“And what of it?” my pirate king asked.
“We all know of Peter Easton’s treasure, the one said to have been hidden at Shell Bird Island down in Newfoundland. Many a man have traveled in search of it. I admit, even I’ve sent a crew or two down. But no one’s ever been able to find it.” Her voice lowered. “But I’m betting you did.” She walked back and forth, dragging the dagger across the desk. “Didn’t you?”
A tight silence held the room, moments passing before anyone spoke. Finally, Henry let out an impatient sigh. “No, we didn’t.”
Wallace’s eyes bulged as her long legs swiveled in front of the desk and advanced on our group. “Lies!”
Finn and Henry pushed at the space between them and Wallace. Henry’s nostrils flared in anger. “Watch it, Roselyn.”
She shot him a glare, but he refused to correct himself. A wide range of expressions and emotions passed between the two but neither backed down. Finally, unable to take the tension in the room, I opened my mouth and blurted out whatever came to mind.
“We found the damn island!” I shouted. My crew seethed in my direction. But Wallace only smirked. “We had the treasure. But our ship caught a massive storm on the way here. We lost everything and just about ourselves, too. That’s why the ship has been in repair.”
“’Tis true, Wallace,” Finn added as he rolled back on his heels and adjusted the heavy leather belt around his waist.
“Finnigan Artair.” Wallace turned her attention to the giant Scot in the room. “It’s good to see you alive and well. The last time we spoke, my father still owned The Siren’s Call, I believe.”
Finn waggled his thick red brows. “Aye, was a fine establishment. I enjoyed myself many nights ‘ere.”
She pursed her lips in an unconvincing attempt to smile. “Huh, yes. I’m sure you did. As did many pigs of men my father let through the doors.”
She tossed the dagger down on the desk where it hit with a loud ting. Roselyn then plopped down into the massive brown leather wingback behind the desk with a tired sigh. “So, you have no spoils to claim? No treasure to protect?”
Henry cleared his throat. “No, we do not.”
“Well, then. I can’t very well make you pay a duty, now. Can I?” The woman’s words sounded reassuring, but I still felt uneased. Roselyn then added, “Regardless. You tried to avoid coming to see me, Henry, and that disappoints me. I don’t think I can let that slide. What if others take stake? No, I have to make an example out of you all.”
“What do you propose?” Henry asked, the raspy tone of his low and impatient voice carrying through the room.
“Three favors,” Roselyn replied.
“Three?” Finn spat. “Bloody Christ!”
“One,” Henry countered. His arms crossed tightly.
The woman narrowed her eyes as she seemed to contemplate it. “Two.”
“Fine. Two favors.” Henry stepped forward and reached out a hand. They shook on it.
My stomach turned at the thought of us owing this woman anything. What were the extents of the favors? Could Roselyn Wallace quite literally ask for anything? But, as Henry turned to come back to where I was, I was given my answer before he even sat down.
“Excellent.” Wallace clapped her hands once. “I have a task for you to do. The first favor, if you will.”
He stopped, eyes locked on mine in a plead of forgiveness, and spun back around to face her.
“I’m throwing a big party this evening,” she began. “A Christmas party. My four barrels of wine are stuck on a merchant vessel just a few yards off the coast. The ship is having some trouble with its sails. I need a group of men to row out, help fix them, so the ship can come to shore and deliver my wine. Can you do that for me?”
“Yes,” Henry replied and glanced back to where I sat. “But, does the merchant vessel not have row boats of its own?”
“No, they foolishly left them behind to make room for more cargo,” Wallace replied.
Henry exchanged a knowing glance with Gus. “Just allow me the time to take Dianna back to our room at the tavern.”
I sprang upright. “What? No. I’m coming with you.”
“Absolutely not,” he told me. “You passed out. Clearly you need to rest.”
“I’m fine now,” I pleaded. “I swear.”
Lottie took a seat next to me. “Dianna, I have to side with Henry on this. Yours and the baby’s safety is the most important thing. You can’t be rowing out to sea in a little boat.”
