by Liz Tyner
He didn’t care who’d posed for the rocks—they were stone. Colourless. Lifeless. Bland. But if collecting mouse whiskers from the island would get him his ship, he’d be hunting mice. He would take on the whole island if he had to in order to get his Ascalon.
He’d been told by Gidley many times that fortune had favoured Benjamin his looks and kicked Gid in the teeth. Benjamin had hardly passed his sixteenth year when Gid had suggested Ben give a tavern wench a most indelicate proposition and a smile, and see what happened. Ben had assured Gidley that no woman would accept such a brash offer. He delivered the words and was half in love by morning when Gid had thumped on the wench’s door to awaken Ben. For the whole of the next voyage, Gid had ducked his eyes, shook his head and grumbled about the fates. Ben had grinned back at him each time.
Benjamin watched Thessa, then he smiled.
Her eyes narrowed and she took a step back.
Gidley’s snigger did not hide well under the cough.
Ben changed tactics and then clasped Gidley’s shoulder. ‘My first mate is superstitious. And he believes, if he casts his eyes on this stone woman, our vessel will be protected from storms.’
She looked as if they’d just suggested she collect all the mice whiskers in the world.
‘Wouldn’t hurt,’ Gid said. He patted the decades-old waistcoat he’d worn in anticipation of impressing the females on the island and lifted the hem and pulled a handkerchief from his waistband. The handkerchief probably hadn’t started out as the colour of wet sand. ‘Thought if I could wipe her face with this, I’d have a protection from all them evil spirits been chasin’ us here.’
Gid waved the cloth with a flourish and Ben jerked his head back, dodging a not-so-innocent snap of the fabric. The rag smelled as if Gidley had been washing his feet with it although Ben knew that wasn’t possible.
Ben turned to Gidley and glared, before softening his stance and appraising the woman again. She would not slow him down. He had a cargo waiting to be loaded in England and needed to leave Melos quickly. Though his ship was not one of the gilded East Indiamen, if returned to the docks in time, he’d been promised a voyage for the company. Two years he’d be at sea, but he’d wanted this since before his first sailing. To be a captain, and to sail for the East India Company—nothing meant more.
‘Miss. Think of your sister. In her...’ he paused ‘...family condition.’ He blinked and put a look on his face he thought a vicar might use when comforting. ‘Wanting a precious memory from her homeland, probably to show her own little one what their grandmother looked like—how can you keep that from her?’
‘She left us and she didn’t come back with you. If her stomachi was already fighting her, then it could have fought her at sea and she could have returned to us. Why did you not bring her to say these words herself?’
‘My brother worried for her safety.’
The woman touched the sash at her waist. Her eyes narrowed. ‘Fidi. Snake. That is Englishmen.’ Her eyes challenged him. ‘You have kept my sister and refused to let her return home, and now you want the treasure.’
He kept his eyes on her hand, watching for the hilt of a knife. Disarming her didn’t concern him, but it would be harder to convince a woman who’d just tried to slash his throat to show him to the stones.
The Ascalon was in his grasp. The voyage of a lifetime was waiting and the ship was still young enough to have at least two more good trips in her before the sea took her hull. She was made of good English oak, but even that didn’t last long in the oceans.
Benjamin could not go back and admit failure to his eldest brother. He took in the sandy soil and the shallow-rooted trees. Surely he could find the rocks on his own. Surely. But he couldn’t bring all the men from the ship. If anyone knew he must have the rock, he wouldn’t be able to bargain. He needed a strategy and he did not want this woman to think him defeated.
He firmed his jaw and let his eyes linger on Thessa’s face, but he spoke to Gidley. ‘Melina said it was near her home. We’ll start searching in the morning. I’ll bring the crew and we’ll look at every rock.’
Gidley nodded to Benjamin, the first mate’s voice a scholarly tone. ‘I’ll find it if’n it’s here. Have eyes like a ferret and I can sniff out treasure better’n any ten pirates.’
But they could find the stones a lot faster with the woman’s help and Ben didn’t have time to dig up the island, no matter how small it was.
