Virgin Star (50 page)

"Wait," Seanessy said. "I want Shalyn to open it."

She closed her eyes. Trembling hands went to the rough edges of the trunk. She lifted it up. A hushed silence descended on all the men watching. Oly howled. She opened her eyes.

The sunlight touched and blazed over the chest full to bursting with gold, rubies, emeralds, jade—a fortune like no other. After Seanessy and Toothless managed to rouse the lass from her dead faint. "So the girl can faint!" Seanessy grinned, she generously began distributing nearly half the treasure to all the men, the largest shares going to Edward, Cherry Joe, Knolls, and Toothless.

The day arrived when the Wind Muse set sail for England. By this point, the mainmast and the carpenter's room were fully repaired. Escorted by three of Seanessy's best ships, the Wind Muse sailed beneath a strong westerly wind that would soon bring the monsoons to the China Seas. Shalyn sat on the ship's rail, secured by Seanessy's arms, as they watched the Isle of Blue Caverns disappear into the oblivion that was the horizon, abandoned now to the winds, rains, and unceasing push and pull of the tides.

Seanessy managed to turn his gaze from the lovely view presented to him: she wore a fetching cotton day dress, with a print of tiny green and yellow flowers, the green bodice barely reaching to cover the mark. A matching green ribbon tied her hair back. He searched the deck until he found Butcher. "Are all the ropes secure, Butcher?"

"Aye, aye, Captain," Butcher called back. "Might be one or two loose ends here and there but nothing that could sink the ship."

Only one question remained. Seanessy's gaze returned to hers. "Shalyn," he said as his lips lightly grazed her neck and he remembered the passion and wonder of their lovemaking on the beach beneath a lovely dawn's light. "Marry me, Shalyn."

Her fingers stopped toying with his hair at the nape of his neck. She appeared to think about it. "I don't know," she said. "I've been married once. I did not care for it at all."

"Yet you've never been married to me. I promise to make you very happy."

"You already make me happy. I hardly see that as an inducement to the altar."

"You need an inducement to the altar?!"

Her eyes sparkled beneath the sunlight. She nodded.

Why did women marry anyway? he wondered. "Well, I am very rich."

"So am I. Why, Seanessy I'd wager that I'm wealthier than you are."

"Probably true." He conceded the point, reluctantly. "Get rid of your fortune then. That will give the necessary motivation to marry me."

"How would I get rid of it?"

"You could ... why, yes!" Seanessy realized. "You can give it to Butcher."

"I would not be so cruel! Why, 'twould take him years to disseminate the bulk of it. Besides," she told him, "I rather like being rich."

"Oh, aye, everyone likes the comforts." In frustration he said, "Well, there must be some reason to marry me!"

She pretended to think about it. "I can't think of any."

He thought again. "I've got it. What about dear Tilly? All the good woman's sensibilities? She would be so pleased!"

She laughed. "I'm quite certain Tilly will be even more pleased to serve a widowed duchess."

"I suppose you are right. She does love the blue-bloods. Well, I just feel we ought to marry, I mean, being so madly in love and all. God, I can't keep my hands off you—"

"I know, I know! And I love that. You know how much."

He most certainly did. "That's why I always imagined we would just get a little cottage at the seashore with a white picket fence and a pretty garden and live forevermore in perfectly droll domestic bliss—"

'That's not for you, Seanessy." She laughed at his foolishness. "I know you. You wouldn't be happy. And I don't think I would be either. You see, Seanessy I've always wanted to be a woman of independent fortune, free to do what I please, when I please. Just like you. And I am! Being a widow is just the thing too. Society never minds a widow's indiscretions."

This shocked him. His gaze narrowed. "Just what indiscretions are we thinking of?"

"Why, so many wonderful ones! I can be just like you now. A celebrated patroness of the arts and theater. I do love paintings and, why, yes, I would like to start a collection—you did say you've never met a woman with such a fine eye. I also want to travel. Paris, Venice, Rome; I want to see all of them. I want to climb the Swiss mountains, watch a sunset from the very peak of an Egyptian pyramid, journey across the vast wasteland of America. A world traveler and adventurer. We could even finance expeditions to explore ... Africa—"

"Africa?!"

"Why, last I heard they haven't yet discovered the source of the Nile. Just think of that! We could do it. Perhaps, why, yes! We could go on more treasure hunts. Ti Yao told me of one in a place called Tibet, the highest place in the world, where there are dozens of monasteries and in one of them, far, far away, there is said to be a treasure worth more than the crown jewels, and we could ..."

As she continued the long list that was to be the rest of their lives, he thought of meeting Egyptian swindlers and American Indians, African savages and Tibetan monks, of paying outrageous sums to finance fantastic expeditions and to pay for all their worthless maps. All this was set alongside the image of domestic tranquility that took the form of a little cottage and its picket fence on the seashore. He suddenly grinned.

He always knew she'd be trouble.

He was so right ...

*****

A special note to my treasured readers:

If you enjoyed reading this book, would it be possible for you to write a review at the place from which you purchased it? These reviews have been so kind to me and this means so much! Not only are they much appreciated, (I wish I could underline that!) but they help direct other readers to my stories. And if I could collect enough favorable reviews, it might convince a publisher to take my next book as well.

One more thing: Be sure to try A Kiss In The Night, Forever and a Lifetime, Awaken My Fire, With One Look, and Passion’s Joy, all five star romances.

THANK YOU!

Jennifer