Written in the Stars (16 page)

Chapter Sixteen

Morgan spent the evening going over his maps, over his plans for the next day. He
had a difficult time concentrating. He kept seeing Cordelia underwater struggling
for air, kept wondering what had truly happened to her air gauge. He had to stop this.
Worrying about her served no purpose. He needed to focus since, obviously, he would
be on his own as always. No way would Cordelia want to have anything to do with him,
not after today.

That didn’t keep him from worrying. Or from wanting.

He steeled himself against what he couldn’t have. And concentrated on what he could.

What he’d wanted for years was to find a mother lode that would enhance his reputation
as a treasure hunter. He had to keep his goals in mind. He would succeed. He would
make his parents proud of him, of themselves, make them stop feeling like failures
because they had never gotten rich off of the sea. They were the ones who’d instilled
the love of this life in him. They were the ones who’d taught him his trade.

Rising from his desk, he stared out the porthole at the Evening Star. Cordelia Ward
was his competition. He would beat her. And then maybe he would seduce her.

But not tonight.

Tonight, dreaming of having her would have to be enough. For now.

…

Will lifts her high in his arms to watch the glorious play of starlight in her wide
eyes. “I want to wake each morning with your back curled into me and my hands on your
body. Please come with me, Elizabeth.”

Morgan tossed and half woke, murmuring, “Cordy?” but the erotic dream pulled him in
deeper.

Her breast crushed against his bare chest, he feels each beat of her heart as he carries
her from the warm pool to the soft, flower-rimmed earth.

Her half smile is warm without hesitation, her fingers swift drawing the last of his
clothes from his body and letting her dress pool at her feet.

The slope of her shoulders, the high, rounded mounds of her breasts with their tight,
small nipples, the gentle swell of her hips fill him with the fierce need to worship
every part of her.

Their gazes find each other, his mouth hovering over hers.

“Yes, Will. I want to lie with you always.” Her whisper is a sweet breath on his lips.

Touching his fingertips along her throat, he feels her tremble and the joy of loving
her overflows every sense. “Love, I promise we shall find paradise together.”

Waking with a start in the vague space between midnight and dawn, Morgan felt his
pulse beat in his throat. Satisfaction in his groin. A yearning he didn’t understand.

He’d seen her again. The dark-haired woman. Only this time she had been with a man.

She had been with him.

Somehow…

A dream. Of course it had been a dream. It hadn’t been real. Hadn’t been a memory.

It had just seemed so…

He’d felt so…

Consumed.

But consumed by Cordelia. His night companion might have had dark hair but he’d felt
Cordelia.

He slipped his hand down his shaft. He was hard. Ready for her again.

Remembering their electric kiss, he closed his eyes and willed Cordelia to come to
him.

Again.

…

“Will, follow me into Paradise.”

The warm water of the spring fed pool tugs at Elizabeth’s gown as she urges Will to
follow her.

He holds her face between his palms, and she comes alive under his touch, the world
brightening and pulsing before her eyes.

Gently, he lays his lips on hers, then draws away.

His eyes drifting half closed, his clever fingers part her lips, his mouth returning
to hers again. The pounding sweetness of his kiss makes her whimper with physical
desire.

He slips his hands down until they cup her buttocks and lift her closer to him. The
folds of her gown separating them could not quell her instinctive need to be seamlessly
a part of him.

Here.

Now.

Under this moon.

Beneath these stars…

“Elizabeth?” Cordelia murmured, only half-awake.

She’d never dreamed of Elizabeth and Will before…not like this.

Yearning to find them once more, she gave over to her dreamland.

Their nude bodies slick with water float gently beneath the surface.

He hovers over her, his pale flesh so lovely and irresistible in the faint light of
the waning moon.

How has she done without him all this time?

How has she done without the kisses he laves over her body? Without the touches so
soft and seductive?

He thumbs her nipples, and she arches toward him, urging him to take her in his mouth.
He captures her, and she melts in the warm cavity, her nipple alternately softening
and then hardening to a turgid peak.

Sweeping around her face by the current, her hair keeps her from really seeing him
with her eyes. But no matter, she recognizes him, for she can see with her soul.

Her soul knows him.

Knows they are meant to be.

Knows they are one.

He slides down her body like fluid, his mouth exploring every rib, every curve. She
tangles her fingers in his hair as he parts her thighs to taste her. His tongue is
clever, makes her pant, makes her swallow seawater.

Gasping out a stream of air bubbles, she widens her thighs for more.

He slips in a finger. A second. A third. All the while, he teases her center with
his tongue. Her hips lift in supplication. She is so close to the edge, but this will
not do. She tears at his shoulders until he releases his grip on her and floats up.
The tendrils of her hair tie them together as his mouth covers hers.

