2 Dead & Buried (9 page)

“I wish it was that easy. Unfortunately, there are more where they came from.”

“Sheesh, how many of these guys are there?” Fiona handed Luke a coffee.

“Quite a few. But I have quite a few guys too, and we’re going keep a close eye on them … and on you, to make sure nothing more happens.”

Morgan snorted. “I don’t think you need to keep an eye on us, we’re perfectly capable of taking care of ourselves … unless you’re after the treasure too?”

Luke’s heart clenched at the look of mistrust she gave him. “These guys are very dangerous and the fact that the two groups are in a fight for this treasure makes them even more so. You
do
need our help whether you want to admit it or not … and we’re not after the treasure, we get paid very well by the people that hire us.”

“I still don’t understand what your job is or why we should trust you,” Morgan said. “Where did you take those men, anyway? To Overton?”

“No, not to Overton. We have ways of dealing with them that you don’t need to know about. Just be glad there’s two less that will be bothering you. And my job is to wipe out these scum—let’s just say the people that pay me have a vested interest in getting rid of their kind and leave it at that.”

He saw Morgan bite her bottom lip and knew he had his job cut out for him, getting her to trust him again.

“Now, the more you guys can tell me about this supposed treasure, the better I can help you.”

Jolene looked up from her coffee mug. “The dead guy had a copy of a ship’s manifest in his pocket from the ancestor that originally built this house. We tried to decipher one of his journals—”

“We’re not sure the journals have anything to do with it,” Morgan interrupted.

Luke raised an eyebrow. He knew they weren’t telling him everything, but he hadn’t expected them to right off the bat. “Well the more I know, the easier it will be for me to anticipate what the treasure hunters will do and the faster I’ll be able to get rid of them.”

He noticed Fiona, Jolene and Celeste flick their eyes over at Morgan and she shook her head.

“We’ll let you know if we come up with something.” She looked at the clock. “But now it’s late. And I’d appreciate it if you, and your men, get out of my house.”

Luke put his coffee mug down on the counter and nodded at Morgan.
 

“We’ll get out of your house, but we’ll still be watching. Those guys
will
make another attempt, probably not tonight but soon.” He paused, his heart skipping a beat as he looked directly into her ice-blue eyes. “I know you know more than you’re letting on and I understand why you don’t want to open up to me.
 
But I think you’re just going to have to trust me on this one … your lives may depend on it.”

Then he turned and walked off toward the front door.

###

Morgan’s pulse raced as she stared at Luke Hunter’s retreating back.
Trust him?
 
She didn’t think so.

He had a hell of a nerve showing up like this … after all these years and not one letter or phone call.
 

“We should listen to what he says,” Celeste said quietly.

Morgan ground her teeth together. “And just
why
would we do that? He’s a stranger to us now. I see no reason to trust him.”

“But Morgan, Luke grew up here. You knew him better than any of us … don’t you think he’s telling the truth.”

“
Knew
him … as in used to … I don’t know him anymore. We have no idea where he’s been for the past 10 years or what he’s been up to. I wouldn’t trust him any more than I’d trust a perfect stranger.” Morgan felt her cheeks flush with anger.

“Well, he did bail us out tonight,” Jolene offered. “Who knows what those men would have done if Luke and his guys weren’t here.”
 

Morgan shifted in her seat and looked across the hall into the living room. A chill crept up her spine thinking about the two men who broke in. What
were
they going to do?
 
And what would have happened if Luke and his men weren’t here?

“It’s a mess in there,” she said. “The china cabinet and everything in it is ruined. Nana’s probably rolling over in her grave with all her good china smashed on the floor like that.”

“No she’s not,” Celeste offered.
 

Everyone turned to stare at her.

Celeste shrugged. “Well, she’s not. She doesn’t care about that stuff anymore … and she approves of Luke.”

Morgan narrowed her eyes at Celeste. She wasn’t sure what she thought about Celeste talking to their dead grandmother. She decided to change the subject.

“Did you guys have any luck deciphering the book?”