He picked up the bag Gidley had dropped, aware of its weight, and put it on the ground in front of the woman. ‘We did bring some things, and if you look closely I think you’ll agree they’re things a sister would select for another sister. Not anyone else. She couldn’t send this if she’d been a captive. She’d want you to help us.’
Benjamin had no idea what kind of fripperies were inside the canvas, but Melina had had tears in her eyes when she’d asked him to give it to her sisters.
Thessa didn’t move. He strode forward and put it gently at her feet. ‘She sends her love.’
She bent, reached in, pulled out a parcel and unwrapped it, unveiling a thick woollen shawl. She retained her wariness and trapped the clothing and its wrapping under her arm.
Then she pulled out another parcel, but before she examined it, she looked into the bag and laughed. The sound of joy from her lips moved through him quicker than a dive into a warm freshwater pool and he had to wait to come up for air.
She dropped the canvas sides of the bag and reached inside. He expected some jewel or house folderol. Instead she pulled out a kettle and held it by its bail.
Looking at Benjamin, she said, ‘My sister. She claimed we could never heat enough warm water because by the time we heated the pot again, the first was cold.’
Her face softened even more and she put the kettle down. She took the shawl under her arm and hugged it close, letting the soft wool touch her cheek.
He watched. A kettle and a shawl, and the woman sniffled.
Ben looked at Gid. Gid opened his eyes wide and shrugged, then showed a bit of his teeth and nodded to Benjamin. Ben refused to try the smile. Besides, it wouldn’t work. The woman was too caught up in the wool, stroking it and rubbing it against her cheek.
His body’s reaction irritated him. This was a business endeavour—nothing else. His brother was the one trapped by skirts—not him. He never neared a woman who truly tempted him. Never approached a woman who might net him. He was the sea creature. The water was his breath and the oceans his home.
‘We’ve missed her so.’ She kept her eyes on the fabric. ‘I thought when she didn’t come back, that a storm had taken her, or the sea. Or she’d been killed by the Englishmen.’
‘Your sister wants those stones.’ He heard the grit in his words.
Her eyes rose to his. And he saw the face of the nymph who’d risen from the sea. Her image outshone every painting he’d seen of mermaids, even the ones he’d commissioned to his specifications.
Her eyes rose to his. ‘So she is well?’
Benjamin nodded. ‘She married my eldest brother.’
She sighed. ‘I cannot believe my sister would marry a man not of our own island.’ Her lip trembled. ‘She would sacrifice so much for us.’
Benjamin tilted his head to one side, turned his body slightly away, putting her from his vision while he collected his thoughts. ‘He’s an earl.’ He glanced sideways, gauging her reaction to his words.
This time her shrug was almost invisible. ‘I’m sure you think as much of him as I think of Melina.’
‘I’d agree with the miss,’ Gidley said, wobbling his head. ‘Wouldn’t want my sister to marry an Englishman neither.’ He smiled at Benjamin. ‘We be a foul lot.’
Benjamin glared.
Gidley grinned. ‘I like bein’ part of a foul lot myself. Saves on washin’ and makin’ pretty words with the widows.’
‘The treasure?’ Benjamin turned his words to Thessa.
‘Malista.’ She nodded while she folded the shawl ca
refully and put it atop the other things she’d not examined in the bag. Raising her eyes, she said, ‘It’s no treasure. Just broken carvings. When the man from the French museum came, he said we should look for such things. That people would buy shaped rock. Father was excited and had us hunt because he wanted to have a discovery. We found nothing at first. The Frenchman left and Father...left.’
‘I’ve promised Melina I’d get the carving for her.’ Benjamin watched Thessa’s face. The change in her eyes and her voice when she mentioned her father leaving told him she had no more love for the man than her sister had. He couldn’t blame them. He’d met the man.
She looked at the sky. ‘This is not a good time for it. The light will be gone soon and the stones—my sister left them under the dirt. I’m not certain I know...where they are.’
Ben’s breath caught. ‘You don’t...remember?’
She frowned. ‘I remember... It’s somewhere on Yorgos’s land.’ She squinted. ‘And there are other rocks scattered about. Pieces of an arch. I didn’t notice much. Melina was the one who was excited. I just did not wish to tell her no one wants broken rocks.’