A kiss as deep as the sea.

They sink to the ocean’s floor, her only thought to make them one. She reaches down
for him, grasps his length, pleasures herself by pulling on the foreskin so it slides
over the tip, making him groan into her mouth. She guides him to her, her inner flesh
quivering with heated anticipation.

Sand scrapes her spine and comes alive, as tendrils of sparkling chain snake upward,
followed by a jewel-encrusted golden mesh that wraps around her waist.

The celestial girdle!

He slides his palms around the girdle and pulls her so close she can hardly breathe.
The chains wrap around his back and tighten, binding them together. Every inch of
her flesh comes alive in a way she’d never before experienced. Through the depths,
she sees a star shoot overhead as he enters her, their hands twined together, rings
connecting like a thunderbolt.

Doubt the stars are fire, yet never doubt my love…

As his pulsing rhythm fills her, she cries out. The celestial girdle lifts them from
their own bodies, spiraling through the heavens…higher and higher…at last where they
belong. Together.

Lightning strikes all around them.

Thunder rumbles approval.

And for a moment, she is lit from within, knowing at last a perfect balance of desire
and love.

Then suddenly—unexpectedly—the girdle releases them and falls away, and they plunge
back down through the skies and back into the water where they split apart.

Shocked, she tries to get back to him, but now dressed in diving gear, he remains
just out of reach, hurtling ahead, racing toward the glow of jewels as the girdle
returns to its hiding place in the wreck.

Her wrist burns…her ring tightens…

As she realizes he is reaching for the treasure… Her heart misses a beat when another
hand beats him to it, freeing a bejeweled gold dagger from the girdle and flashing
the sharp blade toward his air hose…

Awakening in the middle of the night, her wrist burning, her ring too tight, Cordelia
was unsettled. No dream had ever been so real to her or had ever felt so right…

Elizabeth and Will…she had recognized their love in a way she never had before…and
then the dream had shifted…as if her soul had actually recognized and claimed another’s,
just as Elizabeth’s had claimed Will’s.

But whose?

She’d never seen his face.

Had it been Innis? Or Morgan?

The night vision had ended with one man trying to kill the other after removing the
dagger from the girdle. At least now she knew it was connected with what Carlyle believed
to be the source of Elizabeth’s magic.

Was one of them really willing to kill for the treasure?

Literally?

Which man?

Morgan was the pirate. Would he do anything to get what he wanted?

Then, why give her the chain and crescent from the celestial girdle? To trick her
into trusting him?

Or was she taking her dream-vision too literally?

Chapter Seventeen

“Aren’t you going down with us?” Innis asked Cordelia the next morning as his crew
prepared for their first dive of the day.

“Not this morning. After yesterday…well, I need to recover.” She was hedging and hoping
he believed her. “We’ll see how I feel later.”

All an excuse to buy her enough time to do what she needed to.

Innis put his arms around her and hugged her. “I’m just glad you’re safe. Take what
time you need. You’ll know when you’re ready.”

Her mother came out of the galley as Cordelia said, “Thanks for being so understanding.”

Brushing his mouth lightly over hers, Innis stepped back. Cordelia smiled at him and
waved him off.

“What’s going on?” her mother asked. “You’ve had scares before. It’s not like you
to let one stop you from diving.”

Cordelia kept her voice low. “I’m not letting it stop me. There’s something important
I have to take care of first.”

“Are you going to tell me about it?”

“I need to talk to Morgan.” And knowing Innis wouldn’t like it, she hadn’t wanted
to tell him the truth. “You were right about him.”

Her mother accepted that explanation without insisting on more.

Seeing men gathering on the dive platform of the Sea Rover, Cordelia picked up her
binoculars and looked for Morgan, but he was not among the three divers there. She
spotted him on deck with the older man. Good. Innis was just taking his team down
to the wreck. She waited until they disappeared below the surface and then lowered
the dinghy.

“Good luck,” Mom said.

Cordelia gave her a thumbs-up and took the dive ladder down to the small boat. She
locked the oars in position and rowed toward the Sea Rover. By the time she got close,
the three divers had already started their descent. She tied up and scrambled onto
the dive platform.

Morgan was waiting for her at the rail. He didn’t say a word, rather gave her a burning
look before turning away. Her pulse threaded unevenly as she stepped up onto his boat.
He’d disappeared, as had the old man. She stood on deck for a moment, before going
into the galley. Morgan was there. Alone.

Leaning on a counter, he stood, arms crossed over his chest, staring at the door as
she came in.

