Bree pulled some cash out of her wallet and laid it on the counter near the register. She scanned the shop, making sure it was empty of everyone but the two other Burton family members. “But I do think there’s something there. I know it. I’ve seen it with my own eyes. I just need to figure out the connection.”
Ryan leaned an elbow on the counter. “What do you mean you’ve seen it? You’ve found some of the gold bars?”
She shook her head. “Not bars. Coins.”
“Drake Burton intercepted a shipment of gold bars from the Callahan family. That’s what was found after Igor. You’re saying that there are coins?”
“There are. But they’re not gold coins like you’d think of when you typically think of pirates and treasure. They’re a collection of coins from antiquity. Greek, Roman, and then some newer coins—and when I say newer, I mean like from the Columbus-era.” Bree could feel her excitement rising as she thought about what she’d seen.
“I’ve never heard of anything like that tied to the Burtons or the Callahans, Bree,” Victor said. “It kind of feels like you’re barking up the wrong tree.”
“Or swashbuckling up the wrong tree,” Ryan said with a laugh.
Bree loved her cousins, but she couldn’t reveal how she knew about these coins until she knew what the full story was. She didn’t trust anyone else with the secret.
If the secret got out, it would ruin Reid’s chance for a big debut for his new show that would bring in big ratings.
The thought surprised her. Since childhood, she’d wanted to clear the Burton name, to stop feeling like a black sheep over something that happened hundreds of years ago—something she’d had absolutely no role in except sharing a last name with some long-dead people who held big grudges.
But although she still wanted that and still believed she could clear the family name, she now felt protective of the knowledge she’d gained in a whole new way. She wanted to protect it for herself, for her family’s legacy…but also now for Reid’s family’s legacy. For Mandy.
Mandy deserved a bright future.
Bree bit back the words she’d originally thought about saying. Best to keep it all to herself for now.
It wasn’t that she didn’t trust her cousins…but they’d gone treasure hunting in the last few months too. They seemed to be focused on their new relationships and such right now—and Bree felt genuinely happy for both Victor and Ryan, and she thought highly of Lara and Mallory.
But Bree also thought highly of Reid and now Mandy. She couldn’t let them down any more than she could let her family down. She just needed to keep her mouth shut for now.
“Probably so. That’s the problem with legends. There’s some truth in them, but it’s often a full-time job to figure out exactly what that is and what the myth is. I’ll let you know if anything comes of it.”
She picked her purchase up from the counter and put a smile on her face. “Off to refill my candy jar. See you both soon!”
The bell on the door jangled as she stepped out of the store and onto the sidewalk. Bree tucked the bag of candy into her purse. She wasn’t far from Bounty Books. Maybe Lara’s sister, Avery Callahan, would have some book Bree hadn’t read yet.
And if not, then maybe Bree could return to the Treasure Harbor Historical Society and spend some time in the back room going through town records. A short walk to Bounty Books would clear her mind, and a few hours at the Historical Society might clear up some questions.
Hey. Where are you right now?
The text from Reid blinked across the screen of Bree’s phone. She’d turned the device to silent when she sat down at the table behind a stack of books at the Historical Society.
Historical Society. Doing some light reading. Why?
As she waited for Reid to text back, she picked up the book of town history in front of her.
I just bought a metal detector. Can I come pick you up?
She wanted to ask Reid what he was getting at. There had been plenty of metal detectors sold in Treasure Harbor since the news of the washed-up treasure broke. However, according to all reports, nothing more had been found than some fishing tackle, loose change, and some pop-tops that had been around since Jimmy Buffett started singing about stepping on them in one of his more iconic songs.
I was trying to squeeze in a little more research before I started grading some papers tonight. Can it wait?
Bree couldn’t believe she was sending a response back that could be best described as stalling. She hadn’t seen Reid in several days—not since that kiss. Not since the moment when she let herself think about the future, the possibilities.
But the most distinct possibility was that her students this semester wouldn’t get any grades if she couldn’t get her head on straight. It was too bad for them that all their professor could think about was the swish of her ponytail as Reid flipped it out of the way when he pulled her close.
The only grade she’d given this week was an A+ to the moment, to the starlight, to the velvet-soft way his lips met hers, and to the gentle, inevitable surrender that melted through her veins like the finest hot fudge that ever topped the sweetest sundae.
I think you’re going to want to see this.
If by “this,” Reid Knight was specifically referring to himself, then yes, he was right. She might as well admit the truth. She definitely wanted to see this. The grading and the research would just have to wait.
Ok. Can you pick me up from the Historical Society?
She held her breath, like a teenager waiting for a date to prom, even though it felt silly to let her mind wander this far over a metal detector.
Be there in 10.
Good. She could get control of her crazy thoughts in ten minutes. That was ample time to make sure Reid never knew her train of thought had left the station the instant he took her in his arms at the beach.
She wasn’t “most eligible bachelor” companion material. She was a nerdy, introverted college history professor who preferred ponytails to Prada. She may have spent her last few days dreaming about Reid Knight, but his time in Treasure Harbor was just a job.