Part of me wanted to pull rank, play the captain card and demand I come along. But I knew that would only alert Roselyn Wallace that I was the real captain of The Queen and Henry had been pretty insistent she be kept in the dark. So, like a child, I crossed my arms and leaned back against the chaise with a harrumph.
“Dianna is more than welcome to stay here and wait for your return,” Wallace suggested. The woman spoke about me as if I were a child, or not in the room at all. And then I realized what the source of my unease was about her. She wouldn’t make eye contact with me.
I couldn’t tell if she was truly being sincere in the offer. Perhaps it was the tinge of jealousy running through my veins, but I could have sworn I caught the glimmer of something in her eye. Deception? No… something else. I couldn’t put my finger on it. But Lottie must have sensed it, too.
“Thank you for the kind gesture, but that’s quite alright,” my best friend replied for me. “I’ll take Dianna back to the tavern. I could use some rest myself.” She turned back, her blonde hair shielding her face like a curtain as she threw me a playful wink.
“I’ll return as soon as I can,” Henry promised as he helped me to my feet.
It killed me to let him go. All I wanted since finding his mother’s ring was to haul Henry off somewhere private and share in the joy I knew he’d feel. But I also knew that Wallace was letting us off easy and I had to play along.
I held his gaze and willed him to feel my anxious heart. “Right back. Promise?”
The line of his mouth widened. “Promise.”
From the other side of the room, I heard Wallace clear her throat. “Of course, you’re all invited to attend the party tonight.” She had a playful smirk on her face as she rushed the words from her mouth. “As my guests.”
Henry sighed. “That’s really not necess–”
“I insist.” Her response was curt and rushed but the woman eased before adding, “All the food and drink you could dream of.”
“Aye, finally,” Finn churred, “now yer talkin’.” His cheerful expression relaxed as he caught my discreet glare and he shrugged apologetically.
“I’m sure after your long journey, you could all use a good time,” Wallace continued not taking no for an answer.
Damn, she was persistent.
Part of me wondered what she’d do if we really pushed back and declined her invitation. Would it piss her off? Was she one of those unstable beautiful people? Did the power of her position weigh heavy in her pretty head? I didn’t know enough about Wallace and, from what I could guess, Henry kept details from me for a reason. Another part of me, the seedy jealous bit, wanted nothing more than to dig deeper and figure out the past Henry shared with the dark goddess.
“We’ll be there,” I blurted out.
My crew turned and shot me a look of disbelief. Except Finn, who rocked back on his heels in pure joy. The promise of a feast and endless alcohol was enough to lure him into a bear’s cave, I would imagine. But then I realized, I wasn’t supposed to make calls like that. I wasn’t the captain. “Uh, if it’s alright with Captain Barrett, of course.”
Henry’s chest heaved at the face of defeat. What else could he do with Finn and I rooting to go? “A party it is, then.”
“Excellent!” Wallace declared and hopped up from her chair. “Guests will arrive at eight.” She fetched a quill from her desk and scribbled down ink on a loose piece of parchment before handing it to Henry. “This is the number on my cargo. I’ll have Ang
us bring the carriages around and he’ll you escorted back to the docks. He’ll also show you to the rowboat.”
We followed as she exited the room, Henry close behind her with me in tow, our hands linked tightly. When our group reached the foyer, Roselyn turned and laid her hand on Henry’s shoulder. Her slender brown fingers and perfectly manicured nails caressing the curve of his arm a little too much for my liking. An unexpected flare of jealousy burned through my chest.
“I’ll have my seamstress send something to The Kraken’s Den for you to wear,” she told him with a seductive tone that soured my stomach. Her eyes raking over his body. My man’s body. “You still look about the same size.”
Henry, realizing her discreet advance, gently pulled away. “Thank you, I appreciate it, but it’s truly not–”
“Again, I insist.” She crossed her arms, causing the exposed cleavage to heave. “When have you ever known me to take no for an answer?” Roselyn then glanced in my direction, as if suddenly realizing I was standing there, and grinned maliciously. “I can have something sent for you as well, Dianna. Something to fit over that lovely belly of yours.”
