taunt. “You said
it was legal. Are we married or not?”

He gripped her shoulders, stared down into her face. His
intensity tempted her to believe everything he said. “It’s legal. Don’t doubt
that.”

Bellamy yanked them apart. Jewel stumbled back. “Don’t
touch her. It ain’t legal. You’re a privateer without a letter of marque, and
that makes you a pirate. Wayland told me. Captain or no, you ain’t got the authority
to marry a couple of bilge rats.”

Nolan lunged for Bellamy. Both Jewel and Wayland reached
them at the same time. Wayland restrained Bellamy, and Nolan backed off on his
own as Jewel touched his arm. He wrapped her in his embrace, pulled her against
him.

Wayland kept a firm grip on Bellamy’s shoulder. “Settle it
with swords, ’cause words ain’t getting either of you anywhere. But first let’s
find the treasure. That way, we can all divvy up both your shares after you two
kill each other.”

Jewel wanted to pull away from Nolan. Her mind reeled with
the knowledge she might not really be married. How was she going to save a
marriage that didn’t even exist? Had Nolan intentionally deceived her, or had he
believed they were wed?

She tried to wiggle from Nolan’s arms, but his grip was
unmovable. He held her too tightly, like a possession he feared would be ripped
away. His devotion might have given her hope for them if she didn’t fear he was
purposely antagonizing her father. She braced her hand on his chest, trying to
keep her balance. This seemed to reassure him, because he eased up slightly.

Nolan’s gaze flayed Bellamy. “I’ll get my letter of marque
from the colonies soon enough, and the first thing I’ll do is make my marriage
official. And if that doesn’t please you, I’ll marry her again, anywhere,
anyplace.”

“Fine,” Bellamy spat back. “But until then, take your
hands off her.”

The man rushed forward, leaving Wayland with the rest of
his tattered shirt. Nolan shoved Jewel behind him, but she didn’t plan to stay
there. She dashed in front of Nolan, her hands out to ward off her father.
“Stop it! Both of you. If you two would stop arguing for a few seconds, I could
tell you what I found.”

The words left her mouth before she’d realized what she
intended to say. That she had temporarily forgotten such an important fact the
moment she returned to the beach and found Nolan and Bellamy still at odds
warned her that the treasure wouldn’t accomplish what she had always hoped.
Riches alone wouldn’t buy her the acceptance she craved; neither did finding it
mean what she’d thought it would.

Both Bellamy and Nolan, along with the entire crew, paused
to stare. Everyone seemed as relieved at the break in the hostilities as she.

She let her arms fall to her side. “The treasure. I found the
treasure.”

Nolan’s eyes widened. “Where is it?” His excitement was
obvious in his posture and suddenly bright features. Perhaps only she heard the
bitter tone in her voice.

“It’s under a waterfall. Come on, I’ll show you.” She turned
and headed back toward the jungle.

Bellamy’s voice halted her. “Hold on one second. You two
ain’t going traipsing in the jungle for a little fling. I’ve never seen any
waterfall, and how in the hell do you know that’s where the treasure is?”

“If you knew your daughter better, you’d realize she has a
sense about these things. She discovered the treasure was on this island. This
tiny island. The very place you called home for the last five years,” Nolan
sneered.

Bellamy abruptly froze and gave him a tight-jawed glare.
Jewel might have been foolish where her father was concerned, but she wasn’t
stupid. She knew what his uncharacteristic lapse into silence meant. He didn’t know
about the waterfall because he hadn’t been on the island all this time. But the
lie didn’t mean much; she still wanted to believe the best of him. She almost laughed
out loud at her tenacious desire to still believe he hadn’t come back for her
because he’d been stranded on this island. A door closed in her heart, and she
realized all the false faith she’d had in Bellamy Leggett was vanishing
forever.

She stepped forward and tugged Nolan’s sleeve. If she could
distract them, perhaps the situation could be defused. She had no intention of
continuing the argument about Bellamy’s location for the last five years.
“Maybe I’m wrong about the treasure. But the waterfall is real enough.”

Bellamy waved his hand, dismissing her completely. “What
if it is? It’s too bleeding hot to go stomping around this hellish place. Let’s
see the map and use it to find the treasure, instead of listening to this slip
of a girl.”

Jewel’s newly acquired insight into her father’s less than
loving character didn’t stop his total disregard from wounding her. Her grip on
Nolan involuntarily tightened.

Nolan slipped his palm under her hair and rested it on the
back of her neck, something Jewel took as not only a protective gesture, but
one of unconditional support. “You’ll never lay hands on the map again, or
anything else that belongs to me,” he said.

Wayland went out of his way to shove past Bellamy and join
ranks with Jewel and Nolan. “The map’s got its own secret language, you idiot.
The chit’s the one who figured it out. If she says it’s at some waterfall, then
I’ll gladly follow her. When you had the map, you couldn’t even find your
arse.”

He turned and winked his brown eye at Jewel, and then
offered her his arm when he reached her. She took it.

Nolan tightened his grip for only an instant before he let
her head toward the jungle with Wayland. He continued to face Bellamy, and
Jewel realized he wouldn’t turn his back on her father.

When they reached the end of the beach, she heard someone
trudging up behind them. “I would have figured the bloody thing out eventually.
Having a crew full of sots like you didn’t help my thinking any,” Bellamy muttered
as he reached their side.

Jewel glanced over her shoulder to find the rest of the crew
following, with Nolan at the rear. She relaxed, realizing she had staved off
bloodshed between her husband and her father for the moment. But Nolan wasn’t
her husband.

She would have stumbled if Wayland hadn’t tightened his
grip. She looked over her shoulder again, searching for Nolan. His gaze was
already on her, and he gestured with a slight nod of his head. She’d given up
her hold on the tarnished image of her father, but she’d never give up on
Nolan.

***

After several agonizing minutes, much longer than Jewel thought
it humanly possible to hold your breath, Nolan broke the water’s surface. Jewel
knelt by the side of the pool, panting as hard as he because she’d been unable
to take a breath while he remained underwater. She reached for him.