Bree closed the worn book and turned her back on the centuries of records on the shelves here.
She had nine minutes to quit thinking about recent history.
HIS TIMELESS TREASURE
Chapter Five
As soon as Bree buckled in the passenger seat of the sporty Jeep, Reid U-turned and headed straight back in the direction from which he’d come.
“Are you heading out to Lookout Point?”
Reid fiddled with the radio on the car. “Yep. I stopped at Pirate Pizzeria too. There’s a large thin crust with pepperoni and a two-liter of some soft drink in the back if you’re hungry.”
“Maybe later. Are we going to see Wharton again?”
Bree’s ponytail whipped behind her in the wind. With the top off the Jeep, the ride was a little more adventurous, and Reid found the look it gave the woman next to him nothing short of enchanting. All of the Big Apple supermodels he knew would have batted eyes and bitten perfectly-colored lips at the prospect of riding rough in a car without a roof or window panels.
Not Bree Burton. She just tossed her canvas purse on the floorboard, hopped in, and tightened her ponytail.
He loved that about her.
He loved her sense of adventure.
And if he didn’t watch himself, he knew he’d find more to love about her.
It made him pause that he’d just used the word love three times in a row. But in a career spent looking for just the right word to describe a situation, Reid knew he’d used the correct verb in each of those cases.
Bree was shy and studious, but she was real. And that was refreshing.
Even so, he needed to keep his wild thoughts in check. Reid Knight didn’t fall in love. And he wasn’t staying in Treasure Harbor. He had a job to do and he was always the guy in control with everything in his life, except the weather.
Mother Nature was
the only woman who he let control him.
Well, Mother Nature and Mandy. But Mandy didn’t control him. She straight up had him wrapped around her little finger. That was different.
“Reid? Hello? Wharton?” Bree tapped him lightly on the forearm. It felt like a fingertip-sized crack of electricity on his skin.
He shook his head and shifted gears. “I went to see him earlier today. He was cryptic as usual. But then I started trying to piece together some of the things he said with some of the things he’s said previously. So I got in the car and took a little drive while I tried to puzzle it out. And I found something—I need you to tell me what this is.”
They veered slightly onto one of the track-beaten roads on Lookout Point. Instead of going to the right to Miles Wharton’s cottage, Reid guided the Jeep on a bumpy jog to the left. The undergrowth was pretty thick here and tall trees shaded what was left of the fading light and kept it from reaching the ground.
As Reid parked the Jeep, he flicked on the headlights.
Bree craned her neck and pushed open her passenger-side door without ever taking her eyes off what blocked the path right in front of them.
“What is this?” Bree’s question floated out on a breath.
“You don’t know?”
“No. It’s a foundation of some kind, right?” She took off and closed the distance between the car and the gray rectangle studded with shells in about four quick steps.
Reid nodded and followed behind her. “That’s what I’m told.”
“Who told you? What is it?”
“The Pirate’s House. Miles Wharton told me about it.” Reid sat on the lowest step that led up the elevated cement and shell foundation.
Once upon a time, climbing the ten stairs would have taken a visitor to the front door. Today, nothing remained of the house, only the foundation on which it had once stood. Only the most solid part of the house had survived the combined forces of time and weather and neglect.
Bree ran up the steps, almost gazelle-like, and stood atop the foundation, surveying the view in all directions. “The Pirate’s House? Which pirate? How did I not know this was here?”
“I figured you would have known, being the local history buff that you are. I had some questions about a few things I found here, and I thought you’d have the answers. But maybe not.”
Reid walked back over to the Jeep and pulled the metal detector and a small plastic bag out of the back, then headed back toward the remains of the outpost. He walked up the stairs and met Bree near the far back corner of the raised slab.
“You really did buy a metal detector!” Bree laughed, a high, infectious sound that made a smile cross Reid’s face in response. “And you actually found something?”
He squatted down and carefully poured the contents of the bag into his hand, then held it out where she could see. “I did. Two things actually.”
Bree sat down on the concrete and reached for the shiny objects in Reid’s hand. He felt the tips of her fingers brush across his palm as she plucked the small circle from where it rested just above the lowest point of the bowl of his hand. It was as light as the touch of a firefly, but made thoughts weigh heavy on his mind.
When he’d been out here earlier today, all he could think about was sharing the news with Bree. He’d actually had to force himself to stay and finish scanning the area that Miles Wharton had alluded to, instead of driving back into town and grabbing Bree by the hand in front of all her students, and dragging her back out to the edge of the island. He knew that was the wrong idea on so many levels, but he’d wanted to share the discovery with her.
More than that, he realized as he watched her face transform with the knowledge of what he’d found, he wanted to discover more with her—and discover more about her.
“Byzantine. Another coin. Did Miles give you this?” Her eyes shone like the finest polished metal, like what Reid assumed this coin could have looked like when it was newly-minted.
“No. I found it. Right over there.” Reid pointed to a small hole in the dirt, where he’d dug earlier. “He gave me one of his typically cryptic and meandering speeches earlier and that tipped me off about where to look, but I didn’t have much idea of what I would find—if anything.”
