Virgin Star (49 page)

For a moment, Shalyn wondered if the duke might cry like a child for his loss. She dipped a cloth in the water bin and as if it were no more than a splash of wine, she began washing the blood from her arm.

Sudden amusement glowed in Seanessy's eyes as he watched. That was so like her! She could finish off a roomful of nefarious villains and then calmly set about repairing her appearance.

Here was a young woman like no other!

He still stared, thinking of the multitudes of other women he knew. Recently, he had heard, it had become the height of fashion among ladies to draw the stays of their corsets mercilessly tight. This allowed them to faint at whim or will. Society viewed this fainting as an admirable expression of feminine delicacy and constitution. The contrast between Shalyn and most other women was startling and powerfully felt: Shalyn's utter fearlessness and bravery set alongside some pale, simpering woman falling into a dead faint at the sight of a shirtless man or upon hearing an off-color remark.

"Shalyn, I love you..."

The words brought her gaze to him. All thoughts of the impending explosion disappeared as she felt her heart lift, her breath catch. The way he stared at her! With such tenderness and affection and ardor! She tried to imagine what thoughts raced through his mind as he stood there staring at her, but she couldn't. "Seanessy." She said his name in a whisper of emotion.

The duke was trying to sit up. Anger trembled through him as he watched the captain and Isabel staring at each other like lovestruck adolescents. He should have killed her long ago! She was so seditious, wild, diabolical—

He stopped, spotting the pistole a scant pace from his side. He slowly reached for it.

Shots sounded from outside. "Finally!" Seanessy said, pleased. A series of seven shots fired before Edward rushed in through the doors with a pistole in each hand.

"So much for my rescue," he said, sizing up the scene. "We got them all outside, but one of the bastards set the ship to blow. We can't find the bloody fuse. Quick. Over the side—"

The duke lunged for the pistole in an agonizing movement and swung it around to aim at the girl who had frustrated his grand plans. Edward fired his last shot in the dead center of the duke's chest.

Shalyn turned with a startled gasp to see her dead husband. "Edward! How could you! After all he had done to me, I had so wanted to get even myself—"

"There's no time." Edward realized they didn't understand. "Quick! She could go any second!"

The words resounded in the smoke-filled room. Seanessy swore as he lunged for Shalyn. His arms snaked around her waist. He swung her up in the air and over his shoulder like so much extra baggage before racing through the door, just in time to see Edward and Toothless diving over the side to safety.

Seanessy set Shalyn on the rail and said the single imperative: "Jump!"

Shalyn took one look back as if to see where the fuse and the dynamite were hidden. All she saw was: "Oly! Seanessy! Oly!"

Seanessy took one look at his doomed pet tied to the rail but instead saw the foot-long fuse rushing to wooden water barrel some ten paces away. "No," she cried, seeing the same. "We have to save him—"

She started to swing back to rescue the dog,

Seanessy swept her up in his arms and swore, "You audacious, impetuous termagant—" and before he had finished he tossed her brusquely her over the side into the water.

She came up in the cool ocean water, gasping for breath. Edward shouted at her to start swimming away. She dove under and swam with all her strength. She surfaced at Edward and Toothless's side a good twenty-five paces away, and turned to the ship.

The sight would live in their minds forever. Seanessy stood at the rail holding a one-hundred-and-fifty-pound dog. With a great heave, he lifted the frantic dog over the side before he jumped up on the rail and dove. Dove against a backdrop of red, gold, and orange explosions shooting twenty paces into the night sky.

"Duck under, lass!" Toothless cried.

She ducked under the water as the magnificent ship exploded, showering the darkened water with small pieces of timber. Shalyn held her breath as long as she could and more, until her lungs felt bursting with a thirst for air. She popped up on the surface, took a huge gulp of air, and ducked back under.