I wanted to yank the silky black waves from her damn head and step on her perfect face. But I squashed the jealous rage and pulled Henry close to me, resting my head against his shoulder.
“That won’t be necessary, Roselyn.” I held my smile as her eyes narrowed at the use of her first name, something I sensed she didn’t like. “I’ll take care of mine and Henry’s outfits for the party while he’s fetching your wine.”
All of my suspicions about Wallace’s intentions or the past she shared with Henry were confirmed in one single glare. Her deep brown eyes bore into mine, mirroring my jealousy but quickly faded away with hopelessness. I may have been jealous of her beauty, but Henry was mine, a comforting fact I carried with me all the way to the carriage.
Henry gripped my hand as I placed a foot on the first step, but gave it a gentle tug before I could get in. “Don’t you think you should rest when you return?”
“No, I’m fine,” I told him. And I really was. The sense of something to prove kick started my energy once again. I grinned and tugged at the collar of his leather trench, bringing his face to mine. “Don’t worry, I’ll get you something nice to wear.”
He failed to hide his look of concern. “Dianna,” Henry’s voice lowered just above a whisper, “You have nothing to prove.”
My eyebrow arched, and I leaned in to place a long, sensual kiss that I knew would linger on his lips until we met again later that night. My hand slipped inside his jacket and squeezed the hard muscles of his back, pressing my chest against him. I pulled away and delighted in the fire that had lit in Henry’s hungry gaze, then threw a challenging glance over his shoulder to Wallace who stood seething in jealousy on her front porch. He may have been mine, but I didn’t trust that woman. And my instincts had never steered me wrong before.
I took the second step and held Henry’s gaze as I let go of his hand and smirked. “Don’t I?”
Chapter Five
Iscrambled out of the carriage, leaving behind the awkward silence that had filled it on the way back to The Kraken’s Den. Lottie tried to strike up general chit chat, I could tell she felt bad for the way things went down at Wallace’s. But I was pissed. Not at her. Well, not entirely, anyway. I just felt betrayed. Blindsided. How could my crew not tell me about the gorgeous, dark goddess that clearly has a thing for the man I’m in love with? How could Lottie have not told me? Given me a heads up, at the very least. I stormed through the tavern, bypassing the curious innkeeper for the stairs.
“Dianna,” Lottie called at my back. I didn’t reply. “Dianna!”
I stopped on the first stair and spun around. “What?”
“Why are you angry with me?”
“I’m not angry,” I told my friend. Her face twisted in confusion. “I’m just… I feel like a fool.”
Tears unexpectedly began to pool in my eyes and Lottie quickly jumped to the stair on which I stood and wrapped a comforting arm around me.
“Oh, Dianna, I’m so sorry. Come on, let’s go upstairs.”
We entered the room I shared with Henry and I paced the floor, trying to keep in the emotions that had rushed to the surface. Where did they come from? I was fine. Full of energy and a burning desire to show up Roselyn Wallace at her own party. Now I was threatening myself to fall apart.
Stupid pregnancy hormones.
Lottie opened her mouth to speak but I beat her to it. “How could you not tell me?”
She shook her head. “Tell you what?”
“About her!” I cawed. “That Wallace was actually Roselyn Wallace. Beautiful, flawless, and clearly in love with Henry! I was completely blindsided. I wasn’t prepared for that entire experience.”
My flailing hands flew in the air around me as I paced some more. Lottie sighed and rubbed her face tiredly before taking a step in my direction. Gently, her sturdy hands took my shaking ones and held them tightly.
“Dianna,” my friend said softly but sternly. “I’ve never met the woman before in my life. Didn’t even know she was a woman at all. My father had never let me go with him and, from what I can tell, when he paid a trip to see Wallace and square up his dues, it was her father. It’s been years since I’ve been back here, she would have been a young girl then, too.”
“But she knew who you were,” I replied, a little calmer.
“What do you mean?”