She turned the coin over and over, studying it from every possible angle. “I’d say you definitely found something. This has to be a part of the set Miles already has hidden in his sofa. But did he put it here? Or did it get here another way?”
“I’m almost sure this is not one of his coins. He said this place was ‘the home of another.’ He said there was a double life that got lived here, one that Treasure Harbor never valued. Those were his exact words, ‘never valued’.”
“A double life?”
Reid turned over the large piece of metal that he’d been holding near the base of his thumb. “That’s what he said. Do you recognize this?”
Bree brushed wayward blonde strands out of her face. “Sure. That’s the Burton family crest. I’ve seen it on lots of old family antiques, but it’s obviously on not much anymore.”
She picked up the rectangle and studied it more closely, then handed the coin back to Reid and took the family heirloom with her as she walked down the stairs and stood in front of the Jeep’s headlights.
“I have my suspicions on what it is, functionally,” Reid said. “But I don’t know where or who or anything like that. And I think we need that piece to the puzzle.”
“It’s a belt buckle,” Bree said definitively as she rubbed at it with the hem of her shirt. “There’s engraving on the back. BSB to DSW—1714.”
Reid joined her in front of the lights and peered over her shoulder. “BSB to DSW? Are those initials?”
Bree fingered the raised design on the front of the heavily engraved buckle. “BSB. On the Burton family crest. And it’s dated 1714, which would be before Drake Burton and Camilla Callahan…”
Her words trailed off. Reid could practically see the ideas building in her mind, block by block. She was completely lost in thought—unaware of the headlights, heedless of the Carolina breeze in the trees, and without any realization that he was studying every curve and valley of her face.
“Blake Burton.” Bree blurted out a name Reid had never heard before.
“Blake Burton? Don’t you mean Drake Burton?”
Her ponytail swung wildly as she shook her head. “No. Blake Burton. Drake Burton’s twin brother. He was in Hispanola at the time of the whole Camilla Callahan incident. This changes everything.”
Bree waved the buckle in the air. “This changes everything, Reid!”
Suddenly, she jumped and was in his arms. Reid caught her and pulled her close. A smile broke across her face and Reid became caught up in the emotion of the moment. He didn’t know exactly how some guy he’d never heard of changed everything, but it had.
Not just for the Burton family, or for Treasure Harbor.
It changed everything for Reid Knight too.
Because as soon as Bree Burton jumped into his arms, Reid knew he wasn’t just interested in her or fascinated with her. He knew he was falling in love with her.
Reid adjusted his arm behind Bree and lifted her a little higher, then he bent his head and gave in to the realization that had just hit him more strongly than any pirate’s cannon. The fireworks that ran through his blood at the touch of his lips on hers were worthy of a barrage of firepower, too.
There was no going back now. There would be no remaining unbiased or objective, just as all his journalistic training had taught him to do. There was no denying the treasure in his arms.
This—this kiss—changed everything.
The heavy metal belt buckle slipped through Bree’s fingers as she slipped further into the kiss. Only the sound of a thud on the tightly-packed ground brought her back down from the cloud she’d allowed herself to float to.
She’d enjoyed the moment far too much, but she knew this had to be just another moment with another woman for Mr. El
igible Bachelor. She needed to be responsible and move the conversation back to Blake Burton’s belt buckle for the sake of his job and her sanity. The longer she let herself think about kissing Reid Knight, the harder it would be to think about not kissing him.
“Maybe we shouldn’t go to the beach any more, Reid. This seems to keep happening.” She leaned down to pick up the piece of history that had fallen to the ground. “I’m not one of those red carpet magazine girls.”
Reid took a step back. “What does that mean?”
In the flood of the headlights, Bree could see a shadow ripple across his face. If she was analyzing it as closely as she’d analyzed her own feelings, only moments before, she’d have to say the look was hurt.
“I…I…I just meant that you’re going to leave once this is all over. You don’t have to feel like you…” she trailed off, wishing she’d just kept her mouth shut by continuing to kiss him. Anything would have better than the hole she was currently digging.
“I don’t bring women to the beach because I have to. I don’t spend time with women because I have to. And I don’t kiss women because I have to. I told you have some secrets in my life, Bree. I’ve told you what they are. I’ve also got enough freedom at this point where I do things because I want to.”
Bree studied the set of his jaw.
“So you’re saying you wanted to kiss me?”
“More than just about anything.”
“But why?”
He cracked a grin that was as equally as sweet as one of the handmade caramels in her cousin Victor’s shop and as naughty as the deeds of her pirate ancestors.
“Because I want to. Is that so hard to believe?”
Bree hated that she wanted to say yes. She hated that even now, she still saw herself as a bookish nerd whose mother made her feel like she was socially awkward just because she didn’t want to play the popularity game.
“I’ve just never been the one that people chased…”
Reid cut her off in mid-sentence. “You even had a fiancé, Bree. Are you saying he was lying about his feelings too?”
His Timeless Treasure (Treasure Harbor Book 5) Page 5
