Surrender The Booty (14 page)

Surrender the Booty

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He took control of the kiss, driving it deeper, answering her tongue with his, curling lust in her belly and giving her another reason to fall harder for him.

She dropped her head back to the ground and traced the line of his jaw, the bone of his cheek and the soft pad of his earlobe. “You don’t have to love me, but you can’t stop what I feel,” she whispered.

The instant the words left her mouth, the curtain came down over his eyes. The steely distance had never been more defined than it was at that moment. He pushed himself up, disconnecting them physically and emotionally.

His mouth set in a firm line, he yanked his jeans over his hips and snatched his shirt off the ground.

“Why does that bother you? I didn’t ask for a picket fence or even next week.”

“I ain’t the man to go falling in love with.”

He strode off, toward the stream at the bottom of the pasture.

Bella chewed her bottom lip. She hadn’t expected him to profess the same feelings, but she didn’t expect to piss him off either.

She picked up her tank top and worked it over her head. He couldn’t go far and sooner or later he’d blow it off. She reached for her skirt when a movement in the grass stopped her cold. A familiar pattern peeked between the broad blades of grass. The snake was moving away from her headed in the same direction Trevor had gone.

A cold sweat broke out on her upper lip and her arms shook. Her heartbeat pounded in her ears as what seemed like an hour passed before the reptile had pulled its long body away from her. She slowly got to her feet and backed away, afraid to turn her back on the snake.

“We should name him,” Jose said.

She jumped. She hadn’t heard him walk up.

“The snake?”

He shrugged. “I’ll bet he had a name. Might make him easier to live with if we called him something.”

“I don’t want to live with him.”

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“For now, sweetheart, you don’t have a choice.”

Bella started toward the cabin, her skirt in her hand. If she never saw that snake again it would be too soon.

She had just made it to the base of the hill when a gurgling sound stopped her. She looked around, heart pounding. The last thing she needed to see right now was another wild animal. In the soft sand at her feet the wide path carved by the snake’s belly was still visible in the sand, and in the center of the groove, something sparkled. Water.

Bubbling water.

“I found something!” she yelled.

Jose arrived first. Bella stared down at the bubbles emerging from the ground at an increasingly steady pace. What had started as a hole large enough for a single bubble to escape through had widened. The hole was now as big as her fist and several bubbles appeared at once, eating away at the edges of the hole, widening it more.

“What is it?” she asked. “A sink hole?”

“Maybe. Looks like Monty uncovered it for us.”

“Monty?”

“Python.”

She laughed. At least something about that snake was humorous.

“Didn’t you see it when you came this way?”

Jose nodded to a small rise in the land to their right. “I climbed over that hill there. I was watching from a distance to see where he was headed.”

The rise he’d indicated would have given him a great view of her and Trevor too. “You sure you were watching Monty?”

“I was until you and Trevor distracted me.” He gave her shoulder a squeeze then knelt to examine the growing hole.

“How big do you think it’ll get?” she asked. “Should we be this close?”

“Hard to say. The ground’s definitely hollow here. No way to know how deep though.”

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“What you got?” Trevor asked. He hadn’t hurried when she called, and his reluctance to be there was written clearly in his stiff posture and the distance he stood apart from them.

Bella stepped aside so he could get a better view. “We don’t know exactly,” she said.

Trevor bent down and grabbed a handful of earth at the edge of the hole. He peeled back a fist-sized chunk no more than four inches thick. Jose joined him and soon they had cleared a hole the size of a basketball. The water below was clouded with swirling sand that had fallen in, and the bubbles had stopped forming.

The sand settled and Bella squealed. “Is that what it looks like?”

she asked. Her breath had started to come in pants. In the hole, beneath the slow moving water the top six inches of a chest rose from the sand. The metal had been corroded by the water, but the shape was easily recognizable.

Trevor reached for it, but Jose grabbed his arm.

“You don’t know what the curse is,” he warned.

“I thought treasure chests were made of wood,” Bella said.

Trevor rapped on the top of the chest. “Lead or cast iron.

