“Promises, promises…”
They quickly grew breathless and winced here and there, pressing their fingers to each other’s lips, smiling, laughing, making love just a bit awkwardly and with just a bit of difficulty and yet finding that the smiles, the whispered warnings and the laughter itself made the moment sweeter and more frantic, and even in hushed gasps the moment of climax incredible and shattering. Then they lay together, damp and breathing deeply, hearts thundering, interlocked, and strangely silent.
“You’re going out, aren’t you?” Vanessa whispered.
He nodded. “I just…I…I needed this time,” he said. He’d never realized that he didn’t know how to speak to a woman. Not true, speech had been easy. But he had never intended to become involved, never realized that he could feel that he needed to wake up with someone every morning. He let out a breath and turned to her and just let the words come. “I think I love you,” he said.
She smiled. “I think I love you, too.”
“I think…I think that when this is over you shouldn’t leave,” he said. “I think that we should both see where this thinking is going. I think the thinking could become certainty.”
She brushed her lips against his, and her eyes, so dark and beautiful a blue in the shadows, met his. “I think that I’ll be here,” she said softly.
He didn’t want to leave her; he had to. He knew that he was right, that even if the three of them guarding the place appeared to be overkill, it was necessary.
He rose, reaching for his clothes and dressing quickly in the cramped quarters. Vanessa slipped back into the flannel gown. “I’ll come with you.”
“No.”
“But—”
“Get some sleep. Tomorrow will be a long day, and…well, you are distracting,” he told her.
“All right,” she said softly.
He unzipped the flap on the tent and slipped away.
Despite everything that had happened during the day—or perhaps because of it—Vanessa found herself falling into a deep sleep almost immediately after Sean left her.
For a while, even in sleep, she knew the comfort of the sweet rest.
Then she felt as if she was being touched.
She opened her eyes. It was dark in the tent, though the many torches set into the sand kept the area light enough. Strange patterns and shadows were dispersed between faint lights.
She must have still been sleeping. She could see a face. It wasn’t the face that had been on the figurehead, not that of Dona Isabella.
It was the face of the blonde woman, not as pretty, just a little worn. Kitty. Kitty Cutlass.
And her eyes were tinged with worry now.
She was dreaming again, of course.
“Come, come…come on. You must leave, please, hurry!” the woman warned her.
She had been sleeping so, so deeply….
She was still struggling to rise when she saw another face.
Zoe’s. Zoe was shaking her and half sobbing, very softly. “Vanessa, you have to come. Quickly.”
Vanessa sat up instantly. “What’s wrong?”
“It’s Bill…he’s… Please, you can’t wake the others. You can’t let…you can’t let Lew see us. You have to come quickly. He knows something, and if you let out the alarm, Lew will come and kill him. Please, Vanessa, hurry! Be silent.”
Tears streamed down Zoe’s delicate cheeks. “All right, all right, Zoe. We have to get to Sean—”
“Yes, but after you see Bill. You’ll have to make Sean understand!”
She slipped quietly out of the tent with Zoe, her heart racing. Lew? She had trusted him! He had a family, little children…
She crept low, but they had barely gone a few steps before she heard Sean’s voice.
“Hey. What’s going on?” he asked.
Zoe stared at him without speaking.
“Sean,” she said softly. “You need to be quiet and not raise an alarm.”
“What’s going on?” Sean repeated.
“Zoe—”
“Zoe’s tired of waiting and being pushed around,” Zoe said flatly. Her voice was deep and coarse and dry, and not her at all.
Sean drew his gun but not quickly enough. Vanessa felt the steel prod of Zoe’s weapon at her back. “Set it down, Sean. Shooting Vanessa will be a piece of cake.”
“Zoe, what do you think you’ll accomplish?” Sean asked her.
“Satisfaction—and her rewards,” Zoe said.
“But you can’t get off this island alive,” Sean argued.
“Put your gun down, Sean. I’m good with weapons. This is a Magnum .45—Vanessa’s entire chest will burst out in your face, and it will be all your fault,” Zoe said.
“Shoot her, too, Sean,” Vanessa said. “She intends to kill me in the end anyway!”
They could both sense Zoe’s delicate finger on the trigger. Sean set his gun on the ground.
“Now step out of my way,” Zoe said. “Vanessa and I have a little business together.”