Written in the Stars (11 page)

“Don’t underestimate me.”

“Nor me!”

Cordelia gave her mother a frantic look but got no help there. Mom seemed hopelessly
mesmerized by the argument.

“All right, enough!” Cordelia shouted.

Both men snapped to, giving her their full attention.

“Did anyone ever tell you how amazing you are when you’re assertive?” Murphy asked.
“More.”

He was trying to get under her skin. And succeeding. Rubbing her burning wrist against
her thigh, Cordelia forced herself to keep a neutral expression. “Arguing is a waste
of energy. Who gets what will be decided underwater.”

“Playing this out below the surface sounds good to me,” Murphy said.

Innis stepped forward. “Cordelia, let me handle this—”

She put a hand on his chest to stop him, her focus on Murphy. “Whatever we find will
have historical significance. Such treasures belong in a museum where they can be
appreciated by everyone.”

“And when I find the mother lode and collect the treasure, maybe I’ll even create
my own museum to show it off to the public.”

Of course. He wasn’t only after the money but the glory that would accompany such
an incredible find. Irritated by the media-loving, rogue treasure hunter—a slightly
nicer title than pirate—Cordelia refused to let him bait her again.

Seeming disappointed, Murphy bowed his head, first to her, then to her mother, then
bounded to the rail and jumped from one boat to another. He nearly did fly and landed
lightly on the other rail. One look back—a wink at Cordelia—and he jumped down to
the deck.

Cordelia stared after him, her mouth agape.

“Well, wasn’t that something,” Mom said, sounding a little dazed.

“Don’t worry, Madelyn, we won’t let that pirate or his crew steal Ward thunder.” Innis
wrapped a possessive arm around Cordelia’s shoulders. “We have more divers than he
does. We won’t ever leave him or his men alone in the water to steal what isn’t his.”

Ward thunder.

Her father’s dream.

That was right. Cordelia wasn’t going to let anyone steal that from him. Or from her
mother. Or from herself.

She watched the Sea Rover move a hundred yards away from Foley’s Treasure and drop
anchor, then realized she was focused on the boat’s captain. Something about Morgan
Murphy got to her. No doubt it had simply been the excitement of the hunt followed
by the shock of his sudden appearance.

She leaned into Innis and he tightened his hold on her somewhat possessively.

The heated exchange between him and Murphy and her had been quite stimulating while
happening. But now that things had quieted down, the dream vision invaded her thoughts
once more, and her wrist burned even hotter.

Murphy might be a pirate…but a killer?

Dread that she couldn’t shake filled her, until it came to Cordelia. She knew what
she had to do.

First find the treasure.

Then find the dagger itself so that she could destroy it before its malevolent promise
could be fulfilled.

Chapter Eleven

Determined that he would get the best of the salvager and his wealthy employer, a
furious Morgan moved his smaller, less reputable-looking craft just far enough from
Foley’s Treasure and the Evening Star to have some privacy. Just thinking about Cordelia
Ward set him off, and not just because she defied him and presented an obstacle to
his hunt. There was something about the woman that set his juices flowing, that made
him want her to want him…

“So what do you think, boss?” his first mate, Emmett Green, asked.

“That we’re in for a fight.”

Though he would get the best of Cordelia Ward yet.

Spoiled little rich girl.

Like her parents before her, she had the money necessary to do whatever it took to
get what she wanted. The “haves” always thought it was their right to have more. Not
this time, not while he was still breathing. For some reason, the thought of challenging
Cordelia—Cordy—made his blood rush at dizzying speeds. He felt as if he knew her,
had always desired her, which was, of course, ridiculous.

Determined not to let her influence his goal, he said, “We have to be smarter and
faster and more aggressive than that pair.”

“Big order, considering how few men we got compared to them,” Emmett noted.

True, being that there was Cordelia and Foley and a half-dozen men. He was two men
down. One of his divers had just up and disappeared after their last hunt. Considering
they’d come away with nothing, Morgan couldn’t blame him.

And then there was Emmett.

The first mate couldn’t dive any more. A three-pack-a-day man, Emmett had smoked until
a doctor had strapped an oxygen tank to his back—not so that he could dive, but simply
to help him breathe since he’d developed emphysema. Emmett wasn’t breathing in oxygen
now, but there were times the old man had no choice. Morgan couldn’t fire him. Who
else would give a man his age, in his condition, a job? Besides, Emmett was still
useful—he took care of the equipment, managed the dives from topside, and fed Morgan
and the other men three squares a day. He earned his keep.

“At least for the time being, until we find the mother lode, we’ll have to make do
with four divers,” Morgan said, including himself in the count.

“Half the number on the Ward woman’s dive team.”

“There’s no helping it.”

“You could try for an investor—”

Morgan glared at Emmett, stopping his first mate mid-sentence. Then he entered the
main cabin of the Sea Rover.