Something heavy and thick. If it dates back to the early eighteenth century, it’s cast iron.”

“I’m not sure we could even get it out of here if we tried,” Jose said. “It must weigh a ton.”

Trevor leaned back. “Any ideas?”

“I don’t want to mess with it until you both know what we’re getting ourselves into,” Jose said. “I only know parts of the legend, and believe me, it’s nothing to mess around with.”

“You really believe in that curse shit?” Trevor asked.

“You ever walked through a garden that would make you fuck anything that moved before you came here? Tell me you don’t think there are things that can’t be explained on this island.”

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Bella knelt to join the men on the ground. “Maybe we should check the map again. The treasure’s not going anywhere. And neither are we.”

Trevor avoided her eyes, but Jose agreed. “All right. Let’s head back, see if we can figure any of it out. And maybe we can check around the cabin for something we can use to leverage this thing out of here.”

“It’s nowhere near where the X was on the map,” Bella said, as much to herself as to the others. “What do you make of that?”

“Maybe the old folks who lived here moved it,” Trevor said.

“Or Delgado didn’t make the map as obvious as we thought,” Jose said. “I told you he was smart.”

“And he didn’t have any intention of sharing,” Bella added.

“Come on. Let’s figure this out. How hard can it be?”

“The single hammock!” Jose said.

Bella glanced at him. “What?”

“The pulley holding it to the roof of the porch. I’ll bet that’s what the couple who lived here used to get this out of the ground the first time.”

“You’re convinced they moved it?” It made sense, but she just wanted to hear him say it, or maybe she just wanted him to talk to make up for the cold silence surrounding Trevor.

“I bet the silverware in the cabin came out of here.” Trevor didn’t look at her when he spoke. He stayed focused on the chest.

“You think they just took what they needed and left the rest?” Her heart pounded with the possibility of what may be inside that rusted iron chest. Even if it wasn’t hers, if it never would be, the excitement of the find was a thrill in itself.

“If they read the map, they knew about the curse,” Jose said.

“Maybe that’s all Delgado would let them have.”

Trevor grunted.

“How do we use the pulley?” Bella asked. “Don’t we need something to rig it to?”

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Jose ran his hand through his dark hair. “Physics never were my thing, but we can figure it out.” He turned to Trevor. “You think we can use the pulley near the ground, or do we have to find a way to get it up high?”

Trevor swirled his hand in the water and pushed his fingers into the sand. “The sand isn’t hard packed, at least not close to the surface.

I don’t have any way of knowing how big this thing is or how deep it’s buried. If it’s not too deep and the sand isn’t rock solid further down, we might be able to keep the pulley pretty low.”

“What can we use?” Bella asked. “Did you see anything at the cabin?” She held her breath waiting for Trevor’s response, waiting to see if his voice held any of the ice she felt in her veins.

Jose jumped in. “What are the chances we can dig down below the lid and pry it open without moving it?”

Trevor scratched at the stubble on his jaw, obviously in deep thought.

“Do you think this water rises with the tide?” Bella asked.

Trevor jerked his head up, his jaw tight with concentration. “She might be on to something. Did you see any shovels back at the cabin?” he asked Jose.

Jose nodded. “That little tool shed on the back corner of the house next to the bathroom looked like it had the basics.”

“Come on.” Trevor hurried down the trail with the other two behind him. “Did you see rope or chain?” he asked without looking back.

“Definitely rope,” Jose answered. “I don’t know about chain.”

“What do you have in mind?” Bella asked.

“Simple pulley and additional leverage. If the water rises with the tide, we might be able to use that to our advantage.”

Bella hurried to keep up. Trevor’s anger had subsided. At least for now. Maybe later, she’d have a chance to ease him off the edge.

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Jose reached back. His hand caught hers and he pulled her forward. She jogged to keep up, but the warmth and strength of his grip comforted her.

They reached the back corner of the cabin and Trevor wasted no time jerking the door open.

“You need me to get the pulley off the porch?” Jose asked.

“Yeah, grab it,” Trevor said.

