LITMIR.BIZ

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his feet with it although Ben knew that wasn’t possible.

      Ben turned to Gidley and glared, before softening his stance and appraising the woman again. She would not slow him down. He had a cargo waiting to be loaded in England and needed to leave Melos quickly. Though his ship was not one of the gilded East Indiamen, if returned to the docks in time, he’d been promised a voyage for the company. Two years he’d be at sea, but he’d wanted this since before his first sailing. To be a captain, and to sail for the East India Company—nothing meant more.

      ‘Miss. Think of your sister. In her...’ he paused ‘...family condition.’ He blinked and put a look on his face he thought a vicar might use when comforting. ‘Wanting a precious memory from her homeland, probably to show her own little one what their grandmother looked like—how can you keep that from her?’

      ‘She left us and she didn’t come back with you. If her stomachi was already fighting her, then it could have fought her at sea and she could have returned to us. Why did you not bring her to say these words herself?’

      ‘My brother worried for her safety.’

      The woman touched the sash at her waist. Her eyes narrowed. ‘Fidi. Snake. That is Englishmen.’ Her eyes challenged him. ‘You have kept my sister and refused to let her return home, and now you want the treasure.’

      He kept his eyes on her hand, watching for the hilt of a knife. Disarming her didn’t concern him, but it would be harder to convince a woman who’d just tried to slash his throat to show him to the stones.

      The Ascalon was in his grasp. The voyage of a lifetime was waiting and the ship was still young enough to have at least two more good trips in her before the sea took her hull. She was made of good English oak, but even that didn’t last long in the oceans.

      Benjamin could not go back and admit failure to his eldest brother. He took in the sandy soil and the shallow-rooted trees. Surely he could find the rocks on his own. Surely. But he couldn’t bring all the men from the ship. If anyone knew he must have the rock, he wouldn’t be able to bargain. He needed a strategy and he did not want this woman to think him defeated.

      He firmed his jaw and let his eyes linger on Thessa’s face, but he spoke to Gidley. ‘Melina said it was near her home. We’ll start searching in the morning. I’ll bring the crew and we’ll look at every rock.’

      Gidley nodded to Benjamin, the first mate’s voice a scholarly tone. ‘I’ll find it if’n it’s here. Have eyes like a ferret and I can sniff out treasure better’n any ten pirates.’

      But they could find the stones a lot faster with the woman’s help and Ben didn’t have time to dig up the island, no matter how small it was.

      He picked up the bag Gidley had dropped, aware of its weight, and put it on the ground in front of the woman. ‘We did bring some things, and if you look closely I think you’ll agree they’re things a sister would select for another sister. Not anyone else. She couldn’t send this if she’d been a captive. She’d want you to help us.’

      Benjamin had no idea what kind of fripperies were inside the canvas, but Melina had had tears in her eyes when she’d asked him to give it to her sisters.

      Thessa didn’t move. He strode forward and put it gently at her feet. ‘She sends her love.’

      She bent, reached in, pulled out a parcel and unwrapped it, unveiling a thick woollen shawl. She retained her wariness and trapped the clothing and its wrapping under her arm.

      Then she pulled out another parcel, but before she examined it, she looked into the bag and laughed. The sound of joy from her lips moved through him quicker than a dive into a warm freshwater pool and he had to wait to come up for air.

      She dropped the canvas sides of the bag and reached inside. He expected some jewel or house folderol. Instead she pulled out a kettle and held it by its bail.

      Looking at Benjamin, she said, ‘My sister. She claimed we could never heat enough warm water because by the time we heated the pot again, the first was cold.’

      Her face softened even more and she put the kettle down. She took the shawl under her arm and hugged it close, letting the soft wool touch her cheek.

      He watched. A kettle and a shawl, and the woman sniffled.

      Ben looked at Gid. Gid opened his eyes wide and shrugged, then showed a bit of his teeth and nodded to Benjamin. Ben refused to try the smile. Besides, it wouldn’t work. The woman was too caught up in the wool, stroking it and rubbing it against her cheek.

      His body’s reaction irritated him. This was a business endeavour—nothing else. His brother was the one trapped by skirts—not him. He never neared a woman who truly tempted him. Never approached a woman who might net him. He was the sea creature. The water was his breath and the oceans his home.

      ‘We’ve missed her so.’ She kept her eyes on the fabric. ‘I thought when she didn’t come back, that a storm had taken her, or the sea. Or she’d been killed by the Englishmen.’

      ‘Your sister wants those stones.’ He heard the grit in his words.

      Her eyes rose to his. And he saw the face of the nymph who’d risen from the sea. Her image outshone every painting he’d seen of mermaids, even the ones he’d commissioned to his specifications.

      Her eyes rose to his. ‘So she is well?’

      Benjamin nodded. ‘She married my eldest brother.’

      She sighed. ‘I cannot believe my sister would marry a man not of our own island.’ Her lip trembled. ‘She would sacrifice so much for us.’

      Benjamin tilted his head to one side, turned his body slightly away, putting her from his vision while he collected his thoughts. ‘He’s an earl.’ He glanced sideways, gauging her reaction to his words.

      This time her shrug was almost invisible. ‘I’m sure you think as much of him as I think of Melina.’

      ‘I’d agree with the miss,’ Gidley said, wobbling his head. ‘Wouldn’t want my sister to marry an Englishman neither.’ He smiled at Benjamin. ‘We be a foul lot.’

      Benjamin glared.

      Gidley grinned. ‘I like bein’ part of a foul lot myself. Saves on washin’ and makin’ pretty words with the widows.’

      ‘The treasure?’ Benjamin turned his words to Thessa.

      ‘Malista.’ She nodded while she folded the shawl carefully and put it atop the other things she’d not examined in the bag. Raising her eyes, she said, ‘It’s no treasure. Just broken carvings. When the man from the French museum came, he said we should look for such things. That people would buy shaped rock. Father was excited and had us hunt because he wanted to have a discovery. We found nothing at first. The Frenchman left and Father...left.’

      ‘I’ve promised Melina I’d get the carving for her.’ Benjamin watched Thessa’s face. The change in her eyes and her voice when she mentioned her father leaving told him she had no more love for the man than her sister had. He couldn’t blame them. He’d met the man.

      She looked at the sky. ‘This is not a good time for it. The light will be gone soon and the stones—my sister left them under the dirt. I’m not certain I know...where they are.’

      Ben’s breath caught. ‘You don’t...remember?’

      She frowned. ‘I remember... It’s somewhere on Yorgos’s land.’ She squinted. ‘And there are other rocks scattered about. Pieces of an arch. I didn’t notice much. Melina was the one who was excited. I just did not wish to tell her no one wants broken rocks.’

      Gidley kicked at the ground. ‘Just my blasted luck. We sail a near lifetime to get some whittled rock on a stinkin’ island smellin’ of brimstone and the stones is broke and no one knows where the pieces is buried.’

      ‘We’ll dig up the whole island if we

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