A Pirate's Possession (10 page)

“What's your offer?” she asked.

He raised a brow. “My offer? I have a ship, a crew, and most of the map.”

“Most won't get you the treasure,” she countered.

“Exactly,” Nate said. He stretched his legs out before him. She was bolder than she'd been as a young girl, but that was fine. Nate was more stubborn than he'd been as well. “We're going to have to work on it together.”

Her nostrils flared. “I don't want to work with you.”

“Yes, that's clear. I see no other choice. I won't give you the map I won and I don't suppose you'll hand over the last bit I'm missing.”

The map had four sentences on it, though Nate hadn't realized that until last night. Claire had only ever told him that the map was in two pieces, with half the sentences on one side and the rest on the other. Which was why having only half the map wasn't good enough. What he'd discovered last night was that there were, in fact, four sentences. The clue he'd won had all four. But Claire had only ever told him three.

“No, I won't.”

“Isn't sharing the treasure better than never finding it?”

She crossed her arms. “You don't need it.”

“Perhaps not. But I intend to have it.” His eyes challenged hers. “I hold most of the map, a ship, and the means to go looking for the treasure. Are we going to strike a bargain or not?”

“And if I say no? Will you let me off the ship?”

“With that last sentence in your head? No.”

“I'm not the only one after it.”

“You're talking of James. A shame for him we shifted direction overnight. By the time dawn broke, we weren't much more than a speck on his horizon. Before long we won't even be that.”

Studying him, Claire said nothing.

“Surely part of a grand treasure can't be such a disappointment?”

“How do I know I can trust you? What's stopping you from going back on your word once I tell you the last of the clue?”

“If I have to trust that you're giving me the right sentence and not something your clever mind thought up, then I guess you'll have to trust in my word.”

Vincent, who'd stayed quiet this long, finally spoke up. “Claire, I give you my word. We won't betray you.”

Claire's gaze cut to Vincent. “I already know where your loyalties lie.”

Vincent went scarlet.

“You're simply going to have to take a chance, Claire.”

Claire glared at Nate, then heaved a sigh. “Fine. But I'll be wanting my weapons back.” She smiled. “Since we seem to be passing around trust, I don't suppose that'll be a problem?”

Nate chuckled, moved to the chest in his room, and pulled out her pistol, blunderbuss, and dirk. He set them on the table before her.

“My share is half?”

“We'll divide what we find between us. That includes the crew.”

Her mouth gaped open. Red the color of the richest rubies poured into her face. “Your crew has no part in this!”

“The ship doesn't sail itself, Claire.”

“But that's unfair! I have to share this treasure with men who haven't spent a moment looking for it when I've spent years?”

“I can't very well ask them to help us locate it, load it, and then deny them a part of it.”

She snarled, stormed to the window. Nate watched her stand angrily, her arms crossed over her chest as she stared out at the sea that undulated on the other side of the glass. He couldn't help wondering if, just once, she'd stood at the orphanage window looking for his return.

They'd spent most free moments together then and he'd known, despite being only sixteen, that she was the woman he wanted. Though they'd stolen many kisses and spent many times in each other's arms, Nate had never compromised her. But there had been times when that resolution had been hard to adhere to. Her kisses had been as hungry as his, her hands on his neck and back creating a need to feel them everywhere on his body. He remembered holding himself back until his body shook.

He'd left to find work and make enough money to earn them a reasonable start. It was the memory of her kisses that had kept him going. When his back ached from ploughing fields, her taste had kept him moving long after his body had had enough. And when he'd gone back, his money tucked solidly in his bag, it was her kiss that had him running the last mile.

But she hadn't waited. He'd arrived to learn—from one of the younger girls when he hadn't been able to locate Claire—of her pending marriage. He'd never learned who, only that he was wealthy. Then he'd run as fast as he could back the way he'd come. He'd run until his lungs burned and his legs screamed for him to stop. But there'd been no outrunning the ripping pain in his heart.

He hadn't thought her capable of such betrayal. But then, maybe he hadn't known her as well as he'd thought. Just as he really didn't know this Claire either. The one he'd left had long red hair, hands that were gentle, and a voice that could both soothe and seduce. She'd been soft in every way a woman ought to be.

Well, she certainly wasn't soft anymore and neither was she gentle. There was steel in her gaze now and a fierceness to her voice that he would never have believed possible if he wasn't at the receiving end of it. Her hands weren't gentle anymore either. He'd seen the dirt under her fingernails and thin white scar lines that spoke of hard work, harder than she'd had at the orphanage. He'd felt the strength in them when she'd fought him.

“The crew doesn't have to come.” Vincent's words pierced through Nate's thoughts.

Claire turned from the window.

“We don't yet know where the treasure is, Vincent,” Nate reminded him, “and we need a crew to man the ship.”

“Well, then, I propose this. We determine where it is. If it's close, we'll drop you off while we fetch Aidan. Both of you,” he added before Claire could protest. “And if it's further, we'll get Aidan first before seeking the treasure.”

Vincent turned to Claire. “Going to Port Royal was to be a joint commission. We were not only going to see Blake and his wife, Alicia, who live there, but we were also to pick up Aidan.”

“Who is this Aidan?”

“Aidan was taken in by Alicia's sister, Samantha. Aidan's been dying to sail since he was a young lad, but Samantha refused until he'd had some schooling and was at least sixteen. Well, his birthday is next week and he's through waiting. Since Samantha, Luke, and Aidan are visiting at Blake and Alicia's, we're to pick him up there.”

“Who's Luke?”

“Luke is Samantha's husband. And he used to be an infamous pirate before he was pardoned. Have you never heard of Luke Bradley?”

