The Treasure Hunters (10 page)

Fear threatened to consume her and
Ruby looked into the blackness. Should she do the wise thing and turn back? Everything
inside her screamed:
yes
. But the
idea that Merridie would be trapped and lost had her resolve stiffening her
spine.

“She doesn’t have a torch,” Ruby
said. “I can’t leave her here.”

Sin sighed. “I knew you were going
to say that.”

Chapter Ten

Merridie didn’t quite know what had
happened. One minute she was leaning against the wall, and the next it was
turning around, depositing her into complete darkness. She fell on her hands
and knees, and then used the wall to help her up. What now? She was getting
tired of all this darkness. Why couldn’t the map have a big old X on the ground,
and all they had to do was dig up the treasure? She liked things being easy. Was
that a crime? Whenever something had too many parts or too many motions, it
just made her angry. Perhaps that’s why she had liked Robert. He wasn’t
complicated.

Her hand hit something that moved,
hopefully a way back to Ruby and Sin, and she pushed hard. Sunlight flooded in as
the door to the small chamber pushed open and she blinked furiously as her eyes
tried desperately to adjust.
She was free
.
Excited, she rushed into the jungle only to stumble to a halt as she saw a
bunch of dirty men all staring at her. Where had they come from?

“Anyone got a towel?” she asked.

Ignoring her, one of the men
stepped forward and by the looks of him he had to be the leader. He was big, fierce
and had about six pistols stuck in his belt. She half expected him to start
saying, “
Arrr
”.

“Blanket’s okay too,” she mumbled,
taking a step back.
“If you have one.
I was in the
river and then I walked into a thousand spider webs, and it’s really cold in a
mountain. The sun feels nice. What’s your name?” Okay, she really needed to get
a hold on her inane prattling. “Here on vacation?” she asked.

“I’m called Ramzee, Miss Morgan,”
the leader said in a raspy voice. “Where you came from is exactly where I’m
interested in going.”

He pointed to the door behind her.

“How do you know my name?”

“Why were you in that passageway?”

It didn’t escape her notice that he
didn’t answer how he knew her name and something ugly coiled in her belly. If he
went in there, they’d be on Ruby’s heels.
 

“I got lost,” she answered. “I’m so
clumsy it’s not even funny.”

He brought up a wicked looking
machete and cut the bag that lay diagonally across her chest. One of his goons
picked it up and dug through it as she tried not to panic.

“That’s mine,” she said tightly. She
went to reach for it, but Ramzee brought the blade up to her chest. After a
moment, the man held up a map and her diary. Ramzee smiled with glee and
grabbed it, but his happiness quickly died as he discovered she’d written her
notes in the same language the map had been written in: French.

“Translate this!” he demanded.

“Oh, sorry.
I’m suddenly getting amnesia.”

Ramzee’s hand shot out and captured
her throat, cutting off her air, and she frantically clawed at his fingers to
breathe.

“I know who you are,” he said
softly, tone menacing. “I know who you travel with. And I know what you’re
after. Now, I’ll ask one more time. Translate the map, and we’ll start with
that door you just came out of. Where does it lead to?”

As panic settled in, Merridie
realized he didn’t care if she could breathe or not. Abandoning trying to peel his
fingers away from her windpipe, she poked him in the eye. With a howl of pain,
Ramzee dropped her and she sank to her knees, taking in big gulps of air and
trying not to cough.

“Little bitch!” he roared. He
grabbed her arm, shook her and tossed her toward the circle of men. One grabbed
her arm and hauled her back to her feet. She looked into Ramzee’s face and felt
honest-to-goodness scared. Her body began to shake as he advanced on her.

“You’re coming with me.”

 
****

Eden kept her eyes trained on the man
still on the beach, waiting for Asia to return. He had decided to follow Ramzee
a bit, to see where the man was heading. He’d been gone a while and she was
seriously thinking about taking this lone warrior on by herself when Asia
suddenly appeared next to her.

She jumped and placed a hand over
her heart. “Oh! You frightened me.”

“Sorry,” he said, although he
didn’t really sound sorry. “Ramzee got Merridie.”

