by Cheryl Howe
He slowly lowered his sword, something stronger than rage or even rational thought controlling his actions. He loved Jewel too much to hurt her like this. He let his right hand drop behind him, burying the sword’s tip in the sand. Still holding on to the hilt, he offered his other hand to Bellamy.
Bellamy’s gaze veered from Nolan’s lowered sword, and then back to Nolan himself. His expression hardened and Nolan had the impression that Bellamy felt cheated. He made no move to take Nolan’s offered hand. Another realization shook Nolan. After everything Bellamy had put him through, he couldn’t kill him. Bellamy had taught him with a cruel hand, but he’d made Nolan the man he was today. Bellamy had fathered the woman he loved. If not for Bellamy, he would never have found Jewel, and Nolan suddenly knew he could bear anything but losing her—even Bellamy Leggett.
“Lovely display, but you can drop the sword, Captain Kenton.” A chorus of muskets being readied followed the vaguely familiar voice.
Nolan swung his gaze to see a red-coated marine flanked by two dozen soldiers already assembled in firing formation. And to a man, they had their muskets trained on Nolan and his crew.
***
Jewel threw a rock into the reflection of the moon. In the surface of the pond, the night sky looked like a huge pearl surrounded by a thousand diamonds all lying in a bed of black satin. Not much of a hiding place for a fortune. If she hadn’t found the treasure, either Bellamy or Nolan would have. Still, she wished she had the extra time. Wished things were the way they were before. She threw another rock and cursed the rippling pearl and diamonds. The real treasure had been just as fragile.
It was no treasure at all, but a glittering pile of metal that brought nothing but heartache to its possessors. Look at Captain Kent. The first Captain Kent. He’d lost his life because of the treasure. Jewel would lose her heart and soul.
The treasure started it all, and would end it as well. It was what had brought Nolan and Bellamy together in the first place, and them to her. Their first jaunt to the Quail and Queen had nothing to do with her father’s desire to visit his forgotten daughter, nor had Nolan’s second visit been a gallant gesture to rescue her from an arranged marriage. And just to ensure she understood her lowly status in the order of things, the treasure jealously claimed her suitor. Jewel would be left with nothing but a cold fistful of metal.
Jewel dragged her finger through the water, disrupting her first memory of Bellamy and Nolan together. They had fought that night. The same night she had first seen her father. How had she ever thought she could change either one of them?
She didn’t have to use her imagination to know what was happening on the beach. They had played out a similar argument before her very eyes, long ago. The thought stopped her heart. She choked on a sob as she tried to draw breath that wouldn’t come. Unbidden, the first fight between her father and Nolan played out in front of her closed eyes with a clarity she’d been unable to retrieve until this moment. She saw the blade pierce Nolan, and she could feel the pain herself.
“No!” Her eyes flew open and she sprang to her feet. Her father had cheated that time. Nolan hadn’t wanted to hurt him, but her father had attacked him when his guard was down. She couldn’t let it happen like that again.
A strong arm wrapped around her midsection the moment she trod upon the worn trail that led back to the beach. The sudden cession of her flight pulled her back against her captor, and they both temporarily lost their balance.
“I can’t let you do that, Jewel.” Parker managed to keep them both on their feet.
Jewel jabbed an elbow in his ribs—not as hard as she could, but a subtle yet serious entreaty for him to let her go.
“I have to stop the fight.”
To his credit, he neither grunted nor loosened his hold. “Nolan doesn’t want you there. Let it go.”
“My father’s going to cheat. Please.” She soon lost her breath struggling against his unyielding grip. “Please. I have a bad feeling.”
“I’m letting you go now, so don’t run. I’ll only have to chase you and it’s dark as hell out here. I don’t want either of us to break our necks.” He slowly eased his hold.
She turned to face him. The fact that he wasn’t at the beach either made the situation more desperate. He appeared to be the only one who had retained his common sense during this ordeal. “We have to get to the beach—my father’s going to cheat like he did before.”
“I think Nolan knows that,” Parker said, apparently resigned.