Bella peered around Trevor’s broad shoulders. The interior of the little shed was dark, but the outlines of garden tools lined the walls and leaned in the corners. He pulled out two shovels and handed them both to her. The handles were stocky with rubber-covered triangle-shaped grips at the top. He pulled out a thick cord of rope and tossed it to the ground before stepping into the dark shed. He came out with another thick rope wound over his shoulder and the fire of excitement in his eyes. He picked up the first coil of rope he’d thrown to the ground and took one of the shovels from Bella.

Jose came around the house, carrying the block-and-tackle-style pulley that had been holding the hammock.

Trevor grinned, flashing such a broad smile that Bella’s heart gave a flutter. She sucked in a deep breath and tried to tamp her emotions down. She had it bad, all right. He wasn’t pissed anymore, but he didn’t feel the same way she did.

Trevor started back toward the treasure chest and she and Jose hurried behind him.

“What about the curse?” Bella asked. “Are we just taking our chances now?”

“I don’t believe in that curse bullshit,” Trevor said.

Bella stiffened.

“I’m willing to take my chances,” Jose said. “Delgado would want the treasure to stay in the family. I’m the end of the line.”

“So it’s rightfully yours?” Trevor asked. “Even if all three of us dig it up and Bella’s the one who found it.”

“It belongs to my family, but I’m not as selfish as Delgado.”

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Trevor kept walking. Without turning around he said, “I want to buy this island with my share.”

“I’m buying the island,” Jose said. “And I don’t need the treasure to do it.”

Trevor stopped and turned around slowly. “If I don’t help you dig this hunk of junk up, you won’t ever know what’s in it. Because when I buy the island, all of it will be mine.” His eyes were steel and his jaw set firmly, but he stood as relaxed as ever and shrugged beneath the weight of the ropes on his shoulders. “I’m not asking you for money. All I want in exchange for my share of what we find is for you to walk away from the property. Don’t put in a bid.”

Bella shivered from the tension between them. Jose wasn’t about to walk away from this island and the family history that had taken place here.

Jose threw the pulley and the shovels to the ground. They landed in a heap next to the rope Trevor had dropped. Both men stood eerily quiet. Neither looked like he’d back down an inch.

“You can’t buy the property,” Jose said evenly. “It belongs to my family and that’s where it’s going to stay.”

“If it’s yours why didn’t you inherit it?”

A muscle in Jose’s jaw jumped. His shoulders tightened and his hands curled into fists. “Somebody screwed up,” he said. “But I plan to set things right again.”

Trevor’s arms hung easily at his sides. The only indication he was ready for the fight was the hard glare in his eyes. Bella swallowed the lump that had risen in her throat. She couldn’t help but think she had something to do with his frustration. She stepped between them.

“Why do we have to settle this now?” she asked. “We don’t even know if we’re going to get back to the mainland in time for either of you to put in an offer on the island.” She glanced from one to the other. “Sorry. But it’s true.” Her fingers pressed into her hips. “A fine group we are. Not a single one of our disappearances has set off an alarm bell.” Neither man reacted, and her frustration level kicked up a
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notch. “Fine. Beat the hell out of each other if that’s what you want to do. If you need my help with the treasure, find me.”

She strode off, shaking. Rescue from this island was nowhere in sight, and she had more important things to worry about than their pissing contest. As long as one of them bought the land, J.P. wouldn’t have to move and her life would go on as normal. She batted at a more persistent tear. Normal? Just what she needed, to get back to the loneliness that waited for her at home.

Trevor eyed Jose. Jose’s face registered his intent. He wasn’t about to give up this island without a fight. Beating the shit out of one another wouldn’t get them anywhere. Even if he kicked Jose’s ass, it wouldn’t stop him from putting in an offer a cowboy couldn’t compete with. He didn’t know how he was going to come up with enough cash to snatch the contract from the first buyer. There was no way he could drum up enough money to outbid a rich boy like Jose.

His blood pumped through his veins, making him feel like a trapped animal. He didn’t like being on the losing end of anything.