Authors: Julie Ortolon
“Cool!” AJ cheered, jumping up and down.
“Make sure he’s dead,” Luc whispered.
“Right.” Nodding, AJ worked the controls so Captain Blade moved forward and knelt beside the pirate.
In the water beside the body, a reflection of Captain Blade appeared.
To Chloe’s surprise, the face was Luc’s. Only it was Luc as she would never have imagined him. His long hair was damp and slicked back from a face set with fierce determination. As he knelt beside the body, a strand of hair swayed before his green eyes. The hard set of his jaw and lethal gleam in his eyes made her gasp.
Luc and AJ turned at the sound. The image on the screen spun sideways while Luc stared at her with wide eyes and AJ smiled. A growl came from the computer. AJ’s head and the image spun back to find the dying pirate twisting upward, using the last of his strength to swing his sword toward Captain Blade.
“Look out!” she shouted.
AJ worked the controls. Too late. The pirate thrust, and triumph registered on his face. The cave spun as Captain Blade absorbed the blow. He staggered and fell, landing so he faced the pile of treasure, one hand reaching toward it. With evil laughter and a death dirge emitting from the computer, the screen faded slowly to black.
Then a pirate flag appeared, waving as if in a breeze, with a score beneath it.
“Nooo,” AJ cried, grabbing either side of the screen. “We almost won!”
“Sorry.” She cringed. “You were doing great.”
AJ’s distress vanished as he looked up at Luc. “Can I play again?”
“Uh…maybe later,” Luc answered, closing the laptop.
“How about me?” Chloe asked. “Can I play?”
“Not now.” To her surprise, Luc laid a hand on the computer as if to protect it.
“It’s not for girls,” AJ told her as if she were silly.
“Actually,” Luc corrected, “a lot of girls play Vortal.”
“They do?” AJ looked mystified.
“Sure.” Luc shrugged. “Some girls like adventure as much as guys.”
“Then, why can’t I play?” Chloe asked.
“Because…” He seemed at a loss for words. “It’s a new version. We’re not ready to reveal it to the public yet.”
“AJ isn’t the public?”
“I was blatantly using him as a beta tester. Child Protective Services will probably be knocking on the door any second. So, don’t tell anyone, okay, kid?”
“’kay,” AJ agreed.
“Whew, thanks.” Luc wiped his brow.
“’sides, I gotta go see what my mom’s doing in the kitchen,” AJ said. “’case she needs some help.”
“Or a beta tester for some cookies,” Chloe guessed as AJ charged out of the door.
Luc chuckled as he stood. “That’s some kid.”
“He’s a handful.”
“With an imagination that big, I’ll bet he is.”
“Oh?” She moved closer, smiling up at him.
“According to him, your opera-singing ghost is a big tattle-tale.”
“And thank goodness for it,” Chloe exclaimed.
“Excuse me?” He frowned.
“We watch AJ as closely as we can, but he has a way of getting into trouble in the blink of an eye.”
“No, I meant ‘excuse me’ as in, your ghost actually tells y’all when he’s getting into trouble?”
“Well, sort of. Most people don’t hear her or see her. They just feel when she’s near. You know, cold spots.” Chloe shivered playfully. “AJ’s parents have learned any time they feel a cold spot followed by a sense of foreboding, they need to find AJ fast.”
“Does this happen a lot?”
“Often enough,” she said. “The family claims that before Captain Jack joined Marguerite, they used to sense her mostly at the front of the house, as if she were standing at the windows, looking out at the cove. That’s where Captain Jack’s ghost used to be trapped, on the shipwreck.”
“His ghost was underwater?”
“Apparently. When they excavated the ship, it freed him. Now Marguerite and Jack roam all over the island. We’ve had a few guests claim to see them walking hand in hand along the beach in the moonlight.” She ignored a sting of envy, since she’d never seen or felt them. “So, are you ready for your tour of the island?”
“Almost. I need to call Zeke and let him know I checked the file.”
“Go ahead. I can wait.”
“I’ll be fast.” He pulled out his phone.
Chloe busied herself tidying magazines on the coffee table while he placed the call. When someone picked up he launched into an excited conversation filled with technical jargon she didn’t understand. His enthusiasm made her think of a big kid. A rather yummy-looking big kid, she thought as she watched him pace. Memories of last night’s kiss gave her belly a little quiver. Oh, how she’d love to get him somewhere private for a repeat of that.
“Okay, done,” he said abruptly, making her blush at her own thoughts.
“Great,” she said. “We can start your tour with the rooms here in the main house.”
“You have others?”
“We have several bungalows scattered about the island.”
“Cool.” He packed his computer and gear into the bag. “Just give me a few minutes to stow my laptop in my car.”
“Will it be okay in the heat?”
“I parked in the shade, and it’s not that hot today,” he assured her as they crossed the lobby.
She waited for him on the veranda, surprised by her eagerness to be with him. Something about Luc, that slight insecurity around women she sensed in him, lowered her normal wariness. By the time he returned, she was smiling in anticipation.
“Okay,” he said. “I’m ready.”
“Well then, follow me,” she said with a hint of suggestion as she led the way back inside.
“This is quite a place,” he told her as they crossed the lobby and started up the grand stairs.
“I think so.” She noticed him taking in every detail, from the stained glass that bathed the landing in jewel-toned light to the intricately carved railing. They reached the top of the stairs and entered a wide hall that served as a second sitting area. Sunlight streamed in through a bank of windows at the far end. “We have five guest rooms on this floor. But, why don’t we start with the third floor and work our way down?”
“What’s up there?” he asked.
“The ballroom,” she told him. “It’s pretty spectacular.”
“Ah.” He nodded, remembering many old mansions in the South had the ballroom on the top floor to catch the breeze.