Claire scowled. “It would be impossible to keep every pirate's wretched name in my head.”

“Luke is Samantha's husband,” Nate warned.

“You frequently associate with pirates?” she asked.

Nate's eyes narrowed. “He's also my friend.”

“I imagine as long you don't turn your back on him for very long, you're safe enough.”

Nate leaned forward, his blood simmering. “Your opinions of me are clear enough but I'll not hear my friends disrespected. Not on my ship.”

He locked his gaze with Claire's long enough, he hoped, to get his message across. Her mouth pinched, but she said nothing more on it. He nodded, turned to Vincent.

“Sounds fair enough. But if you tell Blake and Luke what we're up to, they'll want to come as well.”

Claire threw up her hands. “The crew, Blake, Luke, Aidan. Can you not think of anyone else? After all, there must be more friends and relatives you can call upon. We haven't divvied it up among the whole Caribbean yet.”

Vincent grinned. “It's not as bad as all that. Besides, if this treasure is as grand as you two think, there'll be more than enough to go round. And we'll need people we can trust to haul it out. They don't come any more trustworthy that Blake and Luke.”

“Are you in agreeance?” Nate asked Claire.

Nate knew she wasn't happy about splitting the treasure with the crew, but he also knew she was smart enough to realize it was her only choice.

“Fine,” she said with a deep sigh as she took her seat at the table. “If that's all decided, then let's get on with it.”

Nate went to one of his drawers, pulled out the two pieces of parchment. He dropped them in front of Claire. She looked at them both, but it was the newly acquired piece that kept her attention. Her hands trembled as her fingers skimmed the words. Her eyes shone when they met Nate's and he was glad he wasn't called upon to speak, because he wasn't sure he could have managed it.

“It's all here.”

He cleared his throat, nodded.

Her smile was beautiful and his gaze hungrily stared at it while she brought the piece Nate had written closer.

“I'll need a quill.”

Vincent chuckled when Nate didn't move. “I'll get it,” he offered and he passed it to Claire.

She wrote the last missing words—the first part of the first sentence as it happened—then leaned back in her chair and read the complete map.

“That's it?” Vincent demanded, his dark brows drawing together.

“What did you expect, ‘the treasure will be under the dock in Port Royal'?” Nate asked.

“Would have been bloody simpler, wouldn't it?” Vincent grumbled. “Besides, there's no mention here of the
Santa Francesca
. How do you even know this leads to her treasure?”

“There were markings on the map,” Claire said and once again took the quill. She took a few moments, the quill sure and steady in her hands, as she added details to the piece Nate had created. When she was done, she pointed to the markings she'd drawn.

“These markings aren't there by chance. Look a little closer.” She turned the map for Vincent to see and pointed to the first marking. It was near Nombre de Dios.

“What? It looks like a scribble.”

“Or perhaps an
S
?”

He frowned, leaned closer still.

“I suppose it could be,” he agreed reluctantly.

“And here.” She slid her finger to the left. “What does that look like?”

“A triangle?”

“Not a triangle, an
A
.”

“And if you examine it, you'll see every letter that spells the name
Santa Francesca
is hidden somewhere in that map of the Spanish Main.”

Vincent arched his brows. “Really?” He kept studying it until he shouted, “There! That's an
N
, isn't it?”

Claire smiled. He'd found the third letter hidden next to Panama.

Vincent leaned back in his chair, a frown once again on his face. “Where do you propose to look?” He read the clues again. “Almost every island in the Caribbean has at least one bold shore,” he said, referring to the steep coasts that allow ships to approach.

Claire felt as confused as he looked. “With the map I'd had, I was looking for a place where pirates thrived—”

“Again, that doesn't narrow it down,” Vincent reminded them.

“I realize that. But now with the rest, it no longer reads, ‘Where the black flag flies,' it reads where it ‘flies at half-mast. ' ”

“Meaning pirates have died there?”

“Perhaps. It could also mean a place where pirates aren't welcome,” Claire explained.

Nate nodded. “Makes sense. So we're looking for ports that have at least one bold shore and that either aren't friendly to pirates or pirates have died there.”

“You both have lost your minds. This isn't a treasure hunt, it's a hopeless endeavor.”

“It's real enough and it's out there. We have only to find it.”

Vincent turned to Nate. “What if you can't find it? The crew won't be happy to wait indefinitely while you make sense, the galleon we—”

“Vincent.”

Nate's harsh warning snatched Claire's attention from the map. She looked up in time to see the apology in Vincent's eyes and the scowl on Nate's face.

“What galleon?” she asked. Then her jaw fell to the floor. “You own a galleon as well?”

Fury swirled in the bottom of her stomach and spiraled upward. If the blasted man owned this ship
and
a galleon, he had no business looking for the treasure.

“Sit down, Claire.”

For a moment Claire was stunned. She hadn't realized she'd stood. But now that she did, she remained that way.

“No, I won't. And I won't be told what to do, not by a lying bastard like you.”

Nate stood then as well, and he loomed over her, his eyes sharp. Claire kept a firm hand on both sides of the map. A fact Nate didn't miss. Not if his frown was any indication.

“You need to decide and you need to decide now. You either trust a
lying bastard
enough to go searching for this treasure together, or you don't.” His smile was as thin as the compassion in his eyes. “Either way, I'm going to look for it. And as my memory is very good”—he shifted his gaze to the map, chuckling when Claire's hands spread to hide it—“I don't need the map or you any longer. Am I clear?”

“You're going to take it without me?” The hell he would, she thought.

“I'm simply laying out the facts. I have a ship, and the complete map.” He tapped his temple. “I won't undertake this venture with you jumping down my throat every chance you get. You've already made it more than clear what you think of me.”