Celeste’s face brightened. “We didn’t get it all figured out, but we made good progress. The poetry book seems to be the key, but the journal … well, there’s just so much of it and it’s mostly just a recording of the days events—weather, rough seas and so on.”

“Oh, I was hoping there would be some sort of treasure clue.” Jolene’s face fell into a frown.

“I think that’s too much to expect. All this talk of treasure and pirates is kind of silly. Most people don’t have treasure buried in their yard,” Morgan pointed out.

“Well, most people don’t have an ancestor that sailed the seas in a ship either,” Fiona said.

“Cal suggested we look at the book from a different angle. Try to find text that isn’t in the format of the daily journal. There could be a clue.” Celeste looked at Morgan. “Those men didn’t break in here for nothing. I think you might have to admit there might be something to all this treasure stuff.”

Morgan sighed. “Well I guess it won’t hurt to look at the book some more. It’s late and I’m tired. I’m heading off to bed and I suggest you all do the same.”

Everyone murmured their agreement and the group headed for the main stair way together. Morgan’s stomach clenched when they passed the living room. She turned to her sisters and Jake.

“I’m really glad none of us were badly hurt tonight.”

“Me too,” Fiona added then glanced at Morgan out of the corner of her eye. “But I agree with Luke. This isn’t the end of our troubles with these treasure hunters. Maybe we should think about getting him on board with what we’re doing?”

Morgan sighed. “Maybe. Let’s see how it goes. I still don’t see why we
need
him. And I wouldn’t trust him as far as I could throw him.”

“Yeah, we should think it over carefully,” Celeste said as they made their way up the stairs. “And don’t forget to trust your gut feeling, Morgan.”

Morgan thought about that. Lately it had turned out to be smart— life saving even—to trust her gut feeling. But right now, her guts were all roiled up. The truth was she didn’t know how she felt.

Seeing Luke again had caused a variety of emotions. She was mad, for sure, but she also couldn’t help but notice how he seemed to have gotten even more handsome in the past ten years. She couldn’t deny the way her stomach flip-flopped when she’d pulled off that mask or the way her senses had reveled in his familiar earthy clean smell.

She reached her bedroom door, said goodnight and tried to push all thoughts of Luke from her mind.
 

She didn’t want … or need … him to help them and she’d be
damned
if she’d let him screw with her feelings again. The further away he stayed the better. She’d done just fine these past ten years without him and she sure as heck didn’t need him now.

The next morning Morgan stumbled into the kitchen, heading straight for the coffee maker. She needed something stronger than her usual cup of herbal tea.
 

Fiona was already sitting at the island, sipping from a steaming mug, her red hair pulled back neatly in a ponytail at the nape of her neck.
 

“The strong stuff is in the left drawer.” Fiona pointed to one of the kitchen drawers and Morgan grunted her thanks.

She put the K-cup in the coffee maker. The thirty seconds it took to produce the strong brew seemed like an eternity and she drummed her fingers on the counter hoping to speed it up. Finally, the mug was full and she took it over to the island.

Closing her eyes, she inhaled the pungent aroma then took a sip.
 

“Ahh … that’s better,” she said as the caffeine started to do its job.

“Well, it’s not vanilla latte, but it does the trick,” Fiona said. “Still, I want to stop at the coffee shop on the way to work and get my regular.”

Morgan nodded. Fiona couldn’t function without a latte of some sort in her bloodstream and she’d settled on vanilla as her favorite of late.

“Speaking of the shop, remind me to bring home some arnica and aloe vera to put on that cut Jolene got last night,” Morgan said.

“I don’t think you need to bother,” Jolene said from the doorway.

Morgan’s eye’s widened when she saw Jolene’s arm. She had unwrapped the bandage to reveal a long scar underneath—the wound had almost completely healed.

“But that’s impossible,” Morgan heard herself say as she and Fiona got up to inspect the wound.

“Well, it should be,” Jolene said. “But apparently, it’s not.”

“How did that happen?” Morgan asked as Fiona pulled the carnelian stone from the middle of the gauze wrappings.