“We rent the space for events,” she told him, walking to a set of wide, spiral stairs behind the main stairs. “It might make the perfect setting for your tournament.”
She turned on lights when they reached the top, revealing a vast room that took up the whole top floor. His jaw dropped when he saw the frescos and gilded molding. Since the room currently held only a few settees around the edges, his footsteps echoed as he walked into the center of the cavernous space. “This is awesome!”
“We rent furniture depending on the function,” she explained. “Do you think this would work for one of your tournaments?”
“Heck yeah!” He turned in a circle until he faced a bank of heavy curtains. “How’s the view?”
“I’ll show you.” Going to the curtains, she pulled them back with a whoosh. Afternoon sunlight poured through a bank of French doors. Opening the doors, she stepped out onto a large balcony.
“Wow.” Following her outside, he went straight to the rail. Coastal breezes washed over him, filling his senses with the fragrance of spring on the Gulf. “Just wow.”
“Exactly.” The smile in her voice told him his reaction pleased her.
His attention, however, remained riveted on the panoramic view of the island, the cove, and the shimmering water beyond. The wind lifted his hair and plastered his shirt against his chest as he stood there, utterly captivated. “I have
so
got to add this place as a brand new world for Vortal.”
“Really?” she asked in surprise. “You don’t think it’s too close to Pirates of the High Seas?”
“Not at all.” He turned to take in the angles of the roof, the gargoyles, and the peak of the turret. “I think a haunted mansion would go over big. Especially one that looks like this. With a shipwreck in the cove, no less. Tell me about Captain Jack’s ghost. Why was it trapped underwater?”
“His body went down with the ship, but I think it was more than that.” She moved to stand beside him at the rail, looking down at the cove. “When he sailed into the cove on that dark and stormy night—”
“Dark and stormy night?” He chuckled.
“Well, it was.” She gave him a shoulder bump for teasing her. “Just picture it. Black clouds and sheeting rain. Flashes of lightning illuminating white canvas as the
Freedom
comes sailing in. Marguerite was probably standing in her room when she saw him coming to rescue her.”
“Rescue her?”
“From her husband, Henri.”
“The shipping baron,” Luc interjected.
“The abusive bastard,” Chloe corrected. “Henri found out his wife had fallen in love with Jackson Kingsley, one of the captains who shipped cargo for him. He beat Marguerite savagely, then locked her in her room. She managed to get word to Jack through one of the servants.”
“Brave servant,” he muttered, repulsed at the thought of a man beating his wife.
“When Jack heard, he came charging to her rescue,” she continued. “She spotted him, and broke out of her room, racing for the stairs. Henri caught her on the landing. They struggled and she either fell or he pushed her, depending on who you ask. Either way, the fall broke her neck. Her death enraged Henri. Some say because he loved her so much, he was overcome with grief.”
“Who would say that?” Luc frowned. “Considering how he treated her.”
“I understand a lot of abusive men love the women they mistreat.” Chloe shrugged as if she found the idea twisted. “His relatives certainly bought his version of the story—including the part about Marguerite being a gold digger who had Henri completely under her spell.”
“What do you believe?”
Pain sparked in Chloe’s eyes. “That his supposed ‘grief’ was all about realizing he’d lost his good luck charm. It had nothing to do with losing the love of his life, because he never loved her. He only loved possessing her. In his fury over losing that possession, he charged up here to this balcony. Back then, there was a cannon mounted right here where we’re standing.”
She stepped back and looked down. A dark outline marked the spot. Hair rose on Luc’s arms as he imagined the scene that night.
“Henri fired on the
Freedom,
” Chloe said. “The first blast hit dead on, igniting some gun powder in the hold. Captain Kingsley ordered the crew to abandon ship. Rather than join them, however, he ran below and was trying to get to his cabin when another blast tore through the vessel.”
Luc glanced at the cove, which sparkled in the sunlight now, but he could picture it black and roiling, a ship burning, men screaming.
“According to a written account by the first mate,” Chloe told him, “that second blast killed Kingsley, but his spirit kept going. The first mate saw his ghost trying to open the door to the captain’s cabin, but of course, being a ghost, his hand passed right through the latch.”
“Why was he trying to get to his cabin? Why didn’t he abandon the ship with his crew?”
“He was trying to get to the pearl necklace Marguerite gave him.” Chloe leaned against the railing, facing him. The sun kissed her cheeks as the wind played with her hair. She seemed both intrigued and saddened by the story she told. “The necklace was given to her by a voodoo priestess who served as midwife at her birth. It was part of the blessing that made her a good luck charm, only no one was really certain if the necklace was the charm, or if it was Marguerite herself. We’ve pretty much figured out it was Marguerite, and still is.”
“What made y’all decide that?” He leaned against the rail as well, wishing he had the guts to tuck one of those wind-blown strands of hair behind her ear as an excuse to touch her.
“Well,” she said, “the necklace is no longer in the cove, or even on Pearl Island. After the ship was excavated, the St. Claire family convinced the State that it rightfully belonged to Adrian’s wife, Jackie, since she’s a direct descendant of Captain Jack.”
“Adrian?”
“The oldest of the St. Claire siblings. Adrian, Allison, and Aurora.”
“Wait a second. The family helped Jackie get ownership of the pearl necklace? How was that done?”
“Not easily.” She cocked her head for emphasis. “Fortunately for Jackie, the family has Marguerite’s diaries, documenting that Marguerite gave the necklace to Captain Kingsley, and Jackie had a letter from the
Freedom’s
first mate backing up her claim. Even so, the State of Texas does not easily relinquish its claim to any object found underwater.”
“Yes, I’ve, um, heard that.” Apparently the lawyer he’d hired was right. Having Chloe support his claim, the way the family had backed up Jackie’s, could help him win the case. What better opening than now to tell her about it?