Something struck the water just above her. 'Twas a piece of the proud oceangoing vessel Seanessy loved. She shut her eyes against the sting of salt water before surfacing again. She drew a huge gulp of air, her arms moving in smooth wide circles as she saw the worst was over. Edward and Toothless tread the water too, staring off at the ship. The mainmast had cracked, felled like an ancient oak on its side; the sails had burst into flames. She spotted Oly frantically swimming toward them, terrified but thankfully not hurt.

"Ye be all right, lass?" Toothless called over.

"Aye, but—"

Shouts sounded from two lifeboats pulling up fast on the burning ship. Some of the crew were returning from the successful conclusion of their expedition. "There's the boys now." Edward pointed.

"Well, look at that," Toothless said, referring to the ship.

"Looks like it hit the mainmast and the carpenter's room, is all," Edward said. "If we can get the fire out quick enough! Come on!"

Toothless socked the water with his fist. He was too damn old for adventures. "Lord, will this night never end!"

"But, but—" Frantically Shalyn searched the dark water, turning in a circle to see nothing but the smooth surface of the bay. The distant lanterns from the village cast long ribbons of light over the water. She looked across to see the rooftops of the stucco houses, the jutting towers of the castle, and the blackened jungle beyond. "Seanessy!" She shouted his name, "Seanessy!"

Strong hands slipped over her bare feet beneath the water, sliding up her legs even as he drew her against his huge body. Instantly her arms circled his neck as he gasped for breath, holding her so tight he was afraid he might hurt her, and still it was not enough.

"Seanessy! Seanessy, you're all right! I was so afraid—"

He drew back a bit to see her face. One strong hand clasped the wet thickness of her hair at the base of her neck, his other hand carefully tread water as he studied her face cast in the golden light of the nearby fire. A boyish grin changed the features of his face as he noticed, "So we're not totally fearless after all."

"Nay." She shook her head. "For it would have been my life too, Seanessy."

Then she clung tightly to his neck as he tread water for both of them. Her long hair floated in a semicircle around them and he twirled her happily in the dark water. "Shalyn, Shalyn." He stopped to stare down at her wet upturned face. "I love you. Kiss me, Shalyn. Kiss me now in celebration of the long rest of our lives ..."

As the men worked furiously to douse the nearby fire, as its flames sizzled and died and smoke rose, as the huge yelping dog swam in excited circles around them, she kissed him. Beneath a thousand stars and in the middle of the smooth dark waters of the ocean, she touched her lips to his. The kiss deepened as he gently molded his mouth to hers with all the stirring desire of a first kiss and the same hungry passion as if it were their last.

A sweet prelude to the long rest of their lives indeed…

Epilogue

Shalyn was not going to be poor. That much was soon obvious.

During the rush of the first hours after the duke's death, his faithful army put up a spirited defense that followed the Wind Muse along the island's coast until she reached the heart-shaped rock. For two days, the Wind Muse returned fire whenever any of the duke's men ventured toward them by boat.

On the third day, a white flag waved. The captain of the army finally realized that with their employer's death, and no hopes of getting the treasure out when it was protected by a seven-hundred-ton, well-armed sailing ship, they would need help getting off the island; they had only one ship there. They accepted Seanessy's conditions for peace, especially as he agreed to arrange for passage back to France, just after the slave population was brought back to Madagascar. Seanessy immediately dispatched the duke's ship to Malacca with the order for all of his ships to sail at once to the island.

With Seanessy, Shalyn had walked through the stone castle only once, remembering the long days and lonely nights when she was sustained only by the dream of escaping.

"I didn't know how to do it," she told Seanessy, sitting contentedly on the white sand beach, between his bent knees in the cradle of his arms. She stared into the dark star-filled night, remembering. "Even though I spent nearly every waking hour dreaming up farfetched and detailed plans to escape, I never knew how to do it until—"

"Until Ram and Joy arrived."

