The Pirate's Jewel

by Cheryl Howe

  There were initials engraved on the front. She’d noticed them before but assumed they belonged to some nameless victim of Wayland’s. In her musing, the ring had been won in a game of dice, nothing more.

  “WK,” he said, without actually seeing the letters she herself wouldn’t have been able to name. She could tell by her father’s steady stare that those initials should have significance.

  When she still didn’t respond, he finally said, “William Kent.”

  “You stole it from Nolan in the first place.” She narrowed her gaze, but her father only smirked at her show of anger.

  “Aye, but he stole something more valuable from me, don’t you know.”

  Jewel returned to her work. She assumed he meant her, and she had no intention of discussing it further. Last night with Nolan had settled everything…she hoped. His promise to leave her father alone had been coerced, but she felt justified. Even the fact that her special instruction had come from Wayland—with lots of blushing on both their parts—didn’t make her regret the extreme measure she’d taken to win Nolan’s promise. She had to save her marriage as well as her father’s life. Not that Bellamy deserved her protection, but unfortunately he was still her father. She couldn’t turn her back on him no matter how much she desired.

  She stuck her hands in the basket of pond muck and dumped two fistfuls into a smaller basket. She poured water from a bucket to wash away the worst of the silt, and then sifted through what was left.

  Her plan to seduce Nolan had been born of desperation. Bellamy had driven a wedge between them, and Jewel would have resorted to anything to return them to the harmony they’d experienced before their arrival on this island. Perhaps the way she coerced his promise to find peace with her father had been wrong. Nolan had always given of himself so easily when they were intimate, if not in other aspects of their relationship. Last night had exceeded her expectations. She felt her power over him, and she reveled in it. His reaction to her bold advances aroused her more than she had ever imagined. For a brief moment in time, she had controlled their relationship. She had the forceful Captain Nolan Kent moaning her name and begging her for—

  “Does that pretty blush staining your cheeks have anything to do with Nolan agreeing to let me have a share of his grandpa’s precious treasure?”

  Jewel glanced up. She had forgotten her father still leaned against the tree. Her cheeks burned, and she had to drop her gaze. “Hadn’t you better get back to work, Bellamy? The others have brought up twice as many loads as you.”

  “Bellamy, is it? Have you forgotten I’m your father? Nolan hasn’t, I can assure you.”

  Jewel glared at him again. She felt the rise of emotion welling up inside her, but this time it was different. Her hurt had turned to anger—righteous anger directed at the father who abandoned her. “You were never a father to me, so why should I honor you with more than you deserve? I told Nolan to leave you alone. That’s all I owe you. It’s more than you’ve ever done for me.”

  Bellamy smirked. “Aye, lass. And you two will live the rest of your lives in wedded bliss without your old sire around to spoil your happiness.”

  His sarcastic tone undermined her belief that she had settled anything between her and Nolan, but she wasn’t about to let Bellamy know it. The one thing she had learned about her father was that he found the littlest tear in a person’s armor and drove his sword home. “Nolan gave you what you wanted. You have no reason to torment us further.”

  Bellamy folded his arms over his chest, either feigning his relaxed stance or truly not giving a bloody damn about the trouble he caused. “I could see the muscle working in Nolan’s jaw when he told me he would give me an equal share of the treasure.”

  Jewel picked up the basket and shook it harder than necessary. Mud-encrusted coins flew over the side. She picked them up and dumped them back in the basket. If she ignored Bellamy long enough, maybe he would go away.

  “It’s eating at him, you know—knowing I’ll be getting a share of Kent’s treasure. Over the years, a feeling like that festers in your gut.”

  Jewel plunked two more muddy handfuls into the strainer. Mud spattered her cheek. She wiped it away, realizing she had forgotten to take out the coins she had just cleaned. “Why don’t you leave me alone?”

  “Because I’m your father.” Bellamy stepped away from the tree, his smirk gone. “There are a hell of a lot of women in this world, and it’s not right that Nolan had to go and pick my child.”

  Jewel threw down her basket and got to her feet. “You deserted me. The way I see it, you don’t have any right to claim me.”