He would never beg anyone for money. He’d seen his father do it over and over, most
of his life, changing him from a proud man to one always oozing gratitude, usually
to some stranger. One of the myriad “haves” in this world like Cordelia Ward. Morgan
would be his own man, make his own name, and then others could come to him for money.
He would never make someone who had a dream beg for his help.

As he looked over his maps and notes spread over his desk, he kept glancing out the
porthole, watching the other crew’s activities as they got ready to dive. He speculated
on the best moves to thwart the Ward woman. He and his men could simply dive where
they were anchored and take advantage of the area cleared by Foley’s magazine. Of
course that could start an all-out war. Someone could get hurt, and there were sure
to be repercussions. He didn’t need that. No, he had to play it smart, keep his men
just far enough away from hers to keep an uneasy peace.

At least until he had reason to do otherwise.

How in the world had Cordelia Ward found the Celestine’s wreck her first time out,
when he’d been seeking it for years and only recently narrowed the search area after
getting his hands on a century-old map he’d found in a musty island antique shop?

While his parents Daniel and Jane had always maintained they were content with their
lot, despite living in too small quarters, taking temporary jobs, and begging for
money from backers, Morgan wanted more for himself and for them. Not just money but
recognition. They’d given their lives to the search, would have kept at it if they’d
ever been rewarded, if they hadn’t been cheated by a greedy backer. He had a much
tougher attitude. His siblings had gotten out of the life, as well, but truth be told,
Morgan lived for the hunt—well, most of what was involved, anyway.

And now that he was so close to getting everything he’d ever wanted—everything his
parents had been denied for more than three decades—he wasn’t about to let a rich
newcomer snatch the prize from under his nose. Once he had his hands on the mother
lode, he would be the treasure-hunting star of the media, and wealthy backers who’d
made his father beg would seek him out, glad to fund him for other ventures.

He pulled the ring from a drawer and examined it once more. Every time he touched
it, it filled him with the surety that he would succeed this time. It also made him
feel things he didn’t want to acknowledge.

Emotions…and dreams that felt almost real.

Nothing specific. Just a glimpse here and there of places and people foreign to him.
A woman with dark hair, tending to one more fragile than she. What looked like a medieval
castle. Men on horses. The dark-haired woman again, this time tending to a small boy.

He got glimpses of her when awake, as well, like memories long buried.

Handling the ring as if he could pry open its secrets, he could almost see the woman
now, almost hear the lilt of her soft voice whispering in the dark…

Could almost feel her loving touch on his cheek…

As if the ring had a life of its own…

“Aahh!” The frustration got to him and he curled his fingers around the ring.

Next he fetched his newest treasure, a gold chain set with diamonds, from which hung
a sapphire-studded crescent moon. He’d found it by luck when he’d gone down alone
and had sifted through the sand by hand. The chain obviously had been torn from a
larger piece, one he hadn’t yet found.

A matter of time and opportunity.

Certain the find would be his, he tucked both ring and chain away again.

Glaring out the porthole at his competition, Morgan decided he would do whatever it
took, even if he had to get close to Cordelia Ward for information. The idea of getting
really close to her made his blood rush even faster—she was a beautiful, exciting
woman. He wanted a taste of that. But would a taste be enough for him? Not that his
desires would let her stop him from getting what he deserved.

If her claim had any validity, Morgan wasn’t aware of it. His research had proved
this particular sunken treasure was his family’s inheritance, therefore fate decreed
that he should be the one to claim it.

…

Everything Innis Foley ever wanted was within his reach.

If Morgan Murphy didn’t foul things up for him, that was.

“I told you the fetish would do its work on the woman,” Brigitte said in a low voice
from behind him, though they were alone in the galley.

“So you did.” He turned to meet her dark gaze. “You kept your promise.”

“As I assume you will keep yours.”

“You know I always pay for what I want.”

“Good,” she murmured. “Then we will have no problem.”

“What kind of problem would that be?”

Did she think to use her Voodoo on him? Innis knew he shouldn’t put it past her.

As if reading his mind, Brigitte tilted her head and gave him her most innocent expression.
“I foresee only success where you are concerned.”

“Good.”

“Especially where your Cordelia is concerned, eh?”

“I’ve wanted her forever,” he admitted. “I fell in love with her more than a decade
ago when we were teenagers. And then, at summer’s end, her parents took her home after
a hurricane struck and destroyed the site of the wreck her father was diving. I thought
I had lost her forever.”

Two years older than Cordelia, he had gone off to college. Fate had kept them apart
for many years, but he’d never gotten her out of his heart.

“Now you will finally have your heart’s desire,” Brigitte said. “Along with the treasure
of a lifetime.”

“Finding the mother lode and bringing it up for her will make her happy.” When they’d
met again a few years ago, she had treated him only like a good friend. He was desperate
to change that. “I’m going to prove that I’m the right man for her.”