“But Nolan could be killed.” She raised her voice, trying to break through his acceptance of something she couldn’t.
“Wayland says he won’t let that happen.” Parker shrugged. “At least that’s what he said when I asked him to help me talk some sense into Nolan.”
“And you believe Wayland? I have to get to the beach.” Jewel turned and started in that direction, not expecting Parker to try to physically stop her again if she kept an even pace. As she hoped, he fell in beside her.
“I don’t believe any of this. I can’t believe my old schoolmaster is fighting to the death with a known pirate. Joining with Nolan to find a treasure seemed a grand idea back in Boston, but now I don’t know. I’d hate it if something happened to Nolan, and serving under your father disturbs me just as much.”
“Nolan was your schoolmaster? I didn’t know that.” Jewel quickened her pace. Speaking of normal things helped to slow her heartbeat while it seemed to distract Parker from stopping her.
“I wasn’t the best student, I have to admit, but I liked going to my classes because I got to be around Nolan. There were rumors about him, though he thought he was fooling everyone. No one ever said it to his face, but his father’s whole congregation knew the Kentons were descended from Captain Kent. That’s why he had such a big following, I think.”
A yellow haze, the glow from the lanterns, hovered over the tops of the foliage that separated them from the beach. Parker sidestepped her and blocked her way. “You can’t go on the beach.”
“Parker—”
He stopped her with a raised hand. “I’ll see what’s going on first and then, if it’s all right, you can insist they stop. All right?”
Jewel studied his serious features. He’d not been aboard the Neptune, and she doubted he could handle the sight of death and bloodshed any better than she. He was just an ex-schoolboy.
“All right. But I’ll be right behind you. I’ll stay in the brush until you say it’s all right—but Parker, if it’s the worst…” She swallowed, unable to say if Nolan had been mortally wounded, or even her father for that matter. “If it’s the worst, I want to be there.”
He nodded, and then turned and headed for the light. The jungle’s dark green foliage writhed in black shadows from the flickering torches. Tonight seemed excessively warm, and a thin stream of sweat wound its way down between her shoulder blades. She’d left her hair undone, too distracted to wrestle it into a braid, and strands adhered to her cheeks and neck.
A metallic sound that didn’t seem like the clink of swords reached them first. Jewel’s premonition of doom grew stronger. Unaware that something wasn’t right, Parker pushed forward with a determined stride. She grabbed the back of his breeches, the only thing he was wearing besides boots, to stop him.
“Wait,” she whispered fiercely. He glanced behind her, his tan face worried. His nod confirmed that he sensed it, too. Together, crouched behind a tropical plant’s enormous leaves, they waited and listened.
“Where’s the girl? I would so love to catch up,” said a voice she didn’t recognize as one from the crew, but sounded vaguely familiar. It had an aristocratic edge, with the crisp pronunciation of someone recently emigrated from England.
“How would I know? Back in Charles Town, I would imagine.” Nolan didn’t sound at all like himself. Something was horribly wrong. And then Jewel knew. The British voice belonged to Devlin, the marine officer who had propositioned her at the Quail and Queen. The man attached to the sa
me ship who boarded Nolan’s vessel to impress his men, and the one where they’d rescued those same men. She’d killed one of their crewmen. My God, had they come for her?
She leaned forward to peek past the leaves, but Parker pulled her fiercely back, landing her on her backside. He shook his head, panic in his eyes. She cupped both hands around one eye like a telescope, silently signaling that she only intended to look. Apparently he understood, because he nodded.
Once she moved into position, Parker crowded behind her to get a glimpse from the same opening she created in the foliage. It was worse than she’d imagined. Surrounded by soldiers with muskets at the ready, Nolan and Bellamy stood together, chains around both their wrists that led down to their ankles. The rest of the crew, including Wayland, had been herded together in a group, and were circled by a similar number of red-coated men. Devlin, the officer from the tavern, lorded over them all. He’d discarded his wig, and his light brown hair slipped from the tie at the back of his neck, but he still had the privileged bearing that made him easy to recognize.
“Come now, Captain—”
“I’m the captain. You’ll be addressing me if you have any questions,” interrupted Bellamy.