Waiting for her.

She swallowed hard. Just seeing him standing there looking so arrogant and judgmental
made her stomach knot.

“We need to talk, Morgan.”

“Why? So you can accuse me of something else? I’m done playing nice, Cordelia, so
you should be very careful.”

He’d called her Cordelia rather than Cordy. Of course he was still angry. Done playing
nice? When had he started?

She kept her temper in check. She was here to learn the truth.

“I was so upset at running out of air yesterday, I—I didn’t know what to think,” she
told him with complete honesty.

“So you let Foley do the thinking for you.”

“I’m sorry.” She really was. “But I’ve had time to think on my own now. It occurred
to me…why would you save me if you had tampered with my gauge so that I would run
out of air?”

“Maybe I set it up so I could play hero.”

She’d considered that, but she didn’t believe him. “Why?”

“Isn’t it obvious?”

He pushed away from the counter and came at her.

Her mouth went dry and her heart started to thud, but she held her ground.

He stopped mere inches from her, but she felt as if his energy was pulling her closer
until only a hairbreadth separated them.

“Why are you really here, Cordy?”

So it was Cordy again. She forced a smile. “The partnership…I thought you wanted that.”

Sliding a hand behind her neck, he said, “This is what I want,” as he pulled her to
him and covered her mouth with his.

She gave herself over to the kiss.

Lost herself in the moment.

Opened herself to feelings that she rarely acknowledged.

Need drew her arms up around his neck and she pressed herself harder against him.
Want hazed her mind and opened her to his touch. Desire made her want more, everything
he could give.

Until seductive whispers from somewhere froze her…

You have imprinted your soul on mine…for eternity…

…as you have on mine…our destiny…

Cordelia pulled her head free but couldn’t push herself away from Morgan. Her lips
centimeters from his, she whispered, “Did you hear that?”

He didn’t answer. Didn’t move. Didn’t press her.

Had he heard? Why didn’t he say something?

Why couldn’t he be honest with her? She was trying…

Trembling, she pulled away from him. Their gazes locked in a mental embrace that felt
like it could go on forever.

Until uncertainty forced her to break the connection and ask, “Why did you back out
on being partners with me?”

“I want you, Cordy, but not with Foley along for the ride.”

Which sounded like he wanted her more than a business partnership. All right, so that
was honest.

Her pulse raced as she said, “Innis is not just along for the ride. I hired him and
gave him a stake in the find because he’s the best at what he does.”

“And because you have a soft spot for him?”

“What if I do? He means something to me.” Old feelings for Innis had resurrected over
the past few days, but she now realized they were just that—memories.

“So you’re blinded by the past.”

Cordelia shook her head. “I don’t know what that’s supposed to mean.”

“That you don’t know Foley anymore. You don’t know the kind of man he is now or what
he’s done to get where he is. You’re not paying attention, Cordy.”

The haze in her mind cleared. “I’m paying attention now, Morgan. What exactly are
you saying?”

“If someone tampered with your gauge, then who would have better reason?”

He still hadn’t said that he hadn’t done it.

“You’re accusing Innis of trying to kill me?”

“Or of playing a very dangerous game in trying to win you back from me.”

“Who said you had me?”

“Your being here says it for you.”

Mentally pulling away, Cordelia felt enveloped by a chill she couldn’t shake. Morgan
was so sure of himself. Innis had accused Morgan of tampering with her gauge and now
Morgan was accusing Innis. Which man was telling the truth? How was she to know?

As if he could read her, Morgan said, “You have to make up your mind, Cordy. You have
to decide who you should trust. You wear your uncertainty like a suit of armor to
protect you. You need to decide,” he said again. “Only you can decide what is true.”

Cordelia backed away from him.

Morgan didn’t try to stop her.

Making her way back to the Evening Star as fast as she could row, Cordelia felt crushed
under the weight of that armor Morgan spoke of and wondered how to rid herself of
it for once and for all.

…

For once and for all, Innis had to rid himself of Morgan Murphy.

The pirate had conquered the gris-gris that Brigitte had admitted to planting on Murphy.
Surely she could come up with something more efficient, the reason he’d had Brigitte
meet him.

She took one look at the open altar, at the lit candles and incense and seemed pleased
with herself. Innis clenched his jaw. This wasn’t the way he normally did things,
but he was desperate. He wasn’t going to let that pirate steal what was his. He would
do what he had to, just as he had when he’d wrested the salvage company from his father.

As if she knew that, Brigitte’s lips curled in satisfaction. “What is it you want
me to do this time?”

“To secure my destiny—both Cordelia and bringing up the mother lode of the Celestine.
It was my ancestor who lost it during a hurricane. And it was during another hurricane
that I found myself.”