“Is that glowing?” Morgan squinted at the stone which appeared to be glowing bright orange from the inside. Fiona and Jolene bent closer.

“No, I think it’s just the sunlight reflecting from the window.” Jolene nodded toward the large kitchen window where the morning sun shone through.

Morgan ran her fingers across the scar. “This is amazing.”

“There’s a lot of strange things going on around us,” Fiona added.

Morgan agreed—cuts that heal themselves, gut feelings that proved to be accurate, pirates, buried treasure, a cat that seemed to know what they were talking about and relatives that talked to Celeste from beyond the grave sure were strange.

“That’s true.” Celeste appeared in the doorway with Luke. “A lot of things that shouldn’t be happening are. Maybe we should just accept it and go with the flow.”

Morgan felt heat rise in her body at the sight of Luke. Anger … or something else?
 

“What are
you
doing here?” she demanded.

Luke pointed in the direction of the living room. “The window, remember?”

“Oh, right.” Morgan looked toward the living room. “Hopefully that won’t take long.”

“About an hour. There’s a real mess in there. Should we just pick everything up and toss it, or do you want to save it?”

Morgan’s brow furrowed and she turned to ask her sisters, only to find they had snuck out of the room. “I don’t know. Let me look.”

They walked to the living room together, Morgan took care not to get too close to Luke—as if he had some disease she could catch.

Her heart clenched when she looked at the mess. The oak china cabinet lay on its front, the rounded glass doors shattered. She knew getting replacement glass would be expensive, but that was nothing compared to the antique china and crystal—family heirlooms that now lay in pieces on the floor. Those were priceless.

Battling the tears that stung the backs of her eyes, she squatted down and picked through the shards. There was nothing worth saving.

“I guess we should throw it out. The china cabinet we’ll have repaired but everything else is broken.” She ran her fingers through the pile, jerking her hand back when she felt the sharp sting of a shard of glass.

“Ouch!” She looked at her finger as it turned bright red.

Luke was next to her in an instant, grabbing her hand before she could react. “You cut yourself. Let me see.”

Their eyes met and the past ten years melted away. Morgan’s heart fluttered like a frightened bird. Then she remembered how hurt she’d been when Luke had chosen the military over her.
 

She wrenched her hand away.

“It’s nothing,” she said standing up and going back to the kitchen, feeling annoyed when she noticed Luke was following her.

She ran her finger under water then turned to face him. “Is there something else?”

“I was hoping you would have changed your mind about trusting me.” Luke’s green eyes stared into hers.

“And why would I do that?”

“We’re both after the same thing. If we keep the lines of communication open it will be easier for both of us.”

Morgan snorted. “Communication? I hope you’re better at it now than you have been for the past ten years.”

Luke ran his hands through his short cropped hair while Morgan wrapped her finger in a paper towel.

“Morgan, I’m sorry about all that. I couldn’t stay here and lead a cushy life while others were fighting for our country. I wanted to talk to you … to write, or call but I figured it was better for you if I didn’t.”

Morgan ripped her gaze from the pleading look in his eyes. She never could resist that look and he knew it. He was probably using it on purpose now to get her to tell him about the treasure.

“Well, I didn’t need you to decide what was best for me then, and I certainly don’t need you to do it now.” She started toward the stairs, turning to look at him over her shoulder as she left the room. “I trust you can show yourself out.”

Then, before the tears that were threatening could fall, she ran up to her room.

Morgan breathed a sigh of relief when they pulled into the driveway after work. The day had been torturous. She was overtired and couldn’t concentrate on anything. She’d had to toss out several herbal mixtures because she’d made them wrong. And the worst part was unwanted thoughts about Luke kept forming in her mind no matter how hard she tried to stop them.

When Celeste called to announce that she and Cal had found something in the journal, it was just the excuse Morgan and Fiona needed to close up early for the day.

As she walked up the porch steps into the house, Morgan felt a tingle in the back of her neck that was starting to become all too familiar. She whirled around, but no one was there.
Was Luke watching her … or the bad guys?