  Bellamy beat his fist against his chest. “You’re my blood. As the years pass, Nolan’s going to be looking into my green eyes, not yours. That’s what he’ll be thinking, I promise you. And he’s going to think about how much he hates me and the sacrifices he made for you, and then where will you be?”

  “What’s between us has nothing to do with you!” How many times had Nolan told her that? But she hadn’t believed it then and she wasn’t at all sure she believed it now.

  “Nolan’s always been popular with the ladies. He could have had an heiress, a lady of standing, at the very least a wealthy widow. Some folks don’t know about his grandfather, and those who do think Nolan’s holier-than-thou father atoned for the family sins.” Bellamy looked her up and down. “So tell me, why would he pick a scrawny, illegitimate tavern wench as his bride?”

  Jewel couldn’t breathe. Her vision blurred. She glanced around her for something to throw. The bucket of mud-encrusted coins appeared in the corner of her gaze. She turned and scooped out a fistful of wet mud and threw it in his face. The slurpy thwack that sounded as the muck found its target brought her back to reality. He stood there for a moment, black slime dripping down his face and splattered across his chest, appearing just as shocked as she.

  With slow, precise movements, as if he had been dining on tea and crumpets with royalty, he wiped the mud from his eyes and then the rest of his face. “You see my point.”

  Jewel’s chest heaved with her spent anger. She had no answer to his painfully valid observation, and the silence that hung between them confirmed it.

  “It’s only a matter of time before he gets tired of his revenge against me and comes to resent you. There’s no happy ending in that for you, Jewel. I see the way you look at him. It’s plain you’re besotted. He’s only using you to get at me. He doesn’t feel the same.”

  Jewel rubbed her temples with the backs of her dirty hands, shutting him out. But her own thoughts echoed his hateful words. “Stop it. He’s not like you.”

  “No. I know Nolan better than anyone. I watched him grow to a man. He’s not like me. He’s worse. He may believe he truly cares for you, but it’s me that eats at his vitals. I’m what’s driving him, and he’ll want to fight that hatred but won’t be able to.”

  Jewel glanced at the pond, searching for Nolan. Parker sat at the side, catching his breath. Nolan must be under the water. Six men, Bellamy included, had taken turns swimming to the bottom. They shoveled silt into a large basket, and then tugged on a rope to have the crew above pull it to the surface. Jewel had been left in charge of sifting through what they found. It was exhausting work. As much as she wanted reassurance from Nolan, she didn’t want to distract him.

  She just had to believe he would tell her father differently. It would surely lead to blows between them, but at least it would prove…Jewel let the rest of her thought trail off. She glanced back at her father.

  Bellamy must have seen the confusion and doubt clouding her features. “He hates me more than he could ever love you. And you’re feeding that hatred by being my daughter.”

  Jewel dropped to her knees and frantically sifted through more mud. “Parker looks exhausted. I think it’s your turn to go down with Nolan.”

  Bellamy smiled to himself, and it chilled her blood. “As a matter of fact,” he said, “it is.”

  He strolled away from her
, taking what was left of her heart.

  ***

  A rapid explosion of bubbles broke the pond’s dark surface. Jewel glanced to Wayland. “What’s that mean?”

  “It means they’ll be up in a minute. Stop that pacing, chit. You’re wearing me out,” Wayland answered without opening his eyes. He lay flat on the ground with his arms folded over his chest, his shirt balled under his head for a pillow. He was even scrawnier than he appeared in clothing, but he must have strength in that wiry form because he had pulled up the heavy baskets of silt and coins since early that morning. She had never seen him work so hard. Obviously, gold motivated him.

  Jewel paced the pool’s length again. The ripples from the erupting bubbles drifted toward her in lazy abandon. Even the water’s surface had started to look gilded in the setting sun. She had seen enough gold for one day. It would be dark soon. Nolan had no reason to go down one last time. Nor Bellamy to volunteer to accompany him.

  Most of the crew had left to haul the treasure back to the beach. All the men were exhausted, and even the lure of wealth had lost its appeal in favor of much-needed rest. “Parker, would you dive down and check on them?”