She seemed puzzled at that. “You are speaking in circles.”

“Then let me explain. Twelve years ago, Foley Salvage partnered with the Wards to
bring up the mother lode of De Oro Del Casco. That’s when I met Cordelia. From that
first moment, I felt the connection. Very soon I became aware—”

“That you loved her.”

“That was part of it. There was more.” He would tell her all so she would understand
what he’d known all these years. “When the winds picked up, announcing the arrival
of the hurricane, everything intensified. Every time I touched Cordelia, I got glimpses
into another world. The past. I suddenly knew Cordelia on a level I couldn’t explain.
I became obsessed with her even as the hurricane struck full force. Unfortunately,
the storm destroyed the dive site and her parents gave up. They took her from me,
and our paths didn’t cross again until a few years ago. But the connection, the obsession,
remained…never to be forgotten throughout the years.”

“So you knew each other in another lifetime. Souls who know each other never forget.”

“I want to know Cordelia, to have her, in this lifetime, and Morgan Murphy stands
in my way. He needs to be gone.”

She murmured, “You need something from your past life when you and she were first
together…”

“I don’t understand.”

“That’s where your power lies,” Brigitte said. “In the past.”

“In what exactly?”

“This is for you to learn. You must be willing to give yourself over to the loa Agwe.
He will guide your hand.”

If a Voodoo god could help him, so be it. “Whatever it takes.”

Brigitte nodded and stepped to the altar, Innis following, his intent to watch her
every move. There she mixed several powders and chips in a mortar and used the pestle
to grind them together, all the while whispering to the loa in an island patois Innis
vainly tried to follow. Then she scrawled the names Innis Foley, Cordelia Ward, and
Morgan Murphy on a piece of parchment, which she rolled up before setting the end
into the black candle’s flame. The parchment flared for a moment and smoked. The material
burned fast, and as it crumbled, the ash fell into the mortar, where she mixed it
into the powder.

When she was done, Brigitte turned to Innis. “You must now close your eyes and open
your mind.”

Nodding, Innis did as demanded as she began her plea to the loa.

“Oh, Agwe, god of the sea, ruler of all below the water’s surface, lord of the underworld,
ferrying dead souls and keeping watch over the oceans. Enter Innis Foley so that you
can guide him back into his past where he first met his woman. Allow him to see what
he must to rid himself of the obstacle to his desires for both her and the treasure
you hold in your watery arms.”

Innis heard her take a breath and blow…felt fine powder spray over his face and neck…
His body jerked, his mind trying to tear away from him. Instinct made him fight to
keep control, but it was a losing battle.

“Submit…” Brigitte insisted “…and let Agwe enter and guide you…”

He jerked again. And again. No control. Not over his body nor over his mind.

“Submit if you wish to overcome your obstacle,” came her whisper, which now seemed
hollow and very far away.

Submit…

Eyes still shut tight, Innis relinquished control and his body rolled and jerked and
moved without his knowing how. A deep, guttural sound escaped him. His mind was on
fire, hurtling backward through decades and then through centuries.

Suddenly, he saw her in his mind’s eye…Cordelia and not Cordelia…dark hair…green eyes…but
her. She was wearing the celestial girdle. And she was with him.

“Joined with me I shall release your full dark power,” he says. “Together we shall
conquer time and space.”

“Never!” She pulls a jeweled gold dagger from her girdle and aims it at his heart.

He laughs. “Good. You like your play rough. As do I.” He lunges toward her.

Some force like unseen hands flings him back away from her.

Then she hadn’t loved him, after all!

Anger made him try to pull away from the force controlling him, but determination
made him give back over. Perhaps she hadn’t been his in a previous life, but she would
be his in this one.

“Agwe, show me what I must do,” he growled, and his mind immediately whirled forward
in time and then stopped deep beneath the water’s surface.

He allows Agwe to pull him where the loa will, faster and faster toward the depths
of the ocean’s floor. Then suddenly Agwe frees him, and he hangs suspended over what
looks like a dark shadow.

The darkness takes shape—the hulk of the Celestine.

Elated, he skims along the rotting bones of the once-powerful British galleon, now
scattered along the seafloor. Centuries have spread the remains…and another diver
has beaten him to it.

Even as the other diver reaches for treasure, he shoots forward, his hand driving
into the sand-covered mother lode and finding the handle of a dagger.

Pulling it free of the sand, he strikes out…

Sucking in a huge breath, Innis opened his eyes and met Brigitte’s gaze. A slow, knowing
smile curled her lips.

“Now you know what you must do to get what you want.”