"They were so kind," she said. "They knew something was wrong, terribly wrong. Of course, I couldn't appeal for their help. He and his men stood no chance against the army. I did not want them hurt; I was so afraid the duke would. I tried to be brave, to maintain the duke's pretense of, if not a loving relationship, a congenial one. Yet as you guessed, she knew. Lady Barrington knew.

"That morning they were leaving; I took my daily walk on the beach. Lord Barrington waited for me in secret. He begged me to tell him what was so amiss. He didn't know what was wrong, but he was certain there was something. 'Because my wife told me,’ he said. Lady Barrington had told him I hated my husband, that I was like a trapped animal, that he was threatening me somehow. I could hardly speak, the need to relate the nightmarish world I lived in and be saved was overwhelming, yet the consequences more so. I told him I was well and fine, that his sweet wife must be mistaken. He paused for a long moment before saying, 'I know what you are thinking. You're thinking that there is no man alive who could save you from the duke. Perhaps you are right. There is no man that I know who could do the job. On this island.' Then he grabbed my arms, imploring me, 'So you must get off this island, Isabel! He will be going to London soon. Somehow you must make him take you to London with him. And once there, go directly to Nine King's Highway. Ask for . . . Seanessy.' " She smiled, remembering, "He smiled so sweetly and his last words were, 'If anyone can save you it will be Seanessy."

''Huh!'' Seanessy said. "He did this to me on purpose. He wanted to get even with me for having arranged his marriage with Joy. He knew how much trouble you'd be. He knew it. I knew it too, the moment I saw you. I thought, Now here's a pretty package of trouble—"

He felt the gentle nudge of Shalyn's elbow against his chest, and she warned, "Don't pretend to regret it."

"Regret it? Did I say I regret it?" He chuckled lightly as he turned her lovely face around and gently kissed her lips. "When we meet my dear brother, you will see me drop to my knees and kiss his booted feet. Shalyn, I love you .. "

"Yes." She turned to face him, her arms sliding around his neck. "Love me, Seanessy. Now." She kissed his lips and closed her eyes as she whispered, "On a starlit beach ..."

Kyler and Hamilton began going through the duke's papers and soon managed to piece together all of Shalyn's various inheritances. The lass had inherited a London townhouse from her grandfather, Dr. Brackton, the famous surgeon. Her parents had left her the country estate she remembered from childhood. The duke had also discovered her dear Aunt Mary had left her a Venice townhouse. Naturally, as the duke's widow and a duchess to boot, she now owned his country estate in France, recently reinstated to his name, as well as a Parisian apartment. She owned the title to the Isle of Blue Caverns.

"You're even richer than Seanessy," Kyler summed up their findings. "And we haven't even gotten the treasure out yet."

Which turned out to be far more difficult.

The treasure was in an underwater cave in the heart shaped rock. The crew's best divers, Cherry Joe and Edward, repeatedly reached the underwater cave only to have to reemerge before they found the treasure. After a number of days spent watching these dives, and with practically everyone attempting it as well, Cherry Joe popped up and announced:

"I felt it! It’s there, Shalyn!"

A roar went up from the men. She threw her arms around Seanessy, who swung her in happy circles. Encouraged, Edward dove again.

After another day, it became clear that they'd have to wait for a low tide to secure a rope around the massive trunk. Seanessy's ships began arriving and the happy but arduous task of repatriating the slave population began. Most of the Frenchmen and all of the slaves had left the island when the day for retrieving the treasure finally arrived.

The sea appeared as a smooth sheet of glass, the sky a clear arc of blue overhead, and at least four more feet of the rock jutted above the water. Excitement fueled everyone's expectations as they waited. By midmorning, Edward and Cherry Joe got the ropes around it and by the afternoon the massive trunk was pulled onto the deck. The strongest men went after the rusted hinges with axes and crowbars. Even though Ti Yao must have opened the chest years ago to retrieve the virgin star, it had rusted badly. Slops managed to loosen it just enough.