  Parker lifted his head from the arm he used as a pillow, his long body curled under the shade of a bowed palm tree. From the slow way he opened his eyes, Jewel could tell he had fallen asleep. “Pull on the rope. He’ll yank back.”

  The men who went down tied ropes around their waists to ensure they could pull themselves to the surface in the event they became disoriented. Exhaustion set in long before they had retrieved half of the treasure, but sheer excitement drove them on. They had continued working until more silt than gold was brought to the surface.

  Jewel picked up a bundle of ropes. One end was tied to a tree, the other either to a man’s waist or a basket. Only three ropes led underneath the water. One must be tied to Bellamy, one to Nolan, and the third to the basket they had taken with them.

  Jewel neared the water with all three ropes in her hand. Suddenly, one of the ropes went taut. Bellamy broke the surface of the water, gasping for breath. Jewel dropped the rope attached to him before Bellamy could get a breath. She started gathering the excess of the other two. “Where’s Nolan?”

  Bellamy swam to the side. “There’s been an accident. Nothing I could do.”

  Her frantic yanking dragged one of the ropes across the sandy bank, frayed and dripping water. The end had been cut with a knife. “You did this!”

  Bellamy pulled himself out of the pond. “Had to. He got tangled in his line.”

  “Why did you come up without him?” Jewel strode toward the pond’s edge. She sucked in as much air as she could take in her lungs. A hand on the back of her dress stopped her from jumping into the deep water.

  “I thought you couldn’t swim,” Bellamy growled.

  Wayland leaped to his feet. “She can’t.”

  Jewel tried to wrench free of her father’s hold. “I have to find Nolan.”

  Parker shook off his sleepy haze and rushed to the pool. “Don’t let her go. I’ll go down.”

  Before he reached the edge, Nolan exploded like a cannon ball from the pond’s depths. He choked and gasped for air. Jewel reached out to him, but Bellamy still held the back of her dress. Parker leaned over the side and helped pull Nolan out.

  Once on solid ground, he braced himself on his hands and knees. He coughed up so much water, Jewel feared he would still drown even though he was on dry land. His face was red and he couldn’t catch his breath.

  Before she could break away from her father, Nolan’s choking eased and his raging gasps subsided. With his head still hung between his shoulders, he took several shuddering deep breaths. After a long moment, he turned and glared at Jewel. The hatred in his gaze stopped her heart. No. Not at her. She started to breathe again and followed his gaze. He poured all that venom and fury at the man who stood by her shoulder, her father.

  Bellamy backed away. “Just a little joke, Nolan. I wanted to see if you could still get untied if you were forced to walk the plank. Remember how I used to drop you overboard with your hands bound and bet on how long it would take you to surface?”

  Nolan got to his feet. “You were trying to kill me, you bastard.”

  Bellamy continued his retreat. “If I wanted to kill you, you’d be dead by now.”

  Nolan took two steps toward Bellamy, and then broke into a run. Bellamy didn’t even have a chance to brace before Nolan dove at his knees, sending him onto his backside. He tried to kick Nolan’s head before either could recover from the momentum of the fall. Nolan managed to duck while clawing Bellamy in his attempt to get a better grip. The two men rolled on the ground, Bellamy squirming to get away and Nolan hanging on like a bulldog.

  Jewel ran toward them. “Stop this!” Nolan was surely going to kill her father this time.

  Wayland rushed forward to help her, but Parker hung back. “Let them go. They need to settle this.”

  Jewel bent down, tugging at Nolan’s arm. Parker’s words echoed in her head with a finality she could no longer deny. Despite all efforts, the only way the feud between Bellamy and Nolan would ever be settled was with one of their deaths. The proof of her father’s words was chilling. Her meddling had only furthered the bad blood between them.

  Wayland stood above the men, randomly grabbing an arm or a hunk of hair, only to be shaken off. “It’s like putting your hand in a hornets’ nest,” he said, answering the plea in her gaze.

  Nolan had gotten his hands around Bellamy’s throat and wouldn’t let go. Bellamy’s face rapidly changed from red to purple. But instead of trying to pry off Nolan’s grip, Bellamy squirmed underneath him, his hands nowhere in sight. It looked as if he wasn’t even trying to defend himself.