“What? We have to go after her.”

He shook his head. “I couldn’t take
all of them on at the same time. Let’s focus on one thing at a time.”

She took a deep breath. Asia was
right, of course. Although she wanted to rush and help her friend, they needed
strategy more. “Okay.
Ready for my plan?”

Asia nodded. She took a deep breath
and undid the top two buttons on her shirt. She saw Asia trying not to look at
her cleavage and she hid her smile. Then she put her hands on her hips and
sashayed her way onto the beach.

“Oh, boys!”

 
The thugs looked up and spotted Eden who waved
flirtatiously while posing seductively. They smiled widely and when she crooked
her finger at them, they headed in her direction. With an excited squeal, she
turned and headed into the jungle. She darted behind a tree and waited. A
second later, she heard a grunt and a thud. She peeked around the tree and saw one
guard lying unconscious on the ground and another holding a knife, facing off
against Asia.

Eden tapped the guard on the
shoulder. He turned to face her and she quickly brought back her leg and kicked
him in the crotch.
Hard.
The man got a pained
expression on his face before dropping to the ground and letting out a tiny
high-pitched whimper. Asia looked at her with raised eyebrows.

“Merridie showed me how to do
that.”

“What do we do now?” Asia asked.

“You have to rescue Merridie.”

One of his dark brows shot up. “I’m
not leaving you.”

She waved off his concern. “Nothing
is going to happen. I can take care of myself.”

“I saw that. I don’t think I want
to face Merridie’s wrath if something would happen to you.”

“How about if I
promise to not get into trouble?”

He eyed her skeptically. She
crossed her heart.

He shook his head and sighed.
“All right.
But stay here.”

She watched him head back into the jungle,
and after he disappeared she unhooked her twined fingers. Then she turned to
look at the
Predator
.
 

****

Ramzee led his small party into the
cave, a lantern in everybody’s hand except for Merridie. Once the initial fear
had passed,
Merri
realized Ruby had no idea what was
going on behind her. She and Sin would be sitting ducks. Her heart sank.

Behind Ramzee, she began to do a
mental list of what she had to fight with.

All she could come up with was her
best weapon: her mouth. She hoped this tactic would distract him, or best-case
scenario, Ruby or Sin would hear them coming.

“I told you, this leads to a big
room with nothing in it except spiders,” she said.
“Big,
hairy, ugly spiders.
Believe
me,
you don’t want
to see them.”

She turned her head and spotted the
man behind her. In the lamplight, she took note of his long and a wiry beard. He
was definitely one ugly person.

“Then again,” she quipped, “I guess
you’re used to ugly creepy things.”

The man grunted and pushed her
forward.

Ramzee stopped and Merridie looked
around him to spot a side passage that branched off from the main one.

“Oh wow,” she said. “I didn’t see
that earlier. Of course,
it’s
pitch black and I had to
feel my way. As I said, I ran into several spider webs and I’m just glad I
didn’t feel any––”

Ramzee turned to her, looking
exasperated. “Don’t you ever shut up?” he interrupted.

She put her hands on her hips to
stare him down. “Not to kidnappers. I figure if I talk long enough, you’ll get
so sick of hearing me you’ll let me go.”

Ramzee took a step closer until she
could smell his hot, fetid breath. She wrinkled her nose and tried to lean
away, but ‘ugly man’ behind her halted her retreat. Ramzee grabbed her wrists
and looped a rope around them. Seconds later, she was being led forward, hands
tied and a gag in her mouth.

Ruby and Sin were in front of them
and her mind raced with what she could do to alert them. Ramzee halted for a
moment, which gave her a moment to look around, searching for anything to help
her, and her gaze landed on the glass lantern the hairy thug behind her held.

He was shuffling around and Merridie
waited until he was lined up with her. She checked her stance and then bent
sideways and gave a kick to the glass, shattering it. The noise was loud and it
echoed. She hoped Ruby heard it.