They walked out on deck together.

Already suited up, his first mate stopped what he was doing and smiled when he saw
his wife. “Brigitte, you are here for a good luck kiss before I go down, I assume?”

“Exactly.”

Brigitte swayed over to the man who was more than double her width and stood on her
toes for that kiss. And Innis couldn’t help envying Leandre, though he told himself
that it was only a matter of time before he had such power over Cordelia’s feelings.

Two teams ready to go down were doing a final check on their equipment

“Get that magazine going,” he told Leandre, who took charge of the blowers, the main
tool they would use to clear the area so the divers could see what they had below.

Leandre lowered the giant tubes mounted on the stern. As they plunged downward into
the blue-green depths, Innis told the divers, “Get in that water and find the first
of the treasure before that pirate does.”

“And be careful!” Cordelia yelled over the noise of the magazine engine.

She looked stunning standing there at the rail of the Evening Star next to her mother.
Still wearing her turquoise bathing suit, she’d wrapped a flower-print sarong around
her and tied it at her hips. Her feet were bare, her blond hair was free, an errant
breeze fluttering the pale strands around her lightly tanned face. He’d never seen
anything more beautiful. Just looking at her when she was unaware of his scrutiny
made it hard to breathe.

Cordelia Ward was everything he’d ever wanted in a wife. And Innis was certain she
was destined to be his.

He joined them at the rail. “I have a good feeling about this.”

Cordelia turned to look up him. Her eyes shone with expectation. “I do, too.”

“We make a good team.”

“Of course. Exactly as good friends should.”

“I need to see to lunch,” Madelyn said, leaving the rail. “Would you care to join
us, Innis?”

“I would love to.” He waited until she was out of earshot before saying, “I’ve dreamed
of this day, Cordelia.”

She nodded. “Finding the Celestine was Dad’s dream, so I understand.”

“I meant working side by side with you.”

She flushed. “You’ve dreamed of it?”

“Ever since we were so tragically separated all those years ago.”

“Why, I do believe you’re being a bit dramatic, Innis Foley,” she said in a teasing
voice that made him smile.

“Only a little.”

He knew he had it in him to do whatever he set his mind to. He’d already proved that
he was the right man to run Foley Salvage, the family business. His father had made
him feel unworthy—had tried to convince him that he would turn out to be nothing—but,
determined to get ahead, Innis had hardened himself against his own uncertainty. In
the end, he’d won over the board and had defeated his acrimonious father. Taking control
of the business, he’d proved the old man wrong.

A first step in the right direction for his future.

This treasure hunt was his chance to get everything he ever wanted, starting with
Cordelia and ending with the infamous celestial girdle, the jeweled prize of the Celestine
mother lode.

After all, who had a better right to claim it than a descendent of the House of Lennox?

…

Cordelia was furious when Morgan shadowed her team and sent his divers down so close
to hers as they investigated the hulk. She’d felt like they were looking over her
shoulder for an opportunity to claim what she might find.

She couldn’t wait to go down again for a second dive, but Innis was busy supervising
via a live video feed from one of his divers equipped with an underwater camera. She
didn’t want to dive with anyone else, at least not today. After watching the monitor
over Innis’s shoulder, she caught sight of more sharks. Twice in one day was enough
for her, and they did have six divers.

She wandered across deck to where her mother sat in a shady spot.

Mom glanced up at her. “You seem tense.”

“Nervous. I should be down there with the other divers.”

“Then why aren’t you?”

Cordelia looked to the navigation area where Innis had set up the monitors. “My dive
partner is otherwise occupied.”

“So that’s it, is it?”

“What do you mean?”

“You’re interested in Innis.”

“Of course I am.”

“I remember the summer when you two met and hung out together. He seemed to make you
happy.”

“He did.” Cordelia felt the attraction she’d had all those years ago spring back to
life, but the project came first. As always.

“Then you’ll be giving a personal relationship another chance?”

She took the seat next to her mother. “We’ll see.”

“No man has ever had the power to come before your work.”

“Perhaps because the right man wasn’t around to distract me properly.”

“Cordelia, if you don’t have feelings for Innis—”

“But I do have feelings for him,” Cordelia argued. “I just need to sort them out.”

She’d never forgotten the boy who’d first kissed her, who’d held her heart for a summer,
but when she had a specific goal, she was single-minded until she reached it. Finding
the Celestine’s mother lode was her current focus. Not that she didn’t want romance
in her life. Until now, it had simply been an abstract concept. Innis was making her
wonder what working together would bring in terms of their personal relationship.
He was so confident and had a dynamic personality. What woman wouldn’t be flattered
by his interest?

“If you do care for Innis, what do you intend to do about it?”

“It’s too soon, Mom. I have to get to know him all over again. Innis and I haven’t
even spent any time alone together since he agreed to work the hunt for us.”