Nolan didn’t show any reaction; no one did, except for Devlin, who raised an eyebrow, obviously skeptical.
“Very well, Captain. Your crewmember here is not only mutinous, but a liar as well. We picked up Jack Casper in dire need of rescuing. He and his mates were crammed together in a leaky skiff, three sheets to the wind. Since we were already on your tail, he pointed us in the right direction. He also mentioned you two had a falling out over a female passenger with dark hair and an unusual shade of green eyes.”
The marine officer delivered his speech to Nolan, only providing Bellamy one or two dismissive glances. “So, where’s the girl?”
Both Nolan and Bellamy remained silent. They had their backs to her, but Jewel imagined the defiant expression that played on their features.
Devlin shrugged, as if it didn’t matter. “I’ll find her, you know. It’s a small island. And you don’t have to worry that I intend to do her harm. That is the last thing on my mind. Since her protectors will soon be indisposed, my inquiries are for her safety as well as my curiosity. But on to the business at hand…”
Devlin swung his gaze to the other crewmen. He trudged through the sand in his heavy boots. He wore a red coat that reached his knees and a white vest of similar length. His dexterity and stamina were surprising, considering the heat and consistency of the powdery beach. Before Jewel realized what she was doing, she sized the man up for a fight.
After a casual perusal of the Integrity's crewmembers, he turned back to Nolan. “So, where’s the boy?”
Again, no one spoke.
“Captain or Captain?” Devlin prompted. “The boy who killed our officer on watch. The other wounded man described you”—he nodded to Nolan—“and a slight youth who had incredible skill with the sword. We’ll want to single him out, of course. Not that you all won’t most likely meet the same fate. But that’s for the Lord High Admiral to decide. My job is simply to deliver you.”
“And our fate is...?” asked Nolan.
“Hanging. They hang pirates, or didn’t you know?” said Devlin with the same polite, condescending tone he’d used to Jewel at the Quail and Queen.
Bellamy laughed. “Captain Kenton here ain’t no pirate, or didn’t you know? He’s a privateer.”
Devlin strode toward Nolan and examined him. “Who issued you a letter of marque?”
Nolan stiffened somewhat, and Jewel knew he was doomed. She thought of his grandfather and realized that, despite all Nolan’s efforts, he had fallen into the trap he’d been trying to dodge since he started on this journey.
“I plan to obtain one from the Continental Congress.”
Devlin nodded, unfazed by his answer. “Ah, treason, then. That simplifies things. Looks as if I’ll be delivering you to London instead. Newgate should teach you some manners.”
Jewel fumbled for Parker’s hand and gripped it. Parker squeezed hers in return, his palm hot and thick with sweat. He knew as well as she how dire was the situation. Nolan should have scoffed at Bellamy and claimed to be a pirate. At least then there would have been hope. Nolan had committed no crimes of piracy, so at his trial they’d have no evidence with which to convict him. But with treason, Jewel knew he had no chance.
The royal courts in Charles Town had no qualms in convicting citizens of the crime for merely speaking out against the crown’s representatives. Sneaking aboard a man-of-war and rescuing his impressed crew, and then admitting to being at war with his mother country, would result in immediate and swift punishment.
“Corporal, let’s first take our two captains to the Neptune’s brig. A snake’s no harm without its head.” He turned and gazed out to sea. “I imagine our men have dispensed with the crew left on Captain Kenton’s ship. With these torches on the beach, I can’t make out whether there are three lanterns on the bow or not. For now, we’ll keep the rest of the crew on shore while I search for the boy—and for our lovely female friend.”
The men relegated to handling Bellamy and Nolan gave a shove to start them moving. Jewel tapped Parker on the shoulder, and then melted deeper into the dense foliage. When they reached the base of a palm, where the green canopy above their heads was so thick she could no longer see the torches on the beach, she stopped.
Even in the dark, she could sense Parker’s panic, hear the heaviness of his breathing. “I have to hide you,” he said.
She paused a moment, that being the last thing she intended. “No, we need to let Devlin find me.”