“Outside, when we first arrived,” I began, “She glanced around and said she recognized everyone’s faces except mine.”
Lottie couldn’t have faked the pure look of bewilderment that spread across her face. “I-I have no idea, Dianna. I swear. Please believe that.”
I closed my eyes and inhaled deeply. “I do.”
I immediately felt bad for tearing into my best friend the way I did, the relief that flushed from her body was hard not to notice.
“It appears that, perhaps, the men in our lives have some explaining to do, though,” she added.
I pinched the bridge of my nose. “Yeah.”
“I can pry Augustus for information,” Lottie offered. “See what sort of past Wallace and Henry may have had.”
“No, no,” I told her. I’d ask him myself.
I chewed at my bottom lip as I pondered. What if I never got the full truth from him? He’d kept a lot of details about the woman from me already. Clearly there was something he felt was worth hiding.
“Actually, yes.” I regretted the words as soon as I spoke them.
Lottie raised her eyebrows in surprise. “Really?”
I let out a slight moan of annoyed agony. “No, don’t. I’ll ask Henry myself. I should give him the chance to explain. I should trust him to tell me the truth.”
“I wish I had that sort of faith in men,” she said jokingly and took a seat at the small dinette table in the middle of the room. She plucked a grape from the bowl of fruit and popped it in her mouth. “She’s hideous, you know. Absolutely wretched to look at.”
I rolled my eyes at my friend’s attempt to cheer me up. “No, she’s not. Far from it. She’s like some kind of goddess. I’ve never seen a more beautiful woman.” I glanced down at my enormous stomach and felt my feet swelling in the tight leather boots I wore. “How can I compete with that?”
Lottie whipped a grape and it flicked off my forehead.
“Ow! What was that for?”
“Will you just listen to yourself?” she said and stood to come meet me. “She may be a beautiful goddess, but you’re a glorious queen. You and you alone carry Henry’s heart as well as his child inside your body. You travelled three hundred years to save him from death. You stuck by him when his mind turned to darkness and helped him see the light. His entire world lies with you, Dianna.”
Her words brought tears to my eyes as she placed reassuring hands on my shoulders and grinned triumphantly.
“What you should be asking yourself is how ca
n she compete with that.”
***
After we got cleaned up, Lottie and I descended the stairs to the bustling tavern below. The scent of delicious food floated through the air as hungry guests waited about. Some sat at the bar near the rear of the building, others stood and sat around the common areas. Basking in the warmth of the fireplace, relaxing in the cozy chairs. I spotted Charlie, Seamus, and John gathered around a large round table, mugs of ale on their hands.
I gave Charlie a mock motherly eyebrow as I approached. “Don’t drink too much, now, boys.”
Charlie put down the wooden mug and wiped his mouth. Seamus replied. “No, Ma’am, uh, Captain. Just wetting our lips while we wait for supper.”
“I’m just kidding,” I replied and tousled the dirty blonde hair atop Charlie’s head as I took a seat next to him and across from the other two.
Lottie leaned against the table. “What have you boys been up to? Haven’t seen much of you around.”
John, the older one, replied dutifully. “Been keepin’ an eye on The Queen, Ma’am. And finishin’ up the last few repairs Gus gave us to do.”
“Excellent,” she told them proudly and shifted to face the table better. “We’ll need you to stick close to the tavern tonight. Dianna and I will be attending a party with Gus, Finn, and Henry. We’ll need eyes on our belongings while we’re away.”
The three nodded, eager to please. Charlie’s slender hand gently touched my arm, catching my attention.
“Yes?” I said.
He twisted in his chair and pulled a small notebook from his trouser pocket and laid it on the table.
“Awe, come on, mate,” said Seamus. “You don’t need that anymore. We understand ya just fine.”
Charlie’s cheeks flushed red as he regarded me from the side. Why did he seem so self-conscious all of a sudden? I didn’t comment, for fear of embarrassing him further. I only waited patiently with an encouraging smile. Charlie tightened the collar of his loose shirt around his neck and cleared his throat.
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