Gidley kicked at the ground. ‘Just my blasted luck. We sail a near lifetime to get some whittled rock on a stinkin’ island smellin’ of brimstone and the stones is broke and no one knows where the pieces is buried.’
‘We’ll dig up the whole island if we have to.’ Ben wasn’t letting the ship get away.
She looked at Benjamin. ‘I would not do that if I wanted the stones and I wanted to live.’
Her lashes swooped down into a long blink. ‘The island is small and, since the English ship took my sister, Stephanos has not been pleased. He had noticed my sister and to him all the women of the island are more his than anyone else’s.’ She shrugged. ‘We thought it best to tell him she was taken against her will. He planned to go for her, but I told him...I told him I did not want him to leave for her. I told him he should think of me instead.’ Her face turned in the direction of the sea. ‘I thought I could give her time to return to us.’
‘Then I need the stones before I have to fight someone. I’ll dig tonight.’ He had to get the rocks back on the ship. If the winds changed, they needed to take advantage of it. Waiting around for months in a harbour with an angry man on the island wanting to stir up trouble wouldn’t be good for anyone.
‘I’ll carry the bag to your house.’ Benjamin reached to take the gifts. ‘It’s heavier than it looks. And then Gid and I can start searching. You know how much the sculpture means to your sister. Let me give it to her.’
She stepped from his reach and pulled the canvas close. ‘My other sister is in the house. I’ll tell her Melina is safe and be back.’ She glanced at the trail they’d followed. ‘When Stephanos discovers you are here, I might need to soothe him.’
He saw a shadow pass behind her eyes, something she wouldn’t speak of. Then she turned away, scurrying up the path.
Even though her slippers looked to be no more durable than a few strips of leather, she moved as easily over the pebbles and stones as if she walked a hay meadow. He followed, unaware of where he put his own feet.
*
When she reached the steps which led up the side of her house, she put a foot on the lowest plank. He thought the whole house swayed with each movement and she had no railing to hold, but she made it to the top and darted inside, as nimble on land as she was in the sea.
‘Close yer mouth, Capt’n. And be glad yer brother’s not here to see you lookin’ at his wife’s sister that way.’ Gidley swallowed a chuckle, shaking his head. ‘The ship’d be needin’ a new capt’n.’
‘Ascalon needs a new first mate now.’
Gidley grumbled while he scratched under his arm. ‘Yer wouldn’t give me the spyglass to look at her and then yer dropped it when your fingers fell open like yer mouth. Ain’t no way it survived a tumble down the rocks like that. Reminds me of the time we seen them lightskirts and I had to pay full cost and yer services was requested by the bawd. Yer could have bedded her and she promised yer afterwards yer could have one of the others at no cost.’
‘She was jesting.’
Gidley snorted. ‘She’d ’a been bumpin’ yer head into the bed frame ’fore you finished sayin’ yer agreement. And me standing there and she didn’t even note my manly form.’
‘You overwhelmed her. She took one look at you and saw your experience showing through—’
Gidley interrupted, waving a hand. ‘Save yer perfume-y words for them that wears such. I know better’n believin’ any yer treacle.’ Then he paused and squinted at Ben. ‘Well, in this case, yer might be right.’ He puffed himself taller. ‘Probably shows right from my eyes what I can do to make a woman beg for my attentions. Just takes once and they be talkin’ about ol’ Gidley for the rest of their lives...assumin’ they survive the pleasure.’ He turned to Ben. ‘I ever tell yer about that woman who fainted dead away at the sight of my manhood?’
‘Yes.’
‘Well it won’t hurt yer to hear it one more time...’
He let Gidley’s words fade from his hearing. He watched the fading sky, wanting so much to step foot on Ascalon and know he finally owned all of her—not just part.
Gidley’s talk penetrated Benjamin’s thoughts when he heard the woman’s name mentioned. ‘Too bad that Thessa one sprouted legs.’
Benjamin thought of Thessa in the sea. He couldn’t get the image of her stepping on to the sand out of his mind.
‘Capt’n, I can see what thoughts is in yer eyes. A sailor doesn’t need a woman to drag him down. ’Specially not for nothin’ permanent. Married man goes to sea—he drowns. You know it as well as I. Weight of leavin’ a family behind pulls him under.’