“Are you insane?” he hissed.
“Parker, we have to rescue Nolan. He’ll know what to do. Can you use a sword?”
“No, I can’t. Not well, anyway. And even if I could, we don’t have one.”
Jewel’s heart sank at the realization. They didn’t have any weapons. Lifting a sword against another human being was the last thing she’d ever hoped to do again, but do it she would, and gladly now. That her plans had been dashed, she felt punched by Parker’s initial panic. All the Integrity's weapons, at least the ones they had on the island, were piled on the beach, confiscated by the soldiers. Only two or three crewman remained on watch aboard the ship. Even if they had prior warning, the British would overtake any escape easily. The torches on the beach, combined with the spectacle created by Nolan and her father, ensured that no one noticed whether there was another ship docked in the wide harbor.
At this point, Parker and she had absolutely nothing to their advantage, except perhaps the marine commander’s obvious interest in her. When he revealed he’d thought a boy killed his crewmate, she’d been confused until she remembered she had been dressed in men’s clothing, her long braid tucked in her jacket. Apparently, the officer wanted to continue his quest for her company that had begun in the tavern. Fortunately for him, Jewel was in a position in which she had nothing to lose.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Handsome Jack Casper lounged on the deck of the Neptune, his head bowed between his bent knees. Nolan’s glare alone should have wounded the mangled pirate. Not for the first time since Devlin mentioned how he’d obtained his information about Jewel, Nolan wished he’d sliced Casper down when he had the chance. All his worrying about teetering a fine line between piracy and privateering had been fruitless. He fell grossly short on both counts. He’d failed as a privateer and as a pirate. Most of all, he’d failed Jewel. What would happen to her now made him literally sick every time he thought of it.
The heat, pain, and desperation behind his worries must have been powerful enough to reach across the deck to Casper, because suddenly the man lifted his head. His eyes widened when he spotted Bellamy. He stood on shaky feet and swayed in their direction. Apparently the British had been showing their gratitude for Jack’s cooperation with his favorite victual: rum.
“Bellamy Leggett! I knew you were too me
an to die. How you doin’, Nolan? Good to see you again, lad.” Jack sounded as amiable as he had two weeks earlier when Nolan last saw him.
The corporal and his men paused at Jack’s approach, apparently to enjoy the spectacle that would surely follow.
Nolan didn’t have the will to disappoint them. “Jack Casper, you worthless son of a whore, I’m going to get out of here and slice away the other half of your face.”
Jack tried to assimilate this information with a few rapid blinks and a tilt of his head. Soon, he seemed to give up and turned back to Bellamy. “Hey, I want more for this one. Bellamy Leggett’s got twice the price on his head than Nolan.”
The corporal chuckled with a hint of affection. “Never heard of ’em, Handsome. Go have yourself another drink.”
Jack narrowed his gaze on the soldier. “Bellamy Leggett. He’s one of the last grand pirates to terrorize the Caribbean. I’m going to want triple what you paid me for this one,” he repeated.
“This old codger? Sure, Handsome Jack. Don’t you worry. We’ll give you five more bottles of rum,” said one of the guards.
Bellamy stiffened beside Nolan. Jack, on the other hand, seemed happy with the agreement, because he grinned from ear to ear—literally. “Good to see you again, mate. Let’s share a grog.” Jack threw himself at Nolan. With his hands shackled in front of him, Nolan had to take the impact with his body. He braced his knees, intending to send Jack across the deck with a heave of his chest and tell him he wasn’t his mate. But...
“I didn’t tell them ’bout the treasure. We’ll even up later. Don’t worry, I’ll get you out of here,” Jack whispered in his ear.
A soldier pulled Jack off Nolan, and the corporal shoved them both forward. “He’ll have to have a grog with you another time, Jack. He’s got a previous engagement with the brig.”
The marines’ enjoyment of Jack seemed to prevent them from noticing anything but the absurdity of the exchange. Nolan’s glance at Jack, who now draped his arm around the shoulder of the man leading him away, gave no clue as to whether Jack’s promise was drunken nonsense or an attempt to strike a bargain.