Ramzee turned to her, furious. He
raised his hand and backhanded her, the slap sharp and painful. She stumbled
but didn’t fall and she felt a trickle of blood spilling from a spilt lip, but
still, she managed to show him a triumphant smirk behind the gag.

****

Ruby and Sin walked cautiously
through the tunnel, the torch barely illuminating anything. Dank and musty, the
tunnel could be a tomb.
Their
tomb,
if they weren’t careful. For the hundredth time she questioned her decision to
press forward for a treasure that may or may not be there. Was it worth risking
their lives?

“We should’ve caught up to Merridie
by now,” Sin muttered.

Ruby halted, unable to take one
more moment of the absolute darkness. Everywhere she turned it was black, soul-crushing
nothingness. The air closed in on her, constricting her chest, and she panted
in quick gulps.

“Ruby,” Sin said gently as he put
his arms around her. “Take a deep, slow breath. In through your nose… Out,
through your mouth. Come on, now. Relax, baby.”

Slowly the suffocating feeling
ebbed, although she still felt a little shaky.

“It’s so dark,” she whispered. “I’m
not fond of the dark.”

“You should have told me.”

 
“I thought I’d be okay.”

“It’s going to be fine,” he said. He
rocked her and she loved how comforting his arms felt around her.

“As long as you continue to hold
me, I’ll get through this,” she said.

“If you wanted in my arms, you
should have told me. I’d be happy to hold you, Ruby.”

“You would?”

He grabbed her ass and shifted his
hips, and before she realized what was happening, he loomed over her. The torch
lay nearby, throwing flickering shadows on his face. He looked part demon,
ready to ravish her, and she was more than willing to be his helpless victim.

His fingers trailed down her body,
causing fire to shoot through her, even under her clothes. He circumvented her
breasts and she thrust them out, hoping he’d explore them further. Her nipples
ached to be touched. But he continued down, over her stomach until he reached
the juncture of her thighs. When he cupped her there, her eyes widened and she
couldn’t stop the small moan of desire that rippled out of her mouth. Their
gazes met, locked, and though his eyes were darkened by shadow, just knowing he
was with her helped calm her.

His head bent and he kissed her. Light
kisses at first that morphed into a deeper, more dominating embrace. His tongue
found an opening into her mouth and surged inside, even as he pulled her body
more firmly into his. His hand hadn’t left the heat between her thighs and she
wiggled her hips, wishing he would do more. End the ache he’d caused. She’d
touched herself before, exploring her own sensuality in the darkness of her
room, but none of those explorations could hold a candle to what Sin made her
feel. He brought her body, her
soul
,
to life.

The revelation soared into her
heart, her brain, taking her breath away. He was her one true love. Just like
her father had always told her, the family legacy was finally fulfilled.

His hand moved, finally, stealing
into the waistband of her pants, under her bloomers. She hadn’t been able to
wear her Spencer Corset in a while, something she’d been afraid of doing
without, but she had to admit the freely flowing bloomers had been more
comfortable. And now, as Sin’s fingers found her wet center, she was certainly
glad she’d gone with easy and accessible.

Her hips bucked as his fingers slid
along her seam.

“Oh, sweetheart, you’re so wet,” he
murmured against her lips.
“So wet for me.
I wish we
had a bed and all the time in the world, but we don’t.”

His fingers slid up her thighs to
find her dripping pussy. He pushed in, finding her clit and teasing it with
small little circles.

She moaned and her hips jerked up,
bumping against him. “Oh my god,” she breathed.

“I can feel how hot you are.
It’s
burning right though this piece of cotton. Oh yes, burn
for me.”

As he touched her
core, and her hips undulated.
He used her natural lubricant to tease
her, pumping in and out between her plump lips and making sure to bump against
her clit. All the while he captured her cries with his mouth, drinking in her
moans of need. Just when she thought she couldn’t handle anymore, she
splintered apart. He swallowed her scream of release, his name a benediction on
her tongue.

“Oh my god,” she said breathlessly.
“That was amazing. But you didn’t…ah, you, um…”

He chuckled in her ear and then
adjusted himself in his trousers. “Don’t worry about me. I wanted to relax
you.”