‘Nonsense. But a man can’t expect a woman to remember him when he’s been gone two years.’
‘Bet yer my braces it be bad luck to marry.’ He looped his thumbs under the leather straps holding up his trousers. ‘No. I don’t bet yer my braces. They’s my lucky ones. But I’m wantin’ to keep yer around, Capt’n. So just yer remember—yer can look. Yer can touch. Yer can promise. But yer can’t say no vows. Not even them short marriages a seaman can give a woman on an island he’ll never see again and her only knowin’ his first name and no other.’
‘I don’t want a woman. I want a ship. You know how I feel about Ascalon. Best ship I’ve ever sailed and better than gold. Even if that treasure’s only broken rocks—Warrington promised me a ship for them. And I’m taking the stones to him—with a ribbon ’round them. He’ll make good on the promise.’
‘Fine talkin’. But a mermaid flash a little tail at you and you be forgettin’.’ Gidley laughed at his own joke. ‘Wouldn’t mind staying on this rock pile, if I had me a mermaid. Long as I didn’t get finned in my man parts. No. I’m thinkin’ wrong. A mermaid would pull the life right out o’ me.’
‘There’s no such thing as mermaids.’ His mind flashed to Thessa stepping from the water.
Gidley snorted. ‘I seen her and so did yer. She just sprouted legs. I know my history, Capt’n. On a moonlit night, don’t get in no water with her—she’ll turn back fish, drown yer and swallow yer just like yer a minnow.’ He raised a brow. ‘Yer has to promise me, Capt’n. No swimmin’ in the moonlight with the woman. All we’d have left o’ yer is yer boots. She may look tasty on the outside, but on the inside she’s all scales, bones and slimy parts.’
‘Don’t be ridiculous.’
‘Ain’t a man alive now what’s coupled with a mermaid in the water. On land they be fine, but get ’em in the sea and they’s all bite.’ His eyes narrowed. ‘I bet that other sister sports whiskers longer’n my own.’
‘She has big eyes and gills. Smells like bilge water. So get your mind off the women.’
‘Yer seen her last time?’
Benjamin shook his head. ‘Just seeing if you’d believe my fables as well as you do your own. If you mention one more word of that superstitious muck you’ll be tied to the mast,
heels up, singing hymns.’
Gidley stopped for a moment. He mused, ‘Wonder if that one swimmin’ has one of them marks like her sister has.’ He touched above his breast. ‘Kind of draws a man’s eyes.’
Instantly, Benjamin’s thoughts jerked back to Thessa’s body. The sight of her stepping on to land. His imagination searched her skin, though the shift hadn’t allowed him to see close enough for a birthmark. His brother had said all the sisters had a small skin discoloration of some sort. The earl claimed it a longing mark. A remnant of something a mother wished for before a child was born.
Benjamin had no longing mark visible but when he looked at Thessa, he felt one deep inside his body coiling and bumping against his skin. He had no belief in mermaids or goddesses, but when he looked at her, he wished he did.
Chapter Three
Even before she left her house to return outside, Thessa thought of the captain standing at the base of her stairway, waiting for her to take him to the stones. She remembered his eyes, surprised at how she hadn’t wanted to turn away from him. He had lightness in his gaze which reminded her of the way the early morning sun shimmered across the blue of the sea—when the golden glow of the morning made her feel she’d awoken into a world fresh and new.
Stephanos would remember the name of the ship that took her sister. He would be angry to see it in the harbour. She would have to talk to him, otherwise the captain would be in danger. Even if the captain worked all night getting the stones, Stephanos would gather the men of the island and attack before the ship could sail. She would have to speak with Stephanos very soon—before the captain lingered on the island digging in the earth.
Thessa opened the door and moved to the top of the stairway. The older man stood away from the house, his eyes on the landscape, but the captain waited for her. When the captain stepped aside so she could descend, she noted the width of his shoulders and the firm line of his lips. He looked no happier to be on the island than her father had been the last time—no man should disdain the island so. But she did want to help her sister and the captain had no knowledge of what could happen to him on the island.