  Jewel tugged at Nolan’s arms. “Help me,” she called to Wayland.

  She darted a quick glance around Nolan’s shoulder to see if Bellamy was still conscious. He was, and his arm reared back to plunge a knife into Nolan’s neck. There was no time for her to even scream.

  She grabbed Bellamy’s wrist, desperate to stop the force of the blow. “No!” She succeeded in misdirecting Bellamy’s aim. The knife glanced off her shoulder. A rush of fear and instinct forced her to gasp and jerk away.

  Nolan must have realized what had happened, because he wrestled the knife from Bellamy and threw it into the water.

  Jewel got to her feet and was surprised when she swayed. Anger and shock competed for dominance. Either way, she was ready to give up on both her father and her husband. When she touched her fingers to her wound, they came away red. It didn’t hurt so much as feel very cold. She stared at her hand, not believing what she saw. With the realization that she’d been truly hurt, Jewel started to shiver. Her knees buckled, but Nolan was already at her side, guiding her to the ground. “How bad?”

  “I don’t know.” She didn’t feel much of anything. Maybe she was going to die. Nolan pulled aside the sliced cloth of her gown. Jewel turned her face away, just in case it was particularly awful. If she were mortally wounded, she didn’t think she wanted to know. She waited for the pain. It came when Nolan started probing the wound. She sucked air through her teeth, but willed herself not to cry.

  Bellamy leaned over Nolan’s shoulder. “It’s just a flesh wound.”

  Nolan turned around and slugged him in the mouth.

  Wayland squatted in front of Jewel, blocking her view. With great effort, she pushed herself up on her elbows to peer around him to see if the brawl had started again. The cursing and yelling told her it had.

  “You could have killed her. You bastard!”

  Bellamy tried to best Nolan in volume. “If you would have let go instead of trying to strangle me, I wouldn’t have had to pull my knife in the first place.”

  “You stabbed her. You stabbed your own daughter. That’s a new low for you, Bellamy.” Nolan’s voice shook with menace. Though not as boisterous as his adversary, he sounded angrier, more dangerous.

  Jewel
strained to see over Wayland’s shoulder. Only the tops of Nolan and Bellamy’s heads as they circled each other reached her line of vision. Neither man had a weapon, but Jewel feared they were mad enough to kill each other with their bare hands.

  Bellamy turned his head and spat. Jewel could easily imagine the blood-tinged spittle that stained the sand and provoked another foul curse from her father. “Letting you live to lie with my daughter one more night would be a new low. That’s why it’s not going to happen.” Bellamy’s lunge for Nolan was a blur in the corner of her eye, but Nolan’s grunt assured her he’d hit his mark.

  Jewel’s neck ached and she let her head fall back onto the rolled cloth someone had thoughtfully placed beneath her. Wayland blocked her view completely. Even with her eyes closed, she knew her father and husband were rolling on the ground like two schoolboys. Two schoolboys bent on killing each other.

  Wayland touched her chin, forcing her to look at him. “It’s a shallow wound. Your pretty dress got the worst of it. Don’t even need stitches.”

  Jewel blinked, clearing the tears from her vision. “Make them stop.”

  Wayland nodded and stood. The compassion in his tired gaze shook her with a new wave of sorrow. He knew better than she how hopeless was her request. Jewel propped herself on her elbows and watched Wayland stride toward the two men locked in mortal combat and kick them apart. “Can’t you two stop long enough to see that Jewel’s wound is tended to?”

  Miraculously, they let go of each other and got to their feet. Wayland braced his hands on the hipbones that jutted above the waistline of his baggy breeches. “I’m sick of seeing you two chasing each other’s tails like bleeding mongrels. Let’s finish this thing right.”

  Both men nodded, their chests heaving. They both looked as if they had just been awakened from a disturbing dream. All three approached her. Jewel hadn’t realized Parker had taken her hand and cradled her head until Nolan growled something at him. Parker quickly moved aside so Nolan could take his place. He clasped her hand, but instead of comforting her, his slick skin radiated heated anger. The pulse at the base of his thumb raced with erratic agitation.